American ppt

What was the conflict between the europeans and native americans based on during the early days?

• health: At first, the native Americans were welcoming but not for very long because the Europeans inflicted diseases upon them (apparently both parties inflicted diseases on the other but who knows). The native americans got sick from the Europeans because Europeans lived in cities, in close proximity and they had pets while the native Americans lived in small communities far away from each other. The Europeans had developed immunity systems that the native americans did not have. This led to a decrease in population and this was a source of animosity and fear for the native americans

• Religion and land: The Europeans believed in and worshiped a personal god (one-on-one relationship with god) who rewarded and punished people individually. The native Americans were pantheists who believed in the generalised sacred nature of nature. They believed god is everywhere and everything has a divine aspect. Everything is part of a divine order, so no personal god.

• This affected how they went about land. Europeans went there because it was vast and cheap (cheap because no one owned it), while native Americans thought land is sacred and we must take care of it. They do not believe in inheriting land from your parents, but rather that the parents borrow the land from their children. For Europeans, land is a commodity, nature is there for us to exploit, trade, own and make money off.

timeline history of the clash (7)

• (1830) The Indian Removal Act under president Andrew Jackson

  • (1838) The trail of tears

  • (1871) The Indian Appropriations Act: a deal about money; A budget to fund their schools and other things.

• (1878) The Dawes act: carved up the reservations

  (1890) Wounded Knee. 

  • (1924) All native americans were given American citizenship. Before this, they could not vote

• (1930) Roosevelt: policy of allotment was given up

the trail of tears

• (1838) The trail of tears

  • Andrew Jackson no longer president, Van Buren is. He sent troops to make the native americans walk all the way to that one area. Many died on this forced march -> Indian Removal Act called the trail of tears because of all the death and horror.

the indian removal act

• (1830) The Indian Removal Act under president Andrew Jackson

  • Europeans wanted to be left alone to claim and develop land, but there were american-indians scattered everywhere. So, they pushed the native population into one part of the country (now Oklahoma). They created a state where the native americans can come together and do whatever they want.

  • Some american-indians went to supreme court and it was decided this act was illegal, the president was overruled…… Andrew Jackson ignored it

indian appropriations act

• (1871) The Indian Appropriations Act: a deal about money; A budget to fund their schools and other things.

  • These acts happen often, but this one was important because of the legal consequences. It terminated the status of Indian tribes as semi-sovereign nations. It weakened their position in their own land.

the Dawes act

• (1878) The Dawes act: carved up the reservations

  • The native americans only got bad, poor, infertile land. If white people thought there could be gold somewhere, they pushed the native americans out of that area.

  • Most tribes have struck deals with white people at some point, always about land and respecting territories. There has not been one treaty between native americans and white people that have not eventually been broken by white people.. usually because of gold.

  • Dawes act sees tribes as little families and gives them a piece of land (allotment), but tribes were a community, they cannot be cut up into little families

wounded knee

• (1890) Wounded Knee. 

  • White general was killed, so as revenge they shot 300 tribe Indians.

important events in colonial america (3)

• (1619) Precursor of slave trade: The first African laborers used as indentured servants. They cut a deal with business people in Europe to be paid to go to America and work as a servant for a certain amount of years. They believe they will have a better life there. They are not a fully fledged slave because they’re eventually let off the hook.

(1620) Pilgrims - Mayflower

(1630) Puritans - the Arbella

the Mayflower

• (1620) Pilgrims - Mayflower

  • Mayflower is a boat that shipped puritans to America. They were separatists. They came with the idea of staying. White America did not start with the mayflower because they all died very soon.

the Arbella

• (1630) Puritans - the Arbella

  • These did succeed and did not die.

