America: Colonies, Revolution, Government
Key Terms
• Physical Feature
• Boston Tea Party
• Primary Source
• Bill of Rights
• Secondary Source
• Separation of Powers
• Bias
• Constitution
• Confederation
• Supreme Court
• Articles of Confederation
• Congress
• Amendment
• President
• Judicial
• Taxation Without Represenation
• Legislative
• Executive
• Federation
• Checks and Balances
• Revolution
• Region
• Colony
• The Boston Massacre
Quarter 1
7th Grade Social Studies
Essential Questions
1). Do physical features affect the
ways people live?
(Be Thinking: Differences
between Northern, Middle,
Southern colonies)
2). Does power cause conflict? (Be Thinking: Taxation without
representation, colonists vs
British, system of government)
3). Is violence ever justifiable?
(Be Thinking: Boston Massacre,
tar and feathering tax collectors,
American Revolution)
4). Is revolution ever justifiable?
(Be Thinking: Declaration of
Independence, grievances
against King George/Britain)
5). Did historical figures influence
the U.S. government? (Be Thinking: Locke,
Montesquieu, Langton, Jefferson,
Somers)
6). Is government necessary?
(Be Thinking: 3 Branches,
Judicial, Legislative, Executive,
Separation of Powers)
Response Questions
1). What motivation did
colonists have to come to
America?
2). What three regions did
America have at first? What did
they have in common? What
was different about them?
3). Why did the Boston
Massacre happen?
• Quartering Act
• Stamp Act
• Tea Act
12). What is the purpose of the
judicial branch?
13). What is the purpose of the
executive branch?
14). What is the purpose of the
legislative branch?
15). What is the Bill of Rights?
4). What does “taxation without
representation” mean?
5). How did colonists react to
taxes they felt where unfair?
6). What did the Proclamation of
1763 do? Why did this make the
colonists so upset?
7). What are some major
differences between a Patriot
and a Loyalist?
8). What was the Declaration of
Independence all about? What
did it accomplish?
• Declaration of Independence
• Bunker Hill and Concord
11). Explain checks and
balances.
9). Why is the significance of
separation of powers in
American government?
10). How is the power
“separated” in America?
The Civil War and Reconstruction
Quarter 2
Key Terms
• Annex
• Emancipation Proclamation
• Manifest Destiny
• Abraham Lincoln
• Agriculture
• Jefferson Davis
• Manufacturing
• Ulysses S. Grant
• Underground Railroad
• William T. Sherman
• Harriet Tubman
• Robert E. Lee
• Missouri Compromise
• Bleeding Kansas
• Compromise of 1850
• Kansas-Nebraska Act
• Popular Sovereignty
• The First Battle of Bull Run
• Sectionalism
• Battle of Antietam
• Abolitionist
• Battle of Gettysburg
• Fugitive Slave Act
• Sherman’s March
• Compromise
• Reconstruction
• Border Ruffians
• Jim Crow Laws
• John Brown
• Segregation
• Dred Scot
• Confederates
• Union
• Secession
• Morale
• Total War
Essential Questions
1). Did the U.S. need to expand
after the American Revolutionary
War?
(Be Thinking: Manifest Destiny,
reasons to expand)
2). Were the differences between
the North and South significant? (Be Thinking: Economy, lifestyle)
3). Were slaves motivated to
escape? (Be Thinking: Underground
Railroad, Fugitive Slave Act)
4). How effective was the Fugitive
Slave Act? (Be Thinking: Underground
Railroad, Fugitive Slave Act,
Abolitionists)
5). Did the Missouri Compromise
and Compromise of 1850 achieve
their goals? (Be Thinking: Sectionalism)
6). Were John Brown's and
abolitionist's actions justifiable?
(Be Thinking: Bleeding Kansas,
Raid on Harper’s Ferry, Border
Ruffians)
7). Did the Dred Scot case cause
conflict?
(Be Thinking: Supreme Court,
Abolitionists, Fugitive Slave Act)
8). Did an individual or group
change the course of The Civil
War? (Be Thinking: Lincoln, Grant, Lee,
Davis
9). Was Reconstruction effective?
(Be Thinking: Jim Crow Laws)
7th Grade Social Studies
Response Questions
1). Explain the life of a slave in
specific detail.
2). What was the Underground
Railroad? Explain how this
helped slaves.
3). What were two compromises
that were made to try and avoid
the Civil War? Describe what
each accomplished.
4). Why did the South secede
from the Union?
5). List the major differences
between the North and South at
the beginning of the Civil War.
6). Explain who John Brown
was and what two events are
linked to him?
7). What was the significance of
the Kansas-Nebraska Act?
Explain the act and the effects of
the act.
8). What was the significance of
the Battle of Gettysburg?
9). What was the message/
purpose of Abraham Lincoln’s
Gettysburg Address?
10). Who was Dred Scott? What
was the significance of his
Supreme Court case? What did it
prove about America during the
time period?
11). Why was the First Battle of
Bull Run important to the Civil
War?
12). How did new technology
and medical care lead to
increased casualties during the
war?
13). What roles did women play
during the Civil War?
14). How did Sherman’s March
to the Sea affect southern
morale?
15). What were Jim Crow laws?
How did they affect AfricanAmericans after the Civil War?
