Unit 1: Period 1 (1491-1607)

Different Tribes

• Southwest (ex. Pueblo): Dry desert environment, little trees and water, farmers

  • Maize, beans, squash

  • Irrigation Systems

  • Cliff Dwellings

  • Pueblo houses (obv)

  • “The survivors”

• Great Basin/Plains (ex. Ute): Flat, treeless, hunter-gatherers

  • Hunt buffalo, deer, elk

  • Used bows, arrows, and spears

  • Teepees

  • “The hunters”

• Pacific Coast (ex. Chumash & Chinook): Forest w/ lots of rain and water bodies, fishers

  • Hunt fish, whales, seals

  • Plank house

  • “The fishermen”

• Northeast (ex. Iroquois): Forest w/ lots of water bodies, farmers

  • Longhouses

    • Abundant timber

  • Maize, beans, squash

  • “The copycats”

• Mississippi River Valley (ex. Cahokia): River (obv), farmers + traders

  • Trade along waters

  • GMO Corn

  • “The traders”

Why explore?

• Political Factors

  • Wanted Asian goods, but Muslims controlled most land-based routes (started looking for sea-based routes)

  • Portugal had new maritime tech

  • Wanted to spread Christianity

• Economic Factors

  • Wanted gold and economic opportunities in the East

• Encomienda System: Spanish enslaved native people

  • African-Based Chattel Slavery: Brought Africans into America to make them slaves

• Justified treatment by saying they were “less than human” and used bible (black skin = born to be slave)

• Las Casas persuaded King to end slavery, then nobles got him to repeal it

Unit 2: Period 2 (1607-1754)

• French: Settled in Quebec, most interested in trade (fish & fur)

• English: Variety of motivations, mostly wealth

• Dutch: Settled in New Amsterdam, wanted wealth and to trade

English—The Setup

• Why? Spread Protestantism, gold, and to establish a society

• Emerged as a naval power after defeating Spanish Armada in 1588

• Virginia Company, 1607: Private business with wealthy people who sponsored English voyage

  • Joint Stock Company: Investors pool money and share financial risks

• Church Of England (COE): Established by Henry VIII (love that guy), reformed + catholic

• Appealed to poor, single men who had nothing to lose

• Unlike Spain and France, sent men, women, AND children

• Land = Liberty (Right to vote)

  • Comes with need for workers (indentured servants → slaves)

• Proprietor: Receive royal grant of land

• No intermarrying (unlike Spanish and French)

  • Land gained through treaties after military defeat, displaced most natives out of the Euro countries

• Initially NAs appreciated goods, but cornfields and gardens trampled, forests depleted, beavers killed for fur, alcohol disrupted life

English Colonies

• British West Indies/Southern Atlantic Coast, 1620

  • Permanent Colonies

  • Long growing season

  • Tobacco and sugar cane

  • High demand for black ppl

    • Slave Codes: Defined slaves as “property”

      • Replicated in south carolina

• Middle Colonies, 1624 - 1660

  • Trade

  • Export economy based on cereal crop

  • Merchants → middle class → laborers → enslaved

  • Pennsylvania religious freedom

Chesapeake

• Chesapeake: Virginia + Maryland, tobacco and indentured servants

  • Work to pay off “debt” of coming to America, < 50% survive to end of contract

Jamestown, 1607

• Profit

• Starving Time, 1609: Winter of 1609, most settlers died

  • Disease and famine, saved by tobacco

• Initially dug for silver and gold and built militia to protect it but then agriculture

• House of Burgesses, 1619: Virginia, levy taxes and pass laws

  • Same year first ship containing Africans arrived

• Powhatan tried to kill John Smith, Pocahontas rescued

  • Uprising of 1662: Powhatan’s brother launched surprise attack on settlers, settlers revolted and shifted power balance to settlers

    • Forced to move further west

• Bacon’s Rebellion, 1676: Berkeley didn’t protect poor from Native attacks, Bacon led poor farmers and servants to attack natives and nobles

  • Nobles enslaved natives instead

  • Showed sharp class differences, conflict between settlers/american indians, colonial resistance to royal control

• John Smith: Forced Labor, “He that shall not work shall not eat”

• Headright System: 50 acres of land for anybody who paid for indentured servant to come over, benefitted wealthy

• Married women little rights, entitled to only 1/3 of property

Maryland, 1632

• Cecilius Calvert (Lord Baltimore): Absolute power, catholic, hoped it could be a haven for them

  • Most officials were catholic while most settlers were still protestant

• 50 acre freedom dues

• High death rate, higher land ownership chances than Jamestown

• Maryland Toleration Act, 1649: Christians given “free exercise” of religion

New England, ~1620

• Wanted profit and to establish a society

• Mayflower Compact, 1620: Self-governing church congregation, power in town meetings, skeleton of modern USA gov

• Great Migration, 1629-1642: 21000 puritans immigrated

• ~50% died from famine and disease

• Pequot War, 1636-1638: Fur trader killed by a Pequot, village lit on fire. Remaining few Pequots sold into Carribean slavery, peace treaty nulled

• Agriculture and commerce

• Puritans wanted to purify catholic rituals

• Believed in predestination (John Calvin)

• John Winthrop: Colony’s governor

  • City on a Hill: Speech, wanted it to be a model society everyone looked up to

  • Natural Liberty: Liberty without discipline that allows bad actions

  • Genuine/Moral Liberty: Liberty to only do good

  • True Freedom: Subjection to authority

    • Kinda contradictory but ok

• Religious homogeneity, killed if any other god

• Thought NAs lived with natural liberty

• As church participation diminished, allowed half-way covenant

• Roger Williams: Wanted church and state to be separated, also justice for NAs

  • Rhode Island, democracy & dissenter heaven

• Thomas Hooker: Wanted non-church members to vote

  • Hartford, combined with New Haven (opp ideology) for Connecticut

• Anne Hutchinson: Believed going to church didn’t make you a saint

• Trade sugar and tobacco

Other Important Events

• Magna Carta, 1215: King is not above the law

• English Civil War:

  • Quakers: Pacifists, paid natives for land, not welcome in MA

• Cromwell led England between 1649-1658

  • Navigation Acts, 1651: Regulate trade

• Middle and southern colonies dominated by elite (merchants, planters, respectively)

• Stono Revolt, 1739: Largest slave rebellion, crushed, harsher slave codes

Restoration Colonies (Carolinas + Middle Colonies)

• King Charles II restored monarchy after republican rule

South Carolina, 1670

• Colonists from England & planters from Barbados

  • Named Charleston after King Charles II

• Traded furs and provided food for west indies

• Later switched to rice growing by slaves

North Carolina, 1663

• Farmers from Virginia and New England

  • Made small tobacco farms

• Good harbors, poor transportation

New York, 1644

• Wanted to close gap between New England and Chesapeake, had to take from dutch

  • Ordered to let them worship freely and speak own language

• Gave to brother, Duke of York

• Ordered taxes and duties without consent, insisted but then yielded

New Jersey, 1644

• Split New York because too big

• West & East New Jersey

  • John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret

• Generous land offers, religious freedom, assembly

Pennsylvania, 1681

• William Penn in payment for a debt

  • William Penn: Son of William Penn, quaker, tested liberal ideas in govt

• Frame of Government, 1682-1683: Elected representative assembly and constitution

• Charter of Liberties, 1701: Freedom of worship for all, unrestricted immigration

• Governed in person

• Bought plan for street grid pattern (became trendsetter)

• Promised political and religious freedom, generous land terms

Delaware, 1702

• Penn gave lower 3 counties of PN own assembly

• Delaware became separate colony (same gov until American Revolution)

Georgia, 1732

• Final British colony

• Two reasons

  • Defensive buffer to protect SC from South Florida

  • Wanted place to send people imprisoned for debt in England

    • Relieve jails & give ppl a chance to start over

• Direct financial support from govt

• James Oglethorpe: Led group of philanthropists to found Savannah and make a plan for colony to thrive

  • Bans on rum and slavery

• Didn’t prosper, taken over by royal govt, became royal colony :(

  • Bans lifted

  • Plantation system of SC, smallest colony

Transatlantic Trade

• Triangular Trade: Trade route that connected North America, Africa, and Europe. Traded raw materials (america→europe), manufactured goods (europe→africa), and slaves (africa→america)

• Mercantilism: Economic theory country’s wealth determined by how more it exported than imported

  • Discouraged purchase through tariffs

  • Colonies to enrich parent country and provide raw materials to it

  • Acts of Trade and Navigation, 1650-1673: mercantilist policy with three trade rules

    • Trade to and from colonies only by completely English ships & crews

    • Goods imported into colonies must pass through ports in England

    • Raw materials can only be exported to England

  • Benefits to colonies

    • Aided New England shipbuilding

    • Gave Chesapeake tobacco monopoly in England

    • English military forces to protect colonies from French or Spanish attacks

  • Limited development of colonial economy

    • Couldn’t manufacture goods, had to buy from England (expensive!)

    • Had to accept low prices for crops because only sell to England

  • Salutary Neglect: England was often lax with enforcing mercantilism regulations

    • British far from colonies so hard to control from overseas

    • Constant turmoil and wars between 1642 and 1763 (English Civil War + 4 wars with French)

    • Agents corrupt, could be easily bribed

  • Dominion of New England: New York, New Jersey, New England merged by James II but everybody hated him

    • Glorious Revolution of 1688 replaced him

Interactions between American Indians and Europeans

• New England Confederation, 1643: Four New England colonies organized alliance for mutual protection

• Metacomb’s War/King Phillip’s War, 1675-1676: King Phillip (Chief of Wampanoag, Metacomb) fought against colonists, they won and most American Indian resistance ended

• Pueblo Revolt, 1680: Forcing on Christianity caused pueblo Indians to unite against Spanish, temporary win (drove Spanish out until 1692, when they came back they were less harsh)
  

Slavery in British Colonies

• Indentured servants promised to work 4-7 years in exchange for passage, most died before freedom

• First Africans captured as indentured servants (1619)

  • House of Burgesses (end of 1660s) turned them into slaves

• 95% Africans to West Indies/Brazil, 5% to colonies

• New England (small farmers)< Middle Colonies (unloading ships) < Southern Colonies (plantations)

• Slavery became more important esp in southern

  • Reduced migration (increased wages in England)

  • Dependable, other workers unpredictable

  • Low cost, rice and indigo became more profitable than tobacco and needed many inexpensive unskilled hands

• 1641 Massachusetts first colony enslavement lawful

• 1661 Virginia children inherited slave status

• 1664 English law baptized couldn’t be slaves overturned

• Africans maintained families even though owners could break them up

• Many adopted Christianity but still retained religious practices

  • Songs and storytelling

• Hunger strikes, breaking tools, refusing to work, fleeing

Colonial Society and culture

• In 1701, the English colonies on the Atlantic coast had barely 250,000 Europeans and Africans. By 1775, population had 2,500,000 people. This dramatic increase was caused by two factors: Immigration of almost 1 million people + a higher birth rate

  • Fertile land and dependable food supply attracted Europeans

• Immigrants came from France and German speaking states

  • Fleeing religious persecution and wars or economic opportunities

  • Settled in middle colonies and on western frontier of southern colonies

    • New England not enough land and too many puritans

  • Germans to Philadelphia, 6%

  • Scotch to frontier in western Pennsylvania, Virginia, Carolinas, and Georgia, 7%

  • Others 5%

• African Americans made up 20% by 1775

Opportunity and Structure

• Colonies varying religious freedom

  • Massachusetts, most restrictive, only protestants

  • Rhode Island and Pennsylvania most open, all who believe in god
    (only Christians could do government)

• Economic class system based on jobs

• Hard work = success (for white ppl), acquiring land easier

• Men could work as farmers or artisans and own property, unlimited power

• Women bore average of 8 children, homemaking, limited rights

• British controlled colonies through making them pay for imports > exports, then gave money for trade but it inflated it instead

• Trading centers, overseas easier than overland

Great Awakening, 1730-1740

• Johnathan Edwards: Congregational minister from Massachusetts, God angry with human sin. Repenting can save you, as he traveled it gained fervent response

• George Whitefield: Start in 1739, God all powerful and only those who believe in Jesus can be saved

• More expressive and emotional

  • “New Lights” supportive, “Old Lights” don’t like it

• Ministers less authority, people studied bible at home

  • More evangelical sects that rely on traveling ministers

• If we can make decisions without ministers can we make political decisions without other authority?

