Grade Eight: US History

Semester One

2015

REVIEW PACKET

Student Final Exam Study Sheet

Office of Curriculum and Instructional Programs

Department of Curriculum and Instruction

Grade Eight US History: Semester One

Student Review Sheet

Unit One: Democracy: Political System of the People

Application of Principles. You must be able to explain and apply each of these terms (that means give an example from today or from the past).

A. Five Purposes of Government:

• Promote rule of law

• Provide public services

• Support the economic system

• Protect rights

• Prepare for a common defense

B. Methods of Change:

• Working within the system

• Working outside the system

• Creating a new system

General concepts and terms. You must be able to explain and apply each of these terms (that means give an example from today or from the past).

A. Mercantilism

B. Social Contract

C. Democratic Political System

D. Confederation

E. Individual rights

Historical Knowledge I: Forming a New Political System. You must be able to sequence the following key events and explain how they contributed to the development of a new American political system.

• Results of French and Indian War

• Navigation Acts

• Sugar Act

• Stamp Act

• Boston Massacre

• Boston Tea Party

• Intolerable Acts

• Lexington Green

• Continental Congresses

• Patriot committees and organizations

• Declaration of Independence

• Articles of Confederation

• Battle of Yorktown

Historical Knowledge II: Defending the New Political System. You must be able to identify and explain what contributed to American success in the Revolutionary War.

• American strengths

• Involvement of the French

• Impact of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, King George

Discussion and Review Questions: Unit One

• How can people change a political system? What are examples of these ways? What are examples of ways Patriots tried to change the British political system?

• Why might a society choose to change their political system? Why did the Patriots want a new political system?

• What are the purposes of government? How does our government today meet these purposes? Evaluate how effectively the British government and the Confederation government meet these purposes.

• How did the American Revolution grow from limited protests to illegal actions and finally war? What events increased tensions or played a significant role in moving colonists towards declaring independence?

• When did the new American political system begin?

• What were significant turning points leading up to the declaration of war? Why were they significant?

• How did the American Revolution affect people throughout the colonies including soldiers, women, Native Americans, enslaved Africans, free blacks, Loyalists, and others?

• What were significant turning points during the war? How did they affect the outcome of the war?

• What did America gain in the Treaty of Paris? What challenges faced the new nation?

• How effectively did the Articles of Confederation meet the purposes of government?

Unit Two: Creating a National Political System and Culture

Application of Principles: You must be able to explain and apply each of these terms (that means give an example from today or from the past).

A. American cultureF. Representative government

B. Rights and responsibilitiesG. Limited government

C. Separation of church and stateH. Freedom and independence

D. Rule of lawI. Opportunity of a market economy

E. Equal opportunity

Constitutional Concepts: You must be able to explain how the Constitution outlined a structure for a political system based on the following concepts. Define each term and give an example from the Constitution.

A. Federalism

B. Separation of powers (3 branches)

C. Checks and balances

D. Judicial Review

E. National Supremacy

Historical Knowledge I: Creating a New System

A. You must be able to explain why and how Americans chose to create a new political system.

• Weaknesses of the Articles

• Shays’ Rebellion

• Constitutional Convention

B. You must be able to explain how each of the debates below led to compromises that helped shape the Constitution.

• Representation: Great Compromise, 3/5s Compromise

• Limited government and Rights and Responsibilities: Bill of Rights

Historical Knowledge II: Inside and Outside Forces Shape the Nation

C. You must be able to explain how each event below contributed to the development of a national culture.

• Precedents of President Washington

• Federal assumption of war debts

• Whiskey Rebellion

• Neutrality in foreign policy

• Alien and Sedition Acts

• Election of 1800- political parties

• Supreme Court cases:

Marbury v. Madison

McCulloch v. Maryland

Discussion and Review Questions: Unit Two

• What shared values unite Americans and provide the nation with a national culture? How are these values seen in America today? How did these values become a part of our political system?

• What are the fundamental principles of American government that are expressed in the Constitution including its amendments? How do these fundamental principles affect the lives of citizens?

• What principles of government are expressed in the Preamble to the Constitution?

• What debates arose at the Constitutional Convention? How successful were the compromises in addressing issues of representation and limited government?

• How is power divided and shared in a federal system of government? Why is it shared in this way?

• How is power divided and shared by the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of U.S. governments? Why is power divided in this way?

• How does the system of checks and balances prevent the abuse of power? Provide examples.

• How did political parties develop and influence the political system in the early years of our nation? How can citizens participate in the political process today?

• Why was the presidency of George Washington important for establishing precedents for future administrations?

• How did competing political views of Jefferson and Hamilton affect the development of the nation?

• How did inside and outside forces affect the development of a national political culture?

• When, if ever, is the government justified in limiting individual rights for reasons of national security?

Social Studies Thinking Skills –Grade 8 Review Sheet

In addition to the content and skills in the previous pages, you must understand and be able to apply the following skills.

Historical Thinking: You must understand and be able to apply historical thinking.

  1. Categorizing Evidence
  2. sort evidence to make generalizations
  1. Multiple Perspectives
  2. understand that people view events and issues differently based on their experiences and culture
  3. understand that investigating multiple perspectives deepens understanding of events and issues
  1. Evaluation of Evidence for Relevance
  2. understand that evidence is selected to support a particular point of view
  3. be able to select evidence to support a particular point of view
  1. Historical Interpretation
  2. understand that historians reconstruct history from evidence
  3. understand that historical interpretation is influenced by the author’s perspective, context, and selected evidence
  4. be able to identify the perspective of a historian in a secondary source

Source Analysis: You must be able to analyze primary sources and images for content, perspective, and context, and be able to corroborate using multiple sources.

  1. Content
  • main idea, inferences, limitations
  1. Perspective
  • purpose, opinions, beliefs, and values of author
  1. Corroboration
  • corroboration and contradictions between multiple sources
  1. Context
  • how time and place of origin affect content
  1. Image Analysis
  • interpret political cartoons, drawings, photographs, and other visuals

Writing: You must be able to do the following in your written responses.

  • develop a thesis statement
  • support a thesis statement with evidence
  • determine the relevance of evidence

Grade Eight- Semester One: Advanced U.S. History Exam Review 2015 1