8th Grade U. S. History Learning Targets

First 3 Week Cycle

GEOGRAPHY

COLONIES

CAUSES LEADING UP TO THE WAR

Ø Mayflower Compact;

Ø The English Bill of Rights; and

Ø how the Great Awakening contributed to the desire for a Revolution.

Second 3 Week Cycle

AMERICAN REVOLUTION

War/events/battles

Declaration of Independence

Ø Declaration of Independence: "all men are created equal" and "unalienable rights" and

Ø impact of the American Revolution on France and other nations.

Third 3 Week Cycle

ARTICLES OF CONFEDEREATION

CONSTITUTION I

3 Branches

Ø Articles of Confederation;

Ø Jefferson" s Statute of Religious Freedom;

Ø abolition of slavery in early state constitutions;

Ø significance of the Northwest Ordinance in education and in the banning of slavery in new states north of the Ohio River;

Ø how the Articles of Confederation shaped the development of American government and ideas;

Ø how the ordinances of 1785 and 1787 privatized national resources and transferred federally owned lands into private holdings, townships, and states;

Ø the Constitution" s clauses on interstate commerce, common coinage, and full-faith credit and the advantages of common market among the states;

Ø the significance of Shay" s Rebellion and how the central government responded to it;

Ø federalism and checks and balances;

Ø how the Constitution preserves individual rights with the Bill of Rights;

Ø the major debates during the development of the Constitution and their ultimate resolutions: (the Virginia Plan, New Jersey Plan, separation of powers, federalism, Three-Fifths Compromise, and Great Compromise); and

Ø the philosophy of the Constitution as specified in the Federalist Papers.

Fourth 3 Week Cycle

CONSTITUTION II

Bill of Rights

Ø principles of dual sovereignty and separation of powers;

Ø the powers of government stated in the Constitution;

Ø fundamental liberties ensured by the bill of rights;

Ø the nature and purpose of majority rule;

Ø functions and responsibilities of a free press; and

Ø the law-making process and opportunities for citizens to participate and monitor it through elections, political parties and interest groups.

Fifth 3 Week Cycle

LAUNCHING THE NATION

Washington

Adams

Ø the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments

Ø how Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton" s conflicting views resulted in the emergence of two political parties

Ø the significance of the Whiskey Rebellion and ways in which the central government responded to it

Ø the details and various outcomes of the treaties between American Indian Nations and the first four presidents

Ø the country" s physical landscapes, political divisions, and territorial expansion during George Washington" s term in office

Ø Washington" s Farewell Address

Ø the country" s physical landscapes, political divisions, and territorial expansion during John Adam" s term in office

Sixth 3 Week Cycle

JEFFERSONIAN ERA

Jefferson

Louisiana

Lewis & Clark

Ø Thomas Jefferson" s 1801 Inaugural Address; and

Ø Jefferson" s presidential term, the Louisiana Purchase, and Lewis and Clark expedition.

Seventh 3 Week Cycle

AGE OF JACKSON

Indian Removal Act

-sect.1&3 (8.8.1) Andrew Jackson and his actions as president

-sect.2 (8.4.3) the rise of capitalism and the economic problems and conflicts that accompanied it

-sect. 3 (8.8.2) westward expansion and Manifest Destiny

WESTWARD EXPANSION

Trails West

Texas Revolution

Mexican & American War

California Gold Rush

Ø the details of the Texas War for Independence and its effects on Americans then and Mexicans today;

Ø Mexican settlements, their locations, cultural traditions, attitudes toward slavery, land-grant system and economies;

Ø the details of the Mexican-American War and its effects on Americans then and Mexicans today;

Ø the great rivers and the struggle over water rights; and

Ø the annexation of Texas and the issue of slavery.

Eighth 3 Week Cycle

WAR OF 1812

the causes and consequences of the War of 1812

the country" s physical landscapes, political divisions and territorial expansion during James Madison" s term in office

A NEW NATIONAL IDENTITY

Foreign Policy

Nationalism and Sectionalism

Ø the influence of the Monroe Doctrine on the relationship between the U.S. and Mexico, Canada, and Europe; and

Ø John Adam" s Fourth of July Address of 1821 (p. 286 and R44 in back of text).

Ø Henry clay" s American System: obstacles and factors involved in building a network of roads, canals and railroads

NEW MOVEMENTS IN AMERICA

Ø reasons for Irish immigration from Northern Europe to the United States and the growth of cities;

Ø the development of American education and Horace Mann" s campaign for free public education;

Ø the founding of schools and churches by free black Americans in the north; and

Ø Harriet Tubman & the Underground Railroad, Theodore Weld, William Garrison, Frederick Douglas.

Ninth 3 Week Cycle

THE NORTH

Industrial Revolution

Change in Working Conditions

Transportation

Technological Advances

Ø the influence of industrial and technological developments on the growth of cities, deforestation, farming, and mineral extraction

THE SOUTH

Growth of Cotton

Southern Society

Slave System

Ø the locations of the cotton- producing states of the south, and the significance of cotton and the cotton gin;

Ø the characteristics of white southern society and how the physical environment influenced events prior to the Civil War; and

Ø the similarities and differences between the lives of free blacks in the north and free blacks in the south.

Ø the laws of free blacks that limited their freedom and economic opportunity

Ø the effects of slavery on black Americans and on the region" s cultural development

Tenth 3 Week Cycle

A DIVIDED NATION

Slavery Debate

Kansas

Political Divisions

Nation Divides

Ø the significance of California" s admission to the union as a free state under the Compromise of 1850;

Ø the Wilmot Proviso of 1846 and the Missouri Compromise of 1820

Ø the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854;

Ø the boundaries and geographical differences between the north and the south;

Ø differences between agrarians and industrialists;

Ø Missouri Compromise and Compromise of 1850, Dred Scott v Sanford decision (1857), Lincoln-Douglas debates (1858);

Ø Abraham Lincoln" s House Divided speech of 1858 and inaugural address of 1861;

Ø John Brown and the armed resistance; and

Ø the push- pull factors in the movement of former slaves to the cities in the north and west and their differing experiences in those regions.

THE CIVIL WAR

War Begins

War in the East/West

Daily life during the war

Tide of war turns

Ø the major battles of the Civil War: geographic advantages and obstacles;

Ø technological advances during the Civil War;

Ø General Lee" s surrender at Appomattox;

Ø the effects of the Civil War on soldiers, civilians, physical environment and future warfare; and

Ø the views and lives of Ulysses S. Grant, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and soldiers on both sides, including black soldiers and regiments.

Eleventh 3 Week Cycle

RECONSTRUCTION II

Ø the effects of the Freedman" s Bureau on the rights and opportunities of freedmen;

Ø the original goals of Reconstruction;

Ø the effects of Reconstruction on the political and social structure of different regions;

Ø "Jim Crow" laws; and

Ø the rise and impact of the Ku Klux Klan.

Final 3 Week Cycle

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION / AMERICAN BECOMES A WORLD POWER

Ø big business

Ø new immigration

Ø US gains overseas territories

Ø The US and Latin America