Praxis Middle School Social Studies cheat sheet

Chronological reasoning: arrange events by cause before effect; periodization labels (e.g., 'Reconstruction, 1865-1877') are interpretive, not natural facts.

Primary source analysis (OPVL): Origin, Purpose, Value, Limitations - origin asks who made it, when, and for whom.

Corroboration: a claim gains strength when independent sources (different authors, genres, or eras) agree; single-source claims are provisional.

Contextualization: an event must be explained by the political, economic, and social conditions of its own time, not present-day norms.

Continuity and change: identify what persisted as well as what shifted; most historical periods mix both.

Historical empathy: reconstruct the beliefs and constraints of people in the past without endorsing them.

Bias is not the same as falsehood: a biased source can still supply reliable facts if checked against other evidence.

Geography's five themes: location, place, human-environment interaction, movement, and region.

Economic systems: traditional (custom-based), command (state-directed), market (price-directed), and mixed (most real economies).

Declaration of Independence (1776): natural rights (life, liberty, pursuit of happiness) and consent of the governed justify separation from Britain.

Articles of Confederation (1781-1789): weak central government, no power to tax or regulate interstate commerce; replaced by the Constitution.

Constitutional compromises: Great Compromise (bicameral Congress: population in the House, equal state representation in the Senate); Three-Fifths Compromise counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for representation and taxation.

Bill of Rights (1791): first ten amendments; First Amendment protects speech, press, assembly, petition, and religion; Fourth protects against unreasonable searches.

Civil War causes: slavery's expansion, states' rights disputes, and sectional economic differences; the war began at Fort Sumter (1861).

Reconstruction amendments: 13th (1865) abolished slavery; 14th (1868) guaranteed citizenship, due process, and equal protection; 15th (1870) protected voting rights regardless of race.

Progressive Era (1890s-1920s): muckrakers, antitrust action, women's suffrage (19th Amendment, 1920), and direct democracy reforms (initiative, referendum, recall).

New Deal (1933-1939): relief, recovery, reform programs such as Social Security, the Wagner Act, and the Tennessee Valley Authority expanded federal responsibility.

Cold War containment: Truman Doctrine (1947), Marshall Plan (1948), NATO (1949), and the Korean War (1950-1953) aimed to limit Soviet expansion.

Neolithic Revolution (c. 10,000 BCE): domestication of plants and animals led to settled agriculture, surplus food, and the first cities.

River valley civilizations: Mesopotamia (Tigris-Euphrates), Egypt (Nile), Indus (Indus), and China (Yellow River) developed irrigation, writing, and centralized rule.

Classical empires: Greece (direct democracy in Athens), Rome (republic to empire, law codes), Han China (Confucian bureaucracy), and Gupta India (mathematics, astronomy).

Silk Roads (c. 2nd century BCE-15th century CE): overland trade linked China, Central Asia, India, and the Mediterranean and spread Buddhism and Islam.

Islamic Golden Age (8th-13th centuries): preservation of Greek texts, advances in algebra (al-Khwarizmi), medicine (Ibn Sina), and optics (Ibn al-Haytham).

Renaissance (14th-17th centuries): humanism, classical revival, printing press (Gutenberg, c. 1450), and artistic innovation in Italian city-states.

Reformation (1517 onward): Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses challenged indulgences and papal authority, splitting Western Christianity.

Age of Exploration (15th-17th centuries): Portuguese and Spanish voyages connected the Americas, Africa, and Europe; Columbian Exchange moved crops, animals, and diseases.

Industrial Revolution (c. 1760-1900): began in Britain with textile mechanization, steam power, and urbanization, then spread to Europe and North America.

Popular sovereignty: political authority rests with the people, who delegate power through constitutions and elections.

Separation of powers: legislative (makes laws), executive (enforces laws), and judicial (interprets laws) branches keep each other accountable.

Checks and balances: presidential veto, congressional override (two-thirds), Senate confirmation of appointments, and judicial review (Marbury v. Madison, 1803).

Federalism: power is divided between national and state governments; the Supremacy Clause (Article VI) makes federal law supreme within its sphere.

Civil liberties vs. civil rights: liberties protect individuals from government overreach; rights guarantee equal treatment and participation.

Due process: procedural (fair procedures) and substantive (fair laws) protections under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.

Elections: winner-take-all vs. proportional representation; the Electoral College chooses the president, with each state's electors equal to its congressional delegation.

Public policy cycle: agenda setting, formulation, adoption, implementation, and evaluation.