AP US History Notes
Central and South America
Three major civilizations with large urban centers and complex systems:
Aztecs (Mexica)
Location: Central America (Mesoamerica).
Capital: Tenochtitlan (population ~300,000).
Developed a written language.
Complex irrigation systems.
Practiced human sacrifice.
Maya
Location: Yucatan Peninsula.
Developed large cities.
Complex irrigation and water storage systems.
Giant stone temples and palaces.
Rulers believed to be descended from gods.
Inca
Location: Andes Mountains (present-day Peru).
Massive empire: 16 million people, ~350,000 square miles.
Cultivation of fertile mountain valleys (potatoes) with elaborate irrigation.
Commonality: Maize (corn) cultivation.
Spread north.
Led to economic development.
Settlement of peoples.
Advanced irrigation.
Social diversification in the American Southwest.
North America
Diversity of Native American peoples based on geographic location.
Southwest
Pueblo People (New Mexico and Arizona).
Sedentary population.
Maize farmers.
Adobe and masonry homes.
Organized society with administrative offices.
Great Plains and Great Basin
Nomadic peoples (hunter-gatherers).
Large land areas due to aridity.
Ute People: Small, egalitarian, kinship-based bands.
Pacific Northwest
Lived by the sea in fishing villages.
Relied on elk from forests.
Chinook People: Cedar plank houses (up to 70 kinship members).
California Coast
Chumash People: Hunters and gatherers.
Permanent settlements with sufficient game and vegetation.
Mississippi River Valley
Larger and more complex societies.
Fertile soil for farming.
Hopewell People:
Towns of ~4,000-6,000 people.
Extensive trade (Florida, Rocky Mountains).
Cahokia People:
Largest settlement (~10,000-30,000 people).
Centralized government led by chieftains.
Extensive trade networks (Great Lakes to Gulf of Mexico).
Northeast
Iroquois:
Villages of several hundred people.
Grew maize, squash, beans.
Lived in longhouses (30-50 family members).
European Colonization and Expansion (1607-1754)
How and why various European colonies developed and expanded.
Shifting focus from Spanish colonization to French, British, and Dutch efforts.
Spanish Colonization (Review)
Primary goal: Extract wealth.
Means of wealth extraction: Agriculture and mining of gold and silver.
Labor system: Subjugation of native populations under the encomienda system.
Replacement of native labor: Forced labor from Africa.
Social structure: Hierarchical caste system based on racial ancestry.
Religious aims: Conversion of natives to Christianity through the mission system.
Native responses to conversion: Mixed success (conversion, syncretism, revolts like Pueblo Revolts).
French Colonization
Initial interest (1524): Finding a water route to Asia.
Reasons for delayed colonization: European wars and persecution of Huguenots.
Shift in focus: Americas as a potential settlement area.
First permanent settlement: Quebec (1608) by Samuel de Champlain.
Primary interest: Trade, particularly fish and fur.
Scale of colonization: Relatively few French colonizers.
Type of settlements: Mostly trading settlements.
Integration with Native Americans: Traders married Native American women.
Example: Interactions with the Ojibwe Indians.
Alliances fostered cultural exchanges.
Indians' benefit: Skilled in preparing beaver pelts.
French benefit: Introduction of iron cookware, farming tools, and manufactured cloth.
Dutch Colonization
Motivation: Seeking a water-based passage through the Americas (Henry Hudson).
Outcome of exploration: Claimed land along the Hudson River.
Establishment of colony: New Amsterdam (1624).
Primary goal: Economic.
Function of New Amsterdam: Trading hub.
Religious approach: Little interest in converting Native Americans.
British Colonization
Most important for U.S. history.
Motivations:
Economics:
Changes due to the Columbian Exchange.
Diminishing wealth of nobles.
Hardship of the peasantry due to the enclosure movement.
Religious Freedom and Improved Living Conditions.
Nature of English colonizers: Settled as family groups.
Interaction with Native Americans:
Initially, some peaceful coexistence.
Shift to tension and violence as settlers encroached on native lands.
Comparison to Spanish: Generally expelled native populations.
