Unit 9: Contemporary America (1980-Present)
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Unit 9: (1980-Present) Contemporary America
Unit 9 Key Concepts (Period: 1980-Present):
Key Concept 9.1 — A newly ascendant conservative movement achieved several political and policy goals during the 1980s and continued to strongly influence public discourse in the following decades.
Key Concept 9.2 — Moving into the 21st century, the nation experienced significant technological, economic, and demographic changes.
Key Concept 9.3 — The end of the Cold War and new challenges to U.S. leadership forced the nation to rede ne its foreign policy and role in the world.
Chapters in Text: 40-42
Content: 1980 Election; Reagan’s Domestic and Foreign Policies; Poverty and rising disparity of wealth; Bush and the End of the Cold War; Gulf War; Clinton as a The New Democrat; technology and economic effects; 9/11 and the Domestic and Foreign Effects; Iraq and Afghanistan Wars; President Obama and a Change/Hope?
Assessments for the 4th Quarter
- Assessment: Take Home Test (~22 points)
- HW: 3 Turning Point Events (9 points)
**Extra Credit:
- Completion of the Extra Credit Template (see General Info and Materials tab of website) for the Unit Key Concepts (Up to 10 % points added onto your Assessment Grade for the Unit.) You must complete all 3 Key Concepts for full extra credit.
Primary Sources:
Photocopy
(1) Reagan’s Acceptance Speech at the Republican National Convention (July, 1980)-
Within Voices of Freedom (little text)
(2) Jerry Falwell’s Listen America (1980)
(3) Puwat Chaukomnoetkanok’s Triple Identity: My Life as an Immigrant in America (1990)
(4) The National Security Strategy of the United States (2002)
(5) Senator Robert Byrd’s Speech to Congress (Feb. 2003)
Link to Video Homework:
Many Rivers to Cross, Episode 6: A More Perfect Union
America: The Story of US: Millennium Episode
