The History Project - University of California, Davis
Image Collection / 5.00 / All Standards
StandardImagesDescription
5.1 - 1.0033 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
5.1 - 2.0013 the varied customs and folklore traditions
5.1 - 3.006 the varied economies and systems of government
5.2 - 1.003 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, chronome
5.2 - 2.0010 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)
5.2 - 3.007 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
5.2 - 4.007 land claimed by Spain, France, England, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Russia on maps of North and South America
5.3 - 1.002 the competition among the English, French, Spanish, Dutch, and Indian Nations for control of North America
5.3 - 2.0013 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)
5.3 - 3.007 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)
5.3 - 4.007 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 )
5.3 - 5.000 the internecine Indian conflicts, including the competing claims for control (e.g., actions of the Iroquois, Huron, Lakota (Sioux))
5.3 - 6.0010 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 - 1.0095 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
5.4 - 2.0032 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
5.4 - 3.0021 the religious aspects of the earliest colonies (e.g., Puritanism in Massachusetts, Anglicanism in Virginia, Catholicism in Maryland, Quakerism in Pennsylvania)
5.4 - 4.000 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
5.4 - 5.0033 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
5.4 - 6.002 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
5.4 - 7.0019 the early democratic ideas and practices that emerged during the colonial period, including the significance of representative assemblies and town meetings
5.5 - 1.0015 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)
5.5 - 2.000 the significance of the first and second Continental Congress and the Committees of Correspondence
5.5 - 3.000 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 B
5.5 - 4.006 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 - 1.000 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
5.6 - 2.003 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
5.6 - 3.003 the different roles women played during the Revolution (e.g., Abigail Adams, Martha Washington, Molly Pitcher, Phillis Wheatley, Mercy Otis Warren)
5.6 - 4.000 the personal impact and economic hardship on families, problems of financing the war, wartime inflation, and laws against hoarding and profiteering
5.6 - 5.001 how state constitutions established after 1776 embodied the ideals of the American Revolution and helped serve as models for the U.S. Constitution
5.6 - 6.000 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
5.6 - 7.001 how the ideals of the Declaration of Independence changed the way people viewed slavery
5.7 - 1.000 the shortcomings set forth by the Articles of Confederation’s critics
5.7 - 2.000 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
5.7 - 3.002 the fundamental principles of American constitutional democracy including how the government derives its power from the people and the primacy of individual liberty
5.7 - 4.001 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
5.7 - 5.000 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
5.7 - 6.001 the songs that express American ideals (e.g., know America the Beautiful, The Star Spangled Banner)
5.8 - 1.000 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)
5.8 - 2.001 the states and territories in 1850, their regional locations and major geographical features (e.g., mountain ranges, principal rivers, dominant plant regions)
5.8 - 3.001 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)
5.8 - 4.003 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)
5.8 - 5.000 the continued migration of Mexican settlers into Mexican territories of the West and Southwest
5.8 - 6.004 how and when California, Texas, Oregon and other western lands became part of the U.S., including the significance of the Texas War for Independence and the Mexican-American War

“Mr. Pollard took ideas for guiding history instruction and incorporated them into full activities and discussions to make the history classroom more engaging while also using established techniques to develop critical thinking. I got more out of Mr. Pollard's classroom than just a chronological series of events that took place in the United States. I came out with an idea of why events took place the way they did, and what that means for all of us today.”

Mo Torres
Natomas Charter School Graduate, Class of 2006, describing History Project Teacher Leader Jeff Pollard.
Natomas Charter School Graduate, Class of 2006