Apush summer Reading Assignment Dear 2014-2015 apush student

I am very much looking forward to teaching you next year! The APUSH curriculum is being re-vamped and you will be the guinea pigs for the new (and hopefully improved) course. Our first unit will cover pre-colonial America and the Atlantic World. I am giving you two articles by prominent historians of the era, James Sweet and Bernard Bailyn. Sweet discusses the origins of racism in America while Bailyn covers the chaos of life in the Atlantic World. You may have learned in World History that the Atlantic World refers to the area on the borders of Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Usually, Atlantic World Historians discuss the interaction of the many cultures that exist in these borderlands and the exchange of goods, diseases, and ideas that happen throughout. Bailyn focuses on the violence and brutality of this area and in this time period.

Please read and annotate the given articles. You should be specifically looking for the author’s thesis and the types of evidence used to prove his thesis. I am also including guiding questions which may prove helpful as you read. On the first day of school, I will check your annotations and give you a writing prompt. You will have a good portion of the class to write and show me that you have a full understanding of what you read. I very much look forward to working with you on improving your knowledge of US History as well as the skills that are crucial to historians such as reading, writing, chronological thinking, and argumentation.

I hope you have a wonderful, restful summer and come back ready to learn in the Fall. Please feel free to write me an e-mail if you are struggling with the reading or have questions about the course. My e-mail is mmthomas3@cps.edu. I’ll see you in a few months.

Ms. Thomas

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  What does Bailyn mean when he describes the Atlantic world as a “marchland?”
  
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  Why does Bailyn share so many stories of blood, guts, and violence in this article? What point is he trying to make?
  
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  What evidence does Bailyn give of “social disorder” and “social disorientation” in his article?
  
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  What was the role that written accounts played in the way Europeans understood the New World?
  
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  What is Bailyn referring to when he discusses a New Jerusalem?
  

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  What does Sweet believe about the relationship of racism and culture in early Iberian society?
  
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  What does he use as evidence to show that racism existed in Africa as early as the 9^th Century?
  
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  Explain the relationship between religion (both Muslim and Christian) and racism according to Sweet.
  
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  Explain what happened to end the trade of Caucasian slaves in the Mediterranean.
  
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  What social hierarchies does Sweet discuss?