AP US History Ultimate Study Guide (copy)

Unit 1

1491-1607

Bering Land Bridge

The land bridge that connected Eurasia and North America; thought to be how the first people migrated to the Americas.

Christopher Columbus Arrival

• Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World in 1492

• He was not the first European to reach North America, the Norse had arrived in modern Canada around 1000

• But his arrival marked the beginning of the Contact Period, during which Europe sustained contact with the Americas.

• The period ends in 1607 because that is the year of the first English settlement.

Native Americans in Pre-Columbian North America

• The Pre-Columbian era refers to the period before Christopher Columbus' arrival in the "New World".

• North America was populated by Native Americans, not to be confused with native-born Americans.

Culture clash between European settlers and Native Americans

• European settlers brought different culture, religion, and technology.

• Native Americans had their own complex societies, cultures, and religions.

• Conflicts and misunderstandings occurred between the two groups.

Conflicts throughout American history

• ative Americans resisted European colonization and expansion.

• Many wars and battles between Native Americans and European settlers.

• Enslaved Africans by European settlers first arrived in 1501.

• Policies of forced relocation and assimilation were implemented by the US government.

• Native American populations were greatly reduced and their cultures were suppressed.

• Permanent Settlements

• The spread of maize cultivation from present-day Mexico northward into the present-day American Southwest and beyond supported economic development.

• Along Northwest coast and in California, tribes developed communities along ocean to hunt whales and salmon, totem poles, and canoes.

• In the northeast, the Mississippi river valley, and along the Atlantic seaboard, some indigenous societies developed.

Columbus/Age of Exploration

• New ships, such as caravel allowed for longer exploratory voyages.

• In August of 1492, Colombus used three caravels, supplied and funded by the Spanish crown, to set sail toward India.

• After voyage, when reached land and found a group of people called the Taino and renamed their island San Salvador and claimed it for Spain.

The Age of Exploration

• Columbus voyage pleased the Spanish Monarchs.

• Other European explorers also set sail to the New World in search of gold, glory and spread the word of their God

The Columbian Exchange

• Period of rapid exchange of plants, animals, foods, communicable diseases, and diseases.

• Europe had the resources and technology to establish colonies far from home.

Flow of Trade

• It’s between the Old world and the New world.

• Old world refers to Africa, Asia, and Europe.

• Old World to New World: horses, pigs, rice, wheat, grapes

• New World to Old World: corn, potatoes, chocolate, tomatoes, avocado, sweet potatoes.

• The introduction of new crops to Europe helped to increase food production and stimulate growth.

Expansion of Labor Needs

Expansion of Labor Needs

• As tobacco-growing and, in South Carolina, rice-growing operations expanded, more laborers were needed than indenture could provide

• Events such as Bacon’s Rebellion showed landowners it was not in their best interest to have an abundance of landless, young, white males in their colonies either

Challenges with Enslaving Native Americans

Challenges with Enslaving Native Americans

• They knew the land, so they could easily escape and subsequently were difficult to find

• In some Native American tribes, cultivation was considered women’s work, so gender was another obstacle to enslaving the natives

• Europeans brought diseases that often decimated the Native Americans, wiping out 85 to 95 percent of the native population

Turn to Enslaved Africans

• Southern landowners turned increasingly to enslaved Africans for labor

• Unlike Native Americans, enslaved Africans did not know the land, so they were less likely to escape

• Removed from their homelands and communities, and often unable to communicate with one another because they were from different regions of Africa, enslaved Black people initially proved easier to control than Native Americans

• Dark skin of West Africans made it easier to identify enslaved people on sight

• English colonists associated dark skin with inferiority and rationalized Africans’ enslavement

The Slave Trade

• Majority of the slave trade, right up to the Revolution, was directed toward the Caribbean and South America

• More than 500,000 enslaved people were brought to the English colonies (of the over 10 million brought to the New World)

• By 1790, nearly 750,000 Black people were enslaved in England’s North American colonies

Slavery in the South

• Flourished in the South due to nature of land and short growing season

• Chesapeake(reliance on cash crops, a labor system) and Carolinas farmed labor-intensive crops such as tobacco, rice, and indigo

• Only the very wealthy owned enslaved people.

• The vast majority of people remained at a subsistence level

Encomienda System

Encomienda System

• Under Spain's encomienda system, the crown granted colonists authority over a specified number of natives

• Colonist was obliged to protect those natives and convert them to Catholicism

• In exchange, the colonist was entitled to those natives' labor for such enterprises as sugar harvesting and silver mining.

• This system sounds like a form of slavery because it was a form of slavery.

Navigational Advancements

sextant in the early 1700s, made sailing across the Atlantic Ocean safer and more efficient.

Joint-Stock Companies

• The most famous ones were the British East India Company, the Dutch East India Company, and later, the Virginia Company, which settled Jamestown.

