The content, assignments, and assessments for United States History I are aligned to learning outcomes. A full list of course learning outcomes can be viewed here: United States History I Learning Outcomes.

1. Compare American civilizations before European contact and the events and motivations for European exploration to the Americas.
2. Discuss colliding cultures in the Americas, including the development of European colonies and the Columbian exchange.
3. Describe life in the British North American Colonies.
4. Examine rising tensions in the colonial world leading up to the American Revolution.
5. Describe the key events and outcomes of the American Revolutionary War.
6. Examine the setup of the early American Government, the features of the Articles of Confederation, and the concepts central to the creation of the U.S. Constitution.
7. Compare the viewpoints of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, relating their arguments to the rise of the first two-party systems and to affairs in early American politics.
8. Describe social and economic changes associated with the industrial revolution, including changes in transportation and urbanization.
9. Examine American politics in the 1820s and 1830s, including the development of the Whig Party and turmoil under Jackson’s presidency.
10. Trace the course of western territorial expansion, and explain its effects on foreign relations, Native American Indians, the Mexican-American War, and the development of sectionalism.
11. Compare and contrast changes in regional economic development and slavery, illustrating how these changes impacted different groups within American society.
12. Discuss the cultural, religious, and social changes during the antebellum period, and analyze their effects.
13. Evaluate how political compromises and acts led to the ideologies and tensions in the United States surrounding the election of 1860.
14. Describe the main social, economic, and military differences between the Union and Confederacy during the Civil War, illustrating the effects these differences had on the outcome.
15. Discuss competing Reconstruction plans, and analyze the successes, failures, and lasting effects of Reconstruction.