APUSH

Unit 1: 1491-1607

Native American Civilizations by Location:

• Southwest (e.g., Pueblo, Anasazi): Maize agriculture, complex irrigation, adobe dwellings.

• Great Plains (e.g., Sioux): Nomadic, bison hunting, use of horses (post-Columbian).

• Northeast (e.g., Iroquois, Algonquian): Mixed agriculture/hunting, longhouses, complex confederacies (e.g., Iroquois Confederacy).

• Northwest (e.g., Chinook): Fishing, totem poles, complex social hierarchy, plank houses.

• Mississippi Valley (e.g., Cahokia): Mound builders, large trade networks, maize-based economy.

European Exploration & Expansion:

Reasons for Expansion:

• Social: Social mobility, desire for adventure/glory, overpopulation in Europe.

• Religious: Spread Christianity (missionary work), escape religious persecution, Catholic vs. Protestant rivalry.

• Economic: Trade routes to Asia, gold/silver, mercantilism, raw materials, new markets.

• Political: Competition among European empires (Spain, Portugal, France, England), rise of nation-states.

Technology:

• Caravel, astrolabe, compass, printing press (spread of knowledge), gunpowder.

Columbian Exchange:

Goods Exchanged:

• To Old World: Maize, potatoes, tomatoes, tobacco, cocoa.

• To New World: Horses, cattle, pigs, wheat, sugar, disease (smallpox, measles).

Impact:

• Massive population decline among Native Americans (up to 90%).

• Introduction of capitalism: influx of silver led to price revolution and growth of global trade.

Spanish Empire & Native Interactions:

Encomienda System:

• Spanish crown granted colonists authority over Native labor in exchange for Christianizing them.

• Exploitative, led to harsh treatment and forced labor.

Las Castas (Caste System):

• Racial hierarchy:

  • Peninsulares (born in Spain),

  • Creoles (Spanish descent, born in Americas),

  • Mestizos (Spanish + Native),

  • Mulattoes (Spanish + African),

  • Natives & Africans at bottom.

Debates:

• Juan de Sepúlveda: Justified conquest and subjugation; viewed Natives as “natural slaves.”

• Bartolomé de Las Casas: Advocated for Native rights; opposed the encomienda; inspired some reform (e.g., New Laws of 1542).

Conquistadors:

• Spanish soldiers who conquered Aztec (Cortés), Inca (Pizarro) empires; motivated by gold, God, and glory.

Contextualization Themes:

Use these to explain the broader trends influencing Period 1:

• Colonialism/Imperialism: Establishing control over foreign lands for resources and power.

• Mercantilism: Wealth = power; colonies exist to benefit the mother country.

• Capitalism: Expansion of trade, private ownership, and wealth accumulation.

• Renaissance: Revived interest in science, exploration, classical knowledge.

• Expansionism: Desire for land and influence—motivating force for European powers.

• Manifest Destiny (later parallel): The belief in inevitable territorial expansion—link to Spanish views of divine conquest.

• Nativism/Xenophobia (early forms): Dehumanization of Natives as “savages” to justify conquest.

Complexity & Synthesis Connections:

Compare Across Periods or Regions:

• Nativism/Xenophobia: Similar to 19th-century anti-immigrant attitudes (e.g., Chinese Exclusion Act, Know-Nothing Party).

• Slavery: Transition from Native slavery to African slavery parallels the broader Atlantic Slave Trade of Period 2.

• Exceptionalism/Nationalism: Early Spanish belief in cultural superiority mirrors American exceptionalism in Manifest Destiny.

• Resistance: Native resistance (e.g., Pueblo Revolt, later Tecumseh) shows continuity in indigenous opposition.

• Religious Motivation: Compare Catholic missions here with Protestant missions in British colonies or Second Great Awakening.

Unit 2: The Original Thirteen Colonies

General:

• Colonies were created through charters from the Crown or joint-stock companies.

• Reasons for leaving Europe: religious freedom, economic opportunity, land, escape from persecution or class hierarchy.

Chesapeake Colonies (Virginia & Maryland):

• Early Problems: Starvation (e.g., “Starving Time” in Jamestown), disease, poor leadership.

• Political Institutions: Virginia House of Burgesses (1619) — first elected assembly in English America.

• Labor: Indentured servitude early on; shift to African slavery post-Bacon’s Rebellion (1676).

• Population: Mostly single men; slower family growth.

• Economy: Tobacco-based cash crop economy.

• Conflict: Powhatan Wars with Native Americans, Bacon’s Rebellion (class tensions between elite planters and frontier settlers).

New England Colonies (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire):

• Early Problems: Harsh winters, tension with Native groups (Pequot War, King Philip’s War).

• Pilgrims and Puritans: Religious dissenters fleeing persecution; strict moral codes and church influence.

• Political Institutions: Mayflower Compact (self-rule), town meetings.

• Economy: Small farms, fishing, trade, shipbuilding.

• Conflict: King Philip’s War (1675), dissent from Roger Williams & Anne Hutchinson.

Restoration Colonies (Carolinas, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania):

• Post-Oliver Cromwell: Stuart monarchy restored in 1660s, leading to new colonization efforts.

• Economy:

  • Carolinas: Rice, indigo, enslaved African labor.

  • New York: Dutch origins, diverse, trade-heavy.

  • Pennsylvania: Quaker refuge under William Penn, religious freedom, good Native relations.

• Characteristics: Proprietary colonies, diversity, some tolerance, economic experimentation.

Mercantilism:

• Economic system to benefit the mother country (England).

• Navigation Acts (1651, 1660s): Regulated trade to ensure colonial goods went through England.

