The following standards have been taken from the Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McRel) standards.

Students will:

• Cultural and ecological interactions among previously unconnected people resulting from early European exploration and colonization.
• The immediate and long-term impact of Columbus' voyages on Native populations and on colonization in the Americas (e.g., Columbus' interactions with indigenous peoples, the Columbian Exchange, religious influences).
• Why the Americas attracted Europeans, why they brought enslaved Africans to their colonies and how Europeans struggled for control of North America and the Caribbean.
• The cultural and environmental impacts of European settlement in North America (e.g., friendly and conflictory relations between English, French, Spanish, and Dutch settlers and Native Americans; how various Native American societies changed as a result of the expanding European settlements and how they influenced European societies; the impact of the fur trade on the environment.
• The United States territorial expansion between 1801 and 1861, and how it affected relations with external powers and Native Americans.
• How early state and federal policy influenced various Native American tribes (e.g., survival strategies of Native Americans, environmental differences between Native American homelands and resettlement areas, the Black Hawk War and removal policies in the Old Northwest).
• The similarities and differences among Native American societies (e.g., gender roles; patterns of social organization; cultural traditions; economic organization; political culture; among Hopi, Zuni, Algonkian, Iroquoian, Moundbuilder, and Mississippian cultures).
• Shifts in federal and state policy toward Native Americans in the first half of the 19th century (e.g., arguments for and against removal policy, changing policies from assimilation to removal and isolation after 1825).