Complete Praxis 5904 Study Notes

European Exploration & Early America

  • 3 Motivations for Exploration:
    • God: To spread Christianity to new lands and populations.
    • Gold: Driven by mercantilism, focusing on acquiring raw materials, precious metals, and accumulating national wealth.
    • Glory: To achieve national prestige and personal fame.
  • Columbian Exchange: The extensive transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and ideas between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres initiated by Christopher Columbus.
  • 13 Colonies Regions:
    • New England: Founded primarily for religious reasons.
    • Middle Colonies: Culturally and economically diverse.
    • Southern Colonies: Relied heavily on cash crops (specifically tobacco) and slave labor.
  • Manifest Destiny: A 19th-century belief that the U.S. was divinely ordained to expand across North America; used to justify:
    • The annexation of Texas.
    • Claiming the Oregon territory.
    • The Mexican-American War.

The American Revolution & Founding

  • Philosophical Precedents:
    • Magna Carta: English charter establishing the fundamental concept of limited government.
    • The Enlightenment & John Locke: John Locke argued that individuals possess natural rights (life, liberty, property) and that governments derive power solely from the consent of the governed.
  • Causes of the Revolution:
    • French and Indian War: Britain emerged victorious but incurred massive debt, leading Parliament to impose direct taxes on American colonies.
    • Colonial Slogan: "No taxation without representation".
  • Key Acts & Events:
    • Stamp Act (1765): The first major direct tax levied on colonists by Britain.
    • Townshend Acts: A series of taxes placed on imported goods.
    • Tea Act & Boston Tea Party: The Tea Act led directly to colonists dumping tea into Boston Harbor in protest.
    • Intolerable Acts: Punitive measures passed by British Parliament in response to the Boston Tea Party.
  • Articles of Confederation: The first U.S. government framework, which was intentionally made weak. Shays' Rebellion was the breaking point that exposed the national government as too weak to handle internal uprisings.

Early Republic through Reconstruction

  • George Washington's Precedents: Established the executive cabinet and the standard two-term limit for the presidency.
  • Farewell Address Warnings: Explicitly warned against two major issues:
    • Political parties.
    • Foreign permanent entangling alliances.
  • First Political Parties:
    • Federalists (Alexander Hamilton): Advocated for a strong central government.
    • Democratic-Republicans (Thomas Jefferson): Advocated for states' rights.
  • War of 1812: Fought against Britain over maritime rights and the impressment of American sailors.
  • Age of Jackson & Sectional Tensions:
    • Jacksonian Democracy: Marked a shift toward populism and representation of the "common man".
    • Indian Removal Act (1830): Forced Native Americans off their ancestral lands, resulting in the Cherokee Trail of Tears.
    • Sectionalism: Economic and cultural divide separating the industrial North and the agrarian, slaveholding South.
    • Abolitionist Movement: A dedicated movement that sought the immediate end to slavery.
  • Slavery Compromises:
    • Missouri Compromise: Admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state.
    • Compromise of 1850: Admitted California as a free state and added a harsh Fugitive Slave Act.
    • Kansas-Nebraska Act: Allowed settlers in new territories to decide the issue of slavery for themselves by popular vote.
  • Civil War & Reconstruction:
    • Key Figures:
    • Abraham Lincoln: Union President.
    • Ulysses S. Grant: Union General.
    • Robert E. Lee: Confederate Commander.
    • Emancipation Proclamation: An order issued by Abraham Lincoln freeing all enslaved people residing in Confederate-held territories.
    • Reconstruction Amendments:
    • 13th Amendment: Abolished slavery.
    • 14th Amendment: Granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. and established the Equal Protection Clause.
    • 15th Amendment: Prohibited denying the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Industrialization, Gilded Age & Progressive Era

  • Transcontinental Railroad (1869): Successfully connected the eastern and western regions of the United States.
  • Captains of Industry:
    • Andrew Carnegie: Steel industry leader.
    • John D. Rockefeller: Oil industry leader.
  • Labor Unions: Formed to fight collectively for workers' rights against low wages and harsh working conditions.
  • Chinese Exclusion Act: Historic law that became the first U.S. legislation banning immigration from a specific country.
  • Cultural Theories:
    • Melting Pot: Assimilation theory asserting that immigrants shed their native culture to integrate into American society.
    • Pluralism / Salad Bowl: Theory asserting that immigrants retain their unique cultural identities.
  • Progressive Era (1890–1920):
    • Muckrakers: Investigative journalists who exposed social problems (e.g., Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, which exposed severe conditions in the meatpacking industry).
    • Teddy Roosevelt's Square Deal: Focused on consumer protection, corporate control, and environmental conservation.
    • 19th Amendment (1920): Granted women the right to vote.

