2017 AP US History Summer Assignment

This summer’s assignment will serve as your introduction to AP US History. The written assignment (Part II) is due on your first day of class. This should be hand-written or typed in google docs and shared with me. You will have a quiz on the Geography/Amendments part of the assignment within the first two weeks of school. Should you have questions about the assignment, please feel free to email me at [email protected]. I will be away from technology a few times this summer, so please understand if it takes me a few days to respond. To decrease the chance that your message is caught in the school filter, please use your own school email address.

Part I: Geography/Amendments Within the first two weeks of school, you will take your first test. This is designed to measure preparation and to establish a basic level of geographic knowledge important to the class. You will need to be able to locate, without a word bank, all 50 states, and name their capitals. You will have a word bank in order to locate the following landforms and bodies of water on a physical map of the US:

Atlantic Coastal Plain Hudson River Red River Gulf Coastal Plain Chesapeake Bay Rio Grande Appalachian Mountains Potomac River Colorado River Great Plains Ohio River Columbia River Rocky Mountains Tennessee River Atlantic Ocean Great Salt Mississippi River Great Salt Lake Lake Missouri River St. Lawrence River Sierra Nevada Mountains Gulf of Mexico Pacific Ocean

You may find it helpful to use the following site to practice your states and capitals: http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games.htm

You will also be tested on the following amendments which come up frequently in US History.

Amendment Effect 1 Freedom of Religion, Speech, Press, Petition and Assembly are protected 2 Right to bear arms 3 Citizens can’t be forced to quarter troops 4 Protection from illegal search and seizure/right to privacy 5 Protection from double jeopardy and self-incrimination 6 Right to a speedy and fair trial 7 Right to a jury in a civil suit 8 Protection from cruel and unusual punishment 12 President and Vice President run on the same ticket 13 Ended slavery 14 Gave all citizens equality under the law 15 Allowed African-American males the right to vote 16 Allowed for the income tax 17 Direct election of senators 18 Made prohibition constitutional 19 Gave women the right to vote 21 Ended prohibition 22 Limited a President to two elected terms and ten total years 24 Ended the poll tax

Part II: Reading You are to select a biography of any important American, read it, and write a review of the book. The book you choose must be written for adults, and must be longer than 250 pages.

After you have read the book, you are to write a review. Your review should be 750-1000 words. It should NOT be a simple summary of the book. It SHOULD be an exploration of what YOU have determined is the person’s biggest imprint on US History. Explore this impact and explain it, providing evidence from the book you read.

A list of suggested books follows. This list isn’t nearly encompassing of the possibilities that exist. If there is a book you would like to read that is not on the list, you will need to clear it with me first. Many of these books can be found at the Watauga County Library or at the ASU Library.

John Adams- David McCullough Alexander - Washington: A Life- Ron Chernow - David McCullough Benjamin Franklin: An American Life: Walter Isaacson His Excellency, : Joseph Ellis American Sphinx: The Character of - Joseph Ellis Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr- Ron Chernow American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the - John Meacham With Malice Toward None: A Biography of Abraham Lincoln- Stephen B. Oates Lee- Douglass Southall Freeman First Family: Abigail and - Joseph Ellis Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power- John Meacham Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom- Catharine Clinton True Compass: A Memoir- Edward M. Kennedy Let the Trumpet Sound: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr.- Stephen Oates Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors- Stephen Ambrose Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America- Walter Borneman Up From Slavery- Booker T. Washington - Jean Edwards Smith Eleanor and Franklin- Joseph P. Lash The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks- Rebecca Skloot Zelda- Nancy Milford Portrait of an Artist: A Biography of Georgia O’Keefe- Laurie Lisle Vindication: A Life of Mary Wollstonecraft- Lyndall Gordon A Personal History- Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol- Nell Irvin Painter