List of Benchmarks for United States History |
| Standard 16. | Understands how the rise of corporations, heavy industry, and mechanized farming transformed American society |
| | Level II (Grade 5-6) |
| | 1. | Understands the impact of significant achievements and individuals of the late 19th century (e.g., the effects of major technological, transportation, and communication changes that occurred after 1870; careers of industrial and financial leaders of the late 19th century) A |
| | 2. | Understands the economic and social changes that occurred in late 19th century American cities (e.g., where industries and transportation expanded; geographic reasons for building factories, commercial centers, and transportation hubs; why different groups moved from the farms to the big cities and how they adjusted; living conditions in the growing cities) |
| | 3. | Understands social development and labor patterns in the late 19th century West (e.g., major technological and geographic influences that affected farming, mining, and ranching; conflicts among farmers, ranchers, and miners during settlement; life on the Great Plains and the idea of "frontier") |
| | 4. | Understands environmental issues of the late 19th century (e.g., environmental costs of pollution and depletion of natural resources; efforts of reformers to control pollution and promote concern for the natural environment) |
| | Level III (Grade 7-8) |
| | 1. | Understands influences on business and industry in the 19th century (e.g., how business leaders attempted to limit competition and maximize profits, the role of the government in promoting business, the concept of the "American Dream") |
| | 2. | Understands responses to the challenges of rapid urbanization in the late 19th century (e.g., how urban political machines gained power; the response of urban leaders, such as architects and philanthropists) |
| | 3. | Understands influences on the development of the American West (e.g., cross-cultural encounters and conflicts among different racial and ethnic groups; the daily life of women on the western frontier; disputes between farmers, ranchers, and miners over water rights and open ranges) |
| | 4. | Understands differences in commercial farming in various regions of the United States (e.g., crop production, farm labor, financing, and transportation in the Northeast, South, Great Plains, West; the significance of farm organizations) |
| | 5. | Understands various influences on the scenic and urban environment (e.g., how rapid industrialization, extractive mining techniques, and the "gridiron pattern" of urban growth influenced the city and countryside; environmentalism and the conservation movement in the late 19th century) |
| | Level IV (Grade 9-12) |
| | 1. | Understands the development of business in the late 19th century (e.g., types of business organizations that affected the economy; the impact of industrialization on availability of consumer goods, living standards, and redistribution of wealth; how new industries gained dominance in their field; the changing nature of business enterprise) |
| | 2. | Understands issues associated with urban growth in the late 19th century (e.g., how city residents dealt with urban problems; demographic, economic, and spatial expansion of cities; how urban bosses won the support of immigrants) |
| | 3. | Understands influences on economic conditions in various regions of the country (e.g., effects of the federal government's land, water and Indian policy; the extension of railroad lines, increased agricultural productivity and improved transportation facilities on commodity prices; grievances and solutions of farm organizations; the crop lien system in the South, transportation and storage costs for farmers, and the price of staples) |
| | 4. | Understands the factors leading to the conservation movement of the late 19th century (e.g., how emphasis on staple crop production, strip mining, lumbering, ranching, and destruction of western buffalo herds led to massive environmental damage) |
| | 5. | Understands how rapid increase in population and industrial growth in urban areas influenced the environment (e.g., inefficient urban garbage collection and sewage disposal, how city leaders and residents coped with environmental problems in the city) |
| | 6. | Understands the role of class, race, gender, and religion in western communities in the late 19th century (e.g., hardships faced by settlers, how gender and racial roles were defined, the role of religion in stabilizing communities) |
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A = Assessment items available |