WWI, Great Depression, WWII & Cold War

  • World War I:
    • The U.S. entered the conflict in 1917.
    • Woodrow Wilson proposed his 14 Points post-war peace plan.
  • 1920s: Defined by the "Roaring 20s" economic boom and the Harlem Renaissance (an explosion of African American art, music, and literature).
  • Great Depression (1929): Sparked by the 1929 stock market crash.
    • FDR’s New Deal: Centered on Relief, Recovery, and Reform (created Social Security for pensions and the FDIC for bank deposit safety).
  • World War II:
    • The U.S. entered after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
    • Fought the Axis powers.
    • Ended after the top-secret Manhattan Project developed atomic bombs, which were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
  • Cold War Era:
    • Containment Policy / Truman Doctrine: U.S. commitment to contain and prevent the expansion of communism.
    • Marshall Plan: An economic aid program designed to rebuild Western Europe.
    • Proxy Wars: Included the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
    • McCarthyism / Second Red Scare: An era of anti-communist hysteria characterized by making accusations of treason without supporting evidence.
    • Space Race:
    • Launched by the Soviet Union's Sputnik in 1957.
    • Led directly to the creation of NASA.
    • The U.S. won the competition with the 1969 moon landing.

Civil Rights Movement & Social Transformations

  • Key Figures:
    • Martin Luther King Jr.: Led nonviolent civil disobedience.
    • Rosa Parks: Initiated the Montgomery bus boycott.
    • Malcolm X: Promoted Nation of Islam teachings and black nationalism.
  • Landmark Rulings & Legislation:
    • Brown v. Board of Education: Ruled racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional.
    • UC Regents v. Bakke: Supreme Court ruling that addressed affirmative action in college admissions.
    • Civil Rights Act of 1964: Outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
    • Voting Rights Act of 1965: Outlawed discriminatory voting practices.
  • Social Trends:
    • Henry Ford’s Assembly Line: Enabled mass production and driven mass consumerism.
    • Suburbs: Driven by the interstate highway system and the GI Bill, leading to widespread suburbanization migration.
    • Great Society: Lyndon B. Johnson’s domestic policy agenda designed to eliminate poverty and racial injustice.

Forms of Government & Civic Principles

  • Forms of Government:
    • Republic / Representative Democracy: Political authority rests with the people, who elect representatives to govern.
    • Monarchy: Rule by a single person (such as a king or queen).
    • Dictatorship: Absolute, unlimited power held by a single individual.
    • Oligarchy: Rule by a small, select group.
    • Theocracy: Rule by religious leaders governing in God's name.
  • Core Principles of U.S. Government:
    • Popular Sovereignty: The principle that the people are the ultimate source of government authority.
    • Limited Government: Government powers are strictly restricted by law.
    • Separation of Powers:
    • Legislative (Congress): Makes laws.
    • Executive (President): Enforces laws.
    • Judicial (Supreme Court): Interprets laws.
    • Federalism: Power is split between the national government and state governments:
    • Delegated Powers: Belong exclusively to the National Government.
    • Reserved Powers: Kept exclusively by the States.
    • Concurrent Powers: Shared simultaneously by both national and state levels.
  • Checks & Balances & Judicial Review:
    • President vetoes bills; Congress can override vetoes; Senate confirms presidential appointments.
    • Marbury v. Madison: Landmark decision that established Judicial Review (the Supreme Court's power to declare laws unconstitutional).

Bill of Rights & Civic Responsibilities

  • Key Amendments:
    • 1st Amendment: Protects 5 core freedoms — Speech, Press, Religion, Assembly, and Petition.
    • 2nd Amendment: Protects the right to bear arms.
    • 4th Amendment: Protects against unreasonable searches and seizures.
    • 5th & 6th Amendments: Protect rights of the accused, guaranteeing a fair trial and due process.
  • Civic Duties & Responsibilities:
    • Fundamental Duty: Voting.
    • Additional Responsibilities: Obeying laws, paying taxes, serving on a jury, and staying informed on current events.

Test-Day Execution Strategy & Key Clue Words

  • Pacing Strategy:
    • Allocate 1 minute per question:

60 questions60 minutes=1 minute per question\frac{60\,\text{questions}}{60\,\text{minutes}} = 1\,\text{minute per question}

  • Do not spend more than 90 seconds90\,\text{seconds} on any single tricky question—flag it immediately and keep moving.

    • Key Clue Words & Associations:

  • Mercantilism →\rightarrow Gold, raw materials, wealth accumulation.

  • Shays' Rebellion →\rightarrow Weakness of the Articles of Confederation.

  • John Locke →\rightarrow Natural rights, consent of the governed.

  • Marbury v. Madison →\rightarrow Judicial Review.

  • 19th Amendment →\rightarrow Women's suffrage (1920).