Alabama Social Studies SS24.WH.1

SS24.WH.1 is a cluster heading. These are the individual standards under it.

• SS24.WH.1a

  Compare and contrast the emerging ideas of Adam Smith, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Locke, Mary Wollstonecraft, Montesquieu, and Voltaire.

• SS24.WH.1b

  Summarize the influence of the Enlightenment on the American Revolution.

01

What Students Need to Do

Students compare six thinkers' ideas about rights, government, religion, women's education, and trade. They explain how these ideas challenged old power structures in Europe and the Americas, especially during the American Revolution.

02

What Mastery Looks Like

Students link Locke to natural rights, Rousseau to rule by the people, and Montesquieu to separated powers. They link Voltaire to religious tolerance, Wollstonecraft to women's education, and Smith to freer markets. They connect rights and consent in the Declaration of Independence to Locke's ideas and explain how similar ideas challenged monarchy in France.

03

Common Misconceptions

Students may assume all six thinkers supported the same kind of equality or that the Declaration granted women the rights Wollstonecraft sought. They may confuse Locke's consent of the governed with Montesquieu's separation of powers, or think Smith argued for no government at all.

04

How to Assess It

Exit ticket: The Declaration says people have “unalienable Rights” and may change a government that harms them. Name the thinker behind this claim and explain the link.

1. 01

   Give pairs six thinker cards and six idea cards; have them match each pair, then sort the ideas by who gained power.

2. 02

   Ask: If Wollstonecraft read the Declaration of Independence, which promise might she question, and why? Have students write two sentences.

3. 03

   Play a six-round clue game: read one belief aloud, and have teams hold up the matching thinker's name card.

4. 04

   Post your school's student council election rules; students circle who may vote and compare those limits with Rousseau's rule by the people.

• SS24.8.18

  Summarize the main ideas of the Enlightenment and describe their emergence in European society.

• SS24.WH.2a

  Explain how the American Revolution influenced the French Revolution.

• SS24.WH.5a

  Evaluate the influence of the Revolutions of 1848 on European politics and society.