West Virginia State Standards for Social Studies: Grade 9

WV.SS.S.1. United States Studies to 1900: Citizenship: Students will describe, demonstrate and employ the civic dispositions of good citizenship (Civic Dispositions); develop a respect for symbols, ideas and concepts of the United States and describe the roles of significant individuals (Respect For People, Events, and Symbols); develop and employ the civic skills necessary for effective citizenship by using criteria to make judgments, arrive at and defend positions and evaluate the validity of the positions or data (Evaluation Skills); demonstrate and employ the participatory skills of interacting, monitoring and influencing that are essential for informed, effective and responsible citizenship, including participation in civic life to shape public policy (Participatory Skills); and explain and practice the responsibilities, privileges and rights of United States citizens (Civic Life).

SS.9.1.1. Students will compare and contrast various citizens' responses to controversial government actions.

SS.9.1.2. Students will explain the importance of the fundamental democratic values and principles of United States constitutional democracy upon individuals, communities and nations.

SS.9.1.3. Students will make informed decisions as to what government should and should not do.

SS.9.1.4. Students will explain how the interactions of citizens with one another monitor and influence the government.

SS.9.1.5. Students will evaluate ways conflicts can be resolved in a cooperative, peaceful manner that respects individual rights and promotes the common good.

SS.9.1.6. Students will evaluate, take and defend positions on issues in which fundamental democratic values and principles are in conflict (e.g., liberty and equality, individual rights and the common good, majority rule, minority rights).

SS.9.1.7. Students will define United States citizenship and evaluate the characteristics of citizenship.

SS.9.1.8. Students will evaluate, take and defend positions on issues regarding the criteria used for naturalization.

SS.9.1.9. Students will evaluate sources of information related to public policy issues.

SS.9.1.10. Students will examine projects of volunteer service.

SS.9.1.11. Students will assess and evaluate responsibilities, privileges and rights of United State citizens.

WV.SS.S.2. United States Studies to 1900: Civics/Government: Students will identify, examine and analyze the purposes and basic principles of the United States government (Purposes of Government); explain, evaluate and analyze the origins and meaning of the principles, ideals and core democratic values expressed in the foundational documents of the United States (Ideals of United States Democracy); identify, examine and explain the structure, function and responsibilities of governments and the allocation of power at the local, state and national levels (United States Government and Politics); and analyze how the world is organized politically and describe the role and relationship of the United States to other nations and to world affairs (United States Government and World Affairs).

SS.9.2.1. Students will identify and describe the fundamental democratic principles and values in core American documents and identify the discrepancies between the expressed ideals and realities.

SS.9.2.2. Students will identify fundamental American democratic principles using primary sources and significant political speeches and writings.

SS.9.2.3. Students will explain the purpose of the United States government and analyze how its powers are acquired, used and justified.

SS.9.2.4. Students will summarize documents and philosophies that are the basis for representative democracy in the United States (e.g., Greek, Roman, John Locke, Magna Carta, English Bill of Rights).

SS.9.2.5. Students will explain the purpose, organization and functions of the legislative, executive and judicial branches, and analyze the separation of powers, checks and balances.

SS.9.2.6. Students will explain the steps required to amend the United States Constitution.

SS.9.2.7. Students will analyze the presidential election process, the continued use of the Electoral College and the order of presidential succession.

SS.9.2.8. Students will explain federalism and give examples of shared, delegated, reserved and implied powers.

SS.9.2.9. Students will summarize the Constitution and the Amendments.

SS.9.2.10. Students will analyze the fundamental ideas found in the nation's core documents and relate them to the subsequent periods in United States history.

SS.9.2.11. Students will evaluate the degree to which public policies and citizen behaviors reflect or foster the stated ideals of a democratic republican form of government.

SS.9.2.12. Students will evaluate, take and defend positions about the functions of political leadership and the importance of public service in American democracy.

WV.SS.S.3. United States Studies to 1900: Economics: Students will analyze the role of economic choices in scarcity, supply and demand, resource allocation, decision making, voluntary exchange and trade-offs (Choices); research, critique and evaluate the roles of private and public institutions in the economy (Institutions); compare and contrast various economic systems and analyze their impact on individual citizens (Economic Systems); describe and demonstrate how the factors of production apply to the United States economic system (Factors of Production); analyze the elements of competition and how they impact the economy (Competition); and examine and evaluate the interdependence of global economies (Global Economies).

SS.9.3.1. Students will determine the relationship between the law of supply/demand and production/consumption.

SS.9.3.2. Students will examine the role of the United States government in banking, finance and monetary systems.

SS.9.3.3. Students will describe how the United States economic system changed from mercantilism to free enterprise capitalism.

SS.9.3.4. Students will differentiate between various types of taxes and relate them to taxation controversies in the United States during their era.

SS.9.3.5. Students will describe the cause and effect relationship between the labor movement and industrialization in the United States.

SS.9.3.6. Students will explain the concept of capitalism and compare the basic components to those of socialism and communism.

SS.9.3.7. Students will identify and analyze the role of market factors in the settlement of the United States and the development of the free enterprise system.

SS.9.3.8. Students will analyze the effects of foreign trade and tariff policies on the United States.

WV.SS.S.4. United States Studies to 1900: Geography: Students will interpret, use and construct maps, globes and other geographic tools to locate and derive information about personal directions, people, places and environments (The World in Spatial Terms); describe the physical and human characteristics of place and explain how the lives of people are rooted in places and regions (Places and Regions); describe and explain the physical processes that shape the earth's surface and create, sustain and modify the cultural and natural environment (Physical Systems); identify, explain and analyze how the earth is shaped by the movement of people and their activities (Human Systems); analyze the interaction of society with the environment (Environment and Society); and explain geographic perspective and the tools and techniques available for geographic study (Uses of Geography).

