VA+US+History+SOLs

=**Below are the topics that will be covered during the year:**=

Virginia and United States History

The standards for Virginia and United States History include the historical development of American ideas and institutions from the Age of Exploration to the present. While focusing on political and economic history, the standards provide students with a basic knowledge of American culture through a chronological survey of major issues, movements, people, and events in United States and Virginia history. Students should use historical and geographical analysis skills to explore in depth the events, people, and ideas that fostered our national identity and led to our country’s prominence in world affairs. The study of history must emphasize the intellectual skills required for responsible citizenship. Students practice these skills as they extend their understanding of the essential knowledge defined by all of the standards for history and social science.

Skills

VUS.1 The student will demonstrate skills for historical and geographical analysis, including the ability to a) identify, analyze, and interpret primary and secondary source documents, records, and data, including artifacts, diaries, letters, photographs, journals, newspapers, historical accounts, and art to increase understanding of events and life in the United States; b) evaluate the authenticity, authority, and credibility of sources; c) formulate historical questions and defend findings based on inquiry and interpretation; d) develop perspectives of time and place, including the construction of maps and various time lines of events, periods, and personalities in American history; e) communicate findings orally and in analytical essays and/or comprehensive papers; f) develop skills in discussion, debate, and persuasive writing with respect to enduring issues and determine how divergent viewpoints have been addressed and reconciled; g) apply geographic skills and reference sources to understand how relationships between humans and their environment have changed over time; h) interpret the significance of excerpts from famous speeches and other documents.

Early America: Early Claims, Early Conflicts

VUS.2 The student will describe how early European exploration and colonization resulted in cultural interactions among Europeans, Africans, and American Indians (First Americans). VUS.3 The student will describe how the values and institutions of European economic life took root in the colonies and how slavery reshaped European and African life in the Americas.

Revolution and the New Nation

VUS.4 The student will demonstrate knowledge of events and issues of the Revolutionary Period by a) analyzing how the political ideas of John Locke and those expressed in Common Sense helped shape the Declaration of Independence; b) describing the political differences among the colonists concerning separation from Britain; c) analyzing reasons for colonial victory in the Revolutionary War.

VUS.5 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the issues involved in the creation and ratification of the Constitution of the United States and how the principles of limited government, consent of the governed, and the social contract are embodied in it by a) explaining the origins of the Constitution, including the Articles of Confederation; b) identifying the major compromises necessary to produce the Constitution, and the roles of James Madison and George Washington; c) describing the conflict over ratification, including the Bill of Rights and the arguments of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists. d) examining the significance of the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom in the framing of the Bill of Rights;

Expansion and Reform: 1801 to 1860

VUS.6 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the major events during the first half of the nineteenth century by a) identifying the economic, political, and geographic factors that led to territorial expansion and its impact on the American Indians (First Americans); b) describing the key features of the Jacksonian Era, with emphasis on federal banking policies; c) describing the cultural, economic, and political issues that divided the nation, including slavery, the abolitionist and women’s suffrage movements, and the role of the states in the Union.

Civil War and Reconstruction: 1860 to 1877

VUS.7 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the Civil War and Reconstruction Era and its importance as a major turning point in American history by a) identifying the major events and the roles of key leaders of the Civil War Era, with emphasis on Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, and Frederick Douglass; b) analyzing the significance of the Emancipation Proclamation and the principles outlined in Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address; c) examining the political, economic, and social impact of the war and Reconstruction, including the adoption of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution of the United States.

Reshaping the Nation and the Emergence of Modern America: 1877 to 1930s

VUS.8 The student will demonstrate knowledge of how the nation grew and changed from the end of Reconstruction through the early twentieth century by a) explaining the relationship among territorial expansion, westward movement of the population, new immigration, growth of cities, and the admission of new states to the Union; b) describing the transformation of the American economy from a primarily agrarian to a modern industrial economy and identifying major inventions that improved life in the United States; c) analyzing prejudice and discrimination during this time period, with emphasis on “Jim Crow” and the responses of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois; d) identifying the impact of the Progressive Movement, including child labor and antitrust laws, the rise of labor unions, and the success of the women’s suffrage movement.

VUS.9 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the emerging role of the United States in world affairs and key domestic events after 1890 by a) explaining the changing policies of the United States toward Latin America and Asia and the growing influence of the United States in foreign markets; b) evaluating United States involvement in World War I, including Wilson’s Fourteen Points, the Treaty of Versailles, and the national debate over treaty ratification and the League of Nations; c) explaining the causes of the Great Depression, its impact on the American people, and the ways the New Deal addressed it.

Conflict: The World at War: 1939 to 1945

VUS.10 The student will demonstrate knowledge of World War II by a) identifying the causes and events that led to American involvement in the war, including military assistance to Britain and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor; b) describing the major battles and turning points of the war in North Africa, Europe, and the Pacific, including Midway, Stalingrad, the Normandy landing (D-Day), and Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb to force the surrender of Japan; c) describing the role of all-minority military units, including the Tuskegee Airmen and Nisei regiments; d) describing the Geneva Convention and the treatment of prisoners of war during World War II; e) analyzing the Holocaust (Hitler’s “final solution”), its impact on Jews and other groups, and postwar trials of war criminals. VUS.11 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the effects of World War II on the home front by a) explaining how the United States mobilized its economic, human, and military resources; b) describing the contributions of women and minorities to the war effort; c) explaining the internment of Japanese Americans during the war; d) describing the role of media and communications in the war effort.

The United States since World War II

VUS.12 The student will demonstrate knowledge of United States foreign policy since World War II by a) describing outcomes of World War II, including political boundary changes, the formation of the United Nations, and the Marshall Plan; b) explaining the origins of the Cold War, and describing the Truman Doctrine and the policy of containment of communism, the American role in wars in Korea and Vietnam, and the role of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Europe; c) explaining the role of America’s military and veterans in defending freedom during the Cold War; d) explaining the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War, including the role of Ronald Reagan. VUS.13 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s by a) identifying the importance of the //Brown v. Board of Education// decision, the roles of Thurgood Marshall and Oliver Hill, and how Virginia responded; b) describing the importance of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the 1963 March on Washington, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

VUS.14 The student will demonstrate knowledge of economic, social, cultural, and political developments in the contemporary United States by a) analyzing the effects of increased participation of women in the labor force; b) analyzing how changing patterns of immigration affect the diversity of the United States population, the reasons new immigrants choose to come to this country, and their contributions to contemporary America; c) explaining the media influence on contemporary American culture and how scientific and technological advances affect the workplace, health care, and education.


 * Cite:** "Standards of Learning Currently Effect for Virginia Public Schools." __Standards of Learning__. Department of Education. 3 Dec. 2007 .