APUSH Units 1-5
PERIOD 1
Maize — corn grown by Natives in SW US and Mexico
Great Plains and Great Basin — Lack of resources in central US lead to nomadic lifestyle
Columbian Exchange — Exchange of goods, ideas, diseases between Europe, Africa, Americas
Affected Americas via…
Guns and horses transforming native life
Spread of diseases (SMALLPOX)
Creation of racially mixed populations (eg Mestizos — Native and Eur. ancestry)
Affected Europe via…
Population growth as a result of potatoes, maize
Shift to capitalism
Affected Africa via…
Introduction of the slave trade
Spanish and Portuguese were the firstt to engage in W. Africa
Spanish Colonization
Encomienda system — royal grant of land from Spain to settlers — in return, settlers would “Christianize” natives
Phased out with introduction of African slaves
De Las Casas HATED this shit
Natives and Africans sought to preserve autonomy after contact by Europeans
PERIOD 2
English Colonies
New England (Mass…)
Est. by Puritans seeking like-minded community/religious freedom (for themselves)
Disagreeing would get you kicked out (eg Anne Hutchinson, disagreed w/ John Winthrop in Mass.)
Agriculture + commerce
Middle Colonies (NY, Penn…)
Grew cereal crops
Very diverse — a lot of religious tolerance
Chesapeake Colonies (Maryland, Virginia)
Grew tobacco
First by indentured servants, replaced by African slaves
BIG on profit
Southern Colonies/West Indies
Grew staple crops (eg sugar)
BIG on slave labor
Africans could make up a majority of pop.
STRICT slave codes
Pueblo Revolt (1680)
Native revolt in SW US
ES wanted to end “unchristian” native practices
Got expelled for over 10 years (!!)
Spain eventually regained control and desired relig. assimilation of Natives
Anglicization of British Colonies: colonies act British due to trans-Atlantic printing, commercial ties, etc
Enlightenment
Focus on reason, intelligence
Questioning forms of gov’t,. esp. monarchy
John Locke: Consent of the Governed
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense (1776)
“Why should a tiny island across the sea [govern our colony]?”
Mercantilism
Engaging in trade in a way that benefits the mother country
In this case, GB benefiting from colonies’ raw materials
PERIOD 3
Seven Years’ War (1756-1763)
British + colonists vs. French + Natives
Dispute over claims on North American land
GB won → France ejected from North America
BIG TURNING POINT
Britain is broke due to war costs
Begins taxing colonies + ends period of statutory neglect
The colonists do not like this
Wake up besties new taxes just dropped
Britain is broke, needs money, milks colonists for it
Sugar Act (1763)
Increased duties for non-British imported items
Tried to discourage smuggling of sugar, molasses
Mostly failed due to colonist smuggling, etc. Wild
Stamp Act (1765)
Taxed paper goods
Colonists formed Stamp Act Congress, boycotted/protested
Britain repeals BUT
Declaratory Act (1766)
“We can do whatever we want, get pwned”
1767 Townshend Acts
More taxes on paper, glass, tea…
Withdrawn partially in 1770, kept tea tax
1773 Tea Act gave GB unfair adv. in selling tea → Boston Tea Party, same year
Generally: widespread dissent re: taxes, Declaratory Act, GB being overbearing.
GB/Colony relations
Boston Massacre (1770)
Killed three + galvanized public outcry against Britain
REVOLUTIONARY WAR
1775-1783
Begun with Lexington and Concord—”shot heard round the world”; Brits planned to destroy American ammo at Concord (4/1775)
Olive Branch Petition (7/1775)
Congress’ last ditch attempt to reconcile before war
Declaration of Independence (1776)
Written by Jefferson, Adams, Franklin
Inspired by Common Sense, Enlightenment thinkers (eg Locke)
Aired grievances with King George
Turnabout: Battle of Yorktown (1781)
Ultimately, the US won because:
Support from France
Won over after Saratoga—turning point (1777)
Ideo. commitment
And in spite of:
GB adv. in military + money
Loyalist opposition
Articles of Confederation (1777)
Weak cent. gov
No tax, no nat. military, 9/13 to pass laws, 13/13 to amend
1786 Shays’s Rebellion exposed weakness—occurred in western Mass. due to high taxes
Northwest Land Ordinance (1787)
To admit states to the Union: 60k+ citizens
Banned slavery in NW terr.
Est. public education
Constitution (1789)
Based on Federalism, separation of powers
Checks and balances, series of compromises
Bill of Rights satisfied Anti-Federalists
One house based on pop., one w/ equal representation
Latter known as “New Jersey Plan”
3/5 compromise
International slave trade outlawed after 1808
Postponed solving slavery
IMPACT OF AMERICAN REVOLUTION/DEC. OF INDEPENDENCE IDEALS
French Revolution (1789-99)
Also inspired by Enlightenment ideals
Tensions between Hamilton + Jefferson → proper political parties
Haitian + Latin American revolutions as well
GW’S FAREWELL ADDRESS WARNED AGAINST
Foreign Alliances
Political Parties
Which came about anyways due to tensions between Britain and France
Republican Motherhood
Women need to raise children to be little republicans; instill values
Women gained more education as a result
COTTON GIN CREATED IN 1793, LED TO MASSIVE GROWTH OF SLAVERY
PERIOD FOUR
Political Parties — Federalists (Hamilton) vs D-R (Jefferson)
Formed in response to Hamilton’s financial plan + French rev.
