Social Studies: Content Knowledge (0081)

I. United States History

• Understands basic North American geography, peoples, and cultures prior to European colonization.
• Understands how and why European colonies in North America were founded and developed.
• Understands how European, African, and Native American peoples interacted in North America during the colonial period.
• Understands the origins of the American Revolution and its impact on the founding of the United States.
• Understands the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights, the context that led to their writing and adoption, and their impact on the political development of the early United States.
• Understands the causes and consequences of territorial expansion of the United States.
• Understands the causes and consequences of nineteenth-century sectionalism, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.
• Understands the relationships among industrialization, urbanization, and immigration in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
• Understands the political, economic, social, and cultural developments from the Progressive Era through the New Deal.
• Understands the causes of United States participation in the First and Second World Wars and the consequences of the wars at home and abroad.
• Understands the origins, development, and consequences of the Cold War both abroad and domestically.
• Understands the impact of social, economic, and technological changes in the latter half of the twentieth century (e.g., counterculture, globalization, information age).
• Understands the political realignment from the New Deal and the Great Society through the rise of conservatism.
• Understands the ongoing impact of race, gender, and ethnicity throughout American history.
• Understands how participants in the political process (e.g., presidents, the judiciary, Congress, political parties) engage in politics and shape policy.
• Understands the emergence of the United States as a world power and the evolving role of the United States in the world.
• Understands the influence of religion throughout American history.
• Understands major economic transformations that occurred in the United States (e.g., changes in technology, business, and labor).
• Understands the causes and consequences of changing patterns of immigration to the United States and internal migration within the United States.
• Understands the struggles and achievements of individuals and groups for greater political and civil rights throughout United States history.