Curriculum

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G RADE L EVEL C ONTENT E XPECTATIONS (2007)
F1.1 Describe the ideas, experiences, and interactions that influenced the colonists’ decisions to declare independence by analyzing F1.2 Using the Declaration of Independence, including the grievances at the end of the document, describe the role this document played in expressing: F1.3 Describe the consequences of the American Revolution by analyzing the:
 * Foundations in U.S. History and Geography: Below are the three grade level content expectations that finished up 5th grade. We review these before beginning the 8th grade expectations. **
 * //colonial ideas about government (e.g., limited government, republicanism, protecting individual rights and promoting the common good, representative government, natural rights)//
 * //experiences with self-government (e.g., House of Burgesses and town meetings)//
 * //changing interactions with the royal government of Great Britain after the French and Indian War//
 * // colonists’ views of government //
 * // their reasons for separating from Great Britain. //
 * // birth of an independent republican government //
 * // creation of Articles of Confederation //
 * // changing views on freedom and equality //
 * // and concerns over distribution of power within governments, between government and the governed, and among people //


 * The 8th grade expectations begin with United States History and Geography (USHG) in the third era: //ERA 3 – REVOLUTION AND THE NEW NATION (1765-1800)//. Below, you'll see each expectation preceded by an annotation. The "U" comes from USHG, the "3" represents Era 3, and since **//** U3.1 **//** and **//** U3.2 **//** were covered in 5th grade (and reviewed this year) we'll begin with **//** U3.3 **//** . **

U3.3 Creating New Government(s) and a New Constitution: Explain the challenges faced by the new nation and analyze the development of the Constitution as a new plan for governing.
 * __// U3.3.1 //__ // Explain the reasons for the adoption and subsequent failure of the Articles of Confederation (e.g., why its drafters created a weak central government, challenges the nation faced under the Articles, Shays’ Rebellion, disputes over western lands). (C2) //
 * __// U3.3.2 //__ // Identify economic and political questions facing the nation during the period of the Articles of Confederation and the opening of the Constitutional Convention. (E1.4) //
 * __// U3.3.3 //__// Describe the major issues debated at the Constitutional Convention including the distribution of political power, conduct of foreign affairs, rights of individuals, rights of states, election of the executive, and slavery as a regional and federal issue. //
 * __// U3.3.4 //__// Explain how the new constitution resolved (or compromised) the major issues including sharing, separating, and checking of power among federal government institutions, dual sovereignty (state-federal power), rights of individuals, the Electoral College, the Three-Fifths Compromise, and the Great Compromise. //
 * __// U3.3.5 //__// Analyze the debates over the ratification of the Constitution from the perspectives of Federalists and Anti-Federalists and describe how the states ratified the Constitution. (C2) //
 * __// U3.3.6 //__// Explain how the Bill of Rights reflected the concept of limited government, protections of basic freedoms, and the fear of many Americans of a strong central government. (C3) //
 * __// U3.3.7 //__// Using important documents (e.g., Mayflower Compact, Iroquois Confederacy, Common Sense, Declaration of Independence, Northwest Ordinance, Federalist Papers), describe the historical and philosophical origins of constitutional government in the United States using the ideas of social compact, limited government, natural rights, right of revolution, separation of powers, bicameralism, republicanism, and popular participation in government. (C2) //


 * Below begins a new era in U.S. History and Geography: //ERA 4 – EXPANSION AND REFORM (1792-1861)//. From the "sink or swim" beginnings of our young nation through "Manifest Destiny", this era opens the questions and issues that instigate the Civil War. **

U4.1 Challenges to an Emerging Nation: Analyze the challenges the new government faced and the role of political and social leaders in meeting these challenges.
 * U4.1.1// Washington’s Farewell – Use Washington’s Farewell Address to analyze the most significant challenges the new nation faced and the extent to which subsequent Presidents heeded Washington’s advice. (C4) //
 * __// U4.1.2 //__// Establishing America’s Place in the World – Explain the changes in America’s relationships with other nations by analyzing treaties with American Indian nations, Jay’s Treaty (1795), French Revolution, Pinckney’s Treaty (1795), Louisiana Purchase, War of 1812, Transcontinental Treaty (1819), and the Monroe Doctrine. (C4) //
 * __// U4.1.3 //__// Challenge of Political Conflict – Explain how political parties emerged out of the competing ideas, experiences, and fears of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton (and their followers), despite the worries the Founders had concerning the dangers of political division, by analyzing disagreements over //
 * // relative power of the national government (e.g., Whiskey Rebellion, Alien and Sedition Acts) and of the executive branch (e.g., during the Jacksonian era) (C3) //
 * // foreign relations (e.g., French Revolution, relations with Great Britain) (C3) //
 * // economic policy (e.g., the creation of a national bank, assumption of revolutionary debt) (C3, E2.2) //
 * __// U4.1.4 //__// Establishing a National Judiciary and Its Power – Explain the development of the power of the Supreme Court through the doctrine of judicial review as manifested in Marbury v. Madison (1803) and the role of Chief Justice John Marshall and the Supreme Court in interpreting the power of the national government (e.g., McCullouch v. Maryland, Dartmouth College v. Woodward, Gibbons v. Ogden). (C3, E1.4, 2.2) //

