American History Review Notes

American History I Review: Exploration and Colonization

  • Northwest Passage: A sought-after water route from the Atlantic to the Pacific through northern Canada and Alaska.

  • Columbian Exchange: Transfer of plants, animals, and diseases between the New World and the Old World.

  • Glorious Revolution: Events leading to the overthrow of King James II.

  • French and Indian War (Quebec): Conflict arising from British and French expansion in North America.

  • Puritans: Religious group seeking to purify the Church of England; settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony for religious freedom.

  • Treaty of Paris 1763: Ended the Seven Years' War between Great Britain and France.

  • Albany Plan of Union/Benjamin Franklin: First attempt to unite the colonies.

  • Indentured Servants: Colonists receiving free passage to North America in exchange for labor.

  • Middle Passage: Voyage transporting enslaved Africans to North America and the West Indies.

  • "3Gs" (God, Glory, Gold/Greed): Primary motivations for explorers and conquistadors in the New World.

  • Slave Codes: Restrictive rules for slaves, including curfews, dress codes, and prohibitions against reading and writing.

  • Mercantilism:

  • Salutary Neglect/Navigation Acts:

  • Original 13 Colonies:

    • New England: Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island

    • Middle: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware

    • Southern: North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Maryland

  • Head Right System: 50 acres of land per person.

  • Anne Hutchinson—Antinomianism: Advocate for religious freedom, claiming believers could communicate directly with God, undermining the clergy's authority.

  • Jonathan Edwards: "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."

  • Roger Williams: Founder of Rhode Island.

  • Quakers: English dissenters emphasizing pacifism, inner divinity, and social equity; founded Pennsylvania under William Penn.

  • Triangular Trade: Trade system involving Africa (slaves), America (raw materials), and Europe (guns and rum).

  • John Winthrop: "City upon a Hill."

  • Spanish Conquistadors: Magellan, Ponce de Leon, de Soto, Cortez, Pizarro, etc.

  • Jamestown: Key figures include Smith, Rolfe; site of the House of Burgesses.

  • Bacon’s Rebellion: Conflict between eastern and western factions.

  • Phyllis Wheatley, Anne Bradstreet: Notable poets.

American Revolution through Federalist Period

  • Thomas Paine: (Common Sense, American Crisis).

  • Shays’ Rebellion: Demonstrated the need for a strong national government.

  • Boston Massacre:

  • Whiskey Rebellion: Proved the strength of the national government.

  • 1st and 2nd Continental Congresses:

  • Constitutional Convention/Compromises:

  • Federalists and Democratic Republicans: Emergence of the first two-party system, led by Hamilton and Jefferson.

  • Alien and Sedition Acts; VA & KY Resolutions: (nullification)

  • XYZ Affair (France): "Millions for Defense, not one cent for tribute!"

  • Embargo Act 1807:

  • Adams Onis Treaty:

  • Boston Tea Party:

  • Articles of Confederation: (weaknesses)

  • Battle of Bunker Hill: (1st major battle)

  • Battle of Saratoga: (turning point)

  • Federalist Papers: Authorship under the pseudonym "Publius".

  • Hamilton’s Economic Plan: (Funding and Assumption)

  • Treaty of Greenville/Battle of Fallen Timbers:

  • Causes of the War of 1812: (impressment, war hawks, GB arming the NAs, trade restrictions)

  • Consequences of the War of 1812: (Nationalism, respect, industry…)

  • Treaty of Ghent/Battle of New Orleans:

  • Adams-Onis Treaty:

  • Pinckney’s Treaty: A diplomatic agreement between the United States and Spain settled territorial disputes

  • Jay Treaty: An agreement between the United States and Great Britain, resolved issues that were still unresolved since the American Revolution

  • Marbury v. Madison/midnight judges:

  • John Marshall:

  • Monroe Doctrine: (nonintervention/non colonization)

  • "Intolerable Acts" (Coercive and Quebec):

  • Treaty of Paris 1783:

  • Judiciary Acts of 1789 and 1801:

  • GWs Proclamation of Neutrality:

  • GWs Farewell Address, Cabinet:

  • Bill of Rights: (1st 10 Amendments)

  • Townshend Duties, Stamp Act:

  • Eli Whitney: (Cotton Gin/Interchangeable Parts)

  • Louisiana Purchase/Lewis and Clark; Sacajawea:

  • Olive Branch Petition:

  • Declaratory Act:

  • Powers established by the Constitution: concurrent, federal, state.