Conflict and Prejudice

• Increased trade and development in the New World also led to increased conflict and prejudice

• Europeans debated how Native Americans should be treated

• Spanish and Portuguese thinkers proposed wildly different approaches to the treatment of Native populations, ranging from peace and tolerance to dominance and enslavement

• The belief in European superiority was nearly universal

Native American Resistance and Adaptation

Native American Resistance and Adaptation

• Some Native Americans resisted European influence, while others accepted it

• Intermarriage was common between Spanish and French settlers and the natives in their colonized territories (though rare among English and Dutch settlers)

• Many Native Americans converted to Christianity

• Spain was particularly successful in converting much of Mesoamerica to Catholicism through the Spanish mission system

Enslavement and African Adaptation

• Explorers, such as Juan de Oñate, swept through the American Southwest, determined to create Christian converts by any means necessary—including violence

• As colonization spread, the use of enslaved Africans purchased from African traders from their home continent became more common

• Much of the Caribbean and Brazil became permanent settlements for plantations and their enslaved people

• Africans adapted to their new environment by blending the language and religion of their masters with the preserved traditions of their ancestors

• Religions such as voodoo are a blend of Christianity and tribal animism

• Enslaved people sang African songs in the fields as they worked and created art reminiscent of their homeland

• Some, such as the Maroon people, even managed to escape slavery and form cultural enclaves

• Slave uprisings were not uncommon, most notably the Haitian Revolution

English Attempts to Settle North America

English Attempts to Settle North America

• l 1607, when they settled Jamestown.

Jamestown and the Virginia Company

• Jamestown was funded by a joint-stock company, a group of investors who bought the right to establish New World plantations from the king

• The company was called the Virginia Company—named for Elizabeth I, known as the Virgin Queen—from which the area around Jamestown took its name.

• The settlers, many of them English gentlemen, were ill-suited to the many adjustments life in the New World required of them, and they were much more interested in searching for gold than in planting crops.

Early Struggles

Early Struggles

• Within three months, more than half the original settlers were dead of starvation or disease

• Jamestown survived only because ships kept arriving from England with new colonists.

• Captain John Smith decreed that “he who will not work shall not eat,” and things improved for a time, but after Smith was injured in a gunpowder explosion and sailed back

John Rolfe and the Development of Tobacco

• One of the survivors, John Rolfe, was notable in two ways. First, he married Powhatan’s daughter Pocahontas, briefly easing the tension between the natives and the English settlers.

• Second, he pioneered the practice of growing tobacco, which had long been cultivated by Native Americans, as a cash crop to be exported back to England.

• The English public was soon hooked, so to speak, and the success of tobacco considerably brightened the prospects for English settlement in Virginia.

Expansion in the Chesapeake

• As new settlements sprang up around Jamestown, the entire area came to be known as the Chesapeake (named after the bay).

• That area today comprises Virginia and Maryland.

• English colonies in North America, such as Jamestown, were largely motivated by financial reasons and the desire for wealth and resources

• Indentured servitude, in which individuals agreed to work for a period of time in exchange for passage to the colonies, was a common way for people to migrate to the Chesapeake

• Indentured servitude was difficult and many did not survive their term, but it provided a path to land ownership and voting rights for working-class men in Europe

• Over 75% of the 130,000 Englishmen who migrated to the Chesapeake during the 17th century were indentured servants

• The success of tobacco as a cash crop in the Chesapeake led to rapid expansion and the development of plantation slavery.

Headright system

• In 1618, the Virginia Company introduced the headright system as a means of attracting new settlers to the region and addressing the labor shortage created by the emergence of tobacco farming.

• A "headright" was a tract of land, usually about 50 acres, that was granted to colonists and potential settlers.

House of Burgesses

• In 1619, Virginia established the House of Burgesses, in which any property-holding, white male could vote.

• Decisions made by the House of Burgesses, however, had to be approved by the Virginia Company.

• 1619 also marks the introduction of slavery to the English colonies.

The Pilgrims and the Massachusetts Bay Company

The Pilgrims and the Massachusetts Bay Company

• English Calvinists led a Protestant movement called Puritanism in the 16th century

• Puritans sought to purify the Anglican Church of Roman Catholic practices

• English monarchs of the early 17th century persecuted the Puritans

• Puritans began to look for a new place to practice their faith

• One group of Puritans, called Separatists, decided to leave England and start fresh in the New World

• In 1620, Separatists set sail for Virginia on the Mayflower, but went off course and landed in modern-day Massachusetts

• The group decided to settle where they had landed and named the settlement Plymouth.

The Pilgrims/Mayflower Compact

• Led by William Bradford

• Signed the Mayflower Compact ( self govern the colony)

• Created a legal authority and assembly

• Government's power derived from consent of governed, not God

• Received assistance from local Native Americans

The Mayflower Compact

• Important for creating legal system for colony

• Asserted government's power from consent of governed

The Great Puritan Migration

The Great Puritan Migration

• 1629-1642

• Established by Congregationalists (Puritans who wanted to reform Anglican church from within)

• Led by Governor John Winthrop

Massachusetts Bay

• Developed along Puritan ideals

• Winthrop delivered famous sermon, "A Model of Christian Charity" urging colonists to be a "city upon a hill"

Religious Intolerance

Religious Intolerance

• Two major incidents during first half of 17th century

• Roger Williams, a minister in Salem Bay settlement, taught that church and state should be separate

• Banished and moved to Rhode Island, founded colony with charter allowing for free exercise of religion

• Anne Hutchinson, a prominent proponent of antinomianism, banished for challenging Puritan beliefs and authority of Puritan clergy

• Anne Hutchinson was a woman in a resolutely patriarchal society which turned many against her.

