Grade 8 Social Studies Mississippi standards Standards

U.S. History: Exploration through Reconstruction (1877)

Grade 8

Examine major aspects of the development of the United States from Exploration to 1754.

Trace explorers' routes to the New World.

Explain the development and impact of the Columbian Exchange.

Identify the economic, political, and religious reasons for founding the Thirteen Colonies.

Describe how the English Bill of Rights, Mayflower Compact, and Virginia House of Burgesses led to the English Colonial idea of self-government.

Examine the diversity that emerged from the establishment of Colonial America.

Describe the social structures that formed in the various colonies including the role of indentured servitude and slavery.

Describe the relationships between the various Native American and colonial groups.

Analyze the Reconstruction efforts in the post-Civil War United States.

Compare congressional and presidential Reconstruction plans.

Analyze southern resistance to Reconstruction reforms (e.g., Black Codes, Jim Crow Laws, Ku Klux Klan, etc.).

Trace the economic changes in the post- Civil War South (e.g., Lincoln's Plan, Wade-Davis Bill, Johnson's Plan, Radical Reconstruction, etc.).

Examine the roles of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments in expanding liberty for more Americans.

Identify the significance of the impact of the Compromise of 1877.

Evaluate the key people, factors and events which led to the American Revolution and the establishment of the United States government.

Analyze the causes and consequences of the French and Indian War.

Recognize the major reasons for English taxes after the French and Indian War and colonial responses from 1763-1774 (e.g., Proclamation of 1763, Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Townshend Acts, Boston Massacre, Tea Act, Boston Tea Party, Intolerable Acts, etc.).

Identify key figures in the Revolutionary Era and their influence on the movement (e.g., George Washington, Samuel Adams, Crispus Attucks, John Adams, John Hancock, Mercy Otis Warren, etc.).

Compare and contrast the decisions of the first and second Continental Congresses.

Explain the historical and present-day significance of the Declaration of Independence.

Examine the immediate events that led to the first shot of the Revolutionary War (e.g., Stamp Act, Townshend Acts, Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party, etc.).

Examine the significance of the major battles in the Revolutionary War (e.g., Lexington and Concord, Bunker Hill, Quebec, Charleston, Valley Forge, Cowpens, etc.).

Evaluate the terms of the Treaty of Paris, 1783.

Examine the development of the Constitution of the United States of America.

Describe the powers given to the Continental Congress by the Articles of Confederation.

Analyze the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation that led to a call for a new constitution.

Identify the major compromises at the Constitutional Convention.

Describe the framework of the United States Constitution, including powers of the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches.

Describe the process of a bill becoming a law.

Describe the compromises between Federalists and Anti-Federalists that led to the creation of the Bill of Rights.

Analyze the challenges and central ideas involved in creating the new nation.

Evaluate the differences in political opinions that led to the formation of political parties.

Examine the lasting influence of George Washington as the first President of the United States.

Analyze the impact of President George Washington's Farewell Address on the presidency of the United States.

Analyze the significance of early Supreme Court cases and explain their impacts on the United States (e.g., Marbury vs Madison (1803), McCulloch vs Maryland (1819), Dartmouth College vs Woodward (1819), Worcester vs Georgia (1832), etc.).

Examine the development and impact of early foreign policy decisions on the United States (e.g., French Revolution, Neutrality Proclamation, War of 1812, etc.).

Examine the development and impact of the Jacksonian Era (e.g., Corrupt Bargain, Democratic Party Bank War, Nullification Crisis, etc.).

Interpret the geographical, social, and political causes, effects, and challenges of westward expansion.

Evaluate the reasoning behind the Louisiana Purchase.

Discuss the significance of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Describe the purpose and challenges of Manifest Destiny.

Analyze the political, religious, and economic incentives of Manifest Destiny.

Summarize Andrew Jackson's role in the expansion of the United States (e.g. , Jacksonian Era, "Corrupt Bargain", Democratic Party, Bank War, Nullification Crisis, Indian Removal, etc.).

Examine the motivations and consequences of the Indian Removal Act (e.g., Cherokee "Trail of Tears", etc.).

Interpret the causes, effects, and challenges of the Industrial Revolution.

Summarize the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the United States.

Identify key people and their contributions to the Industrial Revolution.

Trace the development of transportation and communication systems during the Industrial Revolution.

Compare and contrast the cultural, religious, and social impact of the Industrial Revolution on America.

Assess how geography influenced the location of factories.

Evaluate the impact of social and political reforms on the development of American society.

Examine abolitionists' role in bringing attention to the impact of slavery on the nation (e.g., Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Harriet Beecher Stowe, etc.).

Examine the actions of enslaved people to resist the institution of slavery (e.g., Negro Spirituals, Harriet Tubman, Nat Turner rebellion, etc.).

Compare and contrast the philosophies of natural rights expressed in the Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of Sentiments (e.g., "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights", etc.).

Examine leaders of the Women's Suffrage Movement and their goals and strategies (e.g., Dorothea Dix, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony, etc.).

Assess the social and economic conflicts between the North and South that led to the American Civil War.

Trace the origins and development of slavery in the United States.

Describe the impact of the Industrial Revolution in northern states.

Evaluate the importance of agriculture in southern states.

Analyze the impact of the cotton gin on all social classes.

Examine impact of slavery on the nation's political, social, religious, economic, and cultural development.

Identify major legislation and Supreme Court decisions that strived to both overturn and preserve slavery resulting in sectional strife (e.g., Missouri, Compromise, Compromise of 1850, Fugitive Slave Acts, Kansas-Nebraska Act, Underground Railroad, Dred Scott, etc.).

Identify key people and evaluate the significant events of the American Civil War.

Analyze the reasons for the Civil War (e.g., slavery, states' rights, etc.).

Examine key battles and plans which shaped decisions for the North and the South (e.g., Fort Hood, First Bull Run, Shiloh, Antietam, Vicksburg, Gettysburg, Sherman March, Anaconda Plan, etc.).

Identify significant political and military leaders from the North and the South and examine their contributions.

Evaluate the contributions of women, African Americans, and other minority groups to the war effort (e.g., Clara Barton, 54th Massachusetts Regiment, Native Americans, etc.).

Analyze the factors that led to the Northern victory of the Civil War (e.g., total war, industrial, population, resources, technological advantages, etc.).

Analyze key government documents and actions of the Civil War (e.g., Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg Address, draft laws, etc.).