1st Semester Overview

Period 1: 1491-1607

  • European Encounters and the Contact Period: Columbus’s arrival in 1492 marked sustained contact between Europe and the Americas. This led to significant cultural exchanges and conflicts between European settlers and Native Americans.

  • Native American Culture: “Three Sisters”- Corn, Beans, and Squash

    • Northeast/ Great Lakes

      • Maize, beans, squash.

      • Hunter- gatherers

      • warriors

      • LONGHOUSES

    • Southeast/ Mississippian

      • Maize, fish, beans, squash, OHIO

        • Pyramid mounds,

        • pottery, copper tools

        • Trade networks

    • Southwest

      • Maize, beans, squash

      • Irrigation systems

      • Cave and cliff dwellings

    • Plains

      • Buffalo

      • Nomadic

      • Tepees


    • Pacific Northwest

      • Fish (salmon)

      • Berries, nuts

      • Elk

      • Plank homes

      • TOTEM POLES

      • Canoes

  • Europeans In America- GOD GOLD GLORY

    • Spanish

      • Royal Colonies

      • Relations With Natives

        • Catholic Conversion and Missions

          • Pueblo Revolt (1680)

            • ‘Pope’

      • Labor

        • Encomienda System- control and regulate Native American Labor

    • The French

      • Royal Colonies

      • Jesuits and Catholic Conversion

      • Fur Trade

      • Native Relations

        • Trade Networks

        • Alliances

        • Intermarriage

    • The Dutch

      • Trade, not conquer

      • Recognized Native Sovereignty over land

      • Forbade settlement until land was purchased

    • The English

      • Charters and Joint- Stock Companies

      • Population Growth

        • Indentures Servants

      • Native Relations

        • Early Native Assistance

        • Anglo-Powhatan Wars- Three wars between English settlers and Powhatan Confederacy

        • Pequot Wars- set fort on fire and shot at anyone who tried to escape 400 killed in an hour

        • King Philip’s War- Indian convert what killed; three Indians were executed for murder.

  • Columbian Exchange: The exchange of goods, ideas, and diseases transformed economies and societies on both sides of the Atlantic, highlighting early globalization.

    • Small Pox


Period 2: 1607-1754

  • Colonial Governments: The establishment of colonial legislatures, such as the House of Burgesses in Virginia (1619), evidences early democratic practices in the colonies and illustrates colonial autonomy.

    • Spanish introduced a caste system into the Americas

    • French intermarriage and fur trade

    • Dutch had economic goals with New Amsterdam (Protestant)

    • British motivation was economic

      • Enclosure Movement in England made economics worse for peasants

      • Religious freedom

      • set sail as family groups

  • JAMESTOWN joint-stock company- profit

    • famine killed half of population- resorted to cannibalism

    • John Rolfe created the Tobacco economics

    • Labor done by indentured servants

    • Bacon’s Rebellion (Indentured servants) led other poor farmers to kill native Americans and eventually turn on plantation owners

  • New England Colonies

    • Puritans

    • migrated as family groups - came to make a society

  • British West Indies and Southern Atlantic Coast

    • Long growing seasons- tobacco and sugarcane

    • majority of population are black slaves

      • Black Codes

  • Middle Colonies

    • Diverse population but classes exist

    • Pennsylvania- William Penn

      • Quaker- religious freedom for all

  • All British Colonies were self-Democratic

  • Salutary Neglect: This policy enabled colonies to develop self-governing structures, laying groundwork for revolutionary sentiments later on.

  • Triangular Trade

    • Rum TO west Africa for Enslaved labor to Middle Passage traded slaves for sugar cane and went back to new England to trade sugar cane for rum.

    • Slave Trade Act- Passed by British Parliament which limited how many enslaved people could be stuffed into one ship

  • Mercantilism

    • maintain a favorable balance of trade

      • more exports than imports

    • Establishment of colonies

      • raw goods

    • Navigation Acts

      • Required merchants to engage in trade with English colonies Exclusively in English ships

      • Valuable trade items were required to pass exclusively through British Ports (Where they were taxed)

  • Consumer Revolution

    • Family value was in economic success and not pedigree

  • The Great Enlightenment

    • Rational thinking over tradition and religion

      • John Locke- ideas of natural rights: humans have rights to life and liberty

      • Johnathan Edwards- Sinners in the Hands of an angry God


Period 3: 1754-1800

  • French and Indian War: Conflict between Britain and France in North America, which led to British dominance of the continent but also laid the financial burden on Britain, contributing to colonial dissatisfaction.

    • Causes: Seven Years’ War was a worldwide conflict and the French and INdian War was the part of that confict which occured on American Soil.

      • The British American colonists were steadily enroaching on land in the Ohio River Valley that the French laid claim to

    • Results

      • Acquisition of French Canada

      • Acquisiton of land east of the MIssissippi

      • War debt

      • British believed more contorl Necessary

      • Colonial pride

  • Proclamation of 1763- Can’t settle west of Appalachian

    • Pontiac’s Rebellion

      • Extensive Native Alliance

    • Purpose Avoid COnflict

    • REaction Denical of land

  • Taxation Without Representation: Acts such as the Stamp Act (1765) incited widespread protests and unified colonists against British rule, leading to the revolutionary movement.

Period 4: 1800-1848

  • Louisiana Purchase (1803): This acquisition doubled the size of the United States and was a critical step in Manifest Destiny, promoting westward expansion.

  • First Political Parties: The emergence of Federalists and Democratic-Republicans showcased early political factionalism, which shaped American political culture.

Period 5: 1844-1877

  • Manifest Destiny: The election of James K. Polk (1844) reflected the belief in westward expansion as a divine right, leading to conflicts such as the Mexican-American War.

  • Civil War Causes: Events like the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) and the increasing tensions over slavery highlighted the sectional divide that ultimately led to the Civil War.