Oklahoma Social Studies 8.C.1

Standard Cluster

Analyze the foundations of the United States of America by examining the causes, events, and ideologies which led to the American Revolution. Analyze the political and economic climate in the British colonies on the eve of the French and Indian War. Examine how the unofficial British policy of salutary neglect created an environment suited to self-determination in the colonies. Explain how the British policy of mercantilism sought to increase England’s prosperity through restrictive trade practices, such as the Navigation Acts. Examine how British colonial ideas and practices of self-government (e.g., town meetings and colonial legislatures) influenced American political thought. Describe the influence of the First Great Awakening on concepts related to individual equality and self-rule, including its role in promoting a revolutionary fervor. Examine the goals of the Albany Plan of Union and how it reflected colonial reactions to changing imperial economic policies. Compare the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy with early attempts to unite the colonies. Summarize the political and economic consequences of the French and Indian War. Explain Parliament’s rationale for levying new forms of taxation. Describe how the Proclamation of 1763 and its restriction on migration into American Indian sovereign territories fed discontent among the colonies. Examine growing tensions between the North American colonies and Britain. Analyze the primary cause of the American Revolution as it relates to violations of rights as Englishmen, exemplified in the lack of colonial representation in Parliament. Describe the effect on colonial economics and local self-government created by the series of trade restrictions and imposed taxes, such as the Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Townshend Acts, and Quartering Act. Explain the strategies utilized by colonists to oppose imperial policies, including the issuance of the Stamp Act Resolves and the use of propaganda, exemplified by the work of the Committees of Correspondence, the Sons of Liberty, and the boycott of British goods. Describe escalating tensions, exemplified by the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party. Explain continued attempts by Parliament to exert its authority through the Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts), prompting the formation of the First Continental Congress and its Declaration of Resolves, stating that colonists possess the same rights as Englishmen. Explain why the Battles of Lexington and Concord were perceived as major military victories, known as the “shot heard ‘round the world.” Analyze how the Second Continental Congress functioned as the de facto national government, uniting colonial response. Describe how the congress successfully formed the Continental Army, directed military strategy, established a national currency, and negotiated a foreign alliance with France. Explain the purpose and outcome of the Olive Branch Petition as the colonists’ final attempt to avoid war by affirming loyalty yet seeking the king’s intervention. Summarize the decision to appoint a committee to draft a declaration of independence. Analyze the significance of the Declaration of Independence as a founding statement of American thought on the constitutional republic and the purpose of government. Read and discuss the Declaration of Independence as drafted by Thomas Jefferson, influenced by the Committee of Five, and adopted July 4, 1776. Describe the intellectual origins of American political thought as proposed by such Enlightenment philosophers as John Locke and his theory on natural rights. Identify the purpose of government as the protection of unalienable individual rights and liberties. Explain how a social contract exists between citizens and their government, requiring the consent of the governed, as well as the right of citizens to alter their governments when abusive. Evaluate the diverse political, economic, and religious influences that shaped colonial arguments for independence. Identify specific economic and political grievances against British policies used by the colonists to justify independence.

Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies (2026)