STANDARD 6.4 (UNITED STATES AND NEW JERSEY HISTORY) ALL STUDENTS WILL DEMONSTRATE KNOWLEDGE OF UNITED STATES AND NEW JERSEY HISTORY IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND LIFE AND EVENTS IN THE PAST AND HOW THEY RELATE TO THE PRESENT AND FUTURE.

 

Descriptive statement: This standard introduces students in grades K-4 to the history of the United States and New Jersey through the study of family and community life. Through this study, students also become aware of many cultural traditions and heritages that contribute to the diversity of this country.  As a foundation for further study in grades 5-8, students learn about important issues and personalities that have influenced the history of the state and the nation.  Within the grades 5-12 cluster, students study the following ten periods in New Jersey and American history:

 

  • Many Worlds Meet (to 1620)
  • Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763)
  • Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820)
  • Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
  • Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
  • The Industrial Revolution (1870-1900)
  • The Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930)
  • The Great Depression and World War II (1929-1945)
  • Postwar Years (1945-1970)
  • Contemporary America (1968-present)

 

Within the ten broad eras, the indicators cover the political, social, cultural, diplomatic, scientific/technological, and military aspects of United States history.  Throughout the teaching of these periods, teachers are encouraged to connect events being studied to similar occurrences at different times in history and to current events. In addition, the study of New Jersey history provides an excellent laboratory for teaching major themes in American history. New Jersey history, and the many historical sites located throughout the state, provides close-at-hand, immediate examples that make American history real to students. 

 

Cumulative Progress Indicators

 

Building upon knowledge and skills gained in preceding grades, by the end of Grade 12, students will:

 

A.     Family and Community Life

Reinforce indicators from previous grade levels.

 

B.     State and Nation

Reinforce indicators from previous grade levels.

 

C.     Many Worlds Meet (to 1620)

Reinforce indicators from previous grade levels.

 

D.    Colonization and Settlement (1585-1763)

 1.         Analyze the major issues of the colonial period, including European hegemony over North America and mercantilism and trade.

 2.         Analyze how American colonial experiences caused change in the economic institutions of Europe, Africa, and the native population by examining indentured servitude and slavery and the rights of men and women.

 3.         Analyze the cultural reactions and survival techniques used by enslaved Africans to maintain their family structure, culture, and faith.

 4.         Analyze the political, religious, social, and economic institutions that emerged in colonial New Jersey.

 5.         Discuss Spanish exploration, settlement, and missions in the American Southwest.

 

E.     Revolution and the New Nation (1754-1820)

 1.         Discuss the social, political, and religious aspects of the American Revolution, including key decisions leading to the Revolution, efforts by Parliament and the colonies to prevent revolution, the ideas of different religious denominations, and the economic and social differences of Loyalists, Patriots, and those who remained neutral.

 2.     Analyze the social and economic impact of the Revolutionary War, including problems of financing the war (e.g., wartime inflation, hoarding and profiteering), the impact of the war on women and African Americans, and the personal and economic hardships on families involved with the war.

 3.         Discuss the involvement of European nations during the Revolution and how their involvement influenced the outcome and aftermath (e.g., the assistance of France and Spain, how the self-interests of France and Spain differed from the United States after the war, the contributions of European military leaders, the creation of the Alien Sedition Acts).

 4.         Analyze strategic elements used during the Revolutionary War, discuss turning points during the war, and explain how the Americans won the war against superior resources.

 5.      Analyze New Jersey’s role in the American Revolution, including New Jersey’s Constitution of 1776 as a revolutionary document, why some New Jerseyans became Loyalists, and the Battles of Trenton, Princeton, and Monmouth.

 6.         Compare and contrast the major philosophical and historical influences on the development of the Constitution (e.g., Washington’s Farewell Address (1796), Locke’s Second Treatise, the ideas of Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and William Paterson).

 7.         Describe the early evolution of the system of government and political parties in the United States (e.g., presidential elections of 1792, 1796, 1800).

 8.         Discuss the implementation of the federal government under the United States Constitution during the presidency of George Washington.

 9.         Describe the origin and development of the political parties, the Federalists, and the Democratic Republicans (1793-1801).

 

F.      Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)

 1.         Discuss the political interests and views of the War of 1812 (e.g., US responses to shipping harassment, role of Native Americans, role of white settlers in the Northwest Territory; congressional positions for and against the war).

