United States History Lecture Notes

Flashcards about the Physical Geography of North America, Native American People, European Exploration and Colonization, Colonial Culture, Road to the Civil War, and the Civil War Era.

What continent was considered the 'new world' by Europeans?

North America

Name three major waterways in the Northeast region of North America.

Delaware River, Hudson River, and Connecticut River

Name three rivers that irrigate the Southeast region of North America.

Potomac River, James River, and Mississippi River

What are the main regions of the Midwest?

Interior Plains and the Great Plains

Name four of the major mountain ranges of North America.

Appalachian Mountains, Cascade Mountains, Rocky Mountains, and Sierra Nevada Mountains

What is the largest lake in the western United States?

Great Salt Lake in Utah

What is the name of the land bridge that people migrated through to get to North America?

Bering Land Bridge

Name the northernmost Native American culture that survived today.

Inuit

What was the main food source for the Kwakiutl?

Salmon

What natural element was the key to the Anasazi success?

Water collected on the mountains

What did the Spanish call the Anasazi communities on the Rio Grande River?

Pueblos

What animal did the Plains Indians hunt after the Ice Age ended?

Bison

Name three factors that facilitated the emergence of Mississippian culture.

The adoption of the bow and arrow, the development of maize, and the use of flint hoes

By the time Europeans arrived, what culture had replaced the Mississippian culture in the southeast?

Cherokee

What president forced the Cherokee out of their lands?

Andrew Jackson

What is the name of the Iroquois political alliance formed in the 15th century?

The Iroquois Confederacy

When the Spanish arrived, who began moving into unoccupied lands in Florida?

Indians from the Creek Confederacy

Name the three G's that motivated Spanish exploration.

Gold, Glory, and God

What was the name of the system used by the Spanish to exploit indigenous labor?

Encomienda

What was the first permanent European settlement in the present-day U.S?

St. Augustine, Florida

What delayed the permanent settlements in North America for the English and French?

Religious and political challenges

What was the first permanent English colony?

Jamestown, Virginia

Name two men who were sent by the French to seek a northwest passage to the Pacific Ocean.

Giovanni da Verrazano and Jacques Cartier

What trade was the focus for the French?

Fur trade

What is the Columbian Exchange?

The transfer of food, plants, animals, and diseases between Europeans and Native Americans

Name three crops that were introduced by the Europeans to the Americas.

Sugar, rice, and coffee

What was a major cause of the decline in the Native American population?

European diseases like smallpox and influenza

Name the two groups of merchants who received charters from James I.

Virginia Company of London and Virginia Company of Plymouth

Name the three regions that the English colonies along the Atlantic seaboard are categorized into.

Plantation or Southern, New England, and Middle

Name the five Plantation Colonies.

Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia

What was the Virginia Company focused on?

Profit

In the early years of Jamestown, what was the rate of mortality?

High

What principle did John Smith implement to help stabilize the Jamestown colony?

"He who works not, eats not"

What crop did John Rolfe discover?

Tobacco

What system was initiated by the Virginia company to attract more settlers?

Indentured System

What was the most valuable cash crop in the Southern states?

Tobacco

What system incentivized the importation of indentured servants?

Headright System

What prevented Virginia from attracting more settlers?

Its reputation as a death trap

In 1662, children born to slave mothers were legalized as slaves for life, leading to a rapid expansion of slave labor in what colonies?

Virginia's tobacco fields and later in South Carolina's rice and indigo plantations

Where did Lord Baltimore intend to create a refuge for Roman Catholics?

Maryland

What was the purpose of Georgia's charter?

To serve as a buffer against Spanish Florida

What did the philanthropists plan to make Georgia?

A colony for debtors

What did the Puritans seek to escape?

Political repression, religious constraints, and economic decline

What did Puritan communities enforce?

Strict moral code

Seeking religious freedom, who did Puritans NOT tolerate?

Dissent

Who founded Rhode Island?

Roger Williams

What act restricted trade to British ships, threatening the Dutch’s marine transportation business?

British Navigation Act of 1660

What city was seized by the British in 1664 and renamed New York?

New Amsterdam

What religious group acquired New Jersey from the proprietors?

Quakers

What colony, founded by William Penn, became known for Quaker practices like pacifism and early opposition to slavery?

Pennsylvania

What movement influenced America during the 18th century?

Enlightenment

Name the three rights that John Locke argued that natural laws encompass.

Life, liberty, and property

Who was the preeminent Enlightenment figure in America?

Benjamin Franklin

What was the first national event impacting all the colonies?

The First Great Awakening

What did the British government restrict to prevent conflict with Native Americans?

Westward expansion

What act imposed tariffs on various imports in 1764?

Sugar Act

What act taxed printed materials in the colonies?

Stamp Act of 1765

What act mandated local legislatures to provide housing and food for British troops?

Quartering Act

What act imposed import taxes on various goods, prompting a significant boycott of British products?

Townshend Acts

What event, in 1773, led to colonists destroying British tea in protest?

Boston Tea Party

Name the act that closed Boston's port until restitution for tea was paid.

Boston Port Act

What act strengthened Quartering Act enabling troops to occupy private homes?

Coercive Acts

Where The First Continental Congress convened?

Philadelphia

Name three things, that Americans collectively believed in.

The perception of King George III as a tyrant, The belief that Parliament sought to control colonial affairs without consent, and the desire for increased political participation regarding colonial policies

What Virgina man, began his military career in the French and Indian War and was appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army at the Second Continental Congress in May 1775?

George Washington

Who authored 'Common Sense' in 1776, advocating for independence from Great Britain and republicanism?

Thomas Paine

What battles marked the beginning of open warfare between the Americans and British?

Skirmishes at Lexington and Concord

Who Authored the Declaration of Independence, incorporating natural rights philosophy influenced by John Locke, formally adopted on July 4, 1776?

Thomas Jefferson

WHat was the treaty that recongnized that United States as an independent nation?

Treaty of Paris of 1783

What was emphasized in the Articles of Confederation?

State sovereignty and a weak national government

What key accomplishment, under the Articles, established orderly creation of territorial governments and new states and excluded slavery north of the Ohio River and supported public education?

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

What state declined ratification until Virginia relinquished its claims in 1781?

Maryland

Who presided over the Constitutional Convention?

George Washington

What was established in the Great Compromise to limit government power?

Checks and balances

Name the compromise that established a bicameral legislature with equal Senate representation and population-based House representation.

The Great Compromise

what was not included in the constitution?

Bill of Rights

In 1791, what was ratified by the states, with the first nine guaranteeing personal freedoms, while the Tenth reserved powers to the states not granted to the federal government?

Bill of Rights consisting of ten amendments

What did Hamilton, as Secretary of Treasury, proposed in his economic plan?

federal assumption of state debts and the establishment of a national bank

During the war between France and England (1792), what did the U.S. proclaimed?

Neutrality

What treaty (1796) opened the Mississippi River to American traffic and established the northern boundary of Florida?

Pinckney Treaty

In the Election of 1796, Who became vice president after receiving the second-highest electoral votes?

Thomas Jefferson (Republican)

Who did Thomas Jefferson appoint to be his secretary of state and Secretary of Treasury?

James Madison as Secretary of State and Albert Gallatin as Treasury Secretary

What purchase occurred in April 1803, when the U.S. bought trans-Mississippi territory from Napoleon for $15 million.

The Louisiana Purchase

In the Election of 1808, Who defeated Federalist Charles Pinckney, though Federalists gained seats in Congress?

Republican James Madison

Who led a march to advocate for government work relief during economic conditions?

Jacob Coxey

What treaty in 1815 restored the pre-war status quo, with both sides returning wartime conquests

Treaty of Ghent

What agreement between the U.S. and Britain to limit armed fleets on the Great Lakes was the first disarmament treaty still in effect?

Rush-Bagot Treaty (1817)

Which of the followin: Marbury vs. Madison or Gibbons vs. Ogden affirmed congressional authority over interstate commerce invalidating state-granted monopolies?

Gibbons vs. Ogden (1824)

What compromise involved in Missouri's Admission?

Missouri admitted as slave state, Maine admitted as a free state, slavery ban North of latitude 36° 30’

Which Belief asserted that US was destined to expand to the Pacific to share American ideals?

Manifest Destiny

What was the name of Andrew Jackson's informal group of advisors?

Kitchen Cabinet

Name the leader of United States Bank from 1823-1832 until Jackson's Veto.

Nicholas Biddle

Who succeeded Andrew Jackson who faced financial chllenges.

Martin Van Buren

What event initiated the modern two-party system?

the Age of Jackson

Which leader of 'The Liberator' led immediate emancipation and founding major anti-slavery societies?

William Lloyd Garrison

Name an 1860 Presidential candidate leading to Southern States' Succession?

Abraham Lincoln

Which state was the first to succeed from the Union?

South Carolina

Which Major Anderson, at Fort Sumter, communicated supply shortages to?

Lincoln

Following which battle led to the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863?

Battle of Antietam

Which turning battle prompted Lincoln to emphasize national unity and the honor of fallen soldiers?

Gettysburg