Humphrey United States History

Unit 1: Foundations of the United States

Essential Questions
1. What motivated various European explorers to explore the Americas? How did the cultural
interactions that took place impact different populations of people (think: Europeans, Native
Americans, African slaves.)
Thesis: What motivated the European explorers to explore the Americas was the promise of the
unknown, new jobs, and a new start to life. The cultural interactions impacted different populations by
making Africans slaves, taking control of the Native Americans, and settling on new lands.
2. Identify the major regional characteristics of the British colonies. How are the different? How
are they similar? Be sure to include: political structure, social and ethnic populations, religion,
economic activities.
Thesis: The major regional characteristics of the British colonies are that they are all religious, all have
some sort of government, and their populations were all similar.
3. For what reasons did the American colonists eventually decide to declare their independence?
Thesis: The reasons American colonists eventually decided to declare independence are that they
wanted freedom of the people, no taxation without representation, and they wanted state over
government.
4. What were the different perspectives about the organization and power of the new government
that caused arguments among Americans? What were the major results of those arguments
that helped to shape our government today?
Thesis: The different perspectives about the new government were that the federal government should
have power over everything, and that the state should have more power than the government. The
major results were that a national bank was created, the constitution was created, and the declaration
of independence was created.

Humphrey United States History
Unit 1: Foundations of the United States
Enduring Understandings
CULTURE: Culture has shaped American life.
Unit 1 Examples:
COMPROMISE: Our nation was built on
compromise. (lack of)
Unit 1 Examples: