“If you could write your own ‘US History’ textbook (for junior yr high schoolers), what would the title be? And what would the chapter titles be? Bonus points if you can limit yourself to 20 chapters.”
I was
asked this by a fellow teacher on Facebook, and so I decided to think about it.
Some
considerations: The U.S. population in 1820 was approximately 10 million
people. By 1920 it was well over 100 million. As such my US History textbook is going to focus on the
20th century more, as the 1800s will, increasingly, be seen as a
prelude to the American Century...
Without
further ado, limited to 20 chapters as requested, here’s what I’ve got:
Chapter
One – “Kanien'keha:ka”[i] Early
Native American Societies: Eastern Groups
·
Migration
to North America, Mound building societies, Prominent societies east of the
Mississippi
Chapter
Two – “T’áá Diné”[ii]
Native American Societies: Western Groups
·
Ancient
Pueblo, Prominent societies west of the Mississippi
Chapter
Three – “Con Cien Hombres”[iii] Spanish and French
Colonialism: 1492-1776
·
Columbus,
Spanish Florida and the Mission system, French trappers and exploring the
interior
Chapter
Four – “New Albion”[iv]
British Colonialism: 1585-1776
·
Drake,
Roanoke, and Jamestown, Origins of slavery, Original Thirteen Colonies
Chapter
Five – “We Hold These Truths to Be Self Evident”[v] The Seven Years War and
American Revolution
·
Seven
Years War, Founders and discontent, Revolution and Articles of Confederation
Chapter
Six – “The Right of People to Make and Alter their Constitutions of Government”[vi] The Constitution and New
Nation
·
Constitutional
basics, Washington, Adams, and Jefferson Administrations, War of 1812
Chapter
Seven – “A World of Country Here to Settle”[vii] Continued Native American
Wars and War with Mexico
·
Expanding
past Appalachia, Tecumseh, Jackson and the Trail of Tears, Mexican American War
Chapter
Eight – “Build Therefore Your Own World”[viii] Northern and Southern
Society 1840-1860
·
Plantation
life and changing slavery attitudes, Transcendentalism, Early Northern
industrialization
Chapter
Nine – “A House Divided”[ix] Civil War
·
Lincoln,
Lead up and secession, Course of the War, Lincoln’s assassination
Chapter
Ten – “Many of My Race …Sleep in the Countless Graves of the South”[x] Reconstruction
·
Bringing
Confederate states back, New black rights and representation, Transcontinental
railroad, Initial Asian immigration, Collapse of Reconstruction efforts
Chapter
Eleven – “Once I Moved About Like the Wind”[xi] Modern East and Wild
West: 1880-1900
·
Continued
Native American Wars and reservation system, Technological advancements, Gilded
Age society
Chapter
Twelve – “Trade Is Brisk and Money Plenty”[xii] Turn of the Century
·
Spanish
American War, European immigration culture, 1800s Women’s movements
Chapter
Thirteen – “A Bayonet Sticking in His Side”[xiii] Progressive Ideals and the
Horror of War
·
Progressive
Era and Roosevelt, The Labor movement, Successful Women’s Rights, America’s role in
World War One
Chapter
Fourteen – “Nothing but Blue Skies from Now On”[xiv] High Times and the
Depression: 1920s and 1930s
·
Technology
and culture, Harlem Renaissance and Klan resurgence, Why the Depression
happened, Dust Bowl, Roosevelt’s New Deal
Chapter
Fifteen – “The Eyes of the World Are Upon You”[xv] World War Two
·
Causes
of WWII, Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima, Postwar treaties and founding of the United Nations
Chapter
Sixteen – “There Is a Misty Plot Afoot”[xvi] Early Cold War: 1945 to
1960
·
Causes
of Cold War, Korean War, 1950s suburbia and Red Scare
Chapter
Seventeen – “Moral Means to Preserve Immoral Ends”[xvii] Civil Rights and Counterculture
·
Civil
Rights from WWII to Voting Rights Act, New technologies, 1950s and early 1960s countercultures
Chapter
Eighteen – “In Which…the Fruits of Victory Would be Ashes in Our Mouth”[xviii] Vietnam
and Proxy Wars
·
Why
America got involved and backlash, Vietnam War from 1950s – 1970s, Significant proxy wars of
the 1950s-70s
Chapter
Nineteen – “If I was Writing the Bill of Rights Now…”[xix] Political Realignment:
1972-1992
·
Reactions
to new Democratic Party: Nixon’s Southern Strategy and Watergate, Cultural
attitudes changing – women's lib, gay rights, etc., Reagan Era, Bush and end of the Cold War
Chapter
Twenty – “When the World Stands Together as One”[xx] Globalism? 1992-Present
·
Peace
movements of the 90s and America as Superpower, Digital revolution, 9/11 and
Bush Era, Obama v. Trump Doctrines
[i]
Mohawk word for ‘Mohawk’ (People of flint)
[ii]
Navajo word for ‘Navajo’
[iii]
From the journals of Columbus: “With a hundred men I could rule them as I
please.”
[iv]
Sir Francis’ Drake term for California
[v]
From Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence
[vi]
From Washington’s Farewell Address: “The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their Constitutions of Government.”
[vii]
From Davy Crockett: “I must say as to what I have seen of Texas, it is the
garden spot of the world. The best land & best prospects for health I
ever saw is here, and I do believe it is a fortune to any man to come here.
There is a world of country to settle.”
[viii]
From Emerson’s essay ‘Nature’
[ix]
From the Lincoln Douglass debates: “A house divided against itself, cannot
stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and
half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not
expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided.”
[x] Senator
Hiram Revels: “Many of my race,
the representatives of these men on the field of battle, sleep in the countless
graves of the South.”
[xii]
From Mark Twain: “A crowded police docket is the surest of all signs that trade
is brisk and money plenty.”
[xiii]
Lyric by Pete Seeger for the Almanac Singers’ ‘Strange Death of John Doe’:
I'll sing you a song and it's not very long
It's about a young man who never did wrong;
Suddenly he died one day
The reason why, no one would say
He was tall and long and his arms were strong
And this is the strange part of my song;
He was always well from foot to head
And then one day they found him dead
They found him dead so I've been told
His eyes were closed, his heart was cold;
Only one clue to why he died -
A bayonet sticking in his side
[xiv] Lyric
by Irving Berlin ‘Blue Skies’: “Blue days, all of them gone. Nothing but blue
skies from now on.”
[xv]
From Eisenhower’s D-Day speech to the troops: “Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of
the Allied Expeditionary Force: You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade,
toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon
you. The hope and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.”
[xvi] From
Miller’s ‘The Crucible’: “There is a misty plot afoot so subtle we should be
criminal to cling to old respects and ancient friendships.”
[xvii]
From King’s ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’: “But now I must affirm that it is
just as wrong, or even more so, to use moral means to preserve immoral ends.”
[xviii]
From Kennedy’s Cuban Missile Crisis speech: “We
will not prematurely or unnecessarily risk the costs of a worldwide
nuclear war in which even the fruits of victory would be ashes in our mouth —
but neither shall we shrink from that risk any time it must be faced.”
[xix] From Warren Burger: “If I were writing the Bill of Rights now there wouldn’t be any such thing as the Second Amendment.”
[xx]
From Obama’s Nobel Lecture: “Those regimes that break the rules must be held
accountable. Sanctions must exact a real price. Intransigence must be met with
increased pressure – and such pressure exists only when the world stands
together as one.”