SS.9.4.1. Students will locate major meridians of longitude and parallels of latitude.

SS.9.4.2. Students will locate states and capitals, landforms and major events in United States history.

SS.9.4.3. Students will analyze the role of mental maps in the movement of people across the United States.

SS.9.4.4. Students will use the most appropriate maps and graphics in an atlas to answer specific questions about geographic issues (e.g., topography, transportation routes).

SS.9.4.5. Students will evaluate the effects of population growth on urbanization.

SS.9.4.6. Students will interpret how people express attachment to places and regions (e.g., by reference to essays, novels, poems, short stories, feature films, traditional musical compositions such as 'God Bless America' and 'America the Beautiful').

SS.9.4.7. Students will explain the impact of health and cultural considerations on the quality of life over different historical time periods.

SS.9.4.8. Students will analyze the relationship of Native American cultures to their physical environment.

SS.9.4.9. Students will describe geographic differences that contributed to economic development and regionalism prior to the Civil War.

SS.9.4.10. Students will identify and describe major landforms, cities, rivers and climate areas of the United States and compare to those throughout the world.

SS.9.4.11. Students will explain settlement, population patterns and the growth of service centers from reading and interpreting maps, graphs and charts.

SS.9.4.12. Students will analyze the impact of the environment, including the location of natural resources, on immigration and settlement patterns.

SS.9.4.13. Students will describe the socioeconomic changes that occur in regions that experience population change.

SS.9.4.14. Students will analyze and explain the human impact on the environment throughout the American experience.

SS.9.4.15. Students will analyze the ways in which physical and human features have influenced the evolution of significant historic events and movements.

WV.SS.S.5. United States Studies to 1900: History: Students will examine, analyze and explain historical relationships using chronology to sequence and organize events and people in history (Chronology); use the processes and resources of historical inquiry to gather, examine, compare, analyze and interpret historical data (Skills and Application); examine, analyze and synthesize historical knowledge of major events, individuals, cultures and the humanities in West Virginia, the United States and the world (Culture and Humanities); use historical knowledge to analyze local, state, national and global interdependence (Interpretation and Evaluation); and examine political institutions and theories that have developed and changed over time (Political Institutions).

SS.9.5.1. Students will describe life in America before the 17th century.

SS.9.5.2. Students will analyze and explain the contacts that occurred between Native Americans and European settlers during the age of discovery.

SS.9.5.3. Students will trace the roots and evaluate early explorations of America and describe and analyze the attraction of the New World to Europeans (religious, social, political, economic).

SS.9.5.4. Students will explain and sequence the effects of European empire building, and explain how it led to the American Revolution.

SS.9.5.5. Students will identify and explain problems between the British government and the American colonies (e.g., sovereignty of Parliament, taxation, trade restrictions).

SS.9.5.6. Students will describe and analyze the content of the Declaration of Independence and the factors which led to its creation.

SS.9.5.7. Students will analyze, explain and sequence major events and ideas of the Revolutionary War.

SS.9.5.8. Students will analyze and evaluate the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights and describe challenges faced by the new United States government.

SS.9.5.9. Students will identify the Constitution as a response to the political, economic and social conditions that existed after the American Revolution.

SS.9.5.10. Students will explain the major challenges faced by the framers of the Constitution, and describe the compromises reached at the Constitutional Convention.

SS.9.5.11. Students will evaluate the effects of nationalism on the constitutional, political, economic and foreign policy issues faced by the United States in its formative years.

SS.9.5.12. Students will identify and explain the impact of United States Supreme Court decisions (e.g., Marbury v. Madison, McCollough v. Maryland, Dred Scott, Plessy v. Ferguson).

SS.9.5.13. Students will describe and explain the growth and change in the United States from 1801 to 1861.

SS.9.5.14. Students will identify and explain the factors that led to exploration, settlement and expansion across the United States.

SS.9.5.15. Students will assess the effects of United States policies on Native Americans.

SS.9.5.16. Students will describe the institution of slavery and its effect on the political, economic and social development of the United States.

SS.9.5.17. Students will compare and contrast the political, economic and social conditions in the United States before and after the Civil War.

SS.9.5.18. Students will analyze and sequence the causes and effects of the major events of the Civil War and reconstruction.

SS.9.5.19. Students will describe the effects of technological change on the United States (e.g., agriculture, transportation, industry, labor, society).

SS.9.5.20. Students will analyze and describe the goals and actions of reformers and reform movements (e.g., women's rights, minorities, temperance, prisons, hospitals, schools).

SS.9.5.21. Students will describe the influence and impact of diverse cultures on United States society and their assimilation into American life.

SS.9.5.22. Students will explain the development of representative democracy in the United States.

SS.9.5.23. Students will explain major conflicts in terms of causes and consequences.

SS.9.5.24. Students will identify, analyze and interpret primary sources (e.g., artifacts, diaries, letters, photographs, art, documents, newspapers) and contemporary media (e.g., television, movies, computer information systems) to better understand events and life in the United States to 1900.

SS.9.5.25. Students will construct various timelines of American history from pre-Columbian times to 1900 highlighting landmark dates, events, technological changes, major political and military events and major historical figures.

SS.9.5.26. Students will develop skills in discussion, debate and persuasive writing by analyzing historical situations and events to 1900.