  • Mostly affected 1770s

Culture

• Georgian architecture

• Benjamin West and John Copley went from America to England and got famous

• Most authors wrote on serious subjects because not a lot of printing stuff (religion and politics)

• Scientists self taught

• New England led them to create schools to read bible

  • 1647 Massachusetts law to have elementary schools for boys

  • First colonial colleges sectarian

  • UPenn only nonsectarian college

• Zenger Case, 1735: Peter Zenger criticized government against the law, jury acquitted him, encouraged government criticism

• Enlightenment, 1800s: European movement in literature (Locke, sovereignty in people rather than state and have right to revolt (and tabula rasa guy i think))

  • Influenced American Revolution and principles of US Constitution

Colonies and Britain

• Same political traditions

• Spoke English

• Colonists rights of free speech and press, elected representatives, tolerated variety of religions

• Colonists wanted to push westward, British wanted peace. Colonists liked salutary neglect, British tried to push regulations. Colonists took pride in governing themselves, British claimed sovereignty over them.

• Differences stronger after 1763

Politics

• 1750s government and legislature voting

  • Lower house members elected by white male property owners, for or against new taxes

  • Upper house members in 2 self governing colonies (Rhode Island & Connecticut) elected, others appointed by king, the council

  • Governors appointed by crown, proprietor, or people

• Rich white men could vote, religious restrictions declining

• Poor depended on privileged few to make decisions

Unit 3: Period 3 (1754-1800)

Decisive Conflict

Seven Year’s War

• ~60,000 settlers in French colonies but had valuable fur from trade

• British more densely populated ~1.2 mil

• Had three wars between 1689-1748 I don’t think they matter tho

  • King Williams, British tried to capture land from Quebec but failed 💀

  • Queen Annes, British got Nova Scotia from France and trading rights in Spanish America

  • King Georges, Oglethorpe (Georgia guy) got french land in canada but England traded it back to French

• French and Indian War, 1754-1763: North American phase of Seven Years’ War

  • French built a chain of forts to stop British from expanding

    • Washington sent from Virginia to stop construction of a fort, small victory but then surrendered

      • Another fleet sent (Led by Braddock) and lost even worse

    • Albany Plan of Union, 1754: Benjamin Franklin, plan to band together colonies in a government and system for recruiting and collecting taxes, never happened but made template for later congresses

  • Peace of Paris, 1763: European powers negotiated a peace treaty, British got French Canada and Spanish Florida, French gave Spanish Louisiana

    • After British won

• Effects

  • Britain gained unchallenged supremacy & established as dominant naval power

  • Challenged autonomy of American Indians

  • Colonies no longer had threats of French and Spanish or their American Indian allies

• British thought colonial military unable and unwilling to protect

• Colonists were proud and didn’t think British were cool

Reorganizing Empire

• Salutary neglect abandoned, all four wars were costly and so was protecting colonists so they wanted colonists to pay more

• Pontiac’s Rebellion, 1763: American Indians angered by growing westward movement of European settlers onto land + British refusal to offer gifts (like the French), destroyed forts in New York

• Proclamation of 1763: British government said colonists couldn’t settle more west than Appalachian Mountains

  • Many didn’t like it and went west anyways (bruh)

• Drastic change in Britain’s colonial policy made colonists more attentive to their liberties

• Virtual representation, parliament members represent interest of all

Taxation without Representation

• Sugar Act, 1764: Taxes on foreign sugar and luxuries, regulate sugar trade and get revenue

  • Also stricter enforcement Navigation Acts, prevented smuggling

• Quartering Act, 1765: Colonists had to provide food and living quarters for British soldiers in the colonies

• Stamp Act, 1765: Revenue stamps had to be placed on basically all printed paper in colonies. First direct tax paid by ppl in the colonies as opposed to imported goods just paid by merchants

  • Patrick Henry spoke out in the House of Burgesses

  • Stamp Act Congress formed from representatives from each colony, protest, only own representatives could approve taxes

  • Sons and Daughters of Liberty: Secret society organized to intimidate tax agents

  • Boycotts, don’t buy anything of British origin

  • Repealed in 1766

    • Declaration Act, 1766: Parliament had right to tax and make laws in colonies

Phase 2, 1767-1773

• Townshend Acts, 1767: Taxes on glass, paper, tea, search of private homes for smuggled goods

  • Writ of Assistance: General license to search anywhere

• Letters From a Farmer in Pennsylvania, John Dickinson, 1767 & 1768. Needed approval from colonial representatives before taxation

• Massachusetts Circular Letter, James Otis & Samuel Adams, 1768. Encouraged petitions against Townshend Acts

• Repealed in 1770

• Colonists harassed guards near customs house, guards fired into crowd and killed 5.

