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Grade 8
In Grade 8, students study the history of the United States from the early colonial period through
Reconstruction. The knowledge and skills in subsection (b) of this section comprise the first part of a
two-year study of U.S. history. The second part, comprising U.S. history since Reconstruction to the
present, is provided in §113.32 of this title (relating to United States History Studies Since Reconstruction [One Credit]). The content builds upon that from Grade 5 but provides more depth and breadth.
Historical content focuses on the political, economic, and social events and issues related to the colonial and revolutionary eras, the creation and ratification of the U.S. Constitution, challenges of the
early Republic, westward expansion, sectionalism, Civil War, and Reconstruction. Students describe
the physical characteristics of the United States and their impact on population distribution and settlement patterns in the past and present. Students analyze the various economic factors that influenced the
development of colonial America and the early years of the Republic and identify the origins of the free
enterprise system. Students examine the American beliefs and principles, including limited government, checks and balances, federalism, separation of powers, and individual rights reflected in the U.S.
Constitution and other historical documents. Students evaluate the impact of Supreme Court cases and
major reform movements of the 19th century and examine the rights and responsibilities of citizens of
the United States as well as the importance of effective leadership in a democratic society. Students
evaluate the impact of scientific discoveries and technological innovations on the development of the
United States. Students use critical-thinking skills, including identifying bias in written, oral, and visual material.
To support the teaching of the essential knowledge and skills, the use of a variety of rich primary and
secondary source material such as the complete text of the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of
Independence; landmark cases of the U.S. Supreme Court; biographies and autobiographies; novels;
speeches, letters, and diaries; and poetry, songs, and artworks is encouraged. Selections may include
excerpts from the letters of John and Abigail Adams, an excerpt from the Seneca Falls Declaration of
Sentiments and Resolutions, and poems of the Civil War era. Motivating resources are also available
from museums, historical sites, presidential libraries, and local and state preservation societies.
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment, one of
three passed during the era of Reconstruction, freed all slaves
without compensation to the slaveowners. President Abraham
Lincoln first proposed compensated emancipation as an
amendment in December 1862. His Emancipation Proclamation declared slaves free in the Confederate states in rebellion, but it did not extend to border states. After Lincoln’s
assassination, President Andrew Johnson declared his own
plan for Reconstruction which included the need for Confederate states to approve the 13th Amendment. The amendment, adopted in 1865, eight months after the war ended,
legally forbade slavery in the United States.
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14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment is one of
three additions to the U.S. Constitution passed during the
era of Reconstruction to protect the rights and involvement
of citizens in government. It declared that all persons born
or naturalized in the United States (except Indians) were citizens, that all citizens were entitled to equal rights regardless
of their race, and that their rights were protected at both the
state and national levels by due process of the law. Political
pressure ensured ratification.
In 1866, Congress passed the Civil Rights Bill which
extended citizenship to blacks. President Andrew Johnson
opposed and vetoed the legislation but Congress overruled
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his veto and then proposed the 14th Amendment. In 1866,
ten of the eleven Confederate states refused to ratify, but the
Military Reconstruction Act, passed by Congress on March
2, 1867, required all seceded states to ratify the amendment
as a condition of their re-admission into the union. In 1868,
the required number of states ratified the 14th Amendment .
The amendment did not extend the right to vote to black
men, but it encouraged states to allow them to vote by limiting the Congressional representation of any state that did
not extend the right. The amendment disappointed women’s
rights activists because it equated the right to vote as a male
right. Most significantly, the amendment incorporated the
“due process clause” as outlined in the 5th Amendment and
ensured the protection of citizen’s rights, previously only
guaranteed at the national level, at the state level.
15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment, one of
three amendments to the U.S. Constitution passed during the
era of Reconstruction, granted black men the right to vote.
The amendment derived from a requirement in the Military
Reconstruction Act, passed by Congress on March 2, 1867,
that Confederate states, as a condition for readmission into
the Union, extend the right to vote to former adult male slaves.
Congress eventually sought more stringent means to safeguard the vote for black men by proposing a constitutional
amendment in 1869. It was ratified in 1870. Women’s rights
activists opposed the amendment because it defined the right
to vote as a male right. Thus, gender remained a determining factor in denying women the right to vote in national and
state elections until 1920 when the 19th Amendment was
ratified. Between 1870 and 1920, a few states including
Wyoming did extend the right to vote to women but women
could not vote in national elections until after passage of the
19th Amendment.
1607
Representatives of the Virginia Company of London established the first permanent English settlement in
North America in 1607. The Virginia Company, a joint-stock
company founded by investors in England, called it
Jamestown in honor of King James I of England. Several
factors encouraged settlement including peace with Spain;
willing settlers lured by adventure, markets and the prospect
of religious freedom; financial support provided by the Virginia Company; and the company’s assurance that colonists
could remain subjects of England.
1776
On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, the Virginia
representative to the Second Continental Congress, moved
that “These United Colonies are, and of right ought to be,
free and independent states. . .” In the hopes of gaining broad
colonial and international support, Congress appointed a committee to draft an inspirational document to explain to the
world the reasons the colonies were asserting their independence. The committee included Thomas Jefferson who was
charged with drafting the document. In it he asked for pro-
tection of the “unalienable rights” of humankind in addition
to British rights, and listed British actions which prompted
the quest for independence. Congress adopted Lee’s motion
on July 2, and on July 4, fifty-six representatives from the
thirteen original colonies unanimously approved the Declaration of Independence.
Six months prior to the official declaration, Thomas Paine published his influential political pamphlet Common Sense. It presented a clear and persuasive argument for
independence, and convinced many undecided colonists to
support the movement for independence.
1787
Between May 25 and September 17, 1787, delegates
gathered in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation. Instead they drafted, debated, compromised, and finally
approved for ratification the Constitution of the United States.
It was then sent to the states to adopt or reject based on the
votes of delegates to ratification conventions. The debate
over ratification continued into 1788 as Federalists and AntiFederalists faced off over issues of states’ rights, human liberties, and governmental authority. Ratification of the new
constitution required acceptance by nine of the thirteen states.
Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution and it
was followed by Pennsylvania and New Jersey in 1787.
Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, and New Hampshire ratified it in 1788. The ninth state
(New Hampshire) guaranteed that the new United States had
a government. Virginia and New York approved the document later in 1788, and North Carolina and Rhode Island
adopted it last, in 1789 and 1790, respectively.
1803
The United States, under the leadership of President Thomas Jefferson, acquired the Louisiana Territory in
1803 from Napoleon Bonaparte, ruler of France, for $15
million dollars. The purchase more than doubled the area of
the United States. It gave the new nation access to 828,000
square miles of fertile territory and navigable waterways
between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains at
a cost of approximately three cents per acre. All or parts of
13 states were carved out of the Louisiana Purchase (in order of admission): Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa,
Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, North Dakota,
South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and Oklahoma.