Puritan Immigration

• Near halt between 1649 and 1660 during Oliver Cromwell's rule as Lord Protector of England

• Puritans had little motive to move to New World during Interregnum (between kings)

• With the restoration of the Stuarts, many English Puritans again immigrated to the New World, bringing with them republican ideals of revolution

Differences between New England and Chesapeake

Differences between New England and Chesapeake

• Entire families tended to immigrate to New England, but Chesapeake immigrants were often single males

• Climate in New England was more hospitable, leading to longer life expectancy and larger families

• Stronger sense of community and absence of tobacco as cash crop led New Englanders to settle in larger towns

• Chesapeake residents lived in smaller, more spread-out farming communities

• New Englanders were more religious, settling near meetinghouses

• Slavery was rare in New England, but farms in middle and southern colonies were much larger, requiring large numbers of enslaved Africans

• South Carolina had a larger proportion of enslaved Africans than European settlers

Unit 2

1607-1754

TIMELINE

• 1607 The first English colony in the New World is founded at Jamestown.

• 1620 The Pilgrims sign the Mayflower Compact before settling at Plymouth Colony.

• 1637 Anne Hutchinson (1591–1643) is banished from Massachusetts for organizing religious meetings for women.

• 1675 New England colonists engage in a brutal war of attrition with the leader of the Wampanoag that came to be known as “King Philip’s War.”

• 1692 Eighteen men and women are found guilty of witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials.

• 1744 The First Great Awakening begins with Jonathan Edward’s fiery sermons.

Jamestown

• First British Colony, funded by a joint stock company (not state funded!). Goals were for profit. Eventually led to production of tobacco, which required even more land use (encroachment on the natives)

Bacon’s Rebellion (1676)

• Natives were attacking the crops of the encroaching Jamestown colony, so the colonists retaliated, attacking the natives and burning the ignorant governor’s crops.

House of burgesses (1619)

• first democratically elected legislative body in English North America

• served as a representative assembly, enabling colonists to participate in decision-making related to local laws and taxation.

Mayflower Compact (1620)

first agreement for self-government in America. It was signed by the 41 men on the Mayflower and set up a government for the Plymouth colony

Salutary neglect

•  king is ignoring the colonies and colonies are making their own rules 13 colonies 

British Treatment of the Colonies

• Period preceding the French and Indian War is often described as salutary neglect or benign neglect.

• England regulated trade and government in its colonies but interfered in colonial affairs as little as possible.

• England set up absentee customs officials and colonies were left to self-govern.

• England occasionally turned a blind eye to the colonies' violations of trade restrictions.

• Developed a large degree of autonomy.

• Helped fuel revolutionary sentiments when monarchy later attempted to gain greater control of the New World.

• Molasses Act of 1733

• , imposed an exorbitant tax upon the importation of sugar from the French West Indies

• New Englanders frequently refused to pay the taxes imposed by these act

• Molasses Act of 1733

• Imposed an exorbitant tax upon the importation of sugar from the French West Indies

• New Englanders frequently refused to pay the tax, an early example of rebellion against the Crown.

Stono Uprising

• First and one of the most successful slave rebellions

• Took place in September 1739 near Stono River, outside of Charleston, South Carolina

• Approximately 20 enslaved people stole guns and ammunition, killed storekeepers and planters, and liberated a number of enslaved people

• Rebels fled to Florida, where they hoped the Spanish colonists would grant them their freedom

• Colonial militia caught up with them and attacked, killing some and capturing most of the others

• Those who were captured and returned were later executed

• As a result of the Stono Uprising, many colonies passed more restrictive laws to govern the behavior of enslaved people

• Fear of slave rebellions increased, and New York experienced a "witch hunt" period

Puritanism in America

Puritanism in America

• Feared that their religion was being undermined by commercialism in cities like Boston

• Many second and third generation Puritans lacked the fervor of the original settlers

• Led to the Halfway Covenant in 1662 which changed rules for Puritan baptisms

  • Prior to the Halfway Covenant, a Puritan had to experience God's grace for their children to be baptized

  • With many losing interest in the church, the Puritan clergy decided to baptize all children whose parents were baptized

  • However, those who had not experienced God's grace were not allowed to vote

• All of these factors (religious, economic, and gender) combined to create mass hysteria in Salem in 1692

  • Accusers were mostly teenage girls who accused prominent citizens of consorting with the Devil

  • Town leaders turned against the accusers and the hysteria ended

• Generations that followed original settlers were generally less religious

• By 1700, women constituted the majority of active church members

• First Great Awakening in the 1730s and 1740s

  • Wave of religious revivalism in the colonies and Europe

  • Led by Congregationalist minister Jonathan Edwards and Methodist preacher George Whitefield

  • Edwards preached severe, predeterministic doctrines of Calvinism

  • Whitefield preached a Christianity based on emotionalism and spirituality

  • Often described as a response to the Enlightenment, a European intellectual movement emphasizing rationalism over emotionalism or spirituality.

Period 3: 1754–1800

Timeline

• 1763 The Proclamation of 1763 ordered colonists to stop migrating west of the Appalachian Mountains.

• 1768 British troops arrive in Boston.

• 1775 First battles of the American Revolution take place at Lexington and Concord.

• 1776 Congress declared independence from Britain

with the Declaration of Independence.

1780 Articles of Confederation were adopted.

1781 The British surrender at Yorktown.

1788 The U.S. Constitution is officially sent to the states for ratification.

1791 The Bill of Rights was adopted.

Sugar act

stamp act

KEY TERMS on unit 3

French and Indian War

• A conflict between the French and the English over control over the Ohio River Valley

Articles of Confederation

• The first constitution of the United States; established a very weak federal government

U.S. Constitution

The foundation of the U.S. federal government

Federalist Papers

• A series of paper written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison that advocated for a strong federal government

Bill of Rights

• The first ten amendments of the U.S. Constitution that guarantee different civil liberties

Seven Years' War (French and Indian war) : Consequences

Seven Years' War: Consequences

• William Pitt, the English Prime Minister during the war, was supportive of the colonists and encouraged them to join the war effort.