Distinct British Colonial Societies
How and why British colonies developed into distinct societies.
The Chesapeake Colonies (Focus: Jamestown)
Early Establishment: Jamestown (1607), the first permanent colony.
Funding: Joint stock company.
Private venture.
Investors pooled money.
Purpose: Profit.
Early Struggles:
Focused on finding gold/silver.
Neglected farming.
Severe famine.
High rates of disease.
Cannibalism.
The Turning Point: Tobacco (1612).
John Rolfe's experimentation.
Profitable cash crop.
Labor System: Indentured Servants.
7-year labor contracts.
Worked to pay off settlement fees.
Gained freedom.
Land and Native American Relations:
Increased demand for tobacco led to the need for more land.
Encroachment on Native American lands.
Tension and violent Native American retaliation.
Bacon's Rebellion:
Governor William Berkeley perceived as neglecting frontier farmers' concerns.
Nathaniel Bacon led attacks on Native Americans.
Rebellion turned against Berkeley and elite planters.
Rebellion was suppressed.
Consequences of Bacon's Rebellion:
Elite planters feared further uprisings from indentured servants.
Shift towards enslaved people from Africa as a labor source.
The New England Colonies (Focus: Pilgrims and Puritans)
Settlement:
Pilgrims (1620).
Puritans.
Sought to live according to their own religious conscience.
Motivations for Migration:
Economic difficulties in Holland.
Establishing a livelihood in America.
Social Structure:
Migrated as family groups.
Establish a society and family economies based on farming.
Early Hardships and Success:
High mortality rates from fever and disease.
Thriving society and economy centered on agriculture and commerce.
The British West Indies and the Southern Atlantic Coast
Early Caribbean Colonies (1620s):
St. Christopher, Barbados, Nevis.
Warm climate allowed for long growing seasons.
Tobacco was the initial cash crop.
Shift to Sugarcane (1630s):
Sugarcane became a more profitable cash crop.
Labor intensive.
Led to a spike in demand for African enslaved people.
By 1660, the majority of the population on islands like Barbados was Black.
Harsh Slave Codes:
Regulate the behavior of the enslaved population.
Formally defined enslaved people as chattel (property).
South Carolina:
Inspired by practices in the British West Indies.
Replicated society based on plantation agriculture and enslaved labor.
The Middle Colonies
New York and New Jersey:
Geographic advantages (sea, rivers, streams).
Export economy based on cereal crops.
Diverse population.
Increasing social inequality.
Wealthy urban merchants.
Middle-class artisans and shopkeepers.
Unskilled laborers, orphans, widows, unemployed.
Enslaved Africans.
Pennsylvania:
Founded by William Penn (Quaker and pacifist).
Religious freedom for all.
Expanded land holdings through negotiation with Native Americans.
Similarities Across the Colonies: Democratic Governance (with Nuances)
Unusually democratic systems of governance.
Distance from Britain made direct British governance difficult.
Virginia:
House of Burgesses. Representative Assembly. Authority to levy taxes and pass laws.
New England:
Mayflower Compact: Government based on self-governing church congregations.
Participatory Town Meetings: Concentrated power.
Middle and Southern Colonies:
Representative bodies
Dominated by the elite of their respective societies: Elite merchants and planters.
The Development of a Transatlantic Economy
Late 17th and early 18th centuries, global trade expanded greatly, led to transatlantic economy.
The Mechanics of Trade: The Triangular Trade
Merchant ships went on a three-part journey, roughly forming a triangle.
Leg 1: Ships from New England carried goods like rum to West Africa.
Leg 2 (The Middle Passage): Rum traded for enslaved laborers in West Africa.
Middle Passage was notorious for its brutal/ inhumane conditions
Cramped conditions, illustrated in a British reform image.
Leg 3: Ships then sailed to British West Indies, enslaved Africans traded for sugarcane.
Ships returned to New England trading sugarcane for rum and the cycle continued.
Driving Economic Force: Mercantilism
Dominant economic system in Europe during this period.
Core Belief: Fixed amount of wealth existed, primarily measured in gold/silver.
Main Goal: Nations aimed to maintain a favorable balance of trade, meaning exporting more goods than importing.
