Grade 8 Social Studies Mid-Term
Date of the test: Tuesday, Jan 28, 2014
Test format: true/false, matching, multiple-choice, short answer, short essay
Approximate number of questions: 100
You are responsible for the following units of study on the Mid-Term Exam:
•Westward Expansion
•Native American plight
•Slavery
•Sectionalism
The textbook chapters you are responsible for include:
9-2, 10-1, 10-2, 10-3, 12-1, 12-2, 13-1, 13-4
Essential Questions:
1. What factors led to Westward Expansion?
2. What effect did Westward Expansion have on national growth?
3. How did various groups view Westward Expansion?
4. What were the effects of prejudice and racism on Native Americans?
5. What were the effects of slavery on the economy of the South?
6. How did slavery and industry became sectional issues between the
North and the South.
You are also responsible for:
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee – general information
Current Events – What is a lead sentence? How is a news article structured?
Pledge of Allegiance
Slavery outline
Modern Slavery handouts
Mnemonics
Louisiana Purchase
Essential Question:
How did the Louisiana Purchase affect the nation’s economy and politics?
People and Terms:
Napoleon Bonaparte
Meriwether Lewis
William Clark
Sacagawea
Zebulon Pike
Conestoga wagon
Secede
You should know:
How did the secret agreement between Spain and France affect American settlers?
Summarize the reaction of the Federalists to the Louisiana Purchase?
Economic Growth
Essential Question:
What effects did the Industrial Revolution have on the U.S. economy?
People and Terms:
Cotton gin
Capitalism
Capital
Free enterprise
Factory system
Interchangeable parts
Patent
Eli Whitney
Samuel Slater
Francis Cabot Lowell
Textiles
You should know:
How did inventions like the cotton gin and interchangeable parts revolutionize the textile industry?
Why were Southern plantations able to increase their cotton production between 1790 and 1821?
What conditions encouraged people to invest in the new businesses?
Westward Bound
Essential Question:
How did land and water transportation affect westward expansion?
People and Terms:
Census
Turnpike
Canal
Lock
Robert Felton
De Witt Clinton
National Road
Robert Livingston
The Clermont
Erie Canal
You should know:
How were the improvements in westward travel financed in the early 1800’s?
What were the benefits of canal travel?
What determined where people would settle as they moved westward?
Unity and Sectionalism
Essential Question:
How were nation-building issues resolved in the early 1800s?
People and Terms:
Sectionalism
State sovereignty
American System
Missouri Compromise
McCulloch v. Maryland
Gibbons v. Ogden
Adams-Onis Treaty
Monroe Doctrine
John C. Calhoun
Daniel Webster
Henry Clay
Bolivar and San Martin
You should know:
What issues divided the country at the end of the Era of Good Feelings?
Why was the Monroe Doctrine issued?
The Oregon Country
Essential Question:
How did the belief in Manifest Destiny influence western settlement?
People and Terms:
Joint occupation
Mountain men
Rendezvous
Emigrant
Prairie schooner
Manifest Destiny
Oregon Trail
Hard tack
Dr. Marcus Whitman
John Jacob Astor
Robert Stuart
Jedediah Smith
Jim Bridger
Kit Carson
Cayuse
John O’Sullivan
James K. Polk
You should know:
Which nations claimed the Oregon Country?
How did John Quincy Adams help resolve the claims to the Oregon Country?
What was the campaign slogan for James K. Polk in 1844 and what was its significance?
Independence for Texas
Essential Question:
Why did Texans fight for their independence from Mexico?
People and Terms:
Tejano
Empresario
Annex
Stephen Austin
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna
Alamo
Sam Houston
Davey Crockett
William Travis
Jim Bowie
Battle of San Jacinto
Lone Star Republic
You should know:
How did Stephen Austin try to resolve tensions with the Mexican government?
The North’s Economy
Essential Question:
What innovations in industry, travel, and communications changed the lives of Americans in the
1800’s?
People and Terms
Clipper ship
Telegraph
Morse code
Elias Howe
Robert Fulton
Peter Cooper
Samuel Morse
John Deere
Cyrus McCormick
You should know:
Why was the telegraph so important?
What were some innovations in farming methods in the 1830’s?
The South’s People
Essential Question:
How did unique elements of culture develop among enslaved African Americans in the South?
People and Terms
Yeoman
Tenant farmer
Overseer
Literacy
Spiritual
Slave codes
Nat Turner
Harriet Tubman
Frederick Douglass
Underground Railroad
You should know:
Other than plantation owners, what kinds of farmers existed in the South?
How did the family structure of enslaved African Americans help them survive life under slavery?
Why did education in the South lag behind other areas of the United States?
Slavery in Africa
Essential Question:
How was slavery in Africa different from what slaves faced in the Americas?
People and Terms:
Triangle Trade
Refuse
Quarantine
Pest house
Slave raiders
Amistad
Misericordia
Little George
Thumbscrews
Middle Passage
Revolts
Zanzibar
You should know:
What was Triangle Trade (involving Europe, the Americas, and Africa)?
What happened to slaves who were taken from Africa?