Unit 1: US History

Grade: 9

Quarter 1

Big Idea(s) / Major Understanding(s): Students will understand that

BENCHMARKS
10.3.1 Immigration:
Describe the "push" factors
(e.g., escaping persecution
and poverty) and "pull" factors
(e.g., seeking freedom and
economic opportunity) that
brought immigrants to the
United States in the late 19th
century.

10.3.2 Urbanization:
Describe social, political,
economic, and technological
factors (e.g., governance,
corruption, fiscal policies,
wages, sanitation, class
differences, health problems,
transportation) of growth in
19th and 20th century
American cities (e.g., New
York, Chicago, St. Louis)

CONTENT & CONCEPTS

Push Factors:
Confliction & War: escaping religious or political
persecution
Economic reasons: poverty, limited employment,
lost of land
Overpopulation: scarcity of land for farming
Pull Factors:
Seeking freedom: political, religious
Economic prosperity: economic opportunity jobs
and wages, living conditions & land
American dream
Immigration Groups:
Italians: Economic
Jews: Religious persecution & economic opportunity
Poles: x
Chinese: Burlingame Treaty, fleeing poverty/political
upheaval, NY & CA
Irish: Irish Potato Famine, Boston
Responses to Immigration :
Ellis Island & Angel Island
Nativism
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
Technological Factors:
transportation: mass transit, railroad, canals,
bridges
inventions Refer to 10.7.1
Economic Factors: Post-Civil War Industrialization
(beginning in 1880s)
Wage labor
Emergence of white-collar managerial work
Women paid office workers
Industries related to cities, Chicago=Meatpacking
Social Factors: Living Conditions
Immigrant enclaves
Poor health and sanitation conditions
Overcrowding and high poverty levels in tenement
housing
Political Factors: Political Machines and Political
Resistance
Corruption: political machine, graft, Boss Tweed
(Tammany Hall), patronage, Thomas Nast

10.7.1 Human Systems:

Explain the causes of
urbanization (i.e., job
opportunities, immigration
patterns, technological
innovations)
10.7.2 Human Systems:
Explain the consequences of
urbanization

1905)
Cities:
New York: x
Chicago: x
St. Louis: x
Job opportunities: factories
Immigration patterns: foreign & rural
Technological innovations: elevator, electric
trolley, railroads, refrigerated boxcars, skyscrapers,
steel, subways
Housing: tenements, overcrowding (see above)
Transportation: mass transit needed to move large
crowds to jobs
Water Quality: no plumbing, diseases (cholera,
typhoid)
Sanitation: garbage, sewage, air pollution
Crime: theft
Fire: wooden construction, fire lighting & heating

Unit 2: Gilded Age & Progressive Era

Quarter 1

Grade: 9

Big Idea(s) / Major Understanding(s): Students will understand that

Production & Assembly Line

BENCHMARKS
Benchmark SS.10.3.3: Describe
how business magnates (i.e.,
Rockefeller, Morgan, Carnegie,
and Vanderbilt) dominated politics
of the Gilded Age

CONTENT & CONCEPTS

Business Magnates Robber Barons

Rockefeller (Oil company)
Morgan (Electricity company)
Carnegie (Steel company)
Vanderbilt ( Railroads company)
Pro-Business Government Policies
Subsidies
Tariffs
Laissez Faire Policies
Gilded Age Politics
Boss Tweed & Thomas Nast
Patronage
Civil service & Pendleton Civil Service Act
Social Darwinism
Market
Structures
SS.10.8.1: Explain the
Monopoly-- Horizontal and Vertical Integration, Trust
characteristics of the different
Oligopoly
market structures (i.e. monopoly,
Monopolistic Competition
oligopoly, monopolistic competition,
and pure competition) and their
Pure Competition
influence on product differentiation, Market Influence
Product Differentiation
price, barriers for entry, and market

