Subscribe

8th grade · Social Studies · Unit 5 of 10

Colonies to Independence

Key dates, colonies and the American Revolution

What your child practices

The key dates of US history to 1877 (1607, 1620, 1776, 1787, 1803 and 1861–1865), why Spain, France and England colonized, early representative government, the causes of the Revolution, and the people the Texas standards name, from Samuel Adams and Mercy Otis Warren to James Armistead and Bernardo de Gálvez.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 8.1(A); 8.1(B); 8.2(A); 8.2(B); 8.3(A); 8.3(B); 8.3(C); 8.4(A); 8.4(B); 8.4(C) · key dates and eras, reasons for colonization, representative government, and the causes, people and events of the Revolution

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Colonists practiced self-government early: the Mayflower Compact (1620) and the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639).
  2. After the Proclamation of 1763 and new taxes, fighting began at Lexington and Concord (1775); the Declaration came in 1776.
  3. The win at Saratoga (1777) brought French help; Washington became president in 1789. Many people, like Mercy Otis Warren, supported the cause in writing.

Example: Which happened first: the Mayflower Compact or the battles of Lexington and Concord? Mayflower Compact: 1620. Lexington and Concord: 1775. 1620 is earlier. Answer: the Mayflower Compact

Colonies to Independence in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 5 of 10 in 8th grade Social Studies, after Reconstruction and before The Constitution & the Courts.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Put these events in order, earliest first.

    • Virginia's House of Burgesses first meets
    • The British surrender at Yorktown
    • The American victory at Saratoga
    • The battles of Lexington and Concord

  2. Question 2

    Put these events in order, earliest first.

    • Jamestown is founded
    • The Bill of Rights is ratified
    • The Louisiana Purchase
    • The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut are adopted

  3. Question 3

    The Marquis de Lafayette was a French officer who…

    • wrote the Mayflower Compact
    • founded Georgia
    • served in George Washington's army
    • led the British army

  4. Question 4

    Which of these happened last?

    • The Proclamation of 1763 limits western settlement
    • The Bill of Rights is ratified
    • The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut are adopted
    • The Boston Tea Party

  5. Question 5

    Thomas Paine's Common Sense (1776) argued that the colonies should…

    • join France
    • end all trade
    • declare independence
    • obey the king

  6. Question 6

    James Armistead, an enslaved man, helped win at Yorktown as a…

    • printer
    • general
    • spy
    • ship captain

More 8th grade