History Final Study Guide

Chapter 1: Old Worlds and New

Key Concept: Columbian Exchange

• Definition: Exchange of goods, people, diseases, and ideas between the Americas, Europe, and Africa following Columbus’ voyages.

• Impacts:

  • Europe: Introduction of new crops like potatoes, maize, and tomatoes, which significantly improved European diets and population growth.

  • Americas: Devastation of indigenous populations due to diseases like smallpox and measles; introduction of horses and cattle transformed native societies.

  • Africa: Increased demand for enslaved Africans to work in the Americas, contributing to the growth of the transatlantic slave trade.

Chapter 2: European Colonies and Native Nations (1600-1660)

Key Terms:

• Virginia Company: A joint-stock company chartered by King James I to establish settlements in North America; founded Jamestown in 1607, the first permanent English settlement.

• Enclosure Movement: Process in England where common lands were privatized, displacing many peasants and leading to increased migration to America.

• Puritans: Religious reformers who sought to "purify" the Church of England; established a theocratic society in Massachusetts Bay Colony with strict moral codes.

• Pilgrims: A separatist group who broke away from the Church of England; sailed on the Mayflower and founded Plymouth Colony in 1620.

• Roanoke Colony: Known as the "Lost Colony," an early English settlement that mysteriously disappeared by 1590.

• Great Migration: Mass movement of Puritans to New England between 1620 and 1640 due to religious persecution in England.

Chapter 3: Creating Anglo-America (1660-1750)

Key Question:

• Diversity between colonies:

  • New England: Dominated by Puritans with a focus on small-scale farming, fishing, and community-centered towns. Strong emphasis on education and religion.

  • Middle Colonies: Known for religious and ethnic diversity, including Quakers, Dutch, and Germans. Economy based on trade, farming, and urban centers like Philadelphia.

  • Southern Colonies: Economy reliant on plantation agriculture (tobacco, rice, indigo). Society stratified with wealthy landowners and enslaved African labor.

Key Terms:

• Mercantilism: Economic policy where colonies provided raw materials to the mother country and served as markets for manufactured goods.

• Navigation Acts: British laws that regulated colonial trade to benefit England, requiring goods to be transported on English ships.

• Quakers (Society of Friends): Religious group advocating equality, pacifism, and religious tolerance; prominent in Pennsylvania under William Penn.

• Staple Crops: Key cash crops like tobacco, rice, and sugar that were central to the Southern colonial economy.

Chapter 4: Slavery, Freedom, and the Struggle for Empire to 1763

Key Question:

• Change in Great Britain’s position:

  • Victory in the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763) expanded British territory in North America but increased debt, leading to higher taxes on colonies.

  • Britain became the dominant power in North America, overtaking France and Spain.

Key Terms:

• Middle Passage: The brutal sea journey endured by enslaved Africans to the Americas, marked by overcrowding, disease, and high mortality.

• Republicanism: Political philosophy emphasizing liberty, self-governance, and civic virtue, opposing monarchy and aristocracy.

• Salutary Neglect: British policy of loosely enforcing trade regulations, allowing colonies to develop independently until 1763.

• Great Awakening: Religious revival movement emphasizing emotional connection to faith and challenging established churches; key figures included Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield.

• Proclamation of 1763: British decree forbidding colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains to avoid conflict with Native Americans.

• Albany Plan of Union: Proposal by Benjamin Franklin to unify the colonies for defense and governance; rejected by colonial assemblies.

Chapter 5: The American Revolution (1763-1783)

Key Question:

• Colonial Unity:

  • British taxation policies (e.g., Stamp Act, Sugar Act) angered colonists, who felt they lacked representation in Parliament.

  • Events like the Boston Tea Party and enforcement of the Intolerable Acts united colonists in resistance.

Key Terms:

• “No Taxation Without Representation”: Rallying cry against British taxes imposed without colonial representation in Parliament.

