Chapter 9-15 Exam

Ch 1 - New World Beginnings

• The Great Ice Age transformed much of the landscape and allowed nomadic Asian hunters to cross over to North/South America → Native Americans

  • Incas (Peru), Mayans (Central America), Aztecs (Mexico)

• CORN accounted for the success of Native American civilizations

• Age of Exploration stuff going on in Europe; people want to find a new trade route to the East

  • Columbus convinces Ferdinand & Isabella to fund his journey westward

  • Columbus lands in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492

• Columbian Exchange:

• The Spanish conquistadores dominate American colonization; driven by God, glory, and gold

  • Encomienda: the government gave the Indians to certain colonists in return for the promise to Christianize them (aka slavery)

  • Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztecs (August 13, 1521)

  • Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incas (1532)

• The Spanish conquistadors' destroyed a lot of stuff as they colonized

  • Black Legend: held that the conquerors merely tortured and butchered the Indians, stole their gold, infected them with smallpox, and left them in misery

Ch 2/Ch3 - The Planting of English America (1500-1733)

Establishment of the Colonies

• A British joint-stock company (the Virginia Company) sought to settle in the New World and get gold

Jamestown (May 24, 1607)

• Jamestown Nightmare:

  • A lot of settlers died off very quickly

  • They had the resources, but a lot of gold-hungry colonists did not want to work

• Captain John Smith saved Jamestown from collapse by forcing the colonists to work

• The colonists were still struggling, and Lord De La Warr was sent in

  • De La Warr pillaged the Indians’ villages → First Anglo-Powhatan War (1614)

    • Settled with a marriage between Pocahontas and John Rolfe

  • Indians made one last effort to dislodge the settlers → Second Anglo-Powhatan War (1644)

    • The peace treaty of 1646 banished the Chesapeake Indians

• Native Americans fell victim to the 3 D’s: 1. Disease, 2. Disorganization, and 3. Disposability

West Indies & Slavery

• Sugar and sugarcane were the cash crops of the Carribeans, but they required lots of land and labor

• Imported a lot of black slaves

  • Barbados slave code (1661): denied all rights to slaves and gave masters complete control over their laborers

• The West Indies were the staging area for the slave system

  • Some settlers moved to Carolina and brought the slave system with them

Growing Colonial Unity

• 4 colonies banded together to form the New England Confederation (1643)

  • Dealt with purely intercolonial problems

  • Although it was an exclusively Puritan club, it was a first step to colonial unity

• As the colonies stabilized, Charles II took a new aggressive approach to the colonies, which the colonies didn’t like (1660s)

  • Because of defiance from MA, MA’s charter got revoked

• Dominion of New England (1686-1689): created by royal authority, bolstered colonial defense and administered the English Navigation Laws (colonies can only export goods to England)

  • When news of the Glorious Revolution reached the colonies, they successfully revolted against the dominion

• Many restrictions on the colonies were slackened (“salutary neglect”), but incompetent/corrupt English officials still remained in America; cause of mounting contempt

Ch 4 - American Life in the 17th Century (1607-1692)

Indentured Servants & Slavery

• Tobacco was a major cash crop that needed a large labor supply → indentured servants

• Virginia and Maryland used the head-right system to encourage the importation of servant workers

  • Terms: whoever paid the passage of a laborer across the sea acquired 50 acres of land

• Because of all the indentured servants, there was an increasing number of men frustrated by their situation despite being “free” → Bacon’s Rebellion

• Bacon’s Rebellion (1676)

  • A rebellion held by Virginia settlers; led by Francis Bacon

    • The settlers resented Governor Berkely for his good relationship with the Native Americans and his dominance over the fur trade. Bc of his good relations, Berkely refuses to help the frontiersmen bc he didn’t want to ruin things for himself. 

    • Berkeley was driven out, but when Bacon died, Berkely came back and crushed the rebellion

• White landholders wanted less rebellion → turned to slavery

• In response to the supposed racial threat, in 1662, Virginia decreed “slave codes”

Life in the Chesapeake, the South, and New England

• The Chesapeake had poor living conditions and high mortality rates, largely because of disease

  • Families were few and fragile; high child mortality rates

  • But over time, people developed natural immunity to the diseases, which, along with the presence of more women, allowed more families to form

• Southern society was constructed into a social hierarchy: large planters, small white farmers, landless whites, indentured servants, and black slaves

  • High mortality rates; widows in the South were allowed to inherit their husband’s wealth

  • Southern life revolved around the plantations; few cities sprouted and an urban professional class (i.e lawyers, financers) was slow to emerge

• New England had very good living conditions with low mortality rates; big families

  • As the population grew, Puritans dispersed into outlying farms, far from the control of the church and neighbors

    • Over time, strict religious purity was sacrificed for wider religious participation; weakened the distinction between the “elect” and others (Half-Way Covenant)

Ch 5 - Colonial Society on the Eve of the Revolution (1700-1775)

Industries & Trade

• All the colonies had huge population growth and a lot of immigration, which challenged the balance of power between colonies and BR

• Colonial America was a melting pot of races

  • Non-British European groups had little loyalty to the English Crown

• Slavery in America had varying conditions from place to place

  • The Deep South grew rice and indigo, which had severe work with isolated plantations and life-draining labor

    • They depended on a constant inflow of slaves from the African slave trade

  • The Chesapeake region grew tobacco and was less physically demanding

    • Closer plantations to interact with friends and family

    • Less dependent on Atlantic slave trade

  • The slaves gradually developed their own African-American culture and language

• Agriculture was the dominant industry; fishing (& whaling) encouraged the formation of a navy; lumbering was especially prominent in New England

• Triangular Trade: trade for rum in Europe → trade rum for slaves in Africa → trade slaves for molasses in America → trade molasses for rum in Europe

