7004 Social Studies Praxis

US History, Government, Citizenship

Motives for Europeans Exploration and Colonization

Spanish: gold, northwest passage

French: spread Christianity, northwest passage

England: colonize, northwest passage

What is the Northwest Passage?

Sea Route through the Arctic Ocean and North America

*wanted a shortcut to Asia for trade

Christopher Columbus

1492 sailed from Palos, Spain in search of a route to Asia and the Indies

*instead found the “new world” Americas

Hernan Cortez

1519 laned in Mexico with 500 men and less than 200 horses wanting to colonize and spread Christianity

BUT found Aztec wealth and wanting to acquire gold instead

*Cortez began the FIRST phase of Spanish colonization of the Americas and conquered the Aztec empire

First American Settlements

St. Augustine: 1565 oldest city in US founded by the Spanish (Ponce de Leon explored it looking for gold and other resources)

Jamestown: 1607 FIRST permanent English colony

Plymouth Colony: 1620 FIRST permanent Puritan settlement (pilgrims left England to seek religious freedom)

Rhode Island Colony: 1636 founded by Roger Williams advocated for religious freedom and fair treatment of Native Americans

John Cabot

England: 1497 voyage, where he explored the coast of North America under the English flag. He is historically credited as the first documented European to explore the North American mainland since the Vikings.

Queen Elizabeth I

England: encouraged exploration and colonization granted Sir Walter Raleigh and others to est colonies in the new world

Sir Walter Raleigh

England: est the lost Roanoke colony on Roanoke Island (present day North Carolina)

John Smith

English soldier, explorer, and author famous for his pivotal role in establishing and governing the Jamestown colony in Virginia. He is also remembered for his explorations of the Chesapeake Bay

John Rolfe

established Jamestown’s booming economy by successfully cultivating marketable tobacco and for his famous marriage to Pocahontas

Piligrims

est the Plymouth Colony

Puritans

est Massachusetts Bay colony

William Penn

The Quaker leader- founded the Province of Pennsylvania

Dutch West India Company

est New Netherlands (aka New York now)

Native American Tribes Role in Colonization

allies, adversities, and trading partners to European colonizer

Enslaved African’s Role in Colonization

developed colonies in the south

*their force labor contributed greatly to the economic growth of the colonies

Santa Maria, Pinta, Nina

first ships Christopher Columbus voyaged on across the Atlantic in 1492

Mayflower

ship that brought Pilgrims from England to Plymouth in 1620

Arabella

the flagship of the Winthrop Fleet

carried about 1,000 Puritans from England to Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630

Half Moon

captained by Henry Hudson on 1609

explored the Hudson River in NY

this caused the Dutch to claim the region and est New Netherland colony

Anne and Little James

ships brought more settler and supplies to struggling Plymouth Colony in 1623

Tax Without Representation

Sugar Act - 1764

Stamp Act - 1765

Tea Act - 1773

*To help pay for the French and Indian War

Intolerable Act 1774

The Intolerable Acts (known as the Coercive Acts in Britain) were a series of five punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774.

Designed to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party, they ultimately united the Thirteen Colonies, sparking the creation of the First Continental Congress and the Revolutionary War

Quartering Act 1765

British parliamentary laws passed in 1765 and 1774 that required American colonists to provide housing, food, and supplies to British soldiers

*Fueled Outrange of colonist

*Later was a response to the 3rd Amendment

Navigation Act

limited colonist trade to England ONLY

Proclamation of 1763

restricted colonist from settling West of the Appalachian

Continental Congress

First Continental Congress 1774: response to the intolerable act resulted in boycotting British goods

Second Continental Congress 1775: facto national gov to onset Rev War

Boston Massacre

March 5, 1770 between British soldiers and colonial residents in Boston lead up to the Rev War

Boston Tea Party

December 16, 1773

Angered by "taxation without representation" and the Tea Act, American colonists disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians, boarded British ships, and dumped 342 chests of tea into the harbor.

