HL Options: Depth Studies - History of the Americas

1: Indigenous societies and cultures in the Americas (c750-1500)

• Types of political organization: non-sedentary, semi-sedentary, confederations and empires; the role of local and state authorities

• The role of warfare in maintaining and expanding political organization

• Economic and social structures: role and nature of the tribute; landholding; agricultural production; systems of exchange; nature of the tribute in societies without money

• Religion: polytheistic beliefs; relationship between religious and political powers; relationship between man and nature

• Culture: written and unwritten language; contributions to scientific development and the arts

2: European explorations and conquests in the Americas (c1492-c1600)

• Exploration and conquest in North America: Columbus; conquest of the Caribbean; French and British exploration and occupation in North America

• Exploration and conquest in Latin America: Cortés and the conquest of the Aztecs; reasons for Spanish success and Aztec defeat; Pizarro and the conquest of the Incas; later defeat of Manco Inca; reasons for Spanish success and Inca defeat

• Economic impact of exploration and conquest: exploitation of resources; acquisition of gold and silver; fur trade; tobacco trade; the “Columbian Exchange”

• Treatment of indigenous populations; Law of Burgos (1512), New Laws of the Indies (1542); assimilation; eradication; social stratification; use of indigenous labour; women; multiracial issues

• European rivalries; Treaty of Tordesillas (1494); conflicting land claims based upon exploration; impact of conflicting claims

3: Colonial government in the New World (1500-1800)

• Political organization in Spanish and Portuguese America: viceroyalty system, captaincy system; Habsburg and early Bourbon rule; the Braganza rule

• Political organization in British and French North America: corporate, royal and proprietary; charters

• Colonial American economies; encomienda, yanaconaje and Mita; plantations; organization of trade; mercantilism; role of gold, silver and sugar

• Bourbon reforms and Pombaline reforms: reasons, nature and impact

• Limits of state power and resistance to authority

• Anglo-French rivalry in North America to 1763; Anglo-French relationships and alliances with indigenous peoples; French and Indian Wars

4: Religion in the New World (1500-1800)

• The aims of the Catholic church in Spanish and Portuguese America; its influence; resistance of indigenous populations to Christianization

• Jesuits, Franciscans and Dominicans in Spanish and Portuguese America: economic and political organization; relations with indigenous populations; challenges to government authority

• Indigenous religions and Christianity; syncretism

• Religious tolerance and intolerance in British North America: Puritans, Quakers, Anglicans and Catholics

• The Great Awakening c1720–c1760; social and political impact

• Religion in New France: Black Robes, Jesuits and Recollects

5: Slavery and the New World (1500-1800)

• Reasons for, and origins of, slavery

• Role of the colonial powers in the establishment and expansion of slavery; asiento system

• Economic and social impact of slavery

• Living and working conditions: the Middle Passage; social structures on plantations in the West Indies, Brazil and the southern colonies

• Slave resistance and slave rebellions

• Opposition to the slave trade and slavery: Quakers and other early abolitionists

6: Independence movements (1763-1830)

• Independence movements in the Americas: political, economic, social and religious causes; the influence of Enlightenment ideas; the role of foreign intervention; conflicts and issues leading to war

• Political, intellectual and military contributions of leaders to the process of independence: Washington, Bolivar and San Martin

• United States: processes leading to the Declaration of Independence; influence of ideas; nature of the declaration; military campaigns/battles and their impact on the outcome

• Latin America: characteristics of the independence processes; reasons for the similarities and differences in two Latin American countries; military campaigns/battles and their impact on the outcome

• Attitude of the United States towards Latin American independence; nature of, and reasons for, the Monroe Doctrine

• Impact of independence on the economies and societies of the Americas: economic cost of the wars of independence; the establishment of new trade relations; impact on different social groups—specifically indigenous peoples, African Americans, Creoles

7: Nation-building and challenges (c1780-c1870)

• United States: Articles of Confederation; the 1787 Constitution: philosophical underpinnings; major compromises and changes in the US political system

• Latin America: challenges to the establishment of political systems; the nature of caudillo rule, and regional conditions leading to its establishment; the policies and impact of caudillo rule in one country

• War of 1812: causes and impact on British North America and the United States

• Mexican–American War (1846–1848): causes and effects on the region

• Canada: causes and effects of 1837 rebellions; the Durham report and its implications; challenges to the Confederation; the British North America Act of 1867—compromises, unresolved issues, regionalism, effects

