Table of Contents
Introduction: History: A Fact-Finding Mission with Thrilling New Discoveries! 1
Chapter 1 Before and After the Europeans Arrived 13
1 Studying U.S. History Where Do We Start? 14
2 Original American Populations 18
3 Europeans Enter the Pictures 25
4 European Colonization of North America 28
Chapter 2 How the United States Came to be 39
1 An Irresistible Opportunity 40
2 The French and Indian War (1754-1763) 46
3 The Rise, and Rising Up, of the Colonies 49
4 The Founding Fathers and One Founding Mother 54
5 The Declaration of Independence 57
6 Battling It Out 59
7 The Constitution: A Tale of Two Houses 65
8 A New President for a New Country 72
Chapter 3 Westward Expansion 77
1 Double or Nothing: This Louisiana Purchase 78
2 Lewis and Clark Expedition 84
3 Marbury v. Madison and Judicial Review 88
4 The War of 1812 94
5 From Homespun to Factory: The First Industrial Revolution 97
6 Andrew Jackson and Jacksonian Democracy 100
7 A New President and an Economic Depression 105
8 The Mexican-American War 106
Chapter 4 A War is Brewing 111
1 The Excuse for Enslavement 112
2 The Abolitionist Movement 117
3 The Underground Railroad 124
4 The Nat Turner Rebellion 128
5 The Government Tries to Keep the Country Together 131
6 A Turning Point Toward War 137
7 The Election of 1860 139
Chapter 5 The Civil War and its Aftermath 145
1 Southern Uprising 146
2 The Emancipation Proclamation 151
3 Black Soldiers in the Union Army 153
4 War Rages On 158
5 The Gettysburg Address 164
6 Reconstruction 167
7 A Country Now Connected, Literally 173
8 The End of Reconstruction 175
Chapter 6 The Gilded Age and the Progressive Era 181
1 Big Change Rides the Rails 182
2 What Was the Gilded Age? 187
3 The Second Industrial Revolution and Immigration 191
4 Factory Work 197
5 The Rise of Big Business 203
6 The Jim Crow South 208
7 The Progressive Era and the Social Gospel 209
Chapter 7 The United States Enters a World War 221
1 America's New International Influence 222
2 Theodore Rossevelt Steps int the Presidency 225
3 The Women's Movement Gains Momentum 236
4 The United States Enters World War I 241
5 The War Ends 253
Chapter 8 From Roaring to Warring: The '20s, '30s, and '40s 259
1 The Roaring Twenties 260
2 The Stock Market Crashes 269
3 FDR: A New President and a New Deal 275
4 The Seeds of World War II 281
5 Two Victories for the Allies 288
Chapter 9 From the Cold War to Civil Rights 295
1 America after World War II 296
2 A Cold War Sets In 299
3 The Cold War in the United States 306
4 The Civil Rights Movement 313
Chapter 10 War and Disillusionment 329
1 The Vietnam War 330
2 The War at Home 335
3 Growing Distrust and Activism 343
4 The Equal Rights Amendment 346
5 Big-Time Money Troubles 348
6 The Presidency of Jimmy Carter 351
7 The Reagan Era 354
8 The AIDS Crisis Begins 359
9 President George H. W. Bush 361
Chapter 11 Prosperity and Conflict 369
1 The Presidency of Bill Clinton 370
2 A War Against Crime, on U.S. Soil 377
3 Scandal and Impeachment 379
4 The George W. Bush Era 383
5 The War on Terror 387
6 The Second Term of the Bush Presidency 392
Chapter 12 A First Draft of the History of Today 399
1 The 2008 Presidential Election 400
2 The Obama Era 402
3 The 2016 Presidential Election 408
4 The Trump Presidency 409
5 Pandemic 412
6 Gun Control 415
7 The #MeToo Movement 417
8 Climate Change 419
9 A Racial Divide Continues 421
10 New Leaders Promise "A Time of Healing" 424
Chapter 13 How to Think Like a Historian Out in the Real World of Research, News, and Social Media 429
1 Important Things to Know (and Emulate) about Historians 431
2 Detecting Bias 436
3 Evaluating Internet Sources 444
4 Fake News 452
Bonus Section 462
1 The Declaration of Independence, Translated into Plain English 462
2 U.S. Presidents 478
Text Credits 481
About the Creators 482
