US History Notes

KEY

  • Pages 1-78: ULTIMATE REVIEW
    • Period 1: Pages 1-8
    • Period 2: Pages 8-14
    • Period 3: Pages 14-24
    • Period 4: Pages 24-34
    • Period 5: Pages 34-41
    • Period 6: Pages 4-44
    • Period 7: Pages 44-54
    • Period 8: Pages 54-71
    • Period 9: Pages 71-78
  • Page 78: TIMELINE
  • Page 87: SUPREME COURT CASES
  • Page 88: NECESSARY FOREIGN POLICY
  • Page 92: KEY SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
  • Page 101: LANDMARK CIVIL RIGHTS MILESTONES
  • Page 110: IMPORTANT ACTS OF CONGRESS
  • End: What the FRQs will be on

Ultimate study guide: Period 1: 1491-1607

Christopher Columbus Arrival

  • Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World in 1492.
  • His arrival marked the beginning of the Contact Period, during which Europe sustained contact with the Americas.
  • The period ends in 1607 because that is the year of the first English settlement.

Permanent Settlements

  • The spread of maize cultivation from present-day Mexico northward into the present-day American Southwest and beyond supported economic development.
  • Along the Northwest coast and in California, tribes developed communities along the ocean to hunt whales and salmon, totem poles, and canoes.

European Exploration in the Americas

Columbus Sails Circa 1492
  • New ships, such as caravels allowed for longer exploratory voyages.
  • In August of 1492, Columbus used three caravels, supplied and funded by the Spanish crown, to set sail toward India.
  • After the voyage, they reached land and found a group of people called the Taino and renamed their island San Salvador and claimed it for Spain.
The Age of Exploration
  • Columbus' voyage pleased the Spanish Monarchs.
  • Other European explorers also set sail to the New World in search of gold, glory and spread the word of their God.

Columbian Exchange, Spanish Exploration, and Conquest

The Columbian Exchange
  • Period of rapid exchange of plants, animals, foods, communicable diseases, and diseases.
  • Europe had the resources and technology to establish colonies far from home.
Flow of Trade
  • Old World to New World: horses, pigs, rice, wheat, grapes
  • New World to Old World: corn, potatoes, chocolate, tomatoes, avocado, sweet potatoes.
Colonization
  • A colony is a territory settled and controlled by a foreign power.

Native vs. European Views

Native Americans
  • Regarded the land as the source of life, not as a commodity to be sold.
  • Thought of the natural world as filled with spirits. Some believed in one supreme being.
  • Bonds of kinships ensured the continuation of tribal customs. The basic unit of organization among all Native American groups was the family, which included aunts, uncles, cousins, and other relatives.
  • Assignments were based on gender, age, and status. Depending on the region, some women could participate in the decision-making process.
Europeans
  • Believed that the land should be tamed and in private ownership of land.
  • The Roman Catholic Church was the dominant religious institution in western Europe. The pope had great political and spiritual authority.
  • Europeans respected kinship, but the extended family was not as important to them. Life centered around the nuclear family (father and mother and their children).
  • Men generally did most of the field labor and herded livestock. Women did help in the fields, but they were mostly in charge of child care and household labor.

Labor, Slavery, and Caste in the Spanish Colonial System

Introduction of Slavery in the American Colonies
  • Extensive use of enslaved Africans began when colonists from the Caribbean settled the Carolinas
  • Until then, indentured servants and, in some situations, enslaved Native Americans had mostly satisfied labor requirements
Challenges with Enslaving Native Americans
  • They knew the land, so they could easily escape and subsequently were difficult to find
  • In some Native American tribes, cultivation was considered women’s work, so gender was another obstacle to enslaving the natives
  • Europeans brought diseases that often decimated the Native Americans, wiping out 85 to 95 percent of the native population
Turn to Enslaved Africans
  • Southern landowners turned increasingly to enslaved Africans for labor
  • Unlike Native Americans, enslaved Africans did not know the land, so they were less likely to escape
  • Removed from their homelands and communities, and often unable to communicate with one another because they were from different regions of Africa, enslaved Black people initially proved easier to control than Native Americans
  • Dark skin of West Africans made it easier to identify enslaved people on sight
The Slave Trade
  • Majority of the slave trade, right up to the Revolution, was directed toward the Caribbean and South America
  • More than 500,000 enslaved people were brought to the English colonies (of the over 10 million brought to the New World)
The Middle Passage
  • Shipping route that brought enslaved people to the Americas
  • It was not unusual for one-fifth of the Africans to die on board
End of the Atlantic Slave Trade
  • Mounting criticism (primarily in the North) of the horrors of the Middle Passage led Congress to end American participation in the Atlantic slave trade on January 1, 1808
  • Slavery itself would not end in the United States until 1865
Slavery in the South
  • Flourished in the South due to nature of land and short growing season
  • Chesapeake and Carolinas farmed labor-intensive crops such as tobacco, rice, and indigo
Slavery in the North
  • Did not take hold in the North the same way it did in the South.
  • Used on farms in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
  • Used in shipping operations in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
  • Used as domestic servants in urban households, particularly in New York City
  • Northern states would take steps to phase out slavery following the Revolution.
  • Still enslaved people in New Jersey at the outbreak of the Civil War