Federalists were upper-class, preferred loose interpretation of Constitution, love Bank of US, trade, + trade w Britain
D-Rs were commoners/mid-class, strict interpretation (up to LA Purch.), hate Bank of US but love France + farmers
Political Parties — Democrats vs Whigs
Whigs hate Jackson (don’t we all), formed in response to him; favor tariffs, strong Congress, BoUS, internal improvements (American System!)
Democrats are for the common man, want universal white male suffrage, spoils system, and HATE tariffs
Louisiana Purchase (1803)
Began manifest destiny
Jefferson shifted from strict to loose interp. of Constitution\
19th cent. Supreme Court
Marbury v Madison (1803)
Est. Judicial Review
Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)
Fed. gov controls interstate trade, not states
Slavery
Seen + defended as positive in the South (eg John Calhoun)
Second Great Awakening
Inspired many to achieve perfection, often via secular reforms
Abolitionism and women’s rights/suffrage (often linked)
New Technology
Textile machines
Steam engine—allowed boats to go against current, increased trade
Rise of interchangeable parts (inc. production)
Canals (eg Erie)
Railroads (ESPECIALLY IN 1840s.), first Transcontinental Railroad finished in 1869.
Telegraph
McCormick Reaper—agricultural machine
American System
Bank of United States, Tariffs, Internal Improvements
Aimed to unite econ. nationally; mainly connected North + Midwest, leaving out the South
Migrants
Irish and German
Irish in cities, Germans on frontier (farmers)—East + MW
Market Revolution
Goods now produced outside of the home
Changed tech + transport
Beginnings of the middle class
Women worked (still rare, mainly working class/immigrants)
Politics
Regional interest > national interest across the board in relation to the American System
Fed. Gov’s attempt to assert over states didn’t go over well
Nullification Crisis (1832)
SC tries to nullify Q. Adams’s “Tariff of Abominations”
Calhoun’s “state’s rights” argument
SC backs down due to Jackson’s threat to use force + lack of support for other states
Missouri Comp (1820)
Missouri added as a slave state
Maine added as free
Below 3630/south of missouri = slave state for LA terr.
SHORT-TERM SOLUTION. We love putting slavery off
PERIOD 5
Manifest destiny
US’ God-given right to expand
Based on white + American culture superiority
Won Polk the election
Mexican-American War (1846-48)
Arguably due to manifest destiny
Based on idea that Mexico “spilled American blood on American soil”
Disputed by Lincoln’s “spot resolutions”
Whigs saw it as baseless, cruel land grab (and yeah…)
Led to Mexican Cession
Wilmot Proviso (1846)
Proposed that slavery be banned in new territory, unsuccessful
Migrants (cont’d)
Irish and German still; pre-CW, considered “old immigrants”
rise of anti-Catholic nativist movement—Know-Nothing party
Hoped to limit power of immigrants
Legislation for US development
Homestead Act (1862)
160 acres of land for very little in return for settling + improving land out west
Perceptions of slavery
South:
Positive good—Calhoun
Sometimes seen as a good thing via patronization
Uh Oh We’re Getting Close To A Civil War Over Slavery!! (or: More Compromises)
Compromise of 1850 to address Mexican Cession land
Popular sovereignty
Stricter Fugitive Slave Law
Actually good for North: generated sympathy
California admitted as a free state
Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
Steven Douglas proposes popular sovereignty for both states
Above 3630 line, overturning 1820 Missouri compromise
Voters FLOCK to Kansas
Bleeding Kansas—state-level Civil War
John Brown killed 5 pro-slavery individuals
Dred Scott Decision (1857)
African-Americans were not citizens, couldn’t sue
Slaves (regardless of status) were property
Missouri Comp. was unconstitutional: Congress can’t regulate slavery in the territories
Inc. tensions between North + South
Rise of the Republican Party
Made up of many former Whigs
Sectional: N, MW
Lincoln ran on a free-soil platform in 1860
We got a Civil War (1861-65)
Southern Secession after 1860 Lincoln Victory
Formally began with Confederate atk on Fort Sumner
You can hire draft “substitutes”, if you want (in the North) → NY Draft Riots (1863)
Lincoln suspends habeas corpus for the greater good (1863)
Gettysburg Address (1863)
Not all that important at the time BUT expressed importance of preserving the Union
Emancipation Proclamation (1863)
Slavery becomes a moral issue
Black troops are usable
Kept Europe from aiding South
Turnabout: Antietam (1862)
ULTIMATE Turnabout: Gettysburg (1863)
Essentially, the North won as a result of…
Military strategy
eg Anaconda Plan
Resources + people
Legislation
13th Amendment (1865)
Slavery is illegal
Later skirted around by Southern sharecroppers
Legislation (Reconstruction ver.)
Lincoln’s 10% plan
State govt could be re-established if 10% of electorate pledged to Union
State leg. had to ratify 13th Amend.
Johnson took over after Lincoln’s death and generally mucked it up
Black Codes passed in South
Restricted socioeconomic prospects for African Americans
Radical Republicans in Congress desired to lead reconstruction as opposed to Johnson
Established (both over Johnson)
Freedman’s Bureau
Civil Rights Act (1866)
Equal protection under the law
African-Americans are citizens
14th Amendment (1868)
Passed due to Johnson veto of Civil Rights Act—wished to solidify
African-Americans are citizens
Overturned Dred Scott
Reconstruction Act (1867)
South into 5 military zones to ensure enforcement of laws
States must also ratify 14th amend + add provision for universal male suffrage
15th Amendment (1870)
All adult men can vote
Schism in women’s suffrage movement
NWSA vs AWSA
Anti-15 vs Pro-15
GOOD LUCK!!