  • John Adams defended guards

  • Samuel Adams said it was a massacre, inflamed Anti-British feeling

• Committees of Correspondence, 1772, Samuel Adams: Exchanged letters about suspicious British activities

  • The Gaspee: British customs ship that had caught smugglers. Disguised, colonists ordered them to shore and then set fire to the ship

• Colonists still didn’t buy tea, enacted Tea Act (1773), which made tea cheaper, colonists still didn’t buy

• Boston Tea Party: Disguised, boarded British ships, dumped tea into harbor

• Coercive Acts, 1774: Named “Intolerable Acts”, directed at punishing people of Boston

  • Port Act closed port of Boston to prohibit trade until tea was paid for

  • Massachusetts Government Act reduced MA legislature power while making British more powerful

  • Administration of Justice Act let royal officials accused of crimes be tried in Great Britain

• Quebec Act, 1774: Roman Catholicism as official Quebec religion. Took land from NY, PA, MA, CT, and gave to French Canadians

Enlightenment

• Deism, believed a God that made natural laws but didn’t interfere

• Rationalism, humans can understand the world

  • Study more science than religion

• Social contract, agreement among people to form a government to promote liberty and equality

  • John Locke, power came from below and not above

  • Jean Jacques Rosseau, developed Locke’s ideas further

• 1776, Thomas Paine publishes common sense, colonies should become independent states and free from British

The American Revolution RAHHH 🦅🦅🦅

• First Continental Congress, 1774: Delegates from all colonies except Georgia

  • Radicals (Patrick Henry VA, Samuel Adams MA, John Adams MA)

  • Moderates (George Washington VA, John Dickinson PA)

  • Conservatives (John Jay NY, Joseph Galloway PA)

  • Voted for measures, results:

    • Suffolk Resolves, called for immediate repeal of Intolerable Acts and for colonies to resist them

    • Continental Association: Network of committees to enforce Suffolk resolves

    • If rights not recognized, would meet again in May 1775

• Britain dismissed it and sent more troops to Massachusetts, said they were in a state of rebellion

• British force sent to seize colonial military supplies in Concord. Minutemen knew and assembled. Forced to retreat after heavy British fire, 8 killed

  • British destroyed Concord supplies

    • On the way back minutemen killed 250

• Battle of Bunker Hill, 1775: British force attacked colonists’ position, took the hill, but 1000+ casualties

  • Americans claimed a small victory

• Second Continental Congress, 1775

  • New England group wanted to declare independence

  • Middle colonies wanted to negotiate

• Declaration of the Causes and Necessities for Taking Up Arms: Document justifying America’s use of arms

  • Wanted to seek peaceful settlement while waging war

• Olive Branch Petition, 1775: Pledged loyalty to King George III, asked him to intercede with Parliament and protect colonial rights

  • He angrily refused, instead agreeing with Parliament’s new act

    • Prohibitory Act, 1775: Declared all colonies in rebellion. All trade and shipping forbidden between Britain and colonies

• Declaration of Independence, 1776: July 4! 5 delegates wrote after agreeing to declare colonies as independence. Jefferson main author

The Competing Sides

• ~40% American patriots for independence, ~25% loyalists, others neutral

• British Advantages

  • A lot more resources than colonists

  • 3x population

  • Wealthy economy

  • Large, well trained army

  • Most powerful navy in world

  • Experience fighting overseas

• Patriots

  • Most from New England and Virginia

  • Didn’t want to travel out of own region, short period in military, go back to farms, then back to military

  • Troops always 20,000 or less

  • Always short of supplies

  • Poorly equipped

  • Rarely paid

  • Committed and resilient

• African Americans

  • British promised freedom to slaves who joined

    • America quickly did too even though initially hesitant

  • ~5000 as patriots

  • Most free citizens from North

  • Most mixed units, some all African Americans

  • Took part in most of the military actions

• Tories

  • Loyalists

  • ~60,000, fought with British soldiers who supplied them with arms and food

  • Major port cities (except Boston)

    • New York, New Jersey, Georgia

  • Wealthier and more conservative

• American Indians

  • Tried to stay out, then supported British after colonial attacks

Initial Losses + Victory

• 1775-1777 went badly for Washington

  • Lost 1776 battle for NYC

  • Lost NY and Philadelphia

    • Camped at Valley Forge in PA from 1777-1778 severe winter

• 95% decline trade (British occupied ports), scarce goods, lots of inflation

  • Money from congress (continentals) became almost worthless

• Victory at Saratoga (1777) turning point

• News of victory persuaded France to join against Britain

• Didn’t care about America but wanted to take down Britain

  • Secretly provided money and supplies to Americans as early as 1775

  • After Saratoga openly allied

    • Spain and Holland joined a year later

• Britain consolidated forces in America, pulled out of Philadelphia and went to NY instead

• 1778-1779 captured a series of British forts in Illinois country

• 1781 Yorktown VA, forced surrender of British army

• War had become unpopular in Britain because heavy strain on economy and government’s finances

• Treaty of Paris: Peace treaty with Britain with 4 conditions

  • Britain recognizes existence of United states as independent nation

  • Mississippi River is wester boundary of it

  • Americans would have fishing rights off coast of Canada

  • Americans would pay debts owed to British merchants and honor Loyalist claims for property confiscated during the war

Securing the Republic

• 1789 Washington first president

• Hamilton developed financial plan in 1790-1791

  • Short term wanted to…

    • Establish nation’s financial stability

    • Bring to government’s support country’s most powerful financial interests

    • Encourage economic development

  • Long term wanted to make US a major commercial and military power

  1. Purchase federal government bonds, govt pay off all debt + interest to establish new nation’s credit worthiness

  2. Create new national debt to pay off state debt

  3. Creation of Bank of United States

  4. Tax on producers of domestic goods, namely whiskey

  5. Tariff to help development of factories

Opps 😼

• Jefferson and Madison said future lay in westward expansion, not connections with Europe

  • Greatest threat to American freedom in alliance of powerful central government with emerging class commercial capitalists

  • Threat to freedom, national bank and state debts like British which still gave them trauma

  • Liked agriculture more than trade with British like plan proposed

  • Didn’t really benefit South since little to no debt and little manufacturing & bond holders

    • Argued federal government could only exercise powers specifically in the document

• Dinner in 1790, Jefferson had southerners accept Hamilton’s fiscal program in exchange for establishment of permanent national capital on Potomac River

French Revolution Impacts

• Jefferson and his followers thought the revolution was a historic victory for the idea of self-government (most Americans supported French)

• To Washington, Hamilton, and their supporters, it brought back anarchy

• Washington issued a proclamation of neutrality in 1793 even though it had an alliance with France

• Britain kept doing impressment (kidnapping American sailors off the streets and forcing them to enlist) and confiscating US goods meant for France

• Jay’s Treaty: John Jay didn’t mention impressment or shipping, instead getting Britain to abandon outposts on the western frontier (which they already promised before)