1861-1865
The American Civil War began on April
12, 1861, with the firing on Fort Sumter and ended with the
Confederate surrender at Appomattox Court House in early
April, 1865. South Carolina, the first state to leave the Union,
seceded in 1860, prompted by the election of the Republican presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln. Six more followed in early 1861 (Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas). They formed the Confederate
States of America.
1861: President Lincoln took the oath of office on
March 4, 1861 and sought to maintain ties with eight border
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states which remained with the Union. The Civil War began
on April 12 with the firing on Fort Sumter by Confederate
troops off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. Four more
states seceded after war was declared: Virginia, Arkansas,
North Carolina, and Tennessee. The first battle of the war at
Bull Run, near Manassas Junction, Virginia, ended in a Confederate victory due to poor Union generalship.
1862: The Confederacy started to draft soldiers to
meet the demand for troops, and the Union followed suit in
1863. The Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single-day battle
of the war, occurred in Maryland on September 17, 1862.
Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation on September 23, following the Union victory at Antietam.
1863: From July 1 to 3, 1863, 92,000 Union troops
fought 76,000 Confederates at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The
fate of the Confederacy was sealed on July 4 with the Union
victory at Gettysburg which prevented a Confederate invasion of the North, and a second Union victory at Vicksburg,
which ceded control of the Mississippi River to the Union.
The war continued for two more years as the South sought
independence and Lincoln demanded union.
1864: Ulysses S. Grant, appointed commander of
the Union army following Vicksburg, crafted a more aggressive military offensive than previous generals. It included a
march of destruction into the heart of the South by General
William Tecumseh Sherman and Grant’s own assault on Lee
in Virginia. Sherman’s men captured and burned Atlanta in
September 1864. Grant’s engagements with Lee involved
destructive battles including the Wilderness Campaign and
the assault on Cold Harbor.
1865: Union troops captured Richmond and surrounded Lee in April. On Palm Sunday, April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant
at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. On April 15, 1865,
President Lincoln died from an assassin’s bullet and VicePresident Andrew Johnson assumed office.
Abolitionist Movement
The abolitionist movement began in the Revolutionary era, partially in response to
the inhumane treatment of slaves and partially in an effort to
remove blacks from white society. The movement in the late
1700s concentrated on freeing the slaves as a humane act.
Quakers in Pennsylvania established the first anti-slavery
society in the world in 1775. Interest in returning slaves to
Africa resulted in the formation of the American Colonization Society in 1817. The Republic of Liberia, established in
1822 on the west coast of Africa, served as a destination for
approximately 15,000 slaves freed and returned. However,
most slaves considered Africa a foreign culture and sought
freedom and a home in America. In the 1830s American abolitionists sought to follow the example set in the West Indies
by the British who freed the slaves in 1833. The religious
revivals of the Second Great Awakening also inspired abolitionists to speak out against the sin of slavery. Abolitionists
published anti-slavery publications including pamphlets and
newspapers. Supporters of William Lloyd Garrison, a vocal
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abolitionist and publisher of the newspaper The Liberator,
formed the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833. African
Americans played a key role in the abolitionist movement,
most notably Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth. Realizing they needed a political voice, abolitionists supported
the Liberty Party in 1840, the Free Soil Party in 1848, and
the Republican Party in the 1850s. Abolitionists realized
their goal with the passage of the 13th Amendment.
Absolute and Relative Chronology
Absolute
chronology depends on knowing the precise date including
the day, month and/or year of an event. To sequence events
in absolute chronology means to organize them in an order—
that is, from oldest to most recent. Relative chronology depends less on specific dates and more on relationships of
events. To sequence events, individuals, and time periods,
students must understand past, present, and future time. Students must also be able to identify the beginning, middle,
and end of an event or story. Students are expected to structure a story, creating their own sequence by developing a
topic from its beginning to its conclusion. Students are expected to create and interpret timelines, identify intervals of
time, and order events in the sequence of occurrence and in
relation to other events.
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation, the nation’s first constitution, was adopted by the
Second Continental Congress in 1781 during the Revolution. It provided guidance to government for seven years and
gave Congress limited authority to make laws and to draw
up treaties with other nations. The Articles were limited in
providing solutions to many challenges facing the new Republic because the states held most of the power, and Congress lacked the power to tax, regulate trade, or control coinage. In 1787 the Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia to revise the Articles, but instead the delegates constructed a new constitution.
Bessemer Steel Process
The Bessemer steel process is the process of removing impurities from iron to make
steel. Steel is less brittle and stronger than iron. Industry
needed steel but was limited by the small quantity that could
be manufactured using traditional methods to remove impurities. In the 1850s, British inventor Henry Bessemer discovered that a blast of hot air directly on melted iron reduced the impurities. As a result, steel manufacturing increased nearly 20 fold during the era of the Industrial Revolution in America. Steel bridges, steel rails for railroads, and
the production of automobiles were major technological
achievements. Steel reinforcements in skyscrapers aided urbanization, and increased production of household appliances
brought steel into the home.
Bill of Rights The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments to the Constitution ratified in 1791. The 1st Amend-
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ment protects several fundamental rights of U.S. citizens:
freedom of religion, of speech, of the press, and the rights to
assemble and to petition. The next seven amendments guarantee other freedoms including the right to a fair trial and
the right to bear arms. Homes are protected from search without just cause, citizens are protected from the imposition of
housing troops during peacetime, and those accused of crimes
are entitled to fair treatment before the law. The 9th Amendment guarantees that people retain rights not enumerated in
the Constitution and the 10th amendment limits federal power
by granting to the states all powers not specifically assigned
by the Constitution to the national government.
Checks and Balances
The U.S. Constitution
authorizes each branch of government to share its powers
with the other branches and thereby check their activities
and power. The President can veto legislation passed by
Congress, but Congress can override the veto. The Senate
confirms major appointments made by the President, and
the courts may declare acts passed by Congress as unconstitutional.
Civic Virtue The term “civic” relates to involvement in
a community. Citizens of a neighborhood, town, state, or
nation have an obligation to be active, peaceful, loyal, and
supportive members of that community. Those with civic
virtue go a step beyond their obligations by taking an active
role in improving the community and the experiences of other
members of the community.
Civil Disobedience
Civil disobedience is the process
of defying codes of conduct within a community or ignoring
the policies and government of a state or nation when the
civil laws are considered unjust. Henry David Thoreau included the essay “Civil Disobedience” in Walden, a collection of his writings. He did not want people to break the law
indiscriminately, but he urged people to challenge laws they
considered unjust by refusing to obey them. This is called
passive resistance. World leaders such as Martin Luther King,
Jr. and Mohandas K. Gandhi followed Thoreau’s advice.
Blacks boycotted buses in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1956
until the Supreme Court ruled that segregation on buses was
illegal. Non-violent protest led to the signing of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 which banned discrimination.