• Eventually, Britain became too saturated to trade with the colonists, so the colonists turned international

  • Molasses Act (1733): attempt to stop colonial trade with France

  • Colonists resisted and smuggled their way around the Act

• Taverns were set up along main routes of travel, which would be agitators of the revolution bc of political talk

The Great Awakening (1730s and 1740s)

• The early 18th century saw less religious fervor bc liberal ideas challenged old-time religion

  • Arminianism: individual free will, not divine decree, determined a person’s eternal fate, and all people, not just the “elect,” could be saved

• Great Awakening (1730s and 1740s): a period of religious revival in the American colonies

  • Jonathan Edwards & George Whitefield were leaders of the Great Awakening

• Old Lights: orthodox clergymen that didn’t like the emotional and theatrical antics of the revivalists

• New Lights: defended the Great Awakening/revivalists

• Lasting effects: 

  • Changed the view of religion (more emphasis on emotion, not education)

  • Created competition between churches over the conversion of Indians and blacks

  • The Great Awakening was the first spontaneous movement of the American people, making the Americans more unified

Politics & Education

• School was drab, disciplinary, and only taught orthodoxy; the colonies didn’t nurture art and literature

• Benjamin Franklin’s “Poor Richard’s Almanac” contained witty advice, which helped shape the American character

• Hand-operated printing presses circulated pamphlets, leafs, etc.

  • Rallied opposition to BR control later in the Revolutionary Era

• Zenger Trial (1735)

  • John Peter Zenger had assailed a corrupt royal governor in a newspaper

  • Zenger was nout found guilty, marking a step to freedom of press

• Colonial rule used a two-house legislative body: one was royal and the other was proprietary

  • The lower house (proprietary) was elected by the people; hated the royal clique

  • The royal house contained governors appointed by the king; usually corrupt

    • Colonists often withheld governor’s salary as bribery

Ch 6 - The Duel for North America (1608-1763)

French & Indian War (1754-1763)

• France started colonization too. They landed in 1608 and established Quebec

  • France sought after beaver pelts. They ventured far into the wilderness and discovered lots of territory

  • Because they traded with the NA’s, the French generally had a good relationship with them

• Both France and Britain wanted the Ohio Valley

• Anglo-French Fight (1754): the first clash between the French and British over the Ohio Valley

  • Led by George Washington

  • French victory

• Albany Congress (1754)

  • The goal was to achieve colonial unity and ensure good relations with the Iroquois

    • Franklin created the “Join or Die” political cartoon

  • Franklin proposed a plan for colonial home rule, and although the delegates adopted the plan, they did not create steps to carry it out

  • The Albany congress failed in its goals (NA’s continued to be hostile), but it was a step to colonial unity

• The French & Indian War was officially declared on 1756

• The differences between colonial and British approaches to war led to tension

  • The British were aristocratic, diligent, and wanted to tax the colonists

  • The colonists were down-to-earth, raw, unprofessional, and did not want to be taxed

• William Pitt became foreign minister in 1757. He was very understanding of the colonists, which helped boost colonial morale by 1758

• Britain won the Battle of Quebec (1759), resulting in the end of the French & Indian War and the Treaty of Paris (1763)

  • Terms:

    • France lost all of its North America possessions

    • Britain got all French territorial possessions east of the Mississippi River

    • Spain got the rest of France’s land (west of the Mississippi

• The French and Indian War encouraged unity among the colonists

• Pontiac’s Uprising (1763): Pontiac overran many British posts; in response, the British sent the Indians blankets infected with smallpox

  • Led to the Proclamation of 1763: prevented the settlement of land beyond the Appalachian Mountains 

    • Colonists were unhappy and blatantly ignored the proclamation

• Bc of the 7 years war, Britain was now in debt, and they end salutary neglect by taxing the colonies

Ch 7 - The Road to Revolution (1763-1775)

• The Americans had grown used to self-government and salutary neglect, so it came as a shock when Britain tightened its grip on the colonies

Mercantilism/Taxes

• Mercantilism: measures the amount of wealth in the amount of gold/silver a country has

  • Britain used the colonies as a source of raw material and made the colonies buy British exports

  • Inflicted a money shortage for the colonists (had to buy more than they could export). They tried printing paper money, but they were shut down

• James Otis Case (1761): James Otis argued against the Writs of Assistance, but he lost

  • Writs of Assistance: British officials can search merchant ships and they aren’t liable for any damage caused

• George Grenville’s Program (hella taxes):

  • 1) Sugar Act (1764): increased the price of foreign sugar imports from the West Indies

  • 2) Currency Act (1764): the colonists couldn’t use colonial currency to pay back debts; had to use gold & silver

  • 3) Quartering Act (1765): colonists needed to feed and house British troops

  • 4) Stamp Act (1765): tax stamps on many (almost all) paper products

• Both the Sugar Act and Stamp Act also included admiralty courts: no jury; the defendant had to provide their own evidence on the assumption of “guilty until proven innocent”

• The colonists argued “No taxation without representation”

• The Stamp Act Congress (1765) called for the king to repeal the Act, but it wasn’t successful

  • Only significance was how it represents a step to colonial unity

• Nonimportation agreements encouraged colonists to boycott British goods

  • This unified colonists, as they worked to self-sustainability

• Sons/Daughters of Liberty: American patriots that supported the revolutionary cause; organized protests and acts of violence to get their point across

• Parliament reluctantly repealed the Stamp Act in 1766

  • Released the Declaratory Act (1776), saying that Parliament was still in charge _{(but are they really in charge if they were just forced to repeal the Stamp Act??)}

• Townshend Acts (1767): taxed imports like glass, lead, paper, paint etc.

