U.S. History

by P. Scott Corbett, Volker Janssen, John M. Lund, Todd Pfannestiel, Sylvie Waskiewicz and Paul Vickery

Published by OpenStax

HistoryCollege

U.S. History is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of most introductory courses. The text provides a balanced approach to U.S. history, considering the people, events, and ideas that have shaped the United States from both the top down (politics, economics, diplomacy) and bottom up (eyewitness accounts, lived experience). U.S. History covers key forces that form the American experience, with particular attention to issues of race, class, and gender.

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Attribution

Adapted from U.S. History by P. Scott Corbett, Volker Janssen, John M. Lund, Todd Pfannestiel, Sylvie Waskiewicz, and Paul Vickery, published by OpenStax (Rice University) under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). Access the original for free at https://openstax.org/details/books/us-history. Changes: converted to CuraCourse lessons, with interactive practice added.

209 pages in 34 modules. Sign up to read and adopt them.

Preface1 page
1. Preface
1The Americas, Europe, and Africa Before 14925 pages
1. Introduction
2. 1.1The Americas
3. 1.2Europe on the Brink of Change
4. 1.3West Africa and the Role of Slavery
5. Practice
2Early Globalization: The Atlantic World, 1492–16506 pages
1. Introduction
2. 2.1Portuguese Exploration and Spanish Conquest
3. 2.2Religious Upheavals in the Developing Atlantic World
4. 2.3Challenges to Spain’s Supremacy
5. 2.4New Worlds in the Americas: Labor, Commerce, and the Columbian Exchange
6. Practice
3Creating New Social Orders: Colonial Societies, 1500–17006 pages
1. Introduction
2. 3.1Spanish Exploration and Colonial Society
3. 3.2Colonial Rivalries: Dutch and French Colonial Ambitions
4. 3.3English Settlements in America
5. 3.4The Impact of Colonization
6. Practice
4Rule Britannia! The English Empire, 1660–17637 pages
1. Introduction
2. 4.1Charles II and the Restoration Colonies
3. 4.2The Glorious Revolution and the English Empire
4. 4.3An Empire of Slavery and the Consumer Revolution
5. 4.4Great Awakening and Enlightenment
6. 4.5Wars for Empire
7. Practice
5Imperial Reforms and Colonial Protests, 1763-17747 pages
1. Introduction
2. 5.1Confronting the National Debt: The Aftermath of the French and Indian War
3. 5.2The Stamp Act and the Sons and Daughters of Liberty
4. 5.3The Townshend Acts and Colonial Protest
5. 5.4The Destruction of the Tea and the Coercive Acts
6. 5.5Disaffection: The First Continental Congress and American Identity
7. Practice
6America's War for Independence, 1775-17836 pages
1. Introduction
2. 6.1Britain’s Law-and-Order Strategy and Its Consequences
3. 6.2The Early Years of the Revolution
4. 6.3War in the South
5. 6.4Identity during the American Revolution
6. Practice
7Creating Republican Governments, 1776–17906 pages
1. Introduction
2. 7.1Common Sense: From Monarchy to an American Republic
3. 7.2How Much Revolutionary Change?
4. 7.3Debating Democracy
5. 7.4The Constitutional Convention and Federal Constitution
6. Practice
8Growing Pains: The New Republic, 1790–18206 pages
1. Introduction
2. 8.1Competing Visions: Federalists and Democratic-Republicans
3. 8.2The New American Republic
4. 8.3Partisan Politics
5. 8.4The United States Goes Back to War
6. Practice
9Industrial Transformation in the North, 1800–18506 pages
1. Introduction
2. 9.1Early Industrialization in the Northeast
3. 9.2A Vibrant Capitalist Republic
4. 9.3On the Move: The Transportation Revolution
5. 9.4A New Social Order: Class Divisions
6. Practice
10Jacksonian Democracy, 1820–18407 pages
1. Introduction
2. 10.1A New Political Style: From John Quincy Adams to Andrew Jackson
3. 10.2The Rise of American Democracy
4. 10.3The Nullification Crisis and the Bank War
5. 10.4Indian Removal
6. 10.5The Tyranny and Triumph of the Majority
7. Practice
11A Nation on the Move: Westward Expansion, 1800–18607 pages
1. Introduction
2. 11.1Lewis and Clark
3. 11.2The Missouri Crisis
4. 11.3Independence for Texas
5. 11.4The Mexican-American War, 1846–1848
6. 11.5Free or Slave Soil? The Dilemma of the West
7. Practice
12Cotton is King: The Antebellum South, 1800–18606 pages
1. Introduction
2. 12.1The Economics of Cotton
3. 12.2African Americans in the Antebellum United States
4. 12.3Wealth and Culture in the South
5. 12.4The Filibuster and the Quest for New Slave States
6. Practice
13Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses, 1820–18607 pages
1. Introduction
2. 13.1An Awakening of Religion and Individualism
3. 13.2Antebellum Communal Experiments
4. 13.3Reforms to Human Health
5. 13.4Addressing Slavery
6. 13.5Women’s Rights
7. Practice
14Troubled Times: the Tumultuous 1850s6 pages
1. Introduction
2. 14.1The Compromise of 1850
3. 14.2The Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Republican Party
4. 14.3The Dred Scott Decision and Sectional Strife
5. 14.4John Brown and the Election of 1860
6. Practice