 Price
Barriers for entry
Market efficacy in a competitive market
SS.10.3.4: Describe reform issues Economic Reform: Business Regulation
Trust busting & Square Deal (Theodore Roosevelt)
of the Progressive Era (including
New Tax System (Federal Income Tax & Federal Reserve)
political reform, labor reform, and
Ida Tarbell
business regulation)
Political Reform: New Laws & Policies
Interstate Commerce Act
Business regulation/ anti-trust legislation (Robert M. La Follette:
state level)
Elections reformed
Citizen given Voice (Recall, Initiative, Referendum)
Lincoln Steffens
Social & Moral Reform: Women & African American
Social Gospel
African Americans (sharecropping, Jim Crow Laws, Booker T.
Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida Wells-Barnett, NAACP)
Womens Suffrage (NAWSA, Alice Paul & NWP, 19th Amendment)
Social Services (Jane Addams Hull House women, children, poor)
Philanthrophy
Industry Reform: Labor
Strikes as Impetus for Change: Railroad (Pullman), Miners (Coal
WFM)
Child Labor (National Child Labor Committee)
Working Conditions (Upton Sinclair, The Jungle, Jacob Riis,
Triangle Fire)
Unions: Knights of Labor (Terence Powderlyearly

efficiency in a competitive
marketplace

1880s), American Federation of Labor (Samuel

Gompers after Haymarket), Industrial Workers of
the World, Industrial Workers of the World (Big Bill
Haywood & Eugene Debs Health & Environment
Pure Food & Drug Act
Nature conservation (John Muir)
Meat Inspection Act

Unit 3: US Foreign Policy & Imperialism

Quarter 2

Grade: 9

Big Idea(s) / Major Understanding(s): Students will understand that

BENCHMARKS

CONTENT & CONCEPTS

Benchmark SS.10.3.5: Describe

the causes of and major events
associated with the United States
becoming an imperial power in the
late 19th century

Causes of US Imperialism
Political & Military Competition (Navy, Alfred Mahan)
Economic Competition (Coal ports, markets)
Social & Cultural Superiority (Social Darwinism, White Mans
Burden, Mark Twain)
Major Events of US Imperialism
Japan (Matthew Perry)

Benchmark SS.10.3.6: Analyze

the scope and evolution of various
United States foreign policies in the
early part of the 20th century

Unit 4: World War I

Quarter 1

Alaska (Sewards Foley)

War Fever (USS Maine, Yellow Journalism)
Hawaii (Liliuokalani, Pearl Harbor, Sanford B. Dole, Annexation)
Spanish-American War (Cuba, Philippines, Caribbean, Rough
Riders)
Puerto Rico (Treaty of Paris, Guam)
Cuba (New Democracies, Platt Amendment)
Philippines (Emilio Aguinaldo)
China (Boxer Rebellion)
Panama Canal
US Foreign Policy Terms
Isolationism
Collective Security
Internationalism
Imperialism
US Foreign Policies
Open Door Policy: President McKinley (China)
Platt Amendment: President McKinley (Cuba)
Monroe Doctrine: President Monroe (Latin America)
Big Stick Diplomacy (Roosevelt Corollary): President T. Roosevelt
(Latin America: Dominican Rep.)
Dollar Diplomacy: President Taft (Latin America: Nicaragua)
Moral (Missionary) Diplomacy: President Wilson (Mexico)

Grade: 9

Big Idea(s) / Major Understanding(s): Students will understand that

BENCHMARKS

CONTENT & CONCEPTS

Benchmark SS.10.3.7: Describe

the events that led the United
States into World War I

Pre American Involvement

Militarism Trench Warfare, Machine Gun, Airplane, Tanks,
Gas/Chemicals, U-Boats
Alliances
Nationalism
Imperialism
Assassination (Archduke Francis Ferdinand, Heir to throne of
Austria-Hungary)
American & British Propaganda
Stressed German barbarism.
Posters depicting the Kaiser as some sort of madman.
Urged American to support allies throughout neutrality.
U.S. Business Interests
US trade w/ the allies increased from 825 million in 1914 to 3.2
billion in 1916.
Blockades
Unrestricted submarine warfare (U-Boats).
Sinking of the Lusitania (1915)
The "Sussex" pledge (1916)
Germany renews unrestricted U Boat attacks (1917)

Benchmark SS.10.3.8: Describe

how domestic policies were
affected by American involvement
in World War I

Benchmark SS.10.3.9: Explain

why the United States did not sign
the Treaty of Versailles

Zimmerman Note
Germany asked Mexico to enter the war against the US. We
intercepted the note.
Economic Effects
War Industries Board
National War Labor Board
Political Effects
Food Administration (Rationing)
Committee of Public Information
Espionage & Sedition Acts (Debs case, Schenck v. U.S.)
Selective Service Act
Social Effects
Young White Men (Dough Boys)
Immigrants (Labor opportunities)
African-Americans (Northern city employment, Great Migration)
Women (labor opportunities, Factory jobs and nursing on frontline)
Wilsons 14 Points
Self Determination - nationalities should be able to have their
own countries.
Disarmament - we should take away many of the worlds
weapons.
Freedom of the Seas - to be able to sail and trade anywhere.
No blame or punishment - just start over. Blame would create
bad feelings.
League of Nations - He wanted an international organization to
make sure there wasn't another war.
Treaty of Versailles
War Guilt Clause - Germany was blamed
Reparations Germany made to pay reparations.
League of Nations was created.
New Governments - No real self-determination existed. Nations
kept colonies and made new nations without regard the wishes of
the peoples who lived there.
Germanys military was greatly reduced
US Senate Refusal
Turn Isolationist: Disillusionment with wartime allies
League of Nations: Concern would drag US into war