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence is a document adopted by the Second
Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. It established the 13
colonies as independent states, free from rule by Great Britain. The committee appointed to write the Declaration of
Independence included Benjamin Franklin, John Adams,
Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson.
Thomas Jefferson wrote the majority of the declaration. In
the Preamble, Jefferson explained that it was necessary to
list the reasons why the colonies sought their own govern-
ment. In three sections, Jefferson outlined the reasons: people
have the right to control their own government; the British
government and King used their power unjustly to control
the colonies; and the colonies had tried to avoid separating
from Britain, but Britain refused to cooperate. The most famous passage concerns the right to govern:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men
are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,
Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these
rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their
just power from the consent of the governed. That whenever
any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends,
it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to
institute new Government. . . “
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott v. Sandford
was a landmark Supreme Court case in 1857 which confirmed the status of slaves as property rather than citizens.
Chief Justice Roger Taney wrote that a slave could not be
heard in federal courts because he was not a citizen and had
no protection under the Constitution. Also, Congress had no
authority over slavery in the territories, and upon statehood,
each territory would determine whether it would be a slave
state or a free state.
Emancipation Proclamation
Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September
22, 1862, to go into effect on January 1, 1863. It declared
that all slaves in the rebellious Confederate states would be
free. These included slaves in Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas,
Louisiana, and Texas. Following the proclamation, many
slaves in these states walked away from plantations and
sought the protection of Union forces. The proclamation
did not apply to slaves living in border states or to areas in
the South occupied by federal troops. As Union troops moved
into new areas of the Confederacy, slaves in those areas would
be freed. All slaves were not freed until the ratification of
the 13th Amendment in 1865.
English Bill of Rights
In 1689, King William
and Queen Mary accepted the English Bill of Rights which
guaranteed certain rights to English citizens and declared
that elections for Parliament would happen frequently. The
document followed the Glorious Revolution in which the
English people forced absolute monarch James II to leave
the country. William and Mary then assumed rule. By agreeing to the English Bill of Rights, they supported a limited
monarchy, a system in which they shared their power with
Parliament and the people, and did not have absolute power
as James II had sought. The influence of the English Bill of
Rights can be seen in the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution.
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Federalism Federalism is the distribution of power between a federal government and the states within a union.
Federalist Papers
After the delegates to the Philadelphia Convention finished writing the U.S. Constitution,
each state elected delegates to a ratification convention. Ratification was required by nine of the 13 states in order for the
constitution to take effect. People were divided over issues
regarding the extent of power of the Constitution, the degree
to which the rights of states were protected, and the degree
to which the rights of citizens were protected. Those favoring the new form of government, which divided power between a strong central government and the states, were called
Federalists. Those seeking greater power for states were
called Anti-Federalists. In an effort to sway opinion and get
the Constitution approved, three leading Federalists wrote a
series of 85 essays which explained the new government and
the division of power. Published as The Federalist, the series was written by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton,
and John Jay. For instance, The Federalist, No. 10 (1787)
defines the republican form of government which Federalists envisioned and the process of electing representatives to
Congress.
Federalists and Anti-Federalists
The adoption
of the U.S. Constitution was not an easy process. Citizens
disagreed over the way the document divided power between
the states and the national government, the degree to which
the rights of states were protected, and the degree to which
the rights of citizens were protected.
Those favoring ratification of the Constitution and
adoption of the federalist form of government were called
Federalists. Those opposed to the Constitution because they
feared the power of the national government in the new federal system were called Anti-Federalists. Anti-Federalists
were also concerned that if the national government could
overrule state decisions, the protection of the liberty of individuals would be at risk. Patrick Henry and George Mason
were leading Anti-Federalists. Henry was so opposed to the
process that he did not even attend the convention which
drafted the Constitution. Thomas Jefferson favored some
aspects of the Constitution but was concerned about the lack
of protection for the rights of states and the absence of support for individual rights. He supported the inclusion of a
Bill of Rights. In an effort to sway opinion and get the
Constitution ratified, three leading Federalists — James
Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay — published
their views in The Federalist , a series of 85 newspaper essays which have become a classic of American political
thought.
First and Second Great Awakenings
The
Great Awakening occurred in the 1730s and 1740s in response
to inflexible Puritan doctrine. A lay ministry developed which
preached personal salvation by good works in contrast to
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predestination as preached by Puritans. Others, led by
Jonathan Edwards, urged believers to develop a personal
relationship with God to gain their personal salvation. Ministers spread the word through revival meetings. Hundreds
were “saved” and declared their trust in God without needing the clergy to channel their prayers. The Great Awakening revitalized American religion by adding emotion.
Missionary work developed in an effort to spread
salvation to Indians and slaves. In the early 1800s, the second Great Awakening erupted as those favoring the personal
and emotional approach associated with evangelical faiths
conflicted with those seeking more rational beliefs. The second Great Awakening reinvigorated church membership and
furthered humanitarian efforts including abolitionism, prison
reform, the temperance movement, and women’s suffrage.
More people participated in it than in the first Great Awakening, meeting outdoors under open tents to hear emotional
preachers who “rode the circuit” promoting personal conversion. These camp meetings contributed to numerous conversions and vows to change wayward behavior. Membership in Baptist and Methodist churches increased most significantly.
Founding Fathers
The term founding fathers applies
to those individuals who played a major role in declaring
U.S. independence, fighting the Revolutionary War, or writing and adopting the U.S. Constitution. Founding fathers
include Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and James
Madison.
Free Blacks Although they were free, African Americans in the North were victims of discrimination. They were
denied the right to vote, to serve on juries, to be educated, to
worship freely, and to have access to public lands. In the
South, most free African Americans were descendants of
slaves freed during and after the American Revolution. Others purchased their freedom, but all were denied basic rights.
Despite discrimination in both the North and the South, many
free blacks distinguished themselves in various areas of endeavor. Many of those who gained success risked their lives
and income to combat slavery.
Free Enterprise System
A free enterprise system
is an economic system in which individuals depend on supply and demand and the profit margin to determine the answers to the four basic economic questions of “what to produce,” “how to produce,” “how many to produce,” and “for
whom to produce.” Profit is an improved situation, usually
measured in dollars. The quest for improvement financially
and materially motivates producers and consumers in the free
enterprise system. Government regulation is kept to a minimum. Competition between companies makes it more difficult to answer the questions of what and how much to produce and for whom, but it does make it harder for one company to monopolize the market.
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French and Indian War
The French and Indian
War was a struggle between the British and the French in the
colonies of North America. It was part of a worldwide war
known as the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763). In the colonies, the British sought control of territory to the west of the
established colonies, particularly the Ohio River Valley. The
first battle was fought in July 1754 at Fort Necessity, a stockade constructed by George Washington and his troops near
the headwaters of the Ohio River near present day Pittsburgh.