  • The Townshend revenues were used to pay the salaries of the royal governors and judges in America, who the colonists despised

  • Nonimportation agreements were revived-

  • British soldiers, who were hated by colonists, were sent to enforce the law

• Letters From a Farmer in Pennsylvania (1767), written by John Dickinson, protested against the Townshend Acts and questioned the right of Parliament to levy “external” duties to raise revenue in the colonies

• Boston Massacre (March 5, 1770): a crowd of colonists assaulted British troops, who then opended fire and killed/wounded the colonists

• Boycotting and other factors pressured the repeal of the Townshend Acts (1770), though tea remained taxed

• Committees of Correspondence:

  • Samuel Adams established the local committees of correspondence in MA; more committees were quickly set up in other states too

    • The function of these committees was to spread the spirit of resistance

  • Later established large, intercolonial committees; evolved into the first American Congress

• Gaspee Incident (1772): A British ship got stuck in the shallows off the coast of Providence, RI. Colonists boarded the ship and torched it    _{arson :D} 

• Tea Act (1773): When the British East India Company accumulated a lot of unsold tea, Parliament granted a monopoly on the American tea business

  • While the prices were cheaper, colonists were enraged at the Parliament’s principle of making decisions about the colonies without representation

  • Led to the Boston Tea Party (December 16, 1773)  

• Intolerable Acts (1774): a series of acts designed to punish Boston in particular and MA in general for the Boston Tea Party

  • The Boston Port Act closed the Boston harbor until all damages for the BTP were paid for

    • Sister colonies helped out MA during the Boston Port Act → colonial unity!

  • Placed restrictions on town meetings

  • Officials found guilty in America could request to be tried in BR, where they probably got off free

  • New Quartering Act: soldiers can lodge anywhere

• Quebec Act (1774): conciliatory measures with the conquered French in Canada; guaranteed the French colonists’ Catholic religion and extended their territory to the Ohio River

  • Was a good law in bad company → made colonists mad about land loss and aroused anti-Catholics

First Continental Congress (1774)

• Met in Philadelphia; John Adams helped suggest a revolutionary course

• Drew up a Declaration of Rights & Appeals to other colonies, the king, and the British people, but Parliament rejected the Congress’s petitions :[

• Lexington & Concord: In April 1775, British troops were deployed to Lexington and Concord to seize colonial artillery

  • Lexington: militia failed; more of a massacre than a battle

  • Concord: militia successful; BR forced to retreat to Boston

• BR and American colonists now at war!

• Strengths/weaknesses of America and BR in the war:

Ch 8 - America Secedes from the Empire (1775-1783)

• Washington was drafted by Congress to be commander

• Bunker Hill (1775): The colonists seized Bunker Hill in June 1775

  • Although British troops seized the hill, they suffered many casualities → morale boost for the colonists

• Olive Branch Petition (1775): a final effort by the Continental Congress to settle the conflicts between the colonists and the king peacefully, but the king refused and hired Hessians instead

Thomas Paine & Common Sense (1776)

• Thomas Paine argued that it wasn’t natural to have a small body (Britain) control a larger one (America)

• Helped convince colonists that their real cause was independence, not reconciliations with BR

• Also called for the establishment of a republic, where gov officials derive their power from the people

• Inspired colonists to pursue civic nature: individuals in a republic need to sacrifice their self-interests for the public good

Declaration of Independence (1776)

• Richard Henry Lee proposed independence on June 7, 1776; the idea was passed on July 2, 1776

• Thomas Jefferson was the chief author of the Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776)

American Revolution

• The Revolution was a minority movement; most were indifferent or neutral

  • Patriots and Loyalists fought to gain the support of neutral colonists

• 3 phases of the war:

  • 1) Containment in New England (1776 - late 1777): The British initially believed that the revolution was a radical minority mvmnt centered in NE, so they concentrated their forces there

    • Washington Crosses the Delaware River (1776): Washington crossed the Delaware River and captured 1,000 Hessians in Trenton

  • 2) Middle Colonies (late 1777 - early 1778): The British shifted down into the middle colonies to divide the colonies. After the Battle of Saratoga, the French joined the war because they realized the colonists actually had a chance.

    • Battle of Saratoga (1777): Burgoyne was surrounded by American militiamen and he was forced to surrender to American General Horatio Gates

    • In 1778, the French made an open alliance with the Americans

  • 3) The South (early 1778 - 1781): The British hoped to get loyalist support and use supplies from the West indies to win in the South. Cornwallis finally surrendered at Yorktown (1781) 

    • General Benedict Arnold turned traitor in 1780, which lowered morale

    • John Paul Jones: known as the father of the navy; used privateering to attack and loot British ships; raised American morale

• Cornwallis surrender at Yorktown led to the Treaty of Paris (1783)

  • Terms: 

    • BR recognized the independence of the US and gave them lots of land

    • Yankees retain a share of the fisheries of Newfoundland

    • Loyalists were no longer prosecuted and had their property returned

Ch 9 - The Confederation & the Constitution (1776-1790)

• The Union started out shaky because unity from the Revolutionary War was gone and the economy was suffering because of British competition

• The Second Continental Congress (1776) called the colonies to draft new constitutions based on republicanism; these constitutions would be a fundamental law

• The post-war economy was bad, and many Americans were poorer after the war

  • Because of the Declaration of Independence, America could no longer trade with Britain

  • The British stayed in the Americas and maintained fur trade and good relations with the Indians

Articles of Confederation

• Drafted in 1776 and adopted in 1777, its purpose was to convince France that America had a genuine government

• The AoC purposely made Congress weak because the colonists wanted to distance themselves from Britian’s form of a strong, centralized government

