Events, people and ideas of the past, and how they connect across time.
8.1 History: Understand the traditional reference points in United States history through 1877
8.1A Identify the major eras of United States history through 1877, including the colonization era, the revolution era, the Constitution's creation and ratification, the early republic era, the Age of Jackson, expansion to the west, reform movements, the sectionalism era, the Civil War, and Reconstruction; then describe their causes and effects
8.1B Explain the significance of 1607 (Jamestown founded), 1620 (Pilgrims arrive and Mayflower Compact signed), 1776 (Declaration of Independence adopted), 1787 (United States Constitution written), the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, and the Civil War years 1861-1865
8.2 History: Understand what caused the eras of exploration and colonization
8.2A Identify why England, Spain, and France explored and colonized North America
8.2B Compare the religious, social, political, and economic reasons for founding the thirteen English colonies
8.3 History: Understand how representative government got its start in the United States
8.3A Explain why representative government and institutions grew during the colonial period
8.3B Analyze how the Virginia House of Burgesses, the Mayflower Compact, and the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut shaped the growth of representative government
8.3C Describe how religion and virtue helped representative government grow in the American colonies
8.4 History: Understand the major political and economic issues surrounding the revolutionary era and the era of the Constitution
8.4A Analyze what caused the American Revolution, including British economic policies after the French and Indian War, no representation in Parliament, mercantilism, the Stamp Act, the Intolerable Acts, and the Proclamation of 1763
8.4B Explain the roles of significant individuals in the American Revolution, including George Washington, Thomas Paine, the Marquis de Lafayette, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, King George III, Crispus Attucks, Benjamin Franklin, James Armistead, Mercy Otis Warren, Samuel Adams, Wentworth Cheswell, John Adams, and Abigail Adams
8.4C Explain the issues around key moments of the American Revolution, among them the signing of the Treaty of Paris of 1783, the winter at Valley Forge, the battles of Yorktown, Saratoga, and Lexington and Concord, and the decision to declare independence
8.4D Analyze the issues debated at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, among them the Three-Fifths Compromise and the Great Compromise
8.5 History: Understand the challenges the government and its leaders faced during the Age of Jackson and the young republic
8.5A Describe the main domestic problems that leaders of the new republic confronted, including setting up the court system, building a stable economic system, and keeping the nation secure
8.5B Explain what the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 caused
8.5C Summarize the arguments over protective tariffs, taxes, and the banking system
8.5D Explain how American political parties began and developed
8.5E Explain what caused the War of 1812, its key events, and its effects
8.5F Identify the foreign policies of the presidents from Washington to Monroe and explain how the Monroe Doctrine and Washington's Farewell Address had an effect
8.5G Explain the effects of Andrew Jackson's election, including an expanded right to vote
8.5H Analyze why the Cherokee were removed and resettled in the Jacksonian era, among them the Trail of Tears, Worcester v. Georgia, and the Indian Removal Act
8.6 History: Understand westward expansion and how it affected the nation's political, economic, and social development
8.6A Explain how the Northwest Ordinance set out the principles and procedures that guided orderly growth of the nation
8.6B Analyze the nation's westward growth, including Manifest Destiny and the Louisiana Purchase
8.6C Explain what caused the U.S.-Mexican War and what it led to, including its effect on the nation
8.7 History: Understand how social, political, and economic factors fueled growing sectionalism and the Civil War
8.7A Analyze how tariff policies affected the different regions of the country in the years leading to the Civil War
8.7B Compare how social, economic, and political factors affected enslaved people and free Blacks
8.7C Analyze how the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 affected slavery, free Blacks, and abolitionists
8.7D Analyze how slavery affected the various regions of the country
8.7E Identify the terms of, and compare the results of, conflicts and compromises in Congress before the Civil War, including John Quincy Adams's role
8.8 History: Understand the events, people, and issues of the Civil War
8.8A Explain the roles of significant individuals in the Civil War, including Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, and Jefferson Davis, and heroes such as Philip Bazaar and William Carney, recipients of the Medal of Honor from Congress
8.8B Explain how the expansion of slavery played a central role in bringing about the Civil War, sectionalism, and disputes over states' rights
8.8C Explain key moments in the Civil War, among them the assassination of Abraham Lincoln; the surrender of Lee at Appomattox Court House; the Emancipation Proclamation; the battles of Vicksburg, Gettysburg, and Antietam; and the firing on Fort Sumter
8.8D Analyze what Abraham Lincoln said about government, union, equality, and liberty in the Gettysburg Address plus the first and second inaugural addresses he gave, and contrast it with what Jefferson Davis expressed in his inaugural address
8.9 History: Understand how Reconstruction affected the nation's political, economic, and social life
8.9A Evaluate the reform programs passed by state governments that were reconstructed and by the Radical Reconstruction Congress
8.9B Explain the effects of Southern African Americans winning office, for example Hiram Rhodes Revels
8.9C Explain the social, economic, and political problems of the Reconstruction period and evaluate how they affected different groups
Geography and Place
Maps, places and regions, and how people and environments shape each other.