The French held several advantages including control of more
western territory, a single colonial government, a professional
army well provisioned in place in their territory, and an alliance with the Huron and Algonquin Indians.
The British also had several advantages. More British lived in the colonies, the British territory had a better
strategic position and was easier to defend, and most of the
colonists were willing to fight to preserve their independence
from France. The British pushed France into Canada and
defeated them at Quebec and Montreal. The Seven Years’
War officially ended with the Treaty of Paris which gave the
British all lands east of the Mississippi River except New
Orleans, including the St. Lawrence Valley, the Great Lakes,
and the Ohio River Valley. Thus the British secured the major water routes into the interior North American continent.
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
The
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut was the first written constitution in the American colonies, and was prepared as the
covenant for the new Puritan community in Connecticut established in the 1630s. It established a precedent for written
constitutions in the colonies. To the Puritans, a covenant was
an agreement with God to build a holy society. Those who
moved to Connecticut from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts carried with them the tradition of the commonwealth,
a community of people who worked together for the good of
the whole. The Fundamental Orders described a system of
government for the new community.
Generalizations
Generalizations are statements
about relationships between and among concepts. They organize and summarize information obtained from the analysis of facts. A generalization is usually a broad assertion that
something is always true. A fact, on the other hand, is a truth
only about a particular incident or case. Here is a generalization: The nature of democracy in the United States continually evolves as society grows and changes. Here is a fact
which supports it: Women received the right to vote in 1924.
Geographic Distributions and Patterns
Geographers are interested in the location of things on Earth,
that is, where things are located, how they are distributed,
and what relationships exist between things separated by
distance. Sometimes things are distributed randomly across
the surface of Earth. Other times a pattern is apparent in the
distribution which helps us to understand the forces that af-
fect distribution. Consider the location of key industries, cities, types of agriculture—all of these things are distributed
(located) somewhere and show a pattern. Industries are located near resources or near markets. Cities are often located
at vital transportation crossroads. The types of crops grown
depend upon physical conditions as well as access to markets and transportation. Noting distribution and pattern helps
us to understand why things are where they are.
Gettysburg Address
On November 19, 1863,
during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln traveled
to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to dedicate a national cemetery
at the site of the Battle of Gettysburg. Three sentences excerpted from his short speech capture the spirit of liberty
and morality ideally held by citizens of a democracy. That
ideal was threatened by the Civil War.
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought
forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty,
and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created
equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing
whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. . .
. . . . It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the
great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead
we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave
the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this
nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and
that government of the people, by the people, for the people,
shall not perish from the earth.
Gibbons v. Ogden
In Gibbons v. Ogden (1824),
Chief Justice John Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court ruled
that the Constitution gave control of interstate commerce to
the U.S. Congress, not the individual states through which a
route passed. The ruling responded to an effort by the state
of New York to accept a monopoly to operate steam boat
traffic between New York and New Jersey.
Individual Rights
Many opposed the Constitution
in 1787 because they believed it did not offer adequate protection of individual rights. The Bill of Rights, ratified in
1791, were created to correct this. The individual rights protected in the Bill of Rights include economic rights related
to property, political rights related to freedom of speech and
press, and personal rights related to bearing arms and maintaining private residences.
The structure of the U.S. Constitution allows for
adaptation based on changing public opinion and the need to
protect individual rights. For instance, debates over the institution of slavery raised concerns about property and property protection afforded by the U.S. Constitution. In the decision Dred Scott v. Sandford, the Supreme Court ruled that
slaves were property and that the Missouri Compromise,
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which prohibited slavery in certain parts of the United States,
was unconstitutional in that it deprived people of property,
their slaves. As public opinion changed, voters amended the
Constitution to free slaves, to protect their rights, and to extend their right to vote.
Industrial Revolution
New sources of power
including the steam engine freed manufacturers to experiment with new ways to make products. Steam power was
more reliable than water power and allowed expansion of
machine production. A period of rapid industrial growth resulted, starting in Britain in the 1700s and then spreading
around the world as more countries adopted mass production. Handmade goods were quickly replaced by less expensive machine-made goods. The production of cloth by machines revolutionized the textile industry. It also changed the
nature of supply because more goods were produced faster
and cheaper, the nature of demand because the product was
more affordable, and the nature of work. Factory laborers
replaced craftsmen and home production. The expansion of
mechanized production in the United States began after the
Civil War and peaked in the 1920s just before the Great Depression. This is considered a second Industrial Revolution.
The demand for raw materials and labor to maintain production led to exploitation of the natural environment and of
workers.
Judicial Review
The three branches of government — legislative, executive and judicial —were established
to balance power, but the U.S. Constitution is the supreme
law. The judicial branch is responsible for interpreting and
applying laws and ensuring that they are constitutional. In
the early 1800s the Supreme Court established the principle
of judicial review. Acting within the powers of Article III,
the judicial branch strengthened federal authority over state
and private authority when the issue threatened rights established in the Constitution. Chief Justice John Marshall ruled
in Marbury v. Madison (1803) that a law passed by Congress in 1789 was unconstitutional. Marshall stressed that
“the Constitution is superior to any ordinary act of legislature. . . and must govern.”
heavy taxation to pay a large national debt. Members of the
nobility, the archbishop of Canterbury, and the Earl of Pembroke forced King John to sign the Magna Carta in 1215. It
declared that the king and government were bound by the
same law as other citizens of England. It contained the antecedents of the ideas of due process of law and the right to a
fair and speedy trial that are included in the protection offered by the U.S. Bill of Rights. The English viewed it as a
guarantee of law and justice.
Manifest Destiny
Manifest destiny was a popular
expression in the 1840s. Many believed that the United States
was destined to secure territory from “sea to sea,” from the
Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. This rationale drove the acquisition of territory in the 1840s as President James K. Polk
attempted to declare the parallel of 54°40' as the northern
boundary of the United States. Britain initially refused, but
the nations compromised in 1846 and the United States acquired the Oregon territory. The United States also secured
a vast territory in the southwest following the Mexican War
in 1848. Mexico ceded all claims north of the Rio Grande
which included present-day states of California, Nevada,
Utah, and parts of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and
Wyoming.
Marbury v. Madison Marbury v. Madison was the first
judgment by the Supreme Court which supported the federal system of government. In 1803, Chief Justice John
Marshall, a Federalist, upheld and strengthened the authority of the federal judiciary. He established the principle of
judicial review, the power of the judiciary to determine that
a law can be declared unconstitutional.
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact was drafted in 1620 prior to settlement by the Pilgrims
at Plymouth Bay in Massachusetts. It declared that the 41
males who signed it agreed to accept majority rule and participate in a government in the best interest of all members
of the colony. While not a constitution, the agreement set the
precedent for later documents outlining commonwealth rule.
Settlers quickly established town meetings as a forum to
develop their own laws, a positive step toward self-rule.
