The following list shows the module-level topics and assignments for the course. To see all of the course pages, visit the Table of Contents.
Module 1: The Era of Reconstruction, 1865-1877
- Restoring the Union
- Congress and the Remaking of the South, 1865–1866
- Radical Reconstruction, 1867–1872
- The Collapse of Reconstruction
Module 2: Go West Young Man! Westward Expansion, 1840-1900
- The Loss of American Indian Life and Culture
- The Impact of Expansion on Chinese Immigrants and Hispanic Citizens
- The Westward Spirit
- Homesteading: Dreams and Realities
- Making a Living in Gold and Cattle
Module 3: Industrialization and the Rise of Big Business, 1870-1900
- Inventors of the Age
- From Invention to Industrial Growth
- Building Industrial America on the Backs of Labor
- A New American Consumer Culture
Module 4: The Growing Pains of Urbanization, 1870-1900
- Urbanization and Its Challenges
- The African American “Great Migration” and New European Immigration
- Relief from the Chaos of Urban Life
- Change Reflected in Thought and Writing
Module 5: Politics in the Gilded Age, 1870-1900
- Political Corruption in Postbellum America
- The Key Political Issues: Patronage, Tariffs, and Gold
- Farmers Revolt in the Populist Era
- Social and Labor Unrest in the 1890s
Module 6: Leading the Way—The Progressive Movement, 1890-1920
- The Origins of the Progressive Spirit in America
- Progressivism at the Grassroots Level
- New Voices for Women and African Americans
- Progressivism in the White House
Module 7: Age of Empire—American Foreign Policy, 1890-1914
- Turner, Mahan, and the Roots of Empire
- The Spanish-American War and Overseas Empire
- Economic Imperialism in East Asia
- Roosevelt’s “Big Stick” Foreign Policy
- Taft’s “Dollar Diplomacy”
Module 8: Americans and the Great War, 1914-1919
- American Isolationism and the European Origins of War
- The United States Prepares for War
- A New Home Front
- From War to Peace
- Demobilization and Its Difficult Aftermath
Module 9: The Jazz Age—Redefining the Nation, 1919-1929
- Prosperity and the Production of Popular Entertainment
- Transformation and Backlash
- A New Generation
- Republican Ascendancy: Politics in the 1920s
Module 10: Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? The Great Depression, 1929-1932
- The Stock Market Crash of 1929
- President Hoover’s Response
- The Depths of the Great Depression
- Assessing the Hoover Years on the Eve of the New Deal
Module 11: Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932-1941
- The Rise of Franklin Roosevelt
- The First New Deal
- The Second New Deal
Module 12: Fighting the Good Fight in World War II, 1941-1945
- The Origins of War: Europe, Asia, and the United States
- The Home Front
- Victory in the European Theater
- The Pacific Theater and the Atomic Bomb
Module 13: Post-War Prosperity and Cold War Fears, 1945-1960
- The Challenges of Peacetime
- The Cold War
- The American Dream
- Popular Culture and Mass Media
- The African American Struggle for Civil Rights
Module 14: Contesting Futures—America in the 1960s
- The Kennedy Promise
- Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society
- The Civil Rights Movement Marches On
- Challenging the Status Quo
Module 15: Political Storms at Home and Abroad, 1968-1980
- Identity Politics in a Fractured Society
- Coming Apart, Coming Together
- Vietnam: The Downward Spiral
- Watergate: Nixon’s Domestic Nightmare
- Jimmy Carter in the Aftermath of the Storm
Module 16: From Cold War to Culture Wars, 1980-2000
- The Reagan Revolution
- Political and Cultural Fusions
- A New World Order
- Bill Clinton and the New Economy
Module 17: The Challenges of the Twenty-First Century
- The War on Terror
- The Domestic Mission
- New Century, Old Disputes
- Hope and Change