Virginia SOL USI.5.e
The Standard
explaining the changing political and economic relationships between the colonies and Great Britain, including, but not limited to representative government and self-rule in the colonies
Virginia Standards of Learning for History and Social Science
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students trace how colonists practiced governing through elected assemblies, then resisted tighter British control after the French and Indian War. They connect taxes and trade limits to demands for representation and self-rule.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students can compare the powers of colonial assemblies and Parliament. They use examples such as the House of Burgesses, Navigation Acts, and Stamp Act to explain growing conflict.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think self-rule meant the colonies were already independent. They may assume all colonists could vote or hold office. Some think taxes were the only problem and overlook trade rules and limits on colonial lawmaking.
How to Assess It
- Ask students to complete this exit ticket: “How did British political and economic control change after 1763, and why did colonists object?” Require two examples.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs event cards for colonial assemblies, trade laws, and taxes, then have them arrange the cards from greater self-rule to greater British control.
Ask students to write: “Should Parliament tax colonists who did not elect its members?” Require one claim and two historical details.
Play a card-matching game in which students pair British actions, such as the Stamp Act, with colonial complaints and responses.
Compare a colonial assembly answering to Parliament with a student council answering to a school board, then list the limits of the comparison.
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The student will apply history and social science skills to explain the social, political, religious, economic, and geographic factors that shaped colonial Amer...
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identifying reasons for the settlement of the thirteen colonies
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explaining the principles and events that convinced the colonists to declare independence and go to war with Great Britain, as expressed in the Declaration of I...
- 2.8.b
explaining the relationships between the colonies and Great Britain; and
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