  • Pros: Shipbuilding boomed, protection by Royal Navy.

  • Cons: Smuggling increased, resentment grew over restrictions.

  • Reactions: Resistance through smuggling, tensions over economic control (early seeds of independence).

Slavery:

• Increase in Demand: Decline of indentured servants, plantation economy in the South.

• Middle Passage: Brutal journey from Africa to Americas; high mortality.

• Triangular Trade: Rum from New England to Africa, slaves to Caribbean, sugar/molasses back to colonies.

Colonial Social Structure:

• Self-Government: Elected assemblies, town meetings, influenced by distance from England.

• Religious Toleration: More in some colonies (PA, RI), less in others (MA).

• Social Mobility: Greater than in Europe; land ownership = opportunity, especially for white men.

• Gender Roles:

  • Men: Political and economic power.

  • Women: Legal dependence, but critical roles in household and sometimes in business (widows, midwives).

Religious and Intellectual Movements:

The Great Awakening (1730s–40s):

• George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards: emotional revivalism, individual faith.

• Challenged authority of established churches, promoted spiritual equality.

• Impact: Greater religious diversity, new denominations, questioned traditional authority (precursor to revolution).

The Enlightenment:

• Emphasized reason, science, natural rights.

• John Locke: Consent of the governed, right to rebel against tyranny.

• Influence on colonial elites (e.g., Benjamin Franklin), education, and later revolutionary thought.

Contextualization:

• Colonialism/Imperialism: England expanding power and resources through overseas colonies.

• Mercantilism: Justified England’s control over colonial trade.

• Capitalism: Market economies beginning to form in colonies.

• Expansionism: Land hunger drives conflict with Natives and other empires.

• Enlightenment: Challenged divine-right monarchy; spread new ideas about government, rights.

• Age of Exploration: Ongoing settlement, trade, and mapping of the Americas.

Complexity/Synthesis:

Make cross-period or cross-regional comparisons:

• Assimilation: Compare Puritan expectations of conformity vs. Native resistance; later parallels in Native American boarding schools.

• Self-Government: Early roots of democracy in colonial assemblies connect to Revolution (Period 3), Civil War (federalism), even modern debates.

• Imperialism: Compare British colonialism here with U.S. overseas expansion (Period 7).

• Slavery: Foundation for systemic racial hierarchy; evolves into antebellum slavery, Jim Crow.

• Religious Revivals: Great Awakening parallels Second Great Awakening (Period 4)—both democratize religion and spark reform.

Unit 3: French and Indian War (1754–1763)

• Albany Plan of Union (1754): Proposed by Benjamin Franklin for colonial unity and defense; rejected, but early sign of unity.

• Who was involved: British + Colonists + Iroquois vs. French + many Native tribes.

• Impact:

  • Britain won, gaining French Canada and lands east of the Mississippi.

  • Massive debt led Britain to tax colonists (Stamp Act, etc.).

  • End of salutary neglect — colonies more strictly controlled.

  • Proclamation of 1763: Colonists forbidden to settle west of Appalachians → resentment.

Prelude to Revolution

• Treatment of Colonists:

  • Quartering, taxation without representation, loss of autonomy.

  • Viewed as second-class subjects.

• Early Resentment:

  • Boston Massacre (1770): British troops kill 5 colonists → propaganda tool.

  • Boston Tea Party (1773): Protest against Tea Act.

  • Sons of Liberty: Radical group leading protests and resistance (e.g., tarring tax collectors).

• More Acts:

  • Intolerable Acts (1774): Punishment for Tea Party (closed Boston Harbor, took away local governance).

  • First Continental Congress (1774) in response.

American Revolution

• First Shots: Lexington and Concord (1775) — “Shot heard ’round the world.”

• Second Continental Congress (1775): Managed the war effort, appointed George Washington.

• Thomas Paine’s Common Sense (1776): Advocated for independence using plain, persuasive language.

• Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776): Authored by Jefferson; heavily influenced by Locke’s ideas (natural rights).

• Patriots vs. Loyalists (Tories):

  • Patriots: Supported revolution.

  • Loyalists: Remained loyal to Britain (about 20% of population).

• French Alliance (1778): Crucial after Saratoga victory.

• Yorktown (1781): Final major battle; British General Cornwallis surrenders.

• Treaty of Paris (1783): Officially ends war, U.S. gains land to Mississippi River.

Government Development

Articles of Confederation (ratified 1781):

• Pros: Managed western lands (Land Ordinance of 1785, Northwest Ordinance of 1787).

• Cons: Weak central gov’t (no power to tax, regulate trade, or enforce laws).

Constitutional Convention (1787):

• Held in Philadelphia to revise Articles → created a new Constitution.

• Major Issues:

  • Representation: Virginia Plan (population) vs. New Jersey Plan (equal) → Great Compromise (bicameral Congress).

  • Slavery: 3/5 Compromise — each enslaved person counts as 3/5 for representation.

  • Executive Branch: Created presidency with checks and balances.

Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists:

• Federalists (Hamilton, Madison): Supported strong central gov’t.

• Anti-Federalists (Henry, Mason): Feared tyranny, demanded a Bill of Rights.

• Federalist Papers: Essays to gain support for ratification.

• Bill of Rights (1791): First 10 Amendments protecting individual freedoms.

George Washington Presidency (1789–1797):

• Set precedents (2 terms, neutrality).

• Cabinet system, Farewell Address warned against:

  • Political parties

  • Foreign alliances

Key Political Affairs

• XYZ Affair (1797): French diplomats demanded bribes from U.S. → outrage, quasi-war with France.

• Alien and Sedition Acts (1798):

  • Targeted immigrants and critics of government.