• Direct contributor to emergence of political parties

• France not happy, neither was Jefferson

Federalists

• Supporters of Washington & Hamilton

• Close ties with Britain

• Rich merchants, farmers, lawyers, political leaders (esp outside South)

• Elitist, fixed hierarchy, public office for rich and able

• Freedom is not the right to stand up to the government, Revolution was anarchy

• Strong federal government

Republicans (NOT like the republicans today)

• Led by Madison and Jefferson

• More sympathetic to France

• More faith in democratic self government

• Wealthy southern planters and ordinary farmers

• More critical of social and economic inequalities

• More accepting of broad democratic participation

• Democratic-Republican Societies: Nearly 50, supporters of French revolution and critics of Washington in 1793 to 1794

  • Blamed by federalists for inspiring whiskey rebellion then disappeared

  • Argued political liberty was constant involvement in public affairs, not just voting

• Many immigrants supported

• Strong state and local, weak federal

Whiskey Rebellion

• Farmers in Pennsylvania rebel against new excise tax

• Washington puts it down and sends 13,000 militiamen

• Demonstrated immense power of federal government

  • During Shay’s Rebellion very weak under Articles

Women’s Rights

• A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft

  • Call for greater access to education and paid employment for women so single women could support themselves and married women could be more capable wives and mothers

  • Dropped hint that women “ought to have representation”

• More women started expressing opinions after and wanted educational opportunities

• Judith Sargent Murray wrote essays under pen name “The Gleaner”

• Hannah Adams first woman to make a living from being an author

• Counted as representation but few believed women should be able to vote

Presidential Updates

• Washington reelected but retired four years after reelection to establish that presidency is not a life office

• In his Farewell Address (drafted by Hamilton, published in newspapers not orally) he defended his administration against criticism, warned against party spirit, advised his countrymen to steer clear of international power politics by avoiding permanent alliances

• Adams (71) President > Jefferson (68) Vice President

  • Adams News, Jefferson South

Adams’ Presidency

• Nearly dragged into European War

• Neutral so sent nonmilitary goods to both Britain and France

• XYZ Affair: 3 US diplomats sent to France, they said to pay to talk to officials

  • “Quasi-War”, but negotiated for peace with France (Jefferson wanted war)

• Domestic unrest

  • John Fries released men from prison because didn’t want tax on land and houses to help fund expanded army and navy

    • Arrested for treason and supporters terrorized, liberty poles torn down, Republican newspaper editors whipped

• Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798: Passed by Federalists to silence opps (Jefferson lol)

  • Alien Act: President could deport “dangerous” foreigners

  • Sedition Act: Illegal to criticize government, expire in 1801

• Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions: Written by Madison and Jefferson in protest to Alien and Sedition Acts

  • Unconstitutional violation of First Amendment

    • Virginia’s (Madison) federal courts protect free speech

    • Original Kentucky (Jefferson) states could nullify laws that violated Constitution

Jefferson’s Presidency

• Republicans mobilized, Federalists small circle of elites but still controlled a lot

  • Jefferson won

    • Hamilton had to support him

      • Added Twelfth Amendment, electors cast separate votes for president and vice president

• American belief that ordinary people had a right to play an active role in politics

• Slave population count contributed

  • Feared abolishment too politically decisive

• Called Revolution of 1800 because also vindication of American freedom

Haitian Revolution

• 1791 slave rebellion

• Toussant L’Ouverture

• Slaveowners scared it would inspire slave rebellions here

Gabriel’s Rebellion

• Planned rebellion in Virginia

• Never materialized, 26 hanged

• Stricter laws on slaves

• Couldn’t gather on Sundays without white ppl

Jefferson in Power

• Economy in government, unrestricted trade, freedom of religion and press, friendship with all nations but alliances with none

• Limited government where citizens were “free to regulate their own pursuits”

• Wanted to dismantle Federalist system

  • Pardoned people imprisoned under sedition act

  • Reduced number of government employees, slashed army and navy

Judicial Review

• “Midnight Judges”, federalists, appointed by John Adams

  • Jefferson refused to pay them through Madison

• Marbury vs Madison

  • Marbury, one of the

  • If they ordered Madison to deliver the commission and he refused, it would make the Court look weak, as they had no way to enforce it, but not issuing it could imply that the Court had no authority over it

  • Marshall said Court didn’t have power even though Marbury entitled to it because the Judiciary Act of 1789 was unconstitutional

  • Judicial Review: Supreme court has power to determine whether an act of congress violates constitution

• Fletcher vs Peck

  • State law can’t violate constitution

Louisiana Purchase

• Land went from French → British (1762) → French (1800s)

• Treaty of San Lorenzo in 1795 said US could use Spanish port of New Orleans

• Jefferson wanted New Orleans which was a valuable trading port

• Napoleon really needed money from costly war (France vs Britain) and surprised him by selling the entire Louisiana for $15 million

• Constitution didn’t let him buy land but he thought it was too good of a deal to pass up

• Lewis and Clark: Expedition to explore new territory and its plants, animal life, geography, and economic opportunities

  • 2 years, 1804-1806

• Slaves and women allowed a lot more rights under Spain and French which US took

War Hawks

• Younger congressmen mostly from the West

• New Generation of political leaders, come of age after winning independence

• Ardent nationalists

• Passionate about defending national honor against British insults

• Wanted to annex Canada and conquest of Florida (Spanish haven for slaves)

• Members of congress wanted to uphold free trade and liberate US from European infringements on Independence

Misc

• Missouri Compromise in 1820, Missouri slave state, line that separates free and slave

• Monroe Doctrines: European Nations can’t interfere with America

Unit 4: Period 4 (1800-1848) *incomplete*

Barbary Wars

• Barbary Wars: Nations first encounter with Islamic World

• To protect American commerce in a dangerous world

  • First Barbary War (1801–1805) barbary states demanded tribute from American ships to avoid attacks by pirates

    • Jefferson refused to pay, leading to naval battles and a blockade of Tripoli

  • Second Barbary War (1815) occurred when Algiers resumed attacks on American ships after the War of 1812

