GRADE 7

WORLD HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY:

MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN TIMES


Students in grade seven study the social, cultural, and technological changes that occurred in Europe, Africa, and Asia from 500-1789 AD. After reviewing the ancient world and the ways in which archaeologists and historians uncover the past, students study the history and geography of great civilizations that were developing concurrently throughout the world during medieval and early modern times. They examine the growing economic interaction among civilizations as well as the exchange of ideas, beliefs, technologies and commodities. They learn about the resulting growth of Enlightenment philosophy and the new examination of the concepts of reason and authority, the natural rights of human beings and the divine right of kings, experimentalism in science and the dogma of belief. Finally, students assess the political forces let loose by the Enlightenment, particularly the rise of democratic ideas, and they learn about the continuing influence of these ideas in the world today.


7.1 Students analyze the causes and effects of the vast expansion and ultimate disintegration of the Roman Empire, in terms of:

1. the early strengths and lasting contributions of Rome (e.g., significance of Roman citizenship; rights under Roman law; Roman art, architecture, engineering and philosophy; preservation and transmission of Christianity) and its ultimate internal weaknesses (e.g., rise of autonomous military powers within the empire, undermining of citizenship by the growth of corruption and slavery, lack of education and distribution of news)
2. the geographic borders of the empire at its height and the factors that threatened its territorial cohesion
3. the establishment by Constantine of the new capital in Constantinople and the development of the Byzantine Empire with an emphasis on the growing schism between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy

7.2 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of civilizations of Islam in the middle ages, in terms of:

1. the physical features and climate of the Arabian peninsula, its relationship to surrounding bodies of land and water and the relationship between nomadic and sedentary ways of life
2. the origins of Islam and the life and teachings of Mohammed
3. the significance of the Qur'an and the Sunnah as the primary sources of Islamic beliefs, practice and law, and their influence in Muslims' daily life
4. the expansion of Muslim rule through military conquests and treaties, emphasizing the cultural blending within Muslim civilization and the spread of Islam and the Arabic language
5. the growth of cities and the trade routes created among Asia, Africa and Europe, and the products and inventions that traveled along these routes (e.g., spices, textiles, paper, steel, new crops)
6. the intellectual exchanges among Muslim scholars of Eurasia and Africa and the contributions Muslim scholars made to later civilizations in the areas of science, geography, mathematics, philosophy, medicine, art, and literature

7.3 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the civilizations of China in the middle ages in terms of:

1. the reunification of China under the Tang Dynasty and reasons for the spread of Buddhism in Tang China, Korea, and Japan
2. agricultural, technological, and commercial developments during the Tang and Sung periods
3. the influences of Confucianism and changes in Confucian thought during the Sung and Mongol periods
4. the importance of both overland trade and maritime expeditions between China and other civilizations in the Mongol Ascendancy and Ming Dynasty
5. the historic influence of such discoveries as tea, the manufacture of paper, wood block printing, the compass, and gunpowder

7.4 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the Sub-Saharan civilizations of Ghana and Mali in Medieval Africa, in terms of:

1. the Niger River and the vegetation zones of forest, savannah and desert and the relationship of these features to the trade in gold, salt, food, and slaves; the growth of the Ghana and Mali empires
2. the importance of family, labor specialization, and regional commerce in the development of states and cities in West Africa
3. the role of the trans-Saharan caravan trade in the changing religious and cultural characteristics of West Africa, and the influence of Islamic beliefs, ethics and law
4. the growth of Arabic as a language of government, trade, and Islamic scholarship in West Africa
5. the importance of written and oral traditions in the transmission of African history and culture

7.5 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the civilizations of Medieval Japan, in terms of:

1. the significance of Japan's proximity to China and Korea and the intellectual, linguistic, religious and philosophical influence of those countries on Japan
2. the reign of Prince Shotoku of Japan and the characteristics of Japanese society and family life
3. the values, social customs, and traditions prescribed by the lord-vassal system consisting of shogun, daimyo and samurai and the lasting influence of the warrior code in the 20th century
4. the development of distinctive forms of Japanese Buddhism
5. the ninth and tenth century golden age of literature, art and drama, and its lasting effects on culture today, including Murasaki Shikibu's Tale of Genji