  • Seen as unconstitutional by Jeffersonians.

• Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions (1798):

  • Asserted states’ rights to nullify federal laws.

Other Events

• Whiskey Rebellion (1794):

  • Farmers rebel against excise tax on whiskey.

  • Washington personally leads troops to put it down → showed power of new federal gov’t.

• Washington’s Farewell Address (1796):

  • Avoid entangling alliances and political parties.

  • Promoted isolationism and unity.

Contextualization Ideas

Use to frame the era in a broader context:

• Federalism: Balancing state and federal power.

• Isolationism: U.S. avoided European entanglements.

• Nationalism: Pride in new American identity.

• Revolution: Enlightenment ideals inspire democratic governance.

• Individual Rights: Protection from tyranny (Bill of Rights, Paine, Jefferson).

• Enlightenment: Locke, Montesquieu influenced revolution and Constitution.

Synthesis/Complexity Connections

Connect across time/regions:

• Protest/Revolt: Link to Bacon’s Rebellion (Period 2), Shays’ Rebellion, Civil Rights protests (Period 8).

• Isolation/Neutrality: Resembles Monroe Doctrine (Period 4), Washington’s Farewell, or even post-WWI attitudes (Period 7).

• Individual Rights: Compare to Civil War Amendments (13–15), Bill of Rights, or later civil liberties fights.

• Government Responsibility: Compare AoC failures to modern debates on federal power.

• Pride/Nationalism: Similar to War of 1812 post-victory pride or post-WWII superpower confidence.

Unit 4: Supreme Court & Federal Power

John Adams and the “Midnight Judges”:

• Judiciary Act of 1801 allowed Adams to appoint last-minute Federalist judges.

• Led to Marbury v. Madison (1803): Chief Justice John Marshall established judicial review — the Supreme Court can declare laws unconstitutional.

Marshall Court’s Key Cases:

• Fletcher v. Peck (1810): Protected property rights; first time Supreme Court struck down a state law.

• McCulloch v. Maryland (1819): Confirmed federal supremacy; states can’t tax federal institutions.

• Dartmouth v. Woodward (1819): Protected private contracts from state interference.

• Gibbons v. Ogden (1824): Strengthened federal power to regulate interstate commerce.

Political Parties & Transitions

Federalists vs. Democratic-Republicans:

• Federalists: Strong central gov’t, pro-British, commercial.

• Dem-Republicans: States’ rights, pro-French, agrarian.

• Election of 1800: Peaceful transition of power (Jefferson defeats Adams); called the “Revolution of 1800.”

Era of Good Feelings (1817–1825):

• One-party rule under Dem-Republicans.

• Masked growing sectionalism (e.g., slavery, tariffs, internal improvements).

Democrats vs. Whigs (1830s–1840s):

• Democrats (Jackson): Pro-states’ rights, anti-bank, “common man.”

• Whigs (Clay, Webster): Pro-tariff, internal improvements, national bank.

Democrats vs. Republicans (1830s–present):

• Republican Party as we know it emerges in 1850s (anti-slavery).

• Period 4 shows early seeds of modern party conflicts (role of government, economy, rights).

Native Americans & Expansion

• Tecumseh and the Prophet: Tried to unite tribes against U.S. expansion; defeated at Tippecanoe (1811).

• Indian Removal Act (1830): Passed under Jackson; legalized removal of southeastern tribes.

• Trail of Tears (1838): Forced migration of Cherokee to Oklahoma; thousands died.

American Expansion

• Louisiana Purchase (1803): Doubled U.S. size; explored by Lewis & Clark.

• War of 1812: U.S. vs. Britain; ended in stalemate, but boosted nationalism.

• Adams-Onis Treaty (1819): U.S. gained Florida from Spain.

• Monroe Doctrine (1823): Warned Europe to stay out of the Western Hemisphere.

• Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1842): Settled U.S.-Canada border in Northeast.

Reform Movements (2nd Great Awakening influence):

• Women’s Rights: Seneca Falls Convention (1848) — Stanton & Mott issue Declaration of Sentiments.

• Mental Health: Dorothea Dix advocated for humane treatment of the mentally ill.

• Education: Horace Mann pushed for universal, public education.

• Temperance: Neal Dow promoted prohibition of alcohol.

• Utopian Communities: Shakers, Oneida, Brook Farm tried to create ideal societies.

Culture & Society

• Neoclassicism: Inspired by ancient Greece/Rome; emphasized reason and order.

• Transcendentalism: Belief in individual intuition and connection with nature.

  • Thoreau: Civil Disobedience, Walden.

  • Emerson: Self-Reliance.

• Hudson River School: Landscape painters glorifying American nature.

Market Revolution

Causes & Effects:

• Embargo Act (1807): Jefferson’s trade ban → domestic industry grows.

• Panics of 1819 & 1837: Economic instability tied to banking and credit issues.

Key Innovations:

• Samuel Slater: Brought British textile knowledge to U.S.

• Cyrus McCormick: Mechanical reaper.

• John Deere: Steel plow.

• Eli Whitney: Cotton gin (increased slavery); interchangeable parts (mass production).

Labor:

• Lowell System: Hired young women in factories under strict conditions.

• Wage labor replacing household production.

Transportation:

• Roads (Cumberland Road), canals (Erie Canal), railroads, steamboats.

Henry Clay’s American System:

• Tariffs, national bank, internal improvements.

• Intended to unify and strengthen the U.S. economy.

Contextualization Ideas

Use these to frame Period 4 historically:

• Expansionism/Manifest Destiny (early form).

• Industrialization: Early shift to factory work and market economy.

• Reformism: Push for moral and social improvements.