Sons of Liberty

a secret, underground network of American colonists formed in 1765 to protest unjust British taxes and policies

American Revolution War 1775- 1783

Start: growing political and economic tension between American colonies and British gov (tax w/o representation & self governance)

Started with Battles of Lexington & Concord on April 19, 1775

Key Battles & Turning Points: Battle of Saratoga 1777

End of War: Siege of Yorktown in Oct 1781

Declaration of Independence 1776

the foundational document severing the 13 American colonies' political ties with Great Britain. It asserted that all people have natural rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and justified the colonies' revolution against King George III.

Treaty of Paris

formally ended the American Revolutionary War and recognized the Thirteen Colonies as the free, sovereign, and independent United States of America

Role of Women in American Revolution

Women were crucial to the American Revolution, stepping far beyond traditional domestic roles. They fueled the war effort as political activists, fundraisers, nurses, and camp followers. Some operated directly on the front lines by spying, delivering intelligence, taking up arms, or even serving as disguised soldiers

Congress of Confederation 1781- 1789

was the first governing body of the United States under the Articles of Confederation.

Operating as a weak, unicameral legislature where each state had one vote, it lacked the power to tax or regulate trade,

ultimately leading to its replacement by the modern U.S. Congress

The Three-Fifths Compromise

It decided that three out of every five enslaved people would be counted toward a state's total population for determining political representation and taxation,

giving Southern slaveholding states disproportionately high political power in the House of Representatives

Article of Confederation

first constitution of the United States. Drafted in 1777 and ratified in 1781

• Power: Each state remained sovereign and independent. Any power not specifically given to the federal Congress belonged to the states.

• One-House Congress: There was no President and no federal court system. The national government consisted only of a legislature (Congress)

• Equal Representation: In Congress, every state received exactly one vote, regardless of its population or size.

  National Authority: Congress had the power to declare war, make peace, sign treaties, manage Native American affairs, and borrow money.

Constitutional Convention

Originally called to revise the weak Articles of Confederation, the 55 delegates instead chose to draft an entirely new U.S. Constitution.

This established a stronger central federal government featuring three separate branches and a system of checks and balances.

George Washington 1789 - 1797

First President

No political party

former military general

served 2 terms

John Adams 1797- 1801

2nd president

federalist

favored strong gov

served 1 term

Thomas Jefferson 1801- 1809

3rd president

democratic- republican

brokered the Louisiana Purchase

served 2 term

James Madison 1809- 1817

4th president

democratic- republican

president during War of 1812 & burning national capital

served 2 terms

Gold Rush

a period of mass migration where hundreds of thousands of people rushed to newly discovered goldfields.

The most famous was the California Gold Rush, which began in 1848 when gold was found at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California

Oregon Trail

a 2,000-mile overland wagon route connecting Missouri to Oregon's Willamette Valley

*better opportunities

Manifest Destiny

belief that US was destined by God to expand control and spread democracy across continent

The Louisiana Purchase 1803

a landmark land deal where the United States bought roughly 828,000 square miles of territory from France for $15 million .

It effectively doubled the size of the young U.S., opening up vast new frontiers for westward expansion and trade

Lewis and Clark Expedition 1804

a federally funded mission to explore the newly acquired western territories of the United States.

The Erie Canal 1825

a 363-mile artificial waterway stretching from Albany to Buffalo, New York .

It connected the Atlantic Ocean (via the Hudson River) to the Great Lakes ,

slashing shipping costs by 90% and transforming New York City into America's most vital commercial port

The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851

an agreement between the U.S. government and several Plains Native American tribes to secure safe passage for westward settlers.

It sought to establish defined tribal territories and reduce fighting

War of 1812

a two-and-a-half-year conflict between the United States and Great Britain .

Fought mostly over British interference with American trade, the forced recruitment of U.S. sailors into the Royal Navy (impressment), and British support for Native American resistance,

the war is often called America’s "Second War of Independence"

Antebellum Period

the era in U.S. history between the War of 1812 and the Civil War

Nat Turner’s Rebellion

a deadly slave uprising that took place in Southampton County, Virginia, in August 1831.

Led by an enslaved preacher named Nat Turner,

the two-day revolt resulted in the deaths of at least 55 white people, making it one of the largest and most significant insurrections in U.S. history

Civil War 1861-1865

a devastating internal conflict fought between the Northern states (the Union led by Abraham Lincoln) and 11 Southern states (the Confederacy led by Jefferson Davis)

• Slavery & Economics: The Northern economy was rapidly industrializing, while the Southern economy relied heavily on large plantations that depended on the brutal, unpaid labor of enslaved Black Americans.

