MCCCD Program Description

United States History 1865 to Present

Course: HIS104

First Term: 2026 Fall

Lecture 3.0 Credit(s) 3.0 Period(s) 3.0 Load
Subject Type: Academic
Load Formula: S - Standard Load

Description: The political, economic, and social development of United States from 1865 to the present time.

MCCCD Official Course Competencies
1. Interpret the failure of post-Civil War Reconstruction through different perspectives, including Presidential, Congressional, and Radical Reconstruction. (I, II) 2. Address the communities already existing in the American West and the impact they felt resulting from westward migration and American expansionism. (III) 3. Analyze America’s Industrial Revolution and its impact on urbanization, global immigration, and resulting social reforms up to the Progressive Era. (IV, V, VI) 4. Compare American expansionism and imperialism through the examples of foreign policy, trade, and global conflicts such as the Spanish-American War and World War I. (VII, VIII) 5. Investigate the economic, social, and cultural changes in the Roaring Twenties as illustrated in consumer culture, race and gender relations, prohibition, and the Red Scare. (IX) 6. Explain the causes and effects of the Great Depression, including varied human experiences and coalitions. (X) 7. Assess the American experience of World War II at home and abroad. (XI) 8. Explain Cold War affluence, anxiety, and their impact on global politics, American security, and consumer culture. (XII, XIII) 9. Explore civil rights activism among African American, Asian American, Indigenous, Mexican American, and women`s movements. (XIV) 10. Discuss the Cold War implications of the Vietnam War and how Americans responded. (XV, XVI) 11. Interpret the rise of conservatism and the New Right in the 1970s and 1980s. (XVII, XVIII) 12. Discuss the end of the Cold War, global instability, and American responses up to 2001. (XIX) 13. Review 21st-century national elections and their social, economic, cultural, and global contexts as experienced by contemporary Americans. (XX, XXI)
MCCCD Official Course Competencies must be coordinated with the content outline so that each major point in the outline serves one or more competencies. MCCCD faculty retains authority in determining the pedagogical approach, methodology, content sequencing, and assessment metrics for student work. Please see individual course syllabi for additional information, including specific course requirements.