U4.2 Regional and Economic Growth: Describe and analyze the nature and impact of the territorial, demographic, and economic growth in the first three decades of the new nation using maps, charts, and other evidence.
 * __// U4.2.1 //__// Comparing Northeast and the South – Compare and contrast the social and economic systems of the Northeast and the South with respect to geography and climate and the development of //
 * // agriculture, including changes in productivity, technology, supply and demand, and price (E1.3,1.4) //
 * // industry, including entrepreneurial development of new industries, such as textiles (E1.1) //
 * // the labor force including labor incentives and changes in labor forces (E1.2) //
 * // transportation including changes in transportation (steamboats and canal barges) and impact on economic markets and prices (E1.2,1.3) //
 * // immigration and the growth of nativism //
 * // race relations //
 * // class relations //
 * __// U4.2.2 //__// The Institution of Slavery – Explain the ideology of the institution of slavery, its policies, and consequences. //
 * __// U4.2.3 //__// Westward Expansion – Explain the expansion, conquest, and settlement of the West through the Louisiana Purchase, the removal of American Indians (Trail of Tears) from their native lands, the growth of a system of commercial agriculture, the Mexican-American War, and the idea of Manifest Destiny. (E2.1) //
 * __// U4.2.4 //__// Consequences of Expansion – Develop an argument based on evidence about the positive and negative consequences of territorial and economic expansion on American Indians, the institution of slavery, and the relations between free and slaveholding states. (C2) //

U4.3 Reform Movements: Analyze the growth of antebellum American reform movements.
 * __// U4.3.1 //__// Explain the origins of the American education system and Horace Mann’s campaign for free compulsory public education. (C2) //
 * __// U4.3.2 //__// Describe the formation and development of the abolitionist movement by considering the roles of key abolitionist leaders (e.g., John Brown and the armed resistance, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, Sojourner Truth, William Lloyd Garrison, and Frederick Douglass), and the response of southerners and northerners to the abolitionist movement. (C2) //
 * __// U4.3.3 //__// Analyze the antebellum women’s rights (and suffrage) movement by discussing the goals of its leaders (e.g., Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton) and comparing the Seneca Falls Resolution with the Declaration of Independence. (C2) //
 * __// U4.3.4 //__// Analyze the goals and effects of the antebellum temperance movement. (C2) //
 * __// U4.3.5 //__// Evaluate the role of religion in shaping antebellum reform movements. (C2) //


 * Below begins a new era in U.S. History and Geography: **//** ERA 5 – CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION (1850-1877) **//** . Building from the previous content of expansion, the Civil War looked to settle differences in political ideals that had been building sine the Constitutional Convention. Consequently, the years following the American Civil War were unique. All the hardships that the nation had faced could never have prepared for such devastation. With half a million fatalities and an economy in ruins, the period we call Reconstruction was just that. **

U5.1 The Coming of the Civil War: Analyze and evaluate the early attempts to abolish or contain slavery and to realize the ideals of the Declaration of Independence.
 * __ //U5.1.1// __ //Explain the differences in the lives of free blacks (including those who escaped from slavery) with the lives of free whites and enslaved peoples.//
 * __ //U5.1.2// __ //Describe the role of the Northwest Ordinance and its effect on the banning of slavery (e.g., the establishment of Michigan as a free state).//
 * __ //U5.1.3// __ //Describe the competing views of Calhoun, Webster, and Clay on the nature of the union among the states (e.g., sectionalism, nationalism, federalism, state rights).//
 * __ //U5.1.4// __ //Describe how the following increased sectional tensions//
 * //the Missouri Compromise (1820)//
 * //the Wilmot Proviso (1846)//
 * //the Compromise of 1850 including the Fugitive Slave Act//
 * //the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) and subsequent conflict in Kansas//
 * //the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision (1857)//
 * //changes in the party system (e.g., the death of the Whig party, rise of the Republican party and division of the Democratic party)//
 * __ //U5.1.5// __ //Describe the resistance of enslaved people (e.g., Nat Turner, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, John Brown, Michigan’s role in the Underground Railroad) and effects of their actions before and during the Civil War.//
 * __ //U5.1.6// __ //Describe how major issues debated at the Constitutional Convention such as disagreements over the distribution of political power, rights of individuals (liberty and property), rights of states, election of the executive, and slavery help explain the Civil War.//