  • Hartford Convention:

  • Sons of Liberty:

  • Election of 1800: ("Revolution")--1st peaceful transition from one party to another

Era of Good Feelings through Jacksonian Era

  • Sectionalism:

  • Turnpike: A toll road; funds used for road maintenance.

  • Marshall Court cases: Gibbons v. Ogden, Dartmouth College v. Woodward, VA v. Cohens, Cherokee Nation v. GA, McCulloch v. MD, Worcester v. GA

  • Nat Turner’s Rebellion:

  • Era of Good Feelings: Monroe’s presidency; characterized by nationalism, economic growth, and expansion; a period with effectively a one-party system

  • Missouri Compromise 1820: Missouri admitted as a slave state, Maine as a free state; slavery prohibited north of the 36°30′36°30' line in future states.

  • Democratic Party (Andrew Jackson), Whig Party (opposition party):

  • Election of 1824 “Corrupt Bargain”: Determined by Congress; ended the Era of Good Feelings; Jackson claimed a "Corrupt Bargain" led to the formation of the Democracy Party.

  • Nativism/Know Nothings:

  • Indian Removal Act (Andrew Jackson): Led to the Trail of Tears.

  • Webster Ashburton Treaty: settled border disputes and other issues between the United States and Great Britain

  • Erie Canal: Man-made waterway connecting the Hudson River to the Great Lakes.

  • American System (Clay):

  • Inventors: McCormick (Reaper), Deere (plow), Whitney, Fulton (Steamboat), Morse (telegraph)

  • Spoils system: “To the victory goes the spoils.”

  • Bank of the United States (“pet banks”): Proposed by Alexander Hamilton, opposed by Jackson; pet banks were state banks where Jackson placed government deposits.

  • The Great Compromiser: Henry Clay's role as US Senator, Speaker of the House, War Hawk, and proponent of the American System.

2nd Great Awakening and Reform Movements

  • Women’s Rights: Seneca Falls, Stanton, Mott, Decl. of Sentiments, Truth - asserted women's equality in politics, family, education, jobs, religion and morals

  • Institutional Reform: Dix, prisons, asylums, rehabilitation.

  • Abolition: Douglass, Walker, Grimkes, Truth, Garrison, Temperance (moderation of alcohol).

  • 2nd Great Awakening (Charles G. Finney): Hudson River School (Thomas Cole/landscapes).

  • Utopian Communities: (Onieda, Brook Farm, Shakers, New Harmony) - A non-existent ideal society where everything is as good as it can possibly be for everyone in the society.

  • Transcendentalism: (Thoreau, Emerson) - Centered on the tenets of the goodness of man, the importance of nature, and individualism

  • Mormons: (Joseph Smith, Brigham Young) - Brigham Young led the Mormons to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, where they founded Salt Lake City.

  • Early American Writers: (Poe, Cooper, Irving, Hawthorne)

  • Andrew Jackson: – 1st Southern/Western President; “Old Hickory”; President of the “Common Man” used Pet banks and the spoils system; ordered the Trail of Tears

  • Alexis de Tocqueville: —Democracy in America -equality was the great political and social idea of his era,

  • Noah Webster/dictionary:

Manifest Destiny and Expansion Westward

  • Manifest Destiny: The idea that the United States was destined to expand from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.

  • MO Compromise: An agreement made in 1820, which aimed to maintain the balance of power between free and slave states by admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state.

  • Comstock Lode: A significant silver deposit discovered in Nevada in 1859, which led to a rush of prospectors and significantly contributed to the westward expansion of the United States.

  • 49ers/Gold Rush: The influx of prospectors and settlers, known as the '49ers,' who sought fortune after gold was discovered in California in 1848, significantly accelerated westward expansion.