• Intolerable Acts: Harsh laws passed after the Boston Tea Party, including closing Boston Harbor and revoking Massachusetts’ charter.

• Declaration of Independence: Document authored by Thomas Jefferson in 1776, declaring the colonies independent from Britain and outlining unalienable rights.

Chapter 6: The Revolution Within

Key Terms:

• Suffrage: Expansion of voting rights, though largely limited to property-owning white men during this period.

• Loyalists: Colonists who remained loyal to Britain during the Revolution, often persecuted or exiled.

• Abolition: Early movements to end slavery, gaining momentum during and after the Revolution.

• Free Blacks: Formerly enslaved individuals who gained freedom through military service or emancipation; many faced continued discrimination.

Chapter 7: Founding a Nation (1783-1791)

Key Terms:

• The Federalist: A series of essays by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay promoting the Constitution’s ratification.

• Separation of Powers: Division of government into three branches to prevent tyranny.

• Checks and Balances: System ensuring that no branch of government has excessive power.

• Three-Fifths Clause: Constitutional compromise counting enslaved individuals as three-fifths of a person for representation and taxation.

Chapter 8: Securing the Republic (1791-1815)

Key Terms:

• Impressment: British practice of forcing American sailors into their navy, a cause of the War of 1812.

• Federalists and Republicans: Early political factions; Federalists favored a strong central government, while Republicans emphasized states’ rights.

• Whiskey Rebellion: 1794 protest against a federal tax on whiskey, demonstrating the strength of the new government under the Constitution.

• Louisiana Purchase: 1803 land acquisition from France that doubled U.S. territory and opened the west to expansion.

Chapter 9: The Market Revolution (1800-1840)

Key Question:

• Main Elements:

  • Technological innovations like steamboats, canals, and railroads revolutionized transportation and commerce.

  • Expansion of the cotton economy in the South due to the cotton gin.

  • Growth of factory systems and wage labor in the North.

Key Terms:

• Steamboat: Revolutionized river transport by enabling upstream travel.

• Erie Canal: Connected the Great Lakes to the Atlantic, boosting trade and New York’s economy.

• Cotton Kingdom: Southern economy reliant on cotton cultivation and enslaved labor.

• American System of Manufacturing: Use of interchangeable parts for mass production, leading to industrial growth.

• Mill Girls: Young women who worked in textile mills under strict conditions, often living in dormitories.

• Nativism: Anti-immigrant sentiment, particularly against Irish and German newcomers.

• Manifest Destiny: Belief in the U.S.’s divine right to expand across the continent.

Chapter 10: Democracy in America (1815-1840)

Key Question:

• Andrew Jackson and Democratic Nationalism:

  • Embodied the "common man’s" interests but also enforced controversial policies like the Indian Removal Act.

Key Terms:

• American System: Economic plan by Henry Clay emphasizing protective tariffs, a national bank, and infrastructure development.

• Missouri Compromise: Admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, maintaining balance in the Senate.

• Monroe Doctrine: U.S. policy opposing European interference in the Western Hemisphere.

• Spoils System: Practice of rewarding political supporters with government positions.

Chapter 11: The Peculiar Institution

Key Question:

• Slave Culture:

  • Enslaved people created distinct cultural practices through family bonds, religion, and oral traditions.

  • Religion blended African traditions with Christianity, providing hope and resistance.

Key Terms:

• Peculiar Institution: Euphemism for slavery in the South, highlighting its centrality to Southern life.

• Fugitive Slaves: Enslaved

Chapter 12: An Age of Reform (1820-1840)

Key Terms:

• Utopian Communities: Experimental societies like the Shakers and Oneida, aiming for moral and social perfection.

• Perfectionism: Belief in the possibility of creating a perfect society through reforms.

• Common School Movement: Advocated by Horace Mann, promoting public education as a means to equalize opportunities.

• Moral Suasion: Strategy used by reformers, especially abolitionists, to appeal to the public's sense of morality.

• Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Influential anti-slavery novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe, stirring abolitionist sentiment.