    • U.S. sent naval forces, leading to treaties that ended the payment of tribute

  • The wars established U.S. naval power and secured safer trade routes in the Mediterranean

War of 1812

• By 1800, ~400,000 American settlers lived west of Appalachian Mountains

  • Many Native Americans began to assimilate which enraged nativists

• 1800-1812 “Age of Prophecy” among Indians, leaders wanted to revitalize Native American life

  • Tenskwatawa “White people are the source of all evil, abandon American things”

  • Tecumseh “If we don’t resist we’ll be exterminated”

    • 1810 attacked American settlements. 1811 Americans destroyed the town where his followers gathered

• Madison originally anti war (said it was the enemy of liberty)

• British encouraging Tecumseh

• Madison asked congress for declaration of war

  • Federalists and Republicans from north (mercantile, financial resources) against war

  • South and West pro war

  • Passed by smallest margin of any declaration of war in history

• 1814 Britain invaded US and seized Washington DC, burning Capitol and White House

• 1813 Tecumseh and pan Indian forces defeated, he was killed

• 1814 pro assimilation Indians and Americans defeated hostile Indians

• Jackson dictated terms of surrender that required all Indians to give up more than half their land (23 million acres) to federal government

• 1815 Jackson fought off British invasion, greatest American victory of the war

• Slaveholder but Jackson recruited free men of color into forces as “sons of freedom” which promised same things as white recruits

• Treaty of Ghent ended War of 1812

  • December 1814, news didn’t reach America until after Battle of New Orleans

  • Treaty of Ghent: Restored the status quo

More Jefferson

• Embargo Act, 1807: Ban on all American vessels sailing for foreign ports, closed U.S. ports to exports and restricted imports from Britain

  • He persuaded congress

  • Used federal power

  • Britain and France didn’t really notice but American exports plummeted by 80%

  • Non-Intercourse Act, 1809: Resumed trade with everybody except Britain and France

  • Failed, increasingly violated by Americans

  • Macon’s Bill 1810, allowed trade to presume as long as Britain and France stopped attacking Americans

    • British kept attacking, Madison reimpose embargo

A New Economy

• Market Revolution: Economic changes with more work being done outside the home, improvements in transportation

• Roads began being built

  • Most built by local or state governments

    • Federal government only funded interstate

• National Road: Connected Maryland to Old Northwest

• Steamboat: Robert Fulton’s Clermont went upstream on major rivers and allowed for rapid transport across Great Lakes and eventually Atlantic Ocean

• Erie Canal: Albany to Buffalo, 363 miles, connected NYC to Midwest

  • No federal funding, all by NY

  • Attracted influx of farmers migrating from New England

  • Many other states tried to also be as successful as NY and went bankrupt lol

• Work on B&O (Baltimore and Ohio) began in 1828

  • Grew to 30,000 by 1860, more than total of rest of world combined

• Telegraph invented during 1830s by Samuel F. B. Morse

  • Within 16 years 50,000 miles telegraph string strung

• 1790-1840 ~4.5 million people crossed Appalachian Mountains

  • Most after War of 1812, land-hungry settlers

  • 6 new states entered union: Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, Maine

  • Farmers into cotton plantations in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas

    • Forced migration of slaves

• Adams-Onis Treaty, 1819: US gained Florida from Spain

• Many prominent politicians moved further west

Cotton Kingdom

• Early industrial revolution with focus on cotton textiles and water powered spinning and weaving needed lots of cotton

• Eli Whitney created cotton gin with rollers and brushes to quickly separate seed from cotton

  • Revolutionized slavery

    • 5 mil → 170 mil in 27 years

• 1808 end of international slave trade

  • Increase in domestic slave trade, many families broken up

• Slave Coffles: Forced march of slaves into the deep South

• US expanded westward, so did slave plantations in South

Market Society

• Old Northwest (and East) became more interconnected than South

• Steel Plow John Deere 1837, easy to break ground into soil for farming

• McCormick Reaper Cyrus McCormick 1831, horse drawn machine that increase amount of wheat farmer could harvest

• West produced wheat, East produced dairy, fruit, veggies (South cash crops, cotton)

• Growth of cities that became important in trade

  • Cincinnati (“Porkopolis”), St. Louis

• Goods were produced quicker when divided into several easy steps

• Samuel Slater: Established first factory in Pawtucket, built spinning jenny from memory from England, “Father of American System”

• American System of Manufactures: Mass production of interchangeable parts

• Emergence of spinning and weaving machinery, textile factories near water lines (Lowell)

  • Mill Girls, employed young unmarried farmers daughters who had low wages and long hours

    • Boarding houses with strict rules about behavior (curfew) lecture halls, and churches to convince parents to send them + not many other job opportunities for women

      • Usually temporary, then got married, returned home, and moved west

• Factories primarily in NE (19th century)

• Hourly wages

• Most immigrants from Ireland and Germany, 4 million between 1840-1860

  • Went to Northern states with job opportunities and no competition from slaves

  • Reasons:

    • Europe modernization of agriculture and industrial revolution, pushing peasants away and eliminating jobs

    • Long distance more practical with steamship and railroad

    • Political and religious freedom

    • Refugees from disaster—biggest reason

      • Irish men and women fleeing Great Famine of 1845-1851

        • Males built railroads and were laborers

        • Females worked as servants

          • Replaced workers in textile mills

      • Germans more skilled craftsmen, moved to west

        • “German triangle” Cincinnati, St. Louis, Milwaukee

Nativism

• Archbishop John Hughes aggressively tried to convert Protestants to Catholicism

• Protestants were scared

The American System

• Henry Clay and John Calhoun

• Three pillars

  1. National bank

  2. Tariff on imported manufactured goods

  3. Federal financing of improved roads and canals

  • Third was vetoed by Madison because it wasn’t in the constitution

  • Tariff of 1816: Protection to goods that could be produced in the US (cheap cotton textiles)

    • Supported by southerners, thinking it would help them catch up with New England manufacturing

