What does a student learn in StateIdaho,GradeGrade 11,SubjectSocial Studies?

Supply, demand, scarcity, and incentives shape every economic choice. Students use these concepts to explain why prices rise, why trade-offs exist, and what drives people to act the way they do with money and resources.

Supply and demand sets prices. Students learn how the choices of millions of buyers and sellers, all acting independently, push prices up or down in any market.

Producers make more of what pays well and less of what doesn't. Students learn how prices and rewards shape the decisions behind what gets made, sold, and who gets it.

Students identify the basic inputs an economy uses to make goods and services: land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship. Think of these as the raw materials, workers, tools, and decision-makers behind every product a business creates.

The business cycle describes the economy's pattern of growth and slowdown. Students learn to identify each phase (expansion, peak, recession, recovery) and explain how each one affects jobs, prices, and business decisions.

Students study how different societies decide who owns businesses, who sets prices, and how goods get distributed. They compare market economies, command economies, and mixed systems to understand the tradeoffs each one makes.

Federal laws and government decisions have shaped what land, rights, and self-governance American Indian tribes have had. Students examine what those policies were meant to do and what actually happened as a result.

Students examine a stretch of U.S. history when the federal government broke up tribal land into individual plots and pushed American Indians to abandon their languages, customs, and ways of life. The goal was assimilation; the damage lasted generations.

Students examine the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 and the federal shift away from forced assimilation. They look at how tribes regained limited self-governance and what that change meant in practice for tribal lands and leadership.

Students examine a period when the federal government ended its formal recognition of many tribes and pushed Native people to move to cities, exploring what was intended, what was lost, and what resistance followed.

Starting in 1968, federal policy shifted to let tribal nations govern themselves rather than forcing assimilation. Students examine what that change meant in practice, including which powers tribes gained and where tensions with federal authority remained.

Students trace how ideas from Greek democracy, Roman government, and English law shaped the thinking of America's founders. Philosophers like Locke and Montesquieu gave the founders arguments about rights and limited power that show up directly in the Constitution.

Students read the Declaration of Independence and study the specific complaints the colonists had against the British government before the Revolution.

Students examine America's first attempt at a national government and explain what it got right and where it fell apart, such as having no power to tax or enforce laws.

Students examine the debates that shaped the U.S. Constitution, including how delegates settled the dispute over state representation and why some Americans pushed back hard before agreeing to ratify it.

Students read the Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers and weigh the arguments on each side. The focus is on what Madison argued in Essays 10 and 51 about factions, power, and why a strong central government could still protect individual rights.

Students read the Preamble and explain what it says the government is supposed to do: keep order, defend the country, and protect people's rights. It's the opening promise of the Constitution.

The Constitution sets boundaries on what the government can and cannot do. Students learn how those limits, built into the document itself, protect individual rights and keep any one branch from gaining too much power.

The Constitution splits power across three branches of government so no single branch can act alone. Congress passes laws, the President can veto them, and courts can strike them down.

Popular sovereignty is the idea that government power comes from the people. Students learn how voting, elections, and civic participation are built into the Constitution as the main ways citizens keep control of their government.

The Constitution applies to everyone, including government officials. Students learn why no person or institution is above the law and how courts enforce that principle.

Federalism is the system that splits power between the national government and state governments. Students learn which decisions belong to Washington and which belong to each state, and why the Constitution set it up that way.

The Constitution splits government authority across three branches so no single branch controls everything. Students explain how Congress makes laws, the President carries them out, and courts decide whether they hold up.

Judicial review is the power courts use to strike down laws that conflict with the Constitution. Students learn how this check keeps Congress and the President from passing or enforcing laws that cross constitutional limits.

Majority rule means the larger group's vote decides an outcome, but the Constitution also protects the rights of those who voted the other way. Students learn how American government balances both.

Students learn how the Constitution is organized into articles and amendments, and what steps Congress and the states must take to change it.

The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments to the Constitution. Students examine what those amendments actually forbid the government from doing, such as silencing speech or conducting searches without cause, and what rights they protect for individuals.

