UNIT 1: COLONIAL FOUNDATIONS

1. AGE OF EXPLORATION:

• SPANISH EXPLORATION

  • MAIN GOAL

    • acquire wealth

    • spread Catholicism

    • create a land empire

  • LOCATION

    • Columbus first lands in the Bahamas

    • Columbus continued to Hispaniola

    • Cortes conquers the Aztecs

  • METHOD

    • 2 Vice-royalties: Peru and New Spain

      • Ruled by a Viceroy: King Appointed official 

      • No elected officials

    • Racial Hierarchy:

      • 

  • RELATIONSHIP WITH NATIVE PEOPLE

    • Columbus brutally captured and killed natives on Hispaniola after they attacked his men

    • conquistadors —> conquerors who brutally enslaved natives

    • enslaved native americans on encomiendas (large, Spanish owned plantations)

    • missionaries —> those sent to the Americans to forcibly convert natives to Catholicism

• FRENCH EXPLORATION

  • MAIN GOAL

    • trade intended with Asia —> ended up trading with the natives to acquire wealth

    • spread Catholicism

    • create a land empire

  • LOCATION

    • Caribbean

    • While searching for NW Passage, landed in Newfoundland (Canada) via the St. Lawrence River

    • Explorer Robert De Salle explored the Mississippi River 

      • Landed in Louisiana → Founded New Orleans

  • METHODS

    • Jesuit Catholic missionaries converted some Huron Indians of the Great Lakes 

    • Intendant: Military governor general appointed by the monarch

      • No representation in government

  • RELATIONSHIP WITH NATIVE AMERICANS

    • Traded (beaver) furs for metal tools like arrowheads, axes, knives, etc.

      • Competition → Conflict between Native groups 

    • Adopted some Native cultures and marriages between groups

      • Alliances with Algonquian language speaker nations in the Great Lakes region

    • Fewer French immigrants → Claimed less territory → Lessened conflict

• ENGLISH EXPLORATION

  • MAIN GOAL

    • acquire wealth initially believed gold —> became cash crops

    • spread Christianity and religious freedom

    • create a land empire

  • LOCATION

    • Caribbean

    • attempt in Roanoke → failed

    • Jamestown

  • METHODS

    • Headright System: VA company granted 50 Acres of land to anyone that a settler paid to bring over 

    • Indentured Servants: 7-10 years of service in exchange for transportation & eventual freedom

    • Representative Government seen in the House of Burgess and Mayflower Compact

  • RELATIONSHIP WITH NATIVE PEOPLE

    • Some positive relationships - EX. New England & Thanksgiving

    • Disease killed many Indigenous

    • Conflict arose as more territory was claimed by settlers

• DUTCH EXPLORATION

  • MAIN GOAL

    • acquire wealth

    • spread Christianity

    • create a land empire

  • LOCATION

    • Caribbean

    • Hudson river and in modern day New York

    • Connecticut and New Jersey

  • METHODS

    • encouraged emigration with patroonship system

      • stockholders of dutch west India company would receive 50 emigrants to work on their land

        • reflected feudal system in medieval Europe

        • unsuccessful - most who had emigrated worked on their own land

    • second Anglo-dutch war (1664-1667)

      • the dutch ceded all their american colonies to great Britain

  • RELATIONSHIP WITH NATIVE PEOPLE

    • purchased land from local Indians

      • leasing vs owning

    • refrained from learning culture and inter-tribal conflict

    • dutch setters disrupt traditional way of life and encroached on ancestral land

2. THE YEAR 1619

• CREATION OF THE HOUSE OF BURGESS

  • first popularly elected legislature in the american colonies

    • todays virginia general assembly

  • had to obey the king and governor

• SLAVES INTRODUCED TO THE VIRGINIA COLONY

  • mercantilism —> gaining wealth and power by developing countries

  • cash crops

  • english emigration began to decrease

3. REGIONS OF THE COLONIES

• NORTH

  • CLIMATE

    • cold winters with short growing seasons

    • small farms for own use

    • rocky soil

      • corns, beans, squash

  • ECONOMY

    • depended largely on the ocean

    • efficient in:

      • fishing

      • trapping

      • ship-building

      • logging

      • manufacturing

  • GOVERNMENT/RELIGION

    • predominately puritans

      • strict religious lives

    • the clergy devoted to the study of the scripture and the natural science

• MIDDLE

  • CLIMATE

    • mild climate with warm summers

      • better for farming

      • deep rich soil

      • longer growing season

  • ECONOMY

    • fur trading

    • farming

    • fertile soil—> grain. corn, wheat exports (breadbasket of the colonies)