  • John Winthrop’s sermon: he was on the Arbella and gave a sermon, a speech, to the people. Certain passages became crucial. Like the text on democracy, saying that some puritans will be there to lead and some simply to follow

  • These people still considered themselves English. There was no American identity yet.

patricians vs plebeians

key term colonial america

• Patricians vs plebeians: some are there to lead and some to follow. No individualism yet because they believed all men were created unequal

face-to-face society and friendship

• Face-to-face society: primitive, no big city. They lived in relatively small communities, everybody knew each other.

key term colonial america

• Friendship: entire network of social interdependency (eg. sb with cows and a baker)

defamation colonial america

• Defamation: spreading fake stories in such small communities can ruin social reputation. You had to take care of your good name.

key term colonial america

• Friendship: entire network of social interdependency (eg. sb with cows and a baker)

husbandry colonial america

• Husbandry: good husband. Sb who husbands his means wisely (e.g. to spend no more than you earn, to be parsimonious, to be smart and sober about the money you have and how to deal with it)

key term

book accounts and proprietary wealth colonial america

• Book accounts: bookkeeping that people did to keep track of financial deals and exchanges. This was an intricate web of financial interdependencies 

• Proprietary wealth: aristocracy? 

patronage colonial america

• Patronage: refers to the way these people considered and practiced politics. No real judges yet, so who will decide your defamation case? The wisest elderly man, always with property (“idc because i’m self sufficient”). 18th century society very personal - no idea of economic structures

what did the seven years’ war do for US

• (1763) seven years’ war won by England. England gained more land, all land in east Mississippi and Canada 

• Seven Years’ War

  • war had depleted and now England was short on cash but with all this new territory, how will you protect it? The English decided to take at least 10,000 troops to protect new land. This is very expensive so how to finance this? George

• George Grenville

who was george grenville and what did he do

After seven years’ war, short on case and need to protect new land - verrrry expensive. How to fund?

• George Grenville: chancellor of exchequer, money man, discovered that customs installed in America costs more money to run than what they were bringing in -> deficit, so more money had to be made idea of taxing colonies, first was sugar act (1764), stamp act (1766)

Sugar Act and Stamp Act

• (1764) Sugar Act: tax their fellow English men in new world, taxing of goods 

• (1765) Stamp Act (repealed February 1766): act that would force people to pay for an official document you needed to be allowed to raise money, so government would make money of these documents 

what happened march 5 1770

• 5 March 1770: Boston Massacre -> March: all Townshend duties repealed, except the one on tea

  • snowy day and guards/ red coats at door who are being provoked by having snowballs at them erupted into violence on streets and 5 people got shot, in these days this was still called a massacre 

Tea Act

• May 1773: Tea Act (privileged the East India Company): tea important/export product and at this time king George decided to allow this company to directly sell to colonies

Bostom Tea PArty + Coercive Acts

• 16 December 1773: Boston Tea Party

  • vessel arrived in Boston full of tea and the harbor workers refused to unload it. They negotiated for days and finally reached an agreement between rebellious workers and the tea sellers agreed to unload it. They unloaded it into the harbor and the whole city supposedly smelled of tea

• 1774: Coercive Acts

  • imposing blockade upon harbor of boston, no more trading in and out of boston 

First Continental Congress + second

• September 1774: first Continental Congress (Philadelphia)

  • embryo of the United States: biggest city at the time, Philadelphia had 20k people. 13 states talking to each other about being squeezed by their mother country but where will this end? Escalation of the mother country and colonists who were Brits who liked it more in the new country. First continental congress was the first time citizens of the 13 states came together to decide how to deal with this situation.

• May 1775: Second Continental Congress

Battle on LExington Green

• 19 April 1775: Battle on Lexington Green

  • Lexington town across the river from Boston

  • English red coats stationed in Boston, in Lexington English citizens have been training themselves as minute men (military men). (They are basically your butcher and baker who all have a gun in their attic and if we ever get into a conflict with them, we should be able to fight for ourselves. )

  • Paul Revere kept an eye on these red coats. One day red coats Boston to Lexington to remove troops who are waiting with their guns. Paul Revere notices red coats and goes on horse from boston to lexington to announce the British are coming.

  • not a fair fight, trained military vs citizens (minute men) galvanized sense of unity between colonies, mother country is no longer our mother

  • While military confrontations happened more often, George Washington announced colonel of the local army and later announced president -> political structure coming into being.