Cultural Interactions Between Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans

The Birth of a New Society
  • Under Spain's encomienda system, the crown granted colonists authority over a specified number of natives
  • Colonist was obliged to protect those natives and convert them to Catholicism
  • In exchange, the colonists were entitled to those natives' labor for such enterprises as sugar harvesting and silver mining.
  • This system sounds like a form of slavery because it was a form of slavery.

Competition for Global Dominance

  • Improvements in navigation, such as the invention of the sextant (navigates with the altitudes of the stars) in the early 1700s, made sailing across the Atlantic Ocean safer and more efficient.
Joint-Stock Companies
  • Intercontinental trade became more organized with the creation of joint-stock companies, corporate businesses with shareholders whose mission was to settle and develop lands in North America
  • The most famous ones were the British East India Company, the Dutch East India Company, and later, the Virginia Company, which settled Jamestown.
Enslavement and African Adaptation
  • Explorers, such as Juan de Oñate, swept through the American Southwest, determined to create Christian converts by any means necessary—including violence
  • Some, such as the Maroon people, even managed to escape slavery and form cultural enclaves
  • Slave uprisings were not uncommon, most notably the Haitian Revolution

English Attempts to Settle North America

  • England’s first attempt to settle North America came a year prior to its victory over Spain, in 1587, when Sir Walter Raleigh sponsored a settlement on Roanoke Island (now part of North Carolina).
  • The colony had disappeared by 1590, which is why it came to be known as the Lost Colony.
  • There was “Croatian” on a tree
  • The English did not try again until 1607, when they settled Jamestown.
Jamestown and the Virginia Company
  • Jamestown was funded by a joint-stock company, a group of investors who bought the right to establish New World plantations from the king
  • The company was called the Virginia Company—named for Elizabeth I, known as the Virgin Queen—from which the area around Jamestown took its name.
  • The settlers, many of them English gentlemen, were ill-suited to the many adjustments life in the New World required of them, and they were much more interested in searching for gold than in planting crops.
Early Struggles
  • Within three months, more than half the original settlers were dead of starvation or disease
  • Jamestown survived only because ships kept arriving from England with new colonists.
  • Captain John Smith decreed that “he who will not work shall not eat,” and things improved for a time, but after Smith was injured in a gunpowder explosion and sailed back

John Rolfe and the Development of Tobacco

  • One of the survivors, John Rolfe, was notable in two ways. First, he married Powhatan’s daughter Pocahontas, briefly easing the tension between the natives and the English settlers.
  • Second, he pioneered the practice of growing tobacco, which had long been cultivated by Native Americans, as a cash crop to be exported back to England.
Expansion in the Chesapeake
  • As new settlements sprang up around Jamestown, the entire area came to be known as the Chesapeake (named after the bay).
  • That area today comprises Virginia and Maryland.
  • Over 75% of the 130,000 Englishmen who migrated to the Chesapeake during the 17th century were indentured servants
House of Burgesses
  • In 1619, Virginia established the House of Burgesses, in which any property-holding, white male could vote.
  • Decisions made by the House of Burgesses, however, had to be approved by the Virginia Company.
  • 1619 also marks the introduction of slavery to the English colonies.
French Colonization of North America
  • French colonized Quebec City in 1608
  • French colonists were fewer in number compared to Spanish and English and tended to be single men
  • French played a significant role in the French and Indian War (1754-1763) but overall had a much lighter impact on native peoples compared to Spanish and English
  • French chances of shaping the region known as British North America were slim due to the Edict of Nantes in 1598

