In Kindergarten, students are introduced to the basic concepts of economics. People of all ages experience two important economic terms introduced here: needs and wants. The differences between a need and a want is where we spend our first chunk of time in this chapter.

You may be tempted to skip this short section. It is brief in comparison to previous chapters but it is ultimately one of the most important. Students have spent their entire class period up to this point exploring and learning more about foundational social studies concepts. This is the chapter that puts it all together.

The first shots of the Civil War rang out at 4:30AM on April 12, 1861 in Charleston Harbor. Fort Sumter is located in South Carolina - the first state to secede from the Union. The interesting part about where the first shots were fired is that Fort Sumter was actually a Federal installation (owned by the United States government) and therefore, it was staffed by Union soldiers. In advance, the Confederates had tried to get the Union fort to surrender and leave but Union Commander Robert Anderson refused.

In 1960, as President Eisenhower’s second term was drawing to a close, the mood of American voters reflected one of restlessness. Between the U.S. economy experiencing a recession and recent Cold War achievements by the Soviets including the successful launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957 and the development of long range missiles, Americans were feeling vulnerable. Along with U.S. foreign powers setbacks in 1960 (the U-2 incident and the alignment of Cuba with the Soviet Union) many Americans were beginning to question whether the U.S. might be losing the Cold War. Therefore, as two very different personalities campaigned for the Presidency, the role of the media took center

After the Civil War ended in 1865, the challenge that lay ahead before the U.S. government was how to readmit the former Confederate states that had been devastated by the war. This period that lasted from 1865 to 1877 was known as Reconstruction. During this time, although the goal under President Lincoln was to reunite the nation as quickly and painlessly as possible, it wouldn’t be as easy as a declaration of unification.

Segregation in the South in the 1950s might not have existed if, in 1883, the Supreme Court hadn’t declared The Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional. A federal law enacted during Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Act of 1857 was to guarantee African Americans equal treatment in public accommodations like hotels, restrooms, and other public spaces, and public transportation, and prohibited exclusion from serving on a jury. Additionally, the 14th Amendment declared that all races were to be granted equal treatment under the law. However, an 1883 Supreme Court decision clarified that the law did not apply to private persons or corporations. In the decade that followed, a number of other federal court decisions and state laws severely restricted the rights of African Americans. For example, in 1890, the State of Louisiana passed a law that required railroads to provide “equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races.”

In 1870, the United States was primarily an agricultural nation. Most Americans made a living from farming. Flash forward fifty years and the United States underwent a major transformation as more Americans left farming in search of industrial jobs in cities.With the discovery and usage of raw materials, creation of new inventions, and expansion of big business; the Industrial Revolution transformed the American economy and the lives of millions of Americans.

The last core strand of social studies is the one we will be focusing on mostly this year...history! Your studies will be focusing mainly on American history. It is often said that history is written by the victors. Historians must look at everything they can to come to conclusions about what happened in the past. Historians become writers, teachers, public speakers, and public servants in many ways. The following section explains the work of historians and details about their studies.

During the American Revolution, the colonists formally Interactive 1.2 Too Late To Apologize declared themselves free from the British with the Declaration of Independence. You learned about the Revolutionary War in fifth grade, and are free to download the fifth grade version of this resource for further review. The Revolutionary War was winding down when the colonists began work on a new government for the nation. The Continental Congress created the Articles of Confederation and sent them to the states to ratify on November 15, 1777. The Articles of Confederation served as the foundation document of the nation’s first form of government from March 1, 1781 to 1789.

During the end of the 1800s, society had changed dramatically as a result of the Industrial Revolution. Cities had grown and the demographics of the American population had become increasingly diverse. Although the economic gains were substantial, this came at a significant social cost. The nation began to struggle with issues of unemployment, dangerous working conditions, and political corruption. Although private citizens had long been making attempts to reform these issues, many began to feel that an increased role of government would be necessary to effectively address the nation’s problems.

The framers of the Constitution designed three branches of government. The role of the legislative branch was to make the laws, the role of the executive branch was to enforce the laws and the judicial branch was to interpret the laws. The constitution is set up in seven sections or articles and also has an introduction called the preamble.

Have you ever wondered about the first people who lived on our continent? How did they get here? It is believed by many historians that thousands of years ago, hunters following herds of animals like woolly mammoths and bison migrated (or moved) to the Americas on foot from Asia. This belief assumes that they crossed over a frozen land bridge caused by the Ice Age.

You, your classmates, and your community are diverse whether you realize it or not. You probably come from different heritages, have differing religious beliefs, and have different family backgrounds. This is no different than both the American Indians already living in America, as well as the first colonists who came here. How did so many nationalities, cultural backgrounds, ethnic origins, and religious beliefs all end up in one country? This unit will guide you to understand how European, American Indian, Asian, and African people all came to live together in the Western Hemisphere.

As progressives worked for domestic reform in political, economic, and social matters, others focused on and pushed for U.S. expansion overseas. American Imperialism was partly rooted in 'American exceptionalism,' the idea that the United States was different from other countries due to its specific world mission to spread liberty and democracy. While many Americans favored imperialistic endeavors, others wondered if the contradiction to democratic ideals was too large of a gamble in the area of foreign affairs

George Washington served the country for many years before becoming President. He was a general during the American Revolution and served as president of the Constitutional Convention, where the Constitution was written. After all that, he was ready to retire. The electoral college had different plans for George Washington though. All 69 electors chose him to be the first President of the United States of America. George Washington was the only President to receive all of the electoral college’s votes. Americans supported the choice for President and celebrated Washington as he traveled from his home in Mount Vernon to New York City, then onto the nation’s capital. On April 30, 1789 George Washington, at age 57, took the first oath of office as President of the United States under the Constitution. John Adams was his vice president.

You recently learned that the 13 colonies did not form overnight. Instead, they started out as small settlements that expanded into colonies. In this Chapter, you will see exactly how those colonies developed into the states they are today.

President Jefferson’s style was very different from that of Adams and Washington; because of that, many Americans looked forward to his inauguration. As people from across the nation gathered in the new capital to listen to Jefferson’s inaugural address, many wondered if the less formal president did in fact, want to limit the powers of government. They didn’t have to wait long.

America’s involvement in WWI left most Americans exhausted--in more ways than one. Soldiers returning home had suffered huge emotional distress from the war itself as well as from the physical injuries that many had suffered. Americans at home were deeply divided over the issues at the forefront of the League of Nations debate and the impact that the war had on thousands of immigrants with relatives overseas, many suffering in war-torn lands. Many Americans wished to return to what President Harding described as “normalcy.” Because of this desire by the American public, three trends in American society began to develop, both in rural towns and in urban areas across the country

In the 1700s England fought several wars with France over control of Europe. Conflicts over land ownership caused the hostilities between these two dominant countries to spread to North America. In 1754 the French and Indian War began. It got its name from the people that the British colonists and their American Indian allies were fighting – the French and their American Indian allies. The French and Indian war lasted from 1754 to 1763. It was also called the Seven Years War.

Up to this point you have been studying the domestic issues that faced the new nation. In this chapter we’re going to study the same relative time period as the last chapter but focus more on foreign policy issues. By 1803, America was tangled in a war between Great Britain and France once again. Both countries were taking American ships that were trading with their enemy. President Jefferson tried hard to follow Washington and Adams lead and remain neutral.