United States History: 1877 to the Present

USII Overview

Students will continue to use skills of historical and geographical analysis as they examine American history since 1877. The standards for this course relate to the history of the United States from the end of the Reconstruction era to the present. Students should continue to learn fundamental concepts in civics, economics, and geography within the context of United States history. Political, economic, and social challenges facing the nation reunited after civil war will be examined chronologically as students develop an understanding of how the American experience shaped the world political and economic landscape.

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

USII.1

The student will develop skills for historical and geographical analysis, and responsible citizenship, including the ability to

  1. a) identify and interpret primary and secondary source documents to increase understanding of events and life in United States history to 1877;
  2. b) make connections between the past and the present;
  3. c) sequence events in United States history from pre-Columbian times to 1877;
  4. d) interpret ideas and events from different historical perspectives;
  5. e) evaluate and discuss issues orally and in writing;
  6. f) analyze and interpret maps to explain relationships among landforms, water features, climatic characteristics, and historical events;
  7. g) distinguish between parallels of latitude and meridians of longitude;
  8. h) interpret patriotic slogans and excerpts from notable speeches and documents,
  9. i) identify the costs and benefits of specific choices made including the consequences, both intended and unintended, of the decision and how people and nations responded to positive and negative incentives.

Geography

USII.2

The student will use maps, globes, photographs, pictures, or tables for

  1. a) explaining how physical features and climate influenced the movement of people westward;
  2. b) explaining relationships among natural resources, transportation, and industrial development after 1877;
  3. c) locating the 50 states and the cities most significant to the historical development of the United States.

Reshaping the Nation and the Emergence of Modern America: 1877 to the Early 1900s

USII.3

The student will demonstrate knowledge of how life changed after the Civil War by

  1. a) identifying the reasons for westward expansion, including its impact on American Indians;
  2. b) explaining the reasons for the increase in immigration, growth of cities, new inventions, and challenges arising from this expansion;
  3. c) describing racial segregation, the rise of “Jim Crow,” and other constraints faced by African Americans and other groups in the post-Reconstruction South;
  4. d) explaining the impact of new inventions, the rise of big business, the growth of industry, and life on American farms;
  5. e) describing the impact of the Progressive Movement on child labor, working conditions, the rise of organized labor, women’s suffrage, and the temperance movement.

Turmoil and Change: 1890s to 1945

USII.4

The student will demonstrate knowledge of the changing role of the United States from

  1. a) explaining the reasons for and results of the Spanish American War;
  2. b) describing Theodore Roosevelt’s impact on the foreign policy of the United States;
  3. c) explaining the reasons for the United States’ involvement in World War I and its international leadership role at the conclusion of the war.

USII.5

The student will demonstrate knowledge of the social, economic, and technological

  1. a) explaining how developments in factory and labor productivity and transportation (including the use of the automobile), communication, and rural electrification changed American life;
  2. b) describing the social and economic changes that took place, including prohibition, and the Great Migration north and west;
  3. c) examining art, literature, and music from the 1920s and 1930s, emphasizing Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington, Georgia O’Keeffe, and the Harlem Renaissance;
  4. d) identifying the causes of the Great Depression, its impact on Americans, and the major features of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.

USII.6

The student will demonstrate knowledge of the major causes and effects of American

  1. a) identifying the causes and events that led to American involvement in the war, including the attack on Pearl Harbor;
  2. b) locating and describing the major events and turning points of the war in Europe and the Pacific;
  3. c) describing the impact of World War II on the homefront.

The United States Since World War II

USII.7

The student will demonstrate knowledge of the economic, social, and political

  1. a) describing the rebuilding of Europe and Japan after World War II, the emergence of the United States as a superpower, and the establishment of the United Nations;
  2. b) describing the conversion from a wartime to a peacetime economy;
  3. c) identifying the role of America’s military and veterans in defending freedom during the Cold War, including the wars in Korea and Vietnam, the Cuban missile crisis, the collapse of communism in Europe, and the rise of new challenges;
  4. d) describing the changing patterns of society, including expanded educational and economic opportunities for military veterans, women, and minorities;
  5. e) describing how international trade and globalization have impacted American life.

USII.8

The student will demonstrate knowledge of the key domestic and international issues during the second half of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries by

  1. a) examining the Civil Rights Movement and the changing role of women;
  2. b) describing the development of new technologies in communication, entertainment, and business and their impact on American life;
  3. c) identifying how individual citizens from the time period influenced America scientifically, culturally, academically, and economically;
  4. d) examining American foreign policy, immigration, the global environment, and other emerging issues.

NOTE: The Virginia Board of Education adopted the revised 2008 History and Social Science Standards of Learning at the January 10, 2008, meeting. Full implementation of these documents is scheduled for the 2010-2011 school year, as outlined in Superintendent’s Memorandum Informational Number 49.  In the revised SOL, United States History I will be taught through 1865 and U.S. History II will encompass 1865 to the present. 

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