 2.         Analyze American territorial expansion during this period, including the reasons for and consequences of the Louisiana Purchase, the Monroe Doctrine, Manifest Destiny, the Mexican War, the settlement of the frontier, and conflicts with Native-Americans.

 3.         Analyze the political, economic, and social changes in New Jersey prior to the Civil War, including the growth of New Jersey’s cities, New Jersey’s 1844 Constitution, the early stages of industrialization, including Alexander Hamilton and the Society for the Establishment of Useful Manufacturing, and the political and economic implications of the transportation monopolies.

 4.         Compare and contrast the characteristics of cultural, religious, and social reform movements in the antebellum period, including the abolition movement, the public school movement, the temperance movement, and the women’s rights movement (e.g., Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments).

 

G.    Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)

 1.         Analyze key issues, events, and personalities of the Civil War period, including New Jersey’s role in the Abolitionist Movement and the national elections, the development of the Jersey Shore, and the roles of women and children in New Jersey factories.

 2.         Assess the continuing social and political issues following the Civil War, including the various Reconstruction plans, the amendments to the United States Constitution, and the women’s suffrage movement.

 3.         Describe New Jersey’s role in the post-Civil War era, including New Jersey’s votes on the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the United States Constitution.

 

H.    The Industrial Revolution (1870-1900)

 1.         Analyze and evaluate key events, people, and groups associated with industrialization and its impact on urbanization, immigration, farmers, the labor movement, social reform, and government regulation including:

·        Inventions such as the telephone and electric light

·        The formation of Standard Oil Trust

·        The Interstate Commerce Act

·        The Sherman Anti-Trust Act

 2.         Analyze the development of industrialization in America and New Jersey during this period and the resulting transformation of the country, including the construction of the transcontinental railroad, the introduction of mechanized farming, the rise of corporations and organized labor, and the growth of cities.

 3.         Analyze social and political trends in post Reconstruction America, including immigration restrictions, Jim Crow Laws and racial segregation, the rise of extra legal organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan, and the Plessy  v. Ferguson decision.

 4.         Describe the economic development by which the United States became a major industrial power in the world and analyze the factors that contributed to industrialization.

 5.         Discuss the causes and consequences of the Spanish-American War (e.g., United States’ justifications, the role of the United States in Cuba, impact on international relations, the acquisition of new territories).

 6.         Discuss elements that contributed to late 19th century expansionist foreign policy, including racial ideology, missionary zeal, nationalism, domestic tensions, and economic interests.

 

I.       The Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930)

 1.         Analyze the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine (1904) and explain how it modified the Monroe Doctrine (1823), justifying a new direction in United States foreign policy.

 2.         Discuss the rise of the Progressive Movement, including the relationship between Progressivism and the Populist Movement, Woodrow Wilson as Governor of New Jersey, anti-trust reform, the woman suffrage movement (e.g., Alice Paul), and municipal reform (e.g., Frank Hague).

 3.         Analyze United States foreign policy through World War I, including relations with Japan and China, the Spanish, Cuban, American War, and the building of the Panama Canal.

 4.         Describe the major events, personalities, and decisions of World War I, including the causes of United States involvement, social conditions on the home front, significant battles, Wilson’s peace plan, and isolationism.

 5.         Explore and evaluate the role of New Jersey industry in World War I.

 6.         Analyze President Woodrow Wilson’s “Fourteen Points” Address to Congress (1918) and explain how it differed from proposals by French and British leaders for a treaty to conclude World War I.

 7.         Discuss the ratification of the Versailles Treaty and United States non-participation in the League of Nations.

 8.         Compare and contrast the social, cultural, and technological changes in the inter-war period, including the changing role of women, the rise of a consumer economy, the resurgence of nativism and racial violence, the Harlem Renaissance, and the Great Migration of African Americans to New Jersey from the south.

 9.         Discuss the working conditions in the Paterson silk mills and the strike of 1913.

 10.     Discuss the creation of social, labor, political, and economic advocacy organizations and institutions, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the AFL/CIO and other labor organizations, and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).

 11.     Discuss the role of Chief Sitting Bull, the outcome and impact of the Wounded Knee Tragedy of 1890, and the suppression of the American Indian revivalist movement known as Ghost Dance.

