AP United States History Summer Assignment 2020

Susquehanna Township School District

Dear Students,

Welcome to APUSH for the 2020-21school year! Advanced Placement United States History,

APUSH, is an accelerated and advanced US History course that is similar to a college-survey class.

The class will cover the time period starting with pre-Columbian Native Americans through the

present. This includes chronological coverage of major eras, periods, and events as well as American

economic, cultural, social, political, constitutional, and diplomatic history.

You will now be charged with the role of a historian and will engage in activities that encourage

critical thinking and develop your ability to debate established historical interpretations and express

your educated views using primary source documents. Throughout the year, you will actively compare

cultures and look for historical patterns that stretch across time periods and tie all human populations

together through history.

The primary purpose of this summer assignment is to help you acquire the base knowledge necessary

for instant immersion in APUSH once the 2020-21 academic year begins. You must complete all of

the assignments and readings. The assignments are due on August 25th, 2020; except the notecards

which are due the day of your first quiz. The assignments must be hand written, legible and in your

own words. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. Please note that work that contains plagiarism will earn a

zero. You will have a quiz on the academic material from your summer work on Thursday, September

3th, 2020. You will also have a map quiz on the states on August 28th, 2020.

Late assignments will not be accepted. It is important that you show you are capable of successfully

completing this independent assignment in the time allotted. The only exception will be those students

that enrolled new to our school; if this is the case please see me or email me asap. Anyone that

registered prior to the school start date will be expected to have the assignment completed by the first

day of school.

A Special Note about Plagiarism: Plagiarism, the act of taking credit for the academic work of

someone else, will not be tolerated in AP United States History and at Susquehanna Township High

School. Please refer to School Board Policy #4033 if in need of clarification.

If you have any questions regarding this assignment, please contact me via email at

bbrant@hannasd.org.

To Do:

1. I recommend purchasing the APUSH Crash Course book, this will help you greatly in

class but especially for the AP test and final exam. https://www.amazon.com/History-

Course-Online-Advanced-Placement/dp/073861226X

2. Purchase or borrow the book, United States History (Preparing for the Advanced

Placement Examination) from Perfection Learning. You will need this for the duration of

the year and it is so much easier to use than the textbook you will be issued. There is a

2020 edition but the 2018 edition works and can be obtained for roughly $6 used on the

Internet. If you need to verify that you are buying the correct book email me and I will

help you through it.

3. Please go on my teacher page, found on the Susquehanna Township High School website

and make yourself comfortable with where things can be found. If we end up in the

virtual realm for part of the school year most things will be pushed out through Teams in

Microsoft.

4. Please go to the tab on my teacher page marked APUSH College Board Need to Know-

look over how the time periods are broken down. Also familiarize yourself with the

documents on LEQs and DBQs, which are writings you will be learning how to complete

during class.

5. Access the Readings/Printables section. In this section you will find the first chapter of

your textbook and several readings that you will need to complete the summer work

questions in this packet. Many of these are also listed under the links tab since they are

also available on the internet.

6. Make sure you complete each activity completely. Use full sentences with correct

grammar and spelling to answer questions. (Notecards may be blurbs instead of full

sentences.)

7. The map of the United States needs to be completed with state names and abbreviations

for the states. You DO NOT have to put the capitals on the map.

8. Note cards should be completed in the following way

Front of the card Back of the card

Your initials

Term

Period

Description

Importance/significance

Example

BLB

Vernacular

Period 1

Native/indigenous language of a people

The increased of books written in the

vernacular during the Renaissance, instead

of in Latin, led to increased literacy

Use the Textbook to complete the following questions

Questions to Answer/Analyze- They must be in your own handwriting, legible and in your own

words. Answering them completely will assist you in this class. Don’t shortchange yourself.

Part One: Founding the New Nation (pages 2-3)

1. Based on the summary presented on these pages to the time period of 1783 C.E. what will

you be learning about during the first marking period?

Chapter 1: New World Beginnings (pages 4-24)

Key Concept 1.1

1. How did native populations in North America develop complex societies based on their

interactions with the environment and each other?

2. How did maize cultivation, hunting and foraging lead to economic and social

diversification among native societies?

3. Why did native populations in the Great Basin and the western Great Plains develop

mobile lifestyles?

Key Concept 1.2

1. How did European overseas expansion lead to the Columbian Exchange?

2. How did Spanish and Portuguese exploration and conquest of the Americas lead to

widespread epidemics, the emergence of the racially mixed populations, and a caste

system?

3. How and why initially was slave labor from Africa used in the Americas?

4. What was the motivation for European exploration and conquest?

5. How did the new sources of mineral wealth in the Americas assisted the European shift

from feudalism to capitalism?

Key Concept 1.3

1. How did the poor understanding of the Native Americas on the part of the Spanish and

Portuguese lead to debates about how to treat them?

2. In what ways did Europeans attempt to change Native American beliefs and views? How

did that lead to resistance and conflict?

Key Concept 2.1

1. How did Spain attempt to establish tight control over the process of colonization in the

Western Hemisphere and convert and/or exploit the native population?

Key Concept 2.2

1. How did Spanish colonizing efforts in North America, particularly after the Pueblo

Revolt, saw accommodations with some aspects of American Indian culture?

Primary Sources and Questions

Christopher Columbus, Journal of the First Voyage (1492)

1. Why do you think Columbus focused on these details about the natives he encountered?

2. Besides riches, what motivation for exploration can you see in Columbus’s account of his

meeting with the natives?

Bartolome De Las Casas, A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies (1552)

1. How does Las Casas characterize the native peoples he writes about? How does his

description compare to that of Columbus (above document)?

2. By the time Las Casas wrote this, he had been a Dominican friar for nearly thirty years.

What role did religion play in shaping his interpretation of Spain’s treatment of natives?

Notecards- Use index cards or cut paper into the same shape to make (Chapter 1- Period 1)

Canadian Shield

Incans

Aztecs

Nation-states

Three-sister farming

Caravel

Columbian Exchange

Treaty of Tordesillas

Encomienda

Noche triste

Capitalism

Battle of Acoma

Pope’s Rebellion

Black Legend

Christopher Columbus

Francisco Pizarro

Bartolome de Las Casas

Francisco Coronado

Robert de La Salle

Giovanni Caboto

45.

Trends During Era

-This could include major events

during this period, social or cultural

trends, etc.