Students in grade five study the development of the nation up to 1850 with an emphasis on the population: who was already here, when and from where others arrived, and why people came. Students learn about the colonial government founded on Judeo-Christian principles, the ideals of the Enlightenment, and the English traditions of self-government. They recognize that ours is a nation that has a constitution that derives its power from the people, that has gone through a revolution, that once sanctioned slavery, that experienced conflict over land with the original inhabitants, and that experienced a westward movement that took its people across the continent. Studying the cause, course and consequences of the early explorations through the War for Independence and western expansion is central to students' fundamental understanding of how the principles of the American republic form the basis of a pluralistic society in which individual rights are secured.

5.1 Students describe the major pre-Columbian settlements including the cliff dwellers and pueblo people of the desert Southwest, the American Indians of the Pacific Northwest, the nomadic nations of the Great Plains, and the woodland peoples east of the Mississippi River, in terms of:

1. how geography and climate influenced the way various nations lived and adjusted to the natural environment, including locations of villages, the distinct structures that were built, and how food, clothing, tools and utensils were obtained
2. the varied customs and folklore traditions
3. the varied economies and systems of government

5.2 Students trace the routes and describe the early explorations of the Americas, in terms of:

1. the entrepreneurial characteristics of early explorers (e.g., biographies of Columbus, Coronado) and the technological developments that made sea exploration by latitude and longitude possible (e.g., compass, sextant, astrolabe, seaworthy ships, chronometers, gunpowder)
2. the aims, obstacles, and accomplishments of the explorers, sponsors, and leaders of key European expeditions, and the reasons Europeans chose to explore and colonize the world (e.g., the Protestant Reformation, the Spanish Reconquista)
3. the routes of the major land explorers of the United States; the distances traveled by early explorers; and the Atlantic trade routes that linked Africa, the West Indies, the British colonies, and Europe
4. land claimed by Spain, France, England, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Russia on maps of North and South America

5.3 Students describe the cooperation and conflict that existed among the Indians and between the Indian nations and the new settlers, in terms of:

1. the competition among the English, French, Spanish, Dutch, and Indian Nations for control of North America
2. the cooperation that existed between the colonists and Indians during the 1600s and 1700s (e.g., agriculture, the fur trade, military alliances, treaties, cultural interchanges)
3. the conflicts before the Revolutionary War (e.g., the Pequot and King Philip's Wars in New England, the Powhatan Wars in Virginia, the French and Indian War)
4. the role of broken treaties and massacres and the factors that led to the Indians' defeat, including the resistance of Indian nations to encroachments and assimilation (e.g., the story of the Trail of Tears )
5. the internecine Indian conflicts, including the competing claims for control (e.g., actions of the Iroquois, Huron, Lakota (Sioux))
6. the influence and achievements of significant leaders of the time (e.g., biographies of Abraham Lincoln, John Marshall, Andrew Jackson, Chief Tecumseh, Chief Logan, Chief John Ross, Sequoyah)

5.4 Students understand the political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era, in terms of:

1. the influence of location and physical setting on the founding of the original 13 colonies, their location on a map along with the location of the American Indian nations already inhabiting these areas
2. the major individuals and groups responsible for the founding of the various colonies and the reasons for their founding (e.g., John Smith and Virginia, Roger Williams and Rhode Island, William Penn and Pennsylvania, Lord Baltimore and Maryland, William Bradford and Plymouth, John Winthrop and Massachusetts)
3. the religious aspects of the earliest colonies (e.g., Puritanism in Massachusetts, Anglicanism in Virginia, Catholicism in Maryland, Quakerism in Pennsylvania)
4. the significance and leaders of the First Great Awakening that marked a shift in religious ideas, practices and allegiances in the colonial period; the growth of religious toleration and free exercise
5. how the British colonial period created the basis for the development of political self-government and a free market economic system, unlike Spanish and French colonial rule
6. the introduction of slavery into America, the responses of slave families to their condition, the ongoing struggle between proponents and opponents of slavery, and the gradual institutionalization of slavery in the South
7. the early democratic ideas and practices that emerged during the colonial period, including the significance of representative assemblies and town meetings

