Texas TEKS 8.21.A

Social Studies8th GradeCitizenship

The Standard

identify different points of view of political parties and interest groups on important historical issues

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students identify what political parties and organized groups believed about major issues in early United States history. They compare positions and support each identification with evidence from a source.
What Mastery Looks Like: Given two historical sources, students can name each group’s position and cite words that show it. They can explain the main disagreement and distinguish a political party from an interest group.
Common Misconceptions: Students may treat every organized group as a political party. They may apply modern party beliefs to groups from the 1800s or describe an issue without explaining each side’s position.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: Compare Whig and Jacksonian Democratic views of the national bank. State each position and one reason the groups disagreed.

Lesson moves

Sort excerpt cards from Whigs, Democrats, abolitionists, and temperance groups into issue and viewpoint columns, then underline evidence for each choice.
Write a response to this prompt: Why might two groups living in the same period support opposite solutions to one problem?
Play Who Said It by matching anonymous historical statements to parties or interest groups and earning points for evidence-based explanations.
Compare a historical petition with a current nonpartisan advocacy webpage, noting how each states a position and asks people to act.

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