• Republicanism: Ongoing question of how government should function.

• Sectionalism (emerging): Regional differences begin to intensify.

Synthesis & Complexity Connections

Connect themes across periods or places:

• American Intervention: Monroe Doctrine → Roosevelt Corollary (Period 7).

• Expansion: Louisiana Purchase → Manifest Destiny → Imperialism.

• Technological Innovation: Cotton gin → slavery; railroads → westward migration (Period 6).

• Political Systems: Compare Marshall Court’s federalism to Warren Court (Period 8 civil rights).

• Reform Movements: Link women’s rights to later suffrage, temperance to Prohibition (Period 7), mental health to 20th-century healthcare debates.

• Influence of the Courts: Marbury v. Madison → judicial review’s ongoing role in shaping federal power.

Unit 5: Mexican-American War (1846–1848)

• Texas Boundary Dispute: U.S. annexed Texas (1845); border dispute led to war with Mexico.

• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848):

  • U.S. gains vast territory (Mexican Cession: CA, NV, UT, AZ, NM, CO, WY).

  • Reignited debate over slavery in new territories.

Issues of New Territories

Mexican Cession Debate:

• Wilmot Proviso (1846): Proposed banning slavery in all Mexican Cession land — passed House, failed Senate.

• Extend Missouri Compromise Line (36°30’): Southern-supported idea to preserve balance.

• Popular Sovereignty: Proposed by Lewis Cass — let people in territories decide on slavery.

Compromise of 1850 (Henry Clay):

1. California = free state.

2. Fugitive Slave Act = strengthened.

3. Slave trade abolished in D.C.

4. Utah & New Mexico = popular sovereignty.

Popular Sovereignty in Action

• Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854): Repealed Missouri Compromise; allowed popular sovereignty in KS & NE → led to…

• Bleeding Kansas (1856): Violent conflict between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers.

• Bleeding Sumner: Senator Charles Sumner beaten by Preston Brooks in Congress after anti-slavery speech.

Political Parties

• Know-Nothing Party: Nativist, anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic.

• Democratic Party: Split North/South over slavery.

• Whig Party: Collapsed due to sectional tensions.

• Republican Party (1854): Founded to oppose expansion of slavery; Lincoln = first Republican president.

Key Issues: Slavery and Sectionalism

• Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857):

  • Blacks not citizens.

  • Slaves = property; Congress cannot ban slavery in territories.

• Abolitionism vs. Anti-Slavery Extension:

  • Abolitionists (Garrison, Douglass) want slavery ended.

  • Others (Lincoln) wanted to prevent expansion.

• Fugitive Slave Law (1850): Part of Compromise — enraged Northerners.

• Underground Railroad: Harriet Tubman, secret escape routes for enslaved people.

• Lecompton Constitution (1857): Pro-slavery Kansas constitution — rejected.

• Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858): Lincoln argued against expansion of slavery; Douglas supported popular sovereignty.

• John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry (1859): Attempted slave uprising; executed → martyr in the North.

• “Peculiar Institution”: Euphemism for slavery.

Literature & Ideology:

• North: Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Stowe), Impending Crisis of the South (Helper).

• South: Sociology for the South (Fitzhugh), Cannibals All! — defended slavery as a positive good.

Sectional Crisis & Civil War

• Election of 1860: Lincoln wins without Southern electoral votes → SC secedes.

• Fort Sumter (1861): First shots of Civil War.

• Major Events:

  • Gettysburg (1863): Turning point.

  • Emancipation Proclamation (1863): Freed slaves in rebelling states; made war about slavery.

  • Sherman’s March to the Sea (1864): Total war to destroy Southern morale.

  • Appomattox Courthouse (1865): Lee surrenders to Grant.

Reconstruction (1865–1877)

Reconstruction Amendments:

• 13th (1865): Abolished slavery.

• 14th (1868): Citizenship and equal protection.

• 15th (1870): Voting rights for Black men.

Other Developments:

• Sharecropping: Replaced slavery; kept freedmen in debt and poverty.

• King Cotton: South’s failed economic reliance post-war.

• Freedmen’s Bureau: Provided education, aid to freed slaves.

• Redeemers: Southern Democrats who wanted to restore pre-war social order.

• Voting Restrictions: Poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses.

• Carpetbaggers & Scalawags: Northern reformers/Southern Republicans seen as traitors by ex-Confederates.

• Compromise of 1877: Hayes becomes president; federal troops removed from South → end of Reconstruction.

Other Notable Events

• Crittenden Compromise (1860): Last-ditch attempt to prevent Civil War — would’ve extended Missouri Compromise line — rejected by Lincoln.

• KKK: Founded during Reconstruction to terrorize Black voters.

• Gadsden Purchase (1854): Land from Mexico for southern railroad.

• Homestead Act (1862): Encouraged Western settlement.

• Commodore Matthew Perry (1854): Opened trade with Japan.

Contextualization Ideas

Use these themes to place events in historical context:

• Sectionalism

• Expansionism

• Popular Sovereignty

• Xenophobia/Nativism

• States’ Rights

• Civil Rights

• Republicanism

• Nationalism vs. Regionalism

Synthesis & Complexity Connections

Connect to other periods:

• Revolution/Independence: Compare secession to colonies breaking from Britain.

• Reform: Compare abolitionism to women’s suffrage or civil rights movement.

• Debates on Civil Rights: Link Reconstruction Amendments to the Civil Rights Act (1964), Voting Rights Act (1965).

• Sectional Divide: Like Federalists vs. Jeffersonians, or modern Red vs. Blue states.

• Compromise: Missouri Compromise (1820), Compromise of 1850, Kansas-Nebraska Act, vs. failure to compromise in 1860–61.

