Grade Level: 7

The Road to the Revolution/Independence

Concepts
Freedom/Conflict

Enduring Understandings
Governments that are oppressive or reduce individual freedoms may cause its citizens to protest or revolt.
Ineffective negotiations or lack of compromises can lead to conflict.
Beliefs and loyalty can divide or unify various groups.
The protection and declaration of basic human rights can lead to change.
Shared values create a common identity among groups, nations or societies.
Overcoming challenges takes commitment, luck, leadership and careful use of resources.

Skills
1.  Read and interpret primary source documents.
2.  Compare and contrast competing groups that are vying for power.
3.  Evaluate the effectiveness of the political organizations and institutions.
4.  Create, read, and interpret maps.
5.  Identify the relationship between historical events.
6.  Analyze historical events from a variety of perspectives.
7.  Identify the difference between political and human rights.

The New Nation: Colonial American and Settlement to 1763--Creating an Identity in Colonial America through Cultural Interactions

Concepts
 

Enduring Understandings
Nations explore and develop colonies for economic and political purposes.
The cultures of people can be disrupted and dominated by exploring nations.
Availability of natural resources supports trade which might lead to the development of strong colonies.
Competition over resources can result in conflict.
Economic growth necessitates the establishment of a system of labor.
New ideas about religion and government strengthen the need for the development of democracy.

Skills
1.  Read and interpret primary source documents.
2.  Compare and contrast political documents.
4.  Analyze, create, and interpret maps.
5.  Analyze relationship between geography, culture, history, government, and economy
6.  Use context clues to determine meaning.

The New Nation: Constitution and Government

Concepts
Order

Enduring Understandings
Rules support order. Government establishes laws for the purpose of maintaining order.
Effective democratic governments balances the needs of the individual with the needs of the general population.
Government reflects the values and beliefs of its society.
The rights of the individual form the basis of representative government.
Debate and compromise play an important role in sustaining an orderly democratic government.

Skills
1.  Define government.
2.  Read and interpret primary source documents to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.
3.  Compare and contrast the Articles of Confederation with the Constitution.
4.  Identify and describe how the delegates of the Constitutional Convention used compromise to reach consensus.
5.  Compare and contrast the major compromises.
6.  Memorize and analyze the preamble of the Constitution.
7.  Classify the powers of the three branches of government.
8.  Illustrate the process of making a bill a law.
9.  Complete a map to plot the results of an election with regard to popular vote and electoral vote.
10. Access the effectiveness of the Electoral College in measuring the popular vote.
11. Analyze statistically data of presidential election.
12. Describe the system of checks and balances.
13. Compose a class Bill of Rights.
14. Apply their understanding of the Constitution to Supreme Court cases.
15. Students will chart the societal change with Constitutional amendments.