History Final

Christopher Columbus

What: He began Western Conquest to Asia and found Cuba but called it India and cam back to Europe, Spain, telling everyone he had met Indians and showed them the food he brought back.

When: 1492, final voyage 1498

Where: originally from Italy, got ships from Spain, Found Cuba but didn’t know it was America.

Why: Spain began to direct more resources to expeditions of the Americas because of Columbus, led to America as a whole.

Jamestown

Who: Queen Elizabeth I’s rise to power and strong leadership provided a sense of nationalism in England, made them want to compete with Spain to colonize the new World.
What: Colony in the New World, the first enduring English settlement in the Americas.
When: 1607
Where: Jamestown, Virginia
Why: Showed England that successful colonies were possible and encouraged them to create more, causing England to gain more colonial and sea power than Spain.

Puritans

Who: became an entity because The Catholic Church had become a pawn for England’s royalty because of Henry VIII becoming Head of the Church. They were people who wanted to purify the Church and wanted to improve it from within.
What: Purify the church, improve the church from within.
When: 1603
Where: England
Why: This caused heavy discontent and led to many Puritans seeking refuge from the King’s rule.

Protestant Reformation

Who: Martin Luther, John Calvin
What: challenged beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church.
When: 1517 - began, 1520 - Martin Luther excommunicated
Where: Germany, France
Why: These different denominations took social and political power from the church and gave more political diversity to Western Europe.

Mayflower Compact

Who: 35 Saints (puritans) and 67 strangers (non-members of church)
What: Landed and named settlement Plymouth. When the settlers realized the land was out of the jurisdiction of their charter, they signed the Mayflower Compact.
When: 1620
Where: Cape Cod
Why: Established a civil government and claimed allegiance to the king of England - Compact gave pilgrims power over themselves with a civil government while still protecting themselves from England by declaring their allegiance.

Virginia House of Burgesses

Who: Englishmen
What: Various community delegates met, marking the first meeting of elected legislature in what would be the US
When: July 30, 1619
Where: Virginia
Why: Gave cohesive power to elected legislature of colonies making it the first step towards becoming the government we have in the US today.

John and Charles Wesley

Who: John/Charles Wesley
What: traveled to spread their religious beliefs.
When: 1730s
Where: Georgia-other colonies.
Why: The pair’s preaching in part caused the Great Awakening in America, which was a time of great religious diversity and secularism.

Great Awakening

Who: women and younger sons
What: first major revival in the colonies
When: 1730s-40s
Where: colonies
Why: many people ended up breaking away from families to start a new life. The awakening eventually led to the major religious split between old ight and new light traditionalists and revivalists.

The Enlightenment

Who: John Locke and Francis Bacon
What: stressed the importance of science and human reason, pushing against religion. used the ideas from John and Francis. - humans have control of our own lives, sense of good and bad without God.
When: seventeenth century
Where: both England and the colonies
Why: most used the Enlightenment to separate themselves from religion and caused a surge of people to abandon their faith for science.

Boston Tea Party

Who: 3 companies of 50 men
What: went on three ships and dumped the tea into the harbor
When: Dec 16, 1773
Where: Boston, MA
Why: Reignited passion about taxation without representation, happened because the Tea Act placed taxes on tea. Philly and NY kept tea from leaving harbors too.

Coercive Acts

Who: Great Britain
What: Legislation started with the Quebec Act meant to provide a civil government for the French speaking Roman Catholics of Canada and Illinois county. It granted rights to Roman Catholics and recognized the church.
When: 1774
Where: America
Why: Caused widespread anger among the colonists, which pushed them significantly closer to the American Revolution.

Benjamin Franklin

Who: Representative of Pennsylvania, Georgia, NJ, and MA
What: Agent sent to England by colonial assemblies to lobby for American Interests
When: 1750s
Where:
Why: Gave power to colonial legislatures

Sons of Liberty

Who: Samuel Adams
What: made sure colonists respected boycotts and other resistances to make sure they were effective. - part of boston tea party.
When: 1765
Where: Many of the 13 colonies
Why: they helped to undermine British rule and paved the way for American independence

Samuel Adams

Who: Sam Adams
What: created and became the first head of the committee of correspondence.
When: 1772
Where: New England
Why: signer of the Declaration of Independence, framer of the Articles of Confederation, which established the governing laws of the United States before the Constitution, Adams's leadership during the Stamp Act Crisis of 1765 solidified his influence in the movement against Parliamentary taxation.