Unit 6: Gilded Age (1870s–1900)

Big Business, Trusts, Monopolies

• Economic practices:

  • Laissez-faire capitalism: Government should not interfere in the economy.

  • Social Darwinism: Survival of the fittest in business; used to justify wealth inequality.

  • Horizontal Integration: Controlling one step in the supply chain (e.g., Rockefeller and oil refining).

  • Vertical Integration: Controlling all aspects of production (e.g., Carnegie and steel).

• Key Figures:

  • Cornelius Vanderbilt – Railroads

  • J.P. Morgan – Finance/banking

  • John D. Rockefeller – Standard Oil, horizontal integration

  • Andrew Carnegie – Steel, Gospel of Wealth

  • Robber Barons vs. Captains of Industry – Exploiters vs. innovators.

Political Response:

• Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890): First federal attempt to regulate monopolies — weakly enforced.

Government & Politics

Corruption:

• Patronage (Spoils System) – Jobs given for political loyalty.

• Credit Mobilier Scandal – Railroad bribery scandal under Grant.

• Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall – Political machines in NYC using bribery and graft.

• Mugwumps – Reformers who left Republican Party in 1884.

• Pendleton Act (1883): Civil service reform — merit-based hiring.

Political Parties:

• Populist Party (People’s Party):

  • Represented farmers, anti-elite.

  • Demanded direct election of senators, silver coinage, income tax.

• Republican Party: Pro-business, high tariffs.

• Democratic Party: Supported “Solid South,” opposed tariffs.

The South Post-Reconstruction

• Sharecropping: Kept freedmen in debt, limited mobility.

• King Cotton still dominant, but South industrialized slowly.

• New South: Hope for industrial South — limited success.

• Jim Crow Laws: Legalized segregation.

• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): “Separate but equal” upheld.

• Voting Restrictions: Poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses.

• Redeemers: Southern Democrats who reversed Reconstruction gains.

Labor

Goals:

• Improve wages, reduce hours, end child labor, increase safety.

• Ocala Platform (1890): Populist demands; helped shape future Progressive reforms.

Organizations:

• Knights of Labor (Terrence Powderly): Inclusive but short-lived.

• AFL (Samuel Gompers): Skilled labor only, focused on concrete issues.

• Farmers’ Alliance/National Alliance of Farmers: Led to Populist Party.

Major Strikes:

• Railroad Strike (1877): First national strike; crushed by federal troops.

• Haymarket Riot (1886): Bombing tarnished labor movement.

• Homestead Strike (1892): Carnegie Steel; violent suppression.

• Pullman Strike (1894): Led by Eugene Debs, ended by federal troops.

Immigration

• Old Immigrants: From Northern/Western Europe (pre-1880).

• New Immigrants: From Southern/Eastern Europe (post-1880) – often Catholic or Jewish.

• Ellis Island (East), Angel Island (West) – Immigration processing centers.

• Assimilation: Push to Americanize; public education used.

• Nativism/Xenophobia: Anti-immigrant backlash; rise of groups like the American Protective Association.

Reform Movements

• Social Gospel Movement: Apply Christian ethics to social issues (poverty, labor).

• Settlement Houses: Like Hull House (Jane Addams) helped immigrants.

• Temperance Movement: Alcohol seen as source of social ills.

• Suffrage: Growing push for women’s right to vote.

Urbanization

• Draw of Cities: Jobs in factories, department stores, construction.

• Tenement Housing: Overcrowded and unsanitary conditions.

• Jacob Riis: How the Other Half Lives exposed urban poverty.

• City Problems: Sanitation, crime, fire, overpopulation.

Manifest Destiny & the West

Native Americans:

• Reservations: Forced relocations.

• Buffalo: Hunted to near extinction.

• Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse: Leaders of resistance.

• Ghost Dance Movement: Spiritual revival — led to Wounded Knee Massacre (1890).

• Dawes Act (1887): Tried to assimilate Native Americans through land allotment.

Westward Expansion:

• Homestead Act (1862): Free land to settlers; accelerated settlement.

• Mining, Cattle, and Farming Frontiers – Economic diversity in the West.

• Frederick Jackson Turner Thesis (1893): Argued frontier shaped American democracy.

• Railroads: Linked West to East; promoted growth and corruption.

Contextualization Ideas

Frame Period 6 in terms of broader trends:

• Early Progressivism

• Nativism

• Second Industrial Revolution

• Corporate Capitalism

• Reform Movements

• Urbanization

• Global migration and imperialism

• Post-Civil War Realignment

Complexity/Synthesis

Make connections across time:

• Manifest Destiny → Imperialism (Period 7: Spanish-American War, Philippines).

• Labor Movements → New Deal & Unions (Period 7/8).

• Laissez-Faire → Reaganomics (Period 9).

• Populists → Progressives (Period 7).

• Immigration & Nativism → 1920s Quotas, 21st-century immigration debates.

• Sharecropping & Voting Restrictions → Jim Crow to Civil Rights Movement (Period 8).

Units 1 & 2

ENCOMIENDA SYSTEM- This is a labor system established by the Spanish Crown in the 1500s. This new system rewarded Spanish explorers, conquistadors, and military men with land in the New World. But they didn’t just get the land, they got the labor of the people living on the land as well.

Conquistadors- Who are the European men that decimated the New World and established land claims for Spain and Portugal across South and Central America?

Maize- Otherwise known as corn

3 G’s- God, Gold, and Glory

Smallpox- A highly contagious viral disease characterized by fever, weakness, responsible for killing Native Americans and was brought in by Europeans

Great Plains- The most widespread Indian groups in the West. They were made up of many different tribal and language groups. Some lived more or less sedentary lives as farmers, but many subsisted largely through hunting buffalo.

