US History I Curriculum
Grading Policy
Classwork – 65%
Tests and Quizzes – 25%
Weekly Effort – 10%

Unit 1 – Three Worlds Meet
This unit covers the peopling of the
Unit 7 – Nationalism and
Sectionalism
Americas, early complex societies,
This unit discusses the industrial
Native American societies, cultural
revolution, two economic systems,
patterns, how West Africa became
Clay's
connected with the rest of the world,
nationalism and foreign policy, how
West African culture, the European
nationalism pushed America West,
social order, Christianity, changes in
Andrew Jackson, the removal of
Europe,
Native Americans, States' rights, and
Europe's
Columbus'
voyage

expansion,
across
the
System,"
the Bank of the United States.
Atlantic, the impact of Europeans on
Native Americans, and the birth of a
"American

new society.
Unit
8
–
Reforming
American Society
This unit discusses the second Great

Unit 2 – The American
Colonies Emerge
Awakening, Utopia, how schools
were reformed, abolitionists, life in
This unit discusses how the Spanish
slavery, how slave owners defended
claimed
the
slavery, how women began to push
Conquistadors, the resistance to
for reform, the Women's Rights
Spain, the struggle of the English,
Movement,
clashes
working conditions.
an
empire,
between
settlers
and
Natives, how the Puritans created
"New England," Puritan dissent,

factory
work,
and
Unit 9 – Expanding West
Native American resistance, how the
This unit discusses the expansion of
Dutch created New Netherland, and
the
how
revolution, new markets, the frontier,
the
Quakers
created
Pennsylvania.
U.S.
Market,
economic
frontier trails, settlers in Texas,
Texan independence, Polk's urge

Unit 3 – The Colonies
toward
war,
war
with
Mexico,
This unit discusses the relationship
American land gains, and California
between England and its Colonies in
Gold.
the the New World, the tensions that
began to emerge, the things England

Unit 10 – The Union in Peril
the
This unit discusses the conflict of the
plantation economy in the South, the
North versus the South, slavery in
slave trade, how Africans coped in
the
the New World, how commerce grew
Underground Railroad, Kansas and
and what society was like in the
Nebraska,
North, new ideas that began to
emerged, Lincoln versus Douglas,
emerge, rivalry between England
John Brown, Lincoln's election, and
and France for the Empire of the New
the secession of the South.
did
to
"loosen
the
reins,"
World, and the French and Indian
War.

Territories,
comprimise,
how
new
the
parties
Unit 11 – The Civil War
This unit discusses Fort Sumter, why

Unit 4 – The War for
Independence
the North thought this would be a
This unit discusses how the Colonies
used, Richmond versus Washington,
organized themselves, the tensions
D.C.,
that mounted between the Colonies
Proclamation,
and England, the beginning of the
African
fighting in Lexington and Concord,
economies,
life
the
Gettysburg,
Vicksburg,
Patriots'
Declaration
of
the
Emancipation
political
Americans in
as
problems,
the
a
fight,
soldier,
Sherman,
Independence, how Americans were
Appomattox, new freedom, and the
forced to take sides and why they
assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
chose as they did, the war in the
middle states, Colonial life during the
war, the Patriots' European allies,
Britain's move to the South, and the
surrender of the British.

short war, the weapons that were
Unit 5 – A New Nation
This
unit
discusses
the
Debate,
the
Congress,
the
Republicanism
Continental
Nationalists, the compromises that
were
made,
government
how
was
the
created,
new
the
federalists versus the antifederalists,
and the Bill of Rights.

Unit 6 – Launching the
New Nation
This unit discusses how the new
government took shape, Hamilton
versus Jefferson, the first political
parties, the United States' response
to European issues, Native American
resistance, President John Adams,
the Jefferson Era, how the U.S.
began to expand Westward, and the
War of 1812.