Common Final Exam Study Guide

European Exploration (1)

• Reasons for European Exploration: god, gold, glory (spread religion, get $$$, become famous)

• Spain: Caribbean, FL, Mexico, S America, Southwest. Found silver & gold

• France: Canada, Northeast. fishing, fur trapping, friendly w natives

• Netherlands: New York, farming

• Britain: Virginia - Jamestown, tobacco farming. New England - Massachusetts, Puritans

• Impact on the Natives: treated poorly, land taken, populations infected with disease & killed

Colonial Settlement (1)

• New England Colonies: Puritan/Pilgrims, no farming, ship building/forests, big cities develop

• Middle Colonies: different religions/ethnicities, very tolerant, home made goods

• Southern Colonies: plantations, cash crops, slavery, no cities bc of farms

• Triangular Trade: trade route connecting N America, Europe, Africa, brought slaves to colonies. Spanish brought disease to natives - many died

• mercantilism: controlling trade is good for country (British and triangle trade)

French & Indian War (1)

• French and Indian War: French & most Indians vs. British (& colonists) and a few Indians, over territory in Ohio River Valley, colonists were expected to pay for war

• Fort Necessity: George Washington lost 

• Treaty of Paris: ended the war

•Proclamation Line of 1763: king said colonists couldn’t go west of the Appalachian mts.

American Revolution (2)

• Stamp Act: tax on paper in the colonies

• Tea Act/Party: tax on tea, Sons of Liberty protested and dumped it into Boston Harbor

• Boston Massacre: British soldiers fired into crowd of colonists, paintings of it were in newspapers in Europe and Colonies

• Intolerable/Coercive Acts: After Tea Party, King passed more restrictive acts - no meetings, etc.

• First Continental Congress: Delegates sent complaints to the King, he ignored them.

• Olive Branch Petition: pledged loyalty to king, asked him to respect rights as British citizens, stop unfair taxes

• Lexington and Concord: first shots of the Revolutionary War, Paul Revere “The British are Coming”

• Patriot/Loyalist: P = wanted independence, L = wanted to remain loyal to the king

•Thomas Paine: Common Sense - popular pamphlet, convinced people to support independence

• Battle of Bunker Hill: Early battle, British win.

•Declaration of Independence: Thomas Jefferson, colonies officially broke away from Britain

• Valley Forge: Harsh winter conditions, no food/supplies, disease, George Washington had to convince soldiers to stay

• Saratoga: American victory over British, convinced French to help USA

• Yorktown: French help America, defeat of the British, USA wins!

A New Nation (3)

• Articles of Confederation: first constitution for US

• Problems and Weaknesses: couldn’t tax, no army/navy, not effective

• Shays’ Rebellion (1786): farmers in Mass upset that they owed $ after serving in war, took over state buildings, US government couldn’t stop them, showed weaknesses of AoC

•  U.S. Constitution: replaced the AoC, set up 3 branches

•  Great Compromise: legislative branch made of 2 parts (House based on population, Senate based on equality)

• Three-Fifths Compromise: slaves counted a ⅗ of a white man for population purposes

• Federalists: like strong national gov., did not think Bill of Rights was necessary, Hamilton

• Anti-Federalists: liked weak national gov, more power to the states, wanted a Bill of Rights, Jefferson

• Bill of Rights: lists rights given to citizens (“freedom of…”), first 10 amendments to the Constitution

• Division of Power: each branch has its own powers (legislative = make laws, executive = enforce laws, judicial = interpret laws)

• Federalism: national powers and state powers, divided

• Legislative Branch: makes laws, Congress, House of Reps and Senate

• Executive Branch: enforce laws, President

• Judicial Branch: interpret laws, Supreme Court, judicial review = Marbury v Madison

• Checks & Balances: each branch can “check” the powers of the other 2 branches

Early Republic (4)

• George Washington: #1

• precedents: 2 terms, making a cabinet to advise him, staying out of foreign alliances, didn’t like political parties bc they would turn people against each other

• Alexander Hamilton: Sec of Treasury, Federalist

• National Bank: Hamilton, took debts of states/national control

• John Adams: VP #1, president #2, LAME, Alien & Sedition Acts

Jeffersonian Expansion (5)