• States' Rights: Southern states argued they had the authority to govern themselves and maintain slavery, while resisting federal interference.

• Lincoln's Election: The election of President Abraham Lincoln—who opposed the expansion of slavery into new territories—served as the breaking point

• passed the 13, 14, 15th amendment

Trail of Tears

the forced, deadly relocation of approximately 100,000 Indigenous people—including the Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole nations—to lands west of the Mississippi River. Driven by the Indian Removal Act of 1830, this catastrophic event resulted in the deaths of over 15,000 Native Americans from starvation, disease, and exposure

Industrial Revolution 1750’s

a historic shift from agrarian, handcraft-based economies to mechanized, industry-driven ones

Key Figures in the Industrial Revolution

Andrew Carnegie: steel

John D. Rockefeller: oil

Karl Marx: worker revolution

Eli Whitney: cotton gin

Impacts of the Industrial Revolution

child labor

poor sanitation

the slave trade

Suffragette Movement

a decades-long, global campaign to win women the legal right to vote in public elections

Chinese Exclusion Act 1882

suspended the immigration of Chinese laborers (skilled or unskilled) for a period of 10 years.

The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890

the foundational U.S. law passed by Congress to promote economic fairness and regulate interstate commerce.

It outlaws anti-competitive business practices by prohibiting companies from colluding to control markets and banning monopolies that unfairly restrict trade or manipulate prices

The Federal Reserve Act of 1913

created the Federal Reserve System (the Fed) as the central banking system of the United States. Signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson,

the act was designed to prevent devastating financial panics by regulating the money supply and serving as a secure "lender of last resort" for the nation's banks

World War I (Great War) 1914- 1918

a global conflict fought between two main coalitions: the Allied Powers and the Central Powers.

It was triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and ended with an Allied victory, resulting in the collapse of four major empires and the restructuring of global borders

• Allied Powers: Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Japan, and later, the United States.

• Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria.

• Woodrow Wilson was the President during the war

Espionage Act

U.S. federal law originally passed during World War I that makes it a crime to share, gather, or lose sensitive national defense information in a way that could harm the United States or help a foreign adversary

(Don’t go around sharing secrets)

Schenck vs. United States

the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment does not protect speech that creates a "clear and present danger" of causing harm

Treaty of Versailles

the primary peace settlement that officially ended World War I.

It forced a defeated Germany to accept total blame for the war, surrender valuable territory, drastically reduce its military, and pay massive financial penalties to the victorious Allied powers

The Roaring 20’s (1920’s)

an era of profound economic boom, rapid mass consumerism, and dramatic social change in the United States.

Following the trauma of World War I, the decade became famous for flappers, jazz music, illegal alcohol, and an explosion in popular culture

The Harlem Renaissance

a golden age of African American cultural expression in the 1920s and 1930s.

Centered in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City ,

it was a massive outpouring of art, literature, and music that celebrated Black heritage, challenged racist stereotypes, and laid the groundwork for the civil rights movement

The Great Depression 1929- 1939

the longest and most severe economic downturn in modern history .

Triggered by the 1929 stock market crash , it caused widespread bank failures, mass unemployment (reaching 25% in the U.S.), and severe poverty,

ultimately ending when increased military production for World War II stimulated the economy

Stock Market Crash 1929

a sudden, severe drop in stock prices that wipes out billions in value

The Dust Bowl 1930’s

a severe environmental disaster in the 1930s .

Caused by over-farming and severe drought , millions of acres of topsoil in the Great Plains blew away in massive "black blizzards".

This destroyed farms, crippled the economy , and caused the largest migration in U.S. history

New Deal 1933- 1939

a series of economic programs, public work projects, and financial reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt . Designed to pull the U.S. out of the Great Depression

Relief

Recovery

Reform

The Securities and Exchange Act of 1934

federal law created to govern the secondary trading of securities (like stocks and bonds) and ensure market fairness.

World War II 1939- 1945

a global conflict fought between two major coalitions:

Axis powers (primarily Germany, Japan, and Italy)

Allies (primarily the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and China) .

