Exam Notes

Seven Years' War/French and Indian War

  • Seven Years' War is a global conflict between Britain and France.
  • The French and Indian War is the part of that war that takes place in The Americas.
  • Tension was growing between Britain and France over the Ohio River Valley.
  • British were looking to expand, but the French had forts there.
  • Belligerents:
    • British and American colonists
    • French
    • Natives fighting on both sides
  • War lasted from 1754 to 1763, ending in a British victory.
  • British perspective:
    • They have to protect the colonists from other countries and Native Americans.
    • Frustrated because it's expensive and they will probably have to protect the colonists in the future.
  • Colonists' perspective:
    • Sense of pride that they served and fought alongside the British.
    • They feel like they can defend themselves.

Proclamation of 1763

  • British draw a line along the western boundary of the colonies and tell the colonists that they are not allowed to expand west past this line.
  • Colonists wanted to expand west, but the British government doesn't want them coming into contact with natives because the British Army would have to defend them, which is more expensive.
  • Connection to Bacon's Rebellion: Colonists wanting to expand west, and the British government telling them no because they didn't want to defend them against the natives.

End of Neglect

  • British had created navigation acts to force the British colonies to only trade with them.
  • American colonists were smuggling goods from other countries because they were looking to make some extra money.
  • The British didn't really care because they were still making money.
  • After the French Indian War ends, the British are going to crack down on smuggling and have people tried by royal judges rather than juries of their peers.
  • The colonists feel like they were doing well on their own, and they are upset by the king cracking down on them.
  • War is expensive, and the British government lost a lot of money fighting the French and Indian war.
  • British start taxing the colonies to make that money back.

Taxation and Growing Tensions

  • 17641764 and 17651765: Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, and the First Quartering Act
  • Early 17701770s: More acts and more responses from the colonists, including the Boston Massacre in 1770 and the Boston Tea Party in 1773.
  • Focus on understanding the theme and having one or two examples that would support that theme.
  • Example thesis : Discuss how the colonists shifted towards a desire for independence between 1763 and 1775.
    • Taxation builds over time
    • Tensions increased over that time period
    • Examples: Coercive Acts and the Stamp Act of 1765.

Intolerable Acts

  • 17741774: The Intolerable Acts (including the Coercive Acts) are largely a response to the Boston Tea Party, closing the Port Of Boston.

Revolutionary War

  • Spring of 17751775: First battles of the Revolutionary War in Lexington and Concord.
  • Colonists sent the Olive Branch Petition to King George III proposing that they rectify the situation and asking for better treatment and representation.
  • Chant: "No taxation without representation."
  • The Continental Congress first met in 17741774 to represent the colonies as a whole.
  • King rejects petition, which leads to declaring independence in 17761776.
  • Rhetoric in 1776: Thomas Paine's Common Sense and Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty, or give me death" pushed the colonies towards independence.
  • War battles to know:
    • Saratoga: Turning point because the French become much more involved after this.
    • Yorktown: Decisive victory in 17811781, and that is the last major battle of the war.
  • Treaty of Paris: Americans have won this war, and they are now an independent nation.

Articles of Confederation

  • Created in 1781.
  • Very weak, purposefully.
  • Created weak central government because they just rebelled against a king.
  • Core weaknesses:
    • Central government couldn't levy taxes, leading to economic struggles.
    • Could not create a militia.

Shays' Rebellion

  • Mid 17801780s in Massachusetts.
  • Economic situation was dire, and the state was in debt.
  • The state started taxing their people to try to get out of this debt.
  • Farmers felt that they had traded one form of oppression for another.
  • The central government, the Articles government, couldn't help because they didn't have the power to raise a militia.
  • Massachusetts, with help from their neighbors, was able to put the rebellion down.
  • Shays' Rebellion identifies the weaknesses of the articles and shows that they need to be overhauled.

US Constitution

  • 17871787: Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia to fix the Articles of Confederation.
  • Delegates decided to throw out the Articles and create a new government.
  • Two political factions:
    • Federalists: Pro-strong government. They wrote the Federalist Papers, primarily Alexander Hamilton.
    • Antifederalists: Scared about the Federalists being that strong. Eventually, many of them will become Democratic Republicans.
  • Debate over power led to compromise:
    • Bicameral government.
    • The House is based on population.
    • The Senate is everybody gets two representatives.
    • Three-Fifths Compromise determined how slaves would count towards population.
  • The Constitution was not ratified until the addition of the Bill of Rights, which are the first ten amendments or changes made to the Constitution.
  • Bill of Rights protect the rights of the people, such as:
    • The right to have a lawyer.
    • The right to not self-incriminate.
    • Freedom of speech.

George Washington's Presidency

  • Elected first president in 1788.
  • Unanimously selected by the electoral college.
  • Ran for four years, ran again in '92, and then stepped down in 1796.
  • Precedent he set is very important, such as a cabinet of advisers.
  • The basis for the two-term limit is in Washington's precedent.

Whiskey Rebellion

  • In 1791, Alexander Hamilton taxed whiskey to make money.
  • In 1794, distillers in Pennsylvania rebelled.
  • Washington took the army up to Pennsylvania and shut this rebellion down right away.
  • The Whiskey Rebellion showed the strength of the Constitution and how it was a much better document compared to the Articles of Confederation.

Washington's Farewell Address

  • No political parties.
  • No foreign intervention, especially in Europe.

John Adams' Presidency

  • Second US president.
  • XYZ Affair:
    • Tensions growing with France.
    • US sent delegates to meet with French diplomats, who were identified as X, Y, and Z.
    • French diplomats asked for a bribe before they would even speak with the US delegates.
    • US Diplomats left, leading to a short undeclared war between the two countries and brief naval battles.

Alien and Sedition Acts

  • Elongated the period of time you had to be here before being a citizen from five to fourteen years.
  • Gave the president the power to deport any noncitizen who he deemed to be dangerous to our government.
  • Sedition Acts cracked down on people who were speaking out and criticizing the government, especially newspapers who were publishing sentiments against the government.

Midnight Judges and Marbury vs. Madison

  • Election of 18001800 was the first time power would transfer between two presidents who disagreed.
  • Peaceful transfer of power even between parties becomes a hallmark of democracy.
  • John Adams elects a bunch of different judges at the end of his time in office, known as the midnight judges.
  • Judiciary Act created the Supreme Court and lower court systems.
  • Adams did this so late that not all of the commissions could be delivered before he had to leave office.
  • Jefferson elected president and tells James Madison not to deliver those commissions.
  • The Supreme Court decides that:
    • James Madison, you really should actually have to give out these commissions.
    • The judiciary act was unconstitutional.
    • Because it was unconstitutional, you actually do not have to give out these commissions.
  • This creates the Supreme Court's power for judicial review, the power to determine if a previous law was constitutional or not.

Louisiana Purchase

  • 18031803: America doubles in size almost overnight.
  • More opportunity for westward expansion.
  • Jefferson expanded the powers of the government, but the constitution didn't explicitly give him the power to do this.

War of 1812

  • In 1808, Congress prohibits the importation of slaves, the international slave trade.
  • Relationship with Britain was growing worse and worse.
  • British had broken many aspects of the Treaty of Paris, especially with the forts that were located around the Ohio River Valley.
  • They were impressing British American sailors.
  • Members of congress called Warhawks were trying to push the US into this war.
  • War started in 1812.
  • After this, it kind of confirms the US's independence worldwide.
  • The US really start to develop one kind of identity as a nation.