5.5 Students explain the causes of the American Revolution, in terms of:

1. how political, religious, and economic ideas and interests brought about the Revolution (e.g., resistance to imperial policy, Stamp Act, Townshend Acts, tax on tea, Coercive Acts)
2. the significance of the first and second Continental Congress and the Committees of Correspondence
3. the people and events associated with the drafting and signing of the Declaration of Independence and the document's significance, including the key political concepts it embodies, the origins of those concepts, and its role in severing ties with Great Britain
4. the views, lives, and impact of key individuals during this period (e.g., biographies of King George III, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams)

5.6 Students understand the course and consequences of the American Revolution, in terms of:

1. identifying and mapping the major military battles, campaigns and turning points of the Revolutionary War, the roles of the American and British leaders, and the Indian leaders' alliances on both sides
2. the contributions of France and other nations and individuals to the outcome of the Revolution (e.g., Benjamin Franklin's negotiations with the French, the French navy, the Treaty of Paris, The Netherlands, Russia, Marquis de Lafayette, Kosciuszko, Baron von Steuben,)
3. the different roles women played during the Revolution (e.g., Abigail Adams, Martha Washington, Molly Pitcher, Phillis Wheatley, Mercy Otis Warren)
4. the personal impact and economic hardship on families, problems of financing the war, wartime inflation, and laws against hoarding and profiteering
5. how state constitutions established after 1776 embodied the ideals of the American Revolution and helped serve as models for the U.S. Constitution
6. the significance of land policies developed under the Continental Congress (e.g., sale of western lands, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787) and their impact on American Indian land
7. how the ideals of the Declaration of Independence changed the way people viewed slavery

5. 7 Students relate the narrative of the people and events associated with the development of the US Constitution and analyze its significance as the foundation of the American republic, in terms of:

1. the shortcomings set forth by the Articles of Confederation's critics
2. the significance of the new Constitution of 1787, including the struggles over its ratification and the reasons for the addition of the Bill of Rights
3. the fundamental principles of American constitutional democracy including how the government derives its power from the people and the primacy of individual liberty
4. how the Constitution is designed to secure our liberty by both empowering and limiting central government; the powers granted to the citizens, Congress, the President, the Supreme Court, those reserved to the states
5. the meaning of the American creed that calls on citizens to safeguard the liberty of individual Americans within a unified nation, to respect the rule of law, and to preserve the Constitution
6. the songs that express American ideals (e.g., know America the Beautiful, The Star Spangled Banner)

5.8 Students trace the colonization, immigration and settlement patterns of the American people from 1789 to the mid-1800's, with emphasis on the defining role of economic incentives and the effects of the physical and political geography and transportation systems, in terms of:

1. the waves of immigrants from Europe between 1789 and 1850 and their modes of transportation as they advanced into the Ohio and Mississippi Valley and through the Cumberland Gap (e.g., overland wagons, canals, flatboats, steamboats)
2. the states and territories in 1850, their regional locations and major geographical features (e.g., mountain ranges, principal rivers, dominant plant regions)
3. the explorations of the trans-Mississippi West following the Louisiana Purchase (e.g., draw from maps, biographies and journals of Lewis & Clark, Zebulon Pike, John Fremont)
4. experiences on the overland trails to the West (e.g., location of the routes, purpose of each journey; the influence of terrain, rivers, vegetation, and climate; life in the territories at the end of these trails)
5. the continued migration of Mexican settlers into Mexican territories of the West and Southwest
6. how and when California, Texas, Oregon and other western lands became part of the US, including the significance of the Texas War for Independence and the Mexican-American War

5.9 Students know the location of the current 50 states and the names of their capitals

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