• When the leadership in Britain changed after the war, that led to resentment by the colonists against the British rule.

• Native Americans had previously been able to use French and English disputes to their own advantage, but the English victory spelled trouble for them.

• The Native Americans particularly disliked the English, because English expansionism was more disruptive to their way of life.

• In the aftermath of the war, the English raised the price of goods sold to the Native Americans and ceased paying rent on their western forts.

• In response, Ottawa war chief Pontiac rallied a group of tribes in the Ohio Valley and attacked colonial outposts, which is known as Pontiac's Rebellion.

• In response to Pontiac's Rebellion, the Paxton Boys, a group of Scots-Irish frontiersmen in Pennsylvania murdered several in the Susquehannock tribe.

The Sugar Act, the Currency Act, and the Stamp Act

The Sugar Act, the Currency Act, and the Stamp Act

• Financing the war resulted in a huge debt for the British government

• King George III and Prime Minister George Grenville felt that colonists should help pay the debt

• Colonists believed they had fulfilled their obligation by providing soldiers

Colonial Discontent:

Colonial Discontent:

• Sugar Act, Currency Act, and Proclamation of 1763 caused a great deal of discontent in the colonies

• Colonists bristled at British attempts to exert greater control

• End of Britain's long-standing policy of salutary neglect

• Economic depression further exacerbated the situation

• Colonial protest was uncoordinated and ineffective

The Stamp Act:

The Stamp Act:

• Passed in 1765 by Parliament

• Aimed at raising revenue specifically

• Awakened the colonists to the likelihood of more taxes to follow

• Demonstrated that colonies' tradition of self-taxation was being unjustly taken by Parliament

• Broad-based tax, covering all legal documents and licenses

• Affected almost everyone, particularly lawyers

• Tax on goods produced within the colonies

Reaction to the Stamp Act:

Reaction to the Stamp Act:

• Built on previous grievances and more forceful than any protest preceding it

• Pamphlet by James Otis, called The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved, laid out the colonists’ argument against the taxes

• Otis put forward the “No taxation without representation” argument

• Argued for either representation in Parliament or a greater degree of self-government for the colonies

• British scoffed at the notion, arguing that colonists were already represented in Parliament through the theory of virtual representation

• Colonists knew that their representation would be too small to protect their interests

• Wanted the right to determine their own taxes.

Opposition to the Stamp Ac

• Opponents united in various colonies

• Virginia, Patrick Henry drafted the Virginia Stamp Act Resolves, asserting colonists’ right to self-government

• Boston, mobs burned customs officers in effigy, tore down a customs house, and nearly destroyed the governor’s mansion

• Protest groups formed throughout the colonies, called themselves Sons of Liberty

• Opposition was so effective that no duty collectors were willing to perform their job

The Boston Massacre:

• On March 5, 1770, a mob pelted a group of soldiers with rock-filled snowballs

• Soldiers fired on the crowd, killing five

• Propaganda campaign that followed suggested that the soldiers had shot into a crowd of innocent bystanders

• John Adams defended the soldiers in court, helping to establish a tradition of giving a fair trial to all who are accused

The First Continental Congress

• Convened in late 1774

• All colonies except Georgia sent delegates

• Represented diverse perspectives

• Goal: enumerate American grievances, develop strategy for addressing grievances, formulate colonial position on relationship between royal government and colonial governments

• Came up with list of laws colonists wanted repealed

• Agreed to impose boycott on British goods until grievances were redressed

• Formed Continental Association with towns setting up committees of observation to enforce boycott

• These committees became de facto governments

• Formulated limited set of parameters for acceptable Parliamentary interference in colonial affairs

The Pre-Revolutionary War Era

• Colonists used time to rally citizens to the cause of independence

• Not all were convinced, Loyalists included government officials, devout Anglicans, merchants dependent on trade with England, religious and ethnic minorities who feared persecution by the rebels

• Many enslaved people believed their chances for liberty were better with the British than with the colonists

• Increase in slave insurrections dampened some Southerners' enthusiasm for revolution

• Patriots were mostly white Protestant property holders and gentry, as well as urban artisans, especially in New England

• Much of the rest of the population hoped the whole thing would blow over

• Quakers of Pennsylvania were pacifists and wanted to avoid war.

Second Continental Congress

• Prepared for war by establishing a Continental Army, printing money, and creating government offices to supervise policy

• Chose George Washington to lead the army because he was well-liked and a Southerner

• John Dickinson and the Olive Branch Petition

• Many delegates followed John Dickinson who was pushing for reconciliation with Britain using the Olive Branch Petition

• Adopted by the Continental Congress on July 5, 1775

• Last-ditch attempt to avoid armed conflict

• King George III was not interested since he considered the colonists to be in open rebellion

• One year before the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, the colonial leaders were trying to reconcile with the mother country.