  • 1816 new Bank of United States created

Second BUS

• Private, profit making corporation, government’s financial agent

  • Issue paper money, collect taxes, pay government debt

    • Ensured paper money had value

      • In 19th century this meant a check promising a specific amount of specie

      • Printed way more money than specie, fluctuated and BUS was meant to fix it by not overissuing money

• Rapid expansion needing loans + resuming trade with Europe after war of 1812

  • As European demand cooled down BUS (and state banks) asked for loan payments which people didn’t have = bankruptcy

    • Panic of 1819:

The Age of Jackson

• Believed the common man should be able to do politics

• Spoils System: Political party that wins the campaign appoints those in the same party

• Tariff of 1828 raised taxes on imported manufactured goods made of wool as well as raw materials

  • Opposition in the South

    • Called it the tariff of abominations

    • Scared the government would become too powerful and take action against slavery

    • Calhoun felt they were paying to benefit the North for no benefit

      • South Carolina Exposition and Protest

• Webster Hayne Debate: Webster said people, not states created Constitution, so federal government is sovereign

Bank Wars

• Nicholas Biddle headed the bank, said it had the ability to destroy any state bank

  • People called it the Monster Bank and wondered if it should really have that much power

• Veto of Recharter in 1837

Cotton is King

• Replaced sugar as world’s major slave crop

  • ¾ world’s cotton supply from Southern US

  • Money earned allowed Us to pay for imported goods

Second Middle Passage

• Massive slave trade within US

  • > 2 million slaves sold 1820-1860

  • Slave trade from Africa was prohibited in 1808

• Public slave auctions

• Northern merchants participated in slave economy, shared its profits

• Most white southerners owned no slaves (3/4)

  • Some resented wealthy slave owners but racism, kinship ties, regional loyalty kept bonds

Planters

• 20+ slaves to be counted as planters (<40,000 families qualified)

• <2000 families owned 100+ slaves

• Ownership of slaves provided the route to wealth, status, and influence

  • Slavery was a profit-making system - men watched the world market for cotton, invested in infrastructure, and managed their plantations.

  • Plantation mistresses cared for sick slaves, oversaw the domestic servants, and supervised the plantation when the master was away

• Paternalism was ingrained in slave society and enabled slave owners to think of themselves as kind, responsible masters even as they bought and sold their human property

• Southern men often dueled as part of a code of honor.

• Southern women were often trapped in a “domestic circle” of loneliness

The Proslavery Argument

• Fewer and fewer southerners believed that slavery was a necessary evil

• Proslavery argument rested on a number of pillars, including a commitment to white supremacy, biblical sanction of slavery, and historical precedent in that slavery was essential to human progress.

• Another proslavery argument held that slavery guaranteed equality for whites.

• White southerners declared themselves the true heirs of the American Revolution

• Proslavery arguments begin to repudiate the ideas in the Declaration of Independence: that equality and freedom were universal entitlements.

• John C. Calhoun believed that the language in the Declaration of Independence was indeed dangerous

Slavery

• George Fitzhugh, a Virginia writer, argued that “universal liberty” was the exception, not the rule, and that slaves, because they were not burdened with financial concerns, were the happiest and freest people in the world

• Abraham Lincoln observed that the proslavery arguments were only functioning to serve the interests of slave owners, who reaped the greatest benefit from the institution

• By 1830, southerners defended slavery in terms of liberty and freedom; without slavery, freedom was not possible

• Slaves were not allowed to testify against a white person, carry a firearm, leave the plantation without permission, learn how to read or write, or gather in a group without a white person present, although some of these laws were not always vigorously enforced

• Masters also controlled whether slaves married and how they spent their free time

  • Celia killed her master while resisting a sexual assault & was charged with murder and sentenced to die, but she was pregnant and her execution was delayed until she gave birth, so as not to deny the current master his property right

• American slaves as compared to their counterparts in the West Indies and Brazil enjoyed better diets, lower infant mortality, and longer life expectancies.

• Improvements in the slaves’ living conditions were meant to strengthen slavery, not undermine it

Free Black People

• By 1860, there were nearly a half million free blacks in the United States and most of them lived in the South.

• Free blacks were allowed by law to own property and marry and could not be bought or sold; were not allowed by law to own a firearm, dogs, or liquor. They could not testify in court or serve on a jury. They could not strike a white person, even in self-defense.

  • Unlike in Brazil or the West Indies, there was little room for a mulatto group in the United States and the result was that free blacks in the Old South enjoyed little respect or prosperity with few exceptions.

  • Some freed Virginian slaves formed a vibrant community called Israel Hill.

  • The majority of free blacks who lived in the Lower South resided in cities like New Orleans and Charleston, while those living in the Upper South generally lived in rural areas, working for wages as farm laborers

Slave Labor

• Labor occupied most of a slave’s daily existence & were many types of jobs a slave might perform

  • Cutting wood for fuel for steamboats

  • Working in mines

  • Working on docks in seaports

  • Laying railroad tracks

  • Repairing bridges or roads

  • Skilled artisans

  • Most slaves worked in the fields & an estimated 75 percent of the women and 90 percent of the men worked as field hands.

    • On large plantations they worked in gangs under the direction of the overseer, a man who was generally considered cruel by the slaves

  • Most city slaves were servants, cooks, and other domestics.

  • Some city slaves were skilled artisans and occasionally lived on their own

  • The system of maintaining order rested on force

    • There were many tools a master had to maintain order, including whipping, exploiting divisions among slaves, incentives, and the threat of sale

Slave Rebellions

• The Amistad, 53 slaves onboard being transported between ports in Cuba tried to force the navigator to navigate to Africa

  • Van Buren wanted to return the slaves to Cuba, John Quincy Adams said they were brought from Africa in violation of international treaties and should be freed

• Gabriel’s Rebellion 1800

  • Followed by another rebellion where 500 men and women armed marched towards city, militia and army killed 66

• Denmark Vesey’s Conspiracy 1822

  • Began plotting, said slavery was unconstitutional

Nat Turner’s Rebellion

• Aug 22 1831 (Supposed to be July 4 but he got sick)