8: United States’ Civil War: Causes, course and effects (1840-1877)

• Slavery: cotton economy and slavery; conditions of enslavement; adaptation and resistance; abolitionist debate—ideological, legal, religious and economic arguments for and against slavery, and their impact

• Origins of the Civil War: the Nullification Crisis; states’ rights; sectionalism; slavery; political issues; economic differences between the North and South

• Reasons for, and effects of, westward expansion and the sectional debates; the crises of the 1850s; compromise of 1850; political developments, including the Lincoln–Douglas debates and the presidential election of 1860

• Union versus Confederate: strengths and weaknesses; economic resources; role and significance of leaders during the Civil War; role of Lincoln; significant military battles/campaigns

• Factors affecting the outcome of the Civil War; the role of foreign relations; the Emancipation Proclamation (1863) and participation of African Americans in the Civil War

• Reconstruction: presidential and congressional plans; methods of southern resistance; economic, social and political successes and failures

• African Americans in the New South: legal issues; the black codes; Jim Crow laws

9: The development of modern nations (1865-1929)

• Causes and consequences of railroad construction; industrial growth, urbanization and economic modernization; the development of international and inter-American trade; neocolonialism and dependency

• Causes and consequences of immigration; emigration and internal migration, including the impact upon, and experience of, indigenous peoples

• Development and impact of ideological trends, including progressivism, Manifest Destiny, liberalism, nationalism, positivism, social Darwinism, “indigenismo” and nativism

• Social and cultural changes: developments in the arts; changes in the role of women

• Influence of leaders in the transition to the modern era: political and economic aims; the successes and failures of Theodore Roosevelt, Wilfrid Laurier and any one Latin American leader

• Social, economic and legal conditions of African Americans between 1865 and 1929; Plessy versus Ferguson, the Great Migration and the Harlem Renaissance; the search for civil rights and the ideas, aims and tactics of Booker T Washington, WEB Du Bois and Marcus Garvey

10: Emergence of the Americas in global affairs (1880-1929)

• United States’ expansionist foreign policies: political, economic, social and ideological reasons

• Spanish–American War (1898): causes and effects

• Impact of United States’ foreign policies: the Big Stick; Dollar Diplomacy; moral diplomacy

• United States and the First World War: from neutrality to involvement; reasons for US entry into the First World War; Wilson’s peace ideals and the struggle for ratification of the Treaty of Versailles in the United States; significance of the war for the United States’ hemispheric status

• Involvement of either Canada or one Latin American country in the First World War: nature of, and reasons for, involvement

• Impact of the First World War on any two countries of the Americas: economic, political, social and foreign policies

11: The Mexican Revolution (1884-1940)

• Rule of Porfirio Diaz from 1884; political control; contribution to discontent

• Causes of the Mexican Revolution: social, economic and political

• The revolution and its leaders (1910–1917): ideologies, aims and methods of Madero, Villa, Zapata, Carranza; achievements and failures; the 1917 Constitution—nature and application

• Construction of the post-revolutionary state (1920–1940): Obregón, Calles and the Maximato; challenges; assessment of their impact in the post-revolutionary state

• Lázaro Cárdenas and the renewal of the revolution (1934–1940): aims, methods and achievements

• The role of foreign powers (especially the United States) in the outbreak and development of the Mexican Revolution; motivations, methods of intervention and contributions

• Impact of the revolution on women, the arts, education and music

12: The Great Depression and the Americas (mid 1920s-1939)

• The Great Depression: political and economic causes in the Americas

• Nature and efficacy of solutions in the United States: Hoover; Franklin D Roosevelt and the New Deal

• Critics of the New Deal; impact of the New Deal on US political and economic systems

• Nature and efficacy of solutions in Canada: Mackenzie King and RB Bennett

• Impact of the Great Depression on Latin America; political instability and challenges to democracy; economic and social challenges

• Latin American responses to the Great Depression: import substitution industrialization (ISI); social and economic policies; popular mobilization and repression

• Impact of the Great Depression on society: specifically the impact on women and minorities; impact of the Great Depression on the arts and culture

13: The Second World War and the Americas (1933-1945)