  • Promontory Point/Ogden, UT/transcontinental RR:

  • Homestead Act 1862:

  • Morrill Land grant Act 1862:

  • “Bleeding KS”/KS-NB Act:

  • Wilmot Proviso:

  • Convention of 1818:

  • Webster-Ashburton Treaty:

  • Chief Joseph:

  • Barbed Wire:

  • Gadsden Purchase:

  • Mexican-American War/Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo:

  • James K. Polk/ “54 40’ or Fight”:

  • Battle of Little Big Horn: - Last big victory for the NAs on the Grt. Plains Custer’s Last Stand.

  • Sod houses: – Built on the frontier by settlers because there weren’t enough trees/wood.

  • Republican Party:

  • Oregon Trail:

  • Exodusters/Buffalo Soldiers: Exodusters: African American settlers who moved from the Southern United States to Kansas in the late 1800s following the Civil War, seeking better opportunities and escaping racial oppression.

    Buffalo Soldiers: African American soldiers in the U.S. Army who served in the West during the late 1800s, known for their bravery and significant contributions to the military.

  • Reconstruction: The period after the Civil War aimed at rebuilding the South and integrating formerly enslaved individuals into society, marked by significant legislative changes, including the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.

  • Native American Relations: The interactions between the United States government and Native American tribes during westward expansion, often characterized by forced relocation, such as the Trail of Tears, and treaties that the federal government frequently broke.

  • Horace Mann: Education reformer from Mass.; emphasized public education, better training for teachers and expanded curriculum

  • Dorothea Dix: Advocate for both prison reform and the rights of the mentally ill; goal=rehabilitation

  • Seneca Falls Convention of 1848: Nation’s first women’s rights convention; organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott

Civil War and Reconstruction

  • Emancipation Proclamation: A military order issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, that declared enslaved people in the Confederate states to be free

  • Attrition/Anaconda Plan/Sherman’s March to the Sea: War strategy focused on gradually weakening the enemy through sustained losses and resource exhaustion.

  • Robert E. Lee/US Grant: Generals during the American Civil War who faced off against each other in a series of battles, culminating in Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia on April 9, 1865

  • Gettysburg Address: Gettysburg Address is that the ideals of freedom and equality are the foundation of the United States, and that the living must carry on the work of those who died to protect them

  • Fort Sumter: A sea fort in Charleston, South Carolina, that is a symbol of the American Civil War

  • Election of 1860: –won by Abe Lincoln led to SC’s secession from the union

  • Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural Address: Called for national reconciliation and healing in the aftermath of the Civil War.

  • Advantages/disadvantages of the Union/Confederacy: The Union (North) held significant advantages in terms of population, industrial capacity, and naval power, while the Confederacy (South) primarily benefited from fighting a defensive war on familiar territory.

  • Ironclads: - A 19th-century warship with armor plating.

  • Secession: - the formal withdrawal of a group from a political entity.

  • Compromise of 1850/Fugitive Slave Law: - a group of five laws passed by Congress in September 1850

  • Dred Scott v. Sanford: The U.S. Supreme Court stated that enslaved people were not citizens of the United States and, therefore, could not expect any protection from the federal government or the courts

  • Harriet Beecher Stowe/Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Was the author of "Uncle Tom’s Cabin" (1852), a novel that depicted the brutal realities of slavery and helped galvanize anti-slavery sentiment in the North. The book played a significant role in turning public opinion against slavery and increasing tensions between the North and South.

  • Free Soil Party: was a short-lived political party in the mid-1800s that opposed the expansion of slavery into Western territories. It attracted anti-slavery Whigs, Democrats, and members of the Liberty Party, and it advocated for “free soil, free speech, free labor, and free men.”

  • Stephen Douglas: Was a prominent Illinois senator and proponent of popular sovereignty—the idea that territories should decide for themselves whether to permit slavery. He was a key figure in the Kansas- Nebraska Act (1854) and ran against Abraham Lincoln in the 1858 Illinois Senate race (which Lincoln won in a famous series of debates).

  • Harriet Tubman/Underground Railroad: Was a former slave and a key conductor on the Underground Railroad, a network of safe houses and routes that helped enslaved African Americans escape to freedom in the North. Tubman personally led numerous missions to rescue slaves, earning her the nickname "Moses."