Students learn what democracy and republic actually mean, then work out how the two ideas connect. The U.S. is both: citizens vote, but elected representatives make most of the decisions.

Students examine the core beliefs that most Americans share: personal freedom, equal treatment, individual responsibility, and limited government. These ideas show up in debates over laws, rights, and how much government should step into daily life.

Students read the Declaration of Independence and judge whether its arguments for breaking from Britain hold up. They also examine what the document says an ideal government should look like and do.

Progressivism was a reform movement that pushed government to fix real problems: unsafe food, dangerous factories, corrupt politicians, and poverty in city neighborhoods. Students examine which changes it brought about and which problems it left unsolved.

Students examine how workers in the early 1900s faced dangerous conditions, low wages, and long hours, and how Progressive Era reforms pushed back against those abuses through new labor laws and regulations.

Students examine how Progressive Era reformers pushed to end child labor in factories and mines, leading to new laws that set age limits and restricted working hours for children.

The spoils system meant government jobs went to political allies, not qualified workers. Students examine how Progressive Era reformers pushed back against that practice and helped replace it with hiring based on merit and skill.

Machine politics describes how powerful political bosses in the early 1900s traded city jobs, favors, and contracts for votes. Progressives fought to break up these networks and make local government more accountable to ordinary citizens.

Students examine how muckraking journalists and reform-minded politicians exposed bribery and backroom deals in government and big business, and how those investigations pushed new laws into place.

Students examine why immigration sparked political and social conflict in the early 1900s, including debates over who should be allowed into the country and what it meant to be American.

Students study how American women won the right to vote in 1920, tracing the decades of organizing, protests, and political fights that led Congress to pass the 19th Amendment.

Students examine how the temperance movement pushed the federal government to ban alcohol sales nationwide, and what happened to communities, crime, and policy when that ban took effect in 1920.

Students examine how Progressive Era reforms affected Black Americans, including whether civil rights improved, stayed the same, or got worse during a period when reformers focused on other causes.

Students study the eugenics movement, a widely accepted but deeply harmful idea in the early 1900s that the government should control who could have children in order to "improve" the population. They examine how this pseudoscience shaped laws and policies.

Students examine why the U.S. started taking control of territories overseas in the late 1800s and early 1900s. They weigh the mix of motives behind that push: profit, political power, racial attitudes, and a sense of moral duty.

Students examine why the U.S. went to war with Spain in 1898 and what happened after: American control over Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Hawaii, and new U.S. influence across Latin America and Asia.

Wars, factory booms, and new technology all push the economy up or down. Students study how those events speed up growth, trigger recessions, or change how many people have jobs.

Students learn how the government and the Federal Reserve use taxes, spending, and interest rates to slow down or speed up the economy. These are the main tools policymakers reach for during a recession or a period of rising prices.

Students study how the federal government uses taxes and spending to influence the economy, and what happens when the government spends more than it collects. This includes looking at how borrowing and debt affect everyday economic conditions.

Students examine how countries depend on each other to trade goods, and how they compete for jobs, markets, and resources. They look at how decisions made in one country ripple through economies elsewhere.

Students learn why countries buy goods from each other and sell goods abroad. They use basic economic ideas to explain how imports and exports shape a country's economy and its relationships with trading partners.

Entrepreneurship means spotting an opportunity and building a business around it. Students learn why countries and companies focus on what they do best, and how trading with others makes everyone more productive.

Financial markets and institutions (banks, stock exchanges, insurance companies) move money from savers to borrowers and businesses. Students learn how these systems shape hiring, investment, and prices across the whole economy.

Students practice setting a savings or spending goal, then weigh the real trade-offs before deciding where money goes. The focus is on making a deliberate choice, not just knowing the right answer.

Students learn how to open a checking or savings account, write a check, read a bank statement, and manage an account online.

Students compare savings accounts, stocks, and bonds to figure out which investments fit a personal financial plan. The focus is on how compound interest quietly grows money over time, even when nothing else changes.

Students compare types of credit, such as credit cards, personal loans, and auto loans, to understand what borrowing actually costs. They look at interest rates, fees, and repayment terms before deciding which option fits a given situation.

