Michigan 8th Grade Social Studies Standards

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8-F Foundations in U.S. History and Geography Eras 1-2

• 8-F1 Political and Intellectual Transformations
  • 8-F1.1 Describe the ideas, experiences, and interactions that influenced the colonists’ decisions to declare independence by analyzing: colonial ideas about government and experiences with self-government.
  • 8-F1.2 Using the Declaration of Independence, including the grievances at the end of the document, describe the role this document played in expressing: colonists’ views of government and their reasons for separating from Great Britain.
  • 8-F1.3 Describe the consequences of the American Revolution by analyzing and evaluating the relative influences of: establishment of an independent republican government; creation of the Articles of Confederation; changing views on freedom and equality; and concerns over the distribution of power within government, between government and the governed, and among people.

8-U3 USHG Era 3 – Revolution and the New Nation

• 8-U3.3 Creating New Government(s) and a New Constitution: Explain the challenges faced by the new nation and analyze the development of the Constitution as a new plan for governing (Foundations for Civics HSCE Standard 2.1).
  • 8-U3.3.1 Explain the reasons for the adoption and subsequent failure of the Articles of Confederation.
  • 8-U3.3.2 Identify economic, political, and cultural issues facing the nation during the period of the Articles of Confederation and the opening of the Constitutional Convention.
  • 8-U3.3.3 Describe the major issues debated at the Constitutional Convention, including the distribution of political power among the states and within the federal government, the conduct of foreign affairs, commerce with tribes, rights of individuals, the election of the executive, and the enslavement of Africans as a regional and federal issue.
  • 8-U3.3.4 Explain how the new Constitution resolved (or compromised) the major issues, including sharing and separation of power and checking of power among federal government institutions; dual sovereignty (state-federal power); rights of individuals; the Electoral College; the Three-Fifths Compromise; the Great Compromise; and relationships and affairs with tribal nations.
  • 8-U3.3.5 Analyze the debates over the ratification of the Constitution from the perspectives of Federalists and Anti-Federalists and describe how the states ratified the Constitution.
  • 8-U3.3.6 Explain how the Bill of Rights reflected the concept of limited government, protection of basic freedoms, and the fear among many Americans of a strong central government.
  • 8-U3.3.7 Use important ideas and documents to describe the philosophical origins of constitutional government in the United States with an emphasis on the following ideals: social contract, limited government, natural rights, right of revolution, separation of powers, bicameralism, republicanism, and popular participation in government.

8-U4 USHG Era 4 – Expansion and Reform (1792-1861)

• 8-U4.1 Challenges to an Emerging Nation: Analyze the challenges the new federal government faced and the roles of political and social leaders in meeting those challenges.
  • 8-U4.1.1 Washington’s Farewell – use President George Washington’s farewell address to analyze Washington’s perspective on the most significant challenges the new nation faced.
  • 8-U4.1.2 Establishing America’s Place in the World – assess the changes in America’s relationships with other nations by analyzing the origins, intents, and purposes of treaties.
  • 8-U4.1.3 Challenge of Political Conflict – examine the origins and intentions of early American political parties, including how they emerged, who participated, and what influenced their ideologies.
  • 8-U4.1.4 Establishing a National Judiciary and its Power – use Marbury v. Madison to explain the development of the power of the Supreme Court through the doctrine of judicial review.
• 8-U4.2 Regional and Economic Growth: Describe and analyze the nature and impact of territorial, demographic, and economic growth in the first three decades of the new nation, using maps, charts, and other evidence.
  • 8-U4.2.1 Comparing the Northeast and the South – compare and contrast the social and economic systems of the Northeast, the South, and the Western Frontier (Kentucky, Ohio Valley, etc.) with respect to geography, climate, and the development of: agriculture, including changes in productivity, technology, supply and demand, and price; industry, including the entrepreneurial development of new industries, such as textiles; the labor force, including labor incentives and changes in labor forces; transportation, including changes in transportation (steamboats and canal barges) and the impact on economic markets and prices; immigration and the growth of nativism; race relations; and class relations.
  • 8-U4.2.2 The Institution of Slavery – explain the ideology of the institution of slavery, its policies, and consequences.
  • 8-U4.2.3 Westward Expansion – analyze the annexation of the west through the Louisiana Purchase, the removal of Indigenous Peoples from their ancestral homelands, the Mexican-American War, the growth of a system of commercial agriculture, and the idea of Manifest Destiny.
  • 8-U4.2.4 Consequences of Expansion – develop an argument based on evidence about the positive and negative consequences of territorial and economic expansion on Indigenous Peoples, efforts to maintain and sustain the institution of slavery, and the relations between free and slave-holding states.
• 8-U4.3 Reform Movements: Analyze the growth of antebellum American reform movements.
  • 8-U4.3.1 Explain the origins of the American education system.
  • 8-U4.3.2 Describe the formation and development of the abolitionist movement by considering the roles of key abolitionist leaders and the response of southerners and northerners to the abolitionist movement.
  • 8-U4.3.3 Analyze the antebellum women’s rights (and suffrage) movement by discussing the goals of its leaders and comparing primary source documents from this era to the Declaration of Independence.
  • 8-U4.3.4 Analyze the goals and effects of the antebellum temperance movement.
  • 8-U4.3.5 Investigate the role of religion in shaping antebellum reform movements.

8-U5 USHG Era 5 – Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)

• 8-U5.1 The Coming of the Civil War: Analyze and evaluate the early attempts to abolish or contain slavery and to realize the ideals of the Declaration of Independence.
  • 8-U5.1.1 Compare the differences in the lives of free black people (including those who escaped from slavery) with the lives of free white people and enslaved people.
  • 8-U5.1.2 Describe the impact of the Northwest Ordinance on the expansion of slavery.
  • 8-U5.1.3 Describe the competing views of John C. Calhoun, Daniel Webster, and Henry Clay on the nature of the union among the states.
  • 8-U5.1.4 Draw conclusions about why the following increased sectional tensions: the Missouri Compromise (1820); the Wilmot Proviso (1846); the Compromise of 1850, including the Fugitive Slave Act; the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) and subsequent conflict in Kansas; the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision (1857); and changes in the party system.
  • 8-U5.1.5 Describe the resistance of enslaved persons and effects of their actions before and during the Civil War.
  • 8-U5.1.6 Describe how major issues debated at the Constitutional Convention, such as disagreements over the distribution of political power, rights of individuals (liberty and property), rights of states, the election of the executive, and slavery, help explain the Civil War.
• 8-U5.2 Civil War: Evaluate the multiple causes, key events, and complex consequences of the Civil War.
  • 8-U5.2.1 Discuss the social, political, economic, and cultural reasons for secession.
  • 8-U5.2.2 Make an argument to explain the reasons why the North won the Civil War by considering the following: critical events and battles in the war; the political and military leadership of the North and South; respective advantages and disadvantages of each side, including geographic, demographic, economic, and technological.
  • 8-U5.2.3 Examine Abraham Lincoln’s presidency with respect to: his military and political leadership; the evolution of his emancipation policy (including the Emancipation Proclamation); the role of his significant writings and speeches, including the Gettysburg Address and its relationship to the Declaration of Independence.
  • 8-U5.2.4 Describe the role of African-Americans in the war, including black soldiers and regiments, and the increased resistance of enslaved people.
  • 8-U5.2.5 Construct generalizations about how the war affected combatants, civilians (including the role of women and Indigenous Peoples), the physical environment, and the future of warfare, including technological developments.
• 8-U5.3 Reconstruction: Using evidence, develop an argument regarding the character and consequences of Reconstruction.
  • 8-U5.3.1 Compare the different positions concerning the reconstruction of Southern society and the nation, including the positions of President Abraham Lincoln, President Andrew Johnson, Republicans, Democrats, and African-Americans.
  • 8-U5.3.2 Describe the early responses to the end of the Civil War by describing: the policies of the Freedmen’s Bureau and the restrictions placed on the rights and opportunities of freedmen, including racial segregation and Black Codes.
  • 8-U5.3.3 Describe the new role of African-Americans in local, state, and federal government in the years after the Civil War and the national and regional resistance to this change, including the Ku Klux Klan.
  • 8-U5.3.4 Analyze the intent and the effect of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution.
  • 8-U5.3.5 Explain the decision to remove Union troops from the South in 1877 and investigate its impact on Americans.

8-U6 USHG Era 6 – The Development of an Industrial, Urban, and Global United States (1870-1930)

• 8-U6.1 America in the Last Half of the 19th Century: Analyze the major changes in communication, transportation, demography, and urban centers, including the location and growth of cities linked by industry and trade, in the last half of the 19th century. The purpose of this section is to introduce some of the major changes in American society and the economy in the last part of the 19th century. This era will be addressed in depth and with greater intellectual sophistication in the high school U.S. History and Geography content expectations.
  • 8-U6.1.1 America at Century’s End – compare and contrast the United States in 1800 with the United States in 1898, focusing on similarities and differences in: territory; population; systems of transportation; governmental policies promoting economic development; economic change; the treatment of African-Americans; and the policies toward Indigenous Peoples.
• 8-U6.2 Investigation Topics and Issue Analysis (P2): Use the historical perspective to investigate a significant historical topic from U.S. History Eras 3-6 that also has significance as an issue or topic in the United States today.
  • 8-U6.2.1 U.S. History Investigation Topic and Issue Analysis, Past and Present – use historical perspectives to analyze issues in the United States from the past and the present; conduct research on a historical issue or topic, identify a connection to a contemporary issue, and present findings (e.g., oral, visual, video, or electronic presentation, persuasive essay, or research paper); include causes and consequences of the historical action and predict possible consequences of the contemporary action.

8-P Process and Skills Standards

• 8-P1 Reading and Communication – Read and Communicate Effectively
  • 8-P1.1 Use appropriate strategies to read and interpret basic social science tables, graphs, graphics, maps, and texts.
  • 8-P1.2 Interpret primary and secondary source documents for point of view, context, bias, and frame of reference or perspective.
  • 8-P1.3 Express social science ideas clearly in written, spoken, and graphic forms, including tables, line graphs, bar graphs, pie charts, maps, and images.
  • 8-P1.4 Present an argument supported with evidence.
• 8-P2 Inquiry, Research, and Analysis
  • 8-P2.1 Use compelling and supporting questions to investigate social scientific problems.
  • 8-P2.2 Evaluate data presented in social science tables, graphs, graphics, maps, and texts.
  • 8-P2.3 Know how to find, organize, and interpret information from a variety of sources.
  • 8-P2.4 Use resources in multiple forms and from multiple perspectives to analyze issues.
• 8-P3 Public Discourse and Decision Making
  • 8-P3.1 Identifying and Analyzing Issues, Decision Making, Persuasive Communication About a Public Issue, and Civic Participation.
    • Skills covering this topic are not currently available on IXL.
• 8-P4 Civic Participation
  • 8-P4.2 Act constructively to further the public good.
    • 8-P4.2.1 Demonstrate knowledge of how, when, and where individuals would plan and conduct activities intended to advance views in matters of public policy, report the results, and evaluate effectiveness.
    • 8-P4.2.2 Engage in activities intended to contribute to solving a national or international problem studied.
    • 8-P4.2.3 Participate in projects to help or inform others.