Limited Government
In a limited government
everyone, including all authority figures, must obey the laws.
Constitutions, statements of rights, or other laws define the
limits of those in power so they cannot take advantage of
their elected, appointed, or inherited positions. In an unlimited government, control is placed solely with the ruler and
his/her appointees, and there are no limits imposed on his/
her authority.
Magna Carta
The Magna Carta is the cornerstone of English justice and law. King John, who ruled between 1199 and 1216 AD, angered the English nobility and
commoners alike by his lack of military prowess and his
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McCulloch v. Maryland
In 1819, Chief Justice
John Marshall continued to define the limits of the U. S.
Constitution and of the authority of the federal and state governments. Maryland was opposed to the establishment of a
national bank and challenged the authority of the federal government to establish one. The Supreme Court ruled that the
power of the federal government was supreme over that of
the states and that the states could not interfere. This decision supported the concept that the Constitution was the supreme law of the land.
Grade 8
Mercantilism
Mercantilism is an economic
theory which states that a nation’s wealth is based on the
amount of gold and silver bullion in its treasury. The theory
drove economic exchange throughout Europe between the
16th and 18th centuries. Nations accumulated wealth in several ways. Explorers sought gold and silver deposits which
they could mine.
Trade offered another method to accumulate the
bullion (gold or silver formed into bars, ingots, or plates).
Generating revenue through trade depended on maintaining
a favorable balance, that is, exporting more than a nation
imported. In a mercantilist system, government played a
central role in regulating trade by imposing restrictions on
trade. As the production of goods for exchange increased,
governments took a more active role in industrial development. New crafts and trades provided work for the idle and
lined the pockets of mercantilists who made money by importing raw products and exporting finished goods at significantly higher costs. Those who sought to participate in
trade and industry needed government backing to succeed,
especially in the oceanic trade. The East India Company was
founded in 1600 by the English government and merchants
intent on trading with the East.
The American colonies contributed to the English,
French, and Spanish mercantilist systems by providing raw
products and markets for manufactured goods. The Spanish
sought to control the gold and silver supplies held by Native
American civilizations in Mexico and Peru; the fur trade in
North America resulted in significant revenue for French mercantilists; and settlement benefited English manufacturers
who sold finished products to colonists. Buying from a colony
enabled the mother country to keep bullion within the empire.
Mercantilism was attacked by Adam Smith and others who supported laissez faire (“let them do as they see fit”)
exchange. This new economic theory opposed regulation
by the “visible hand” of government and instead viewed commerce as driven by the invisible hand of personal initiative.
Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine was a
statement of foreign policy which proclaimed that Europe
should not interfere in affairs within the United States or in
the development of other countries in the Western Hemisphere, and that the United States would not interfere in European affairs. These ideas, formulated by Secretary of State
John Quincy Adams and President James Monroe, were presented in 1823 in response to problems facing the nation:
Russian claims to the northwest coast and threats to the independence of Spanish-American republics in Latin America.
The doctrine reflected growing American nationalism and
increased emphasis on internal improvements which reduced
the interest in participating in international affairs. President James K. Polk revived the doctrine in 1845, and it continued as an important part of national ideology into the 20th
century.
Naturalized Citizen A naturalized citizen is a person
of foreign birth who is granted full citizenship.
Northwest Ordinance
Enacted in 1787, the
Northwest Ordinance is considered one of the most significant achievements of the Articles of Confederation. It established a system for setting up governments in the western
territories so they could eventually join the Union on an equal
footing with the original 13 states. This ordinance referred
to the Northwest Territory, an area bounded by the Ohio River,
the Mississippi River, and the Great Lakes and included
present-day Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and
parts of Minnesota. When the territory opened, a governor
and three judges were appointed by Congress. After 5,000
adult males moved to the area, they could elect an assembly
and send a nonvoting delegate to Congress although the governor retained veto power over the assembly. When 60,000
persons moved into one of the political subdivisions, that
area could draft a constitution, submit it to Congress for approval, and become a state. Its constitution had to provide
for a representative government, and it had to prohibit slavery.
Nullification Crisis In 1828, Congress approved a
high tariff to protect U.S. interests from competition from
foreign trade. This angered Southerners who dealt directly
with merchants in Britain. The planters favored freedom of
trade and believed in the authority of their states over the
federal government. In 1832 Congress passed a lower but
still protective tariff. Angered South Carolinians, led by
Senator John C. Calhoun, declared the federal tariff null and
void within its borders. Delegates to a special convention
urged the state legislature to take military action and to secede from the union if the federal government demanded the
customs duties. To prevent a civil war, Henry Clay, senator
from Kentucky, proposed the compromise Tariff of 1833
which gradually reduced the protective tariff over ten years.
Southerners accepted the measure but Northerners countered
with the Force Bill which authorized the president to use the
army and navy to collect the duties. The nullifiers repealed
the ordinance of nullification but accomplished their goal of
reducing the tariff.
Philadelphia Convention of 1787
The Philadelphia Convention of 1787 met “for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation.” Fifty-five
delegates representing all states except Rhode Island worked
to reorganize the government in the new republic. The Convention met in closed session in the Pennsylvania State
House, now Independence Hall, from May 25 through September 17. One of their first decisions was to scrap the Articles of Confederation and create a new plan of government.
Of the 55 delegates, 39 signed the document they created,
the U.S. Constitution.
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Grade 8
Physical and Human Characteristics
Physical characteristics of places include landforms and soils,
bodies and sources of water, vegetation, climate and weather
patterns, and animal life. Human characteristics of places
include the language, religion, political systems, economic
systems, population distribution, ethnicity, age, and standards
of living.
Physical and Human Characteristics of Places
Physical characteristics of places describe natural phenomena such as climate, soil, plants, animals, and topography
(landforms). Human characteristics of places include items
such as language, religion, ethnicity, architecture, forms of
recreation, daily schedule, food, how people earn a living,
how they govern themselves, family structure, and standard
of living.
Physical and Human Factors
Several factors may influence ongoing development and events in history. Physical factors relate to the physical characteristics of
a place such as climate, weather, and landforms. These lead
to events, such as tornadoes, hurricanes, or droughts, which
influence the chain of events constituting Texas history.
Physical factors also influence development. Most early
settlement in Texas concentrated in the eastern portion of
the state because the soils, climate, and vegetation compared
favorably to other parts of the South from which most settlers migrated. Transportation routes developed to link settlements which evolved into cities. Human factors relate to the
human characteristics of a place. These also play a role in
Texas history. As population pressures in the eastern portion
of the state increased, settlement moved west. As technology improved, settlers in the western plains began to irrigate
their crop land and the area’s economy developed around
cotton-based agriculture. This is one way human factors influence development by modifying the environment.
Plantation System
The plantation system is a system of agricultural production based on large-scale land
ownership and the exploitation of labor and the environment.