Exports brought gold into the country.
Imports resulted in gold leaving the country.
Importance of Colonies:
Colonies provided access to raw materials not available in the mother country.
Colonies served as markets for the mother country's manufactured goods.
The Navigation Acts
British implemented to strengthen economic ties between empire AND colonies
Trade with English colonies to be conducted exclusively in English ships.
Certain valuable goods had to pass through British ports, where they were taxed.
Purpose was to maximize the flow of gold and silver into British coffers.
Effects on Colonial Societies (Mercantilism)
Wealth Accumulation: Generated significant wealth for elites: merchants, investors, plantation owners.
Urbanization of Seaports: American seaports transformed into thriving urban centers.
Consumer Revolution: Affluent families purchased more goods.
Shift began to alter the social structure from family lineage to financial success.
Spain
Established a rigid casta system based on racial ancestry, placing American Indians near the bottom.
Viewed American Indians primarily as a source of labor and for religious conversion.
Employed coercive and brutal methods for religious conversion: Example Interactions with the Pueblo Indians – RESULTING in Pueblo Revolt in 1680 (successful expulsion of the Spanish).
Spanish reconquest of Santa Fe in 1692.
Exploited labor in large empires (Aztec – Inca) through the encomienda system.
England
Settlers (especially in New England) often migrated as families, with less intermarriage.
Initial period of peaceful coexistence and cultural exchange
English traded manufactured goods and iron tools
American Indians taught American Indian farming and hunting techniques.
HOWEVER – DUE – TO – English intentions of selfishness and EXPANSION and GREED – coexistence ended
Growing English population led to increased demand for land and encroachment:
** Resulted in conflicts like Metacom's War (King Philip's War) in 1675-1676
** Metacom (Wampanoag chief) led resistance against English expansion
** War ended with significant losses and suppression of major Native American resistance in New EnglandColonization strategy largely involved displacement of American Indian tribes for land acquisition.
France
Adopted less invasive approach, focusing on trade and military alliances
Intermarriage was common to build trading relationships.
** Helped promote trading rightsPrimarily established trading posts (focused on the fur trade) rather than large-scale settlements.
Formed strategic alliances with American Indian groups: EXAMPLE – Huron alliance against the Iroquois
Overall European Perspectives and Native American Responses
Europeans generally viewed American Indians as unequal.
Diversity/conflicts among American Indian groups hindered unified resistance
American Indian strategies for survival:
Forming alliances with specific European powers
Migrating to less settled territories (referring to moving western, BEFORE western expansion)
Spain – AND – England subjugated the American Indians they encountered, WHICH English forces them out.
Causes and Effects of Slavery
Scale of the Atlantic Slave Trade to British Colonies: Approximately 3 million captive Africans transported to British North America and the Caribbean
Middle Passage Horrors:
** Overcrowding and inhumane conditions in ships' holds.
** Roughly half a million deaths during the transatlantic journey.Ubiquity of Slavery in British Colonies: All British colonies participated in and benefited from the African slave trade, not just the South.
Reasons for Increased Demand:
** Growing demand for colonial agricultural goods
** Shortage of indentured servants
** Bacon's Rebellion (1676): Alliance between disgruntled indentured servants and enslaved Africans led white elites to favor African slavery to prevent from future uprisings.Distribution of Enslaved Africans:
** New England: Smaller farms, fewer enslaved Africans (compared to other regions)
** Middle Colonies (E.g., New York – New Jersey) Worked in agriculture however, in larger proportion served as household servants – ALSO significant numbers in Port Cities (Seamen, dockworkers, blacksmiths – ETC.)
