United States History Student Edition

02 What Is History? READING STRATEGY Analyzing Key Ideas and Details As you read, record the reasons for studying history in a graphic organizer like this one.

Why Study History? GUIDING QUESTION What does history reveal about the past?

Some people ask, “Why do we study history?” Understanding the events that people experienced in the past can help us make sense of current events—things taking place today. Understanding history can also help us look for patterns in human behavior. This can help us make better decisions in the future. We begin to make sense of history by studying what happened to people who lived in the past. How did they live? Where did they go? How did they organize themselves into groups? How did they get along with other groups? What kind of challenges did they face, and how did they face them? What caused a war to start in a certain place and time? How do country borders change, and why? How do people develop ways to govern themselves and live together peacefully? We also want to learn what was important to people in the past. How were they like us? How were they different? What did they value? What did they believe in? What was important to them? How and why did they create different forms of art? History also explores the way things change. History tells the story of the ways that peoples’ lives change over time. As people invent new technologies and learn new ways of doing things, their way of life changes. History also explores the way things stay the same, or continuity .

Why Study History?

continuity the way things stay the same over time

Voting has long been a part of the history of the United States. This illustration entitled “The First Vote,” depicts the first time African Americans voted in an election, in 1867.

FLORIDA BENCHMARKS

• SS.8.A.1.2 • SS.8.A.1.3

• ELA.K12.EE.4.1 • ELA.K12.EE.5.1

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