MCCCD Official Course Outline
I. Reconstruction 1865-1877 A. Presidential Reconstruction B. Congressional Reconstruction C. Radical Reconstruction 1. Freedmen`s Bureau 2. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments II. Redemption and The Lost Cause A. Compromise of 1877 B. “Redeeming” The New South 1. Black Codes 2. Rise of Jim Crow and white supremacy III. The West A. Native Americans 1. Tribes and Culture 2. Federal Indian Policy 3. Warfare and Dispossession B. The Multicultural West 1. Mexican settlements 2. Asian communities 3. The role of women C. U.S. Westward Expansion 1. Expansion and settlement of the west 2. Black migration westward 3. Western commercial industries a. Mining b. Cattle c. Farming D. Mythology of the West 1. Manifest Destiny 2. Spanish fantasy heritage IV. Industrialization, Immigration, and Urbanization A. An Industrial Empire 1. Railroads, Steel, and Oil and the Robber Barons 2. Technology and Innovations B. New Business Models 1. Horizontal and Vertical Integration 2. Monopolies 3. Trusts C. Urbanization 1. Crowded cities 2. Rural to Urban migration within America 3. New Immigrant Communities a. European immigrants in New England and the Midwest b. Asian immigrants in the West V. The Gilded Age A. American Working Conditions 1. The Industrial Workforce 2. The Labor Movement 3. Settlement Houses 4. Social Darwinism B. Rise of the Populist Movement 1. The Panic of 1893 2. Farmers’ Alliances 3. People’s Party 4. The Silver Crusade VI. The Spirit of Progressivism A. Presidential Progressivism 1. Theodore Roosevelt and the Square Deal 2. William Howard Taft and monopoly busting 3. Woodrow Wilson and moral progressivism B. Social Reform Movements 1. Americanization programs 2. Women’s rights and suffrage movements 3. Black Progressives 4. Temperance and Prohibition C. Limits of the Progressive movement VII. America and the World: Toward Empire A. U.S. looks outward Motivations for Imperialism 1. Resources 2. Markets 3. Competing with other empires for dominance B. Spanish-American War C. Empire Building 1. Territorial claims 2. Racial, moral, and cultural colonialism 3. Open Door Policy 4. Big Stick Diplomacy VIII. America and World War I A. Isolationism until Woodrow Wilson B. U.S. joins the War U.S. Motivations for joining the War 1. Western competition 2. Alliances 3. Attacks 4. Influence over global affairs C. Ending the War 1. Fourteen Points 2. Peace without Victory 3. Treaty of Versailles IX. The New Era (The 1920s) A. Republican economic policies: Harding and Coolidge 1. The New Economy 2. Corporate consolidation 3. Open shops and corporate welfare B. Life in the Roaring Twenties 1. Automobiles, consumerism, and advertising 2. “The New Woman” 3. “The New Negro” (or Harlem Renaissance) 4. Prohibition and resistance C. A Conflict of Cultures 1. The Red Scare 2. Revival of the KKK 3. Religious fundamentalism and the Scopes Trial X. Great Depression and the New Deal A. The Great Depression Begins 1. Herbert Hoover and the end of the 1920s 2. Great Crash B. New Liberalism 1. Election of FDR 2. The first and second New Deals 3. Challenges to the New Deal 4. Impacts of the New Deal C. Human Impact 1. Depression-era migrations 2. Federally-supported work and arts projects 3. Poverty and resilience 4. Self-reliance and community organizing 5. Racial coalitions and class identities in labor movements XI. World War II, 1939-1945 A. Road to War B. Isolationism and international influence C. War in Europe D. Alliances and partnerships E. America’s role in World War II 1. Military engagements in Europe 2. Military engagements in the Pacific F. Home Front 1. Women and the war effort 2. Mexican Americans and/or the Bracero program 3. Tuskegee airmen 4. Japanese internment G. The Atomic Bomb XII. The Cold War A. The Cold War Begins: Division of Europe B. Containment 1. Truman Doctrine 2. Marshall Plan 3. Berlin Airlift 4. Western military alliance C. Cold War expands to Asia 1. China 2. Korea D. Cold War at home 1. The Red Scare 2. McCarthyism XIII. Affluence and Anxiety A. Affluence B. National economic growth 1. Freeways 2. Military industrial complex 3. Global superpower/atomic power 4. Advances in science, medicine, and technology 5. Individual affluence a. Baby Boom b. Suburbanization c. Consumerism and purchasing power C. Anxiety 1. Fear of nuclear war 2. Red Scare 3. Loss of regional identity due to suburbanization 4. Hardening of gender roles 5. Civil rights movements and Black freedom struggle D. Literary and artistic criticism of Cold War culture XIV. Civil Rights Movements A. African American, Asian American, Indigenous, Mexican American 1. Origins 2. Legislative attempts and court cases 3. Organizations, social activism 4. Individualized resistance and community activism 5. Inter-group dynamics and ideological differences B. Women’s coalitions and others XV. Cold War Continues A. John F. Kennedy 1. Cuba 2. Foreign policy B. Vietnam War 1. Origins of American involvement 2. Presidential approaches to Vietnam War XVI. The Cold War at Home A. Great Society B. Antiwar Sentiment and Escalation C. Space Race D. Watergate and Political Disillusionment XVII. Rise of Conservatism and the New Right A. Motivations and Origins of Cold War Conservatism B. Political Alignments C. Legislative Platforms D. The Equal Rights Amendment XVIII. Economic Recessions of the 1970s A. President Ford and Carter B. Oil, OPEC, and Inflation C. Ford Administration D. Troubles of Jimmy Carter E. The Reagan Revolution XIX. The 1980s A. The End of the Cold War 1. Detente 2. The Berlin Wall and the fall of the USSR B. The Reagan Presidency 1. Domestic and Economic Policies 2. Deindustrialization and the decline of the Rust Belt 3. Foreign Policy, Iran-Contra, and US involvement in global affairs C. American Culture: Myth and Realities 1. Media 2. Workplace and social conditions D. Information and Technological Revolutions XX. The End of the 20th Century A. George H. Bush Presidency 1. Economic Recession 2. Third Party Challenges B. Bill Clinton Presidency 1. Economic Prosperity 2. A contract with America 3. Changing National Demographics 4. Scandals and Controversies C. George W. Bush 1. Controversial Election of 2000 2. Confronting a New Century 3. 9/11 and Global Terrorism 4. Iraq and Afghan Wars XXI. The 21st Century A. American Reactions to 21st century issues 1. 9/11 2. Technological changes and advancements 3. Climate Change 4. Global pandemics B. Globalization and America’s global role C. Political Divisions D. The influence of shifting demographics 1. Social movements and coalitions 2. Contemporary Political, Social, Economic Conditions in America E. The Impact of American History in Contemporary Society

MCCCD Governing Board Approval Date: May 27, 2025

All information published is subject to change without notice. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information presented, but based on the dynamic nature of the curricular process, course and program information is subject to change in order to reflect the most current information available.