** Chesapeake/Southern Colonies: Far larger numbers of enslaved people due to the plantation system
** British West Indies: Highest concentration of enslaved African laborers.Shift to Chattel Slavery ** Enslaved people defined as "chattel" – personal property. Akin to farm tools or livestock ** Justification used to be able to justify their bondage ** Harsh slavery began to take affect in the British West Indies
Barbados had a high influence to other colonies
Development of Harsh Slave Laws (EXAMPLE: Virginia)
Virginia is an example is Barbados
Legal definition of African Laborers as chattel slavery
Slavery became a perpetual, heredity institution
** Meaning – “Slavery was made a Perpetual institution that was passed one generation to the next”Laws became increasingly severe over time:
** Late 17th century: LEGAL RIGHT for owners to kill enslaved laborers for defiance
1680 - Laws prohibiting Black individuals FROM possessing weapons FROM leaving plantations without permission
These Laws established a rigid racial hierarchy and outlawed interracial relationships from ever exiting and establishing
Formed a line – “Demarcation” between black and white races within Virginia.Enslaved Resistance:
Africans did not passively accept enslavement
** Covert Resistance – this was only know between the Slaves because IF found the punishment would result in DEATCH
** Secretly practicing cultural customs
Maintaining native languages ALSO their belief system
Preserving naming practices also
What would occur in most cases would be Slowing work pace – breaking tools/Damaging crops – etc.Overt Rebellion: Very Fearful among plantation owners because where black populations would form to be too high plantations would get out numbered because of it.
** Stono Rebellion (1739 – South Carolina)
Small group of enslaved men stealing weapons killing store owners.
Marched along the Stono River joined by others Burning plantations, killing white folks in the process
Grew to about 50 people BEFORE being confronted by the white militia
Rebellion was ultimately suppressed; many rebels were killed in battle or hanged
Significance: Challenged the narrative of benevolent slaveholders AND demonstrated that the enslaved desired the freedom to gain the things they wanted
STONO REBELLION OUTCOME
This Formed False Narrative among elites plantations owners that Slaves were radicals and uncivilized without their “mandatory” or “strict” care – WHICH – the people did not agree.
The Enlightenment
A European movement emphasizing rational thinking rather than tradition rather than religious revelation
** Took root in the colonies thanks to a robust transatlantic print culture
Key Enlightenment thinkers and their impact
** John Locke - his Two Treatises on Government introduced colonists to the idea of natural rights (life, liberty, and property) not granted by a monarch WHICH he did not create
** Rousseau AND – Voltaire AND Emanuel Kant – their ideas fostered a longing for a government with three branches and the concept of checks and balances AND WHAT FOR?: For the Better
** Social Contract theory and their government to protect their natural rights – basically if they become tyrannical, the people had ever thing they were given the right to overthrow it – BASICALLY – the right to naturalize what one thought was the best
Enlightenment's emphasis on sensory AND scientific inquiry led to a waning confidence in Authority/Revelations: Bible in our Colonies
The Great Awakening:
A massive religious revival that swept through ALL, generating intense Christian devotion and enthusiasm in the colonies. AND HOW
New Light Clergy - Preachers who lamented the loss of faith in biblical revelation
Inspired by German Pietism - which emphasized the heart, rather than the head in Spiritual matters:
Key figures in the Great Awakening:
What did
Jonathan Edwards DO:
** A New England minister AND scholar well-versed in philosophy and natural sciences
** His sermons combined Enlightenment ideas PLUS intense religious fervor Sparks revivals:
** While only known as “Sinners in the hands of an Angry God” he – ALSO emphasised the – JOY – of God AND Humanity as a Whole
** Initially preached from his pulpit – IN – Northampton
George Whitefield What He Did and who he was?
Travelled to America – FROM – England
where he was of the Part Methodist
Preaching Method
G-D Salvation by Grace IN Jesus Christ throughout the colonies!
Unorthodox Preaching style: He Made churches – street – farmers = Imagine making people weep and be sad with a simple word: “Mesopotamia”
Consequence Socially with the Great Awakening:
New Light Preachers emphasized the Democratic / Tendency in the Bible:
They stressed that, without wealthy didn’t diminish what Favorship was to Offer
Provided Biblical Justification to colonists who resisted the tyranny wealthy officials
Led to lasting changes in the colonists attitude towards Colonial Authority’s
What did the colonies grow in population / and territory result in?
** The British Parliament had difficulties governing each colony so they started forming self-governing which elected colonists.
Putting it together: ALL.
