Key Concepts in American History and Identity

This set of flashcards covers key concepts from American history, national identity, and significant events as outlined in the lecture, aiding in understanding the evolution of American political and cultural narratives.

Nation

A social construct; imagined community created through shared stories, symbols, rituals and beliefs.

Identity

Meanings constructed through shared relations and cultural, historical contexts.

National Identity

Division of public identities around the world based on birthplace and religion.

Myth

National narratives that serve as references for national identity and character.

American Exceptionalism

The belief that Americans have a unique destiny distinct from other nations.

American Civil Religion

A predominantly secular belief system intertwined with politics.

Founding Myth

A narrative explaining the origins of a society, often addressing existential questions.

Columbus Voyage

The 1492 expedition leading to European exploration and colonization of the Americas.

Jamestown

The first permanent English settlement in North America, established in 1607.

Pilgrims Landing

The signing of the Mayflower Compact in Plymouth Colony in 1620.

Stamp Act

The 1765 British tax that mobilized colonist protests, leading to 'no taxation without representation'.

Second Continental Congress

Delegates that directed the Revolutionary War and acted as a national government starting in 1775.

Declaration of Independence

The 1776 document declaring colonies' independence from Britain.

American Revolution

The 1775-1783 conflict between colonial forces and Britain, leading to U.S. independence.

Trail of Tears

The forced westward removal of Cherokee nations under U.S. policies causing thousands of deaths. 1830s

Mexican–American War

1846-1848 conflict leading to U.S. acquisition of territories and intensified slavery debates.

Transcontinental Railroad

Completed in 1869; linked the Atlantic and Pacific, accelerating settlement and resource extraction.

American Civil War

1861-1865 conflict over slavery and states’ rights resulting in Union victory and the formal end of slavery.

13th Amendment

The 1865 amendment abolishing slavery and involuntary servitude in the U.S.

Reconstruction Period

1865-1877 efforts to reintegrate Southern states and protect formerly enslaved people's rights.

Wounded Knee Massacre

1890 massacre marking the end of the Plains Indian Wars → US soldiers killed hundreds of indegenious people.This event symbolized the violent suppression of Native American resistance and resulted in significant losses for Indigenous communities. .

Jim Crow Era

late 1800-mid 1900 Period enforcing racial segregation and voting restrictions in Southern states.

The Great Migration

Mass movement of African Americans from the South to Northern cities between 1915-1930.

WWI U.S. Involvement

The U.S. entered the First World War in 1917, tipping the balance toward victory.

Women’s Suffrage

The 1920 amendment barring voter discrimination based on sex, empowering women politically.

Stock Market Crash of 1929

A dramatic decline in share prices that triggered the Great Depression.

The Great Depression

A period of severe economic downturn in the U.S. from 1929 to the late 1930s.

Social Security Act

1935 law providing pensions and unemployment insurance, foundational to the welfare state.

WWII U.S. Involvement

The U.S. entered WWII after Pearl Harbor, becoming a dominant industrial and military power.

Pearl Harbor Attack

The 1941 surprise attack by Japan that drew the U.S. into WWII.

Cold War

Post-WWII ideological conflict between the U.S. and the Soviet Union (c. 1947–1991).

Vietnam War

U.S. involvement in South Vietnam from the 1960s to 1973 aiming to stop communism.

Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965

Laws outlawing segregation and protecting voting rights, enhancing racial equality.

MLK Jr. Assassination

The 1968 murder of Martin Luther King Jr. that shocked the nation.

McCarthy Era

Early 1950s period of anti-communist investigation led by Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Cuban Missile Crisis

1962 standoff over Soviet missiles in Cuba, edging the world close to nuclear war.

September 11 Attacks

2001 terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center, altering U.S. security policy.

USA PATRIOT Act

2001 law expanding surveillance and law enforcement powers post-9/11.

Black Lives Matter (BLM)

A movement against systemic racism and police brutality, active since 2013.

Trump Presidency

Characterized by nationalism and immigration restrictions, contributing to political polarization.

Frontier Myth

Defining idea in American identity linked to westward expansion and pioneer struggles.

-        Defining ideas in American identity

-        Began with the story of pilgrims and puritans overcoming hardship

-        Ingrained the American cultural immigration by 19h century westward expansion

Puritans and Pilgrims

Separatists seeking religious freedom who played a key role in early American settlements.

-        Separatists from the church of England seeking religious freedom -> settlement in Plymouth

-        Extinction and forced removal of indigenous people seen as gods work

-        Key figures: Squanto (native translator) and Massasoit (chief of the Wampanoag) -> 50 years of peace; improvement of the relationships; first Thanksgiving

-        Puritans: reformers of the church of England, led by John Winthrop 10years after the Pilgrims

-        Violence and massacres of Pequots -> increasing doubt whether America was the promised land

Squanto

Native American translator aiding Pilgrims in Plymouth, symbolizing intercultural relations.

Massasoit

Wampanoag chief known for peace negotiations with the Pilgrims.

Frederick Jackson Turner

Proposed the Frontier Thesis, linking American democracy to continuous frontier expansion.

-        The U.S. development was unique because of the continual expansion

-        Shaped American democracy and individualism

-        Provided opportunities for expansion and renewal

Cultural Expression of the Myth

Western films and literature that reinforce frontiers and ideals of self-reliance.

Manifest Destiny

The belief that the U.S. was destined by God to expand across the continent.

City Upon a Hill

A metaphor for America as an example of freedom watched by the world.

Founding Fathers

Key figures believed to embody the ideals of freedom and self-government in U.S. history.

Andrew Jackson

§  7^th president of the U.S.

§  Former general and war hero in the battle of New Orleans

§  Represented the rise of the common men

§  Founder of the democratic party

§  Controversial: supported slavery, expanded presidential power

Frederick Douglass

§  Born enslaved but managed to escape -> most powerful voice against slavery

§  Advocate for civil rights, women rights and racial equality

Abraham Lincoln

§  16^th president of the U.S.

§  Led the US during civil war

§  Emancipation -> began freeing enslaved people

§  Assassinated in 1865, shortly after the war

-        Stephen Douglas:

§  US senator and political rival of Lincoln

§  Supported popular sovereignty

Slotkin on founding myth

-        Declaration of independence is seen as a sacred text nowadays

-        Universal statement of natural rights →  Became core of American civil religion

Civil War Myths

Competing narratives surrounding the Civil War including liberation and the Lost Cause.

-        The myth interoperates the war as a fiery trail -> government of the people, by the people, for the people

-        Lincoln as a heroic personification of this struggle->national moral regeneration rather than military success

Slotkin on the civil War

-        Civil War is remembered through three competing myths: Liberation, the lost Cause and the white reunion -> still shape politics today

-        Slaved people were legally defined as subordinate kind of human -> slaveholder had total power over them

-        Many non-slaveholders supported that system, because it protected their economy and a place above slaves

the lost cause

: a myth portrayed after the war, that the south was fighting for state rights and slavery -> north won, because they had more men, not because

The Good War

World War II framed as a moral crusade against evil, often overlooking racial issues.

Platoon Movies

-        Helped creating the myth of the good war

-        Mixed groups of soldiers fight together as one team -> US as a diverse but united nation

-        Racist or dehumanized enemy to bring the group together -> reject racism inside America while directing hatred to the outside racial enemy

-        Helped Americans see the war as a necessary and defensive, morally right act

Melting Pot

Metaphor for American society as a blend of diverse ethnic and cultural identities. → one out of many

Assimilation

The process of absorbing into a dominant culture.

Pluralism

The coexistence of diverse cultures within a society.

Multiculturalism

Recognition and celebration of cultural diversity.

Integration

Participation in a society without cultural erasure.

Segregation

Enforced separation of racial or cultural groups.

Just War Theory

Principles guiding the moral justification of warfare, including proportionality and last resort.

Afghanistan War justification

§  early point has a just cause with 9/11 but later was a projects to end a harsh regime

§  Those came back together -> no self-defence anymore

§  Last resort: careful look on alternatives, just xxx to the Taliban

§  Proportionality: at first there was improvement, but the war lasted nearly 20 years, so it outgrew the good

Iraq War Justification

Justified by claims of weapons of mass destruction, though controversial.

Killers and Chillers

§  Crimes being turned into stories -> myth making

§  Frontier myth: story of the outcast

§  Twisted American Dream

Was the American Founding Myth ever true?

§  Jefferson: all men are created equal -> black people are equal by law but still face racism and discrimination

§  Us population is shaped by immigration but still in todays politics, people are against immigration

§  No voting or political rights for women.

Founding Myths in Textbooks

§  Problem: no in depth discussion of the founding myth in textbooks

§  Things that do not get discussed: Structural racism, Grassroots activism, Political and social resistance

§  Simplification of the conflicts -> shown as an endpoint of struggles (ongoing problems get rarely addressed)

-        Founding Fathers as Heroes:

§  Monuments that twist the history and are very inappropriate

§  Mount Rushmore is built on holy and indigenous land

§  Jefferson -> declaration of independence but still a life-long slaveholder

-        Voices From the Past

§  Trump trying to whitewash/ erase black history

§  How slavery is portrayed today? -> Trumps whitewashing plan and trying to forget about black history

§  Educational gaps -> many gaps, just focus on some smaller historical happenings

Collective memory -> mostly informed about ancestors than actual

-        National Narratives:

§  Social challenges and stereo types:

§  People vanishing -> idea of people dying out (rather being a problem of the past)

§  people aren’t seen as people anymore

Emancipation Proclamation(1863)

A presidential decree issued by Abraham Lincoln that declared the freedom of all enslaved people in Confederate-held territory during the Civil War.

The 1619 Projects 2019

an initiative that examines the legacy of slavery in the United States, highlighting the contributions of Black Americans.

American Founding Myth

o   The US was created by a unique group of founding fathers who deliberately built a new kind nation based on freedom, equality and self-government

•        Myth of the Frontier

o   Story of the heroic adventures and the westward expansion

o   Brave settlers that were brave enough to go into the wild west to found a civilised nation

•        Myth of Liberation (civil war)

o   The US as a land of liberty for everyone -> free enslaved people

Myth of the Melting Pot

The belief in a unified national identity emerging from diverse backgrounds.

Myth of the Lost Cause

o   Justification after the civil war to make it easier in the south the explain the war

o   Southerners thought for state right and not for slavery

Myth of the Good War

o   Portraying the WWII as a necessary act to and Nazi-Germany

o   Hero complex

o   Imagining the country as one fighting against the evil

•        Manifest Destiny

o   The US was chosen by god to spread across the whole continent and bring freedom and democracy into the wild west

o   Natural good Americans that have a destiny to move westwards

•        City Upon a Hill

o   The US as an example to the rest of the world, watched by everyone to shine as an example of freedom

o   Later turned the story to American exceptionalism: Americas destiny to lead and be the beacon of hope -> highly moral standards