7.6 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the civilizations of Medieval Europe, in terms of:

1. the geography of the Europe and the Eurasian land mass, including its location, topography, waterways, vegetation and climate and relationship to ways of life in ancient Europe and during the Roman Empire
2. the spread of Christianity north of the Alps and the role played by the early Church and by monasteries in its diffusion after the fall of Rome
3. the development of feudalism, its operation in the medieval European economy, the way in which it was influenced by physical geography (the role of the manor and the growth of towns) and how feudal relationships provided the foundation of political order
4. the conflict and cooperation between the Papacy and European monarchs (e.g., Charlemagne, Gregory VII, Emperor Henry IV)
5. the significance of developments in medieval English legal and constitutional practice and their importance in the rise of modern democratic thought and representative institutions (e.g., Magna Carta, parliament, development of habeas corpus, an independent judiciary in England)
6. the causes and course of the Religious Crusades and the effects on Christian, Muslim and Jewish populations in Europe with emphasis on the increasing contact with the cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean world
7. mapping the spread of the Bubonic Plague from Central Asia to China, the Middle East, and Europe and its impact on global population
8. the importance of the Catholic church as a political, intellectual and aesthetic institution (e.g., founding of universities, the political and spiritual role of the clergy, creation of monastic and mendicant religious orders, preservation of Latin language and religious texts, St. Thomas Aquinas' synthesis of classical philosophy with Christian theology and the concept of "natural law")
9. the history of the decline of Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula that culminated in the "Reconquista" and the rise of Spanish and Portuguese kingdoms

7.7 Students compare and contrast the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social and structures of the Mesoamerican and Andean civilizations, in terms of:

1. the locations, landforms and climates of Mexico, Central America and South America and their effects upon Mayan, Aztec, and Incan economies, trade, and development of urban societies
2. the roles of people in each society, including class structures, family life, warfare, religious beliefs and practices, and slavery
3. how and where each empire arose and how the Aztec and Inca empires were defeated by the Spanish
4. the artistic and oral traditions and architecture in the three civilizations
5. the Mesoamerican achievements in astronomy and mathematics, including the development of the calendar and the Mesoamerican knowledge of seasonal changes to the civilizations' agricultural systems

7.8 Students analyze the origins, accomplishments and geographic diffusion of the Renaissance, in terms of:

1. the way in which the revival of classical learning and the arts affected a new interest in "humanism" (i.e., a balance between the intellect and religious faith)
2. the importance of Florence in the early stages of the Renaissance and the growth of independent trading cities (e.g., Venice) with emphasis on their importance in the spread of Renaissance ideas
3. the effects of re-opening of the ancient "Silk Road" between Europe and China, including Marco Polo's travels and the location of his routes
4. the growth and effect of ways of disseminating information (e.g., the ability to manufacture paper, translation of the Bible into the vernacular, printing)
5. advances in literature, the arts, science, mathematics, cartography, engineering, and the understanding of human anatomy and astronomy (e.g. biographies of Dante, da Vinci, Michelangelo, Guttenburg, Shakespeare)

7.9 Students analyze the historical developments of the Reformation, in terms of:

1. the causes for the internal decay of the Catholic church (e.g., tax policies, selling of indulgences)
2. the theological, political, and economic ideas of the major figures during the Reformation (e.g., Erasmus, Martin Luther, John Calvin, William Tindale)
3. the influence of new practices of church self-government among Protestants on the development of democratic practices and ideas of federalism
4. the location and identification of European regions that remained Catholic and those that became Protestant and how the division affected the distribution of religions in the New World
5. how the Counter-Reformation revitalized the Catholic church and the forces that propelled the movement (e.g., St. Ignatius of Loyola and the Jesuits, the Council of Trent)
6. the institution and impact of missionaries on Christianity and the diffusion of Christianity from Europe to other parts of the world in the medieval and early modern periods, including their location on a world map
7. the "Golden Age" of cooperation between Jews and Muslims in Medieval Spain which promoted creativity in art, literature and science, including how it was terminated by the religious persecution of individuals and groups (e.g., the Spanish Inquisition and the expulsion of Jews and Muslims from Spain in 1492)

