US History Exam

Aztec, Inca, Maya

What are the 3 Pre-columbian civilizations?

Aztec

located in Central Mexico

• Capital: Tenochtitlan

• conquered people were the basis of immense wealth

• ruled for 100 years

• caco beans (chocolate)

• defeated by Hernan Cortes in 1521

Inca

located in Andes Mountains

• Machu Pichu

• known for their stone building and architecture and math (quipu)

• centralized government

• defeated by Francisco Pizarro in 1532

Maya

located in South Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras

• complex hieroglyphics, astronomy, religious rites, time (calender)

• collapse due to drought/overpopulation/Spanish conquest

Columbian Exchange

massive post-1492 of plants, animals, culture, and diseases between Americas and Afro-Eurasia

• disease

• plants/crops

  • potatoes, corn, tomatoes - New World

  • wheat, rice, sugarcane, coffee - Old World

• animals

  • horse, cattle, pigs, sheep - Old World

• people/labor

  • depopulation of NA, brought in enslaved Africans for labor

Roanoke

1585

• known as the “lost colony”

• Governor John White and families settled there

• 3 years later, no settler was found and only CROATOAN was engraved on a tree

Jamestown

established 1607

• Virginia colony

• did not invest skills in farming, so food was scarce

• after 1st year, 38 out of 144 survived

• John Smith

• held first democratically elected legislative body

• origin of slavery in U.S

• cultivation of tobacco (John Rolfe) important export

Plymouth

established 1620

• Pilgrims from the Mayflower settled

• Mayflower Compact of 1620: decision to rule themselves,

  • leading to tradition of self-rule → town meetings and elected legislatures in New England area

Pilgrim

• Separatists

  • separate from the Church of England as they viewed too corrupt

• arrived on the Mayflower, establishing PlymouthColony

• working class

• cooperative with local indigenous people (Wampanoag), formed first Thanksgiving

Puritans

• Reformers - stayed within Church of England but purify all Catholic practices

• established Massachusetts Bay Colony (in Boston)

• wealthier, well-educated

• founded Harvard

• pused out Native American tribes, “City on a Hill”

Massachusetts Bay Colony

established 1630

• Puritans came over on Arbella

• Governor John Winthrop

• “City on a Hill”

• elected legislature, self-government, clergy

• founded Harvard

Great Puritan Migration

mass exodus of ~20,000 English Puritans who fled religious persecution and political oppression in England to establish a Bible commonwealth in New England, primarily in Massachusetts Bay Colony

Quakers

• members of a Protestant Christian movement founded in 17th century England

• belief in “Inner Light”

  • the presence of God within every person

• sought refuge in colony of Pennsylvania in 1681 under William Penn

• first group of people to oppose slavery and women’s rights

• pacifism

headright system

• Virginia and Maryland operated under this system

• granted 50 acres of land to any colonist who paid for another person’s Atlantic passage

  • incentivizing importation of indentured servants => fueling tobacco economy

• first major start of social inequality, shift to slavery

Bacon’s Rebellion 1676

Nathaniel Bacon led settlers against Gov. William Berkley due to lack of protection on dangerous western lands due to land being taken by elite planters for tobacco

• significance: elite planters started using more slaves for labor than indentured servants due their new “reputation” after rebellion

Mercantilism

economic theory from 16th-18th century where European powers (Great Britain) regulated colonies economies to maximize national wealth and state power

• colonies would provide raw materials (tobacco, timber, furs)

• colonies were prohibted to manufacture own finished goods, had to purchase them from G. B.

led to enforcement of Navigation Acts

• colonial exports could only be transported on British ships and all imports to go through British ports

Staple crops

• New England: corn, beans, squash

• Middle colonies: wheat, barley

• Southern colonies: tobacco, rice, indigo

Indentured servitude

• came from the headright system

• fare was paid across the Atlantic paid in full by their master

• contract of 5 years where servant would be supplied room and board while working in the master’s fields

• after completion of contract, servant would have “freedom dues” and termination bonus (money, clothes, food)

• quickly became abused system and led to Bacon’s Rebellion 1676

Slavery

• brought via Middle Passage due to Europe/America trade network

• performed unpaid physical labor

• 1690: bound labor, based on race, lifetime service

• continuous mistreatment of African slaves

Middle Passage

brutal, forced voyage of enslaved Africans across Atlantic Ocean to Americas

• middle leg of the triangular trade network linking European manufactured goods, Africa’s captive labor, America’s raw materials

Slave Codes

laws passed by colonies to restrict slaves’ behaviors for fear of rebellion (up to each colony)

• common: slavers were not allowed to own property, not allowed to assemble without white person, special curfews

First Great Awakening

massive transatlantic religious revival through American colonies 1730-1740

• George Whitefield: igniting the Awakening

• Jonathon Edwards: ”Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”