The Declaration of Independence

• Published in January 1776 by Thomas Paine, an English printer

• Advocated for colonial independence and republicanism over monarchy

• Sold more than 100,000 copies in its first three months

• Accessible to colonists who couldn't always understand the Enlightenment-speak of the Founding Fathers

• Helped swing support to the patriot cause among people who were unsure about attacking the mother country

Significance of Declaration of Independence

Significance of Declaration of Independence

• The Revolutionary War became a war for independence with the signing of the Declaration

• The Declaration not only set out the colonies' complaints against the British government but also laid out the philosophical underpinnings of the revolution, most notably the assertion that all men are created equal and have certain inalienable rights

• The Declaration has been considered as a seminal document in American history, and has been a source of inspiration for movements for civil rights and freedom across the world.

Battle of Yorktown

• Occurred on October 17, 1781

• Symbolic end to the American Revolution

• Major British general, Cornwallis, was surrounded by the French navy and George Washington’s troops, and surrendered

• Began a long period of negotiations between the American colonies and Great Britain, which would finally end the war in October of 1783

Other Facts about the War

• Continental Army had trouble recruiting good soldiers

• Congress eventually recruited Black people, and up to 5,000 fought on the side of the rebels

• Franco-American Alliance, negotiated by Ben Franklin in 1778, brought the French into the war on the side of the colonists

• Treaty of Paris, signed at the end of 1783, granted the United States independence and generous territorial rights

Articles of Confederation

• Sent to the colonies for ratification in 1777 by the Continental Congress

• The first national constitution of the United States

• Intentionally created little to no central government due to fear of creating a tyrannical government

Limitations of the Articles of Confederation

• Gave the federal government no power to raise an army

• Could not enforce state or individual taxation, or a military draft

• Could not regulate trade among the states or international trade

• Had no executive or judicial branch

• Legislative branch gave each state one vote, regardless of the state's population

• In order to pass a law, 9 of the 13 of the states had to agree

• In order to amend or change the Articles, unanimous approval was needed

Impact of the Limitations

• These limitations hurt the colonies during Shays's Rebellion.

• Eventually, the limitations of the Articles of Confederation led to the drafting of the Constitution of the United States.

A New Constitution

By 1787,

• The federal government lacked sufficient authority under the Articles of Confederation.

• Alexander Hamilton was concerned about no uniform commercial policy and fear for the survival of the new republic.

• Hamilton convened the meeting -Only five delegates showed up

Constitutional Convention

• Congress consented to a "meeting in Philadelphia" for the sole purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation.

• Delegates from all states except Rhode Island attended the meeting.

• Meeting took place during the long, hot summer of 1787.

New Jersey Plan:/Virginia Plan:

New Jersey Plan:

• Called for modifications to Articles of Confederation

• Called for equal representation from each state

Virginia Plan:

• Proposed by James Madison

• Called for new government based on principle of checks and balances

• Number of representatives for each state based on population

National Bank Debate

National Bank Debate:

• Hamilton proposed National Bank to help regulate and strengthen economy

• Both houses of Congress approved but Washington uncertain of constitutionality

• Debate established two main schools of thought on constitutional law

• Strict constructionists (led by Jefferson and Madison) argued bank not necessary and thus beyond national government's powers

• Hamilton (broad constructionist) argued bank implied power of government and not explicitly forbidden by Constitution

• Washington agreed with Hamilton and signed bill

Differences between Hamilton and Jefferson

Differences between Hamilton and Jefferson

• Federalists (favoring strong federal government)

• Republicans/Democratic-Republicans (followers of Jefferson)

• Development of political parties troubled framers of the Constitution, seen as factions dangerous to survival of Republic

Note:

• Federalists who supported ratification of the Constitution are often the same people as Federalists who favored strong federal government.

• Republican party created in 1850s is a very different group which still survives today.

Hamilton's Financial Program and Whiskey Rebellion:

Hamilton's Financial Program and Whiskey Rebellion:

• Implemented excise tax on whiskey to raise revenue

• Farmers in western Pennsylvania resisted, instigating Whiskey Rebellion

• Washington dispatched militia to disperse rebels, demonstrated new government's power to respond

• Rebellion highlighted class tensions between inland farmers and coastal elites

Jay's Treaty:

• Negotiated by John Jay to address British evacuation of NW and free trade violations

• Prevented war with Great Britain, but considered too many concessions towards British

• Congress attempted to withhold funding to enforce treaty

• Washington refused to submit documents, establishing precedent of executive privilege

• Considered low point of Washington's administration

Washington's Farewell Address:

• Declined to run for third term, set final precedent

• Composed in part by Alexander Hamilton

• Warned future presidents against "permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world"

• Promoted notion of friendly relationships with all nations, but avoiding permanent alliances

• Warning remained prominent part of American foreign policy through mid-20th century

The Adams Presidency

• avoiding all-out war with France

• After the United States signed the Jay Treaty with Britain, France began seizing American ships on the open seas

• Adams sent three diplomats to Paris, where French officials demanded a huge bribe before they would allow negotiations even to begin

• The diplomats returned home, and Adams published their written report in the newspapers

• Because he deleted the French officials’ names and replaced them with the letters X, Y, and Z, the incident became known as the XYZ Affair

• As a result, popular sentiment did a complete turnaround; formerly pro-French, the public became vehemently anti-French to the point that a declaration of war seemed possible

• Aware of how small the American military was, Adams avoided the war (a war Hamilton wanted) and negotiated a settlement with a contrite France although he was not able to avoid the Naval skirmishes called the Quasi-War

Alien and Sedition Acts

• The low point of Adams’s tenure was the passage and enforcement of the Alien and Sedition Acts

• The acts allowed the government to forcibly expel foreigners and to jail newspaper editors for “scandalous and malicious writing”

• The acts were purely political, aimed at destroying new immigrants’—especially French immigrants’—support for the Democratic-Republicans

• Worst of all, the Sedition Act, which strictly regulated antigovernment speech, was a clear violation of the First Amendment

Unit 4 1800–1848

TIMELINE

1803 The federal government finalizes the Louisiana

Purchase.