U5.2 Civil War: Evaluate the multiple causes, key events, and complex consequences of the Civil War.
 * __// U5.2.1 //__// Explain the reasons (political, economic, and social) why Southern states seceded and explain the differences in the timing of secession in the Upper and Lower South. //
 * __// U5.2.2 //__// Make an argument to explain the reasons why the North won the Civil War by considering the //
 * // critical events and battles in the war //
 * // the political and military leadership of the North and South //
 * // the respective advantages and disadvantages, including geographic, demographic, economic and technological //
 * __// U5.2.3 //__// Examine Abraham Lincoln’s presidency with respect to //
 * // his military and political leadership //
 * // the evolution of his emancipation policy (including the Emancipation Proclamation) //
 * // and the role of his significant writings and speeches, including the Gettysburg Address and its relationship to the Declaration of Independence //
 * __// U5.2.4 //__// Describe the role of African Americans in the war, including black soldiers and regiments, and the increased resistance of enslaved peoples. //
 * __// U5.2.5 //__// Construct generalizations about how the war affected combatants, civilians (including the role of women), the physical environment, and the future of warfare, including technological developments. //

U5.3 Reconstruction: Using evidence, develop an argument regarding the character and consequences of Reconstruction.
 * __// U5.3.1 //__// Describe the different positions concerning the reconstruction of Southern society and the nation, including the positions of President Abraham Lincoln, President Andrew Johnson, Republicans, and African Americans. //
 * __// U5.3.2 //__// Describe the early responses to the end of the Civil War by describing the //
 * // policies of the Freedmen’s Bureau //
 * // restrictions placed on the rights and opportunities of freedmen, including racial segregation and Black Codes //
 * __// U5.3.3 //__// Describe the new role of African Americans in local, state and federal government in the years after the Civil War and the resistance of Southern whites to this change, including the Ku Klux Klan. //
 * __// U5.3.4 //__// Analyze the intent and the effect of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution. //
 * __// U5.3.5 //__// Explain the decision to remove Union troops in 1877 and describe its impact on Americans. //


 * Grade 8 begins to address trends and patterns in the last half of the 19th century, through 1898 with **//** ERA 6 – THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INDUSTRIAL, URBAN, AND GLOBAL UNITED STATES (1870-1930). **//

U6.1 America in the Last Half of the 19th Century: Analyze the major changes in communication, transportation, demography, and urban centers, including the location and growth of cities linked by industry and trade, in last half of the 19th century. The purpose of this section is to introduce some of the major changes in American society and the economy in the last part of the 19th Century. This era will be addressed in-depth and with greater intellectual sophistication in the high school United History and Geography content expectations.
 * __// U6.1.1 //__// America at Century’s End – Compare and contrast the United States in 1800 with the United States in 1898 focusing on similarities and differences in //
 * // territory, including the size of the United States and land use //
 * // population, including immigration, reactions to immigrants, and the changing demographic structure of rural and urban America //
 * // systems of transportation (canals and railroads, including the Transcontinental Railroad), and their impact on the economy and society //
 * // governmental policies promoting economic development (e.g., tariffs, banking, land grants and mineral rights, the Homestead Act) //
 * // economic change, including industrialization, increased global competition, and their impact on conditions of farmers and industrial workers //
 * // the treatment of African Americans, including the rise of segregation in the South as endorsed by the Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, and the response of African Americans //
 * // the policies toward American Indians, including removal, reservations, the Dawes Act of 1887, and the response of American Indians //

U6.2 Investigation Topics and Issue Analysis: Use the historical perspective to investigate a signiﬁcant historical topic from United States History Eras 3-6 that also has signiﬁcance as an issue or topic in the United States today.
 * // __U6.2.1__ United States History Investigation Topic and Issue Analysis, Past and Present – Use historical perspectives to analyze issues in the United States from the past and the present; conduct research on a historical issue or topic, identify a connection to a contemporary issue, and present findings (e.g., oral, visual, video, or electronic presentation, persuasive essay, or research paper); include causes and consequences of the historical action and predict possible consequences of the contemporary action. //

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Michigan Educational Technology Standards
In addition, the state of Michigan and the Michigan Department of Education adopted the Michigan Education Technology Standards (METS). These standards state the needs students have meet prior to exiting 8th grade (there is a set for each grade level). See how we measured up by clicking here for the METS 6-8 Grade.