---
title: "SSUSH8: Slavery and Civil War Origins (Georgia Social Studies standard)"
code: SSUSH8
cite_as: Georgia Standards of Excellence, Social Studies, SSUSH8
subject: social_studies
grades:
  - high-school
language: en
canonical_url: https://georgiahomeroom.org/standards/code/SSUSH8
md_url: https://georgiahomeroom.org/standards/code/SSUSH8.md
alternate_language_url: https://georgiahomeroom.org/es/standards/code/SSUSH8.md
source_url: https://case.georgiastandards.org/ims/case/v1p1/CFDocuments/a446e74c-463e-11e7-94f5-b49cee8b2d8c
source_last_changed: 2025-02-04
data_built: 2026-09-18
publisher: Georgia Homeroom, a free public-interest project of Georgia Civic Data. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the Georgia Department of Education or any school district.
up: https://georgiahomeroom.org/standards/social_studies/high-school.md
index: https://georgiahomeroom.org/standards/index.md
---

# SSUSH8: Slavery and Civil War Origins

Explore the relationship between slavery, growing north-south divisions, and westward expansion that led to the outbreak of the Civil War.

- Subject: Social Studies
- Appears in: High School, https://georgiahomeroom.org/standards/social_studies/high-school.md

## Expectations

- **SSUSH8.a**: Explain the impact of the Missouri Compromise on the admission of states from the Louisiana Territory.
- **SSUSH8.b**: Examine James K. Polk's presidency in the fulfillment of Manifest Destiny including the Texas annexation and Oregon.
- **SSUSH8.c**: Analyze the impact of the Mexican War on growing sectionalism.
- **SSUSH8.d**: Explain how the Compromise of 1850 arose out of territorial expansion and population growth.
- **SSUSH8.e**: Evaluate the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the failure of popular sovereignty, Scott v. Sanford, John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry, and the election of 1860 as events leading to the Civil War.

## Georgia Milestones coverage

- US History (EOC). New Republic through Reconstruction. New Republic through Reconstruction (about 20% of the test; 9 points; shared with other standards, so count these points once and never add them up per standard)

Source: Georgia Standards of Excellence, published by the Georgia Department of Education at case.georgiastandards.org.