Standards

The focus for social studies in grade eight is the history of South Carolina and the role that the state and its people have played in the development of the United States as a nation. Students learn about the state’s development during colonial times; the growth of the American ideal, which led to the break with England; and the rising controversy about slavery, which led to the Civil War. The continued study of South Carolina from Reconstruction to the present, including the struggle for social and economic justice waged by the people of South Carolina, further allows students to see the progress that the state has made and also to visualize the future challenges yet to be met and overcome

Standard 8-1: The student will demonstrate an understanding of the settlement of South Carolina and the United States by Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans.

8-1.1 Summarize the collective and individual aspects of the Native American culture of the Eastern Woodlands tribal group, including the Catawba, Cherokee, and Yemassee.

8-1.2 Compare the motives, activities, and accomplishments of the exploration of South Carolina and North America by the Spanish, French, and English.

8-1.3 Summarize the history of English settlement in New England, the mid-Atlantic region, and the South, with an emphasis on South Carolina as an example of a distinctly southern colony.

8-1.4 Explain the significance of enslaved and free Africans in the developing culture and economy of the South and South Carolina, including the growth of the slave trade and resulting population imbalance between African and European settlers; African contributions to agricultural development; and resistance to slavery, including the Stono Rebellion and subsequent laws to control slaves.

8-1.5 Explain how South Carolinians used their natural, human, and political resources uniquely to gain economic prosperity, including settlement by and trade with the people of Barbados, rice and indigo planting, and the practice of mercantilism.

8-1.6 Compare the development of representative government in South Carolina to representative government in the other colonial regions, including the proprietary regime, the period of royal government, and South Carolina’s Regulator Movement.

Standard 8-2: The student will demonstrate an understanding of the causes of the American Revolution and the beginnings of the new nation, with an emphasis on South Carolina’s role in the development of that nation.

8-2.1 Explain the political and economic consequences of the French and Indian War on the relationship of the South Carolina colonists with Native Americans and England.

8-2.2 Summarize the response of South Carolina to events leading to the American Revolution, including the Stamp Act, the Tea Acts, and the Sons of Liberty.

8-2.3 Explain the roles of South Carolinians in the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

8-2.4 Compare the perspectives of different groups of South Carolinians during the American Revolution, including Patriots, Tories/Loyalists, women, enslaved and free Africans, and Native Americans.

8-2.5 Summarize the role of South Carolinians in the course of the American Revolution, including the use of partisan warfare and the battles of Charleston, Camden, Cowpens, Kings Mountain and Eutaw Springs.

8-2.6 Explain the role of South Carolinians in the establishment of their new state government and the national government after the American Revolution.

Standard 8-3: The student will demonstrate an understanding of South Carolina’s role in the development of the new national government.

8-3.1 Explain the tensions between the Upcountry and the Lowcountry of South Carolina, including their economic struggles after the Revolutionary War, their disagreement over representation in the General Assembly, the location of the new capital, and the transformation of the state’s economy.

8-3.2 Explain the role of South Carolina and its leaders in the Constitutional Convention, including their support of the Three-Fifths Compromise and the Commerce Compromise as well as the division among South Carolinians over the ratification of the Constitution.

8-3.3 Explain the basic principles of government as established in the United States Constitution.

8-3.4 Analyze the position of South Carolina on the issues that divided the nation in the early 1800s, including the assumption of state debts, the creation of a national bank, the protective tariff and the role of the United States in the European conflict between France and England and in the War of 1812.

Standard 8-4: The student will demonstrate an understanding of the multiple events that led to the Civil War.

8-4.1 Explain the importance of agriculture in antebellum South Carolina, including the plantation system and the impact of the cotton gin on all social classes.

8-4.2 Analyze how sectionalism arose from racial tension, including the Denmark Vesey plot, slave codes and the growth of the abolitionist movement.

8-4.3 Analyze key issues that led to South Carolina’s secession from the Union, including the nullification controversy and John C. Calhoun, the extension of slavery and the compromises over westward expansion, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Dred Scott decision, and the election of 1860.

8-4.4 Evaluate the arguments of unionists, cooperationists, and secessionists on the issues of states’ rights and slavery and the ways that these arguments contributed to South Carolina’s secession.

8-4.5 Compare the military strategies of the North and the South during the Civil War and the fulfillment of these strategies in South Carolina and in the South as a whole, including the attack on Fort Sumter, the Union blockade of Charleston and other ports, the early capture of Port Royal, and the development of the Hunley submarine; the exploits of Robert Smalls; and General William T. Sherman’s march through the state.