Students practice comparing prices, loan terms, and total costs before making big spending decisions, from buying a car to choosing a college. The goal is to find the best deal, not just the lowest sticker price.

Students research what raises or lowers a credit score, such as payment history and how much debt a person carries, then explain their findings in a written or oral report.

Insurance is a financial safety net. Students learn how life, health, home, and auto coverage limit the money a person loses when something goes wrong, from a car crash to a medical bill to a house fire.

Students study how federal, state, and local taxes work and what each one takes from a paycheck. The goal is to see how those taxes fund schools, roads, and other public services everyone uses.

Sales tax raises the price of what students buy; property tax affects what it costs to own a home. This standard explains how both taxes shape spending decisions and fund public services like schools and roads.

Students practice building a real monthly budget by balancing take-home pay against rent, groceries, taxes, and savings goals. Fixed costs stay the same each month; variable costs shift, and the budget has to account for both.

Students learn to compare prices, read contracts, and spot misleading deals. The goal is to make smarter choices with real money in everyday situations.

Students identify what citizens and residents are expected to do, from paying taxes and obeying the law to voting and jury duty, and explain why those responsibilities keep communities and the country functioning.

Students study the core beliefs of liberals, conservatives, libertarians, and other political groups, then explain where those beliefs overlap and where they split.

Students examine what federal and state governments actually did during the Civil Rights Movement. That includes which laws Congress passed, how presidents responded, and where state governments stood in the way or pushed change forward.

Political parties recruit candidates, shape policy, and organize how government runs. Students study how parties have changed over time and how primaries, caucuses, and general elections each serve a different role in deciding who ends up on the ballot and who wins office.

Students examine how news outlets and social media shape what people think matters and why. That includes learning to spot when information is accurate and when it is misleading.

Citizens have real tools for shaping government: voting, signing petitions, joining protests, running for office, and lobbying elected officials. Students learn what each method looks like in practice and when people use them.

Students learn who qualifies as a natural-born U.S. citizen and how immigrants become citizens through naturalization, including what the civics and history exam covers.

Dual citizenship lets American Indians hold citizenship in both their tribal nation and the United States. Students trace how that came to be, from early treaties through the 1924 Indian Citizenship Act, and what it means legally and politically today.

Students learn who holds power in government and how to actually reach them. That means knowing the difference between an elected senator and an appointed judge, and understanding who to contact at the federal, state, and local level when something matters.

Civil rights protect people from discrimination by others, especially the government. Civil liberties protect personal freedoms like speech and religion from government interference. Students learn how each shows up in real decisions, laws, and everyday life.

Students read actual Supreme Court rulings to figure out where First Amendment freedoms end and government limits begin. Cases cover protest, religion in public schools, obscenity, and press freedom.

Students study landmark Supreme Court cases to see how the Bill of Rights protects people accused of crimes. Cases like Miranda v. Arizona and Gideon v. Wainwright show how the Court has decided what "fair treatment" actually means in practice.

Students read landmark Supreme Court rulings and judge whether the Court got it right. Cases include Brown v. Board of Education, Loving v. Virginia, and Obergefell v. Hodges, all turning on what the 14th Amendment's equal protection and due process clauses actually require.

Students trace what pushed Europe into war in 1914, then explain why the U.S. stayed out as long as it did and what finally pulled the country in.

Students examine how the U.S. government rallied public support during World War I by studying war bond drives, censorship laws, and propaganda posters. They weigh what those efforts cost ordinary Americans in everyday rights and freedoms.

New weapons like poison gas, machine guns, and tanks forced armies to dig miles of trenches and rethink how battles were fought. Students explain how each technology changed the conditions soldiers faced on the Western Front.

Students read the Treaty of Versailles and weigh what Allied leaders were trying to achieve against what the treaty actually caused. The focus is on how its terms shaped Germany's collapse and set the stage for the next world war.

The 1920s brought rapid change: new industries created wealth, cities grew, and popular culture shifted in ways that reshaped how Americans worked and lived. Students explain what drove those changes and what they left behind.

