Alabama Social Studies SS24.US1.9b
The Standard
- SS24.US1.9
- Explain how economic and social divisions led to heightened sectionalism between the North and the South, examining their geographical and economic distinctions and the disparities between agrarian and industrial interests.
Describe the central ideas of Henry Clay’s American System, and explain how the implementation of these concepts contributed to the growth of the American economy and sectionalism.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students identify Clay’s three proposals: protective tariffs, a national bank, and federal support for roads and canals. They explain how each could help trade or industry, and why people in different regions disagreed about the costs and benefits.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can explain how the National Road helped western farmers reach markets and how a tariff helped northern manufacturers compete with imports. They can also explain why a southern cotton planter might oppose that tariff.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think every road and canal was paid for by the federal government. They may also assume each region agreed on every policy, or that a tariff helped all Americans equally.
How to Assess It
- On an exit ticket, ask: How could a protective tariff and the National Road each help the economy? Why might a southern cotton planter oppose the tariff?
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs policy cards for tariffs, a national bank, and roads; have them place each beside a regional group that might support or oppose it.
Ask: Why might a northern mill owner support a tariff while a southern cotton planter opposed it? Write one sentence from each viewpoint.
Run a three-round policy relay: read clues for a tariff, bank, or road; teams name the policy and explain one regional effect.
Show a local highway map and ask how a new road could change where farmers sell crops, as the National Road did.
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Related Standards
- SS24.4.13
Describe how slavery contributed to sectional disagreements, divisions over states’ rights, and economic disputes resulting in the Civil War.
- SS24.US1.11
Analyze how government policies and events related to slavery led to increased sectionalism throughout the United States prior to the Civil War.
- SS24.6.20a
Describe Alexander Hamilton’s economic plan for the new United States and explain how this became the foundation of capitalism in the country.
- SS24.US1.9c
Compare and contrast political and sectional views on economic policies, and explain how these views led to political conflict during the early to mid-nineteent...
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