Jenkintown High School
United States History Through Reconstruction
Mrs. C. Heath, Teacher

The eighth grade Social Studies program begins with the first inhabitants of North America and traces the emergence of the United States. Emphasis is placed upon the variety of influences which have and continue to contribute to this society. The course concludes with the aftermath of the Civil War and is considered the foundation for the study of modern America in the eleventh grade. On this page you will find learning unit sheets, teacher-selected sites of interest, as well as various projects we will be working on throughout the year.

Syllabus (Adobe PDF format)

Course of Study

Unit 1 : The Peopling of the Americas : First Americans

• UNIT SHEET (Adobe PDF)

• Native Americans- Background

• Native Americans- Bibliography

• Native Americans- Incas

• Native Americans- Aztecs

• Native Americans- Eastern Woodland (Bibliography)

Unit 2 : The Peopling of the Americas : Europeans

• UNIT SHEET (Adobe PDF)

• Timeline- European Exploration

• Background and Map- Explorations

• Columbus and other explorations

• 15th and 16th Century European Voyages

Unit 3 : The Peopling of the Americas : Africans

• UNIT SHEET (Adobe PDF)

• African Americans- Native American

• African Slave Trade and European Imperialism

• Slavery- Historical Overview

• Atlantic Slave Trade

Unit 4 : The Colonial Experience

• UNIT SHEET (Adobe PDF)

• Interesting Info

• Salem Witch Trials

• House of Burgesses

Unit 5 : Growing Tensions

• UNIT SHEET (Adobe PDF)

• French and Indian War- Battles and Heroes

• French and Indian War (Encarta)

Unit 6 : The War for Independence

• UNIT SHEET (Adobe PDF)

• April 19, 1775 - Battle of Lexington and Concord

• September 3, 1783 - Treaty of Paris formally ends the war with Britain

• American Revolution (Encarta)

• American Revolution- Battles and Heroes

• American Revolution- Virtual Tour

Unit 7 : The Critical Period

• UNIT SHEET (Adobe PDF)

• Articles of Confederation

• Ordinance of 1785

• February 21, 1787 - Congress passed the resolution calling for a convention to be held in Philadelphia

• Constitutional Convention

Unit 8 : The Constitution

• UNIT SHEET (Adobe PDF)

• American Presidents (Useful for units 8-16)

• May 29, 1787 - "Virginia Plan" presented to the convention

• July 16, 1787 - Philadelphia Convention adopted the "Great Compromise"

• Great Compromise

• September 17, 1787 - Constitution signed

• More Quiz Questions

• U.S. History Review Work

• Founding Fathers ( Future Presidents and Current White House Staff)

• Benjamin Franklin

Unit 9 : The Federalist Period

• UNIT SHEET (Adobe PDF)

• Whiskey Rebellion

• French Revolution ( Background and Implications for U.S.)

Unit 10 : Jeffersonian Democracy

• UNIT SHEET (Adobe PDF)

• Louisiana Purchase

• War of 1812

Unit 11 : The Growth of Nationalism

• UNIT SHEET (Adobe PDF)

• January 27, 1801 - Senate confirms John Marshall as Chief Justice

• February 24, 1803 - Marbury v. Madison - Supreme Court declares it is the province and duty of the judicial department to declare a law unconstitutional. (Judicial Review)

• February 2, 1819 - Dartmouth College v. Woodward - the Contracts Clause prohibits a State from altering or repealing a private corporate charter.

• March 7, 1819 - McCulloch v. Maryland - Congress may incorporate a bank; a State has no power to burden the national government, by taxation or otherwise.

• March 2, 1824 - Gibbons v. Ogden - Congress has broad powers to regulate interstate commerce and State laws to the contrary must yield.

• Marshall Court Cases

• Confessions of Nat Turner

Unit 12 : The Age of Jackson

• UNIT SHEET (Adobe PDF)

• Trail of Tears, The

• Encyclopedia Americana- Andrew Jackson

• Andrew Jackson and the Bankwar

• The Age of Jacksonian Democracy

• November 24, 1832 - adoption of South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification. A South Carolina Convention declared national tariff laws unconstitutional and not binding on the State and its citizens.

Unit 13 : Social Changes in the mid-1800s

• UNIT SHEET (Adobe PDF)

• National Geographic- The Underground Railroad

• Frederick Douglass (1817-1895)

• Sojourner Truth, The Libyan Sibyl (Links to trivia games about African American history)

• Underground Railroad Site

• 19th Century U.S. History > Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention

• May 17, 1954 - Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka - state-sponsored segregation in public schools violates the 14th amendment; separate schools for blacks and whites are inherently unequal.

Unit 14 : Westward to the Pacific

• UNIT SHEET (Adobe PDF)

Unit 15 : A House Divided

• UNIT SHEET (Adobe PDF)

• Compromise of 1850 and The Fugitive Slave Act

• History Place - Kansas-Nebraska Act

• Harriet Beecher Stowe- Mother, Reformer

• Virtualogy- Stephen Douglas (1813-1861)

• Harriet Tubman

• The American Experience- John Brown's Holy War

• Confederate States of America

• African American History- Dred Scott

Unit 16 : The Civil War

• UNIT SHEET (Adobe PDF)

• Civil War Home Page, The

• Civil War at a Glance, The

• Women Were There- Civil War

• American Presidents- Abraham Lincoln

• Works of Abraham Lincoln

• Battle of Fort Sumter Official Records and Battle Description

Unit 17 : Reconstruction

• UNIT SHEET (Adobe PDF)

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