Industrialization, Immigration, Progressivism
Key Terms
• Manufactured
Quarter 3
Essential Questions
• Andrew Carnegie & John
Rockefeller
1). Did the Industrial Revolution
• Robber Baron
(Be Thinking: Change in types of
• Thomas Edison
• Henry Ford
• Regulation
• Assembly Line
• Trustbusting
help or hurt Americans?
work, production speed, ease,
cost, working conditions,
movement of people)
• Agricultural
• Sherman Antitrust Act
• Industrialization
• President Teddy Roosevelt
• Industrial Revolution
• Philanthropy
or hurt Americans?
(Be thinking: purpose of unions/
• Political Reform
bargaining, workers rights, work
• 18th Amendment
conditions)
• Strike
• Union
• Temperance
• Emigrate
• 19th Amendment
• Immigrate
• Susan B. Anthony
• Immigrant
• Suffrage
• Tenement
• Social Reform
• Slum
• Muckracker
• Assimilate
3). Does immigration help or hurt
American during the Industrial
Revolution?
(Be Thinking: Jobs immigrants
assimilation, nativism,
industrialization & immigration
connection)
4). To what extent does the
• How the Other Half Lives
Progressive Era improve America?
• Upton Sinclair
(Be Thinking: Economic,
• Chinese Exclusion Act
• Economic Reform
• The Jungle
• Vertical/Horizontal Integration
• Meat Inspection Act
• Monopoly
• 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act
1). How did industrialization
help products become cheaper?
2). How were urban
communities (cities) affected by
industrialization?
3). How did inventors like Ford
and Edison contribute to the
Industrial Revolution?
4). How did immigration benefit
industrialization?
5). What motivated people to
move to America during the
Industrial Revolution time
period (push/pull factors)?
6). What was factory life like
during the Industrial
Revolution?
7). Why was child labor
common during the Industrial
Revolution?
take, where immigrants live,
• Jacob Riis
• Nativism
Response Questions
2). Did labor unions and strikes help
strikes, success/failure, collective
• Urban
7th Grade Social Studies
Political, and Social Reform)
8). Why did unions become
popular during the Industrial
Revolution?
12). How did Carnegie and
Rockefeller build their
monopolies?
13). Why did many people
consider monopolies to be
unfair?
14). How did President Teddy
Roosevelt deal with monopolies
and big businesses?
15). What is the purpose of the
18th Amendment to the United
States Constitution?
16). How did the Temperance
Movement affect the lives of
Americans during the
Progressive Era?
17). What is the purpose of the
19th Amendment to the United
States Constitution?
18). Explain the importance and
role of Susan B. Anthony in
achieving political reform in
America during the Progressive
Era.
9). Why did immigrants want to
assimilate into American
culture?
19). How did Upton Sinclair
contribute to social reform in
America?
10). How was immigration
viewed negatively in the United
States?
20). How did Jacob Riis
contribute to social reform in
America?
•
11). How did laws like the
Chinese Exclusion Act and the
1906 Naturalization Act passed
show nativists point of view?
America Involvement Around the World
Quarter 4
Essential Questions
Key Terms
• Resources
• Zimmerman Note
1). Were the motivations for
• Colony
• Total War
imperialism justified?
• Imperialism: Cultural/Economic/
Military
• Rations
(Be Thinking: Military, cultural,
economic)
• Propaganda
• Spanish-American War
• Trench Warfare
• U.S.S. Maine
• No Man’s Land
• Yellow Journalism
• Armistice
2). Was the Spanish-American War
justified?
(Be thinking: U.S.S. Maine,
3). Could World War 1 have been
• Reparations
avoided?
• President Woodrow Wilson
• Wilson’s 14 Points
• Militarism
• League of Nations
(Be Thinking: M.A.I.N. Causes,
militarism, alliances, imperialism,
nationalism, assassination of
archduke by Gavrilo Princip)
involved in World War 1?
(Be Thinking: President Wilson’s
speeches, isolationism, Germany
• Archduke Franz Ferdinand
provocations)
• Triple Entente (Allies)
• Central Powers
• Isolationism
• Lusitania
3). What nations belong to the
Triple Entente or Allies?
4). What nations belonged to the
Central Powers?
7). What reasoning was given
for America staying neutral at
the beginning of World War 1?
8). What reasoning was given as
to why America had to enter
WW1?
4). Did America have to get
• Gavrilo Princip
• Austria-Hungary / Serbia
2). What were the main causes
of World War 1?
6). What major event sparked
WW1?
• Treaty of Versailles
• Nationalism
1). What motivated America to
be imperialistic?
5). What impact did alliances
have in starting WW1?
• Cuba / Philippines / Puerto Rico /
Guam
• Imperialism
Response Questions
Imperialism, Cuba, Phillipines)
• President Teddy Roosevelt
• Alliances
7th Grade Social Studies
5). Did Americans at home affect
the outcome of the War?
(Be Thinking: Liberty bonds,
victory gardens, rationing,
propaganda)
6). Did the Treaty of Versailles truly
achieve peace?
9). How did people at home in
America help the war effort?
10). What was life like for
soldiers during WW1?
11). How did new technologies
lead to more casualties?
12). What was the purpose of
propaganda during WW1?
13). What kind of items were
rationed during WW1?
14). Why was Germany upset
with the Treaty of Versailles?
15). How did the Treaty of
Versailles differ from President
Woodrow Wilson’s 14 points?