• Congress under the AoC was weak because…

  • 1) Congress had no power to regulate commerce, allowing states to establish different, often conflicting policies on tariffs and navigation

  • 2) Congress couldn’t raise an army

  • 3) Congress couldn't enforce its tax-collection program

• Northwest Ordinance of 1787: Gave land to the government, which would then be purchased by individuals. Once the requirements were met, the land could be entered as an official U.S. state

  • One of the few triumphs of the AoC

Constitutional Convention (1787)

• Shay’s Rebellion (1786) encouraged the revision of the Articles of Confederation

  • Poor farmers, who were losing their farms bc of tax delinquencies, fought for cheap paper money, lighter taxes, and a suspension of property takeovers

• In May 1787, all states except Rhode Island met in Philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention, where they decided to completely scrap the AoC

• The Convention debated over how the states’ populations would be represented in Congress

  • Virginia’s large-state plan: representatives in both houses should be based on population

  • New Jersey’s small-state plan: the number of representatives is equal, no matter the size or population of a state

  • They eventually settled on the Great Compromise: the House of Representatives is chosen by population and the Senate has equal representation

• ⅗ Compromise: ⅗ of the slave population would be counted to the total state population

• Clash of Federalists vs. Antifederalists

  • Federalists advocated for a stronger federal government

    • Led by George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton

    • Overall, they were wealthier, more educated, and better organized than the antifederalists

  • Antifederalists opposed the stronger federal government because they feared it would take away the power of the common man

    • Led by Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and Richard Henry Lee

    • Consisted of the poorest classes

• The Constitution was primarily written by James Madison, the “Father of the Constitution”

• Ratification of the Constitution:

  • Antifederalists only ratified the Constitution after Federalists assured them that a Bill of Rights would be added by amendment (first 10 amendments)

  • The Constitution was finally ratified on June 21, 1788

• The Constitution was ultimately a triumph for the conservatives

• There was a general pursuit of equality and a breakdown of social order in the U.S.

  • Most states reduced property-holding requirements for voting

• There was a fight for separation of church and state

  • Jefferson’s Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1786): religion shouldn’t be imposed on anybody and that each person gets to decide his/her own faith

• Abolition of slavery

  • Philadelphia Quakers founded the first anti-slavery society in 1775

  • Some northern states completely abolished slavery or allowed for the gradual emancipation of slaves

• Civic virtue: democracy depends on the unselfish commitment of each citizen

• Republican Motherhood: a mother should maintain a healthy, nurturing environment at home and teach republican virtues to her family

Ch 10 - Launching the New Ship of State (1789-1800)

Washington - Establishing the Government

• George Washington (No party) [1789-1797]

• Washington establishes a cabinet, even though the Constitution doesn’t mention one

• James Madison wrote the Bill of Rights and helped get it passed by Congress in 1791

  • Consists of the first 10 amendments to the Constitution 

  • By specifying protection for minority and individual liberties, antifederalist ideals were favored

• The Judiciary Act of 1789 organized the Supreme Court and created the office of attorney general

  • John Jay became the first Chief Justice

• Hamilton wanted fiscal policies that favored the wealthier groups, who would in turn help the gov

• Funding at par: the federal government would pay off its debts at face value and accumulated interest

• Assumption: the federal government would assume the states’ debts

  • Support of assumption would mean the acceptance of a strong central government

  • Assumption was accepted by states with large debts and opposed by states with small debts

• Hamilton’s plan was passed by Congress in 1790 in a deal that placed the capital on the Potomac River (next to Virginia)

• Hamilton proposed a Bank of the United States, which would be the holder for surpluses of the Treasury and stimulate business by keeping federal funds in circulation. It would be able to print paper money and provide a stable national currency

  • Jefferson strongly opposed the Bank, believing it unconstitutional, but Hamilton argued that the Constitution permits what it doesn’t forbid (elastic clause)

  • Hamilton prevailed and The Bank of the United States was created by Congress in 1791

• Hamilton liked national debt (government in debt to the people), since it would make people find success with the government

• The first tariff law (1789) imposed taxes on certain imports, brought in much-needed revenue for the government, and protected small American industries

• The excise tax (1791) most notably placed a tax on whiskey

Washington - Domestic & Foreign Conflict

• The Whiskey Rebellion broke out in Pennsylvania in 1794

  • The common people hated Hamilton’s excise tax on whiskey

  • Washington sent in federal troops to crush the rebels, and although the troops faced no opposition, it proved that the government would enforce the law

• The Constitution never mentioned political parties, but a two-party system developed anyways

  • 1) Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans: supported states’ rights and a smaller government

  • 2) Hamilton Federalists: supported a powerful federal government

• France and Britain were engaged in a war, and Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans wanted to honor the Franco-American alliance from the American Revolution

• Washington’s Neutrality Proclamation (1793): announced the country’s neutrality from the Britain-France war, a major part of Washington’s isolationist policy

  • Washington’s Farewell Address (1796): advised against permanent alliances

• Britain violated the peace treaty of 1783 and the Neutrality Proclamation by staying in the Americas and maintaining a fur trade and good relations with Indians

  • Jeffersonians believed that the Americans should fight the British in defense of America’s liberties

  • Federalists opposed this action because Hamilton’s hopes for economic development depended on trade with Britain

• Both Jefferson and Madison stressed the compact theory: since the states make the federal government through a “compact” (contract), the states should have the ultimate say in whether a law is constitutional or not

• Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions: the states had the right to refuse laws created by the federal gov

  • Virtually no other state followed suit

• Jay’s Treaty was negotiated by Chief Justice John Jay in London (1794)

  • Terms:

    • Britain would evacuate the chain of posts on U.S. soil and pay for the damages for the seizures of American ships (empty promises)