• Thomas Jefferson: Sec of State, president #3, expanded nation

• Louisiana Purchase: TJ bought it from France for super cheap, doubled the size of the USA, Lewis & Clark explored it, did not support strict Constitutional interpretation that Jefferson had

• War of 1812: Britain vs USA, British were imperssing US citizens (kidnapping and making them join Brit navy), fought over territory in Canada and Ohio Valley. nobody “won,” territory went back to pre-war boundaries

• War Hawks: wanted another war w/ British

• Star Spangled Banner: written during war of 1812, Fort McHenry, Baltimore MD

• Era of Good Feelings: After the war, time of peace and national pride

Manifest Destiny (6)

• Manifest Destiny: belief that USA should control the whole continent - from Atlantic to Pacific, brought technology (railroads and telegraph)

• Monroe Doctrine: President Monroe - keep Europe out of Western hemisphere, USA is main Western power,  stay on own half of world

• Andrew Jackson: Trail of Tears, Indian Removal Act, killed/forced Cherokee & other tribes from their land

• Spoils System: Andrew Jackson gave govt jobs to his supporters

• Trail of Tears: Indian removal, many died on the journey to reservations in Oklahoma

• Industrialization: manufacturing, factory work, developed in north bc of transportation/cities

• Erie Canal: built to connect NY city to the west, many irish died building it, made transportation faster/easier, made NY a big city

• Whigs: political party, against Andrew Jackson

• Adams-Onis Treaty: Spain gave Florida to US

• Oregon Trail: settlers went west for new land and to start new lives (think of the game)

• Mexican American War: over SW territories, Polk made it happen

• James K. Polk: wanted to go to war w/ Mexico to gain disputed territory and Texas

• Mexican Cession: Mex lost war, gave up SW (California, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada)

• Gold Rush: 1849 - settlers went to California after gold was found, “boom towns” grew super fast

North and South (7)

• Cotton Boom: cotton gin (Eli Whitney) made it more profitable to grow cotton, led to an increase in slavery

• Slavery in the South: harsh conditions, turned to spirituals

• Slave Codes: harsh laws for slaves, ex. not allowed to read/write/gather in groups

• Slave Resistance: work slow downs, breaking equipment, running away

• Underground Railroad: series of trails for runaway slaves to make it to the north (and freedom)

• Harriet Tubman: famous leader of the Underground Railroad, spent years leading slaves along the UR to freedom

• Major Abolitionists: Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, etc.

The Civil War (8)

• Missouri Compromise: kept balance of slave and free states in Congress, Missouri = slaves, Maine = free

• Compromise of 1850: allowed CA to be added as a free state, made the Fugitive Slave Act (people accused of being runaway slaves had to be returned to the south/owners)

• Kansas-Nebraska Act: let states vote on the issue of slavery when they were added to the USA (result = “bleeding Kansas” - violence btwn pro and anti-slave groups)

• Dred Scott Decision: DS lived in a free state w his owner and claimed he was free, Supreme Court said he was a property and still a slave, basically made slavery legal in all states

• Lincoln-Douglas Debates: main issue was slavery, Lincoln got super famous

• Election of 1860: Lincoln won, south was upset

• Secession: the south breaking away from the USA, SC was the first state to secede

• Confederacy: the south, fighting on their “home” territory, had more reason/passion to fight

• Union: the north, had more supplies (factories), better transportation, more people

• Fort Sumter: first shots of Civil War, south takes fort

• Abraham Lincoln: #16 president, Civil War started after his election, assassinated in his 2nd term as president

• Bull Run: north lost, saw the war was going to be difficult and take longer than they thought

• Antietam: south makes it to the north, very bloody battle, north won

• Emancipation Proclamation: Lincoln speech, freed the slaves in the south, BUT the south didn’t do it bc they were their “own country,” the Confederate States of America

• Gettysburg: bloody battle, lasted 3 days. Pickett (north general) won, turning point of the war, after this the north will keep winning. Sherman (north general) marched his troops through Georgia burning cities and farms as he went - devastating to the Confederacy. Lincoln - Gettysburg Address, memorial to all who died there, super famous “Four score and seven years ago...”

• Robert E. Lee: #1 general for the Confederacy, lost the war

• Ulysses S. Grant: #1 general for the Union, won the war