• underground railroad

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Chapter 13: A House Divided (1840-1861)

Key Terms:

• Gold Rush: Mass migration to California in 1849 following the discovery of gold.

• Kansas-Nebraska Act: Legislation allowing states to decide on slavery through popular sovereignty, leading to conflict.

• Bleeding Kansas: Violent clashes between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in Kansas territory.

• Dred Scott v. Sandford: Supreme Court decision denying African Americans citizenship and invalidating the Missouri Compromise.

• John Brown: Radical abolitionist who led violent anti-slavery actions, including the raid on Harper’s Ferry.

• Rise of the Republican Party: Political coalition opposing the expansion of slavery.

• Fort Sumter: Site of the first shots of the Civil War in 1861.

Chapter 14: A New Birth of Freedom: Civil War (1861-1865)

Key Question:

• Why is the Civil War considered the first modern war?

  • Use of advanced weaponry, railroads, and telegraphs.

  • Mass mobilization of resources and total war strategy.

Key Terms:

• First and Second Battles of Bull Run: Early Confederate victories demonstrating the war’s potential length and intensity.

• Antietam: Bloodiest single-day battle in U.S. history; Union victory that led to the Emancipation Proclamation.

• Radical Republicans: Congressional faction advocating for abolition and harsh Reconstruction policies.

• Second American Revolution: Refers to the Civil War's profound social and political changes.

• Homestead Act: Legislation granting 160 acres of public land to settlers.

• Emancipation Proclamation: 1863 declaration by Lincoln freeing enslaved people in Confederate-held areas.

• Battle of Gettysburg: Turning point battle; Union victory that halted Confederate invasion of the North.

• Battle of Vicksburg: Gave the Union control of the Mississippi River, splitting the Confederacy.

• Ten Percent Plan of Reconstruction: Lincoln’s plan for reintegration of Southern states requiring 10% of voters to pledge loyalty.

• 13th Amendment: Abolished slavery throughout the U.S.

• Appomattox Courthouse: Site of Confederate General Lee’s surrender to Union General Grant.

• Wade-Davis Bill: Radical Republican Reconstruction proposal vetoed by Lincoln.

Chapter 15: What is Freedom? Reconstruction (1865-1877)

Key Questions:

• What visions of freedom did former slaves and slaveholders pursue in the postwar South?

  • Former slaves sought land, education, and political participation.

  • Slaveholders aimed to maintain economic and social dominance.

• What were the competing visions of Reconstruction?

  • Presidential Reconstruction: Lenient approach under Lincoln and Johnson.

  • Radical Reconstruction: Emphasized civil rights and federal intervention in the South.

• What were the social and political effects of Radical Reconstruction in the South?

  • Expansion of public education and civil rights for African Americans.

  • Resistance through Black Codes and violent groups like the Ku Klux Klan.

Key Terms:

• Freedmen’s Bureau: Federal agency assisting freed people with education, housing, and employment.

• Sharecropping: System where freedmen worked land owned by others in exchange for a share of the crop.

• Crop Lien System: Credit system trapping poor farmers in cycles of debt.

• Black Codes: Laws restricting African Americans' rights and freedoms.

• Civil Rights Bill of 1866: Granted citizenship and equal protection to African Americans.

• Fourteenth Amendment: Guaranteed citizenship and equal protection under the law.

• Fifteenth Amendment: Prohibited voter discrimination based on race, color, or previous servitude.

• Reconstruction Act: Divided the South into military districts to enforce Reconstruction policies.

• Carpetbaggers: Northerners who moved South during Reconstruction, often viewed as opportunists.

• Scalawags: Southern whites who supported Reconstruction and Republican policies.

• Enforcement Acts: Laws to combat Ku Klux Klan violence and protect African American rights.

• Civil Rights Act of 1875: Prohibited racial discrimination in public accommodations; largely unenforced.

• Ku Klux Klan: White supremacist group opposing Reconstruction through terror and violence.