Partisan Politics: Henry Cabot Lodge & Alfred Beveridge

strongly denounced the treaty that called upon the US to support
League actions.

Unit 1920S-CONFLICTS AND TRANSITIONS:

Quarter 1

Grade: 9

Big Idea(s) / Major Understanding(s): Students will understand that

BENCHMARKS

CONTENT & CONCEPTS

Benchmark SS.10.3.12: Describe the

innovations in transportation and
communication and the impact they
had on American society.

Innovations
Electricity
Electrical Conveniences (home appliances)
Transportation

Benchmark SS.10.3.10: Describe

changes in society & culture that led
to conflicts in values in the 1920s.

Benchmark SS.10.3.11: Describe the

significance of the literature, arts, and
feminism of the 1920s, including the
"Lost Generation," the Harlem
Renaissance, and flappers.

Automobiles Freedom and growth of suburbs

Airplanes - travel
Communication
Modern Advertising Increase consumer spending
Radio national culture, faster news
Credit
Installment Plan
Buying on Margin
Scopes Monkey Trial
Evolution
Fundamentalism
Prohibition
18th Amendment
Bootleggers & Speakeasies
Organized Crime
Ku Klux Klan
Nativism
Immigration Acts
Lynching
Red Scare
Palmer Raids
Communism
Labor Disputes
Anarchists (Sacco & Vanzetti)
Flappers
New Sexuality
Feminism
Image & Fashion
Career Opportunities & Limits
Changing Family Roles

Harlem Renaissance

Literature Langston Hughes

Music (Jazz)
Visual Art
Lost Generations
Gertrude Stein
Ernest Hemingway
F. Scott Fitzgerald

Unit 6: GREAT DEPRESSION

Grade: 9

Quarter 1

Big Idea(s) / Major Understanding(s): Students will understand that

BENCHMARKS

CONTENT & CONCEPTS

Benchmark SS.10.3.13: Analyze

the causes of the Great
Depression

Economic Practices
Buying for Profit
Buying on Margin
Lack of Government Regulations Laissez faire
Stock Inflation

Benchmark SS.10.3.14: Describe

the effects of the Great Depression

Stock Market & Banking Collapse/Crisis

Stock Deflation
Bad Bank Loans (widespread default on loans)
Overproduction
Technology Improvements
Decreased Demand Domestically and Internationally - High Tariffs
Toll on Farming Industry
Loan Defaults
Drought
Wealth Distribution Issues
Gap Increase
Income Gap
Economic Factors
Stock Prices remain low
Unemployment High
Workers Yearly Wages
Business Failures
Bank Closures

Social Factors

Children, Families, & Women (Hoovervilles, Dorthea Lange)

Farmers (Dust Bowl, Grapes of Wrath John

Steinbeck)
African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Migrant
Workers
New Deal Programs
Benchmark SS.10.3.15: Explain
Emergency Banking Act
how programs in FDR's New Deal,
National Recovery Act (NRA)
including the FDIC, AAA, WPA,
Social Security Act
and Social Security, attempted to
resolve problems brought on by the
Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)
Great Depression
Federal Emergency Act

Benchmark SS.10.8.2: Describe

the function and responsibilities of
the Federal Reserve System in
setting and carrying out the
nation's monetary policy

Benchmark SS.10.8.3: Explain the

purpose and/or role of government

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

National Youth Administration (NYA)
Works Progress Administration (WPA)
Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC)
National Labor Relations Act, Wagner Act
Public Works Administration (PWA)
Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC)
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Function & Responsibilities
Establish & implement monetary policy
Regulate & supervise banks
Operate nations payment
Federal Reserve Board
Interest Rates
Printing Money
Inflation
US Payment System
Funds Transfer
Social Security Administration
Retire

 Healthcare Medicare & Medicaid

programs and policies, including
unemployment, minimum wage,
Social Security Insurance
and Social Security, and their effect Unemployment Insurance Program
Fair Labor Standards Act
on the nation's economy

