This selective survey of America's history and development designed for grades seven through nine is one of a series of curriculum guides revised to fit the quinmester administrative organization of schools. The aim for the nine week unit course is: to provide a broad content framework that will give students a background enabling them to later select other courses in American Studies; to teach historical concepts; to provide students with basic knowledge about America; and, to demonstrate the idea that to understand the present one must comprehend the past. The guide is divided into four sections. Section 1 lists nine goals for the course. Section 2 outlines course content which includes units on explorers and colonists, the American Revolution, Emergence of a new nation, nationalism and manifest destiny, the Civil War, and America in the 20th century. Section 3 lists objectives and learning activities that require student participation for each unit. Section 4 provides a list of basic textual materials and alternate classroom materials to use in addition or in place of required materials. Supplemental teacher resources are enumerated. (SJM)