A. Family and Community Life

Reinforce indicators from previous grade levels.

B. State and Nation

Reinforce indicators from previous grade levels.

C. Many Worlds Meet (to 1620)

1. Discuss factors that stimulated European overseas explorations between the 15th and 17th centuries and the impact of that exploration on the modern world.
2. Trace the major land and water routes of the explorers.
3. Compare the political, social, economic, and religious systems of Africans, Europeans, and Native Americans who converged in the western hemisphere after 1492 (e.g., civic values, population levels, family structure, communication, use of natural resources).
4. Discuss the characteristics of the Spanish and Portuguese exploration and conquest of the Americas, including Spanish interaction with the Incan and Aztec empires, expeditions in the American Southwest, and the social composition of early settlers and their motives for exploration and conquest.
5. Describe the migration of the ancestors of the Lenape Indians and their culture at the time of first contact with Europeans.
6. Compare and contrast historic Native American groups of the West, Southwest, Northwest, Arctic and sub-Arctic, Great Plains, and Eastern Woodland regions at the beginning of European exploration.
7. Analyze the cultures and interactions of peoples in the Americas, Western Europe, and Africa after 1450 including the transatlantic slave trade.
8. Discuss how millions of Africans, brought against their will from Central Africa to the Americas, including Brazil, Caribbean nations, North America and other destinations, retained their humanity, their families, and their cultures during enslavement.

D. Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763)

1. Analyze the political, social, and cultural characteristics of the English colonies.
2. Describe the political, religious, social, and economic institutions that emerged in Colonial America, including New Netherland and colonial New Jersey.
3. Explain the differences in colonization of the Americas by England, the Netherlands, France, and Spain, including governance, relation to the mother countries, and interactions with other colonies and Native Americans.
4. Examine the interactions between Native Americans and European settlers, such as agriculture, trade, cultural exchanges, and military alliances and conflicts.
5. Describe Native American resistance to colonization, including the Cherokee War against the English, the French and Indian War, and King George’s War.
6. Identify factors that account for the establishment of African slavery in the Americas.
7. Discuss Spanish exploration, settlement, and missions in the American Southwest.

E. Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820)

1. Discuss the background and major issues of the American Revolution, including the political and economic causes and consequences of the revolution.
2. Discuss the major events (e.g. Boston Tea Party, Battle of Trenton) and personalities (e.g., George Washington, John Adams, John Witherspoon, William Franklin, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson) of the American Revolution.
3. Identify major British and American leaders and describe their roles in key events, such as the First and Second Continental Congresses, drafting and approving the Declaration of Independence (1776), the publication of “Common Sense,” and major battles of the Revolutionary War.
4. Explain New Jersey’s critical role in the American Revolution, including major battles, the involvement of women and African Americans, and the origins of the movement to abolish slavery.
5. Discuss the political and philosophical origins of the United States Constitution and its implementation in the 1790s.
6. Describe and map American territorial expansions and the settlement of the frontier during this period.
7. Analyze the causes and consequences of continuing conflict between Native American tribes and colonists (e.g., Tecumseh’s rebellion).
8. Discuss the background and major issues of the War of 1812 (e.g., sectional issues, role of Native Americans).

F. Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)

1. Describe the political, economic, and social changes in New Jersey and American society preceding the Civil War, including the early stages of industrialization, the growth of cities, and the political, legal, and social controversies surrounding the expansion of slavery.
2. Discuss American cultural, religious, and social reform movements in the antebellum period (e.g., abolitionists, the Great Awakening, the origins of the labor and women’s movements).
3. Explain the concept of the Manifest Destiny and its relationship to the westward movement of settlers and territorial expansion, including the purchase of Florida (1819), the annexation of Texas (1845), the acquisition of the Oregon Territory (1846), and territorial acquisition resulting from the Mexican War (1846-1848).
4. Explain the characteristics of political and social reform movements in the antebellum period in New Jersey, including the 1844 State Constitution, the temperance movement, the abolition movement, and the women’s rights movement.
5. Explain the importance of internal improvements on the transformation of New Jersey’s economy through New Jersey’s two canals and the Camden and Amboy Railroad.
6. Discuss the economic history of New Jersey, including growth of major industries and businesses, the lives of factory workers, and occupations of working people.
7. Compare political interests and views regarding the War of 1812 (e.g., US responses to shipping harassment, interests of Native Americans and white settlers in the Northwest Territory).
8. Discuss sectional compromises associated with westward expansion of slavery, such as the Missouri Compromise (1820) and the continued resistance to slavery by African Americans (e.g., Amistad Revolt).
9. Describe and map the continuing territorial expansion and settlement of the frontier, including the acquisition of new territories and conflicts with Native Americans, the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark expedition, and the California gold rush.
10. Explain how state and federal policies influenced various Native American tribes (e.g., homeland vs. resettlement, Black Hawk War, Trail of Tears).
11. Understand the institution of slavery in the United States, resistance to it, and New Jersey’s role in the Underground Railroad.

G. Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)

1. Explain the major events, issues, and personalities of the American Civil War including:
   • The causes of the Civil War (e.g., slavery, states’ rights)
   • The course and conduct of the war (e.g., Antietam, Vicksburg, Gettysburg)
   • Sectionalism
   • The Dred Scott and other Supreme Court decisions
   • The role of women
   • The role of African Americans
   • The Gettysburg Address
   • The Emancipation Proclamation
   • Juneteenth Independence Day
2. Analyze different points of view in regard to New Jersey’s role in the Civil War, including abolitionist sentiment in New Jersey and New Jersey’s vote in the elections of 1860 and 1864.
3. Explain Reconstruction as a government action, how it worked, and its effects after the war.
4. Discuss the impact of retaliatory state laws and general Southern resistance to Reconstruction.
5. Discuss the Dawes Act of 1887, how it attempted to assimilate Native Americans by converting tribal lands to individual ownership, and its impact on Native Americans.