Production is usually concentrated on a cash crop which is
sought by a national or international market. For instance,
the plantation system of agriculture developed in the southern United States as landowners concentrated their capital
in slaves and produced tobacco, rice, sugar and cotton for
the world market. Plantation agriculture continues today in
tropical areas around the world with the following cash crops:
tea, rubber, coffee, sugar cane, and cocoa.
Points of View of Political Parties Several factors contributed to the division of political activity in the
United States into a party system. Parties reflect different
points of view regarding structures of governance, economics and national finance, political representation, and rights
and responsibilities of individuals, states, and the nation.
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Politically active people with competing interests, opinions,
and attitudes united under party names to argue their causes.
In the 1830s party platforms were published and public debates developed to inform voters of the goals and objectives
proposed by each party. The Anti-Masonic party held the
first national convention in 1831.
Republicanism and constitutional democracy require representation of different points of view and involvement of different interest groups. The Constitution resulted
from rigorous debate between those favoring a strong central government and those favoring a union of sovereign
states. Those favoring a centralized government also believed
in classical republicanism, with power vested in representatives who were fit to lead due to their wealth and education.
This contrasted to opinions held by states’ rights advocates
who believed in popular or mass participation in government. Tension continued between these factions and resulted
in threats to nullify national laws or to secede from the union.
The authority of the federal government was re-enforced
during the Civil War when President Abraham Lincoln, a
Republican, accepted nothing less than full compliance with
national causes on the part of the largely Democratic south.
Special interest groups often function within the
two-party system. This increased during the Progressive
Movement on the local and state levels in the 1890s to 1900s,
and on the national and international levels in the 1910s and
1920s. Differing points of view also result in the formation
of third-parties, the Anti-Masons, the Populists, the Socialists, and the Liberal Party to name a few.
Points of View, Frames of Reference, and Historical Context
Historians and social scientists
strive to understand what happened in the past but are often
limited by incomplete evidence. To analyze available sources
they identify the different interests, opinions, and attitudes
reflected in the evidence (points of view) and understand the
vantage point of those who created the evidence (frames of
reference). Then they place the people and events in historical context, relating them to other events and ideas which
occurred at the same time. By doing so, students gain a greater
understanding of what happened and how it relates to current events.
For instance, the Constitution reflects conflicting
agendas of special interest groups. Described by many as a
document which furthered democracy, others argued that it
hindered it. The first ten amendments, the Bill of Rights,
were added later to satisfy those interested in protecting the
people from the powers of a strong central government. The
Federalist and Anti-Federalist debates at ratification provide
further evidence of conflicting points of view which contributed to the U.S. Constitution as it exists today. Any explanation of the significance of the Constitution and its heritage remains incomplete if the points of view which cause
differences of opinion are not understood and acknowledged.
The farmer in Massachusetts had an opinion about
the Constitution as did the planter of Virginia and the mer-
Grade 8
chant in Charleston, South Carolina. The information each
acquired differed based on their participation in the drafting
and ratification of the Constitution. Just as the perception of
a football player on the line of scrimmage differs from that
of the referee and of the fan sitting in the bleachers, the frame
of reference of James Madison and other pro-Constitution
delegates differed from those of the Anti-Federalists who
fought it.
Historians and other social scientists also have a
frame of reference, one based in the present, and informed
by new approaches and methods. They analyze the available
evidence by sorting through it, prioritizing it, distinguishing
important information from the less important, and interpreting it. Thus, interpretations of one event change over time,
partially due to new ways to look at old sources. New sources
also contribute to new understandings.
Popular Sovereignty Popular sovereignty is the concept that political power rests with the people who can create, alter, and abolish government. People express themselves through voting and free participation in government.
Popular sovereignty is an important characteristic of democratic government.
Primary Sources
Primary sources are evidence
produced by someone who participated in an event or lived
during the time being studied. Letters written to a friend or
maps to a friend’s house are both primary sources. Researchers collect primary sources through conducting surveys, field
work, personal interviews, and research in archives.
Protective Tariff
A protective tariff is a tax on an
imported product instituted to protect local industries. The
tax increases the price of the import which makes it less appealing to consumers. Tariffs ultimately protect domestic
products from competition from other countries.
Radical Reconstruction Congress
After the
Civil War, Radical Republicans favored harsh treatment of
the South and quick incorporation of the freemen into citizenship with full privileges including voting rights for all
African Americans, government seizure of land from planters for redistribution to freedmen, and funding of schools
for African Americans. They also agreed that ex-Confederates were traitors and should not be readily accepted into
the union.
Even though Radical Republicans were a minority
in the Congress, their arguments gained a following. They
questioned why the Civil War had been fought if the South
was going to be allowed to return to its antebellum ways. In
1866 and 1867 the radical approach to Reconstruction gained
support and Congress was able to pass the Reconstruction
Act of 1867. This marked the beginning of Reconstruction.
If southern states hoped to rejoin the Union they
had to accept the 14th Amendment (the Civil Rights Act of
1866) and they had to rewrite their constitutions so all adult
men were able to vote. Beginning in 1867 the Freedmen’s
Bureau worked to register African-American voters and start
schools for African-American children. The southerners were
not united in their opposition to Radical Republican rule.
Because poorer white farmers were eager to gain some power
traditionally held by the planters, they accepted some of the
Reconstruction measures. Planters were opposed to most
Radical measures because it limited their ability to control
society as they had done for generations. The poorer whites
and planters were united, however, in their opposition to
social equality and that was a major threat the Radical Reconstruction posed.
The Ku Klux Klan gained support in 1868 from
planters and ex-Confederates. The KKK initially sought to
destroy the Republican party in the South. Since the recently
franchised African Americans voted Republican, KKK efforts were directed at them. Regardless, throughout the ten
years of Radical Reconstruction, African-American legislatures were elected to Congress and sought southern economic
and political reform. The Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction. Once federal troops were removed, the enforcement mechanism was gone and southern Democrats returned
to governmental control, displacing the Radical Republicans.
Reconstruction (1867-1877)
In the postCivil War period, from 1865 to 1877, the United States confronted the problems of re-admitting the Southern states to
the Union and integrating the freed slaves into society. At
the end of the Civil War northern business was prospering
due to the increased production required for the war effort
and the fact that few battles were fought in that area. In contrast the south was in ruins. To rebuild national strength, the
federal government supported the reformation of governments in the former Confederate states which supported the
Union. Some congressmen believed the South should be further punished for seceding and that Reconstruction should
require the following: voting rights for all African Americans, no voting rights for ex-Confederates, government seizure of land from planters for redistribution to freedmen,
and funding of schools for African Americans. Others, including President Abraham Lincoln, believed in a quick healing.
When Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, President
Andrew Johnson tried to implement similar Reconstruction
policies. Yet, many sought the more radical approach. When
Congress passed a Civil Rights Act in 1866 which advocated the radical approach, Johnson vetoed it but Congress
overrode. Radical Reconstruction gained support and Congress was able to pass the Reconstruction Act of 1867. This
marked the beginning of Reconstruction. If southern states
hoped to rejoin the federal government they had to accept
the 14th Amendment (the Civil Rights Act of 1866) and they
had to rewrite their constitutions so all adult men were able
to vote.
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Grade 8
The emancipation of the slaves left thousands of people without work or income. One of the biggest challenges was creating a system to give land to freedmen so they could farm
and make a living. This system was never developed. Instead, due to disagreements among Northern politicians and
a lack of interest on the part of Southerners, a solution was
never found.
Reconstruction ended when President Rutherford
B. Hayes passed the Compromise of 1877 which removed
the last of the federal troops from the South. When they left,
the Reconstruction governments stopped and southerners
regained political control. These southerners were known as
Redeemers. They favored a return to the ways of the antebellum South including a society based on the superiority of
white people. Challenges to the unequal treatment of blacks
and women became more united during the Civil Rights
movements and peaked when the Civil Rights Act of 1964
was passed.
Reform Movements
The second Great
Awakening was a revival of religious faith. As a result, Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians realized an increased
sense of confidence in themselves and in the United States.
By the 1830s and 1840s women were taking a more active
role in churches and missionary societies in an attempt to
share their good fortune.This work to reform society, or
change it for the better, expanded beyond sharing religion
and education with the less fortunate. Reformers sought to
change unfair labor practices, increase nutrition, and improve
conditions for the poor, the enslaved, the imprisoned, women,
alcoholics, and the disabled. The efforts were often led by
upper class men and women from the Northeast.
Often unable to effect change, reformers sought
refuge in their own utopian societies, ideal communities
where they could live by their own standards of conduct.
The most powerful reform movements were led by abolitionists and by suffragists. Abolitionists in the United States
sought freedom for African-American slaves while suffragists sought equal rights for women, particularly the right to
vote. These efforts to attain civil rights culminated in the
Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Removal and Settlement of Native Americans
Land was a valuable commodity in the early 1800s when
cotton planters and farmers sought to extend their settlements
west and south. The Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Chickasaw,
and Choctaw of the south, and the Sauk and Fox, Chippewas,
Ottawa, Potawatomi, Wyandot, Shawnee, and Miami of the
north were all removed from their native lands and sent to
Indian Territory, much of which is in present-day Oklahoma.
The removal was not peaceful.
The Indians, particularly the Cherokee, attempted
to adopt aspects of U.S. society and government. Sequoya, a
Cherokee, developed an alphabet. The tribe wrote a constitution, had newspapers and even the Bible in Cherokee. Re50
gardless of the attempts of Indians to assimilate, President
Andrew Jackson insisted on the removal of the Indians from
the southwest. In 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal
Act which designated public lands in the west for Indian
resettlement. In 1832, in response to an appeal by the Cherokee, Chief Justice John Marshall of the Supreme Court declared that it was unconstitutional for the state of Georgia to
remove the tribe from their land. The ruling was ignored.
Many Indians did not leave peacefully nor was the going
easy once they were removed. The Cherokee endured the
Trail of Tears, traveling during a harsh winter as refugees.
Representative Government
In a representative government, power is held by the people and exercised through the efforts of representatives elected by those
people.
Republicanism
Republicanism is a philosophy of
limited government with elected representatives serving at
the will of the people. Republicanism says that the only legitimate government is one based on the consent of the governed.
Secondary Sources Secondary sources are descriptions or interpretations prepared by people who were not involved in the events described. Researchers often use primary sources to understand past events but they produce secondary sources. Secondary sources provide useful ground
material and context for information gained from primary
sources.
Separation of Powers
Baron de Montesquieu
first outlined the concept of separating the powers of government between the executive, legislative, and judicial
branches in The Spirit of the Laws (1748). His ideas influenced those who proposed the Virginia Plan in the opening
discussion of the Philadelphia Convention held in 1787 to
revise the Articles of Confederation. Delegates to the convention modified the Virginia Plan, merged it with the New
Jersey Plan proposed later, defined the three branches, and
outlined their responsibilities and limitations of power in the
U.S. Constitution. The branches included the legislative
branch know as “Congress” made up of a “House of Representatives” and a “Senate,” the executive branch known as
the “President,” and the judicial branch known as the “Supreme Court.”
The convention agreed that Congress, which made
laws, would consist of an equal number of senators from
each state and a variable number of representatives from each
state based on population. The powers of the legislative
branch are outlined in Article I of the U.S. Constitution. The
President would lead the executive branch, which carried
out the laws and ensured their just application. These powers are outlined in Article II of the U.S. Constitution. The
judicial branch, consisting of all courts of the United States
Grade 8
including the highest court, the Supreme Court, would interpret and apply the laws, ensuring that they are just. Its powers are outlined in Article III. The delegates to the Philadelphia Convention felt this afforded protection to U.S. citizens. In addition, this new form of government distributed
the power between a central government and the states. The
system was called federalism.
Slave Trade Millions of Africans came to America on
slave ships from the 1490s to the 1790s. Of these, about
400,000 were sold into slavery in North America, most arriving in the 1760s. The Revolutionary War and the subsequent interest in natural rights decreased support for the trade.
Most slaves brought into North America came from the west
coast of Africa, between Senegal in the north and Angola in
the south. Most were captured by other Africans and sold to
dealers on the coast. Slave markets in Charleston, South
Carolina, and Newport, Rhode Island, and other port cities
prospered during the 1700s. In 1774 the Continental Congress urged states to abolish the slave trade and most supported the request. Several northern states either abolished
slavery completely or emancipated slaves over a period of
time. Some planters in the south even freed slaves. By 1790
all states except South Carolina and Georgia outlawed the
trade. In 1787 during the Constitutional Convention, delegates agreed that the slave trade would not end for 20 more
years. On January 1, 1808, Congress officially ended the international slave trade. Internal trade continued and increased
from 1830 to 1860 as slaves from upper southern states were
sold south and west to satisfy the need of planters moving
west. Efforts to stop the trade within the south arose from a
fear of slave insurrection and less from humanitarian purposes.
Tariff Policies
Governments raise operating
funds by levying tariffs or taxes on imported goods. Tariffs
place foreign merchants at a disadvantage, making their goods
more expensive than domestic (American-made) products.
Generally, northern businessmen favored tariffs because the
taxes offered some protection from foreign competition.
Southern agriculturists opposed tariffs because they were
more dependent on foreign goods. Because they sold most
of their cotton to foreign merchants, Southern cotton growers had foreign credit which they had to use to purchase higher
priced foreign goods.
Tariffs imposed on certain domestic goods also
caused unrest. In 1794 Alexander Hamilton favored taxing
whiskey to generate needed revenue. Farmers in western
Pennsylvania who distilled their corn into whiskey were angered by the tax because they considered it unfair. They refused to pay the tax. In a show of force, federal troops
marched to western Pennsylvania to overthrow the Whiskey
Rebellion. By the time they arrived, the angry farmers had
disbanded, but the incident proved that the government would
enforce laws.