Southwest Tribe- Native tribes in this region United States subsisted primarily by maize (corn) agriculture. Some tribes constructed cliff dwellings that provided defense against attacks, while other tribes, built large apartment complexes out of mud bricks.

Northwest Tribe- traditionally lived on a narrow belt of Pacific coastland and offshore islands. Abundant rains support dense, towering forests that are rich in animal life. This environment provided a wealth of resources for the Indians.

Columbian Exchange- The transmission and interchange of plants, animals, diseases, cultures, human populations (including slaves), and technologies between the New World and the Old World. Greatly benefited Europe and Asia while simultaneously bringing catastrophe to American Indian populations and cultures.

Las Castas- this system was a social hierarchy that was determined by wealth, education, and physical appearance. There were few women in Spanish colonies and so many men married native women.

Mission System- refers to a chain of things established by Franciscan monks in the Spanish Southwest and California that forced Indians to convert to Catholicism and work as agricultural laborers. Pueblo. Native Americans in the southwest, first encountered by the Spanish.

The Valladolid debate- was the first moral debate in European history to discuss the rights and treatment of an indigenous people by European colonizers.

Pueblo Revolt- this was a revolution against Spanish religious, economic, and political institutions. It is the only successful Native uprising against a colonizing power in North America.

coureurs de bois- French fur traders, many of mixed Amerindian heritage, who lived among and often married with Amerindian peoples of North America.

Mercantilism- the economic idea that a country's wealth is measured by the amount of gold it owns. The goal of this economic policy is to export more goods than you import, so that you bring more money into the country than you send out to other nations.

Triangular trade- routes that carried British manufactured goods to Africa and the Colonies, Colonial products (like tobacco, indigo, sugar, and rice) to Europe, and Slaves from Africa to the New World. Northern Colonies participated in this trade too by shipping slaves south.

New England Colonies- The original colonies included Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Plymouth, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.

Southern colonies- developed economies in the eastern coastal lowlands based on large plantations that grew cash crops such as tobacco, rice, and indigo for export to Europe.

Middle Colonies- were made up of Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, and New Jersey. They had many religions and different peoples, so it was considered the melting pot of the colonial time.

Chesapeake Colonies- Settlements surrounding Chesapeake Bay, Virginia and Maryland. Colonies grew tobacco, people moved a lot, settlements were temporary.

Bacon's Rebellion- was a brief yet meaningful uprising of western farmers against the government of Virginia culminating in the burning of Jamestown on September 19, 1676.

The Enlightenment- which originally took hold in Europe, encouraged people to value logic and reason more than just taking things at face value or accepting them by faith. People such as philosophers John Locke and David Hume led the movement.

Great Awakening- This was a period of religious revival promoted by religious leaders such as George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards. It was characterized by corporate prayer, doctrine, emotionalism, music, open air meetings, testimonies, emphasis on the Holy Spirit, and social action.

Quakers- aka Society of Friends; a radical Protestant sect; wanted to restore the simplicity and spirituality of early Christianity. Pennsylvania was a refuge for them. Pacifist.

Zenger Trial- This case established the principal that truthful statements about public officials could not be considered libelous.

The Salem witch trials- were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. The trials resulted in the executions of 20 people, most of them women.

Salutary neglect- was an unofficial British policy of non-enforcement of trade regulations on their American colonies during the 17th and 18th centuries. The purpose was to maximize economic output amongst the colonists while maintain some form of control.

Indentured Servitude- Passage paid for poor young men and women to come to colonies; in return, they worked for the person who paid their passage for a set number of years, usually 5-7 years, after which they gained their freedom.

The Headright System- was a land grant system that gave land to investors who paid for immigrants to move to Colonial America. It was created by the Virginia Company and first used in Jamestown in 1618. Over the course of 50 years, around 70,000 people moved to Virginia alone.

Jonathan Edwards - He was an intellectual pastor and philosophical theologian that lived in Northampton, Massachusetts. Significance: He ignited the Great Awakening.

A city upon a hill- was how John Winthrop worded that the Puritans that went to "new" England were an example to the morally corrupt England. John Winthrop. John Winthrop created a new culture in what he called "new" England because john and his people believed England was morally corrupt.

St Augustine- The settlement was created 42 years before the English would colonize Jamestown. It is the oldest continually occupied European settlement in the North American continent.

Christopher Columbus- Italian explorer and colonizer. While attempting to prove a westward sea route for East Asian trade existed, he stumbled across the Bahamas in October 1492.

Maryland Toleration Act- A legal document that allowed all Christian religions, Protestants invaded the Catholics in 1649, protected the Catholics religion from Protestant rage of sharing the land

Anne Hutchinson- A Puritan woman who was well learned that disagreed with the Puritan Church in Massachusetts Bay Colony. Her actions resulted in her banishment from the colony, and later took part in the formation of Rhode Island. She displayed the importance of questioning authority.

The Stono Rebellion- was the largest uprising of enslaved people in the colonies. On September 9, 1739, near Charleston, South Carolina, a group of slaves burned buildings and killed people as they tried to escape to freedom in Florida. Local militia stopped them.

Unit 7

15. Progressivism (1890s–1920s)

Goals:

• Use government to address problems caused by industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and corruption.

Successes:

• Political Reform: 17th Amendment (direct election of senators), initiative/referendum/recall.

• Economic Reform: Trust-busting (TR, Taft), Federal Reserve Act (1913), child labor laws.

• Social Reform: Temperance (18th Amendment), settlement houses, Pure Food and Drug Act.

