The American Pageant cover

The American Pageant

by Thomas A. Bailey

The American Pageant, written by the late Thomas A. Bailey, is an American high school history textbook often used for AP US History courses. Since his death in 1983, it's been updated by historians David M. Kennedy & Lizabeth Cohen. Prefaces Acknowledgments New World beginnings The completion of English colonization The duel for North America Colonial life on the eve of revolt The road to revolution America secedes from the empire The confederation & the Constitution Launching the new ship of state Federalists & foreign friction The triumph of Jeffersonian democracy Madison & the second war for independence The post-war upsurge of nationalism, 1815-24 The emergence of Jacksonian democracy Jacksonian democracy at flood tide Manifest Destiny in the forties The revolution in industry & transportation, 1790-1860 Population, religion & education, 1790-1860 Social reform & cultural gains, 1790-1860 The South & the slavery controversy Renewing the sectional struggle, 1848-54 Drifting toward disunion, 1854-61 The war for Southern independence Behind the lines: North & South The ordeal of reconstruction Grantism & Republican rule, 1869-80 Personalities, politics & reform, 1880-89 Transportation, industry & labor, 1865-1900 New social & cultural horizons, 1865-1900 The great West & the agricultural revolution, 1865-90 The revolt of the debtor, 1889-1900 The path of empire America on the world stage, 1899-1909 Theodore Roosevelt & the Square Deal Taft & the Progressive revolt Woodrow Wilson & the new freedom The road to World War I The War to End War, 1917-18 Making & breaking the peace Harding & the mirage of normalcy Calvin Coolidge & the Jazz Age Hoover & the onset of the Depression Franklin D. Roosevelt & the New Deal Franklin D. Roosevelt & foreign affairs America in World War II Truman & the Cold War Korea & the challenge to the West The end of the Eisenhower era New frontiersmen on the Potomac Widening horizons Appendices Index

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🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?