Thematic Maps
A thematic map is a map which
demonstrates a particular feature or a single item of interest.
For instance, thematic maps can show spatial distributions
of population, religion, or cattle production. Four types of
thematic maps are:
Dot maps
Choropleth maps
Proportional symbol maps
Isoline maps
U.S. Constitution
A constitution is a document that
outlines the powers of government. One of the foundations
of the American system of government is the use of a written constitution defining the values and principles of government and establishing the limits of power. The U.S. Constitution evolved from the Articles of Confederation adopted
in 1781. The Articles established a national congress with a
limited number of powers including the authority to make
laws and enter into treaties with other nations. By 1787 a
new system was needed as states were acting independently,
and Congress lacked the power to tax, regulate trade, or control coinage, issues critical for the survival of a new nation
of united states.
Congress announced a call for delegates to a convention “for the sole and express purpose of revising” the
Articles of Confederation. The Philadelphia Convention began in the Pennsylvania State House, now called Independence Hall, on May 25, 1787. Fifty-five delegates from 12
of the 13 states participated. The more daring quickly overstepped the intended goal of the convention by proposing
plans to replace the old Articles.
James Madison formulated many of the ideas included in the Constitution and is known as the “Father of the
Constitution.” He proposed that the U.S. government be organized in three branches: a legislative branch (Congress),
an executive branch (the President) and a judicial branch
(Supreme Court). The “Great Compromise” related to representation of states in the federal government. Delegates
engaged in heated debate but finally agreed that legislative
power should rest in a two-house Congress, the House of
Representatives including delegates from each state based
on population, and the Senate including an equal number of
elected delegates from each state. Article II outlined the executive department and the powers of the President within
that branch. This new form of government distributed the
power between a central government and the states, a system called federalism.
Other compromises made during the drafting process included the establishment of an Electoral College to
elect the president indirectly instead of by direct election,
and the “three-fifths compromise” which counted slaves as
three-fifths of a person when apportioning direct taxes or
counting representation in the House of Representatives.
Another compromise related to the slave trade, which the
convention agreed to end in 1807.
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Grade 8
Article VII, Ratification of the Constitution, outlined the process which required nine states to approve the U.S. Constitution. The process fostered one of the great debates of American history. The Federalists, who favored a strong central
government, supported the Constitution while the Anti-Federalists favored states’ rights and the protection of individual
rights through a Bill of Rights. They opposed ratification.
Madison worked with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay to
write The Federalist calling for ratification. Delegates elected
to state conventions determined the outcome. The first nine
states approved the constitution between December 1787 and
June 1788. The last four states ratified out of fear of exclusion, believing they could not exist separate from the union.
Rhode Island was the last to ratify in May 1790.
The Framers of the Constitution understood that
society would change over time, and made provisions for
amendments to be formally proposed and ratified by both
the state and federal governments. In the last 200 years, there
have been 27 amendments to the Constitution, including the
Bill of Rights. Informal amendments to the Constitution keep
the government up-to-date without formal modifications to
the document, such as Court decisions (Roe v. Wade), legislation (commerce laws), executive actions (the President’s
cabinet), and customs (Democrat/Republican parties).
Article V, The Process of Amendment, outlines the
ways to keep the Constitution current. The first Congress
proposed the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments, which
protected basic human rights and freedoms. This pleased
Anti-Federalists who felt the original document did not extend adequate protection. The power of judicial review, first
assumed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Marbury v. Madison,
allows the federal judicial branch to rule on issues of constitutional law including civil liberties, suspect’s rights, equality, women’s rights, minority rights, foreign policy, and constitutional change. Through the process of amendment and
judicial review, the Constitution is adapted to the needs of
each generation of Americans.
War of 1812 Often described as the Second War for Independence, the War of 1812 resulted from the need to protect and further the republican experiment in the United States
through an effort to make European powers respect U.S.
policies. The United States was drawn into the War of 1812
because of economic ties to the warring nations of Great
Britain and France. These two nations paid little attention to
the rights of the United States to trade and the rights of its
citizens to remain neutral in the war. As the British fought
the French in the Napoleonic Wars, both committed maritime offenses against the U.S., slowing trade, indiscriminately
seizing U.S. ships, and impressing Americans to serve in their
forces. The economy of the United States suffered due to
self-imposed restrictions on trade with Great Britain and
France, enacted by President Thomas Jefferson in the Embargo of 1807 and by President James Madison in the NonIntercourse Act of 1809. In the western territories, settlers
blamed the British for the problems with the Native Americans.
President James Madison asked the U.S. Congress
to declare war on Great Britain and it did so on June 18,
1812. The three main reasons for war were the impressment
of U.S. sailors, violations of U.S. rights at sea, and British
support of Native American opposition to colonial settlement.
In 1812 and 1813, the United States attempted to seize Canada
as part of the strategy to reduce the dominance of Great Britain.
After the defeat of Napoleon in mid-1814, the British became more aggressive toward the United States. The
British invaded several ports and set fire to government buildings, including the White House in Washington, D.C., in reprisal for the raids in Canada. The Treaty of Ghent, signed in
late December 1814, ended the war. The famous Battle of
New Orleans occurred two weeks later on January 8, 1815.
Andrew Jackson won public recognition for defending the
city from the superior forces of the British. He was elected
and served two terms as President of the United States from
1829 to 1837.
Unalienable (Inalienable) Rights
Unalienable
rights are fundamental rights or natural rights guaranteed to
people naturally instead of by the law. The Declaration of
Independence equated natural rights with several truths, “that
all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The phrase “unalienable rights” was also used in the Virginia Declaration
of Rights. Other rights are guaranteed in the Bill of Rights,
the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
Virginia House of Burgesses
Created in
1619, the House of Burgesses was an assembly of elected
representatives from the Virginia colony. It was the first representative assembly in the colonies, and it was used as a
model by other colonies. The House of Burgesses met in
Williamsburg, Virginia, throughout the colonial period.
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Washington’s Farewell Address
In 1796
George Washington decided not to pursue a third term as
President of the United States thereby allowing the election
of a successor. His farewell address to his cabinet, delivered
on September 17, was published in a Philadelphia newspaper on September 19. In it, he stressed three dangers facing
the nation. The first related to the rise of political parties
which he believed could divide Americans and destroy the
cooperation needed in government. The second was sectionalism, or political divisions based on geographic loyalties. The third was the involvement in European rivalries
that repeatedly drove those nations to war. The last served as
a cornerstone of American foreign policy until this country’s
involvement in World War I. He also supported the preservation of religion and morality as “the great pillars of human
happiness” and educational institutions for the “general diffusion of knowledge.”