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Skills
//USI.1 The student will demonstrate skills for historical and geographical analysis and responsible citizenship, including the ability to// a) identify and interpret primary and secondary source documents to increase understanding of events and life in United States history to 1865; b) make connections between the past and the present; c) sequence events in United States history from pre-Columbian times to 1865; d) interpret ideas and events from different historical perspectives; e) evaluate and discuss issues orally and in writing; f) analyze and interpret maps to explain relationships among landforms, water features, climatic characteristics, and historical events; g) distinguish between parallels of latitude and meridians of longitude; h) interpret patriotic slogans and excerpts from notable speeches and documents; i) identify the costs and benefits of specific choices made, including the consequences, both intended and unintended, of the decisions and how people and nations responded to positive and negative incentives.

New CE.1

 * create and explain maps, diagrams, tables, charts, graphs, and spreadsheets;
 * analyze political cartoons, political advertisements, pictures, and other graphic media;
 * distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information;
 * review information for accuracy, separating fact from opinion;
 * identify a problem, weigh the expected costs and benefits and possible consequences of proposed solutions, and recommend solutions, using a decision-making model;
 * formulate an informed, carefully reasoned position on a community issue;
 * select and defend positions in writing, discussion, and debate.

Geography
//USI.2 The student will use maps, globes, photographs, pictures, or tables to// a) locate the seven continents and five oceans; b) locate and describe the location of the geographic regions of North America: Coastal Plain, Appalachian Mountains, Canadian Shield, Interior Lowlands, Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, Basin and Range, and Coastal Range; c) locate and identify the water features important to the early history of the United States: Great Lakes, Mississippi River, Missouri River, Ohio River, Columbia River, Colorado River, Rio Grande, St. Lawrence River, Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Gulf of Mexico; d) recognize key geographic features on maps, diagrams, and/or photographs.

Exploration to Revolution: Pre-Columbian Times to the 1770s
//USI.3 The student will demonstrate knowledge of how early cultures developed in North America by// a) describing how archaeologists have recovered material evidence of ancient settlements, including Cactus Hill in Virginia. b) locating where the American Indians lived, with emphasis on the Arctic (Inuit), Northwest (Kwakiutl), Plains (Lakota), Southwest (Pueblo), and Eastern Woodlands (Iroquois); c) describing how the American Indians used the resources in their environment.

//USI.4 The student will demonstrate knowledge of European exploration in North America and West Africa by// a) describing the motivations for, obstacles to, and accomplishments of the Spanish, French, Portuguese, and English explorations; b) describing cultural and economic interactions between Europeans and American Indians that led to cooperation and conflict, with emphasis on the American Indian concept of land; c) identifying the location and describing the characteristics of West African societies (Ghana, Mali, and Songhai) and their interactions with traders.

USI.5 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the factors that shaped colonial America by a) describing the religious and economic events and conditions that led to the colonization of America; b) describing life in the New England, Mid-Atlantic, and Southern colonies, with emphasis on how people interacted with their environment to produce goods and services, including examples of specialization and interdependence; c) describing colonial life in America from the perspectives of large landowners, farmers, artisans, women, free African Americans, indentured servants, and enslaved African Americans; d) identifying the political and economic relationships between the colonies and Great Britain.

Revolution and the New Nation: 1770s to the Early 1800s
//USI.6 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the causes and results of the American Revolution by// a) identifying the issues of dissatisfaction that led to the American Revolution; b) identifying how political ideas shaped the revolutionary movement in America and led to the Declaration of Independence; c) describing key events and the roles of key individuals in the American Revolution, with emphasis on George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry; d) explaining reasons why the colonies were able to defeat Great Britain.

New CE.2
The student will demonstrate knowledge of the foundations of American constitutional government by a) explaining the fundamental principles of consent of the governed, limited government, rule of law, democracy, and representative government; b) explaining the significance of the charters of the Virginia Company of London, the Virginia Declaration of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and the Constitution of the United States, including the Bill of Rights;

//USI.7 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the challenges faced by the new nation by// a) identifying the weaknesses of the government established by the Articles of Confederation; b) describing the historical development of the Constitution of the United States; c) describing the major accomplishments of the first five presidents of the United States.

New CE.2
The student will demonstrate knowledge of the foundations of American constitutional government by c) identifying the purposes for the Constitution of the United States as stated in its Preamble; d) identifying the procedures for amending the Constitution of Virginia and the Constitution of the United States.

Expansion and Reform: 1801 to 1861
//USI.8 The student will demonstrate knowledge of westward expansion and reform in America from 1801 to 1861 by// a) describing territorial expansion and how it affected the political map of the United States, with emphasis on the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark expedition, and the acquisitions of Florida, Texas, Oregon, and California; b) identifying the geographic and economic factors that influenced the westward movement of settlers; c) describing the impact of inventions, including the cotton gin, the reaper, the steamboat, and the steam locomotive, on life in America; d) identifying the main ideas of the abolitionist and women’s suffrage movements.

Civil War: 1861 to 1865
//USI.9 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the causes, major events, and effects of the Civil War by// a) describing the cultural, economic, and constitutional issues that divided the nation; b) explaining how the issues of states’ rights and slavery increased sectional tensions; c) identifying on a map the states that seceded from the Union and those that remained in the Union; d) describing the roles of Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, and Frederick Douglass in events leading to and during the war; e) using maps to explain critical developments in the war, including major battles; f) describing the effects of war from the perspectives of Union and Confederate soldiers (including African American soldiers), women, and enslaved African Americans.