7.10 Students analyze the historical developments of the Scientific Revolution and its lasting effect on religious, political and cultural institutions, in terms of:

1. the roots of the scientific revolution (e.g., Greek rationalism; Jewish, Christian and Muslim science; Renaissance humanism, new knowledge from global exploration)
2. the significance of the new scientific theories (e.g., Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton) and the significance of inventions (e.g., telescope, microscope, thermometer, barometer)
3. the scientific method advanced by Bacon and Descartes, the influence of new scientific rationalism on the growth of democratic ideas and the coexistence of science with traditional religious beliefs

7.11 Students analyze political and economic change in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries (Age of Exploration, the Enlightenment, and the Age of Reason), in terms of:

1. the great voyages of discovery, the location of the routes, and the influence of cartography in developing a new European world view
2. the exchanges of plants, animals, technology, culture, and ideas among Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries and the major economic and social effects on each continent
3. the origins of modern capitalism, the influence of mercantilism and cottage industry, the elements and importance of a market economy in seventeenth-century Europe, and the changing international trading and marketing patterns, including their location on a world map and the influence of explorers and map makers
4. how the main ideas of the Enlightenment can be traced back to such movements as the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution and to the Greeks, Romans, and Christianity
5. how democratic thought and institutions were influenced by Enlightenment thinkers (e.g., Locke, Montesquieu, American founders)
6. how the principles in the Magna Carta were embodied in such documents as the English Bill of Rights and the American Declaration of Independence

       

GRADE 8

UNITED STATES HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY:

GROWTH AND CONFLICT


Students in grade eight study the ideas, issues and events from the framing of the Constitution up to World War I, with an emphasis on America's role in the war. After reviewing the development of America's democratic institutions founded in the Judeo-Christian heritage and English parliamentary traditions, particularly the shaping of the Constitution, students trace the development of American politics, society, culture and economy and relate them to the emergence of major regional differences. They learn about the challenges facing the new nation, with an emphasis on the causes, course and consequences of the Civil War. They make connections between the rise of industrialization and contemporary social and economic conditions.


8.1 Students understand the major events preceding the founding of the nation and relate their significance to the development of American constitutional democracy, in terms of:

1. the relationship between the moral and political ideas of the Great Awakening and the development of revolutionary fervor
2. the philosophy of government expressed in the Declaration of Independence with an emphasis on government as a means of securing individual rights (e.g., key phrases such as "...all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights")
3. the significance of the American Revolution as it affected other nations especially France
4. its blend of civic republicanism, classical liberal principles, and English parliamentary traditions

8.2 Students analyze the political principles underlying the U.S. Constitution and compare the enumerated and implied powers of the federal government, in terms of:

1. the significance of the Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights, and the Mayflower Compact
2. the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution, and the success of each in implementing the ideals of the Declaration of Independence
3. the major debates that occurred during the development of the Constitution and their ultimate resolutions on areas such as shared power among institutions, divided state-federal power, slavery, and the rights of individuals and states (later addressed by the addition of the Bill of Rights)
4. the political philosophy underpinning the U.S. Constitution as specified in The Federalist (authored by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay) and the role of such leaders as James Madison, George Washington, Roger Sherman, Gouverneur Morris, and James Wilson in the writing and ratification of the Constitution
5. the significance of Jefferson's Statute for Religious Freedom as a forerunner of the First Amendment, and the origins, purpose and differing views of the founding fathers on the separation of church and state doctrine
6. the powers of government enumerated in the Constitution and the fundamental liberties ensured by the Bill of Rights
7. the principles of federalism, dual sovereignty, separation of powers, checks and balances, the nature and purpose of majority rule, and how the American idea of constitutionalism preserves individual rights

8.3 Students understand the foundation of the American political system and the ways in which citizens participate in it, in terms of:

