Colonies to the Constitution

Grade Level: 8th Grade

Subject: Social Studies

Time Frame: 7 weeks (August/September)

Big Understandings

- investigate and evaluate primary and secondary sources about United States history from the American Revolution through Reconstruction to formulate and defend a point of view with textual evidence
- the historical eras, individuals, groups, ideas and themes from the origins of the American Revolution through Reconstruction
- use geographic tools to research and analyze patterns in human and physical systems in the United States
- competition for control of space and resources in early American History
- economic freedom, including free trade was important for economic growth in early American History

Essential Questions

- how has the Declaration of Independence influenced other nations?
- which primary documents have had the greatest impact on the people of the United States?
- should and can historians be completely impartial when writing about history?
- how have the basic values and principles of American democracy changed over time and in what ways have they been preserved?
- to what extent are the ideas of the American Revolution and the United States Constitution still affecting the world today?
- what would the United States be like if the British had won the American Revolution?
- to what extent was the Civil War an extension of the American Revolution?
- how has human settlement including migration influenced and been influenced by changes in physical systems and culture?
- how can geographic tools help explore patterns in human and physical systems?
- how have people and the environment interacted to produce changes over time?
- how is human activity limited by the environment?
- how as the environment influenced human activity?
- how will the location of resources lead to cooperation or conflict in the future?
- how has conflict over space and resources influenced human migration?
- how have differing perspectives regarding resource and land use, occupancy, and ownership led to cooperative policies or conflict?
- how would human settlement patterns be different if people did not trade resources with others?
- how do societies benefit from trade and exchange?
- why is it important for nations to control trade and exchange?
- what are the benefits and challenges of trade at the international, national, state, local, and individual levels?
- how does where and how you purchase products affect the social, economic, and environmental conditions?
- what impact upon productivity results from taxation?
- what concerns do citizens have with taxation?

By the end of the unit, students will be able to:

- use and interpret documents and other relevant primary and secondary sources pertaining to United States history from multiple perspectives
- analyze evidence from multiple sources including those with conflicting accounts about specific events in United States history
- critique data for point of view, historical context, distortion, or propaganda and relevance to historical inquiry
- construct a written historical argument supported by evidence demonstrating the use or understanding of primary and secondary sources
- determine and explain the historical context of key people and events from the origins of the American Revolution through Reconstruction including the examination of different perspectives (grievances from the colonists against Parliament, the Constitutional Convention, causes and effects of the Civil War)
- evaluate continuity and change over the course of United States history by examining various eras and determining major sources of conflict and compromise
- examine factors that motivated the military and economic expansion from the American Revolution through Reconstruction
- evaluate the impact of gender, age, ethnicity and class during this time period and the impact of these demographic groups on the events of the time period
- analyze causes and effects of major conflicts from the origins of the American Revolution through Reconstruction
- Analyze ideas that are critical to understanding of American history (ideals involved in major events and movements, such as representative democracy, federalism, capitalism, abolition, temperance, nativism, and expansionism)
- interpret maps and other geographic tools as a primary source to analyze a historic issue
- describe the nature and spatial distribution of cultural patterns
- recognize the patterns and networks of economic interdependence
- explain the establishment of human settlements in relationship to physical attributes and important regional connections
- calculate and analyze population trends
- analyze how economic, political, cultural, and social processes interact to shape patterns of human population, interdependence, cooperation, and conflict
- compare how differing geographic perspectives apply to a historic issue
- interpret from a geographic perspective the expansion of the United States by addressing issues of land, security, access, and sovereignty
- give examples of international and regional differences in resources, productivity, and costs that provide a basis for trade
- describe the factors that lead to a nation or a region having a comparative and absolute advantage in trade
- explain effects of domestic policies on international trade
- explain why nations sometimes restrict by using quotas, tariffs, and non-tariff barriers

Topics:

◦ causes of the American Revolution
◦ The Declaration of Independence
◦ the War Years
◦ The Treaty of Paris
◦ The Constitution
◦ the Bill of Rights
◦ follow the road map from Taxation without Representation to the Declaration of Independence
◦ events shaped what was included in our Constitution and Bill of Rights
◦ compare and contrast the history and economies of the Virginia and New England Colonies
◦ economies development shaped the North and the South and led to the Civil War
◦ role the institution of slavery played in the development of the United States of America
◦ how our nation dealt with it in the Declaration and Constitution

Standards

SS.8.1.1
SS.8.1.2
SS.8.2.1
SS.8.2.2
SS.8.3.1