SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARDS - Grades 9-12

(Revised 3-15-05)

U.S. HISTORY

          A. *Indigenous People of North America

1. Standard: The student will demonstrate knowledge of indigenous cultures in North America prior to and during western exploration.

         

Benchmarks

Gr. 9

Gr. 10

Gr. 11

Gr. 12

1. Students will identify important cultural aspects and regional variations of major North American Indian nations.

X

X

 

 

 

B. *Three Worlds Converge, 1450-1763

1. Standard: The student will understand how European exploration and colonization resulted in cultural and ecological interactions among previously unconnected peoples.

 

Benchmarks

Gr. 9

Gr. 10

Gr. 11

Gr. 12

1.  Students will identify the stages and motives of European oceanic and overland exploration from the 15th to the 17th centuries.

X

 

 

 

2. Students will describe the consequences of early interactions between Europeans and American Indian nations.

X

 

 

 

3. Students will describe key characteristics of West African kingdoms and the development of the Atlantic slave trade.

X

 

 

 

 

2. Standard: The student will demonstrate knowledge of the colonies and the factors that shaped colonial North America.

 

Benchmarks

Gr. 9

Gr. 10

Gr. 11

Gr. 12

1. Students will compare and contrast life within the colonies and their geographical areas, including New England, Mid-Atlantic and Southern colonies, and analyze their impact.

X

 

 

 

2. Students will identify the growing differences and tensions between the European colonies, England and American Indian Nations.

X

 

 

 

 

3. Standard: The student will understand the economic development of the English colonies in North America and the exploitation of enslaved Africans.

 

Benchmarks

Gr. 9

Gr. 10

Gr. 11

Gr. 12

1. Students will describe and evaluate the enslavement of Africans, the Middle Passage and the use of slave labor in European colonies.

X

 

 

 

 

          C. *Revolution and the New Nation, 1763-1820

1. Standard: The student will demonstrate knowledge of the causes, course and consequences of the American Revolution.

 

Benchmarks

Gr. 9

Gr. 10

Gr. 11

Gr. 12

1. Students will analyze the major economic, political and philosophical conflicts leading to the American Revolution including the roles of the First and Second Continental Congresses and the Declaration of Independence.

X

 

 

 

2. Students will explain how and why the Americans won the war against superior British resources, analyzing the role of key leaders, major campaigns and events, and participation by ordinary soldiers and civilians.

X

 

 

 

3. Students will explain the impact of the Revolutionary War on groups within American society, including loyalists, patriots, women and men, Euro-Americans, enslaved and free African Americans, and American Indians.

X

 

 

 

 

         

 

 

 

 

 

2. Standard: The student will understand the foundation of the American government and nation.

 

Benchmarks

Gr. 9

Gr. 10

Gr. 11

Gr. 12

1. Students will identify and explain the basic principles that were set forth in the documents that declared the nation’s independence (the Declaration of Independence, inalienable rights and self-evident truths) and that established the new nation’s government (the Constitution).

X

 

 

 

2. Students will describe and evaluate the major achievements and problems of the Confederation period, and analyze the debates over the Articles of Confederation and the revision of governmental institutions that created the U.S. Constitution and the revision of governmental institutions that created the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and the interpretive function of the Supreme Court.

X

 

 

 

3. Students will describe and explain the emergence of the first American party system.

X

 

 

 

 

D. *Expansion, Innovation and Reform, 1801-1861

1. Standard: The student will demonstrate knowledge of the early republic and how territorial expansion affected foreign relations.

 

Benchmarks

Gr. 9

Gr. 10

Gr. 11

Gr. 12

1. Students will describe the causes and analyze the effects of the Louisiana Purchase, the War of 1812, and the Monroe Doctrine.

X

 

 

 

2. Students will analyze the impact of territorial expansion on American Indian nations and the evolution of federal and state Indian policies.

X

 

 

 

3. Students will analyze the causes and consequences of U.S. geographic expansion to the Pacific, including the concept of Manifest Destiny and the Mexican-American War.

X

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Standard: The student will understand how explosive growth (economic, demographic, geographic) and technological innovation transformed American society.

 

Benchmarks

Gr. 9

Gr. 10

Gr. 11

Gr. 12

1. Students will describe and analyze the impact of innovations in industry, technology and transportation on life in America.

X

 

 

 

2. Students will examine demographic growth and patterns of population change and their consequences for American society before the Civil War.