It is recognized as the deadliest and most widespread conflict in human history.

*unresolved tensions from World War I, the severe economic struggles of the Great Depression, and the aggressive rise of totalitarian regimes in Germany, Italy, and Japan

The Cold War 1945-1990

an intense geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle between the capitalist United States (Western Bloc) and the communist Soviet Union (Eastern Bloc).

Truman Doctrine 1947

U.S. foreign policy established to contain the spread of communism during the Cold War.

It pledged that the United States would provide political, military, and economic assistance to any democratic nation under threat from authoritarian or external forces

Marshall Plan 1948

officially the European Recovery Program

was to rebuild war-torn regions, remove trade barriers, modernize European industry, and prevent the spread of communism.

By providing financial assistance, the U.S. also aimed to revive global trade and support stable democracies in Western Europe

Berlin Airlift 1948

a massive Allied effort to supply West Berlin by air after the Soviet Union blockaded all land and water routes into the city

North Atlantic Treaty Organization 1949

a political and military alliance of 32 member countries from North America and Europe.

Its primary goal is to safeguard the freedom and security of its members through cooperation, diplomacy, and collective defense

The Arms Race 1949

a competition between two or more countries to build up their military forces, increase weapon stockpiles, and achieve technological superiority.

The most famous example is the Cold War nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union,

Warsaw Pact 1955

a political and military alliance established in 1955 between the Soviet Union and several Eastern European countries

The Space Race 1957

a 20th-century Cold War competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to achieve superior spaceflight capability

Bay of Pigs Invasion 1961

a failed CIA-sponsored military landing in April 1961 by Cuban exiles.

Aimed at overthrowing Fidel Castro's communist regime, the operation quickly collapsed when the exiles faced overwhelming resistance, no popular uprising materialized, and vital U.S. air support was canceled

Cuban Missile Crisis 1962

a tense, 13-day confrontation in October 1962 between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

It brought the world to the brink of nuclear war after the U.S. discovered the Soviets secretly installing nuclear missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles from American shore

Anti- Ballistic Missile Treaty 1972

prohibited both nations from building nationwide defense systems to shoot down incoming nuclear missiles .

This ensured that neither side could launch a nuclear attack without the threat of devastating retaliation

Intermediate Range Nuclear Force Treaty 1987

Cold War agreement between the U.S. and the Soviet Union that banned all ground-launched missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers .

It was historic for being the first arms-control pact to completely abolish an entire class of nuclear weapons

Civil Rights Movement

a mass struggle for social justice in the United States .

Black Americans, alongside allies, fought to end institutionalized racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement .

By employing nonviolent protest, marches, and civil disobedience , they successfully secured landmark federal civil rights legislation

Jim Crow Laws

any state or local statute enacted in the United States that mandated and enforced racial segregation

Marbury vs. Madison 1803

Landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that established the principle of judicial review.

It declared that the Supreme Court has the ultimate authority to determine whether laws passed by Congress or actions by the President are constitutional, and to void them if they violate the U.S. Constitution

McCulloch vs. Maryland 1819

a foundational Supreme Court case where the Court established that the U.S. Constitution grants Congress "implied powers" to create a national bank, and that individual states cannot tax federal institutions

Gibbons vs. Ogden 1824

a landmark Supreme Court case that gave the federal government sole power to regulate interstate commerce (business between states).

Dred Scott vs. Sandford 1857

the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that enslaved and free African Americans were not citizens and had no right to sue in federal court.

Plessy vs. Ferguson 1896

upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the "separate but equal" doctrine

Legislative Branch

Article I of Constitution

responsible for creating laws, declaring war, controlling taxing and spending policies, and overseeing the executive branch

Congress, State Legislate, City Council

Executive Branch

Article II of Constitution

responsible for carrying out, managing, and enforcing the laws passed by Congress

President, Governor, Mayor

Judicial Branch

Article III of Constitution

the part of government that interprets the laws, applies them to specific cases, and determines whether they violate the Constitution

serves as a check on the legislative and executive branch

US Supreme Court, State Supreme Court, Municipal Courts

Reserved Powers

10th Amendment

power given beyond federal point (state/ regional)

Separation of Powers

legislative

executive

judicial