STAAR Grade 8 Social Studies

This table shows population changes in the United States during the mid-nineteenth century.

Urban Population in the United States, 1830–1860

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

According to the congressional inquiry, [Samuel] Swartwout [ran away] with $1,225,705.69 in public funds and fled to London. That translates to roughly $30 million in year 2011 dollars—a shocking sum by any standard.

President Andrew Jackson rewarded his [loyal] supporter, Samuel Swartwout, with two consecutive appointments as collector of customs at New York, where he served from 1829 through 1837.

—U.S. Customs and Border Protection, www.cbp.gov (accessed February 28, 2020)

To Our Oppressed Countrymen

We shall energetically [attack] the ramparts of Slavery and Prejudice, be they composed of church or state, and seek the destruction of every refuge of lies, under which tyranny may aim to conceal and protect itself.

A Sister Rescued from Slavery

There has just left our office, an amiable, kind, and intelligent looking young woman, about eighteen years of age, on her way from slavery. . . . On her right arm between her wrist and elbow, the initials of the name of her infernal master, is cut in large capitals. Oh! the wretch!

—The North Star, December 3, 1847

This list shows requirements that were written into certain laws in Southern states after the Reconstruction Era.

• must own property

• must pay poll taxes

• must pass literacy tests

This painting is by Albert Bierstadt, who is associated with the Hudson River School.

To former abolitionists and to the Radical Republicans in Congress who fashioned Reconstruction after the Civil War, the Fifteenth Amendment, enacted in 1870, appeared to signify the fulfillment of all promises to African Americans.

—“15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” Our Documents, www.ourdocuments.gov (accessed May 25, 2019)

This map shows part of the United States.

This excerpt is from a presidential address.

The American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European power.

—President James Monroe, Address to Congress, December 2, 1823

This table shows population data from the 1800s.

Total Population of Select States, 1810–1850

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

This excerpt describes a system of government used in Virginia during the 1600s.

​​​Membership in the Council and . . . in the Assembly . . . ​​was composed . . . both of members elected by the people and of members of the Council appointed by the authorities in England. . . .

At this first meeting of the General Assembly the Burgesses . . . and the members of the Council, with the governor, sat together as one body, in which each member had one vote, and questions were decided by the vote of the majority, the governor, however, having the power to veto any measure whatever.

—Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, 1619

This diagram shows a political idea that John Locke wrote about during the seventeenth century.

This excerpt describes an action taken by General George Washington in New York in 1776.

Shortly after fighting began, the British had effectively cornered Washington and 9,000 of his men. . . . Instead of surrendering, Washington made the decision that saved the Continental Army and the patriot cause—he evacuated the army and retreated. . . . He began the evacuation at night, leaving campfires burning, muffling wagon wheels, and forbidding soldiers from speaking. When the sun rose, a thick fog concealed the last leg of the retreat, and by 7 AM, the entire Continental Army had arrived safely.

—“The Role of Governors Island in the American Revolution,” National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior

This list describes an event from early U.S. history.

The Louisiana Purchase of 1803

• Bought from France for $15 million

• Consisted of 530 million acres of land

• Included the port city of New Orleans

This excerpt is from a state law enacted in the late 1700s.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place or ministry whatsoever . . . ; but that all men shall be free to [declare] . . . their opinions in matters of religion.

—Code of Virginia

This graph shows immigration to the United States in the mid-nineteenth century.

This excerpt is from the U.S. Constitution.

Representatives . . . shall be [distributed] among the several States . . . according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons . . . three fifths of all other Persons.

—U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 2

This excerpt is from a presidential speech given in 1863.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

—Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address

Provisions of English Bill of Rights, 1689

• allowed free speech and debate in Parliament

• prevented excessive fines and cruel punishments

• ended government taxation without consent of the people

This map provides information about U.S. boundaries in the 1840s.

This cartoon shows a popular economic belief in Europe during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

This excerpt is from an important document in U.S. history.

Religion, morality and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.

—Northwest Ordinance, 1787