Students in grade eleven study the major turning points in American history in the 20th century. Following a review of the nation's beginnings and the impact of the Enlightenment on U.S. democratic ideals, students build upon the tenth grade study of global industrialization to understand the emergence and impact of new technology and a corporate economy, including the social and cultural effects. They trace the change in the ethnic composition of American society; the movement towards equal rights for racial minorities and women; and the role of the United States a major world power. An emphasis is placed on the expanding role of the federal government and federal courts as well as the continuing tension between the individual and the state. Students consider the major social problems of our time and trace their causes in historical events. They learn that the United States has served as a model for other nations and that the rights and freedoms we enjoy are not accidents, but the results of a defined set of political principles that are not always basic to citizens of other countries. Students understand that our rights under the US Constitution comprise a precious inheritance that depends on an educated citizenry for their preservation and protection.

11.1 Students analyze the significant events surrounding the founding of the nation and its attempts to realize the philosophy of government described in the Declaration of Independence, in terms of:

1. the Enlightenment and the rise of democratic ideas as the context in which the nation was founded
2. the ideological origins of the American Revolution; the divinely-bestowed unalienable natural rights philosophy of the Founding Fathers and the debates surrounding the drafting and ratification of the Constitution; the addition of the Bill of Rights
3. the history of the Constitution after 1787 with emphasis on federal versus state authority and growing democratization
4. the effects of the Civil War and Reconstruction and of the industrial revolution, including demographic shifts and the emergence in the late 19th century of the United States as a world power

11.2 Students analyze the relationship among the rise of industrialization, large scale rural to urban migration, and massive immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe, in terms of:

1. the effect of industrialization on living and working conditions, including the treatment of working conditions and food safety in Upton Sinclair's The Jungle
2. the changing landscape, including the growth of cities linked by industry and trade; the development of cities divided according to race, ethnicity, and class
3. the effect of the Americanization movement
4. the effect of urban political machines and responses by immigrants and middle-class reformers
5. corporate mergers that produced trusts and cartels and the economic and political policies of industrial leaders
6. the economic development of the US and its emergence as a major industrial power, including the gains from trade and advantages of its physical geography
7. the similarities and differences between the ideologies of Social Darwinism and Social Gospel (e.g., biographies of William Graham Sumner, Billy Sunday, Dwight L. Moody)
8. the effect of political programs and activities of Populists
9. the effect of political programs and activities of the Progressives (e.g., federal regulation of railroad transport, Children's Bureau, the 16th Amendment, Theodore Roosevelt)

11.3 Students analyze the role religion played in the founding of America, its lasting moral, social and political impact, and issues regarding religious liberty, in terms of:

1. the contributions of various religious groups to American civic principles and social reform movements (e.g., civil and human rights, individual responsibility and the work ethic, anti-monarchy and self-rule, worker protection, family-centered communities)
2. the great religious revivals and the leaders involved, including the First Great Awakening, the Second Great Awakening, the Civil War revivals, the Social Gospel Movement, the rise of Christian liberal theology in 19th century, the impact of the Second Vatican Council, and the rise of Christian fundamentalism in current times
3. incidences of religious intolerance in the United States (e.g., persecution of Mormons, anti-Catholic sentiment, anti-Semitism)
4. the expanding religious pluralism in the United States and California as a result of large-scale immigration in the twentieth century
5. the principles of religious liberty found in the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses of the First Amendment, including the debate concerning the issue of separation of church and state

11.4 Students trace the rise of the US to its role as a world power in the 20th century, in terms of:

1. the purpose and the effects of the Open Door policy
2. the Spanish-American War and US expansion in the South Pacific
3. the US role in the Panama Revolution and the building of the Panama Canal
4. Roosevelt's Big Stick diplomacy, Taft's Dollar Diplomacy, and Wilson's Moral Diplomacy, drawing on relevant speeches
5. the political, economic and social ramifications of World War I on the homefront
6. the declining role of Great Britain and the expanding role of the US in world affairs after World War II

11.5 Students analyze the major political, social, economic, technological, and cultural developments of the 1920s, in terms of:

1. the policies of Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover
2. the international and domestic events, interests, and philosophies that prompted attacks on civil liberties, including the Palmer Raids, Marcus Garvey's "back-to-Africa" movement, the Ku Klux Klan, immigration quotas and the responses of organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Anti-Defamation League to those attacks
3. the passage of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution and the Volstead Act (Prohibition)
4. the passage of the 19th Amendment and the changing role of women in society
5. the Harlem Renaissance and new trends in literature, music, and art, with special attention to the work of writers (e.g., Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes)
6. the growth and effects of radio and movies and their role in the world wide diffusion of popular culture
7. the rise of mass production techniques, the growth of cities, the impact of new technologies (e.g., the automobile, electricity), and the resulting prosperity and effect on the American landscape

11.6 Students analyze the different explanations for the Great Depression and how the New Deal fundamentally changed the role of the federal government, in terms of:

1. the monetary issues of the late 19th and early 20th century that gave rise to the establishment of the Federal Reserve and the weaknesses in key sectors of the economy in the late 1920's
2. the principal explanations of the causes of the Great Depression and steps taken by the Federal Reserve, Congress and the President to combat the economic crisis
3. the human toll of the Depression, natural disasters, unwise agricultural practices and their effect on the depopulation of rural regions and on political movements of the left and right with particular attention to the Dust Bowl refugees and their social and economic impact in California
4. the effects and controversies of New Deal economic policies and the expanded role of the federal government in society and the economy since the 1930's (e.g., Works Progress Administration, Social Security, National Labor Relations Board, farm programs, regional development policies and energy development such as the Tennessee Valley Authority, California Central Valley Project, Bonneville Dam)
5. the advances and retreats of organized labor, from the creation of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organization to current issues of a post-industrial multinational economy, including the United Farmworkers in California