8.10 Geography: Understand where the nation's regions and places are and what they are like, past and present
8.10A Locate the places and regions tied directly to the main eras and turning points of the United States in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries
8.10B Compare the regions and places of the country by physical and human characteristics
8.10C Analyze how physical and human geographic factors, for example communication, transportation, waterways, landforms, and weather, shaped major events in the history of the United States
8.11 Geography: Understand North America's physical characteristics and how people adapted to and changed the environment through the middle of the nineteenth century
8.11A Analyze how the physical features of the environment shaped where people lived, how settlements formed, and what economic activities developed in the United States
8.11B Describe the benefits and drawbacks of the changes people have made to the physical environment of the nation
Economics and Personal Finance
How people earn, spend, save and trade, and how economies work.
8.12 Economics: Understand why different parts of the country took on distinct patterns of economic activity until 1877
8.12A Identify how regions of the United States differ economically
8.12B Explain why the plantation system developed and the reasons for the spread of slavery and for the transatlantic slave trade
8.12C Analyze what caused economic differences between parts of the country at chosen points in time and what resulted
8.13 Economics: Understand how economic forces produced the Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century
8.13A Analyze how the War of 1812 affected the economy
8.13B Identify the economic factors behind fast industrialization and urbanization
8.14 Economics: Understand where the free enterprise system of the United States came from and how it developed
8.14A Explain why the new nation developed a free enterprise economic system, including property rights, taxation, and minimal government regulation
8.14B Describe the features and advantages of the United States free enterprise system through 1877
Government and Civics
How governments are organized, how laws are made, and the principles behind them.
8.15 Government: Understand the beliefs and principles of Americans expressed in the United States Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and other key historic documents
8.15A Identify how ideas in historic documents, among them the Federalist Papers, the Mayflower Compact, the English Bill of Rights, and the Magna Carta, influenced the United States system of government
8.15B Summarize the Articles of Confederation's strengths and weaknesses
8.15C Identify the colonists' complaints that the Declaration of Independence lists and explain how the Bill of Rights and the Constitution responded to them
8.15D Analyze how the Constitution of the United States reflects individual rights, popular sovereignty, separation of powers, federalism, checks and balances, republicanism, and limited government
8.15E Explain how individuals such as John Locke, Charles de Montesquieu, and Thomas Hooker helped self-government develop in colonial America
8.16 Government: Understand why the Constitution of the United States gets changed and how amendments have affected American society
8.16A Summarize why the Constitution of the United States is amended
8.16B Describe the effects of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments
8.17 Government: Understand how the powers of national and state governments shift within a federal system
8.17A Analyze what the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists argued, including positions held by George Mason, James Madison, Patrick Henry, and Alexander Hamilton, and explain how their debates model respectful public discussion
8.17B Explain constitutional issues that arose around states' rights, including the Civil War and the Nullification Crisis
8.18 Government: Understand the effects of landmark Supreme Court cases
8.18A Identify where judicial review came from
8.18B Summarize what was at stake, how it was decided, and why it mattered in landmark Supreme Court cases, including Gibbons v. Ogden, McCulloch v. Maryland, and Marbury v. Madison
8.18C Evaluate how the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford affected life in the United States
Citizenship and Civic Life
The rights and responsibilities of citizens and how people take part in their communities.
8.19 Citizenship: Understand the rights and responsibilities of United States citizens
8.19A Define unalienable rights and give examples of them
8.19B Summarize the rights the Bill of Rights guarantees
8.19C Name examples of responsible citizenship, including voting, serving on juries, staying informed about public issues, and obeying rules and laws
8.20 Citizenship: Understand why voluntary participation by individuals in the democratic process matters
8.20A Evaluate how the Founding Fathers contributed as models of civic virtue
8.20B Analyze why, and with what effect, certain acts of civil disobedience in United States history took place, for example Henry David Thoreau's decision not to pay a tax and the Boston Tea Party
8.21 Citizenship: Understand why voicing different viewpoints matters in a constitutional republic
8.21A Identify the differing viewpoints interest groups and political parties held on key historical issues
8.21B Describe why freedom of speech and of the press matters in a constitutional republic
8.21C Summarize historical events where compromise produced a resolution, for example the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Compromise of 1850, and the Missouri Compromise
8.22 Citizenship: Understand why effective leadership matters in a constitutional republic
8.22A Analyze the leadership qualities of United States leaders, elected and appointed, for example Abraham Lincoln, John Marshall, and George Washington
8.22B Describe what important military, social, and political figures in United States history contributed, for example Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, John Paul Jones, and Frederick Douglass
Culture and Society
The beliefs, customs and traditions of different groups and how cultures change and interact.