15The Civil War, 1860–18656 pages
1. Introduction
2. 15.1The Origins and Outbreak of the Civil War
3. 15.2Early Mobilization and War
4. 15.31863: The Changing Nature of the War
5. 15.4The Union Triumphant
6. Practice
16The Era of Reconstruction, 1865–18776 pages
1. Introduction
2. 16.1Restoring the Union
3. 16.2Congress and the Remaking of the South, 1865–1866
4. 16.3Radical Reconstruction, 1867–1872
5. 16.4The Collapse of Reconstruction
6. Practice
17Go West Young Man! Westward Expansion, 1840-19007 pages
1. Introduction
2. 17.1The Westward Spirit
3. 17.2Homesteading: Dreams and Realities
4. 17.3Making a Living in Gold and Cattle
5. 17.4The Assault on American Indian Life and Culture
6. 17.5The Impact of Expansion on Chinese Immigrants and Hispanic Citizens
7. Practice
18Industrialization and the Rise of Big Business, 1870-19006 pages
1. Introduction
2. 18.1Inventors of the Age
3. 18.2From Invention to Industrial Growth
4. 18.3Building Industrial America on the Backs of Labor
5. 18.4A New American Consumer Culture
6. Practice
19The Growing Pains of Urbanization, 1870-19006 pages
1. Introduction
2. 19.1Urbanization and Its Challenges
3. 19.2The African American “Great Migration” and New European Immigration
4. 19.3Relief from the Chaos of Urban Life
5. 19.4Change Reflected in Thought and Writing
6. Practice
20Politics in the Gilded Age, 1870-19006 pages
1. Introduction
2. 20.1Political Corruption in Postbellum America
3. 20.2The Key Political Issues: Patronage, Tariffs, and Gold
4. 20.3Farmers Revolt in the Populist Era
5. 20.4Social and Labor Unrest in the 1890s
6. Practice
21Leading the Way: The Progressive Movement, 1890-19206 pages
1. Introduction
2. 21.1The Origins of the Progressive Spirit in America
3. 21.2Progressivism at the Grassroots Level
4. 21.3New Voices for Women and African Americans
5. 21.4Progressivism in the White House
6. Practice
22Age of Empire: American Foreign Policy, 1890-19147 pages
1. Introduction
2. 22.1Turner, Mahan, and the Roots of Empire
3. 22.2The Spanish-American War and Overseas Empire
4. 22.3Economic Imperialism in East Asia
5. 22.4Roosevelt’s “Big Stick” Foreign Policy
6. 22.5Taft’s “Dollar Diplomacy”
7. Practice
23Americans and the Great War, 1914-19197 pages
1. Introduction
2. 23.1American Isolationism and the European Origins of War
3. 23.2The United States Prepares for War
4. 23.3A New Home Front
5. 23.4From War to Peace
6. 23.5Demobilization and Its Difficult Aftermath
7. Practice
24The Jazz Age: Redefining the Nation, 1919-19296 pages
1. Introduction
2. 24.1Prosperity and the Production of Popular Entertainment
3. 24.2Transformation and Backlash
4. 24.3A New Generation
5. 24.4Republican Ascendancy: Politics in the 1920s
6. Practice
25Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? The Great Depression, 1929-19326 pages
1. Introduction
2. 25.1The Stock Market Crash of 1929
3. 25.2President Hoover’s Response
4. 25.3The Depths of the Great Depression
5. 25.4Assessing the Hoover Years on the Eve of the New Deal
6. Practice
26Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932-19415 pages
1. Introduction
2. 26.1The Rise of Franklin Roosevelt
3. 26.2The First New Deal
4. 26.3The Second New Deal
5. Practice
27Fighting the Good Fight in World War II, 1941-19456 pages
1. Introduction
2. 27.1The Origins of War: Europe, Asia, and the United States
3. 27.2The Home Front
4. 27.3Victory in the European Theater
5. 27.4The Pacific Theater and the Atomic Bomb
6. Practice
28Post-War Prosperity and Cold War Fears, 1945-19607 pages
1. Introduction
2. 28.1The Challenges of Peacetime
3. 28.2The Cold War
4. 28.3The American Dream
5. 28.4Popular Culture and Mass Media
6. 28.5The African American Struggle for Civil Rights
7. Practice
29Contesting Futures: America in the 1960s6 pages
1. Introduction
2. 29.1The Kennedy Promise
3. 29.2Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society
4. 29.3The Civil Rights Movement Marches On
5. 29.4Challenging the Status Quo
6. Practice
30Political Storms at Home and Abroad, 1968-19807 pages
1. Introduction
2. 30.1Identity Politics in a Fractured Society
3. 30.2Coming Apart, Coming Together
4. 30.3Vietnam: The Downward Spiral
5. 30.4Watergate: Nixon’s Domestic Nightmare
6. 30.5Jimmy Carter in the Aftermath of the Storm
7. Practice
31From Cold War to Culture Wars, 1980-20006 pages
1. Introduction
2. 31.1The Reagan Revolution
3. 31.2Political and Cultural Fusions
4. 31.3A New World Order
5. 31.4Bill Clinton and the New Economy
6. Practice
32The Challenges of the Twenty-First Century7 pages
1. Introduction
2. 32.1The War on Terror
3. 32.2The Domestic Mission
4. 32.3New Century, Old Disputes
5. 32.4Hope and Change
6. 32.5Political Divides and Social Movements
7. Practice
Appendices7 pages
1. AThe Declaration of Independence
2. BThe Constitution of the United States
3. CPresidents of the United States of America
4. DU.S. Political Map
5. EU.S. Topographical Map
6. FUnited States Population Chart
7. GFurther Reading

U.S. History

Table of contents