Students examine the cultural clashes of the 1920s: immigration backlash, racial violence, Prohibition, and the clash between urban and rural values over religion and modern life.

Students study the racial tensions of the 1920s: the rise of the second Ku Klux Klan, racial violence and riots, and the migration of Black Americans to northern cities in search of safety and opportunity.

Students examine the rise of Christian fundamentalism in the 1920s, including conflicts over evolution being taught in public schools. The Scopes Trial put that tension on national display.

Students examine the labor conflicts of the 1920s, including strikes, union battles, and the push-and-pull between workers and factory owners in a decade when American industry was booming but worker rights were still unsettled.

Students examine how immigration shaped American life in the 1920s, including the fears and prejudices that led Congress to sharply limit who could enter the country and from where.

Social norms shifted fast in the 1920s. Students examine how new music, fashion, and ideas about gender and race put traditional values in conflict with a modernizing country.

Fear of communist revolution led to widespread suspicion of immigrants and political radicals after World War I. Students examine how the U.S. government responded, including mass arrests and deportations, and what that response revealed about civil liberties under pressure.

Students examine how the Ku Klux Klan grew from a few thousand members to millions during the 1920s, spreading beyond the South into Northern cities and suburbs. They look at what fueled that growth and what it revealed about racial and ethnic hostility in the decade.

Prohibition banned the sale and production of alcohol nationwide starting in 1920. Students examine why the law passed, how it gave rise to bootleggers and organized crime, and why it was repealed thirteen years later.

Students examine how Prohibition-era crime syndicates took hold in American cities, tracing how bootlegging and corruption helped organized crime gain real political and economic power during the 1920s.

In a free market, the government sets basic rules but mostly stays out of buying and selling decisions. Students learn how that limited role shapes what individuals can own, earn, and spend.

Students examine why governments set the rules that markets run on: who owns what, how contracts get enforced, what protections workers and consumers have, and how regulators keep competition fair.

Students compare how local, state, and federal governments each collect taxes differently and for different reasons. A city funds schools and roads; a state funds highways and courts; the federal government funds the military and social programs.

The Federal Reserve controls interest rates and the money supply to keep prices steady and jobs available. Students learn how those tools speed up or slow down the economy depending on what the country needs.

Students learn what triggered the 1929 stock market collapse and why the economy kept getting worse. They look at bank failures, debt, falling wages, and the policy choices that turned a bad year into a decade-long crisis.

Students examine how the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl hit different groups differently: which farmers lost their land, which workers lost jobs, and how Black, Latino, and other minority communities faced the harshest conditions with the least help.

Students look at specific New Deal programs, like Social Security and public works jobs, and judge whether they actually solved the economic problems that caused the Depression. They use evidence to decide what worked, what fell short, and why.

Students examine the social conflicts that ran through Depression-era America, including racial inequality, labor unrest, and the strain poverty placed on families and communities across the country.

Students examine how the Great Depression deepened racial inequality, from job discrimination that pushed Black workers out first to the New Deal programs that often excluded or shortchanged Black Americans.

Students examine how workers organized during the 1930s, including strikes, union growth, and clashes with employers, to understand how labor conflicts shaped federal policy and everyday life for American families.

During the Depression, millions of Americans left their home states, moving from the Dust Bowl and rural South toward cities and western states in search of work. Students examine why families moved and what they found when they got there.

Social norms around gender roles, race, religion, and public life shifted during the Depression years. Students examine how economic collapse reshaped what Americans expected from work, family, and government.

Students examine how economic collapse in the 1930s pushed millions of Americans toward radical political movements, including fascism and communism, and why some people lost faith in democracy when jobs and savings disappeared.

Students read Article I and the 17th Amendment to see how Congress is set up: who can run for the House or Senate, how long they serve, what they do in office, and how voters elect them directly.

Every ten years, the government counts every person living in the U.S. That count determines how many seats each state gets in Congress and how voting district lines get redrawn. Baker v. Carr was the Supreme Court case that gave federal courts power to step in when those lines are drawn unfairly.

