Unit 1: Encounters
Compelling Question: Does might make right?
- Is popular culture's portrayal of Native Americans as noble savages accurate? | Pre-Columbian Societies
- Bering Land Bridge
- Variation in Societies
- Maya
- Inca
- Aztec
- North America
- Does Columbus deserve his honored place in history? | European Exploration
- Causes of European Exploration
- Portuguese Exploration
- Spanish Exploration
- Columbus
- Treaty of Tordesillas
- Why didn't millions of Native Americans stop a few thousand European conquerors? | The Conquest
- Spanish Empire Overview
- Cortez and the Aztec
- Pizarro and the Inca
- Spanish in North America
- Spanish Impact on Native Americans
- Colonization impact in Spain
- French Colonies
- Caribbean Islands
- Was the Columbian Exchange a net benefit for humanity? | The Columbian Exchange
- Columbian Exchange Overview
- Foods
- Animals
- Diseases
- People
Unit 2: British America
Compelling Question: Why were the British colonies in America so different if they were all settled by people from the same country?
- Was Jamestown a good investment? | Jamestown
- English arrive late in America
- Spanish Armada
- Privateers
- Roanoke
- Joint-Stock Companies
- Jamestown and Tobacco
- Powhattan People
- House of Burgesses
- Was slavery an inevitable part of American history? | Slavery in the British Colonies
- Indentured Servants
- Slavery in Spanish/Portuguese Colonies
- Slave Trade
- Triangle Trade
- Middle Passage
- Chattle Slavery / Slave Codes / Resistance
- Chesapeake vs. Deep South
- Slavery and Social Status
- Slavery in the North
- Was the Massachusetts Bay Colony a city upon a hill? | Puritans & Pilgrims
- Puritans and Separatists
- Plymouth
- Native Americans / Thanksgiving
- Puritans / Covenant / City Upon a Hill
- Puritans Life
- New England Economy
- Was Winthrop's dream of a religiously pure society ever possible? | New England
- Dissent in New England
- Connecticut
- King Philip's War
- Native Americans (guns, beaver)
- Salem Witch Trials
- First Great Awakening
- Do colonial differences from the 1600s still matter today? | The Other Colonies
- New York
- Pennsylvania
- Ben Franklin
- Maryland
- Georgia
- Scotch-Irish and Germans
- Influence of the Colonial Groups
Unit 3: The Revolution
Compelling Question: What was the American Revolution?
- Who won the Seven Years War? | The Seven Years War
- New France
- Ohio River Valley
- Albany Congress
- Washington
- Fighting the War
- Treaty of Paris
- Proclamation of 1763
- How did the colonists stop being British and start being American? | Leading to the Revolution
- Enlightenment
- Zenger Trial
- Rebellion and Smuggling
- Taxes
- Patriot Groups
- Boston
- Shot Heard Round the World
- Why do governments have power? | Declaring Independence
- First Continental Congress
- Thomas Paine
- Second Continental Congress
- Declaration of Independence
- Hancock and Washington
- Can powerful nations maintain control over distant territory? | The War for Independence