Minimum wage
American Recovery & Reinvestment act of 2009
Job creation
Invest in infrastructure
Stabilize state and local governments
Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008
Restore confidence in credit markets (Great

Recession)

Unit 7: WORLD WAR II

Grade: 9

Quarter 1

Big Idea(s) / Major Understanding(s): Students will understand that

BENCHMARKS

CONTENT & CONCEPTS

Benchmark SS.10.3.16: Analyze

the causes of the bombing of Pearl
Harbor

Isolation Policies
Kellogg-Brand Pact
Neutrality Acts & Embargoes
Support for Britain
Atlantic Charter
Cash & Carry
Lend & Lease
Destroyer for Bases Act
Japanese Aggression
Stimson Doctrine
Quarantine Speech
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
Oil Embargo
Day of Infamy Speech
American Citizens Reactions
Galvanization of U.S. public support for entering World War II
Citizen Soldiers
Fireside Chats
Martial Law In Hawaii
Japanese-American Interment
Executive Order 9066
Property Loss
Evacuee Relocation (Manzanar, Honouliuli, Sand Island)
442nd Regiment / 100th Battalion
Korematsu v. United States (1944)

Benchmark SS.10.3.17: Analyze

the effects of the bombing of Pearl
Harbor, including the internment of
Japanese Americans

European Theater
Benchmark SS.10.3.18: Explain
the turning points in the European
D-Day (Turning point in European Theatre)
and Pacific theaters of World War II
Battle of the Bulge (Turning point, Hitlers last
stand)

Battle of Britain
Battle of Stalingrad

Pacific Theater
Battle of Midway (Turning point in Pacific Theatre)

Benchmark SS.10.3.19: Describe

how domestic policies were
affected by United States
involvement in World War II

Battle of Iwo Jima

Battle of Okinawa
Battle of Coral Sea
Battle of Leyte Gulf

Manhattan Project (Development of the atomic bomb)

Bombing of Japan
Immigration Quotas

War Production Board

Mobilization of U.S. economy and industry for war
Rationing
Working Women
Changing Roles In Society (Rosie the Riveter)
Minority Recruitment
Tuskegee Airman (African-Americans)
Navajo Code Talkers (Native Americans)
442nd Regiment (Japanese-Americans)
Soldiers
Selective Service System
GI Bill of Rights

Unit 8: COLD WAR

Grade: 9

Quarter 4

Big Idea(s) / Major Understanding(s): Students will understand that

BENCHMARKS

CONTENT & CONCEPTS

Benchmark SS.10.3.20: Explain

the origins of the Cold War

Conflicting Ideologies
Capitalism vs. Socialism (Communism)
Democracy vs. Totalitarianism
Individualism vs. Collectivism
Cold War Begins
Potsdam Conference
Iron Curtain & Satellite Nations (Eastern Europe)
Economic & Military Alliances
Marshall Plan
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Warsaw Treaty Organization (Warsaw Pact)
Development of Nuclear Weapons
Soviet Atomic Test (First Lightening), H-Bomb
Berlin Crisis
Blockade of Berlin
Berlin Airlift
Containment Policy
Communist Revolution in China
Chiang Kai-shek (Chinese Nationalist)
Mao Zedong (Chinese Communist)
Taiwan
Korean War

Benchmark SS.10.3.21: Explain

how America's foreign policy during
the Cold War led to conflicts in Asia
and Latin America

Benchmark SS.10.3.28:
Benchmark SS.10.3.22: Explain
how the events of the Cold War led
to the McCarthy era

Benchmark SS.10.3.27: Assess

John F. Kennedy's handling of the
Cuban Missile Crisis

Benchmark SS.10.3.23: Explain

MacArthur
United Nations
Armistice (Korea Divided)
Covert Action in Latin America
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Guatemala Coup
Domino Theory
Vietnam War
Gulf of Tonkin Incident
Tet Offensive
Nixons Vietnam Policy
Fall of Saigon
Student Movement / Counterculture Movement
World Causes of McCarthyism
Soviet Atomic Bomb
Communist China
Korean War
Soft on Foreign Policies
Domestic Causes of McCarthyism
Loyal Review Board
House of Un-American Activities (HUAC)
(Communist Spies) Ethel & Julius Rosenberg
McCarthyisms Impact on U.S. Society
Labor unions weakened
Movie industry targeted, Hollywood Ten, Blacklist
Civil rights denied
US Foreign Policy
Brinkmanship (Eisenhower)
Cold War Spreads Around the World
Berlin Wall
Eisenhower Doctrine
Cold War Takes to Skies
Space Race New Frontier
U-2 Incident
Flexible Response
Crises Over Cuba
Cuban Revolution
Bay of Pigs Invasion
Missile Crisis Decisions
Quarantine
Secret Deal: Jupiter Missiles in Turkey
Limited Test Ban Treaty
The Cold War Winds Down
Dtente (
Nixon China visit
SALT I & II
The Cold War Ends (Collapse of the Soviet Union)
Reagan Tear Down This Wall Speech
Glasnost & Perestroika
x

how the United States foreign

policy has attempted to respond to
global and economic challenges of
the post Cold War world

x
x
x
x
x

Unit 9: CIVIL RIGHTS

Grade: 9

Quarter 1

Big Idea(s) / Major Understanding(s): Students will understand that

BENCHMARKS

CONTENT & CONCEPTS

Benchmark SS.10.3.24: Analyze

the key factors, including
legislation and acts of civil
disobedience, that brought on the
African American Civil Rights
movement after World War II

Legislation
Jim Crow Laws (Segregation)
Plessy v. Ferguson
Executive Order 9981, Desegregation of the Armed Forces
Brown v. Board of Education
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Events
Emmett Tills Death
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Little Rock
Sit-ins
Albany Movement
Birmingham Kids Campaign
March on Washington (I Have a Dream Speech)
Birmingham Bombing
Freedom Summer (voter registration)
Selma March
Individuals
Rosa Parks
Martin Luther King Jr.
Medgar Evers
Diane Nash
Malcolm X
George Wallace
Groups
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
Black Power
Nation of Islam
Mississippi (NAACP)
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
Black Panthers
Native Americans
AIM (American Indian Movement)
Occupation of Alcatraz
Trail of Broken Treaties
Wounded Knee Occupation
Pine Ridge Reign of Terror
Women
Betty Freidan Feminine Mystique

Benchmark SS.10.3.25: Describe

the significant events, individuals,
and groups associated with the
Civil Rights Era

Benchmark SS.10.3.26: Describe

the expansion of the Civil Rights
movement to other groups,
including Native Americans and
women

 NOW (National Organization of Women)

Equal Rights Amendment
Work: Affirmative Action
Ms Magazine
Roe v. Wade
Title IX
Latin-Americans
Cesar Chavez (labor)

Unit 10: Contemporary Issues

Grade: 9

Term 4

Big Idea(s) / Major Understanding(s): Students will understand that

BENCHMARKS
Benchmark SS. 10.3.29 Evaluate
Lyndon Johnsons vision of a great

society

Benchmark SS.10.3.30: Explain

how the Watergate affair led to a crisis
of confidence in the government

Benchmark SS.10.3.31: Explain

how the election of Ronald Reagan
marked a new era in conservatism in
American Politics

CONTENT & CONCEPTS

War on Poverty
EEOC
Head Start
National endowment for the arts
Medicare
Medicaid
Civil Rights Act of 64
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Watergate
Bob Woodward
Carl Bernstein(Deep Throat)
Obstruction of Justice
Impeachment
Executive Privilege
Economic: (Reaganomics)
Increased Defense Spending
Tax cuts
Cuts in Social Spending
Supply Side Economics (Type of Trickle Down Economy)
Political:
Judicial Appointments(Renquist)
Collapse of the Soviet Union
Conservatism

Benchmark SS.10.3.32: Explain

Social:
Moral Majority
Sandra Day OConnor / Geraldine Ferraro
EPA
AIDS
Political:

how the administrations from Reagan

to the current president dealt with
major domestic issues

1st Gulf War (Desert Shield / Desert Storm) - Saddam

Hussein
War on Terrorism
- War in Afghanistan (Al Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden)
- 2nd Gulf War (Operation Iraqi Freedom)
- September 11, 2001 (World Trade Center Attack)
- Nationalism / Patriotism
- Patriot Act
- 1st world trade center bombing
National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)
Social:
Universal Health Care
Ethical / Moral Challenges
- Constitution,
- Technology,
- Torture
- National Security
st
1 African-American President(Obama)
Environmental Issues (Climate Change, Exxon Valdez, etc.)
Family & Medical Leave Act
Civil Rights (Same Sex Marriage, etc.)
NCLB
Economic:
Great Recession (Stimulus Plans, Entitlement Plans, etc.)
Hurricane Katrina (FEMA)
Immigration
NAFTA