Congress has its own leadership structure, separate from the president. Students learn who holds key roles in the Senate and House, from the Speaker to the majority and minority leaders, and what each position actually does.

Students trace how a proposed law moves from a single idea through committee debate, votes in both chambers of Congress, and a presidential signature or veto. The focus is on each decision point where a bill can stall or advance.

Congress holds two kinds of power: specific powers written into the Constitution (like setting the budget, regulating trade, and declaring war) and broader implied powers that let Congress pass laws needed to carry out its listed duties.

Students read Article II of the Constitution and work through what it actually gives the president: who can hold the office, how long they serve, what powers they have over the military and treaties, and what happens when a president cannot finish a term.

Students name the major departments and agencies that run day-to-day federal operations, such as the Department of Defense or the EPA, and explain whether each answers directly to the President's cabinet.

Students learn how the Electoral College decides presidential elections, trace how the system has changed since the Constitution was written, and weigh the case for keeping it against the case for replacing it with a national popular vote.

Article III sets up the federal courts and gives the Supreme Court its authority. Students study how justices get lifetime appointments and which cases the Supreme Court has the power to hear.

Students trace how the federal court system was built, starting with the Judiciary Act of 1789, and explain how it has changed since. They look at why courts were set up the way they were and what shifted over time.

Students learn how a person gets a seat on the Supreme Court: the President nominates a candidate, and the Senate holds hearings and votes to confirm or reject that choice.

Students learn how the 1803 Marbury v. Madison case gave the Supreme Court the power to strike down laws passed by Congress or actions taken by the President if those laws or actions conflict with the Constitution.

Students compare how judges decide cases. Some judges stick closely to what the Constitution's words meant when written; others read it as a document that adapts over time. Understanding these differences explains why courts often split on the same law.

Students learn how federal, state, local, and tribal governments divide and share power. Key court cases and the 10th Amendment shaped those boundaries, and the relationship has shifted over time from strict separation toward governments working together.

Students examine the legal relationship between the U.S. government and recognized tribal nations, including what each side controls and owes the other. In Idaho, that shows up in specific agreements around land use and hunting and fishing rights.

Students learn how Idaho's state government is organized and what each branch is allowed to do. They look at how the legislature, governor, and courts each hold different powers under the Idaho Constitution.

Students compare how a bill becomes a law at the federal, state, and local levels, looking at where the similarities and differences show up. The goal is to see how each level of government decides what rules to make.

Local governments (counties, cities, special districts) get their authority from the state and share power with regional boards and commissions. Students learn how those bodies make laws and how each level of government relates to the others.

Students learn the difference between races where candidates run under a party label (Democrat, Republican) and races where party affiliation does not appear on the ballot, such as many local judge or school board seats.

Students trace how World War II started: dictators rose to power in Germany, Italy, and Japan, other nations gave in to their demands hoping to avoid conflict, and those same nations built empires by force. Each step made war harder to stop.

Students examine how the U.S. government and its people responded when they learned about the Holocaust during World War II, including decisions about refugees, military action, and what the country chose to do or not do.

Students trace how key battles and decisions changed the direction of World War II. They look at moments like D-Day or the Pacific campaign and explain why those events shifted the war's outcome.

Students compare how American soldiers fought in Europe against Nazi Germany with how they fought in the Pacific against Japan. The two wars looked very different: different geography, different enemies, different tactics.

Students examine why U.S. leaders chose to drop atomic bombs on Japan in 1945, weighing the military situation, projected casualties from a land invasion, and the push to end the war quickly before the Soviet Union gained more influence in the Pacific.

Students examine how the war changed daily life inside the United States. That includes rationing, factory work, the roles women and minorities took on, and the policies that reshaped American society while soldiers fought overseas.

Students examine real government decisions made during World War II that restricted the rights of Japanese Americans, including forced removal from their homes to internment camps. They weigh whether those decisions were justified or a violation of civil liberties.

Students examine how millions of soldiers returning home after World War II reshaped everyday American life. They look at how the GI Bill helped veterans buy homes, attend college, and start families, fueling the suburbs and a growing middle class.