1807 Congress votes to end the international slave trade.

1812 The U.S. declares war against Britain.

1820 The Missouri Compromise was the first federal

compromise to try to balance slave and free states.

1823 President James Monroe declared the Western

Hemisphere closed to European colonization in The

Monroe Doctrine.

1830 Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act to

relocate American Indians west of the Mississippi

River.

1845 The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass was

published.

1848 The first women’s rights convention was held in

Seneca Falls, New York.

KEY TERMS

Judicial Review

The ability of the Supreme Court to determine whether a law

is constitutional

Second Great Awakening

A series of religious revivals in the early 1800s that focused on

personal religious experience

American System

A plan proposed by Henry Clay that was intended to strengthen

the economy of the U.S. through a combination of tariffs,

national banks, and infrastructure

Louisiana Territory

A large portion of land that was purchased from France by the

U.S. Federal government in 1803 for $15 million

General

• By 1800, the Federalist Party was split, clearing the way to the presidency for the Democratic-Republicans

• Two men ran for the party nomination: Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr

Midnight Appointments

• Before he left town, Adams made a number of midnight appointments, filling as many government positions with Federalists as he could

• Jefferson’s response was to refuse to recognize those appointments

• He then set about replacing as many Federalist appointees as he could. He dismissed some, pressured others to retire, and waited out the rest

• By his second term, the majority of public appointees were Democratic-Republicans

Marbury v. Madison

• Jefferson’s refusal to accept Adams’s midnight appointments resulted in a number of lawsuits against the government

• One, the case of Marbury v. Madison reached the Supreme Court in 1803

• William Marbury, one of Adams’s last-minute appointees, had sued Secretary of State James Madison for refusing to certify his appointment to the federal bench

• Chief Justice John Marshall was a Federalist, and his sympathies were with Marbury, but Marshall was not certain that the court could force Jefferson to accept Marbury’s appointment

• Marshall’s decision in the case established one of the most important principles of the Supreme Court: judicial review

• The court ruled that Marbury did indeed have a right to his judgeship but that the court could not enforce his right.

Louisiana Purchase

• major accomplishment

• Thomas Jefferson faced with a dilemma with regards to the Constitution and the power of the federal government

  Dilemma

  • Nowhere did the Constitution authorize the president to purchase land, yet clearly Jefferson could not pass up this opportunity to double the size of the United States

  • Jefferson thought about trying to get a constitutional amendment added allowing him to buy land from other countries

  • Ultimately, Jefferson resolved the issue by claiming his presidential power to negotiate treaties with foreign nations

• New England Federalists opposed the Louisiana Purchase because they feared (correctly) that more western states would be more Democratic states, and that they would lose political power.

• They formed a group called the Essex Junto, planning to secede from the United States (and asked Aaron Burr to be their leader), but the plan never fully materialized

• Some Republicans, led by John Randolph of Virginia, criticized Jefferson for violating Republican principles. This group became known as the Quids

Embargo Act of 1807

Embargo Act of 1807

• Shut down of American import and export business

• Disastrous economic results, especially in New England

• Smuggling becomes widespread

• New England states strongly opposed

• Led to loss of Democratic Republican Congressional seats in 1808 elections

War of 1812

• Native Americans aligned with British

• Tecumseh unified area tribes to stop American expansion

• British armed Native Americans in Western territories

• American forces ill-prepared for war, fighting went badly

• British captured Washington, D.C. and set White House on fire

• Most battles fought to a stalemate

• Treaty of Ghent signed, ending war

• Battle of New Orleans, clear-cut U.S. victory

• Federalists opposed war and met in Hartford Convention

• War spurred American manufacturing, led to self-sufficiency

The Hartford Convention

• meeting of New England Federalist Party

• Grievances including trade laws and presidential term limits

• Federalists considered traitors, party dissolved

Monroe’s Presidency

Era of Good Feelings

• Only one political party, briefly leaves United States with unity

• Chief Justice John Marshall's rulings strengthens federal government

• Panic of 1819 causes economic turmoil and nearly ends good feelings

• No nationally organized political opposition results from panic

Westward Expansion

• John Quincy Adams negotiated treaties to fix U.S. borders and open new territories

• Acquisition of Florida from Spanish through Adams-Onis Treaty in 1819

• International tensions caused by revolutions in Central and South America

• Monroe Doctrine: Policy of mutual non-interference and America's right to intervene in its own hemisphere

• Monroe Doctrine is first of several doctrines that will become foreign policy

Slavery Debate

Slavery Debate

• New period of expansion results in national debate over slavery

• Missouri is the first state carved out of Louisiana Purchase and slavery debate continues until Civil War.

