National History Education Clearinghouse

AL.1. Standard: United States History to 1877

• 1.1. Objective: Economics/Geography/History/Political Science

  Contrast the effects of economic, geographic, political, and social conditions before and after European explorations of the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries on Europeans, American colonists, and indigenous Americans.

  • 1.1.1. Grade Level Example:

    Contrasting European motives for establishing colonies.

  • 1.1.2. Grade Level Example:

    Tracing the course of the Columbian Exchange.

  • 1.1.3. Grade Level Example:

    Explaining how the institution of slavery developed in the colonies.

  • 1.1.4. Grade Level Example:

    Describing conflicts among Europeans that occurred over the colonies.

  • 1.1.5. Grade Level Example:

    Explaining how mercantilism was a motive for colonization.

• 1.2. Objective: Economics/Geography/History/Political Science

  Compare the various early English settlements and colonies on the basis of geography, economics, culture, government, and Native American relations.

  • 1.2.1. Grade Level Example:

    Identifying tensions that developed between the colonists and their local governments and between the colonists and Great Britain.

  • 1.2.2. Grade Level Example:

    Describing the influence of the ideas of the Age of Enlightenment on the colonies.

  • 1.2.3. Grade Level Example:

    Explaining the role of the House of Burgesses and New England town meetings on colonial society.

  • 1.2.4. Grade Level Example:

    Describing the impact of the Great Awakening on colonial society.

• 1.3. Objective: Economics/Geography/History/Political Science

  Trace the chronology of events leading to the American Revolution, including the French and Indian War, the Stamp Act, the Boston Tea Party, the Intolerable Acts, the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the publication of Common Sense, and the Declaration of Independence.

  • 1.3.1. Grade Level Example:

    Explaining the role of key leaders and major events of the Revolutionary War.

  • 1.3.2. Grade Level Example:

    Summarizing the major ideas, and their origins, included in the Declaration of Independence.

  • 1.3.3. Grade Level Example:

    Comparing roles in and perspectives of the American Revolution from different regions and groups in society, including men, women, white settlers, free and enslaved African Americans, and Native Americans.

  • 1.3.4. Grade Level Example:

    Describing reasons for American victory in the American Revolution.

  • 1.3.5. Grade Level Example:

    Analyzing how the provisions of the Treaty of Paris (1783) affected the relations of the United States with European nations and Native Americans.

  • 1.3.6. Grade Level Example:

    Contrasting prewar colonial boundaries with those established by the Treaty of Paris (1783)

• 1.4. Objective: Economics/History/Political Science

  Describe the political system of the United States based on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

  • 1.4.1. Grade Level Example:

    Describing inadequacies of the Articles of Confederation.

  • 1.4.2. Grade Level Example:

    Describing personalities, issues, ideologies, and compromises related to the Constitutional Convention and ratification.

  • 1.4.3 Grade Level Example:

    Identifying factors leading to the development and establishment of political parties, including Alexander Hamilton's economic policies and the election of 1800.

• 1.5. Objective: History/Political Science

  Identify key cases that helped shape the United States Supreme Court, including Marbury versus Madison, McCullough versus Maryland, and Cherokee Nation versus Georgia.

  • 1.5.1. Grade Level Example:

    Identifying the concepts of loose and strict constructionism.

• 1.6. Objective: History/Political Science

  Describe the relations of the United States with Britain and France from 1781 to 1823, including the XYZ Affair, the War of 1812, and the Monroe Doctrine.

• 1.7. Objective: History/Political Science

  Describe the development of a distinct culture within the United States between the American Revolution and the Civil War, including the impact of the Second Great Awakening and the writings of James Fenimore Cooper, Henry David Thoreau, and Edgar Allan Poe.

  • 1.7.1. Grade Level Example:

    Tracing the development of temperance, women's, and other reform movements in the United States between 1781 and 1861

  • 1.7.2. Grade Level Example:

    Relating events in Alabama from 1781 to 1823 to those of the developing nation

  • 1.7.3. Grade Level Example:

    Tracing the development of transportation systems in the United States between 1781 and 1861

• 1.8. Objective: History/Political Science

  Trace the development of efforts to abolish slavery prior to the Civil War.

  • 1.8.1. Grade Level Example:

    Describing the abolition of slavery in most Northern states in the late eighteenth century.

  • 1.8.2. Grade Level Example:

    Describing the rise of religious movements in opposition to slavery, including the objections of the Quakers.

  • 1.8.3. Grade Level Example:

    Describing the impact of the principle of 'inalienable rights' as a motivating factor for movements to oppose slavery.

  • 1.8.4. Grade Level Example:

    Describing the founding of the first abolitionist societies by Benjamin Rush and Benjamin Franklin and the role played by later critics of slavery, including William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, Angelina and Sarah Grimke, Henry David Thoreau, and Charles Sumner.

  • 1.8.5. Grade Level Example:

    Explaining the importance of the Northwest Ordinance for banning slavery in new states north of the Ohio River.

  • 1.8.6. Grade Level Example:

    Describing the rise of the underground railroad and its leaders, including Harriet Tubman and the impact of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.

• 1.9. Objective: Economics/Geography/History/Political Science

  Summarize major legislation and court decisions from 1800 to 1861 that led to increasing sectionalism, including the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the Dred Scott decision.

  • 1.9.1. Grade Level Example:

    Describing Alabama's role in the developing sectionalism of the United States from 1819 to 1861.

  • 1.9.2. Grade Level Example:

    Analyzing Westward Expansion from 1803 to 1861 to determine its effects on sectionalism, including the Louisiana Purchase, Texas Annexation, and the Mexican Cession.

  • 1.9.3. Grade Level Example:

    Describing the tariff debate and the nullification crisis.

  • 1.9.4. Grade Level Example:

    Describing the formation of the Republican party and its effect on the election of 1860.

  • 1.9.5. Grade Level Example:

    Identifying causes leading to the Westward Expansion.

  • 1.9.6. Grade Level Example:

    Locating on a map the areas affected by the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

• 1.10. Objective: Geography/History/Political Science

  Describe how the course, character, and effects of the Civil War influenced the United States.

  • 1.10.1. Grade Level Example:

    Identifying key Northern and Southern personalities, including Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, Thomas J. 'Stonewall' Jackson, and William T. Sherman.

  • 1.10.2. Grade Level Example:

    Describing the impact of the division of the nation during the Civil War on resources, population, and transportation.

  • 1.10.3. Grade Level Example:

    Explaining reasons for border states remaining in the Union.

  • 1.10.4. Grade Level Example:

    Discussing nonmilitary events and life during the Civil War.

  • 1.10.5. Grade Level Example:

    Explaining the causes of the military defeat of the Confederacy.

  • 1.10.6. Grade Level Example:

    Explaining Alabama's involvement in the Civil War.

• 1.11. Objective: Economics/History/Political Science

  Contrast congressional and presidential reconstruction plans, including African-American political participation.

  • 1.11.1. Grade Level Example:

    Tracing economic changes in the post-Civil War period for whites and African Americans in the North and the South, including the effectiveness of the Freedmen's Bureau.

  • 1.11.2. Grade Level Example:

    Describing the social restructuring of the South.

  • 1.11.3. Grade Level Example:

    Describing the Compromise of 1877.

  • 1.11.4. Grade Level Example:

    Identifying post-Civil War Constitutional amendments.

  • 1.11.5. Grade Level Example:

    Discussing causes for the impeachment of Andrew Johnson.