FACTS FOR TAKS 8th Grade
A PREPARATION AND REVIEW COURSE FOR SOCIAL STUDIES TAKS

Lesson 1: From Discovery to Nationhood 1492 – 1781
European discovery and settlement, English colonization, Magna Carta, English Common Law, English Bill of Rights, colonial covenants and government, Colonial grievances, resistance, actions, Major personalities, Continental Congresses, Petition, Declaration of Independence, War, The Treaty of Paris.

Lesson 2: Establishing a National Government 1781 – 1789
Articles of Confederation , 1785 and 1787 Ordinances, failure, Annapolis and Philadelphia Convention, Compromises, Ratification, Major Personalities, Federalist, Anti-federalists, Demand for Bill of Rights, Ratification.

Lesson 3: Strengthening the Nation 1789 – 1808
Washington -Precedents, major personalities, economics, foreign policy, political parties. Adams- XYZ, Alien and Sedition Acts, Nullification, White House. United States 1800 - Geography, Economy, Demographics, sectionalism. Jefferson - Political Revolution of 1800, 12th Amendment, Judicial Review, Tripoli, economic importance of Mississippi River, Louisiana Purchase, 1807 Embargo

Lesson 4: America Enters A New Era 1808 – 1824
Madison - War Hawks, War of 1812 – Objectives / Strategy, Treaty of Ghent, Nationalism, Sectionalism, industry, protective tariff, Monroe – Missouri Compromise, Foreign Policy, Florida, Monroe Doctrine

Lesson 5: Transition and Dissention 1824 – 1836
Adams- Popular vote, Corrupt Bargain, Tariff of Abominations, and South Carolina Exposition Jackson – Political Parties, civic duty, spoils system, sectionalism, 1832 Tariff, Nullification, Force Bill, Compromise, Bank, Texas Independence, Indian Removal

Lesson 6: Demographics, Society, and Reform
Demography, 1st Industrial Revolution, Transportation, Communication, labor shortages, wage slaves and child labor, manhood, suffrage, public education, Transcendentalism, 2nd Great Awakening, Temperance and Abolition

Lesson 7: Manifest Destiny and Dissention 1836 – 1850
Personalities of the period, Aroostook, Webster-Ashburton, Oregon, Texas Annexation, Mexican American War, Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, California gold, Manifest Destiny and sectionalism

Lesson 8: Decade of Dissention 1850’s
“Free soilers” and abolitionists, geographic sectionalism, Compromise of 1850, Underground railroads, transcontinental railroad, Gadsden Purchase, Douglas and the Northern Route, Kansas Nebraska Act, Bleeding Kansas, Republican Party, Dred Scott, Lincoln – Douglas Debates, John Brown, The eve of war

Lesson 9: Prelude to the War / Civil War 1860 – 1865
Republican Platform, election, South Carolina secedes, Davis, Lincoln’s 1st Inaugural Address, Union and Confederate Military Objectives, Fort Sumter, Battle strategy, Lee, 1st Bull Run, Jackson, New technology, Trent Affair, Antietam, Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg, Gettysburg Address, Grant, Grant’s strategy, Sherman, conscriptions, Election of 1864, union party, Appomattox Court House, Lincoln assassinated

Lesson 10: Reconstruction 1865 – 1877
Johnson, Radical Republican, Stevens, Conklin, 13th, 14th, 15th, Amendments, Freedman’s Bureau, 10% plan, Military Districts, KKK, impeachment, Bloody Shirt, Grant’s Administration, Election 1876, Disputed Ballots, Electoral Count Act, Compromise of 1877