11.7 Students analyze the American participation in World War II, in terms of:

1. the origins of American involvement in the war, with an emphasis on the events that precipitated the attack on Pearl Harbor
2. United States and Allied wartime strategy, including the major battles of Midway, Normandy, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and the Battle of the Bulge
3. the role and sacrifices of individual American soldiers, as well as the unique contributions of the special fighting forces (e.g., the Tuskegee Airmen, the 442 Regimental Combat team, and the Navajo Codetalkers)
4. Roosevelt's foreign policies during World War II (e.g., Four Freedoms speech)
5. the constitutional issues and impact of events on the US home front, including the internment of Japanese Americans (e.g., Fred Korematsu v. United State of America) and the restrictions on German and Italian resident aliens; the response of the administration to Hitler's atrocities against Jews and other groups; the role of women in military production; the role and growing political demands of African Americans
6. major developments in aviation, weaponry, communication, and medicine and the War's impact on the location of American industry and use of resources
7. the decision to drop atomic bombs and the consequences (Hiroshima and Nagasaki )
8. the effect of massive aid given to western Europe under the Marshall Plan to rebuild itself after the war, and its importance to the US economy

11.8 Students analyze the economic boom and social transformation of post-World War II America, in terms of:

1. the growth of service sector, white collar, and professional sector jobs in government and business
2. the significance of Mexican immigration and its relationship to the agricultural economy, especially in California
3. Truman's labor policy and congressional reaction to it
4. new federal government spending on education (including the California Master Plan), defense, welfare, and interest on the national debt
5. the increased powers of the presidency in response to the Great Depression, World War II and the Cold War
6. the diverse environmental regions in North America, their relation to particular forms of economic life, and the origins and prospects of environmental problems in those regions
7. the effects on society and the economy of technological developments since 1945, including the computer revolution, changes in communication, advances in medicine, and improvements in agricultural technology
8. forms of popular culture with emphasis on their origins and geographic diffusion (e.g., jazz and other forms of popular music, professional sports, architectural and artistic styles)

11.9 Students analyze United States foreign policy since World War II, in terms of:

1. the establishment of the United Nations and International Declaration of Human Rights, IMF, the World Bank, and GATT, and their importance in shaping modern Europe and maintaining peace and international order
2. the role of military alliances including NATO and SEATO in deterring communist aggression and maintaining security during the Cold War
3. the origins and geopolitical consequences (foreign and domestic) of the Cold War and containment policy, including:
   
   • the era of McCarthyism, instances of domestic communism (e.g., Alger Hiss) and blacklisting
     
   • the Truman Doctrine
     
   • the Berlin Blockade
     
   • the Korean War
     
   • the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis
     
   • atomic testing in the American west, "mutual assured destruction" doctrine, disarmament policies
     
   • the Vietnam War
     
   • Latin American policy and the economic relationships today
4. the effects of foreign policy on domestic policies and vice versa (e.g., protests during the war in Vietnam and the "nuclear freeze" movement)
5. the role of the Reagan Administration and other factors in the victory of the West in the Cold War
6. the strategic, political, and economic factors in Middle East policy, including the Gulf War
7. U.S.-Mexican relations in the twentieth century, including key economic, political, immigration, and environmental issues

11.10 Students analyze federal civil rights and voting rights developments, in terms of:

1. how demands of African Americans helped produce a stimulus for civil rights, including President Roosevelt's ban on racial discrimination in defense industries in 1941, and how African American service in World War II produced a stimulus for President Truman's decision to end segregation in the armed forces in 1948
2. the key events, policies and court cases in the evolution of civil rights, including Dred Scott v. Sandford, Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, and California Proposition 209
3. the collaboration on legal strategy between African-American and white civil rights lawyers to end racial segregation in higher education
4. the role of civil rights advocates (e.g., biographies of A. Philip Randolph, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, Thurgood Marshall, James Farmer, Rosa Parks), including the significance of Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" and "I Have a Dream" Speech
5. the diffusion of the civil rights movement from the churches of the rural South and the urban North, including the resistance to racial desegregation in Little Rock and Birmingham and how the advances influenced the agendas, strategies, and effectiveness of the quest of American Indians, Asian Americans, and Hispanic Americans for civil rights and equal opportunities
6. the passage and effect of civil rights and voting rights legislation (e.g., 1964 Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act of 1965) and the 24th Amendment with an emphasis on equality of access to education and to the political process
7. the women's rights movement from the era of Elizabeth Stanton and Susan Anthony and the passage of the 19th Amendment to the movement launched in the 1960s, including differing perspectives on the role of women

11.11 Students analyze the major social problems and domestic policy issues in contemporary American society, in terms of:

1. the reasons for the nation's changing immigration policy with emphasis on the way the Immigration Act of 1965 and successor acts have transformed American society
2. the significant domestic policy speeches of Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton (e.g., education, civil rights, economic policy, environmental policy)
3. the changing role of women in society as reflected in the major entry of women into the labor force and the changing family structure
4. the constitutional crisis originating from the Watergate scandal
5. the impact, need and controversies associated with environmental conservation, expansion of the national park system, and the development of environmental protection laws, with particular attention to the interaction between environmental protection and property rights
6. the persistence of poverty and how different analyses of this issue influence welfare reform, health insurance reform and other social policies
7. how the federal, state and local governments have responded to demographic and social changes such as population shifts to the suburbs, racial concentrations in the cities, Frostbelt to Sunbelt migration, international migration, decline of the family farm, increase in out of wedlock births, and drug abuse

Back to Standards

Top of Page