• Gilbert Tennet: intense experiential faith

Enlightenment

began in Europe “Age fo Reason

• Isaac Newton & John Locke were challenging old order

  • Newton: gravity laws

  • Locke: people to change gov that don’t protect life, liberty, property

• Jean-Jacques Rosseau: general will of people

• Bearon de Montesquieu: power should not be in one person’s hands

• beginnings of forming Declaration of Independence, Constitution

French and Indian War

aka Seven Year’s War

• fought for control of resource-rich Ohio River Valley (fur and fertile land)

• GB and Iroquois Confederacy v. France and Algonquinn, Shawnee, Huron

• GB won, ending French influence in America (France moved to Canada)

• ended with the Treaty of Paris

• brought the first sense of nationalism as it united colonies

Treaty of Paris

treaty that ended French and Indian War

• very harsh on France

  • all French territory on mainland of North America were lost

  • British received Quebec and Ohio Valley

• New Orleans and Louisiana Territory were ceded to Spain

Royal Proclamation of 1763

• issued by the British government as a way to deal with the new lands rewarded after Treaty of Paris

• declared boundaries of settlement for 13 colonies

• brought disputes for Americans already settled in the West

• contributed to more resentment from colonists against the British leading to impending revolution

British taxation

• brought on by consequence of French and Indian/Seven’s Year war

• English paid mor ein taxes, but Americans paid in more sweat/labor as they cleared all of the land and provided a lot of soldiers to fight

• Stamp Act

• Currency Act

• Sugar Act

• Quartering Act

Stamp Act of 1765

• first direct tax act put on colonies by British Parliament

• required all printed materials (legal documents, newspapers, palying cards, dice) produced on stamped London paper

• “no taxation without representation!”

Quartering Act

• act that required the American colonies to provide food and shelter for British troops sparking outrage

Samuel Adams

• a major politcal organizer drove colonies toward declaring independence

• chaired Boston town meeting that preceded the infamous Boston Tea Party

• served as an acting member of Sons of Liberty

John Adams

• wrote the resistance message sent to King George III

• a member of the committee of 5 who drafted the Declaration of Independence

• later the 2nd President of the United States

Boston Tea Party

1773

• act of protest by American colonies where they boycotted tea (due to Tea tax)

• dumped 342 tea chests overboard

John Hancock

• famous signature on Declaration of Independence

• major founding father

Paul Revere

• silversmith

• famous midnight ride warning that the British are coming

• illustrator of the Boston Massacre

• engraved the names of 92 assembly men who stood p to Parliament

Townshend Acts

passed by British Parliament 1767

• four laws that taxed everyday goods imported into the colonies

  • glass, lead, paint, paper, tea

  • aimed to raise revenue to pay royal officials and enforce Bristish control

• inspired organizations: Daughters of Liberty and culminating directly to the Boston Massacre

Boston Massacre

March 5, 1770

• Due to rising tensions over Townshend Acts and frequent rioting and boycot, Redcoats were ordered to move to Boston

• angry mob of 60 Boston townspeople attacked Bristish guard at Customs house

• lots of bloodshed

• Crispus Attacks (former slave) was killed

• taught that British would use force to keep colonies in line

Intolerable Acts

acts passed by British Parliament

• Boston Port Act

  • Boston Harbor port was closed to trade until owners of tea (from Boston tea party) were compensated

  • only firewood and food were permitted to port, towns meeting were banned

• Mass. Government Act

  • better regulating govenment of Massachusettes Bay

• Administration of Justice Act

  • impartial administration of justice by execution of the law or for the suppression of riots and tumults

• Quebec Act

  • recognized Roman Catholic church as the established church in Quebec, appointed council will make decisions for the colony

  • boundary of Quebec was extended into the Ohio Valley

  • extended Canadian borders, cutting off Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Virginia

Sons and Daughters of Liberty

Sons

• formed in response to Stamp Act

• threats and intimidation

• correspondence

• troublemakers at best

Daughters

• held mass spinning bees to make up natural textile shortage due to tax acts

• instrumental in holding up the boycott of purchasing goods

First Continental Congress

September 5, 1774

convened in Philadelphia

• everyone showed up except GA

• set up organization called, Association

• declaration of colonial rights were drafted and sent to London

• debated about defining the colonies’ relationship with motherland England

Second Continental Congress

May 1775 in Philadelphia

• happened after the Battle of Lexington and Concord

• creation of Continental Army (app. George Washington to be supreme commander)

• authorized the printing of money

• standing committee to conduct relationsiwth froeign governemnts

Common Sense

• written by Thomas Paine

• Main points:

  • independence from England

  • creation of a democratic republic

Declaration of Independence

• written by 5 people ( including Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson)

• 3 parts

  • simple state of intent (all men are created equal etc.)

  • list of grievances

  • officially dissolves ties with Britain

• ends with signatures → famous John Hancock