  • GOVERNMENT/RELIGION

    • religiously tolerant and diverse

    • welcomed people of all religious background

    • run by authoritarian governors

• SOUTH

  • CLIMATE

    • fertile soil

    • warm climate, mild winters

    • good for agriculture

      • cash crops

        • tobacco, cotton, indigo, rice

  • ECONOMY

    • lots of plantations —> slavery

    • indentured servants

    • lots of cash crops

    • agriculture

  • GOVERNMENT/RELIGION

    • not religiously tolerant

    • Catholics

    • slaves

    • debtors/criminals

    • house of Burgess

      • Jamestown - 1st representative government

4. IMPORTANT PEOPLE/EVENTS OF COLONIAL AMERICA

• Sir Walter Raleigh

  • English explorer

  • tried to create permanent solutions 2x

  • tried to establish Roanoke

• John Smith

  • leading role in establishing Jamestown

  • established the first permanent English settlement in north america

• John Rolfe

  • credited with introducing marketable tobacco to Virginia

  • planted the first tobacco seeds

  • helped turn Jamestown into a profitable venture

• Powhatan

  • powerful leader and principal contact for English colonists from 1607-1618

  • united dozens of tribes into a single powerful alliance

  • led his people through the early years of colonial invasion

• Pocahontas

  • Powhatan’s daughter

  • encouraged interest in Virginia and the company

• Cash crops/tobacco

  • crop that is grown for the purpose of selling

  • fueled the transatlantic slave trade

  • boosted the economy

• the great awakening

  • a religious movement in the north American countries that emphasized individual salvation and high standards of personal mortality

  • challenged traditional beliefs and practices

    • new sense of American identity

• Bacon’s rebellion

  • 1676

  • protests against the governor

    • governor prevented war against Native Americans

    • high taxes benefiting the wealthy

  • governor is removed

  • taxes reduced

  • showed that population will not be ruled by wealth elites

    • individuals can find own salvation

      • challenged authority of the church

• Indentured servitude vs. slavery

  Indentured Servitude	Slavery
  someone who chose to immigrate	originally captured native Americans
  contract of 5-7 years	forced to migrate against their will kidnapped/sold
  freedom were given clothes food small plot of land	hard labor no pay children were also condemned to slavery
  not considered property	considered property

UNIT 2: THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

1. IDEAS OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT

• natural rights

  • all people are born with them

    • life

    • liberty

    • property

• social contract

  • people give the power to the government but can take it away

    • it led to the revolutionaries to break free of Britain

• consent of the governed

  • the government’s power is only legitimate when it it determined by those who are being governed

2. GROUPS DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

• patriots

  • 2/5 of colonists

  • wanted a new government based on merit, not inherited privilege

  • opposed taxes

  • emphasized Locke’s natural rights

  • fought the British

• Loyalists

  • 1/5 of colonists

  • believed that the British government was more legitimate and disliked violent protest

  • opposed taxes but wanted to follow the law

  • feared destruction/chaos

  • fought with the British

  • appealed to British natives and slaves

• neutralists

  • the people who didn’t choose a side in the war

  • remained neutral

• Native Americans

  • most native Americans thought colonists were more dangerous than the British

  • 6 Iroquois tribes

    • 4/6 fought with the British

    • 2/6 fought with colonists

• enslaved African Americans

  • England promises freedom to slaves that fought for the loyalist cause

  • most African Americans assigned to non-combat positions

  • were initially prohibited from the joining the continental army

    • later allowed due to labor shortages

3. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF EACH SIDE

4. IMPORTANT PEOPLE/TERMS OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

• great awakening

  • challenging traditional authority

  • reshaped ideas about government

  • creation of unique american identity

• french and Indian war

  • caused by increasing hostilities between the french and the Indians at the american frontiers over territory

    • war is expensive → British gets the colonies to pay for the share

    • increases taxes, cracking down on smuggling, end of salutary neglect

    • anger and resentment towards the British

• proclamation of 1763

  • prohibited colonists from moving west of the Appalachian mountains

    • increased anger and resentment to the British policy

• Paine’s common sense

  • 1776

  • pamphlet

  • colonies would be better off as an independent country

  • circulated throughout the colonies

    • widespread audience

• George Washington

  • leader of the continental army

  • became the first president of the US

• sugar act

  • lowered duty (tax) on foreign molasses (sugar) coming to the colonies

  • actually prosecuted smugglers

• stamp act

  • march 1765

  • required colonists to pay a tax on almost all printed materials

  • first direct tax that wasn’t a duty (tax)

