US History Textbook Chapters

“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 20^th 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

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[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.”

[xi] Geronimo

[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.”