1. the principles and concepts codified in the state constitutions between 1777 and 1781 that create the context out of which American political institutions and ideas developed
2. how the ordinances of 1785 and 1787 privatized national resources and transferred federally owned lands into private holdings, townships and states
3. the advantages of a "common market" among the states as foreseen and protected by the Constitution's clauses on interstate commerce, common coinage, and full-faith and credit
4. the conflicts between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton that resulted in the emergence of two political parties (e.g., view of foreign policy, Alien and Sedition acts, economic policy, National Bank, funding and assumption of the revolutionary debt)
5. the significance of domestic resistance movements and ways in which the central government responded to such movements (e.g., Shays' Rebellion, the Whiskey Rebellion)
6. the basic law-making process and how the design of the U.S. Constitution provides numerous opportunities for citizens to participate in the political process and to monitor and influence government (e.g., function of elections, political parties, interest groups)
7. the function and responsibilities of a free press

8.4 Students analyze the aspirations and ideals of the people of the new nation, in terms of:

1. its physical landscapes and political divisions and the territorial expansion of the U.S. during the terms of the first four presidents
2. the policy significance of famous speeches (e.g., George Washington's Farewell Address, Jefferson's Inaugural, John Q. Adams Fourth of July 1821 Address)
3. the rise of capitalism and the economic problems and conflicts that arose (e.g., Jackson's opposition to the National Bank; early decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court that reinforced the sanctity of contracts and a capitalist economic system of law)
4. the daily lives of people, including the traditions in art, music, and literature of early national America (e.g., writings by Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper)

8.5 Students analyze U.S. foreign policy in the early Republic, in terms of:

1. the political and economic causes and consequences of the War of 1812 and the major battles, leaders, and events leading to a final peace
2. the changing boundaries and the principal relationships between the United States, its neighbors (current Mexico and Canada) and Europe, including the influence of the Monroe Doctrine, and how those relationships influenced westward expansion and the Mexican American War
3. the major treaties with Indian nations during the administrations of the first four presidents and their varying outcomes

8.6 Students analyze the divergent paths of the American people from 1800 to the mid-1800's and the challenges they faced, with emphasis on the Northeast, in terms of:

1. the influence of industrialization and technological developments on the region, including human modification of the landscape and how physical geography shaped human actions (e.g., growth of cities, deforestation, farming, mineral extraction)
2. the importance of, and the geographic factors faced in building a network of roads, canals and railroads
3. the reasons for the wave of immigration from Northern Europe to the U.S. and growth in the number, size, and spatial arrangements of cities (e.g., Irish immigrants and the potato famine)
4. the lives of black Americans who gained freedom in the North and founded schools and churches to advance black rights and communities
5. the development of American public education from its earliest roots, including Horace Mann's campaign for free public education and its unifying role in American culture
6. the women's suffrage movement (e.g., biographies, writings, and speeches of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Margaret Fuller, Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony)
7. common themes in American art as well as Transcendentalism and individualism (e.g., writings about and by Emerson, Thoreau, Melville, Alcott, Hawthorne, Longfellow)

8.7 Students analyze the divergent paths of the American people from 1800 to the mid-1800s and the challenges they faced, with emphasis on the South, in terms of:

1. the development of the agrarian economy in the South, the location of the cotton producing states and the role of cotton and the cotton gin
2. the origins and development of the institution of slavery; its effects on black Americans and on the region's political, social, religious, economic, and cultural development; and the various attempted strategies to both overturn and preserve it (e.g., biographies of Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey)
3. the different characteristics of white Southern society and how the physical environment influenced events and conditions prior to the Civil War
4. the lives and opportunities of free-blacks in the North as compared with free-blacks in the South

8.8 Students analyze the divergent paths of the American people from 1800 to the mid-1800's and the challenges they faced, with emphasis on the West, in terms of:

1. the election of Andrew Jackson in 1828, the importance of Jacksonian democracy and his actions as president (e.g., spoils system, veto of National bank, policy of Indian removal, opposition to Supreme court)
2. the purpose, challenges and economic incentives associated with westward expansion including the concept of Manifest Destiny (e.g., Lewis and Clark expedition, accounts of the removal of Indians and the Cherokees' "Trail of Tears," settlement of the Great Plains) and the territorial acquisitions that spanned numerous decades
3. the role of pioneer women and the new status that western women achieved (e.g., biographies, journals, diaries and other original documents on Sacagawea, Annie Bidwell, slave women gaining freedom in the West, Wyoming granting suffrage to women in 1869)
4. the role of the great rivers and the struggle over water rights
5. Mexican settlements (i.e., their locations, cultural traditions, attitudes toward slavery, land-grant system, the economies they established)
6. the Texas War for Independence and the Mexican-American War (i.e., territorial settlements, the aftermath of the wars and the effect on the lives of Americans, including Mexican-Americans today)
7. the significance of the second Great Awakening to California

8.9 Students analyze the early and steady attempts to abolish slavery and realize the ideals of the Declaration of Independence, in terms of:

1. the leaders of the movement (e.g., biographies and other literature on John Quincy Adams and his proposed constitutional amendment, John Brown and the armed resistance, Harriet Tubman and the underground railroad, Benjamin Franklin, Theodore Weld, William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass)
2. how early state constitutions abolished slavery
3. the role of the Northwest Ordinance in education and in banning slavery in new states north of the Ohio River
4. the slavery issue as raised by the annexation of Texas and the effect of California coming into the union as a free state as part of the Compromise of 1850
5. the significance of the States' Rights Doctrine, Missouri Compromise (1820), Wilmot Proviso (1846), the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), the Dred Scott case (1857), and the Lincoln-Douglas debates (1858)
6. the lives of free blacks and the laws that curbed their freedom and economic opportunity

8.10 Students analyze the multiple causes, key events and complex consequences of the Civil War, in terms of:

1. the conflicting interpretations of state and federal authority as emphasized in the speeches and writings of statesman such as Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun
2. the boundaries constituting "the North" and "the South", the geographical differences between the two regions, and the differences between agrarians and industrialists
3. the constitutional issues posed by the doctrine of nullification and secession and the earliest origins of that doctrine
4. Abraham Lincoln's presidency and his significant writings and speeches and their relationship to the Declaration of Independence such as his "House Divided" speech (1860), the Gettysburg Address (1863), the Emancipation Proclamation (1863), his inaugural addresses (1861 and 1865)
5. the views and lives of leaders and soldiers on both sides of the war, including black soldiers and regiments (e.g., biographies of Ulysses S. Grant, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee)
6. critical developments in the war, including the major battles, geographical advantages and obstacles, technological advances, and Lee's surrender at Appomattox
7. how the war affected combatants, with the largest death toll of any war in American history, and the physical devastation, the effect on civilians, and the effect on future warfare

8.11 Students analyze the character and lasting consequences of Reconstruction, in terms of:

1. the original aims of Reconstruction and the effects on the political and social structure of different regions
2. the push-pull factors in the movement of former slaves to the cities in the North and to the West, and their differing experiences in those regions (e.g. the experiences of Buffalo Soldiers)
3. the effects of the Freedman's Bureau and the restrictions on the rights and opportunities of freedman, including racial segregation and "Jim Crow" laws
4. the rise and effects of the Ku Klux Klan
5. the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments to the Constitution, and their connection to Reconstruction

8.12 Students analyze the transformation of the American economy and the changing social and political conditions in the United States in response to the Industrial Revolution, in terms of:

1. patterns of agricultural and industrial development as they relate to climate, natural resource use, markets, and trade, including their location on a map
2. the reasons for the development of federal Indian policy and the Plains wars with American Indians and their relationship to agricultural development and industrialization
3. how states and the federal government encouraged business expansion through tariffs, banking, land grants, and subsidies
4. entrepreneurs, industrialists, and bankers in politics, commerce, and industry (e.g., Andrew Mellon, John D. Rockefeller)
5. the location and effects of urbanization, renewed immigration, and industrialization (e.g., effects on social fabric of cities, wealth and economic opportunity, and the conservation movement)
6. child labor, working conditions, laissez-faire policies toward big business and the rise of the labor movement, including collective bargaining, strikes, and protests over labor conditions
7. the new sources of large-scale immigration and the contribution of immigrants to the building of cities and the economy; the ways in which new social and economic patterns encouraged assimilation of newcomers into the mainstream amidst growing cultural diversity; and the new wave of nativism
8. the characteristics and impact of Grangerism and Populism
9. the significant inventors and their inventions (e.g., biographies of Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell) and the incentives that prompted the quality of life (e.g., inventions in transportation, communication, agriculture, industry, education, medicine)


Electronic files from the CA Academic Standards Commission. Used with permission.