A supplement to the Texas US history textbook/8th Grade - History of the United States

Preface
As outlined in this statement, this resource is a supplement to the 8th grade history textbook for the state of Texas. Please read the statement before contributing to this resource.

Scope
According to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies [PDF]:


 * In Grade 8, students study the history of the United States from the early colonial period through Reconstruction. The knowledge and skills in subsection (b) of this section comprise the first part of a two-year study of U.S. history. The second part, comprising U.S. history from Reconstruction to the present, is provided in §113.41 of this title (relating to United States History Studies Since 1877 (One Credit), Beginning with School Year 2011-2012). The content in Grade 8 builds upon that from Grade 5 but provides more depth and breadth. Historical content focuses on the political, economic, religious, and social events and issues related to the colonial and revolutionary eras, the creation and ratification of the U.S. Constitution, challenges of the early republic, the age of Jackson, westward expansion, sectionalism, Civil War, and Reconstruction. Students describe the physical characteristics of the United States and their impact on population distribution and settlement patterns in the past and present. Students analyze the various economic factors that influenced the development of colonial America and the early years of the republic and identify the origins of the free enterprise system. Students examine the American beliefs and principles, including limited government, checks and balances, federalism, separation of powers, and individual rights, reflected in the U.S. Constitution and other historical documents. Students evaluate the impact of Supreme Court cases and major reform movements of the 19th century and examine the rights and responsibilities of citizens of the United States as well as the importance of effective leadership in a constitutional republic. Students evaluate the impact of scientific discoveries and technological innovations on the development of the United States. Students use critical-thinking skills, including the identification of bias in written, oral, and visual material.

Reading Level
The reading level for the 8th grade as defined by the Flesch–Kincaid Grade Level is approx. 8 = (0.39 x Average Sentence Length) + (11.8 x Average Syllables per Word) − 15.59.

This website can be used to automatically analyze the reading level of our entries.

How to Participate
We are especially hoping to get Texas school students involved in the creation of their own textbook. If you teach a class where it might be appropriate, please consider having your students conduct research to write articles for this supplement instead of writing term papers. This article describes a similar assignment. The spirit of such an assignment would be to ask your students to learn a subject so well that they could fascinate their peers by explaining the subject to them.

Table of Contents
Henry David Thoreau embarks on a two-year experiment in simple living, is arrested for war tax resistance, and writes Civil Disobedience and Walden, or Life in the Woods

Emerson delivers his "American Scholar" address challenging Americans to think for themselves and come out from the shadow of European letters

1859 The United States and Britain prove they are totally mature nation-states by nearly waging all out war over a trespassing pig on Vancouver Island