Students study the history of the United States and South Carolina in grade four, beginning with the colonization of the United States and continuing through Reconstruction. South Carolina’s role is integrated into the study of the exploration of the United States. Students will explore how the United States and South Carolina cultivated common societies through the interaction among different groups of people, the colonization of North America, independence from Great Britain, founding principles, and the identity of a new nation. They will also investigate how cooperation and conflict among people brought about change, led to the expansion of boundaries and territories, a nation became divided in the Civil War, and how the nation and state dealt with the consequences of the Civil War which resulted in Reconstruction.