    • The U.S. would continue to pay the debts owed to British merchants on pre-Revolutionary war accounts

  • Jay’s Treaty was highly unpopular

  • Fearing an Anglo-American alliance, the Spanish formed Pinckney’s Treaty of 1795 with America, which granted Americans free navigation of the Mississippi River and the disputed territory north of Florida

Adams - Conflict with France

• John Adams (Federalist) [1797-1801]

• France was upset with Jay’s Treaty and started capturing American merchant ships

• XYZ Affair (1797)

  • Adams sent John Marshall to France to negotiate in 1797

  • They wanted to meet the French minister, but Adams’s envoy was secretly approached by 3 go-betweens, referred to as X, Y, and Z, who demanded a bribe of $250,000 just to talk

  • Infuriated with the XYZ affair, America began preparations for war

  • Because France didn’t want another enemy, France invited the Americans again

    • American envoys reached Paris shortly after Napoleon seized dictatorial power

    • Napoleon eagerly signed the Convention of 1800 with John Jay, since Napoleon didn’t want another enemy

• Federalists exploited the anti-French sentiments to decrease the number of pro-Jeffersonians

• Alien Laws (1798)

  • The president was empowered to deport dangerous foreigners in time of peace and to deport/imprison them in time of hostilities

  • Raised the residence requirements for those who desired to become citizens from 5 to 14 years

• Sedition Act (1798)

  • Anyone who impeded the policies of the gov or falsely defamed its officials would be liable to heavy fine and imprisonment

  • Attacked many outspoken Jeffersonian editors

• The Sedition Act was blatantly unconstitutional, but the Federalist-dominated Supreme Court didn’t want to vote it unconstitutional

Ch 11 - The Triumphs and Travails of the Jeffersonian Republic (1800-1812)

Jefferson - Revolution of 1800

• Thomas Jefferson (Republican) [1801-1809]

  • After this election, no other Federalist held office, and the Federalist party slowly died away

• Jefferson called the election of 1800 the “Revolution of 1800” because it marked the return of a limited central government, but it really wasn’t that revolutionary

• Jefferson quickly pardoned the prisoners of the Sedition Acts and let the Alien and Sedition Acts expire in 1801 and 1802

• Naturalization Law of 1802: reduced the requirement of 14 years of residence in the Alien Laws back to 5 years

• Jefferson removed the excise tax and Jefferson’s Secretary of Treasury, Albert Gallatin, successfully reduced the national debt

  • Besides these two changes, Hamilton’s financial plan was maintained

• Just before leaving office, Adams passed the Judiciary Act of 1801, creating 16 new federal judgeships and other judicial offices

  • The newly elected Republican Congress repealed the act and kicked out the 16 new federal judgeships and other judicial offices, but the new justice, John Marshall, was not removed

• John Marshall stood true to his Federalist stance, always advocating for a strong central government

  • Marbury v. Madison (1803): 

    • Madison cut Judge Marbury’s salary, and Marbury sued Madison for this. The court ruled that Marbury had the right to his pay, but the court didn’t have the authority to force Madison to give Marbury his pay

    • Significance: the Supreme Court has the final authority in determining the meaning of the Constitution

Jefferson - Louisiana Purchase

• Louisiana Purchase (April 30, 1803): ceded France’s Louisiana territory to the U.S. for $15 million

• Jefferson’s actions were unconstitutional, but they were still supported because of its benefits

• Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1805): 

  • Jefferson sent his personal secretary, Meriwether Lewis, and a military officer, William Clark, to explore the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase

Causes of the War of 1812

• War between France and Britain:

  • England issued a series of Order in Council (1806), which closed the European ports under French control to foreign shipping

    • Impressment: Britain forcibly enlisted American seamen of captured American ships

  • France ordered the seizure of all merchant ships (including American ships) that entered British ports

• Americans hated France and Britain for treating them with no respect, but Jefferson still wanted a resolution without war

• Embargo Act (1807) banned the exportation of any goods to any country

  • Jefferson intended to force France and Britain to respect America and its citizens, but the Embargo act failed because Jefferson significantly overestimated French and British dependence on American trade

  • The act was hated by the Americans because it hurt the profits of American merchants; repealed in 1809

• Non-intercourse Act (1809) opened up trade to every country except France and Britain

• Congress issued Macon’s Bill No. 2 (1810), which reopened American trade with everyone, but if Britain or France repealed its commercial restrictions, then the U.S. would reinstate its trading embargo against the non-repealing country

  • Britain refused to lift its Orders in Council, and Madison re-enacted the embargo act specifically against Britain

• The Twelfth Congress met in 1811, and the “war hawks” wanted to go to war with the British and wanted to eliminate the Indian threats

• Madison asked Congress to declare war on the British on June 1, 1812 → War of 1812

  • Young, fiery Democratic-Republicans (“war hawks”) who supported the war felt that the country had to assert American rights to the world

  • Federalists were opposed to the war because they supported Britain

Ch 12 - The 2nd War for Independence and the Upsurge of Nationalism (1812-1824)

Madison - War of 1812

• James Madison (Democratic-Republican) [1809-1817]

• The U.S. was wholly unprepared

  • Small army and navy bc of debt reduction and unwillingness to enlist

  • Financial problems due to lowered revenue/import taxes bc of the embargo and war

• The warhawks want to invade Canada, where the British were supplying the Indians

  • Americans tried to invade Canada from 4 different places, but they failed

  • Americans tried attacking Canada again by sea and they were much more successful

• Some of them battles:

  • Francis Scott Key: an American prisoner aboard a British ship who watched a British fleet bombard Fort McHenry; wrote the “Star Spangled Banner”