Battle of Bunker Hill when

• 16 June 1775: Battle of Bunker Hill

Declaration of Independence when and what

• 4 July 1776: Declaration of Independence

  • People convene again. The leaders of 13 states decide they need a text that explains to the world why we think this is our moment, our right, our duty to stand up and defend ourselves and succeed from our mother country. Written by Thomas Jefferson birth certificate of a new country p411

  • declaration of independence travelled across country and ppl needed to agree with it

Articles of confederation

• 17 November 1777: Articles of Confederation

  • tried to have legal document 

  • people didn’t want a legal document that bound everyone. The idea of creating a superstate authority that will sign laws and will impose duties upon us was a very hard thing to sell to these rebellions. People wanted to be independent. Even in the civil war, people who weren’t from Carolina weren’t willing to fight for them, so no unifications.

When was confederation formally announced

1 march 1781

the critical period

• 1781-1789: “the Critical Period”: make or break time America. It was possible they wouldn’t come to an agreement for the structure of legal authority, which would be binding for everyone. For years they bickered over this 

Shays’ rebellion

• 1786: Shays’ Rebellion: an armed uprising in Western Massachusetts led by Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays. Driven by severe economic depression, high taxes, and farm foreclosures, protesters (or "Regulators") closed courts to prevent debt collection.

Constitutional convention

• May 1787: Constitutional Convention (signed 17 September)

  • The moment when they finally found agreement on how to be states and be as independent as possible, but acknowledging the fact that they need an army and a bank system to survive.. a structure that surpasses state levels.

  • at this convention agreeing to sign constitution: legally binding document for all the states 

Significane of statue of liberty

• The Statue of Liberty was a gift from France made by the same architect as the Eiffel tower. It was given to the government, but France did not want to ship concrete to America to erect the statue so the Americans had to help fund it. 

• -> “The New Colossus” poem by Emma Lazarus: a poem was commissioned for crowd funding to give a message to the statue. This poem is on the statue.

  • “Colossus”: A mythical figure, the name of a giant statue in the harbour of Rhodes. Colossus is a male, military symbol -> This poem was a major revision of this traditional trope. The poem starts with “Not ….” to oppose what it originally signifies. From a man who defends and vanquishes to a warm, worldwide welcome.

  • “keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp”: keep your old world, this is a different world and culture.

  • “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, …”: this is a poem for an all-inclusive culture, even those who are marginalized. Everyone is welcome.

  • “Twin cities” refers to Paris and NYC

What was the first wave of immigration?

colonial immigration 1860-1776

• They came from Europe, Old Europe - most were English-speaking. Scots and Irish people were the largest group. These immigrants blended in easily because they were white and they spoke English.

• There was also a large group of Europeans who did not speak English, lthe Germans. They were influential, tight-knit communities. From the beginning there was anxiety among white settlers that America was being taken away from them and that these immigrants were going to “germanise” them, that that chance was bigger than them “anglicising” them.

• First wave of 140.000 slaves -> Slavery started before the US started. They took up 20% of the population

• Decrease English dominance: Before this way 4/5 people spoke English, by 1776 English governance decreased to 52% -> English was never constitutionally protected and is not officially the language.

De Crèvecoeur vs Thomas Paine

• De Crèvecoeur - “A new race of man”: He wrote “letters of an American farmer” (while being neither American, nor a farmer). He is the first European who tried to explain what America was in one of the chapters. He wrote that people would seize to be German or English, but they would become something new that has never existed before - i.e. an American.

• Thomas Paine - “A nation of nations”: Before independence, he wrote a pamphlet “Common sense” in which he encourages English people in colonies to secede (=withdraw membership) - it was a scathing critique of hereditary power. He wrote: “America before independence is meant to be a nation of nations”, different from a new race of man. It suggests different cultural identities will be able to exist side by side instead of merging into something new. -> Tension still exists today

  • Some say he was responsible for the violent eruptions in 1776

Why did immigration slow down between 1776-1820

• Immigration slowed down between 1776-1820 because 1776 was the beginning of wars against colonies and its own roots. English people were fighting English people, so the US became less appealing

What was the second wave of immigration

“old” immigrants 1820-1890

• More Europeans came to the US, but other countries too (Scandinavians, Swedish, Dutch, Swiss, …) because there was a seemingly unlimited amount of land -> Economical reasons. They also came because there were religious persecutions in European countries -> Religious and political reasons

• !! “The American dream” was not yet a concept, people simply went because of opportunities.

• Stage migration: moving from a small place -> urban place in their own country, but still not happy -> different country or continent. Many Europeans followed this pattern when they wanted to move.

• Homestead Act (1862) encouraged immigration:

Homestead Act

• Homestead Act (1862): Lincoln installed this policy after/during the Civil War, promising and offering adult European men without a criminal record 160 acres of land for free, provided you live on it yourself for at least 5 years -> encourages migration because people were not allowed to just sell it, they actually had to farm on it. It was not an investment, but a place to live.

Chinese Exclusion ACt

Chinese Exclusion Act (1882): The first time Americans drastically decided no more Chinese allowed (in an ICE-like fashion). This later expanded into an act excluding all Asians => nativism and xenophobia were always in America, it’s not a recent development

third wave of immigration

“new” immigrants 1890-1930

• Not only Europeans, but people from all over: Southern Europe, Eastern Europe, Asian

• America became more industrialised and urbanised: factories, monopolies, etc. -> 19th century painters reflected this as well by painting factories and rail tracks

• The Melting Pot (1908)

• E pluribus unum  (=”out of many comes one”): we will create unity out of diversity conflicted with the Naturalization Act in 1970. This act said only white men could naturalize and become American

• Ellis Island (1892)

• Eugenics: the idea that you can improve a race by controlling the breeding process

• Asian Exclusion Act (1924): Introduces the quote idea, the quota system was introduced in the same year.

  • This was also the year America granted all native Americans citizenship

when did native americans get citizenship

1924

the melting pot

• The Melting Pot (1908): A play that tries to dramatise the effort to fuse and merge culturally different people into one new type, the American. This is the opposite of cultural pluralism (the idea of a nation of nations). There was a fear of mongrelization (= fear of culture becoming impure due to its exposure and mixture with other cultures), a fear of ending up as neither one nor the other.

E pluribus unum

• E pluribus unum  (=”out of many comes one”): we will create unity out of diversity conflicted with the Naturalization Act in 1970. This act said only white men could naturalize and become American

Ellis Island

• Ellis Island (1892): an island next to the Statue of Liberty. This was a centre where all immigrants had to pass to get a screening. A lot of people were considered unfit to be allowed into the country because of mental reasons (interesting because there was a psychiatric ward between the island and the Statue of Liberty). The government tried to control immigration.

Fourth wave of immigration

1965-now

• Italians made up the largest group, Germans in second place. From 2007 until now, the largest group is mexicans.

• “Hispanics” used as a sort of catchphrase for all people from latin countries, often with a derogatory tone.

• More and more immigrants consider America a temporary station. They come here, get a good education, a good job and then go back to their home country trained and wealthy -> big shift in loyalty

Trump’s anti-immigration policies: Big beautiful bill

• The Big Beautiful Bill

  • Strips many lawfully present immigrants from access to health insurance and nutrition aid.

  • Funds massive expansion of the immigration detention and enforcement budget while undermining due process and humanitarian protections

Trump’s anti-immigration policies: Mass deportation and enforcement

• Mass deportation and Enforcement

  • Expedited Removal: non-citizens can be apprehended anywhere when you cannot prove that you have been in the country continuously for two years -> bypassing formal court hearings

    • Use of Military and War Powers: invoked the Alien Enemies Act (1798), because of this act the president can deport individuals when he thinks another country is an acute threat -> sidestepping the court. No More Sensitive Locations Policy

Trump’s anti-immigration policies: border security, asylum restrictions

• Border security, Asylum restrictions

  • Declared “national emergency” at the southern border: The president has allowed to reroute funding to the army and border control because he has to protect the country against imminent danger. The US army is at the southern border because of an “imminent danger” to the country. There have been many court cases against ICE where their actions have been deemed illegal by many judges across the country

  • Ending Asylum Access: the very evening Trump was elected, he signed an executive order to shut down all asylum requests. 

    • Biden had a catch and release protocol, which was terminated by Trump -> NO asylum seeking allowed

    • He suspended the policy stating ICE agents could not enter public spaces (e.g. churches and schools)

    • Terminating CBP One app: previously, people who wanted to migrate could make an appointment with border control officers to present their case. However, Trump shut down this app. People had appointments, and all of a sudden the app was gone.

Executive order

• Executive order: command by the president he can just sign and bypass congress, everyone just has to agree. Not everything can be done this way.. e.g. tariffs.

Trump’s anti-immigration policies: restrictions legal status and visas

• Restrictions Legal Status & Visas

  • Ending Birthright Citizenship: Trump wants to end the principle that everyone born on American soil is an American citizen. If one of the parents is not a citizen or lawful permanent resident, they can deny the child citizenship.

  • TPS (Temporary Protected Status) and Parole Terminations: people from Venezuela, Haiti, etc. like TPS awaiting their citizenship. This was all terminated.

    • Refugee Program Suspension: you can no longer apply to be a refugee? Except for white Afrikaners because there’s a genocide.

first wave feminism

1848-1920

• Seneca Falls:

  •  ~Female version of the declaration of independence. 

• Nineteenth Amendment (1920): Women were allowed to vote

• Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) (1923/1972): …. :(

seneca falls

• Seneca Falls: Declaration of Sentiments (1848)

  • Seneca Falls is a place in upstate New York where two women organised the first feminist conference in American history. They wanted to hold talks to explain why women should be given more rights

    • Women could not sign a document, will or file a divorce - only men could. The father would usually take the children during divorce

  • Declaration of Sentiments: two names of the women are in the book!! These women were abolitionists. The fight for women’s rights had crucial points linked to the civil rights movement of African-Americans.

    •  ~Female version of the declaration of independence. 

nineteenth amendment

• Nineteenth Amendment (1920): Women were allowed to vote

ERA

• Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) (1923/1972): amendment that was supposed to be added to the constitution and finally terminate any kind of discrimination against women. For this, or any, amendment to be accepted, it had to be ratified, it had to travel through the country and 3/4 states had to ratify it… it never made it.

second wave feminism

1960s-1970s

• Civil Rights ACt (1964): Rights of women and African-Americans joined to make a stronger case

• Roe vs Wade (1973) and 2020…

• Affirmative action:

Civil Rights Act

• Civil Rights ACt (1964): Rights of women and African-Americans joined to make a stronger case

Roe vs Wade

• Roe vs Wade (1973): this made getting an abortion a federally protected right. Every state had to have some kind of infrastructure so women could have an abortion - although some states made this very difficult, but legally it had to be possible

  • 2022: Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. It is no longer federally protected. They argue the right to an abortion is a matter of state, not federal. Prior to Roe v. Wade some states had laws forbidding abortion, these became dormant after Roe v. Wade, but are active again.

Affirmative action

• Affirmative action: this is a policy on education, housing policies, employment policies, etc. It is “positive discrimination”. There had to be the same ratio of men and women in a certain field as there are in society. 

  • Example: If 15% of people in society were women, 15% of professors had to be women. If men and women apply for the same job, women will be accepted until the balance is restored -> made men resentful

third wave feminism

1990s-now

• Violence against Women Act (1994)

• MeToo movement (Tarana Burke)

• Women were better represented in politics, but there was a glass ceiling

• Women’s economic position: more prominent now but they still mostly work in healthcare services, caring sector is dominated by women. 

  • The feminisation of poverty: after the great recession of 2008, the income of working single mothers increased at a much slower rate than everybody else’s -> income gap widens. Non-white and immigrant mothers were much more likely to live in poverty.

left and right in the Civil War

• Left: North Force vs South America

  • Southern States felt discriminated by Northern States and decided to go alone

• Right: people from KKK

  • Framed a story starting with an unsolvable problem: slavery

  • 1865: white protestant males

    • Angry at the North, hoping for revenge and retributions

    • Yankees: fellow American from the North

    • Military organisation, founded and designed to terrorise black people.

    • They wore pointy hats to instill fear in black people and to stay anonymous

What caused the civil war?

Slavery, but also

• (1) Cultural incompatibility?

  • South: gentile culture, aristocratic world. A society where people respect rules, hierarchy and everyone knows their place.

  • North: industrialising at a much faster pace -> Different culture was emerging

• (2) Economic rivalry?

  • The South had a different pace and difference kind of society

    • 90% of people were involved in farming, very few in industry (one crop economy: cotton and tobacco)

    • They were economically colonised by the North and they felt marginalised in their own culture

• (3) Constitutional disagreement?

  • The South felt like constitutional America was being abused by the North

  • Majority rule: there was a permanent majority of the North

• (4) Controversy Negro Slavery?

  • Some critique says there have always been cultural differences in America, so it could not solely have caused the Civil War. Although majority will agree that slavery was the issue

Fugitive Slave Acts

• (1793/1850) Fugitive Slave Acts: Protected the property of the southern states:

  • Guaranteed that the property was the Southern slave owner’s

  • Even as an abolitionist, if you see an escaped slave, you must return them to their owner. If not, pay a heavy fine

  • We must respect each others way of living to keep the peace

    • -> North not happy about this

Louisiana Purchase

• (1803) Louisiana Purchase: the moment when Napoleon decided the land west of Mississippi River was too much

  • He sold this land to Jefferson, the president at that time, and doubled the size of America. He did this because he needed the money to finance his wars in Europe

Missouri Compromise

• (1820) Missouri Compromise: Missouri wants to become a state. It is kind of in the south and should be a slave state.

  • North was not happy with this because then all future states will be slave states. So there were conditions to become a slave state:

    • (1) Maine was also applying to be a state, they’ll be a free state

      • (2) In the future, every state north of the southern border of Missouri (=unorganised territory) will forever be a free state. Below that can become a slave state

Compromise of 1850

• (1850) Compromise of 1850: California wants to be a free state.

  • Steven Douglas (politician) thinks politicians should stop deciding for the people, but follow the principle of popular sovereignty: let the people decide for themselves

    • In this year it also became clear the two parts of the country-laws didn’t work

Kansas-Nebraska Act

• (1854) Kansas-Nebraska Act: goes directly against Missouri Compromise

  • Victory for pro-slavery states

Josiah Nott’s theory

• Josiah Nott’s theory: polygenesis (South)

  • Collected skulls to study intelligence

    • Different size of brain: He said different races originate from different species and the black race has a different mind from the white. They did not stem from the same animal => Effort to use science to provide a foundation for systematic racism

Nat Turner insurrection

• (1831) Nat Turner insurrection

  • Nat Turner was perhaps one of the biggest slavery rebellions. They attacked and killed white people out of anger, revenge and frustration. They were captured and hanged quite quickly

Dred Scoot vs Sandford

• (1857) Dred Scott vs San(d)ford

  • Dred Scott: slave in Missouri. His boss was Doctor Emmersin who moved to Illinois, a free state. After moving back, Scott insists on staying a free man and goes to court to fight for his freedom, based on the fact that he lived in a free state.

  • Sanford was the widowed wife of Emmerson

  • The lower court in Missouri decides he should be free, but the Supreme court overrules this decision. So, he takes his case to the supreme court where Judge Tanny asks what he is doing there. “You are a piece of property, you have no legal standing (like an object)”. 

  • He said the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional because it goes against the fifth amendment.

  • => Dred Scott became a symbol against slavery and injustice

Harpers Ferry Raid

• (1859) Harpers Ferry Raid (by John Brown)

  • They were smuggling massive weapons in Harpers Ferry, so they killed those who defended it?