Enlightment thinkers introduces American concepts to ideas of what kind of freedom – rights – even the ability of democratic government
The Great Awakening created a unifying, nationwide movement that fostered a sense of shared American identity and taught resistance to perceived threats to democracy
So even as the colonies experienced a degree of “Anglicanization” (becoming more British-like in their political communities), they also grew increasingly frustrated with British actions, leading to resistance
** Even though most came from the British’s and lived in the colonies
Resistance to what – British Authority and the years of when Occurred (1747)
The practice of impressment – seizing men (often against their will) for service in the Royal Navy – became a major point of contention - A FACT
Colonists in seaport cities faced the real threat of being forced into dangerous conditions aboard British naval ships (disease and malnutrition were some of the greatest risks).
King Georges War: 1747
This illustrates the growing awareness among colonists of their natural rights/ Locke
Objectives of the war
Explain What the – THE CAUSES – causes and effects of the French-AND-Indian War will result in
Clarifying the sides of this concept due to students misunderstanding what the sides will result in.
Cause of war
The steady encroachment of the British American colonists - THE MOST PRIME CAUSE / CONFLICT OF THE FRENCH-INDIAN WAS RESULTED FROM!
Ohio River Valley, a territory the French are already being to establish because of its value.
George Why Washingtons being mention
Washington, a young Virginian military officer (Lieutenant colonel).
Leading what would have been – The cause of war with the Indians/ British and the French and Washingtons.
Albany Congress - Ben Franklin
The Albany plan was ultimately rejected.
Reason: Delegates did not what want to pay taxes which laid the foundation for Revolutionary Congress.
The growing Colonial resentment of what
The enforced Impressment of men and troops within Colonial homes for what had lead to
Result of cost, economic, and negotiations which then the was eventually stopped – BY SIGNING – the Peace of Paris.
French and American - Native: American Expansion led to conflicts with the Native Americans
A Native Ottawa leader called Pontiac and what formed (Pontiacs rebelling)
resulted in
The Proclamation Line of and not being to expansion through it and because the “cost of the war was on their soil – THAT WAS – entitle them the spoils”
Increase and taxing of the Colonies (by the British to pay for this war) which then was marked led to resentments/ miscommunication and lead to conflict in society.
The importance of no taxation with no representation:
The effects of what the Indians war results had lasting consequences
What became obvious that British’s were political due to – Colonist being Citizens
That’s why in - Colonialist perspective led wasn’t as simple as it seems do to salutary Neglect
End OF - Neglection from British due to serious revenue lead for after war- ending that long term neglect
Parliament created a three-pronged plant which the clamp down of control result in:
Stricter enforcement laws + taxes+ Extension the wartime by still allowing troops to be present in colonies and what was demanded to be delivered from them with the cost being on colonies.
Colonial Actions from those results:
Colonist felt like suffocated by new restrictions/restrictions (post neglect)
Resulting of new taxes were in decline of wage/ employment within colonies led to:
Led to – "No taxation of representation” argument of why that was to occur
Due Enlightenment the thoughts grew
With concept of Social contact from thinker such as john + jacques all playing a big influence in the colonies thoughts
The arguments form british and and colonies
British said colonists were represented because they stated members or British Parliament reps all British colonies not the states,
colinies reject those points by only electing indvs from there could represent
Organized groups immerged to gain protesters such has son and daughters of liberty and how what for
Stamp acts of 1765- gather all the delegates from all colonies to tell parilment taxation and representatio = tyranny
Despite all that was said - colony still say they was loyal to country and king just wanted their rights as what citizens
In1766 - partilment repealed parts due to colonization. Preasure.
With passing of declarator act - to tell the colonies British still has right to tell
What that wasn’t understood, - the tension grows -
Townsened was the same act/step that was taking to give result 176 and that what lead to tension within British parliament and
BOSTOn massacre resulted from boys throwing snowballs at soldiers they did kill a several of protestors . In which then John Adams defended the actions, regardless people were outraged so that wasn’t enough
Parliament Passed the Tea act which forced the Colonist To
to be on Brtisih ea to b shipped in their colonist
Then The Sons of Liberty then dumped of millions of worth of tea In the ocean
Which then cause colonist to form Militia to protest