• Boston massacre

  • march 1770

  • colonists insulted stationed British soldiers and threw rocks on them

  • soldier shot into the crowd

  • 5 colonists killed

• first and second continental congress

  • the first continental congress announces the boycott of all British goods

    • fall 1774

  • second continental congress agrees to send troops to support New England

    • may 1775

• Boston tea party

  • 1773

  • colonists are upset with the tea act → dumped tea into the Boston harbor out of protest

• declaration of independence

  • written and published on July 4th, 1776

  • written primarily by Thomas Jefferson

  • explains to the world why the 13th colonies regarded themselves as independent

• battle of Saratoga

  • Sept. 19, 1777 → Oct. 7, 1777

  • British general john Burgoyne → ambitious plan to capture New York

    • allow the British to cut off northern colonies from southern colonies

  • persuaded the french to recognize american independence and provide military support

• battle of Yorktown

  • Sept. 28, 1781 → Oct. 19, 1781

  • Yorktown, VA

  • the american forces under the command of George Washington surrounded the British army

  • Cornwallis (leader of the British army) surrendered his army after a siege that lasted 20 days

  • last major battle

  • articles of capitulation signed

  UNIT 3: EARLY FEDERAL PERIOD

1. ENLIGHTENMENT CONCEPTS:

• natural rights

  • rights given to all individuals by the natural law

    • life

    • liberty

    • property

• consent of the governed

  • the authority of the government should depend on the consent of the people

• social contract

  • people give the power to the government but can take it away

• ordered liberty

  • a system of laws and order

• separation of church and state

  • government/religious leaders are different

• separation of powers

  • different branches of government with different functions

2. FOUNDING DOCS

• VA declaration of rights

  • George Mason

  • 1776

  • documents that listed rights that were granted to all men

  • inspired the bill of rights

• VA statute for religious freedom

  • Thomas Jefferson

  • 1786

  • document that said the government should not force a certain religion on to its people

• articles of confederation

  • constitutional convention in 1777

  • original constitution

  • established national government

  • loosely tied the states together

• US constitution

  • James Madison

  • 1788

  • document that outlines supreme law of the US

  • outlines role/function of government

• bill of rights

  • James Madison

  • 1791

  • first 10 amendments to the constitution

  • guarantee individual liberties to American citizen

3. IMPORTANT PEOPLE/EVENTS OF THE EARLY FEDERAL PERIOD

• George Washington

  • first president

  • creation of the national bank

  • whiskey rebellion

• John Adams

  • XYZ affair

  • alien and sedition acts

  • Kentucky and VA resolutions

• James Madison

  • federalists

  • wanted to have close relations

  • favored strong central government

  • seen as an elitist

• Thomas Jefferson

  • democratic-republican

  • disliked taxes imported during Adam’s presidency

  • denounced alien and sedition acts

  • accessible to the people

• federalists vs anti-federalists

  federalists	anti-federalists
  believed in strong, central government didn’t think a bill of rights was necessary	believed in a weaker government wanted power to be kept in the states wanted a bill of rights to ensure liberties

• federalist paper

  • essays that urged the ratification of the new constitution

  • convinced votes to support the constitution

  • convinced votes that the articles of confederation needed revisions

• democratic-republicans

  • strict interpretation of the constitution

  • no national bank

  • loved the French revolution

• the great compromise

  • proved for a bicameral federal legislature that used a dual system of representation

  • upper house → equal representation from each side

  • lower → proportional representation based on the states population

• the 3/5 compromise

  • agreed to hold a national census every 10 years that would be used in determining the apportionment for the following 10 years

    • slaves would count as 3/5 of the population during the census

    • north and south would be both represented

UNIT 4: THE EARLY REPUBLIC

1. WESTWARD EXPANSION

• Louisiana purchase

  • 1803

  • Jefferson purchased the land from the France

  • expands US territory for $15 million

  • allowed for later addition of new states

    • seen as an overstep of the government power

  • led to Lewis and Clark expedition

• Indian removal act

  • may 1830

  • signed by Andrew Jackson

    • native Americans would be required to exchange their territory for land west of the Mississippi

• the trail of tears

  • 1838-1839

  • movement of Cherokee native Americans to reservations in present-day Oklahoma

  • forced to walk the distance between Florida and Oklahoma

• Mexican-american war

  • conflict over the Texas-mexico border

    • US wins

      • border reaffirmed at the Rio grande

  • southwest boundaries expand

• Monroe doctrine

  • part of the annual message to Congress that included a warning to European powers to not interfere in the affairs of the western hemisphere

