American History 8
Objectives

Chapter 1 THE BEGINNING
1. What different landforms make up the earth's surface.
2. What bodies of water are found on the earth's surface.
3. What major physical regions make up North America.
4. What major climate groups are found in North America.

Chapter 2 THE FIRST AMERICANS
1. What early people were like.
2. What Indian cultures developed in North America.
3. How the Mayan and Aztec civilizations developed in
Middle America.
4. How the Inca civilization rose in South America.

Chapter 3 NEW WORLD---NEW OPPORTUNITIES
1. Why Europeans had a growing interest in exploration
and colonization.
2. Why Spain emerged as the leader in exploring and
colonizing the Western Hemisphere.
3. How the French explored and established colonies in the
New World.
4. What countries besides Spain and France developed
settlements along the Atlantic Coast.

Chapter 4 ENGLISH SETTLEMENT IN NORTH AMERICA
1. How the English explored and settled North America.
2. How the English colonies grew and developed during
the 1700's.
3. How the English colonies were governed.
4. Why the Dominion of New England ended.

Chapter 5 COLONIAL SOCIETY
1. What peoples immigrated to the English colonies.
2. What life was like in the English colonies.
3. How the New England, Middle, and Southern colonies
differed politically, economically, and socially.
4. How colonists united to solve common problems.

Chapter 6 WINNING FREEDOM
1. What events led to the break between the American colonies
and Great Britain.
2. How the American Revolution was won by the colonists.
3. What influences the American Revolution had on the government,
economy, and society of the United States.

Chapter 7 FORMING A UNION
1. What the accomplishments and weaknesses of the government
were under the Articles of Confederation.
2. What compromises were necessary to create a new constitution.
3. How the struggle over ratifying the Constitution was resolved.

Chapter 8 THE CONSTITUTION
1. What basic principles are found in the Constitution.
2. How other principles relate to the Constitution.
3. What three branches form the federal government.
4. How powers are divided between the national and state
governments.
5. How the Constitution can be changed.

Chapter 9 TESTING THE NEW GOVERNMENT
1. What steps were taken to create a working government.
2. How the economic policies of the United States were developed.
3. What steps were taken by the Washington administration
to resolve problems in foreign affairs.
4. What chllenges faced the Adams administration.
5. What challenges faced the Jefferson administration.

Chapter 10 THE GROWTH OF NATIONALISM
1. What problems in foreign affairs the United States faced in the
early 1800's.
2. How the United States and Great Britain waged the War of 1812
and what the results were.
3. Why the United States experienced a spirit of nationalism after
the War of 1812.
4. How the United States began developing an American culture.

Chapter 11 THE AGE OF JACKSON
1. Why new political parties began to form in the 1820's.
2. How the people began to gain greater power in politics during the
Age of Jackson.
3. How Andrew Jackson used and strengthened the powers of the
presidency.
4. How the government moved Indian peoples off their lands to open
up areas for white settlement.
5. How the economic troubles if the 1830's helped put the Whigs in
power.

Chapter 12 THE PROMISE OF AMERICA
1. How religion influenced the reform movement.
2. Who were the major reformers and what their areas of concern
were.
3. Who the major American writers were in the first half of the
1800's.

Chapter 13 NEW WAYS AND NEW PEOPLE
1. How industrial development began in the United Statesl
2. How the nation's systems of transportation were improved.
3. What factors led to the growth of cities.
4. Why immigration increased during the early 1800's.

Chapter 14 FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN
1. Why Americans began exploring and settling the West in the
early 1800's.
2. How the United States settled the Oregon Territory.
3. Why conflict stated after Americans began moving into the
Southwest.
4. How the country's expansion changed thelives of American
Indians.

Chapter 15 A DIVIDED NATION
1. What social, economic, and political differences separated the
North from the South.
2. How the institution of slavery developed in the South.
3. How the issue of slavery came to dominate politics in the middle
of the 1850's.
4. Why the slavery issue remained unresolved despite efforts at
compromise.

Chapter 16 THE CIVIL WAR
1. How confrontations and crises led finally to the outbreak of the
Civil War.
2. What strategies were used by the North and the South in fighting
the Civil War.
3. How the Civil War affected the people.
4. How the South gained a military advantage over the North in 1862
and 1863.
5. How the North defeated the South and ended the Civil War.

Chapter 17 REBUILDING THE NATION
1. How the Reconstruction programs of Presidents Lincoln and
Johnson and Congress differed.
2. How Congressional Reconstruction was instituted in the
southern states.
3. What effects Reconstruction had on the people in postwar South.
4. How the event and concerns of the 1870's pushed the question of
Reconstruction in the background.

Chapter 18 A CHANGING NATION
1. How Americans settled the area west of the Mississippi River
after the Civil War.
2. Why conflict developed between the Indians and the Settlers.
3. How blacks began losing their political and civil rights after
Reconstruction ended.
4. How the great flow of immigration during the late1800's
changed the United States.

Chapter 19 THE AGE OF BIG BUSINESS
1. How the United States became a leading industrial nation.
2. How Big Business affected the nation's economy.
3. How political leaders responded to problems of the late 1800's.
4. Why farmers began to organize for reform.
5. Why industrial workers began to organize for reform.
6. What reform movements not related to farming or industry
began to develop.

Chapter 20 THE PROGRESSIVE ERA
1. What factors led to urban growth after the Civil War.
2. How certain groups tried to improve the lives of working people
in the late 1800's.
3. What progressive reforms took place at the local and state
levels of government.
4. What progressive reforms took place at the national level of
government.
5. What changes were begun during the Wilson administration.

Chapter 21 A NEW MANIFEST DESTINY
1. Where and why the United States began a program of overseas
expansion.
2. How the Spanish-American War began.
3. How the United States became involved in Asia and the Pacific.
4. How the United States became involved in the Caribbean and
Latin America.

Chapter 22 A WORLD AT WAR
1. What alliance conflicts and aggression developed that led to
World War I.
2. Why the United States entered the war.
3. How the Allies defeated the Central Powers.
4. What happened to President Wison's plan for peace.

Chapter 23 LIFE IN THE TWENTIES
1. What efforts were made in the1920's to secure world peace.
2. Toward what groups intolerance was directed in American
society in the 1920's.
3. Why the 1920's were years of prosperity for many Americans.
4. How life-styles changed for many Americans during the 1920's.

Chapter 24 THE DEPRESSION AND THE NEW DEAL
1. How the Great Depression started abd uts effects on the
United States.
2. What emergency measures were instituted by President
Roosevelt.
3. What long-range plans were part of the New Deal.
4. What problems faced the New Deal.

Chapter 25 WORLD WAR II
1. What diplomatic problems President Roosevelt faced during the
early New Deal.
2. How dictatorships rose in the 1920's and 1930's.
3. How World War II had its beginnings.
4. How the United States drifted into war.
5. How the Allies remained on the defensive during the critical war
years of 1941 and 1942.
6. How World War II affected the home front.
7. What events led to Allied victory in World War II.

Chapter 26 CHANGES IN THE POSTWAR WORLD
1. How the allies cooperated to establish order in the postwar world.
2. how the cold war developed between Eastern and Western powers
after World War II.
3. How the United States tried to stop the spread of communism in
the Far East.
4. What postwar economics, politics, and culture were like.
5. What efforts were made to secure equal rights for blacks.
6. How relations between the United States and the Soviet Union
changed over the years.

Chapter 27 YEARS OF HOPE AND TENSION
1. How domestic and foreign policy changed during the Kennedy
administration.
2. What programs were included in the Great Society.
3. How containment continued in American foreign policy during
the Johnson years.
4. What new directions were taken in foreign affairs under
President Nixon.

Chapter 28 A TIME OF DISCONTENT
1. What the major domestic issues of the Nixon administration were.
2. How the American political system responded to the events of
Watergate.
3. What the economic and foreign policies of the Carter
administration were.
4. Why the election of Ronald Reagan signaled a change in direction
for the United States.

Chapter 29 NEW DIRECTIONS
1. How Predident Reagan made changes in government policy.
2. What was included in Reagan's economic program.
3. What steps the Reagan administration took to strengthen
foreign policy in the Eastern Hemisphere.
4. Why the United States became involved in Latin American
conflicts.
5. What directions domestic and foreign affairs took during
President Reagan's second term in office.

Chapter 30 CHALLENGES FOR AMERICA
1. How President Bush continued many of President Reagan's
conservative policies.
2. What the goals of President Clinton's administration were.
3. What challenges Americans face as they prepare to live in the
21st century.