  • Andrew Jackson successfully defended New Orleans at the Battle of New Orleans (1815)

• The Treaty of Ghent (December 24 1814): both sides stopped fighting and conquered territory was restored

  • Nothing was changed with the Treaty of Ghent, proving how pointless the whole thing was in the first place

Madison - Effects of the War of 1812

• The War of 1812 showed the other nations that America would defend its beliefs, and that they had the power/might to do so

• Destroyed Indian resistance, leading to American expansion to the South and West 

• Finished off the Federalist party

  • Hartford Convention (1814): Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island met in Hartford, Connecticut for a secret meeting to discuss their disgust of the war and redress their grievances

  • The Hartford Conventions brought up some good points, but the timing was right around the Treaty of Ghent and the New Orleans victory, making the whole thing look stupid

• Tariff of 1816: first protective tariff; introduced for the protection of American companies

• Henry Clay created the “American System”, which consisted of 3 main parts:

  • 1. A strong banking system that would provide easy and abundant credit

  • 2. A protective tariff that would allow eastern manufacturing to flourish

  • 3. A network of roads and canals that would transport raw materials across the country

Monroe - Era of Good Feelings

• James Monroe (Democratic-Republican) [1817-1825]

  • Monroe defeated the last Federalist presidential candidate in the election of 1817

• The period was called the “Era of Good Feelings” because of the lack of political rivalry

• The only place that remained Federalist was the Supreme Court, which was still led by Chief Justice John Marshall, who ruled in favor of a strong central government in the following cases:

  • Fletcher v. Peck (1810): The Supreme Court ruled against a Georgia law that violated individuals’ rights to make contracts. Protected property rights against popular pressures

  • McCulloh v. Maryland (1819): Maryland tried to destroy a branch of the US Bank by imposing a tax on the Bank’s notes, but the Supreme Court declared that the US Bank was constitutional and strengthened the federal authority by denying the right of Maryland to tax the Bank

  • Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819): Dartmouth College was given a charter by King George III but New Hampshire wanted to take it away. Dartmouth College won

  • Cohens v. Virginia (1821): Cohens appealed to the Supreme Court after being found guilty of illegally selling lottery tickets in Virginia. Virginia won, but the ruling further cemented the powers of the federal government

  • Gibbons v. Ogden (1824): New York tried to give a private company a monopoly of waterborne commerce between New York and New Jersey. New York lost

Monroe - Westward Expansion

• Many people were migrating west because of cheap land, the construction of highways, and eliminated Indian territories

• Debate over slavery became unavoidable when Missouri wanted to be admitted as a slave state. If Missouri was admitted as a slave state, there would be more slave states than free states

  • Missouri Compromise (1820): Maine would enter as a free state and Missouri would enter as a slave state, but slavery was forbidden in the remaining territories in the Louisiana Territory north of the line of 36º 30’ (“Mason-Dixon Line”)

• Anglo-American Convention of 1818: allowed Americans to share the Newfoundland fisheries w the Canadians & provided a 10-year joint occupation of the Oregon County btwn the Americans and British

Monroe - Foreign Policy in South America

• Because there were so many revolutions in South America, Spain was forced to take its troops out of Florida

  • General Andrew Jackson went into Florida to punish the Indians and recapture the slave runaways who were hiding there. Jackson succeeded in doing so.

• In the Florida Purchase Treaty of 1819, Spain ceded Florida and Spanish claims to Oregon in exchange for America’s claim to Texas

• The only danger zone remaining was Latin America → Monroe Doctrine (1823): stated that the era of colonization in the Americas was over and warned against foreign intervention; basically told the other European powers to stay the hell outta there

  • Its two components were noncolonization and nonintervention

  • Monroe was mainly concerned with the security of America when he issued the doctrine

Ch 13 - The Rise of a Mass Democracy (1824-1840)

JQ Adams - Political Conflict & Corruption

• The “Corrupt Bargain” of 1824:

  • 4 candidates: Andrew Jackson, John Q. Adams, William Crawford, and Henry Clay

    • None of the candidates won the majority of the electoral votes, so the House of Rep had to choose the winner out of the top 3 candidates

  • Henry Clay, the Speaker of the House, pushed for the election of John Q. Adams, and Adams agreed to make Clay the Secretary of State

    • Led to public discontent

• John Quincy Adams (Whig) [1825-1829]

  • JQ Adams supported education and the construction of national roads and canals, but he was a sucky, blunt politician who people hated. This prevented him from getting anything done

• The Democratic-Republican party split into the…

  • 1) National Republicans (JQ & Clay supporters): The NRs generally favored a more involved government that had an active role in numerous aspects of people’s lives

  • 2) Democrats (Jackson supporters): stuck to the Jefferson concept of an agrarian society with limited government intervention. Stressed individual freedom and opposed reform bc it required a more activist government

Jackson - Domestic Policy

• Crackhead Andrew Jackson (Democratic) [1829-1837]

  • Jackson advocated greatly for the “common man”

  • Jackson decreased the power of the overall federal government, but he increased the power of the presidency

• Jackson introduced the spoils system, a system of rewarding political supporters (the “common man”) with jobs in the government

  • The people that the president appointed were often unqualified for their jobs and not trustworthy, resulting in lots of corruption and inefficiency in the government

• Webster-Hayne Debate (1830): a debate btwn senators Daniel Webster (North, MA) and Robert Hayne (South, SC)

  • Connecticut had proposed that the federal gov should halt its surveying of land west of the Mississippi and focus on selling the land it had already surveyed

    • The South saw this as an attempt to grant more power to the federal gov, since they could control the price of western land. It also saw it as a hindrance to their goal of expanding the agricultural economy westward

  • The South didn’t want a federal gov with too much power, and believed that state govs were the primary governing bodies of the US