• Women’s Suffrage: 19th Amendment (1920).

Limitations:

• Often ignored racial injustice (segregation grew under Wilson).

• Benefitted middle-class whites more than immigrants or African Americans.

Comparison to Populists:

• Populists = rural, farmers, anti-elite; direct attacks on banks/railroads.

• Progressives = urban, middle-class, reform through expertise and gov’t.

• Overlap: Regulation, income tax, direct democracy.

1. Modernism vs. Traditionalism (1920s)

Modernism:

• Urban, consumer culture, science, secularism.

• Harlem Renaissance (Langston Hughes, jazz), flappers, movies/radio.

• Scopes “Monkey” Trial (1925): teaching evolution.

Traditionalism:

• Rural, religious, conservative.

• Revival of Klan, immigration quotas (1921, 1924), Prohibition (18th Amendment).

• Religious fundamentalism pushed back against secularism/science.

Cultural Clash:

• Cities vs. countryside; immigrants vs. “native” Americans; youth vs. old values.

1. Roaring ’20s & Depression Origins

Booming 1920s:

• Consumer goods (radios, cars), advertising, installment buying.

• Laissez-faire policies, low taxes on business.

Why the Crash (1929):

• Stock market speculation & buying on margin.

• Uneven wealth distribution.

• Overproduction in agriculture and industry.

• Weak banking system (no federal insurance).

• Decline in international trade (tariffs like Smoot-Hawley).

Crash ≠ Depression alone, but it triggered broader economic failure.

18. The Dirty ’30s: Hoover vs. FDR

Herbert Hoover:

• Believed in rugged individualism.

• Offered limited aid (RFC, Hoovervilles), seen as too little, too late.

FDR’s New Deal:

• Relief (CCC, WPA), Recovery (NRA, AAA), Reform (FDIC, SEC, Social Security).

• First 100 Days: aggressive legislation.

• 2nd New Deal (1935): more liberal, targeted workers and poor.

Changing Role of Government:

• Expanded federal power and responsibility.

• Welfare state begins.

Critics:

• Left (Huey Long), Right (American Liberty League), Supreme Court (struck down AAA/NRA).

• FDR’s court-packing plan backfired politically.

1. U.S. Foreign Policy (1890–1945)

Imperialism (1890s–1900s):

• Motives: trade, military/naval power (Alfred Thayer Mahan), racial superiority.

• Events: Spanish-American War (1898), Philippines, Hawaii annexed.

• Big Stick (TR), Dollar Diplomacy (Taft), Moral Diplomacy (Wilson).

WWI (1914–1918, U.S. enters 1917):

• Initially neutral.

• Causes of entry: Lusitania, Zimmerman Telegram, unrestricted sub warfare.

• Wilson’s 14 Points vs. Treaty of Versailles.

• U.S. refused to join League of Nations (isolationism wins).

Interwar Years (1920s–1930s):

• Isolationist policies: Neutrality Acts, disarmament treaties.

• Economic focus: domestic recovery during Depression.

• Rise of totalitarianism abroad mostly ignored by U.S. public.

WWII (1939–1945, U.S. enters 1941):

• Entered after Pearl Harbor.

• Mobilization: women (Rosie the Riveter), African Americans (Double V campaign), internment of Japanese Americans (Korematsu v. U.S.).

• Ended Great Depression.

• Yalta and Potsdam: shaped postwar world (Cold War begins).

Contextualization Ideas

• Industrialization & Reform (ties to Populism, Progressivism).

• Isolationism vs. Interventionism.

• Race and Gender in U.S. society.

• Debates over federal power (New Deal, wartime mobilization).

Synthesis/Complexity Connections

• Progressives → New Deal → Great Society (gov’t reforms over time).

• Cultural conflict (1920s) → 1960s counterculture vs. conservatives.

• WWI & WWII → Cold War → War on Terror: evolving foreign policy.

• Immigration debates in 1920s → contemporary debates.

• Racial inequality and civil rights from 1930s onward → Civil Rights Movement.

Unit 8

20. Civil Rights (1920s–1970s)

1920s–40s: Foundations

• Harlem Renaissance (1920s): cultural pride, not political rights.

• WWII impact: Double V campaign, Tuskegee Airmen, beginning to challenge Jim Crow.

1950s: Legal & Early Resistance

• Brown v. Board of Education (1954): ended “separate but equal.”

• Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–56): Rosa Parks, MLK emerges.

• Little Rock Nine (1957): Eisenhower enforces integration with troops.

• Nonviolent tactics, NAACP, SCLC.

1960s: Height of the Movement

• Sit-ins (Greensboro, 1960), Freedom Rides (1961), March on Washington (1963).

• Civil Rights Act (1964) and Voting Rights Act (1965) under LBJ.

• Malcolm X, rise of Black Power, Black Panthers, shift from nonviolence to militancy.

• Urban riots: Watts (1965), Detroit (1967).

1970s: Aftermath

• Affirmative action debates (e.g., Bakke case, 1978).

• Continued segregation by housing/economics.

1. Social Movements (1950s–1970s)

The Beats (1950s)

• Writers like Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac.

• Rejected materialism, conformity—early seeds of counterculture.

Hippies & Counterculture (1960s–70s)

• Rejected mainstream values, embraced peace, love, drugs.

• Anti-war protests, Woodstock (1969), communal living.

• Seen as threatening to traditional values.

Women’s Rights

• Second Wave Feminism: Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique (1963), NOW (1966).

• Push for ERA (Equal Rights Amendment)—passed Congress, failed state ratification.

• Title IX (1972), Roe v. Wade (1973).

