Understand traditional historical points of reference in U.S. history through 1877.

Understand the causes of exploration and colonization eras.

Understand the foundations of representative government in the United States.

Understand significant political and economic issues of the revolutionary era.

Understand the challenges confronted by the government and its leaders in the early years of the republic and the Age of Jackson.

Understand westward expansion and its effects on the political, economic, and social development of the nation.

Understand how political, economic, and social factors led to the growth of sectionalism and the Civil War.