  • The South saw issues with how the federal gov earned it revenue:

    • Protective tariffs: they saw these taxes/tariffs as infringement on their sovereignty

    • Sale of federal land to private citizens: Southerners opposed this for fear of an overly powerful federal government

• Maysville Road Veto (1830)

  • John Q. Adams and Henry Clay advocated for the federal promotion of national economic development, including internal capital improvements

  • Jackson vetoed a bill to grant federal aid for a road in Kentucky between Maysville and Lexington in 1830

    • Jackson believed that internal improvements violated the principle that Congress could appropriate money for objectives only shared by all Americans

Jackson - Indian Removal

• Jackson’s Democrats were committed to western expansion, which naturally led to confrontation with the Indians who inhabited land east of the Mississippi

• Jackson convinced Congress to pass the Indian Removal Act in 1830

  • Moved >100,000 Indians to reserves west of the Mississippi

  • Many Indians died on forced marches along the Trail of Tears

• Worcester v. Georgia (1832): the Supreme Court ruled that Jackson’s actions of forcefully removing Indians off of their land was unconstitutional

  • Despite this, Jackson openly refused to enforce it, and the Southern states ignored it

• Black Hawk led Indians to fight against relocation in the Black Hawk War of 1832, but the Indians were defeated

Jackson - Economy

• The Tariff of 1828 led to the nullifcation crisis (1828-1833)

  • The South hated the tariff it was extremely high and they felt it discriminated against them

    • The South Carolina Exposition and Protest, made by John C. Calhoun in 1828, denounced the Tariff of 1828 as unjust and unconstitutional

  • To appease the South, Congress passed the Tariff of 1832, a slightly lower tariff, but the South was still unsatisfied

  • South Carolina called for the Columbia Convention (1832), and delegates wanted to nullify the tariff and even threatened to cede South Carolina from the Union

    • Jackson responded by passing the Force Act, which authorized the federal government to use force to collect the tariffs

  • Henry Clay introduced the Tariff of 1833, which gradually reduced the Tariff of 1832 by 10% over 8 years

• Jackson hated the Bank of US because he felt that it was monopolistic, since it was a private institution that wasn’t accountable to the people, only to its investors

  • Jackson vetoed a bill that was intended to renew the Bank’s charter (1832) 

• In 1833, Jackson removed federal deposits from the Bank of US

  • These funds were also put into smaller state banks that were politically supportive of Jackson (“pet banks”)

  • These pet banks began issuing their own currency, but this “wildcat” currency was unreliable because its value was based on the value of the bank from which it was issued

• In 1836, Jackson told the Treasury to issue a Species Circular, a decree that required all public lands to be purchased with metallic money

• Jackson’s economic policies contributed greatly to the financial panic of 1837

Van Buren - Panic of 1837

• Martin Van Buren (Democratic) [1837-1841]

• Causes of the panic of 1837:

  • Banks gave loans to people/businesses who couldn’t pay them back

  • Jackson’s financial policies (bank of US & pet banks)

• The panic of 1837 caused hundreds of banks to collapse, commodity prices to drop, sales of public to fall, and loss of jobs. Van Buren barely helped

• It wasn’t until economic prosperity during the California Gold Rush that the panic of 1837 would end

Harrison - Changes in Politics

• William Henry Harrison (Whig) [1841-1841]

  • Both Whigs and Democrats didn’t like how the Democratic gov handled the panic of 1837

  • Harrison really just died after 31 days in office (Ｔ▽Ｔ)

• 2 major changes in politics were highlighted by the election of 1840:

  • 1) People didn’t like politicians that conveyed a sense of aristocracy and the elite. Instead, the people preferred the representation of the common man. 

  • 2) Formation of a two-party system, the Democrats and Whigs. 

    • Jacksonian Democrats supported individual liberties, states’ rights, and federal restraint in social and economic affairs

    • Whigs supported an economy helped by an active central government; supported Henry Clay’s American System and wanted moral reforms (i.e. prohibition and abolition of slavery)

Ch 14 - Forging the National Economy (1790-1860)

Westward Movement and Immigration

• An increased population and larger cities brought about disease and decreased living standards, giving people incentive to become pioneers of the west

• 1840s and 1850s: European immigrants came to America

  • Irish immigrants came to America in the 1840s because of a potato famine; increased competition for jobs

  • German immigrants came to America between 1830 and 1860 bc of crop failures and other hardships

• Massive immigration inflamed the prejudices of American natives (Nativism)

  • The American party (Know-nothing party) were Americans who opposed immigration

Industrial Revolution in America

• The IR had started in England in 1750, but it took a while for the IR to reach America because… 

  • Peasants preferred to grow crops (agrarian economy)

  • Labor was scarce until mass immigration in the 1840s

  • Investment money was scarce in America

  • BR factories had a monopoly on the textile industry

• New England became the industrial center of the IR in America because it had poor soil for farming, a dense population for labor, and seaports for import of raw materials and export of finished products

• The War of 1812 created a boom of American factories and American product consumption

• Inventions:

  • Cotton gin (1793): Eli Whitney; separated cotton seeds from fibers and increased the demand for cotton, thus increasing the demand for slavery

  • Interchangeable parts (1798): Eli Whitney; became the basis of mass production

  • McCormick Reaper (1834): Cyrus McCormick; a horse-drawn mechanical reaper that made crop-gathering more efficient; enabled larger-scale-farming

  • Steel plow (1837): John Deere; broke through the thick soil of the West

  • Telegraph (1844): Samuel F.B. Morse; revolutionized communication

  • Sewing machine (1846): Elias Howe; became the basis of the ready-made clothing industry

• The IR created many workers and “wage slaves”, who organized labor unions to fight for higher wages and better working conditions