Jackson Presidency and Jacksonian Democracy

• eventually led to the formation of the present-day Democratic Party

• Jackson dismissed numerous government officials and replaced them with political supporters

• This led to criticism of cronyism and the rise of the spoils system, in which jobs were traded for political favors

• Jackson's popularity ushered in the age of Jacksonian democracy, which replaced Jeffersonian republicanism

• Jacksonian democracy characterized by universal white manhood suffrage and a strong presidency

• Jackson used his popularity to challenge Congress and the Supreme Court in a way that none of his predecessors had

• Indian Removal Act of 1830

• "Five Civilized Tribes" living in the South, including the Cherokee nation. They had developed a written language, converted to Christianity, and embraced agriculture.

• The problem arose when gold was discovered on Cherokee land and citizens of Georgia demanded that the Cherokees comply with the Indian Removal Act, which demanded that they resettle in Oklahoma.

• Jackson argued that moving away from white society was the best way to protect themselves from white encroachment and maintain their traditional customs.

• The Cherokees refused and brought their case to the Supreme Court, which sided with them in two cases. However, Jackson refused to comply with the Court's decision and thousands of Cherokees were forced to walk to Oklahoma in what is known as the Trail of Tears. Thousands died of sickness and starvation along the way.

• Nat Turner's Rebellion

• slave rebellion where Nat Turner rallied a gang that killed and mutilated 60 whites.

• In retaliation, 200 enslaved people were executed, some with no connection at all to the rebellion

• Fearful that other enslaved people would emulate Turner's exploits, southern states passed a series of restrictive laws, known as slave codes, prohibiting Black people from congregating and learning to read

• Other state laws even prevented whites from questioning the legitimacy of slavery

Cotton Gin and Interchangeable parts

• Cotton gin, invented by Eli Whitney in 1793, revolutionized southern agriculture and increased demand for cotton

• Spread of cotton as chief crop intensified South's dependence on slave labor

• Other notable inventions that revolutionized agriculture include steel plow and mechanical reaper

• Whitney's second innovation was use of interchangeable parts in manufacturing, which made mass production more efficient and cost-effective.

North and Textile Industry

• Textile industry in the North was developed by advances in machine technology and U.S. embargo on British goods prior to War of 1812

• Textile mills in New England produced thread and hired local women to weave thread into cloth at home

• Power loom in 1813 allowed manufacturers to produce both thread and finished fabric in own factories quickly and efficiently

• Shortage of labor in New England led to worker-enticement programs like Lowell system

• Other industries such as clothing manufacturers, retailers, brokers, and commercial banks grew around textile industry

Westward Expansion

• Louisiana Purchase removed major obstacle to U.S. western settlement

• War of 1812 removed another obstacle by depriving Native Americans of British ally

• By 1820, U.S. had settled region east of Mississippi River and was quickly expanding west

• Americans believed in God-given right to western territories, known as America's Manifest Destiny

• Some argued for annexation of Canada, Mexico, and all of Americas

Texas

• Mexico declared independence from Spain in 1821, included what is now Texas and Southwest

• Mexican government established liberal land policies to entice settlers

• Tens of thousands of Americans flooded the region, rarely becoming Mexican citizens

• Ignored Mexican law, including prohibition of slavery

• Mexican attempts to regain control led to rebellion and declaration of independence

• Texas was independent country called Republic of Texas

• Existence of slavery guaranteed Congressional battle over statehood, not admitted to Union until 1845

Oregon Territory

• Thousands of settlers traveled to Willamette Valley via the Oregon Trail in early 1840s

• Americans not first in area, large Native American population and British claiming for Canada

• Russians also staked claim, both British and Americans saw them as a threat

• Polk administration settled territorial dispute by signing treaty with England

• Late 1840s, destination shifted to California due to Gold Rush

• Discovery of gold in California mountains attracted over 100,000 people in 2 years

• Most did not strike it rich, but settled area due to hospitable agriculture and access to Pacific Ocean for trade centers like San Francisco.

North and American Cities

• Cities faced numerous problems, lack of powerful urban governments to oversee rapid expansion

• Modern waste disposal, plumbing, sewers, and incineration not yet developed, cities could be toxic environments

• Proximity in which people lived and worked, coupled with sanitation problems, made epidemics likely

• Cities meant jobs, many northern farmers moved to cities to work in new factories

• Cities offered more opportunities for social advancement

• Public schooling, labor unions, clubs and associations for middle and upper class to exert influence on government and society

middle class

• Middle class often rose from the working class, who often worked in factories or at low-paying crafts, women often worked at home or as domestic servants

• Cult of domesticity, supported by popular magazines and novels that glorified home life

• Middle class also made up most of the market for luxury goods such as housewares and fine furniture

• Working-class families lived just above poverty level, any calamity could plunge them into debt

Immigrants

• Immigrants faced discrimination and prejudice, often lived in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions

• Westward migration brought new set of social problems, including issues of land ownership, displacement of Native Americans, and question of slaver

Mormonism

• Joseph Smith formed the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 1830.

• Smith's preaching, particularly his acceptance of polygamy, drew strong opposition in the East and Midwest, culminating in his death by a mob while imprisoned in Illinois.

• The Mormons, realizing they would never be allowed to practice their faith in the East, made the long, difficult trek to the Salt Lake Valley led by Brigham Young.

• There, they settled and transformed the area from desert into farmland through extensive irrigation.

• The Mormons' success was largely attributable to the settlers' strong sense of community.

• The Second Great Awakening was only one source of the antebellum reform movements.

abolitionist movement

• women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott to hold the first women's rights convention in 1848 in Seneca Falls in upstate New York.

• Before the 1830s, few whites fought aggressively for the liberation of the enslaved people.