 

J.      The Great Depression and World War II (1929-1945)

 1.         Explain the economic impact of the Hawley-Smoot Tariff (1930).

 2.         Describe how the Great Depression and the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt transformed America, including the growth of the federal government, the rise of the Welfare State, and industrial unionism.

 3.         Analyze how the Great Depression and the New Deal transformed New Jersey, including Work Progress Administration (WPA) projects in New Jersey, the Jersey Homesteads, and New Deal projects.

 4.         Discuss how the Depression contributed to the development of Social Security, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

 5.         Compare and contrast key events and people involved with the causes, course, and consequences of World War II, including:

·        Axis Powers

·        Allied Forces

·        Pearl Harbor               

·        Battle of Midway

·        D-Day Invasion

·        Yalta Conference

·        Potsdam Conference

·        Douglas MacArthur

·        Dwight Eisenhower

·        George Marshall

·        Winston Churchill

·        J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project

·        Franklin D. Roosevelt

·        Harry Truman

·        Joseph Stalin and the role of the USSR

 6.         Describe the political background leading to American involvement in World War II, the course of the war in Europe and Asia, the mobilization of women and African Americans into the military and related industries, the segregated military, the use of the Atom Bomb, and the founding of the United Nations.

 7.         Describe New Jersey’s role in World War II, including:

·        The recruitment of Japanese-Americans from wartime detention camps to work at Seabrook Farm

·        The role of women in defense industries

·        Key military installations in New Jersey

·        The role of the Battleship New Jersey

·        The contributions of Albert Einstein

 

K.    Postwar Years (1945-1970s)

 1.         Discuss how American policies following World War II developed as a result of the failures experienced and lessons learned after World War I.

 2.         Explain changes in the post war society of the United States and New Jersey, including the impact of television, the interstate highway system, the growth of the suburbs, and the democratization of education.

 3.         Interpret political trends in post-war New Jersey, including the New Jersey State Constitution of 1947, the impact of legal cases such as Hedgepeth and Williams v. Trenton Board of Education on the banning of segregation in the schools under the new State Constitution, the development and impact of New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination (P.L. 1945, c.169), and the shift of political power from rural and urban areas to the suburbs.

 4.         Analyze United States foreign policy during the Cold War period, including US/USSR relations, United States reaction to the Soviet subjugation of Eastern Europe, the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and relations with China. 

 5.         Analyze political trends in post war America, including major United States Supreme Court decisions and the administrations of Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson.

 6.         Analyze the Civil Rights and Women’s Movements, including the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Civil Rights Act (1957 and 1964), the Little Rock Schools Crisis, the Voting Rights Act, Brown v. Board of Education, the formation of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the American Indian Movement (AIM), the formation of the National Organization for Women (NOW), and the passing of Title IX.

 7.         Describe how changes in federal policy impacted immigration to New Jersey and America, including the shift in places of origin from Western Europe to Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia.

 

L.     Contemporary America (1968-present)

 1.         Examine the administration of American presidents, beginning with President Richard M. Nixon, as a means to analyze political and economic issues in contemporary America, including domestic policy and international affairs.

 2.         Investigate the economic and social patterns in contemporary New Jersey, including shifts in immigration patterns, urban decline and renewal, important New Jersey Supreme Court rulings (e.g., Mount Laurel decision), and the issue of preserving open space.

 3.         Describe the growth of the technology and pharmaceutical industries in New Jersey.

 4.         Analyze United States domestic policies, including the civil rights movement, affirmative action, the labor and women’s movements, conservatism vs. liberalism, the post-industrial economy, free trade, and international trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade  (GATT).

 5.         Compare and contrast key events and people associated with foreign policy, including the fall of communism and the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, United States involvement in Haiti, Somalia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Kosovo, the Iran Hostage Crisis, and the war on terrorism.

 6.         Compare and contrast population trends and immigration and migration patterns in the United States (e.g., growth of Hispanic population, demographic and residential mobility).

 7.         Discuss major contemporary social issues, such as the evolution of governmental rights for individuals with disabilities, multiculturalism, bilingual education, gay rights, free expression in the media, and the modern feminist movement.

 

Link to Standard 6.4 Grade 5-8

 

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