The Pilgrims and the Massachusetts Bay Company

  • English Calvinists led a Protestant movement called Puritanism in the 16th century
  • Puritans sought to purify the Anglican Church of Roman Catholic practices
  • English monarchs of the early 17th century persecuted the Puritans
  • Puritans began to look for a new place to practice their faith
  • One group of Puritans, called Separatists, decided to leave England and start fresh in the New World
  • In 1620, Separatists set sail for Virginia on the Mayflower, but went off course and landed in modern-day Massachusetts
  • The group decided to settle where they had landed and named the settlement Plymouth.
The Pilgrims
  • Led by William Bradford
  • Signed the Mayflower Compact
  • Created a legal authority and assembly
  • Government's power derived from consent of governed, not God
  • Received assistance from local Native Americans
The Mayflower Compact
  • Important for creating legal system for colony
  • Asserted government's power from consent of governed
Assistance from Native Americans
  • Life-saving assistance
  • Pilgrims landed at site of Patuxet village wiped out by disease
  • Tisquantum/Squanto, an inhabitant of the village, was captured and brought to Europe as enslaved person
  • Returned to homeland, found it depopulated
  • Became Pilgrims' interpreter and taught them how to plant in their new home.
The Great Puritan Migration
  • 1629-1642
  • Established by Congregationalists (Puritans who wanted to reform Anglican church from within)
  • Led by Governor John Winthrop
Religious Tolerance
  • Both Separatists and Congregationalists did not tolerate religious freedom in their colonies
  • Both had experienced and fled religious persecution
Calvinist Principles
  • Settlers of Massachusetts Bay Colony were strict Calvinists
  • Calvinist principles dictated their daily lives
  • Protestant work ethic and relationship to market economy
  • Roots of Civil War may be traced back to founding of Chesapeake and New England
Religious Intolerance
  • Two major incidents during first half of 17th century
  • Roger Williams, a minister in Salem Bay settlement, taught that church and state should be separate
  • Banished and moved to Rhode Island, founded colony with charter allowing for free exercise of religion
  • Anne Hutchinson, a prominent proponent of antinomianism, banished for challenging Puritan beliefs and authority of Puritan clergy
  • Anne Hutchinson was a woman in a resolutely patriarchal society which turned many against her.
Puritan Immigration
  • Near halt between 1649 and 1660 during Oliver Cromwell's rule as Lord Protector of England
  • Puritans had little motive to move to New World during Interregnum (between kings)
  • With the restoration of the Stuarts, many English Puritans again immigrated to the New World, bringing with them republican ideals of revolution