  • Jacksonian Democracy gave suffrage to the working man

Transportation Developments

• New road construction:

  • Lancaster Turnpike: ran from Philadelphia to Lancaster; drivers had to pay a toll to use it

  • National Road (aka Cumberland Road): ran from Cumberland, in western Maryland, to Illinois; funded by the federal government because it was interstate

• Robert Fulton installed a steam engine on a boat → first steamboat (1807)

• Governor Dewitt Clinton, the NY governor, led the construction of the Erie Canal that connected Albany and Buffalo in 1825

  • Paid entirely by NY because it was intrastate

  • The canal lowered shipping prices and decreased passenger transit time

• The railroad significantly expanded the American economy; the first one appeared in 1828

• The Transportation Revolution was created because people in the east wanted to move west

  • The South raised cotton for export to NE and BR

  • The West grew grain and livestock to feed factory workers in the East and Europe

  • The East made machines and textiles for the South and West

• The Market Revolution transformed the American economy from one where people subsisted on things they grew/created to one where people purchased goods that were produced all over the country

Women and the Economy

• “Factory girls” had harsh working conditions and would work for long hours. They were forbidden to form unions

• Catherine Beecher urged women to enter the teaching profession

• Cult of Domesticity: a widespread ideology that glorified the customary functions of the housewife

• During the IR, families were small, tight-knit, affectionate, and child-centered, which provided a special place for women

Ch 15 - The Ferment of Reform and Culture (1790-1860)

Reviving Religion

• Thomas Paine promoted the doctrines of Deism through his book, “The Age of Reason”

  • Deists relied on science rather than the Bible

  • They believed in a Supreme Being who had created a universe and endowed human beings with a capacity for moral behavior

• Unitarianism, derived from Deism, believed that God existed in only one person, not the Trinity

• The Second Great Awakening began in 1800; wave of religious fervor swept over the country

  • Made religion more democratic and led to efforts to reform society

• In the North, Charles G. Finney led the mvmnt. He preached in a manner so that everyone could understand

  • He preached that anyone could reach salvation, and that not everyone is driven by sin

• Peter Cartwright: a revivalist, traveling preacher who converted thousands to Christianity

• Women became more involved in religion during the Second Great Awakening

• The Second Great Awakening widened the gap between societal classes and religious fragments

  • Joseph Smith: formed the Mormons in 1830 when he deciphered the Book of Mormon

    • Mormons faced a lot of hostility bc they violated the preachings of the Bible and the separation of state and church → Joseph Smith led the Mormons to Illinois

    • After Joseph Smith was killed in 1844, Brigham Young led the Mormons to Utah

  • Mother Ann Lee: formed The Shakers, who had a goal of self-sufficiency and practiced celibacy

    • Emphasized simplicity and utility

19th Century Reform Movements

• (1) Utopian Communities - several utopian communities were created in the early 1800s but all of them failed; dealt with the issue of balance of individual freedom and some discipline/authority

  • Oneida Community: humans are no longer obliged to follow the moral rules of the past; all residents married to each other; carefully regulated “free love”

  • Brook Farm: thought that if everyone worked together, less individual work would have to be done; never financially stable and died out

• (2) Education - Tax-supported public education came about between 1825-1850

  • Horace Mann, the “Father of American Education,” advocated for a better school system

    • He believed that children should be “molded into a state of perfection”

    • He discouraged corporal punishment and established state teacher-training programs

  • Noah Webster standardized the American language

  • McGuffey Readers: books that taught lasting lessons in morality, patriotism, and idealism

  • The first state-supported universities arose in the South in 1795

  • Emma Willard established secondary level schools for women in the 1820s, though at the time, it was still widely believed that a women’s place was at home

• (3) Asylums/Prisons - States gradually abolished debtor’s prisons and criminal codes were being softened. Society began to think that prisons should reform as well as punish

  • Dorothy Dix visited different asylums and released a report on insanity and the asylums. Her protests resulted in improved conditions for the mentally ill

• (4) Temperance - the temperance movement worked towards reducing alcohol consumption

  • The American Temperance Society was formed in 1826. It persuaded people to stop drinking

  • Neal S. Dow, the “Father of Prohibition,” thought that alcohol should be outlawed. He supported the Maine Law of 1851, which banned the manufacture and sale of liquor in Maine

  • Rates of alcohol consumption decreased dramatically by the 1840s

• (5) Anti-Prostutition - Women began a drive to help reform the prostitutes and stop young men from abusing women through the Female Moral Reform Society (1834)

• (6) Women’s Rights - feminists fought for women’s rights and against the cult of domesticity

  • Feminists met at the Seneca Falls Convention (1848) to “rewrite” the Declaration of Independence to include women → Declaration of Sentiments

• (7) Abolitionism - the view of the cult of domesticity as slavery inspired abolitionists

  • By 1830, the immediatists, who favored instant, uncompromising emancipation, replaced the gradualists as the leading voice in the mvmnt

  • The more that opponents tried to oppose (immediate) abolition, the more the mvmnt gained resolve and became unified

Transcendentalism

• Transcendentalism: wanted to transcend the limits of intellect to allow one’s emotions to form a relationship with the universe

• Idea of (1) benevolence of God, (2) benevolence of nature, (3) divinity of man

• Rejected organized authoritative systems (i.e. govs, churches)

• Transcendentalist intellectuals/writers

  • Ralph Waldo Emerson: urged American writers to forget european traditions and write abt American interests

  • Henry David Thoreau: believed that people should ignore bodily desires and pursue truth through study and meditation

• Transcendentalist tried accomplish: abolition of slavery, better education, welfare of the poor, good healthcare, and a thorough justice system to ensure peace