US History Common Core Concepts for Semester One Common Final Exam
Key concepts covered during 1st semester that will be tested on the final exam
I can…
Unit 1 – Three Worlds Collide
1. Identify Christopher Columbus.
2. Describe Columbus’s motives for sailing in 1492.
3. Describe European motives for colonizing the Americas.
4. Explain reasons why Africans were enslaved and brought to the Americas.
5. Describe the (Columbian) exchange of goods and ideas among Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans.
6. Contrast Jamestown and Plymouth/Massachusetts Bay in terms of reasons for founding.
Unit 2 – Revolution and Independence
1. Explain the causes of the French and Indian War.
2. Evaluate the effects of the French and Indian War in terms of leading to the War of Independence due to British
debt and the establishment of acts such as the Proclamation line of 1763, the Stamp Act, and the Quartering
Act.
3. Describe the causes of the Boston Massacre.
4. Explain the concept of “taxation without representation” and how it led to colonial anger and actions in the
Boston Tea Party.
5. Evaluate the importance of “Common Sense” to the Revolution.
6. Describe the purpose and main ideas of the Declaration of Independence.
7. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of each side in the War for Independence.
8. Define Loyalists and Patriots.
9. Evaluate the importance of the alliance with France to the rebellious colonists.
10. Contrast the egalitarian ideals of the Revolution with the less egalitarian outcomes of the Revolution.
Unit 3 – Constitution
1. Identify the purpose for the Preamble.
2. List each of the branches of government.
3. Describe the function of each branch.
4. Explain the concept of federalism.
5. Define separation of powers.
6. Define checks and balances.
7. Explain the concept of the veto and its relationship to checks and balances.
8. Explain the concept of impeachment and its relationship to checks and balances.
9. Identify the Bill of Rights.
10. List the rights enumerated in the First Amendment.
11. Evaluate the Constitution as a “living document” that can be amended.
Unit 4 – Young Nation and Its Evolution
1. Explain why political parties began.
2. Identify the Federalist Party, and describe its basic beliefs.
3. Identify the Democratic-Republican Party (aka, Jeffersonians or Jeffersonian Republicans), and describe its basic
beliefs.
4. Contrast nationalism and sectionalism.
5. Define Jacksonian democracy as it relates to the “common man.”
6. Assess the impacts of Jacksonian democracy, especially Indian Removal/Trail of Tears.
7. Articulate the importance of George Washington’s Farewell Address.
8. Explain George Washington’s purpose in setting up the first Cabinet.
9. Identify the importance of the Marbury v. Madison case as it pertained to the concept of “judicial review.”
10. Explain the purposes of the Alien and Sedition Acts.
11. Describe the effects of the Louisiana Purchase.
Unit 5 – Expansion, Disunion, and Reconstruction
1. Define Manifest Destiny.
2. Explain how westward expansion impacted the North/South debate over the expansion of slavery, including the
concept of “popular sovereignty.”
3. Define abolitionism, and identify key figures of the movement (Tubman, Truth, Douglass, Stowe).
4. Explain the importance of Uncle Tom’s Cabin in expanding the sectional divide over slavery.
5. Define the concept of states’ rights, and assess its impact on causing the Civil War.
6. Explain Lincoln’s election as a cause of the Civil War (cause of South Carolina’s secession).
7. Describe the Emancipation Proclamation, especially in terms of freeing slaves only in those areas still in
rebellion.
8. Assess the Battle of Gettysburg as a key turning point of the war.
9. Articulate which side surrendered to end the Civil War (Lee/Grant at Appomattox Courthouse).
10. Identify successes of Reconstruction, including the 13/14/15th Amendments.
11. Identify failures of Reconstruction, including sharecropping, poll taxes, literacy tests, black codes, Jim Crow, and
the KKK.
Unit 6 – Turn of the Twentieth Century: Modernization and Change
1. Explain how the USA dispossessed Native Americans of their lands and cultures.
2. Identify key leaders of the Industrial Era and their respective industries (Carnegie, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt)
3. List the factors of the late 1800s leading to industrial expansion (abundant natural resources, cheap labor,
invention/innovation)
4. Describe the characteristics of the New Immigrant wave, and contrast with prior immigrants.
5. Explain how the New Immigrants were received by Native Americans.
6. Describe the purposes of labor unions.
7. Identify the goals of the Progressive Movement.
8. Explain the concept of trustbusting.
9. Identify Teddy Roosevelt as a Progressive reformer (environment, trusts, health, etc.).
US History Common Core Concepts for Semester Two Common Final Exam as Discussed at
DLT 5/29/12
Unit 1 – Emergence of the USA as a Global Player
1. Define imperialism.
2. Explain why countries engaged in imperialism.
3. Explain how Hawaii became part of the United States.
4. Describe the causes and effects of the Spanish-American-Cuban War.
5. Describe the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.
6. Analyze the underlying causes of World War I.
7. Recall what triggered World War I.
8. Explain how the USA got involved in World War I.
9. Define propaganda.
10. Describe the problems with the Treaty of Versailles.
Potential Documents – Teddy R. policeman cartoon, 14 Points, Wilson’s WWI Address to Congress, propaganda
posters, etc.