Latinx Rights

• César Chávez and UFW (grape boycotts), Chicano Movement: pride, bilingual education, land reclamation.

Native American Activism

• AIM (American Indian Movement), occupations of Alcatraz (1969) and Wounded Knee (1973).

• Demanded sovereignty, treaty rights, end to termination policy.

Gay Rights

• Stonewall Riots (1969): beginning of modern LGBTQ+ movement.

• Emerging visibility and pride movement.

1. Cold War & Containment (1945–1989)

Early Cold War (1945–1960)

• Truman Doctrine (1947): aid to nations resisting communism (Greece/Turkey).

• Marshall Plan (1948), Berlin Airlift (1948–49).

• NATO (1949) formed.

• Korean War (1950–1953): first “hot war” of containment.

Mid-Cold War (1960s–70s)

• Bay of Pigs (1961), Cuban Missile Crisis (1962).

• Vietnam War escalates under LBJ (Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, 1964).

• Domestic backlash: credibility gap, Tet Offensive (1968).

• Nixon’s Detente: SALT I, visits to China/USSR.

• CIA involvement in coups (Iran 1953, Guatemala 1954, Chile 1973).

Late Cold War (ends in Period 9)

• Ends under Reagan/Bush in 1989–1991.

1. Conservative Movement (1965–2000)

Roots in Backlash

• Reaction to Great Society, social unrest, and liberalism.

• Barry Goldwater (1964) lays ideological groundwork.

Nixon’s Strategy

• “Silent majority”, Southern Strategy: win white voters upset by civil rights.

• Law and order, rollback of some Great Society programs.

Rise of the New Right

• Focus on tax cuts, small government, traditional values.

• Evangelical Christians mobilize politically (Jerry Falwell, Moral Majority).

Reagan Era (1980s)—Period 9, but roots in Period 8

• Trickle-down economics, aggressive foreign policy (end of detente), anti-union.

Contextualization Ideas

• Post-WWII global leadership and prosperity.

• Reaction to 1960s liberalism and turmoil.

• Cold War framing nearly every major policy.

• Rising social and cultural movements creating polarization.

Synthesis/Complexity Connections

• Civil Rights → Women’s Rights → LGBTQ+ Rights: building momentum.

• Counterculture → 1980s conservative backlash.

• Vietnam War → War on Terror (distrust of gov’t, public backlash).

• Containment → War in Iraq (debates about foreign involvement).

PERIOD 9: 1980–Present

Key Themes: Conservatism, Globalization, Technological Change, Terrorism, and the Role of Government

2. Rise of Conservatism (1980s)

• Ronald Reagan elected in 1980 (Reagan Revolution)

• Criticism of big government, welfare, and taxes.

• Supply-side economics (Reaganomics): tax cuts for the wealthy, deregulation.

• Increased military spending (Star Wars defense program).

• Religious Right/Moral Majority: Christian values, anti-abortion, pro-family.

• Rejected 1960s/70s liberalism (Great Society, counterculture, New Deal legacy).

• Legacy: Shaped Republican Party toward free markets, religious conservatism, strong military.

2. End of the Cold War

• Reagan’s foreign policy: “Peace through strength,” anti-communist rhetoric.

• Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).

• Worked with Mikhail Gorbachev (Glasnost & Perestroika).

• Fall of Berlin Wall (1989) and USSR collapse (1991).

• George H.W. Bush: U.S. as global superpower in a unipolar world.

2. U.S. Foreign Policy Post-Cold War

• 1991 Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm): U.S. leads coalition against Iraq.

• Global leadership role increases—NATO, UN interventions in Balkans, Somalia.

• War on Terror (2001–) after 9/11:

  • Invasion of Afghanistan (2001).

  • Invasion of Iraq (2003): WMDs not found—public backlash.

• Debate over U.S. interventionism, surveillance (Patriot Act), torture.

2. Economy and Technology

• 1980s-90s economic shifts: Deregulation, deindustrialization, globalization.

• Dot-com boom and bust (1990s–2000s).

• 2008 Great Recession: housing market collapse, bailout policies.

• Technology boom: Personal computers, Internet, social media.

• Changing job markets: from industry → service/tech-based.

2. Domestic Policy & Partisan Politics

• Clinton (1990s): Welfare reform, budget surplus, NAFTA.

• Obama: Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), stimulus for Great Recession, DACA.

• Trump: Immigration crackdown, tax cuts, trade wars, nationalism, rollback of regulations.

• Polarization increases:

  • Debates over healthcare, environment, immigration, gun control, LGBTQ+ rights.

  • Rise of partisan media and social media influence on politics.

2. Social and Demographic Changes

• Immigration: Surge from Latin America, Asia; political debates over border security, DREAMers.

• Aging population, more diversity, debates over identity and culture.

• Same-sex marriage legalized (Obergefell v. Hodges, 2015).

• Continued push for racial justice: Black Lives Matter, police reform.

2. Environmental and Climate Issues

• Debate over climate change becomes politically divisive.

• U.S. joins (then leaves, then rejoins) Paris Climate Agreement.

• Green technology vs. fossil fuel debates.

Contextualization Themes

• Cold War → Post-Cold War world

• Conservatism → reaction to liberalism of 1960s–70s

• Technology → information revolution, globalization

• 9/11 → New phase of foreign policy and national security

• Economic inequality → debates over capitalism and regulation

Synthesis/Complexity Ideas

• Reagan Revolution parallels New Deal in long-term ideological impact.

• Civil rights expansion → LGBTQ+ rights, immigration rights.

• War on Terror mirrors Cold War logic in some ways: prolonged, global scope.

• Partisan divides now echo 1850s or 1960s tension and culture wars.