Articles of Confederation

Who: Written by John Dickinson
What: Written as the country’s first constitution.
When: 1777
Where: America
Why: This set the US up for failure as it made Congress weak and did a poor job of outlining how America’s government could operate.

Common Sense

Who: Thomas Paine
What: blamed King of England for America’s hardships and called for the American colonies to separate from England to become their own government.
When: 1776
Where: Spread throughout America
Why: Turned colonial anger from British Parliament to the English Constitution because they believed it to be unfair and the root of all the political problems facing England and the colonies.

Thomas Jefferson

Who: Thomas Jefferson
What: Wrote most of the US Declaration of Independence
When: 18th century
Where: Colonies
Why: changed John Locke’s “Life, liberty, and property” to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

John Locke

Who:
What: Lockean theory- Governments were meant to protect life, liberty, and property. Believed governments were formed to protect the rights of life, liberty and property.
When: Pre-declaration of independence- died 1704
Where: England
Why: These beliefs were main ideas in the Declaration of Independence.

Bill of Rights

Who: Antifederalists fighting to have a bill of rights added to the Constitution, many Federalists began to get on board because they believed it was essential to legitimize the government to other countries
What: The first nine limited the government’s power (freedom of speech, religion, etc.), while the last gave the states any powers not explicitly given to Congress.
When: 1789 12 amendments proposed 1791 10 ratified
Where: America
Why: Guaranteed the very basic fundamental freedoms we have today. Key Factor in securing widespread support for the new Constitution, remaining as the foundation and cornerstone of American liberties.

Checks and Balances

Who:
What: refers to a system in government where each branch (legislative, executive, and judicial) has the ability to limit or control the actions of the other branches
When:
Where:
Why:

Federal Structure

Who:
What: a system of government where power is divided between a central, national government and smaller regional governments
When:
Where:
Why:

Separation of Powers

Who:
What:
When:
Where:
Why: to prevent one branch of government from becoming too powerful

Federalist Papers

Who: Essays written by Hamilton, Madison, and John Jay
What: The essays urged the ratification of the United States Constitution
When: Published 1788
Where: America
Why: Explained the meaning and virtues of the Constitution

Great Compromise

Who: Southern States
What: the states’ electoral votes would have equal votes in the upper house, the great compromise included each black person is worth 3/5 of a person toward a state’s population count. southern states wanted the boost to their population, but did not want to pay taxes on the extra population
When: July 16th, 1787
Where: Southern States
Why: established the structure of the legislative branch of the United States government

Alexander Hamilton

Who: Political genius and aide to General Washington.
What: Unhappy with Articles of Confederation, called for convention to overhaul entire document. This is the Philadelphia convention.
When: 1786
Where: Philadelphia
Why: Led to divided convention and the gathering of the founding fathers to debate the future of America’s constitution.

John Marshall

Who: figure in history of American law, Chief justice at time of marbury v madison.
When: appointed 1801
What: Shaped many important rulings as a leading Federalist and prominent Virginia lawyer. He was a dominant figure of the court and he established the judiciary as a branch of government coequal with the executive and legislative branches.
Where: Washington, DC
Why: Established the Judiciary branch to be equal to the Executive and Legislative branches.

Marbury vs. Madison

Who: William Marbury
What: The court ruled that Marbury was entitled to his commission, but that they could not force Madison to deliver it.
When: 1803
Where: District of columbia, Supreme court, deeming something unconstitutional
Why: This set a precedent that allowed the Supreme Court to nullify acts of Congress, which gave them a new power that put the judicial branch at the same level as the Executive and Legislative branches in the US.

Missouri Compromise

Who:
What: Maine wanted to come in at the same time as Missouri as a free state, Maine would be admitted as a free state and Missouri as a slave.
When: 1819
Where: Missouri and Maine
Why: Established 36’30 parallel

Henry Clay

Who: Speaker of the House
What: Clay was known as the "Great Compromiser" for his efforts to reduce conflict between the North and South. He played a key role in negotiating the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850, which delayed the Civil War for a decade.
When: Stated Above
Where: Stated AboveN
Why: Started American System - Wanted to raise protective tariffs, strengthen the national bank, and financing internal improvements to create a better home market for farmers and factory workers.