• Nat Turner slave preacher who believed God chose him to lead a black uprising

• 80 slaves joined his band before put down by militia, killed 60 whites

  • Captured and condemned to die with 17 others

  • Asked if regretted, “Was Christ not crucified?” damnnnn

• Panic

  • Hundreds of innocent slaves whipped

  • Many executed

  • New laws prohibited black people as preachers, legislature of 1832

  • Banned free black people from owning firearms, prohibited teaching slaves to read

Continental Expansion

• Nation’s territorial expansion = slavery became central topic of politics

• 1840-1860, 300,000 moved west to Oregon and Cali

• Mexico border up to Utah—didn’t stop Americans from settling there

The Mexican Frontier: New Mexico and California

• Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821

• Nearly as big as U.S (2/3 the population)

• Isolated and sparsely populated

• California linked to US by trade

• 1846, Alfred Robinson published Life in California and suggested annexation of California

The Texas Revolt

• Texas—1st part of Mexico to be settled by large number of Americans

  • Tejanos: non-Indian Spanish population

• Spanish government agreed to let Americans colonize it

  • Moses Austin proposed to colonize it with Americans and received a large land grant

  • Died soon after, son Stephen continued the plan and resold the land in smaller plots to American settlers (12 cents per acre)

• 1830 Mexico annulled land contracts

  • Americans + Mexican elites (happy about economic boom Americans brought) demanded greater autonomy within Mexico

  • Mexico abolished slavery—but allowed Americans to bring their slaves

• Antonia Lopez de Santa Anna: The military leader who, in 1834, seized political power in Mexico and became a dictator.

  • In 1835, Texans rebelled against him, and he led his army to Texas to crush their rebellion.

  • He captured the missionary called the Alamo and killed all of its defenders, which inspired Texans to continue their resistance and Americans to volunteer to fight for Texas

  • The Texans captured Santa Anna during a surprise attack, and he bought his freedom by signing a treaty recognizing Texas’s independence

    • Sent army in 1835 to impose central authority which sparked Texas Revolt

• Texas Revolt: The 1830s rebellion of residents of the territory of Texan—many of them American emigrants—against Mexican control of the region

  • Rebels (Americans + Mexican elite) formed provisional government

  • March 6, 1836—Santa Anna’s army stormed the Alamo killing 187 people

  • April—forces under Sam Houston (former TN governor) forced Santa Anna to recognize Texas as independent

  • 1837—Texas Congressed called for Union with US

    • President Van Buren put this off so to not add another slave state

Unit 5: Period 5 (1844-1877)

Election of 1844

• President John Tyler revived idea of Texas annexation in hopes of

  • Rescuing his failed administration

  • Securing southern support for re-nomination in 1844

• John C. Calhoun presented idea to divide Texas into several states to strengthen southern power

  • Henry Clay, former president Van Buren + Whig and Democratic leaders met at Clay’s plantation and agreed NOT to annex Texas to prevent a war with Mexico

• Polk for democrats

  • Former TN governor

  • Close association to Andrew Jackson (still most popular Democratic figure)

  • Called for “reannexation” of Texas (implied it was part of Louisiana Purchase)

  • Called for “reoccupation” of all of Oregon

  • 1st “dark horse” candidate

  • Defeated clay by 2%

• March 1845, days before his inauguration, Texas declared part of the US

The Road to War

• Polk assumed presidency with clear set of goals

  • Reduce the tariff (ENACTED)

  • Reestablish the independent Treasury system (ENACTED)

  • Settle dispute over Oregon ownership (ACCOMPLISHED IN AGREEMENT WITH BRITAIN)

  • Bring California into Union

• Polk tried to purchased California—Mexico refused to negotiate

• Spring 1846—Polk planned military action

  • Soldiers entered region between Nueces River and Rio Grande (land claimed by both countries)

  • When fighting inevitably broke out, Polk declared war claiming Mexico had “spilled blood on American soil”

The War and its Critics

• Mexican War: Controversial war with Mexico for control of California and New Mexico, 1846-1848; the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo fixed the border at the Rio Grande and extended the US to the Pacific Coast, annexing more than a half-million square miles of Mexican territory

• 1st conflict fought primarily on foreign soil + occupied a foreign capital

• Majority of Americans supported war—idea of manifest destiny

• Opposed by some in North who feared expansion would also expand slavery

• Henry David Thoreau jailed in Massachusetts for refusing to pay taxes to protest war

  • On Civil Disobedience—essay defending his actions

• Abraham Lincoln, Whig Illinois Congressman questioned Polk’s claim of “Mexican’s spilling blood”

• Raised concerns regarding president’s power to “make war at pleasure”

The Old South

• Slavery was now the “peculiar institution” of the South (unique to southern society)

• “On the eve of the Civil War in 1860, the slave population had risen to nearly 4 million, its high rate of natural increase more than making up for the prohibition of 1808 of further slave imports from Africa. In the South as a whole, slaves made up 1/3 of the total population, and in the cotton producing states of the Lower South, around 1/2.”

Reconstruction

Sea Islands Experiment

• Union navy occupied sea islands on the coast of South Carolina

  • Soon followed by other northerners

  • Northern investors bought the islands when put up for sale

• White population left 10,000 slaves

• Sea Islands experiment was considered to be a success by 1865

Wartime Reconstruction

• Union army established regulations for slave labor

• Military authorities wanted emancipated slaves to sign labor contracts with plantation owners who took an oath of loyalty

• Laborers would be paid wages and provided with education, physical punishment prohibited, and families safe from disruption by sale

• Black people complained about having to keep working under whites with forced labor contracts

• Planters complained that their workers were insubordinate

• Occasionally army officers seek to implement a different vision of freedom

• System of argument that allowed former slaves to implement a different version of freedom

Politics

• 10% Plan of Reconstruction: Offered an amnesty and full restoration of rights, including property except for all slaves to all white southerners who took a loyalty oath to the union

  • When 10% of voters had taken the oath they could elect a new state government, required to abolish slavery

• Wade Davis Bill: Named for two leading Republican members of Congress

  • Required a majority of white male southerners to pledge support to Union before Reconstruction could begin, guaranteed black people lawful equality but not right to vote

• Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery throughout the Union