Unit 2 – Boom to Bust
1. (Analyze the impact of the Russian Revolution on Russia’s relationship with the USA.)*
2. Define the Red Scare (of the 1910s/1920s).
3. Describe the changing role of women in the 1920s due to the Women’s Movement.
4. Define Prohibition.
5. Identify the effects of Prohibition.
6. Analyze the conflict between urban and rural values in the 1920s (liberal v. conservative).
7. Define the Great Migration.
8. Describe the Harlem Renaissance.
9. Analyze the underlying causes of the Great Depression.
10. Recall what triggered the Great Depression (Stock Market crash).
11. Describe the immediate effects of the Great Depression (unemployment, etc.).
12. Contrast Hoover and Roosevelt’s approaches to solving the Great Depression.
Potential Documents – Langston Hughes poem, FDR Fear Itself speech, Dorothea Lange photos, Brother Can You Spare
a Dime lyrics, etc.
*Discussed for previous Unit related to USA entry into WWI, but not formally agreed to yet by DLT as part of
Unit 1 or Unit 2 contribution to Common Final.
US History Common Core Concepts for Semester Two Common Final Exam to be Discussed at
DLT 6/6/12
Unit 3 – World War II
1. Define totalitarianism.
2. Describe the Munich Pact.
3. Apply the term “appeasement” to WWII events.
4. Identify the significance of the USSR/Germany non-aggression pact.
5. Identify groups targeted by the Nazis in the Holocaust.
6. Explain how anti-Semitism relates to the Holocaust.
7. Explain the importance of Dec. 7, 1941.
8. Identify the significance of D-Day.
9. Explain why Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.
10. Analyze the causes of Japanese-American internment.
11. Recall Truman’s reasons for using the atomic bombs on Japan.
12. Identify the two target cities for the atomic bombs.
Potential Documents – Truman Radio Address re: The Bomb, FDR Infamy speech, Auschwitz/Manzanar photos,
Atlantic Charter, Executive Order 9066, Mein Kampf, etc.
Unit 4 – Cold War Foreign Policy
1. Explain how the Allies dealt with Germany after WWII.
2. Define the Iron Curtain.
3. Describe the Truman Doctrine (policy of containment).
4. Define communism.
5. Define capitalism.
6. Define the Cold War.
7. Identify the domestic impacts of the Cold War on the USA (McCarthyism).
8. Describe the outcome of the Korean War.
9. Identify Fidel Castro.
10. Identify the purpose of the Bay of Pigs invasion.
11. Describe the Cuban Missile Crisis.
12. Identify Ho Chi Minh.
13. Explain the significance of the Domino Theory.
14. Analyze the impacts of the Gulf of Tonkin incident.
15. Discuss the Kent State shootings.
16. Analyze the significance of the Tet Offensive.
17. Explain the outcome of the Vietnam War.
18. Identify the causes of the end of the Cold War.
Potential Documents – Iron Curtain cartoon, Churchill Iron Curtain speech, Kennedy Missiles speech, Vietnam protest
photo, Cold War cartoon, Cold War map, etc.
Unit 5 – Post WWII – Liberalism and Conservatism – Domestic Policy
1. Explain the significance of Plessy v. Ferguson.
2. Explain the significance of Brown v. Board of Education.
3. Identify key people of the Civil Rights movement (MLK, Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Emmett Till).
4. Explain the role of the African-American Civil Rights movement on other minority groups.
5. Explain the Watergate scandal in terms of Nixon’s resignation.
6. Identify key effects of the Great Society programs.
7. Define liberalism (social/political/economic).
8. Define conservatism (social/political/economic).
9. Explain Reagan’s economic policies (Reaganomics/trickle down).
10. Identify the impacts of 9/11 (Patriot Act/War on Terror/Iraq/Afghanistan).
Potential Documents – MLK Dream speech, MLK Birmingham Jail letter, Black Panther Party Statement of Purpose,
Patriot Act (contrast with Espionage/Sedition Acts), etc.