Untitled Flashcards Set

1607 – Jamestown established the first permanent British colony in the Americas

1619 – 1^st enslaved Africans brought to Britain’s American colonies

1776 – Declaration of Independence

1846-1848 – Mexican-American War

1861-1865 – Civil War

1865-1877 – Reconstruction

Topics from Lecture:

Recommendation: Reread your lecture notes, and pay special attention to key terms. Flash cards may be a good idea for terms that you find hard to understand or hard to remember. Below is a list of questions that will guide you toward preparing for key topics that may be on the midterm.

1.     What were the lives of Native Americans like before the arrival of Europeans?

-Population estimate: 8m-100+m people

- Large Cities like Cahokia and Tenochtitlan

-More than 600 tribes in the US

- There were Vikings in North America over 500 years before Columbus 

2.     Why was Columbus’ arrival so important to the history of the Americas?

-Landed in Bahamas 1492

-He enslaved Indigenous people

-made a series of European settlements in the Americas

3.     What was the Columbian Exchange?

Widespread exchange of human populations, animals, plants, culture, disease, and ideas between the American and Afro-Eurasian Hemisphere

4.     What factors caused tensions between European settlers and Native Americans? (List all.)

-Native Americans were weakened:

      - slavery

      -Losing land and resources

      -non-native species

      -diseases

- Slavery created bad conditions

5.     What is a virgin soil epidemic?

Virgin soil epidemics have occurred with European settlement, particularly when European explorers and colonists took diseases to lands they settled in the Americas.

6.     Who practiced scalping?

-       Colonists and Native Americans practiced Scalping

Colonists Scalped:

-French & Native Americans

Phips Proclamation- An official document that established a bounty for Native American scalps

7.     What was the name of the first permanent English colony in North America? Describe the types of people that lived there and what kind of business sustained them.

-       The name was the Jamestown Settlement.

The types of people that lived there were English men and boys, including laborers, artisans, and gentlemen.

-       Agriculture( Tobacco), glassmaking, wood production, and metalworking

8.     What differences were there between Native American slavery and African slavery?

Native Slavery:

-Not Legal

-Local/ Easier/ Cheaper

-More sustainable to disease

-If escaped, can return to tribe

-Women// Children most valuable

African Slavery:

-Legal

-More Expensive

-More Resilient to Diseases

-Far from Home

- Males Most Valuable

9.     Define indentured servitude, chattel slavery, and the Middle Passage.

Indentured Servant – a person who is unfree and must work for a master until debt is paid

Chattel Slavery- Humans as Property, to be bought and sold into permanent slavery

Middle Passage- Most enslaved people were sent to the Caribbean, Central America, and South America

10.  What was the Enlightenment? What political philosophies came out of it?

-Originated in Europe 1600s-1700s

-Reasoning and Individualism over Traditions

Political Philosophy

1.     Natural Rights – rights based on the universal laws of nature

2.     John Locke- people have natural rights to life, liberty, and property

3.     Jean-Jacques Rousseau- Laws Must be supported by General Will of people

4.     Baron Montesquieu – Political power should be separated  

11.  What was the Great Awakening? Why was it important?

-Encourage people to question the world, challenge church authority, and form a personal relationship with god

-preachers at outdoor meetings; listeners frenzied

-       1730s- 1740s

12.  How did Pontiac’s War create frustration in the colonies?

No more settling west of the Appalachian Mountains for the settler colonies

13.  Who fought in the Seven Years’ War? How did the results of the Seven Years’ War lead the colonists toward rebellion?

-       Rivalry between Britain and France

-       Both sides have Indigenous allies

-       1756-1763

-       French People were winning initially

-       The British ended up winning

14.  During the Revolutionary War, what advantages and disadvantages did the American colonists have? What advantages and disadvantages did the British have?

Advantages of Colonists:

-George Washington

-Home Court Advantage

-Had British enemies like France, Spain, Netherlands

Disadvantages:

-Poor Pay

-More to Lose

Advantages of British:

-Better Trained

-Experienced Leaders

-Had Navy

Disadvantages:

-Could not treat colonies as enemies

15.  What kinds of roles did women & free African Americans play in the new United States?

Women:

- Ran Farms and businesses

-Nurses, Cookes, and Seamstresses

African Americans:

-Fought on both sides

-British offered to free slaves who fought

16.  What is the significance of each of these documents? What did they create, change, or declare? Also know the sequence in which they were created (first, second, third, etc.):

a.     Declaration of Independence- The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands that have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

b.    Articles of Confederation- ratified in 1777 ratified in 1781

-named country

- Allows Congress to make treaties& alliances

- maintained armed forces

c.     Constitution

-Congress before each state  equal representatives

- At convention: debate between big Vs. Small States

d.    Bill of Rights-1791

-       The goal to protect people from government overreach

-       1^st ten Amendments to the Constitution

e.     13^th Amendment

 The 13th Amendment abolished slavery.

f.      14^th Amendment

The 14th Amendment gave citizenship to all people born in the US.

g.     15^th Amendment

The 15th Amendment gave Black Americans the right to vote.

17.  What was Republican Motherhood?

-engaged in debates about ratifying the constitution

-Supported families and worked

-Women were responsible for raising good Americans who loved liberty

18.  What was the Great Compromise, and why was it needed? What about the 3/5 Compromise?

Great Compromise: Senate: 2 senators per state, HOR: # of Representatives based on population

-Debate over how to count slaves for rep and taxation

3/5 Comprise- each slave counted as 3/5 of a person when counted states population

19.  Why was the transition of the presidency from John Adams to Thomas Jefferson so noteworthy?

-       First transition of power between political parties for the first time from FEDERALIST TO REPUBLICAN

20.  What was the Whiskey Rebellion, and why was it important?

-Whiskey taxed per gallon

-Whiskey producers thought the tax was unfair

- refused to pay the tax and or attacked tax collectors & inspectors

- gov enforced order

21.  What was the Nullification Crisis of 1832-33 about, and why was it important?

The theory that skates had the authority to block enforcement of a federal law

-       South Carolina went against federal law about taxation

22.  For the War of 1812, know:

a.     What countries fought in it?

English, France, Britain, Canada, America

b.    What were the causes of the war?

-USA wanted to be neutral and trade with both countries

-  English and France Harassed US SHIPS

-Impressment -forcing men into military service

c.     What were effects of the war?

-Britain defeats Napoleon, focused on US

- 1814-British burned Washington DC

23.  What is impressment?

the act of forcing people into military service, usually by intimidation or physical coercion