• Hemispheric reactions to the events in Europe and Asia: inter-American diplomacy; cooperation and neutrality; Franklin D Roosevelt’s Good Neighbour policy—its application and effects

• Involvement and participation of any two countries of the Americas in the Second World War

• Social impact of the Second World War; impact on women and minorities; conscription

• Treatment of Japanese Americans, Japanese Latin Americans and Japanese Canadians

• Reasons for, and significance of, US use of atomic weapons against Japan

• Economic and diplomatic effects of the Second World War in any two countries of the Americas

14: Political developments in Latin America (1945-1980)

• The Cuban Revolution: political, social and economic causes

• Rule of Fidel Castro: Cuban nationalism; political, economic, social and cultural policies; treatment of opposition; successes and failures; impact on the region

• Populist leaders in two countries: rise to power and legitimacy; ideology; social, economic and political policies; the treatment of opposition

• Democracy in crisis: reasons for the failure of elected leaders

• Rise of a military dictatorship in one country: reasons for their rise to power; economic and social policies; repression and treatment of opposition

• Guerrilla movements in one country: origins, rise and consequences

• Liberation theology in Latin America: origins, growth and impact

15: Political developments in the United States (1945-1980) and Canada (1945-1982)

• Truman and the Fair Deal; division within Democratic Party; congressional opposition; domestic policies of Eisenhower

• Kennedy and the New Frontier; Johnson and the Great Society

• Nixon’s domestic policies; Watergate and possible impeachment; Ford’s domestic policies and pardon of Nixon; Carter’s domestic policies; changing composition and internal conflicts within the Democratic and Republican parties in the 1960s and 1970s, and the impact on elections

• Domestic policies of Canadian prime ministers: St Laurent, Diefenbaker; political stability and nationalism; social and political change under Pearson and Trudeau

• Causes and effects of the Quiet Revolution; rise of Quebec nationalism, the Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ) and the October Crisis of 1970

16: The Cold War and the Americas (1945-1981)

• Truman: containment and its implications for the Americas; the rise of McCarthyism and its effects on domestic and foreign policies of the United States; social and cultural impact of the Cold War

• Korean War, the United States and the Americas: reasons for participation; military developments; diplomatic and political outcomes

• Eisenhower and Dulles: New Look and its application; characteristics and reasons for the policy; repercussions for the region

• United States’ involvement in Vietnam: the reasons for, and nature of, the involvement at different stages; domestic effects and the end of the war; Canadian non-support of the war; Latin American protest against the war

• United States’ foreign policies from Kennedy to Carter: the characteristics of, and reasons for, policies; implications for the region: Kennedy’s Alliance for Progress; Nixon’s covert operations and Chile; Carter’s quest for human rights and the Panama Canal Treaty (1977)

• Cold War in either Canada or one Latin American country: reasons for foreign and domestic policies and their implementation

17: Civil rights and social movements in the Americas post-1945

• Indigenous peoples and civil rights in the Americas

• African Americans and the civil rights movement: origins, tactics and organizations; the US Supreme Court and legal challenges to segregation in education; ending of segregation in the south (1955–1980)

• Role of Dr Martin Luther King Jr in the civil rights movement; the rise of radical African American activism (1965–1968): Black Panthers; Black Power and Malcolm X; role of governments in civil rights movements in the Americas

• Feminist movements in the Americas; reasons for emergence; impact and significance

• Hispanic American movement in the United States; Cesar Chavez; immigration reform

• Youth culture and protests of the 1960s and 1970s: characteristics and manifestation of a counter-culture

18: The Americas (1980-2005)

• The United States: domestic policies of presidents Reagan, GHW Bush and Clinton; challenges; effects on the United States; impact upon the hemisphere; continuities and changes in US foreign policy: Reagan, GHW Bush and Clinton; from bipolar to unilateral power; impact on the region

• Canadian domestic policies: Mulroney governments (1984–1993), collapse of the Progressive Conservative Party; Chrétien in power (1993–2003), Quebec and separatism

• Transition to democracy in two countries of Latin America: reasons for democratization; role of internal and external factors

• Post-transition challenges in two countries of Latin America: economic challenges and debt; justice and reconciliation; political parties and the role of the military

• Violent and non-violent movements in two countries of Latin America: causes, aims and impact; role of religion, including liberation theology

• Economic and political cooperation in the Americas: reasons for and impact

• Terrorism; 9/11 and response: domestic impact