• The Quakers believed slavery to be morally wrong and argued for its end.

• Most other antislavery whites sought gradual abolition, coupled with colonization, a movement to return Black people to Africa.

• The religious and moral fervor that accompanied the Second Great Awakening, however, persuaded more and more whites, particularly Northerners, that slavery was a great evil.

• White abolitionists divided into two groups: Moderates wanted emancipation to take place slowly and with the cooperation of slave owners, while immediatists wanted emancipation at once.

• But it is worth noting that, right up to the Civil War, abolitionists were widely considered extremists.

• Far and away the leading reform movement of the time was the temperance movement.

• Nearly all abolitionists believed in temperance; few supporters of temperance were abolitionists.

• The abolition movement succeeded, slavery is now illegal, but the success of the temperance movement was short-lived (Prohibition lasted only from 1920 to 1933).

Period 5: 1844-1877

TIMELINE

• 1850 The Compromise of 1850 admitted California to the Union. Part of this compromise imposed the Fugitive Slave Law on northerners.

• 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

• 1857 The Dred Scott decision ruled that slaves were not considered citizens and did not have the right to sue in federal courts.

• 1860 Abraham Lincoln elected president of the United States. Almost immediately, South Carolina seceded from the Union.

• 1863 President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation to free the slaves in the states currently in rebellion against the Union.

• 1867 Congress gained greater control over the South through the Reconstruction Acts of 1867.

• 1877 The Compromise of 1877 withdrew federal troops from the South in exchange for electing a Democratic leader to the president’s Cabinet.

KEY TERMS

Nativist

A native born person or group that opposes immigrants

Manifest Destiny

The belief that Americans were destined to spread the United

States from coast to coast

Abraham Lincoln

The 16th president of the United States who was determined

to preserve the Union at all costs; his election set in motion

the Civil War

Reconstruction

The period after the Civil War during which Northern political

leaders imposed strict regulations and governance on the

South so that the South could rejoin the Union

1844 U.S. Election

Election Results

• Candidates: James Polk (Democrat) vs. Henry Clay (Whig)

• Close election

• Polk wins

• Whigs:

• Internal Improvements

• Bridges

• Harbors

• Canals

• Vision: Civilized lands with bustling towns and factories (e.g. New England)

• Democrats:

• Expansionists

• Borders pushed outward

• Private ownership of newly added land (e.g. isolated plantations in the South)

• No government involvement in newly added land

Polk Presidency

Goals

• Restore government funds in Treasury (vs. pet banks under Jackson)

• Reduce tariffs

• Accomplished by end of 1846

Texas and Oregon

• Proposed annexation by President Tyler (last days of administration)

• Northern congressmen alarmed (potential 5 slave states below Missouri Compromise line)

• Demanded annexation of entire Oregon Country

• "54°40´ or Fight" demands, but Polk recognizes possibility of two territorial wars

• Conceded on demands for expansion into Canada

• Negotiated reasonable American-Canadian border

• Oregon Treaty signed with Great Britain in 1846

  • Acquired peaceful ownership of Oregon, Washington, and parts of Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana

  • Established current northern border of the region

Mexican-American War

• Efforts to claim Southwest from Mexico (failed attempt to buy territory)

• Challenged Mexican authorities on Texas border

• Mexican attack on American troops

• Used border attack to argue for declaration of war

• Declared war by Congress in 1846

• Whigs (e.g. Abraham Lincoln) questioned Polk's claim of Mexican first fire

• War began in 1846

Mexican-American War & Public Opinion

• Northerners: feared new states in West would be slave states, thus tipping balance in favor of proslavery forces

• Opponents: believed war was provoked by slaveholders, resulting in slave owners having control over government

• Referenced as "Slave Power" by suspicious Northerners

• Gag rule in 1836 raised suspicions of Slave Power

• Wilmot Proviso: Congressional bill to prohibit extension of slavery in territories gained from Mexico

  • House vote fell along sectional lines: Northern in favor, Southern opposed

  • Result in Free-Soil Party: regional, single-issue party opposed to slavery expansion (competition with slave labor)

• Mexican War: successful for American forces, resulted in Mexican Cession (Southwest land) for $15 million

• Gadsden Purchase ($10 million): southern regions of modern Arizona and New Mexico for transcontinental railroad

The Compromise of 1850

• Background

  • Sectional strife over new territories started as the ink was drying on the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

  • During the Gold Rush, settlers had flooded into California and it wanted statehood with a constitution prohibiting slavery, opposed by South

  • Debate grew hostile leading to discussion of secession among southern legislators

• Defeated in Congress when presented as a complete package

• Douglas broke the package into separate bills and managed to get majority support for each

• Admitted California as a free state and stronger fugitive slave law enacted

• Created the territories of Utah and New Mexico, left status of slavery up to each territory to decide

• ==Abolished slave trade, not slavery itself, in Washington, D.C==.

• Issues with the Compromise

• Definition of popular sovereignty was vague and different interpretations by Northerners and Southerners

• Fugitive slave law made it easier to retrieve escaped enslaved people, but required cooperation from citizens of free states and seen as immoral

• Increase in Antislavery Sentiments

• Publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852

• Sentimental novel depicting plantation life based on information from abolitionist friends

• Sold over a million copies and adapted into popular plays that toured America and Europe

• Powerful piece of propaganda awakening antislavery sentiment in millions who had never thought about the issue before