America's Expansion : 1789-1838

Question 1

When did America declare Independence?

Answer 1

4th of July 1776

Question 2

What is the Constitution?

Answer 2

A set of rules stating how the country should run.

All states agree to follow these rules

Question 3

What is Congress?

Answer 3

A governing body made up of people selected from each state.

They passed new laws

Question 4

Why was there a President?

Answer 4

The US didn’t want a King.
Instead they elected a new person every 4 years.
The president could block/pass new laws

Question 5

What was the Supreme Court?

Answer 5

A group of people that dealt with the most difficult laws.

They decided if new laws fit with the constitution

Question 6

What were States?

Answer 6

A populated area with their own Governor and Government

Question 7

What were Territories?

Answer 7

Areas of land without enough people/stability to become a state.
Ruled by a Governor elected by Congress.
People living here can’t vote in national elections

Question 8

What are the original 13 states? (Chronological order)

Answer 8

Delaware
Pennysylvania
New Jersey
Georgia
Connecticut
Massachussets
S. Carolina
New Hampshire
Virginia
New York
N. Carolina
Rhode Island

Question 9

What happened during the American war of Independence?

Answer 9

The British owned land in the Northwest region of the original 13 states.
When they lost the war in 1738, they had to give away 230 million acres of land, thus the beginning of the American Expansion

Question 10

What did George Washington do when he feared attack from the Indians?

Answer 10

From 1791, he out 90% of his funding towards campaigning against the Indians.
In 1794, he defeated the Indians in the “Battle of Fallen Timbers”.
Washington took their lands after defeating them

Question 11

What did Jefferson’s ideas for American’s becoming “Yeomen Farmers” mean for American Expansion?

Answer 11

America was gradually becoming more commercial.
Farming as a self-sufficient method became abandoned for farming as a business.
Farmers moved into bigger towns and the farming business expanded

Question 12

What did Jefferson wanting to trade across the Pacific mean for American Expansion?

Answer 12

Jefferson commissioned the Lewis and Clarke expedition “Corps of Discovery” in 1804 after the Louisiana purchase.
They travelled across the undiscovered west to find a waterway form the US to the Pacific Ocean for trade routes

Question 13

What were additional goals for the Corps of Discovery?

Answer 13

To explore unknown territory across the West of America.
To establish trade with the Native Americans
To establish the power/dominance of the US in the region

Question 14

What did it mean for American Expansion when the French Government became short of money in 1803?

Answer 14

Due to war, the French began to lose money.
The US was worried that the French would pull from a deal to buy the state of Louisiana so they sold the deal quickly.
Louisiana was bought off France for $15 billion

Question 15

What did the growth of cash crops like cotton and tobacco mean for American Expansion?

Answer 15

Tobacco became and increasingly popular product in England.

Cotton and tobacco became a major part of a 3-way trade between America, Africa and Europe

Question 16

How did the triangular trade work?

Answer 16

America sold cotton, tobacco and sugar to Europe.
Europe sold textiles, rum and manufactured goods to Africa.
Africa sent slaves to America for labour

Question 17

How did American Expansion lead to tension with slavery?

Answer 17

Slavery followed the Westward Expansion and to the Southwest to Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas in the 1950s.
Slavery caused tensions between the Northern and Southern states as non-slave holders had to compete with slave holders for new territories

Question 18

How did American Expansion cause tension with Native Americans?

Answer 18

During the Westward Expansion, the phrase “Manifest Destiny” gave Americans the idea they had to uplift “uncivilised” societies.
The Natives were displaced as the new settlers moved in from the East.
They lost their traditional ways and eventually were relocated into reservations

Question 19

How did the American Expansion cause tension with Land Speculators?

Answer 19

Congress created the Land Ordinance in 1785, selling off land in the west in sections of 640 acres for $640.
Land speculators bought large portions of land and sold small chunks to people who couldn’t afford the $640.
Native American hostility on the land meant that buyers wouldn’t purchase them until they were subdued in later years