The U.S. and Soviet Union spent decades racing to outspend, outbuild, and outinfluence each other. Students examine how that rivalry shaped American military spending, economic growth, and foreign policy from the late 1940s through the early 1970s.

Students examine how U.S. foreign policy decisions from 1945 to 1974 were shaped by the rivalry with the Soviet Union. That includes declared wars, undeclared conflicts, and secret government operations carried out during that era.

Students examine how the Soviet Union cut off Western supply routes into West Berlin in 1948, forcing the U.S. and its allies to airlift food and fuel into the city for nearly a year.

Students examine how Mao Zedong and the Communist Party took control of China in 1949, why the U.S. saw it as a Cold War loss, and what it meant for American foreign policy in Asia.

Students examine why the United States sent troops to Korea in 1950 and how that conflict shaped American foreign policy during the early Cold War. The war ended in a stalemate, with Korea divided near the same line where fighting began.

Students examine how the CIA secretly worked to overthrow elected governments in Iran and Guatemala during the 1950s, and why U.S. leaders believed those actions were necessary to limit Soviet influence.

Students examine the tense 1962 standoff when the Soviet Union placed nuclear missiles in Cuba, bringing the U.S. and Soviet Union to the edge of war. They study how diplomatic pressure and negotiation pulled both sides back.

Students examine the 1960 spy plane incident in which the Soviet Union shot down an American U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, capturing the pilot and exposing U.S. espionage operations during a tense moment in Cold War diplomacy.

Students examine why the Soviet Union built a concrete barrier dividing East and West Berlin in 1961 and what that wall revealed about Cold War tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Students examine why the U.S. sent troops to Vietnam, how the war was fought and debated at home, and what ended American involvement. The conflict shaped U.S. foreign policy and divided the country for a generation.

Students compare how the U.S. and Soviet Union each pulled other countries into their orbit during the Cold War, using trade deals, military pacts, and political pressure to win allies around the world.

The Truman Doctrine was President Truman's 1947 promise to send money and military aid to countries threatened by Soviet expansion. Students examine how this policy became a foundation for U.S. Cold War alliances worldwide.

The Marshall Plan was the U.S. program that sent billions of dollars to rebuild Western European economies after World War II, partly to stop the spread of Soviet influence. Students examine how foreign aid became a tool for building political and military alliances.

NATO was a military alliance formed in 1949 where the United States and Western European countries agreed to treat an attack on one member as an attack on all. Students examine how this pact shaped American Cold War strategy.

Students examine how the U.S. occupied and rebuilt Japan and West Germany after World War II, turning former enemies into democratic allies through aid, new governments, and military protection during the early Cold War.

The Warsaw Pact was a military alliance the Soviet Union formed with seven Eastern European countries in 1955. Students compare how this alliance worked alongside similar U.S.-led agreements to show how both superpowers built networks of allied nations during the Cold War.

Students examine how the Soviet Union took control of Eastern Europe after World War II, installing friendly governments and stationing troops to keep those countries inside its political and military orbit.

Students study how the Cold War shaped decisions at home and abroad, from military spending and foreign policy to fear of communism inside the U.S. itself. The goal is to see how rivalry with the Soviet Union ran through everyday American life for decades.

HUAC was a congressional committee that investigated Americans suspected of communist ties. During the late 1940s and 1950s, it questioned writers, filmmakers, and government workers, and being called to testify could end a career.

Students study the Red Scare era of the early 1950s, when Senator Joseph McCarthy led aggressive investigations accusing government officials, entertainers, and ordinary Americans of being Communist sympathizers, often without solid evidence.

The Alger Hiss case was a 1948 spy scandal in which a senior U.S. government official was accused of passing secrets to the Soviet Union. Students examine how the trial deepened public fear of communist infiltration and shaped the politics of the early Cold War.

The Rosenberg Case put two Americans on trial for passing nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union. Students examine the evidence, the verdict, and how the case shaped public fears about communism and espionage inside the United States.

Students examine the economic boom that followed World War II, who benefited from it, and who was left behind. They look at how rising wages and suburban growth reshaped daily life while many communities saw little of that prosperity.

