Lecture 5: Background (Settlements, Colonizations, and the Conquestion-Expansion)

people first crossed over the Bering land bridge ____ years ago

7000

as people first moved in to habitats, what happened?

rapid extinction of Pleistocene megafauna

animals in the old world _____ with human beings, which was not the case in North America

co-evolved

what crop did those who settled in the first nation bred?

corn

what were the significant crops of the first nations?

maize, squash, and beans

Native Americans had a mixed _______-_________ and ______-_______ farming lifestyle north of the Valley of Mexico

hunter-gatherer, low intensity

in 1400, the Amerindian population was ___ million or so in the territory that is now the US

5

by 1700, the Amerindian population was about __________

750,000

by 1900, the Amerindian population was about ________

300,000

why was the switch made from indentured servitude to slavery?

The frontier meant that there was available land west, so indentured servitude became an unreliable institution for getting people to the Chesapeake

in 1750, the settler population is __ times larger

25

in 1750, there are _____ slaves

300,000

what does the Royal Proclamation attempt to do?

regularize the Empire (regularize institutions- growing British antislavery movement), start to tax American colonies, control navigation, and diminish British commitments

the Royal Proclamation of 1763 was the result of

the French and Indian War

what does the Royal Proclamation of 1763 say?

says that if the river flows west, people cannot settle there (people could not settle west of the Appalachian Mountains)

forbade settlers from claiming land from aboriginals unless it was first bought by Britain and then sold to them

what was the result of the Royal Proclamation of 1763?

revolution

settler populations wanted to expand and did not want taxation without representation

99% of settler interactions with Amerindians were

peaceful

settler population was growing at a rate of __% per year and doubling every __ years

3.2, 21

in what was were settler and Amerindian interactions peaceful and productive?

from settlers

• iron tools from Eurasia

• glass beads, ribbons, decorative arts

• linen, cotton, wool

• horses

from Amerindians

• furs

• supplies

• technological ecological knowledge

what were the peaceful, but not productive interactions with Amerindians?

firearms and ammunition

alcohol

tobacco

________ were a dominant power in North America for 50 years (did not want to anger them)

Irinakhoiw

what were the two reasons the Irinakhow waged wars?

mourning wars

beaver wars

mourning wars

cultural complex

if one member of your tribe died, Iroquois would set out on a raid to capture people and adopt them into the tribe as a low-status person (no social network)

made worse by European diseases as more members of the tribe die

beaver wars

French, English, and Dutch merchants were willing to pay a lot for fur

Iroquois waged war to control the beaver trade

Iroquois look to the ______ as their ally because they could arm them

British

Manifest Destiny

the idea that there were unused resources

there would be plenty of land for all if only Native Americans would settle down and adopt European farming techniques

America had a destiny to take the land from Indians

resource grab society

There are resources to grab - standard logic of domination

the classic notion that if you control the resources, you control the people does not work here because there are ample resources

frontier closed in

1880

what was the religious aspect of Manifest Destiny?

America was the “New Israel”

the expansion of the United States across North America was divinely ordained by God

west-ward movement was a God-given mission to spread civilization, democracy, and christianity

how is Manifest Destiny related to the idea of American exceptionalism?

plays into the idea that America was a nation uniquely chosen by God

what are the two things people saw Andrew Jackson doing as great?

1. Jackson marched to victory over Creek and Cherokee at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815

2. wealthy elites were buying up farm land, and America of opportunity and enterprise was being closed off by internal enemies (Philadelphia financiers, corrupt Washington politicians, manufacturing oligarchs, etc.) and Jackson was going to fight them

why was there labor scarcity? how did this lead to slavery?

post-Amerindian removal, labor was valuable (high wages) so a cheap labor source was slaves

prior to the cotton gin, slavery was

naturally on its way out

1807, Jefferson outlawed

the slave trade (cheap supply of enslaved persons ended in 1808)

why did slavery not “naturally” end when it was on its way out?

plantation like production meant repetitive tasks

a big market

Eli Whitney’s cotton gin

how did Eli Whitney’s cotton gin entrench slavery?

reduces total labor cost of cotton production