Period 2: 1607-1754

Colonization

British Treatment of the Colonies
  • England regulated trade and government in its colonies but interfered in colonial affairs as little as possible.
  • England set up absentee customs officials and colonies were left to self-govern.
  • England occasionally turned a blind eye to the colonies' violations of trade restrictions.
  • Developed a large degree of autonomy.
  • Helped fuel revolutionary sentiments when monarchy later attempted to gain greater control of the New World.
English Regulation of Colonial Trade
  • Europeans used a theory called mercantilism.
  • Mercantilists believed that economic power was rooted in a favorable balance of trade and control of specie
  • Colonies were important mostly for economic reasons, which is why the British considered their colonies in the West Indies more important than their colonies on the North American continent
  • Colonies on the North American continent were seen primarily as markets for British and West Indian goods, but also as sources of raw materials
British Control of Colonial Commerce
  • Navigation Acts passed between 1651 and 1673, required colonists to buy goods only from England, sell certain of their products only to England, and import non-English goods via English ports and pay a duty on those imports
  • Navigation Acts also prohibited the colonies from manufacturing a number of goods that England already produced
Wool Act of 1699
  • Forbade both the export of wool from the American colonies and the importation of wool from other British colonies
  • Some colonists protested this law by dealing only in flax and hemp
Molasses Act of 1733
  • Imposed an exorbitant tax upon the importation of sugar from the French West Indies
  • New Englanders frequently refused to pay the tax, an early example of rebellion against the Crown.
Colonial Governments
  • Despite trade regulations, colonists maintained a high degree of autonomy
  • Each colony had a governor appointed by the king or proprietor
  • Governor had powers similar to the king, but also dependent on colonial legislatures for money
  • Governor's power relied on cooperation of colonists, most ruled accordingly
British Central Government:
  • British never established powerful central government in colonies
  • Autonomy allowed eased transition to independence in following century
The Regions of the British Colonies
  • Near halt between 1649 and 1660 during Oliver Cromwell's rule as Lord Protector of England
  • Puritans had little motive to move to New World during Interregnum (between kings)
  • With the restoration of the Stuarts, many English Puritans again immigrated to the New World, bringing with them republican ideals of revolution
Other Early Colonies
  • Several colonies were owned by one person, usually received land as gift from king
  • Connecticut and Maryland were two such colonies
Maryland
  • Granted to Cecilius Calvert, Lord Baltimore
  • Calvert intended to create haven colony for Catholics and make a profit growing tobacco
  • Offered religious tolerance for all Christians but tension between faiths soon arose
  • Act of Tolerance passed in 1649 to protect religious freedom but situation devolved into religious civil war
New York
  • Royal gift to James, king's brother
  • Dutch Republic was largest commercial power of the century and economic rival of the British
  • Dutch had established initial settlement in 1614 near present-day Albany, which they called New Netherland
  • In 1664, Charles II of England waged war against the Dutch Republic and captured New Netherland
  • James became Duke of York, and when he became king in 1685, he proclaimed New York a royal colony
  • Dutch were allowed to remain in colony on generous terms and made up large segment of population for many years
New Jersey
  • Given to friends of Charles II, who sold it off to investors, many of whom were Quakers
Pennsylvania
  • William Penn, a Quaker, received colony as a gift from King Charles II
  • Charles had a friendship with William Penn and wanted to export Quakers to someplace far from England
  • Penn established liberal policies towards religious freedom and civil liberties
  • Pennsylvania had natural bounty and attracted settlers through advertising, making it one of the fastest growing colonies
  • Penn attempted to treat Native Americans more fairly but had mixed results
  • Penn made a treaty with the Delawares to take only as much land as could be walked by a man in three days. His son, however, renegotiated the treaty, hiring three marathon runners for the same task, thereby claiming considerably more land.
Carolina Colony
  • Proprietary colony (English-owned)
  • Split into North and South in 1729
South Carolina
  • Settled by descendants of Englishmen who had colonized Barbados
  • Barbados’ primary export: sugar
  • Plantations worked by enslaved people
Slavery in the Colonies
  • Existed in Virginia since 1619
  • Arrival of settlers from Barbados marked the beginning of the slave era in the colonies
  • First Englishmen in the New World to see widespread slavery at work
Formation of Georgia
  • Formation of South Carolina and ongoing armed conflicts with Spanish Florida prompted British to support formation of Georgia by James Oglethorpe in 1732
  • Georgia initially banned slavery
Slavery in Georgia
  • Ban was soon overturned due to economic advantage and growth afforded to neighboring South Carolina due to slavery
Royal Colonies
  • By the time of the Revolution, only Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Maryland were not royal colonies.

Diversity in the Colonies

Population Growth in the Colonies
  • Population in 1700 was 250,000 and by 1750 it was 1,250,000
  • Substantial non-English European populations (Scotch-Irish, Scots, Germans) started arriving in large numbers during the 18th century
  • In a few colonies, Black population would outnumber whites by the time of the Revolution
  • Over 90% of colonists lived in rural areas
Rural Life in the Colonies
  • Labor divided along gender lines, men doing outdoor work and women doing indoor work
  • Opportunities for social interaction outside the family were limited
  • Children's education was secondary to their work schedules
  • Women were not allowed to vote, draft a will, or testify in court
Education in the Colonies
  • Citizens with anything above a rudimentary level of education were rare
  • Nearly all colleges established during this period served primarily to train ministers
  • Early colleges in the North include Harvard and Yale (established in 1636 and 1701, respectively)
  • College of William and Mary was chartered in the South in 1693

Major Events in the Period

Bacon's Rebellion:
  • Took place on Virginia's western frontier in 1676
  • Frontier farmers forced west into back country due to all coastal land being claimed
  • Frontier settlers sought to band together and drive out native tribes
  • Stymied by government in Jamestown, which did not want to risk full-scale war
  • Class resentment grew as frontiersmen suspected eastern elites viewed them as expendable