Students examine how American workers organized unions, went on strike, and pushed for better wages and working conditions in the decades after World War II.

Students study the Civil Rights Movement and similar struggles by looking at why groups organized, what tactics they used, and what actually changed. That includes protests, legal battles, and the organizations that drove the work forward.

Students examine what American soldiers faced in Vietnam and what waited for them when they came back, comparing that to earlier wars like World War II. The gap between how Vietnam veterans were treated and how earlier soldiers were received is a central part of this standard.

Students explain how the Vietnam War fueled protests at home, connecting the rise of anti-war marches and the counterculture of the 1960s to the conflict overseas and the government's response to dissent.

Students study how young Americans in the 1960s pushed back against mainstream culture, challenging ideas about war, race, gender roles, and what a good life looked like.

The Great Society was President Lyndon Johnson's set of domestic programs from the 1960s. Students examine what those programs did, such as creating Medicare and expanding civil rights protections, and whether they achieved their goals.

Students study Lyndon Johnson's 1960s push to reduce poverty in America through federal programs like Medicare, food stamps, and federal education funding.

Medicare and Medicaid, two federal health programs created in the 1960s, are key parts of the Great Society. Medicare covers healthcare costs for older Americans, while Medicaid covers low-income families who can't afford medical bills on their own.

Head Start put federal money into early childhood programs for low-income kids, and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act sent federal funding to public schools for the first time. Together, these were the cornerstone education pieces of Johnson's Great Society.

Urban Renewal describes federal programs that used government money to tear down and rebuild run-down city neighborhoods. Students examine who benefited from those projects and who, often poor and Black residents, got pushed out.

The Great Society created federal agencies to fund artists, musicians, writers, and scholars across the country. Students examine why the government decided public money should support culture, and what that meant for American life in the 1960s.

Immigration Reform describes the 1965 law that ended a quota system favoring European immigrants. Students study how it reshaped who could come to the United States and why Congress changed the rules after decades of exclusion.

Students examine the environmental laws and programs launched under President Johnson's Great Society, including early efforts to protect air, water, and public lands across the United States.

Students trace how the Watergate break-in unraveled into a constitutional crisis, forcing Nixon to become the first U.S. president to resign. The focus is on what caused the scandal and what it changed about trust in government.

Students examine how the Vietnam War and Watergate scandal shook public trust in the government and military, then trace the laws and constitutional changes that followed.

Students trace how the right to vote expanded over time, from the 15th Amendment giving Black men the vote to the 26th Amendment covering 18-year-olds. They study the laws and constitutional changes that ended barriers like poll taxes and literacy tests.

Students study how political campaigns raise and spend money, including why Supreme Court rulings changed the rules, where the money actually comes from, and how interest groups shape who gets funded.

Students trace how a candidate moves from announcing a run to winning office, including how primary elections narrow the field and how the Electoral College determines the presidency rather than the national popular vote.

Students examine what shapes election outcomes: how political parties, ads, interest groups, and news coverage push voters toward one candidate or another. Social media and polls are part of that picture too.

After every census, states redraw their congressional district maps. Students explain how those new boundaries can shift who wins elections and which communities hold political power.

Students learn how each state runs its own elections and sets its own voting rules. They compare how states differ on things like voter ID requirements, early voting, and mail-in ballots.

Students look at real problems in how elections run, from long voting lines to campaign finance rules, and judge which issues matter most and why.

Students compare how different countries organize power and run elections. They look at systems like presidential versus parliamentary governments, federal versus unitary structures, and democracies versus autocracies.

Students learn what drives U.S. decisions on the world stage, from trade and treaties to military alliances, and how those decisions get made by presidents, Congress, and diplomats across different eras.

Students examine how the U.S. participates in global bodies like the United Nations, signs treaties, and sends aid after disasters. They weigh what those commitments cost and what they accomplish.

Students examine how the United States has supported (or failed to support) democracy in other countries over time, and weigh whether those efforts actually strengthened democratic governments abroad.