8.23 Culture: Understand how people from many groups, among them religious, ethnic, and racial groups, related to each other in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries
8.23A Identify which racial, ethnic, and religious groups came to settle in the nation, and explain why they immigrated
8.23B Explain how urbanization added to conflicts arising from differences in political beliefs, social class, and religion
8.23C Identify how conflicts between groups of different religious, racial, and ethnic backgrounds were addressed
8.23D Analyze what people from different religious, ethnic, and racial groups contributed to the nation's identity
8.23E Identify what women contributed to American society politically, socially, and economically
8.24 Culture: Understand the leading reform movements of the nineteenth century
8.24A Describe and evaluate how the abolition movement developed over time, including activities that drew attention to the moral wrongs of slavery
8.24B Evaluate the effects of reform movements, including care of the disabled, the labor reform movement, prison reform, the women's rights movement, temperance, and educational reform
8.25 Culture: Understand how religion has affected the American way of life
8.25A Trace how religious freedom developed in the United States
8.25B Describe how religion influenced social movements, including the effects of the Great Awakenings, both the first and the second
8.25C Analyze how the freedom of religion guaranteed by the First Amendment has affected the American way of life
8.26 Culture: Understand how the arts relate to the times in which they were created
8.26A Identify literature, music, and art from America that mirror society in various eras, for example the Hudson River School artists, transcendental literature, and the song Battle Hymn of the Republic
8.26B Analyze how the arts relate to continuity and change in how Americans live
Science, Technology, and Society
How inventions and scientific advances have changed the way people live and work.
8.27 Science, technology, and society: Understand how science and technology affected the economic development of the nation
8.27A Explain the effects of scientific and technological innovations, for example interchangeable parts, the telegraph, the cotton gin, and the steamboat
8.27B Analyze how technological innovations changed how goods were made and delivered, within the country and abroad
8.27C Analyze how technological innovations produced economic growth, for example the building of the Transcontinental Railroad and the rise of the factory system
8.28 Science, technology, and society: Understand how scientific discoveries and technological innovations have changed everyday life in the United States
8.28A Compare how scientific discoveries and technological innovations shaped daily life in different periods of United States history
8.28B Identify examples of industrialization's changes to life in the United States
Social Studies Skills
Finding, analyzing and communicating information from sources, and reasoning about evidence.
8.29 Social studies skills: Use critical thinking and sound research methods, drawing on a range of reliable sources including technology, to organize and apply information
8.29A Tell valid primary sources from secondary sources, find them, and use them, for example artifacts, interviews, biographies, and media and news services, to learn about the United States
8.29B Analyze information using absolute and relative chronology, along with placing items in sequence, sorting them into categories, tracing cause and effect, summarizing, finding the main idea, comparing and contrasting, generalizing, predicting, inferring, and drawing conclusions
8.29C Organize and interpret information from visuals (maps, timelines, charts, and graphs), databases, reports, and outlines
8.29D Identify the bias and viewpoints that an event's historical context created
8.29E Form a claim on a social studies topic, back it with evidence and reasoning, and share it visually, orally, or in writing
8.29F Judge the accuracy, bias, credibility, and validity of a range of historical and modern sources
8.29G Create visuals of historical information, for example charts, graphs, and thematic maps showing different features of the nation
8.29H Ask questions about the geographic distributions and patterns displayed on maps, graphs, and charts, and answer them
8.30 Social studies skills: Communicate in writing, speech, and visuals
8.30A Use social studies vocabulary correctly
8.30B Write effectively, citing sources properly and avoiding plagiarism
8.30C Prepare presentations of social studies information in written, spoken, and visual form
8.30D Use foundational language skills to take part in respectful discussion of social studies topics, including topics with several perspectives
8.31 Social studies skills: Solve problems and make decisions, both alone and in teams
8.31A Describe governmental and democratic processes, for example voting, due process, and caucuses, through simulations and models
8.31B Follow a problem-solving and decision-making process: define the problem, collect information, brainstorm options and weigh their advantages and disadvantages, choose and carry out a solution, and evaluate how well it worked
How many 8th Grade TEKS Social Studies Standards are there?
There are 99 8th Grade TEKS Social Studies Standards on this page, in 8 strands: History and Chronology, Geography and Place, Economics and Personal Finance, Government and Civics, Citizenship and Civic Life, Culture and Society, Science, Technology, and Society, and Social Studies Skills.
How do I write an assessment for an 8th Grade TEKS Social Studies standard?
Pick a standard on this page and choose Make a quiz or Make an exit ticket. AssessmentWiz opens the generator with the standard's code and text filled in, so every question targets that standard.
What does a code like 8.1A mean?
TEKS social studies codes read grade, knowledge and skills statement, student expectation. In 8.1A, the first number is the grade (K for kindergarten), the next number is the knowledge and skills statement, and the letter is the student expectation under it.