AP U.S. History Unit One Study Guide

Geography and Pre-Columbian Societies

  1. Role of Geography in Pre-Columbian Societies:

    • Southwest (Pueblo): Inhabited arid climates; developed complex irrigation systems to cultivate maize, beans, and squash. They lived in sedentary adobe structures such as those found in Chaco Canyon.

    • Great Plains/Great Basin (Lakota, Cheyenne): Characterized by a significant lack of natural resources and vast open grasslands; this led to mobile, nomadic lifestyles. The eventual introduction of the horse by the Spanish would later revolutionize their hunting of bison and warfare.

    • Northeast/Atlantic Seaboard (Iroquois, Algonguian): Developed mixed economies utilizing agriculture (the "Three Sisters": maize, beans, and squash) and hunting-gathering. The Iroquois Confederacy (Haudenosaunee) established a powerful military alliance and political system based on the Great Law of Peace.

    • Mississippi River Valley (Cahokia): Famous for massive earthen mounds and highly stratified urban societies. Cahokia served as a major trade hub with a population that once rivaled contemporary European cities.

    • Pacific Northwest (Chinook): Relied heavily on fishing (especially salmon) and utilized vast timber resources for permanent longhouses and intricate totem poles. They maintained a highly stratified social structure including a warrior class.

The Columbian Exchange

  1. Impact of the Columbian Exchange:

    • The Encomienda System: The Spanish crown granted land and native labor to settlers. In exchange, settlers were tasked with Christianizing the natives. This system was fiercely criticized by Bartolomé de Las Casas, leading to the New Laws of 1542 and the eventual transition to the Asiento System (the importation of enslaved Africans).

    • The Valladolid Debate (1550-1551): A formal moral debate between De Las Casas and Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda regarding the treatment and inherent rights of indigenous peoples under Spanish rule.

    • Caste System (Sistema de Castas): A rigid social hierarchy developed by the Spanish based on racial ancestry:

      • Peninsulares: Spaniards born in Spain.

      • Criollos: Spaniards born in the New World.

      • Mestizos: Individuals of mixed Spanish and Native American ancestry.

      • Mulattos: Individuals of mixed Spanish and African ancestry.

    • Biological Exchange:

      • From Old World to New: Horses, cattle, pigs, wheat, sugar, and devastating diseases (smallpox, measles, influenza) that decimated up to 90\% of native populations.

      • From New World to Old: Potatoes, tomatoes, and maize, which provided improved nutrition and led to a massive population explosion across Europe.

European Colonization Strategies

  1. Factors for European Colonization:

    • The 3 G's: Gold (mercantilist wealth), Glory (national power and imperial competition), and God (religious conversion/missions).

    • Technological Advances: Improvements in maritime technology such as the sextant, caravel ship design, and the magnetic compass made long-distance trans-Atlantic travel viable.

  2. Differing European Interests:

    • Spain: Sought to extract precious metals and used various labor systems to manage native and African populations for mining and sugar production.

    • France and the Netherlands: Primarily focused on the fur trade (coureurs de bois). They formed strategic marriage and trade alliances with tribes like the Huron and Iroquois to facilitate commerce rather than large-scale displacement.

    • Britain: Focused on agricultural production and permanent family settlements. Unlike the Spanish or French, British colonists often pursued a "frontier of exclusion," seeking to remove Native Americans from their path rather than incorporate them.

American Colonies and Religious Freedom

  1. Religious Freedom and Dissent:

    • Massachusetts Bay: Established by Puritans as a "City upon a Hill" to serve as a model of Christian reform. They practiced strict religious conformity.

      • Roger Williams: Banished for advocating for the separation of church and state; he subsequently founded Rhode Island as a haven for religious tolerance.

      • Anne Hutchinson: Banished for challenging clerical authority and claiming direct divine revelation.

    • Maryland: Founded by Lord Baltimore as a refuge for Catholics. The Maryland Toleration Act of 1649 was the first law in the colonies granting religious freedom to all Christians.

    • Pennsylvania: Founded by William Penn as a "Holy Experiment" for Quakers. It emphasized pacifism, religious pluralism, and fair treatment/land deals with Native Americans.

Puritan Influence on New England

  1. Impact of Puritanism:

    • Town Meetings: Allowed for a high degree of interactive self-government among male church members, laying the groundwork for democratic traditions.

    • Half-Way Covenant (1662): An attempt to maintain church influence by allowing the children of baptized but unconverted Puritans to be baptized, reflecting a decline in religious fervor.

Geography, Economics, and Labor Supply

  1. Labor Systems and Transitions:

    • Headright System: Virginia and Maryland offered 50 acres of land to anyone who paid for an immigrant's passage, encouraging the use of white indentured servants.

    • Bacon's Rebellion (1676): A turning point where landless former indentured servants rebelled against the colonial government. This event prompted plantation owners to transition from unpredictable indentured servants to a more "permanent" and "controllable" labor force of enslaved Africans.

    • The Middle Passage: The horrific maritime journey that brought enslaved Africans to the Americas. Over time, Slave Codes were enacted to institutionalize slavery as a hereditary, racial status.

Mercantilism

  1. Navigation Acts:

    • Operationalized the policy of Mercantilism, restricting colonial trade to English ships and ports to ensure the mother country's profit. While these acts provided a market for goods, they encouraged smuggling during the period of Salutary Neglect, when Britain rarely enforced trade regulations.

Enlightenment and The Great Awakening

  1. Enlightenment Thought:

    • John Locke: Argued for "Natural Rights" (life, liberty, and property) and the social contract. He claimed that if a government fails its people, they have a right to overthrow it.

    • Baron de Montesquieu: Proposed the separation of powers into three branches of government to prevent the rise of tyranny.

  2. The Great Awakening (1730s-1740s):

    • A religious revival led by Jonathan Edwards ("Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God") and George Whitefield.

    • It divided churches into "New Lights" (revivalists) and "Old Lights" (traditionalists) and fostered a sense of shared American identity and a willingness to challenge traditional authority.

French and Indian War

  1. Impact of the French and Indian War (1754-1763):

    • Albany Plan of Union (1754): Benjamin Franklin's early, unsuccessful attempt to unify the colonies for defense; it set a precedent for future cooperation.

    • Ended Salutary Neglect: Britain began strictly enforcing trade laws and taxing the colonies to pay off massive war debts.

    • Proclamation of 1763: Issued after Pontiac's Rebellion; it prohibited colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains to avoid native conflict, deeply angering settlers who had fought for that territory.