Nullification

Who: John C. Calhoun
What: The theory of deeming Congress’s laws unconstitutional.
When: late 1820s, 1828 wrote nullification doctrine
Where: America, South Carolina
Why: This caused large arguments over who would nullify laws, as well as state vs. Federal powers.

Caroliniaians were thinking of seceding so he, as senator, tried to find a way around it in nullification so the states could decide not to listen to the tariff. This is important because it grew in South Carolina rapidly but it did not help Calhoun because of his rival in Martin Van Buren. Nullification was put down when Andrew Jackson got permission to invade south Carolina and the why of nullification came because it was the first time state and federal rights almost started a civil war.

Andrew Jackson

Who:
What:
When:
Where:
Why:

Frederick Douglass

Who: a slave who escaped from Maryland to Massachusetts in 1838
What: published “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” in 1845, He became one of the most prominent abolitionists in Massachusetts, then in the country.
When: 1838 escaped, 1845 published narrative, 1847 bought freedom.
Where: Escaped from Maryland to Massachusettes
Why: His book brought to light the harsh realities of slavery and caused more people to want an immediate end to slavery instead of a gradual one. It also began a wave of violence towards abolitionists.

William Lloyd Garrison

Who: Assistant to quaker in NJ
What: started The Liberator (newspaper), Thought opponents of slavery should view from the perspective of a black man, Talked about damage to Africans rather than white society
When: 1831 started newspaper,
Where: NY/Boston
Why: popularized the need for immediate, as opposed to gradual, abolition of slavery.

Compromise of 1850

Who: Single piece of legislation holding: Admissions of California as a free state, Formation of territorial governments in the rest of the lands acquired from Mexico (without restriction on slavery).
What: Henry Clay believed all the issues needed to be settled at once so he took several measures previously proposed separately and put them together in one bill. Stephen Douglass stepped up and proposed each peace of legislature separately.
When: 1850
Where: Senate
Why: Admitted California as a free state and let the Mexico territory be slave territory, Abolished the slave trade in DC.

Long lasting effect: Amended the Fugitive Slave Act.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Who: Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois
What: The Kansas-Nebraska Act, a law that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska and allowed the residents to decide whether to permit slavery using popular sovereignty.
When: May 30, 1854
Where: Kansas and Nebraska
Why: stressed tensions of slavery and north and south divisions again.

Popular Sovereignty

Who: Stephen A. Douglass’ influence
What: allowed the people of each territory to decide the status of slavery. Issues remained unsolved during the time of president Polk.
When: 1840s
Where: Kansas-Nebraska
Why: Allowed individual state legislatures to decide the status of slavery.

Emancipation Proclamation

Who: Lincoln
What: This freed the slaves in the south, but not in states under Union control because they were not subject to Lincoln’s war powers.
When: January 1st 1863
Where: Union/Confederacy
Why: The proclamation was a show of Union power that gave power to antislavery groups and confirmed what the Civil War was actually about: Slavery.

Radical Republicans

Who: led by Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania and Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts.
What: Wanted confederate civil and military leaders to be punished, many southern whites to be disenfranchised, legal rights of former slaves to be protected, property of southerners who aided the confederacy to be confiscated, and to grant suffrage to former slaves.
When: 1863-64
Where: America
Why: They got congress to deny seats to representatives from the three reconstructed states and refused to count the electoral vote of those states in the election of 1864

Carpetbaggers

Who: White men from the north who served as republican leaders in the south.
What: The name carpetbaggers was meant to highlight them being poor and having all of their possessions within a carpetbag. Many of them were actually middle class.
When: 1865 for two decades
Where: Southern U.S.
Why:vets of the union army who looked to the south as a new frontier. Settled there as hopeful planters, business, or professional people. sought to promote Republican politics.
They infiltrated southern politics is the biggest part.

Atlanta Compromise

Who: a prominent African American educator and leader
What: A speech that outlined Washington's strategy for addressing racial tensions in the South
When: September 18, 1895
Where: Atlanta, Georgia
Why: aiming to ease racial tensions in the South by focusing on practical skills rather than immediate political and social equality.