• manifest destiny

  • it is the cultural belief in the US that expansion was inevitable because of their god-given ability to spread liberty and democracy

2. GROUPS DURING THE WAR OF 1812

• federalists

  • merchants and businessmen opposed war

  • relied on trade with Britain

• anti-federalists

  • anti-British feelings grew in the south and west

  • demanded war against the British

  • wanted more land = push the British from Canada

  • wanted to restore national honor after impressment

• British

  • occupied Washington DC

  • burned the public buildings

  • didn’t want Americans to supply food to enemies

  • a partial blockade

• Andrew Jackson

  • became a hero at the battle of new Orleans

  • led his troops through enemy territory to victory

3. THE ROAD TO THE CIVIL WAR

• Missouri compromise

  • 1820

  • admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a non-slave state at the same time

  • outlawed slavery about 36*30* latitude line in the remainder of the Louisiana territory

    • known as the 36th parallel

• Nat Turner’s rebellion

  • 1831

  • Nat Turner → enslaved laborer and preacher

    • led to the largest slave revolt in South Hampton VA

  • the fugitive slave law was put into place

    • required slaves go be returned to their owners even if they were in a free state

• Tariff of 1832

  • brought imported taxes back down to 35%

  • shrunk English demand for southern raw cotton and increased the final cost of finished goods to American buyers

• nullification crisis

  • South Carolina nullified a federal tariff that favored northern manufacturing over southern agriculture

• compromise of 1850

  • California enters union as a free state

  • strengthened fugitive slave laws

  • banned the slave trade in DC

  • proto-government for new mexico territory →but could be set up as free or slave once it was ready for statehood

  • proto-government for Utah territory → could be slave or free once it was ready for full statehood

• Kansas Nebraska act

  • 1854

  • repealed the Missouri compromise since both were north of the 36th parallel

  • established new territories of Kansas and Nebraska

  • said that these states would use popular sovereignty to determine if they would be slave or free

• bleeding Kansas

  • 1854 - 1859

  • series of violent conflicts in Kansas between pro-slavery and pro-abolition advocates

  • pro-slavery advocates rushed from Missouri to Kansas to pretend to be residents

    • wanted to use popular sovereignty to make Kansas a slave state

  • violence from both groups ensued for four years

UNIT 5: CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION

1. MAIN IDEAS

2. IMPORTANT EVENTS OF THE CIVIL WAR

• fort Sumter

  • April 12, 1861

  • marked the official beginning of the civil war

  • Charleston, South Carolina

  • forces from the confederates attacked the Union military Garrison

    • the fort surrendered 2 days later

• Antietam

  • Sept. 17, 1862

  • one of the major turning points of the war

  • showed that the union could stand against the Confederate army

  • enabled Lincoln to issue the emancipation proclamation

• emancipation proclamation

  • Jan. 1, 1863

  • issued by Lincoln

  • enslaved people in the southern states would be declared free

  • announced the acceptance of African Americans into the union and the navy

• battle of Gettysburg

  • July 1-3, 1863

  • marked the turning point of the war

  • union victory

  • brought the war to an end

  • one of the bloodiest battles of the war

• Gettysburg address

  • Nov. 19, 1863

  • Lincoln’s short but powerful speech

  • places civil war into the historical context of American fight for freedom

  • urges American to devote themselves to the task of preserving freedom for all Americans

• Sherman’s March to the sea

  • Nov. 15, 1864 - Dec. 21, 1864

  • most destructive campaign against civilian population

  • purpose → frighten Georgia’s civilian population to abandon confederate cause

  • was a strike to the heart of the confederacy

• Appomattox

  • Apr. 9, 1865

  • Robert E. lee surrendered his army to Ulysses S. Grant

  • brought an end to the civil war

UNIT 6: GILDED AGE AND PROGRESSIVE EAR REFORM

1. NATIVE AMERICAN RELATIONS AFTER THE CIVIL WAR

• wounded knee massacre

  • dec. 29, 1890

  • US soldiers killed hundreds of Lakota men, women, and children in an attempt to suppress a religious movement

• reservations

  • an area of land that is reserved for a tribe or tribes under the us government

    • able to better subdue them

• homestead act of 1862

  • government encourages farming with free 160 acres if you farm it for 5 years

• Carlisle industrial school

  • mission was to remove indigenous children from their families and communities to assimilate them

    • stop the spread of native cultures

  • wanted to strip away native identity and culture

2. THE GILDED AGE

• captains of industry

  • a business leader whose means of personal fortunes contribute positively to the country in someway

• laissez-faire capitalism

  • an economic philosophy that advocates for minimal government interference in the economy

• political machines

  • political parties organization that wins voter loyalty and grants power to a small group of leaders often for political gain

  • often created loyal bases of immigration by offering housing or jobs

• tenement housing

  • housing buildings with multiple units

  • run down, low quality, typically many families in a room

    • result of urbanization and immigration

3. TREATMENT OF MINORITIES

• “new” vs. “old” immigration

• Chinese exclusion act

  • congress passed it

    • suspended the immigration of all Chinese laborers for 10 years

    • required every Chinese person entering or leaving the country to carry paperwork

  • first law to broadly restrict immigration based on national origin

• Jim crow laws

  • federal, state, and local laws that enforced racial segregation

• buck v. bell

  • may 2, 1927

  • affirmed the constitutionality of Virginia’s law allowing state-enforced sterilization

• social Darwinism

  • social economic and political philosophy emerged in late 19th and early 20th century

  • principles of natural selection and survival of the fittest should be applied to human societies

  • used to justify race and class distinctions

4. INDUSTRIES AND BUSINESS TYCOONS

• John D. Rockefeller → standard oil

• Andrew Carnegie → Carnegie steel company

• J.P. Morgan → JP Morgan bank

UNIT 7: IMPERIALISM AND WWI

1. IMPERIALISM

2. WWI

• MAIN causes of WWI

  • M → militarism

  • A → alliances

  • I → imperialism

  • N → nationalism

• the US got involved in April of 1917

• Woodrow Wilson’s 14 points

  • no militarism/secret alliances

  • freedom of the seas

  • self determination

  • league of nations

• Treaty of Versailles

  • lost territory in Germany

  • intense reparations to be paid by Germany

  • Germany was to be blamed for the entire war

  • mandate system established in the middle east

  • the terms of the treat punished Germany very harshly

    • Germans were angry and turned to Hitler

UNIT 8: INTERWAR YEARS

1. POPULAR CULTURE

• Changes in media → transform entertainment

  • Listening to the radio

    • Able to listen to new music & hear about distant events

  • Going to the movies

    • Silent movies featuring Charlie Chaplin

  • Newspapers/Magazines

2. THE NEW DEAL

• FDR’s domestic programs

• Involved the 3Rs in the different programs 

• Split into 2 eras 

  • First New Deal: 1933-1934

  • Second New Deal (1935-1938)

3. IMPORTANT TERMS

• Harlem Renaissance

  • A new wave of  African American culture centered around, but not limited to, Harlem, NY

• prohibition

  • 18th Amendment: nationwide ban on the sale and import of alcoholic beverages 

  • Led to the rise of Organized Crime

    • Al Capone & other gangsters made their fortunes from the illegal distillation and sale of alcohol

• women’s suffrage

  • 19th amendment gave women the right to vote

  • National American Woman Suffrage Association

    • Lobbied and petitioned to pass state suffrage amendments that would lead to a national amendment

  • National Association of Colored Women 

    • Promoted progress of women of color through suffrage and education

  • National Woman’s Party

    • Used more intense methods to enfranchise women 

    • hunger strikes, marching with picket signs in front of the White House

• scopes trial

  • Tennessee passed a law saying that teachers in public schools could NOT teach evolution

    • John Scopes: Biology teacher, taught evolution 

  • At the trial: Scopes was convicted and had to pay a fine 

    Nationwide story - highlighting the fundamentalist vs. modernist argument

• black Tuesday

  • October 29, 1929

  • More than 16 million shares were sold as the stock market collapsed in the Great Crash

• bank runs

  • when a large number of depositors try and withdraw at the same time 

  • Few banks could handle this number of withdrawals → led to banks closing 

  • Banking system collapses

• protective tariffs

  • Tariffs: Taxes on imported goods 

  • Hawley Smoot Act: Increased tariff by 20% → Other countries placed tariffs on the U.S. in response 

    • → Global trade plummeted 

    • → no one to sell American goods to

• Franklin D. Roosevelt

  •  wanted the federal government to take charge of the economy

  • bonus army: sent his wife Eleanor Roosevelt to talk with the troop

    • she empathized with them

  • utilized the 3 Rs to end the depression and prevent another from returning

• social security act

  • Created the Social Security Administration 

  • Created the pension system for retirees 

  • Established unemployment insurance for those who lost their jobs 

  • Created insurance for victims of work related incidents 

  • Continues to still provide basic economic security to millions of Americans

• FDIC/SEC

  • FDIC

    • insure bank customers against the loss of up to $5,000 their deposits if their bank should fail

    • reform

  • SEC

    • a federal "watchdog" administrative agency to protect public and private investors from stock market fraud, deception and insider manipulation on Wall Street

    • reform

• works progress administration

  • Created new jobs in road construction, harbor creation, etc.

  • Provided jobs for displaced artists, writers, actors, etc.

• AAA/CCC/PWA

  • AAA

    • paid farmers for not planting crops in order to reduce surpluses

      And increase prices 

    • recovery act

  • CCC

    • unmarried men aged 18-25 from relief rolls and sent them into the woods and fields to plant trees, build parks/roads/fight erosion (BRP)

    • relief act

  • PWA

    • construction projects including public buildings, highways, bridges (e.g., San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge), and dams for water and power. 

    • relief and recovery act

UNIT 9: US INVOLVEMENT IN WWII

1. THE US’S NEUTRALITY

• Neutrality Acts of 1935-1937

  • Embargo on arms - Made it illegal for Americans to sell or transport arms or other war materials to any nations at war (belligerent nations) 

  • This was supported by isolationists

• Neutrality Act of 1939

  • Allowed belligerent nations to buy goods and arms in the U.S. if they paid cash and carried their own merch on their own ships 

    • British Navy controlled seas → benefited them 

  • Many criticized and said this violated American neutrality 

• Lend Lease Act (1941)

  • allow the United States to lend or lease war supplies to any nation deemed "vital to the defense of the United States

2. ENTRANCE OF THE US INTO THE WAR

• The US joins the war after the bombing of pearl harbor

• declares war on Germany and Japan

3. IMPORTANT TERMS

• island hopping

  • American strategy in the Pacific

• battle of Midway

  • June 1942

  • Utilized knowledge of Japanese plans 

  • Americans sunk 4 Japanese aircraft carriers & 

    • Japanese only sunk 1 American aircraft carrier

  • Turning point in the war → Japanese now on the defensive

• Hiroshima and Nagasaki

  • the two places where the US dropped the atomic bomb

  • ended the war

• Japanese internment

  • Executive Order 9066

    • 1942

    • forced removal of all persons deemed a threat to national security from the West Coast to "relocation centers" further inland – resulting in the incarceration of Japanese Americans.

• defeat Hitler first

  • focus on finishing the war in Europe before trying to end war in Asia

• d-day

  •  Allies land in Normandy, France (June-August 1944) 

  • Months of preparation led up to the largest military assault in history, the Allied landings at Normandy in Northern France

  • Led by Dwight D. Eisenhower, over 200,000 British, American, and Canadian forces landed at beaches named Gold, Juno, Sword, Utah, and Omaha.

  • The worst fighting was on Omaha beach, where Americans were killed as they stepped off their landing crafts.

    • Eventually, the Allies established a beachhead and pushed inland.

    • With landings behind German lines in the form of  paratrooper support, the push to Paris was underway.

    • The French capital fell two months later.

• battle of the bulge

  • begins in Belgium (December 1944-January 1945) 

  • In late 1944, during the wake of the Allied forces' successful D-Day invasion of Normandy, France, it seemed as if the Second World War was all but over.

  • On Dec. 16, with the onset of winter, the German army launched a counteroffensive that was intended to cut through the Allied forces in a manner that would turn the tide of the war in Hitler's favor. The battle that ensued is known historically as the Battle of the Bulge. 

  • Within days, Patton's Third Army had relieved Bastogne, and to the north, the 2nd U.S. Armored Division stopped enemy tanks short of the Meuse River on Christmas.

    • Through January, American troops, often wading through deep snow drifts, attacked the sides of the shrinking bulge until they had restored the front and set the stage for the final drive to victory

  • Never again would Hitler be able to launch an offensive in the west on such a scale. the Battle of the Bulge is arguably the greatest battle in American military history

• holocaust

  • the systematic state-sponsored killing of six million Jewish men, women, and children and millions of others by Nazi Germany and its collaborators

• Tuskegee airmen

  • 1578 combat missions

    • Highly successful bomber missions

    • Awarded more than 850 medals

• nisei regiments

  • Japanese Americans earned a high number of decorations while fighting predominantly in Europe 

  • Fought discrimination at home

• rationing

  • Supplies such as gasoline, butter, sugar and canned milk were rationed because they needed to be diverted to the war effort.

• women join labor force

  • More women in labor force

    • More of these older and married

      • Different from WWI

  • Drawn into previously male-dominant jobs (heavy industry, mechanics)

  • Most women still in service sector jobs

  • More jobs in government

    • Not as politicians, but pink-collar workers (secretaries, receptionists, phone operators)

UNIT 10: THE COLD WAR AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

1. DIFFERENT VALUES OF THE US & THE USSR

• the US values

  •  capitalist

  • democracy

  • goal: temporary division of Germany, eventually reunited, and to spread democracy throughout war torn Europe

• USSR values

  •  communist

  • goal: Germany stays divided and remains weak, spread communism throughout war torn Europe

2. US INVOLVEMENT IN THE KOREAN WAR

• June 27, 1950

• the United States officially entered the Korean War.

• The U.S. supported the Republic of Korea (commonly called South Korea), in repelling an invasion from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (commonly called North Korea)

3. THE VIETNAM WAR

• In December 1960, the National Liberation Front, commonly called the Viet Cong, emerged to challenge the South Vietnamese government.

• A civil war erupted for control of South Vietnam, while Hanoi sought to unite the country under its own communist leadership.

• The Second Indochina War began in earnest with the US commitment to prevent the communists from overrunning South Vietnam.

• In spring 1961, the administration of John F. Kennedy expanded US support for the South Vietnamese government, including an increase in US military advisers, the doubling of military assistance, and authorization of the use of napalm, herbicides, and defoliants.

  • was the first televised war and was highly unpopular in the states

4. IMPORTANT TERMS

• Truman Doctrine

  • President Truman’s pledge to help nations struggling against communist movements

• Marshall Plan

  • Foreign policy plan that offered aid to Western Europe after WWII

• NATO

  • Collective security group of the US and its allies 

  • Created to protect from potential threats from the Soviet Union 

• Warshaw pact

  • Collective security group of the Soviet Union and its satellite states 

    • Satellite states: independent nations controlled by a more powerful nation

  • Included all communist states of Eastern Europe except Yugoslavia

• Desegregation of armed forces

  • Executive Order issued by President Harry S. Truman.

  • Abolished racial discrimination in the United States Armed Forces.

• Civil disobedience

  • a public, nonviolent, conscientious, yet political act, contrary to law, usually done with the aim of bringing about change in the law or policies of the government

• “McCarthyism”

  • Senator Joe McCarthy claimed he knew 205 top officials who were communists 

  • Made baseless claims and accusations

    • His accusations → jobs lost 

  • Went too far → attacked the U.S. army & held harsh televised hearings 

    • Censured for his accusations

• John F. Kennedy

  • Democrat

  • Youngest and first Catholic President 

  • Ran against Richard Nixon

    • Televised Debates helped Kennedy win

• Cuban Missile Crisis

  • In 1962 the Soviet Union began to secretly install missiles in Cuba to launch attacks on U.S. cities.

  • The confrontation that followed, known as the Cuban missile crisis, brought the two superpowers to the brink of war before an agreement was reached to withdraw the missiles.

    • closest the two superpowers came to nuclear war

  • final agreement was that the US would remove their missiles from turkey and then the USSR would remove theirs from Cuba

• Lyndon B. Johnson

  • Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson became president after, finishing the last year of JFK’s term.

  • President Johnson was faced with a deteriorating situation in Vietnam. Pressured by advisers predicting “disastrous defeat,” intent on proving his and America’s “credibility,” fearful of drawing China and the Soviet Union into the conflict, and passionate about maintaining focus on his “Great Society” initiative,

  • he planned a course of gradual escalation he hoped would avoid public scrutiny and, hopefully, avoid another Korea.

    • Even after the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Johnson claimed America’s role would continue to be support for South Vietnam mainly through material and advice, which was popular with the American public.

  • doesn’t run for reelection

• Immigration Act of 1965

  • eliminated the quota system for people from all countries to immigrate to the United States.

• Brown v. Board of Education

  • Said separate is inherently unequal 

  • Public facilities HAD to desegregate

• Massive Resistance

  •  movement by southern states to avoid desegregation

    • School attendance was NOT mandatory 

    • Shut down schools that integrated

• Civil Rights Act of 1964

  • Johnson’s most notable piece of legislation 

  • prohibited discrimination in public places

  • provided for the integration of schools

  • made employment discrimination illegal

  • Faced LOT’s of opposition but was passed!

• Voting Rights Act of 1965

  • prohibited the poll tax, federal government can intervene in state elections to prevent discrimination 

UNIT 11: THE MODERN ERA

1. END OF VIETNAM WAR

• Vietnamization

  • Nixon’s plan to achieve “peace with honor” in Vietnam

  • gradually turning the responsibility of fighting the war over to the South Vietnamese army.

    • He started phased withdrawals of US troops and ended the draft in 1973.

    • in 1973 they signed the Paris Peace Accords, and a cease-fire was called during which American combat support ended.

2. END OF THE COLD WAR

• During 1989 and 1990, the Berlin Wall came down, borders opened, and free elections ousted Communist regimes everywhere in eastern Europe.

• In late 1991 the Soviet Union itself dissolved into its component republics. With stunning speed, the Iron Curtain was lifted and the Cold War came to an end.

4. IMPORTANT TERMS

• Nixon

  • Elected in 1968 

  • Republican 

  • Vietnamization

  • resigns from the presidency before impeachment about Watergate scandal

• Ford

  • Became president after Nixon stepped down 

  • Pardoned Nixon → Made him seem suspicious 

  • Vietnam falls and Cambodia turns to brutal communist leader 

  • Tried to fix an economic downturn but failed → did not get reelected

• Carter

  • Democrat

  • Elected because he was an “outsider to Washington” 

  • Had a humanitarian focus in his foreign policy

  • hostage crisis

• Reagan

  • D.A.R.E.  programs to fight war on drugs

  • Slashed Welfare programs , Environmental protection, and business regulations  programs 

  • Failure to respond to AIDS Epidemic → called the “gay plague” by Moral Majority supporters 

  • SDI/ “Star Wars” - massive spending on anti-missile defense

  • Iran-Contra - sold weapons to Iran and then diverted funds to Contra’s in Nicaragua 

  • “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” 

    • Pressure on the USSR

• H.W. Bush

  • Persian gulf war

  • republican

• Clinton 

  • President (1992-2000) impeached in office due to lying under oath (perjury) and obstruction of justice - Monica Lewinsky Scandal

• Bush

  • Vice President to Reagan, he took over from 1988-1992 and continued many of the conservative reforms being pushed.

• Obama

  • democrat

  • President that promised "Hope and Change”

  • was elected in 2008

  • signed the Affordable Care Act.

• Sandra Day O’Connor

  • first female Supreme Court Justice

  • appointed by Reagan

• Clarence Thomas

  • appointed by H.W. bush

  • controversial because of sexual harassment claims

• SALT

  • First attempt to reduce tensions with the USSR 

  • agreement between the US and the USSR to remove their ballistic missiles

• Detente

  • the relaxation of strained relations

  • Nixon pursued this policy to relations with the Soviet Union

• Fall of the Berlin Wall

  • symbolized the end of the cold war

  • 9 November 1989

  • helped with the reunification of Germany

• Watergate

  • Scandal where documents were trying to be stolen from the Democratic National Convention that led to Nixon stepping down

• Impeachment (Clinton)

  • Bill Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives on two charges, one of perjury and one of obstruction of justice, on December 19, 1998.

• Iran Hostage Crisis

  • Resenting America for helping the Shah of Iran and backing Israel, Iranian students seized the staff at the US Embassy (1979)in Tehran, Iran and held them hostage for more than a year (444 days)

• No Child Left Behind

  • requiring schools to demonstrate their success in terms of the academic achievement of every student

• Moral Majority 

  • sought to mobilize conservative Americans to become politically active on issues they thought were important.

• Reaganomics

  •  INCREASE defense spending; tax cuts & supply side economics

• Disability Rights Movement

  • The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in federal programs and by recipients of federal financial assistance.

  • Took until 1990’s to prohibit discrimination based on disability and ensure that children with disabilities received an equal education 

• Roe v. Wade

  • Texas woman challenged a law that made abortion illegal except by a doctor’s orders to save a woman’s life.

  • Went against her right of personal privacy

• 9/11

  • an Islamist extremist group named al-Qaeda, attacked on the morning of September 11, 2001.

  • their affect was killing 93 nations, 2,753 in New York, 184 at the Pentagon, and 40 people at Flight 93.

  • Al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial planes.

    • Two crashed into the Twin Towers, one into the Pentagon, and the passengers in Flight 93 fought back and crashed into an empty field. It was known to be headed to Washington DC.

• War in Iraq 

  • U.S. forces invaded this country because it was feared Saddam Hussein was hiding WMD’s