Given the changing nature of the Internet, you may wish to preview these sites. Always check for updated links to U.S. history sites.

Allow one week to teach this chapter.

Many of the essays a student will be asked to write for the AP* exam are expository in nature. Exposition informs the reader. A piece of expository writing presents, explains, or defines information, or gives instructions. An essay prompt on the AP* exam may ask students to compare and contrast events, or explain a cause-and-effect relationship. Expository writing is objective and factual. It does not call for a student's opinion or for a persuasive tone. It does require that students present facts and details to support the thesis statement. The Test Bank presents a number of suggestions for essays; it might be useful to duplicate some of them and have students determine which call for expository essays and of what type (definitional, explanatory, presentational).

Chapter 9 deals with U.S. history from 1800 to roughly 1830 and describes the times as one of "intense political activity, religious enthusiasm, economic growth, and westward expansion." Sectional tensions were beginning to show in the political dealing of the regions—Northeast, South, and Trans-Appalachian West (the Old Northwest). On the AP* exam, there is a heavy emphasis on the relations between the new government and Native Americans.

Students should be referred back to Washington's Farewell Address and his view of the danger of foreign entanglements to the stability of the new nation—a policy Jefferson attempted to follow. Point out, however, that the War of 1812 once and for all established the United States as a nation among nations. By fighting the greatest military power in the world to a draw, the new nation ensured its sovereignty—even though it would have had to rely on that same military power should any European nation have tried to establish dominion in the Americas after the proclamation of the Monroe Doctrine.

These three themes—states' rights, slavery, and expansion—will continue as themes through much of the nineteenth century. Students should begin to track these themes in table form, noting the event, issue, or situation; its resolution; major actors; and legacy. Students should answer the question of whether the solution solved the problem or simply left the problem to be solved at another time. For the most part, they will find that no solution truly solved any issue related to states' rights and the extension of slavery, but only put it off or created a new problem for someone else to solve.

You might also find these additional readings useful in developing students' background knowledge or for DBQ activities: