12.1 History: United States, Western and Non-Western History

History on Stanford 10

History is one of the four equally weighted Social Science content clusters. Pearson says the history questions use the National Standards for History as a guideline and "focus on the history of the United States, Western civilization, and non-Western people and societies who share our interdependent world." Items often go beyond recall: the process clusters ask students to apply knowledge, organize and interpret information from timelines, tables and passages, and determine cause and effect.

The Social Science Subtest at a Glance

From Primary 3 through TASK 3, Stanford 10 includes a Social Science subtest with 40 items and a 25-minute guideline (30 items and 19 minutes in the Abbreviated Battery). Pearson says it "measures the concepts important for the development of citizenship and strongly emphasizes critical thinking skills," gives "equal attention to history, geography, political science, and economics," and "maintains a balance between national and international issues." A real Intermediate 3 report shows exactly that balance:

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Early Civilizations and Indigenous Cultural Regions

Prior to European arrival, diverse indigenous nations inhabited North America, adapting their cultures, architecture, and economies to specific geographic environments:

• Eastern Woodlands (e.g., Iroquois League, Algonquin): Inhabited dense hardwood forests from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi River. Built multi-family wooden longhouses and wigwams; practiced farming (the "Three Sisters": corn, beans, and squash), deer hunting, and river fishing. The Iroquois Confederacy established an influential early democratic representative council.
• Southeast (e.g., Cherokee, Creek, Seminole): Fertile river valleys and warm climates supported large agricultural towns, earthen temple mounds (Mississippian culture), and intricate pottery.
• Great Plains (e.g., Lakota Sioux, Cheyenne, Comanche): Flat grasslands dominated by vast herds of bison. Plains nations utilized nomadic, portable hide tepees, crafting hunting tools, clothing, and containers from bison hides and bones.
• Southwest (e.g., Ancestral Pueblo / Anasazi, Hopi, Navajo): Arid desert terrain. Built multi-story pueblo apartment complexes from stone and sun-dried adobe clay; engineered elaborate irrigation canals to cultivate corn, squash, and cotton.
• Pacific Northwest (e.g., Tlingit, Haida, Chinook): Rugged temperate rainforests rich in timber and ocean life. Built cedar-plank houses, carved elaborate totem poles depicting clan lineages, and held ceremonial feast distributions known as potlatches.

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Colonial America: Regional Economic and Cultural Divergence

The thirteen original British colonies developed along three distinct regional paths driven by geography, climate, and available resources:

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The American Revolution: Causes, Principles, and Turning Points

Tensions between Great Britain and its American colonies erupted following the French and Indian War (1754–1763). To service enormous war debts, the British Parliament imposed taxes on colonial commerce without colonial legislative representation:

• Taxation Without Representation: The Stamp Act (1765), Townshend Acts (1767), and Tea Act (1773) triggered colonial boycotts, violent street confrontations (the 1770 Boston Massacre), and organized rebellion (the 1773 Boston Tea Party).
• The Coercive ("Intolerable") Acts (1774): Closed Boston Harbor and suspended colonial self-government, uniting the colonies to convene the First Continental Congress.
• Declaration of Independence (1776): Drafted primarily by Thomas Jefferson and adopted on July 4, 1776. Drawing directly from English philosopher John Locke's social contract theory, the document asserted that all individuals possess unalienable natural rights ("Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness") and that governments derive their just powers exclusively from the consent of the governed.

Decisive Military Turning Points

1. Lexington and Concord (1775): First armed military engagements in Massachusetts ("the shot heard 'round the world").
2. Battle of Saratoga (1777): Continental Army victory in upstate New York that convinced France to officially forge a military alliance with the United States.
3. Valley Forge Encampment (1777–1778): Severe winter trial where Baron von Steuben drilled George Washington's troops into a disciplined fighting force.
4. Battle of Yorktown (1781): Combined American and French forces under Washington and Rochambeau besieged General Cornwallis's British army in Virginia, compelling British surrender and leading to the 1783 Treaty of Paris.

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Westward Expansion, the Civil War, and 20th-Century Milestones

These eras and turning points recur throughout U.S. history instruction:

• Territorial Growth and Manifest Destiny: In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson acquired the Louisiana Purchase from France for $15 million, doubling the land area of the United States. During the 1840s, the doctrine of Manifest Destiny spurred westward migration along the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails, culminating in the annexation of Texas, the Mexican-American War, and the California Gold Rush of 1849.
• Sectional Crisis and Civil War (1861–1865): Deepening economic and moral divisions over the expansion of chattel slavery into western territories led to intense sectional conflicts (Missouri Compromise of 1820, Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, Dred Scott v. Sandford decision in 1857). Following Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860, eleven Southern states seceded to form the Confederacy. The conflict claimed over 600,000 lives, witnessed Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation (1863) freeing slaves in rebelling states, and concluded with Confederate General Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House in 1865.
• Reconstruction Amendments: Abolished slavery permanently (13th Amendment), guaranteed citizenship and equal protection under the law to all persons born on American soil (14th Amendment), and prohibited denying the right to vote based on race (15th Amendment).
• The Great Depression and the New Deal: The devastating stock market crash of October 1929 ushered in a nationwide economic depression with unemployment reaching 25%. In response, President Franklin D. Roosevelt instituted his New Deal programs centered on Relief, Recovery, and Reform, establishing Social Security, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and extensive public infrastructure works.
• The Civil Rights Movement: In the 1950s and 1960s, African Americans mobilized nonviolent grassroots campaigns (the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott, student lunch counter sit-ins, and the 1963 March on Washington led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.) to dismantle segregation. These efforts pressured Congress to enact the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 (outlawing public segregation and employment discrimination) and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (outlawing discriminatory literacy tests).

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World History: Western and Non-Western Societies

Because Pearson's history questions include Western civilization and non-Western societies, students should also know the big picture of world history:

Cause-and-effect thinking links these eras: river floods led to farming surpluses, surpluses supported cities, and trade routes spread goods and ideas. Questions in the Determination of Cause/Effect cluster ask exactly this kind of why question.