What topics will I learn about in Advanced United States History?

Advanced United States History examines the entirety of United States history, beginning with the pre-Columbian period and extending to about 2000. The subjects, events, trends, themes, and historical debates that comprise a typical college-level US history survey course are covered. While America’s political history provides an overall narrative structure for this course, special attention is paid to social, cultural, and economic issues. The essay assignments permit students to explore issues prompted by a Christian worldview.

The rigor, assignments, and workload of this course are comparable to those of typical freshman-level college history courses. United States History includes weekly textbook reading assignments, primary-source reading assignments, written lectures, and class participation requirements. Students will also write two analytical essays during the year, with each essay based upon an assigned monograph. Students will also complete six exams during the course, each covering five to six weeks of course content.

During this course, students will learn to:

  • Examine the political institutions, diplomacy, economic trends, and sociocultural developments in United States history from the pre-Columbus era to the late 1990s,
  • Think conceptually about the past and focus on historical change over time,
  • Analyze the evidence and interpretations presented in historical scholarship,
  • Analyze and interpret primary sources such as documentary material, maps, statistical tables, and pictorial and graphic materials,
  • Write analytical, interpretive, and thematic essays,
  • Respond to document-based questions, and
  • Consider how a Christian worldview affects the study of American history.