Introductory Note
In a 2006 issue of the Journal of American History, digital history pioneer Roy Rosenzweig asked, “Can History Be Open Source?” After more than a decade of labor by academic historians to inject open source materials into the academic mainstream, we can answer affirmatively: history can be open source. Instructors can now design high quality, academically rigorous, and cost-annihilating American history surveys exclusively with open source materials. On this page, we have offered syllabi, course readings, chapter-by-chapter discussion questions, key terms, quizzes, essay assignments, and exams to do just that. Individual instructors, of course, should always govern their own curriculum and be able to determine their own pedagogy. Rather than attempting to build a common curriculum, these resources are designed merely as a starting point. Like our text, they are licensed openly (CC-BY-SA): you are encouraged to use them, download them, distribute them, and modify them as you see fit. Moreover, The American Yawp is, as always, an evolving, collaborative project. We welcome the submission of additional teaching materials and feedback on existing material. If you have any ideas or resources you’d like to share, please contact the editors (Ben Wright for the first half, and Joseph Locke for the second) directly.
Syllabi
Readings
Discussion Questions
Key Terms
Quizzes
- Chapter 1 – American Origins
- Chapter 2 – Making an Atlantic World
- Chapter 3 – Colliding Cultures
- Chapter 4 – British North America
- Chapter 5 – Colonial Society
- Chapter 6 – The American Revolution
- Chapter 7 – A New Nation
- Chapter 8 – The Early Republic
- Chapter 9 – Getting Forward
- Chapter 10 – American Democracy
- Chapter 11 – Growth and Conflict
- Chapter 12 – The National Crisis
- Chapter 13 – The Civil War
- Chapter 14 – Reconstruction
- Chapter 15 – Capital and Labor
- Chapter 16 – Geographies of Empire
- Chapter 17 – New Lives
- Chapter 18 – The Progressive Era
- Chapter 19 – World War I & Its Aftermath
- Chapter 20 – The New Era
- Chapter 21 – The Great Depression
- Chapter 22 – World War II
- Chapter 23 – The Cold War
- Chapter 24 – The Affluent Society
- Chapter 25 – The Sixties
- Chapter 26 – The Unraveling
- Chapter 27 – The Triumph of the Right
- Chapter 28 – The Recent Past
Essay Assignments
Exams
ARCHIVED “FIRST EDITION” MATERIALS
Syllabi (First Edition)
Readings (First Edition)
Discussion Questions (First Edition)
Key Terms (First Edition)
Quizzes (First Edition)
- Chapter 1 – Indigenous America
- Chapter 2 – Colliding Cultures
- Chapter 3 – British North America
- Chapter 4 – Colonial Society
- Chapter 5 – The American Revolution
- Chapter 6 – The New Nation
- Chapter 7 – The Early Republic
- Chapter 8 – The Market Revolution
- Chapter 9 – Democracy in America
- Chapter 10 – Religion and Reform
- Chapter 11 – The Cotton Revolution
- Chapter 12 – Manifest Destiny
- Chapter 13 – The Sectional Crisis
- Chapter 14 – The Civil War
- Chapter 15 – Reconstruction
- Chapter 16 – Capital and Labor
- Chapter 17 – Conquering the West
- Chapter 18 – Life in Industrial America
- Chapter 19 – American Empire
- Chapter 20 – The Progressive Era
- Chapter 21 – World War I & Its Aftermath
- Chapter 22 – The New Era
- Chapter 23 – The Great Depression
- Chapter 24 – World War II
- Chapter 25 – The Cold War
- Chapter 26 – The Affluent Society
- Chapter 27 – The Sixties
- Chapter 28 – The Unraveling
- Chapter 29 – The Triumph of the Right
- Chapter 30 – The Recent Past
Essay Assignments (First Edition)
Exams (First Edition)