Starting in the mid-1970s, students examine why many Americans lost faith in the federal government's ability to fix the economy and social problems, and what that shift in public trust changed about politics and policy.

Factories closed across the U.S. in the 1970s and 1980s as manufacturing jobs moved overseas or disappeared to automation. Students examine how those job losses reshaped communities, widened economic inequality, and shook public faith in the government's ability to respond.

Students examine why American cities lost population, jobs, and tax revenue in the late 20th century, and what that collapse meant for the people left behind.

Students examine why Americans moved between regions during the 1970s and 1980s, such as the shift from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt, and what those population changes meant for jobs, politics, and city budgets.

Students study why prices kept rising through the 1970s even as unemployment climbed and the economy stalled. They examine how that combination shook public confidence in the government's ability to fix economic problems.

Deficit spending is when the federal government spends more money than it collects in taxes. Students examine why this gap grew sharply in the 1970s and 1980s and how it shaped public debate over what government can and should pay for.

Students examine the 1970s oil shortages that caused gas lines, rising prices, and widespread frustration with how the government handled the crisis. They consider why those events shook public trust in Washington's ability to manage everyday economic life.

Students examine how racial tensions in the late 1970s and 1980s eroded public confidence in government, looking at events like urban riots, school busing conflicts, and policy debates over affirmative action.

Students examine what shifted U.S. foreign policy toward China, Russia, Latin America, and the Middle East between the mid-1970s and early 1990s. They weigh how trade, military pressure, and political change shaped each relationship differently.

Students study the political shift that brought Ronald Reagan and conservative ideas to power in the 1980s. They look at what drove that shift and what the policies that followed meant for taxes, social programs, and American culture.

Students examine why the Cold War ended, looking at how economic strain, political reform in the Soviet Union, and shifts in U.S. policy combined to dissolve decades of superpower rivalry.

Students examine how U.S. foreign policy decisions, from arms negotiations to summit meetings with Soviet leaders, helped wind down the Cold War. The focus is on the specific moves American diplomats and presidents made to ease tensions between the two superpowers.

Students examine how a massive surge in U.S. defense spending during the 1980s pressured the Soviet Union to match it militarily, straining an economy that could not keep up and pushing the Cold War toward its end.

Students examine the arms-control and diplomatic agreements the U.S. and Soviet Union signed in the 1970s and 1980s, such as SALT and INF, and weigh how those treaties helped reduce military tension and push the Cold War toward its end.

Students examine the secret deal where the U.S. government illegally sold weapons to Iran and used the money to fund rebels in Nicaragua, a scandal that damaged trust in the Reagan administration and sparked a major congressional investigation.

Students examine how President Reagan's proposed missile-defense system in space pressured the Soviet Union to spend money it didn't have, helping push both sides toward negotiating an end to the Cold War.

Students examine how U.S. funding and arming of Afghan fighters against the Soviet invasion in the 1980s drained Soviet resources and helped push the USSR toward collapse.

Students examine why the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 and what that moment revealed about the collapse of Soviet-controlled governments across Eastern Europe.

Students examine why the Soviet Union fell apart by 1991, looking at economic failure, political pressure from within, and the independence movements that broke the country into 15 separate nations.

Students learn why the U.S. and its allies went to war against Iraq in 1991 after Iraq seized Kuwait. They look at what drove that decision and what changed in the Middle East and in American foreign policy once the fighting stopped.

Students examine how global trade deals, deregulated financial markets, and the rise of personal computers combined to fuel the economic growth the United States experienced through most of the 1990s.

Key shifts in technology, trade, and global events reshaped how Americans work and live after 1992. Students describe what those changes actually did to jobs, wages, communities, and daily life.

Outsourcing moved many U.S. factory and service jobs to countries where labor costs less. Students examine how those shifts changed which industries thrived, which workers were displaced, and how American communities responded.

Robots and automated machines now handle jobs once done by human workers. Students examine how this shift changed which skills employers want, which industries shrank or grew, and how American workers adapted.

Students examine how the gap between high earners and low earners in the U.S. has widened since the 1990s, and what that shift means for wages, opportunity, and everyday economic life.