X

 

 

 

 

3. Standard: The student will understand the sources, characteristics and effects of antebellum reform movements.

 

Benchmarks

Gr. 9

Gr. 10

Gr. 11

Gr. 12

1. Students will understand the sources, characteristics and effects of cultural, religious and social reform movements, including the abolition, temperance and women’s rights movements.

X

 

 

 

 

4. Standard: The student will understand the extension, restriction, and reorganization of political democracy after 1800.

 

Benchmarks

Gr. 9

Gr. 10

Gr. 11

Gr. 12

1. Students will describe and analyze changes in American political life including the spread of universal white male suffrage, restrictions on free African Americans, and the emergence of the Second Party System.

X

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

E. Civil War Reconstruction 1850-1877

1. Standard: The student will demonstrate knowledge of the long- and short-term causes of the Civil War.

 

Benchmarks

Gr. 9

Gr. 10

Gr. 11

Gr. 12

1. Students will identify and explain the economic, social and cultural differences between the North and the South.

X

 

 

 

2. Students will understand and analyze the political impact of debates over slavery and growing sectional polarization in key events, including the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Law, the rise of the Republican party, the Southern secession movement and the formation of the Confederacy.

X

 

 

 

 

*Civil War and Reconstruction, 1850-1877

2. Standard: The student will understand the course, character, and outcome of the Civil War.

 

Benchmarks

Gr. 9

Gr. 10

Gr. 11

Gr. 12

1. Students will identify events and leaders of the war, and analyze how the differences in resources of the Union and Confederacy (economy, technology, demography, geography, political and military leadership) affected the course of the war and Union victory.

X

 

 

 

2. Students will describe and explain the social experience of the war on battlefield and home front, in the Union and the Confederacy.

X

 

 

 

3. Students will analyze the significance of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and its views of American political life.

X

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Standard: The student will demonstrate knowledge of the consequences of Civil War and Reconstruction.

 

Benchmarks

Gr. 9

Gr. 10

Gr. 11

Gr. 12

1. Students will describe the content of and reasons for the different phases of Reconstruction, and analyze their successes and failures in transforming social and race relations.

X

 

 

 

2. Students will understand and explain the political impact of the war and its aftermath in Reconstruction, including emancipation and the redefinition of freedom and citizenship, expansion of the federal bureaucracy; expansion of federal authority and its impact on states’ rights.

X

 

 

 

         

          F. *Reshaping the Nation and the Emergence of Modern America, 1877-1916

1. Standard: The student will analyze the process of Westward Expansion in the late 19th Century.

 

Benchmarks

Gr. 9

Gr. 10

Gr. 11

Gr. 12

1. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the effects of post-Civil War westward expansion including the resulting conflicts with American Indian nations.

X

 

 

 

 

2. Standard: The student will describe and analyze the linked processes of industrialization and urbanization after 1870.

 

Benchmarks

Gr. 9

Gr. 10

Gr. 11

Gr. 12

1. Students will demonstrate knowledge about how the rise of corporations, heavy industry and mechanized farming transformed the American economy, including the role of key inventions and the growth of national markets.

X

 

 

 

2. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the rapid growth of cities and the transformation of urban life, including the impact of migration from farms and new technologies, the development of urban political machines, and their role in financing, governing and policing cities.

X

 

 

 

 

 

3. Standard: The student will demonstrate knowledge of the causes and consequences of immigration to the United States from 1870 to the first World War.

 

Benchmarks

Gr. 9

Gr. 10

Gr. 11

Gr. 12

1. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the massive wave of “New” immigration after 1870, its differences from the “Old” immigration, and its impact on new social patterns, conflict, and ideas of national unity.

X

X

 

 

 

4. Standard: The student will understand the origins of racial segregation.

 

Benchmarks

Gr. 9

Gr. 10

Gr. 11

Gr. 12

1. Students will demonstrate knowledge of the imposition of racial segregation, African American disfranchisement, and growth of racial violence in the post-reconstruction South, the rise of “scientific racism,” and the debates among African-Americans about how best to work for racial equality.

 

X

 

 

 

5. Standard: The student will describe how industrialization changed nature of work and the origins and role of labor unions in the 1870s, 1880s and 1890s.

 

Benchmarks

Gr. 9

Gr. 10

Gr. 11

Gr. 12

1. Students will demonstrate knowledge about how the rise of industry changed the nature of work in factories, the origins of labor unions, and the role of state and federal governments in labor conflicts.

X

X