8-4.6 Compare the differing impact of the Civil War on South Carolinians in each of the various social classes, including those groups defined by race, gender, and age.

Standard 8-5: The student will understand the impact of Reconstruction, Industrialization, and Progressivism on society and politics in South Carolina in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

8.5.1 Analyze the development of Reconstruction policy and its impact in South Carolina, including the presidential and the congressional reconstruction plans, the role of black codes, and the Freedmen’s Bureau.

8-5.2 Describe the economic impact of Reconstruction on South Carolinians in each of the various social classes.

8-5.3 Summarize the successes and failures of Reconstruction in South Carolina, including the creation of political, educational, and social opportunities for African Americans; the rise of discriminatory groups; and the withdrawal of federal protection.

8-5.4 Summarize the policies and actions of South Carolina’s political leadership in implementing discriminatory laws that established a system of racial segregation, intimidation, and violence.

8-5.5 Compare industrial development in South Carolina to industrialization in the rest of the United States, including the expansion of railroads, the development of the phosphate and textile industries, and immigration.

8-5.6 Compare the plight of farmers in South Carolina with that of farmers throughout the United States, including the problems of overproduction, natural disasters, and sharecropping and encompassing the roles of Ben Tillman, the Populists, and land-grant colleges.

8-5.7 Compare migration patterns of South Carolinians to such patterns throughout the United States, including the movement from rural to urban areas and the migration of African Americans from the South to the North, Midwest, and West.

8-5.8 Compare the Progressive movement in South Carolina with the national Progressive movement, including the impact on temperance; women’s suffrage; labor laws; and educational, agricultural, health, and governmental reform.

Standard 8-6: The student will demonstrate an understanding of the role of South Carolina in the nation in the early twentieth century.

8-6.1 Explain the reasons for United States involvement in World War I and the war’s impact on South Carolina and the nation as a whole, including the building of new military bases and the economic impact of emigration to industrial jobs in the North.

8-6.2 Explain the causes and effects of changes in South Carolina and the nation as a whole in the 1920s, including Prohibition, the destruction caused by the boll weevil, the rise of mass media, improvements in daily life, increases in tourism and recreation, the revival of the Ku Klux Klan, and the contributions of South Carolinians to the Harlem Renaissance and the Southern Literary Renaissance.

8-6.3 Explain the reasons for depressed conditions in the textile mills and on farms in South Carolina and other regions of the United States in the 1920s and the impact of these conditions on the coming of the Great Depression.

8-6.4 Explain the effects of the Great Depression and the lasting impact of the New Deal on people and programs in South Carolina, including James F. Byrnes and Mary McLeod Bethune, the Rural Electrification Act, the general textile strike of 1934, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Works Progress Administration, the Public Works Administration, the Social Security Act, and the Santee Cooper electricity project.

8-6.5 Compare the ramifications of World War II on South Carolina and the United States as a whole, including the training of the Doolittle Raiders and the Tuskegee Airmen, the building of additional military bases, the rationing and bond drives, and the return of economic prosperity.

Standard 8-7: The student will demonstrate an understanding of the impact on South Carolina of significant events of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

8-7.1 Compare the social and economic impact of World War II and the Cold War on South Carolina with its impact on the rest of the United States, including the increases in the birth rate; the emergence of the consumer culture; the expanding suburbanization, highway construction, tourism and economic development; the continuing growth of military bases and nuclear power facilities; and the increases in educational opportunities.

8-7.2 Analyze the movement for civil rights in South Carolina, including the impact of the landmark court cases Elmore v. Rice and Briggs v. Elliot; civil rights leaders Septima Poinsette Clark, Modjeska Monteith Simkins, and Matthew J. Perry; the South Carolina school equalization effort and other resistance to school integration; peaceful efforts to integrate beginning with colleges and demonstrations in South Carolina such as the Friendship Nine and the Orangeburg Massacre.

8-7.3 Explain changing politics in South Carolina, including the role of Strom Thurmond, the shift from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party, the increasing political participation of African Americans and women, and the passage of the Education Improvement Act (EIA).

8-7.4 Summarize key economic issues in present-day South Carolina, including the decline of the textile industry, the state’s continuing right-to-work status, the changes in agricultural emphasis, the growing globalization and foreign investment, the influx of immigrants and migrants into the Sunbelt, the increased protection of the environment, the expanding number of cultural offerings, and the changes in tax policy.

You can access the link to the standards here.