AMERICAN HISTORY Flashcards
Ice Age
The most recent Ice Age was about 35,000 years ago. Much of the world’s water was frozen into big sheets of ice. A land bridge—as wide as 1,500 kilometres— joined Asia and North America. By 12,000 years ago, humans lived throughout much of what now are the Americas.
First “AMERICANS”
They are known as Hohokam, Adenans, Hopewellians, and Anasazi. They built villages and grew crops. Their lives were connected to the land. Family and community were important to them. Nature was important to their spiritual beliefs. Some used a form of picture writing called hieroglyphics
Norse Invation
Norse may have been the first Europeans to arrive. They came from Greenland, where Erik the Red had started a settlement around 985. In 1001, Erik’s son, Leif, explored the northeast coast of what now is Canada. Remaining pieces of Norse houses were found in northern Newfoundland.
“Finding America”
In 1497, John Cabot, an explorer sailing for England, landed in eastern Canada. His arrival established a British claim to land in North America. Hernando De Soto landed in Florida in 1539 and then explored all the way to the Mississippi River.
Virginia and Massachusetts were the two earliest.
Colonies in 1600’s
Most people who came to the British colonies in the 1600s were English. Others came from The Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, France, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
Thirteen colonies
In time, the 13 colonies developed within three distinct regions. The first settlements were along the Atlantic coast and on rivers that flowed into the ocean.
Northeast colonies
The North-east was called New England, and it included Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. The economy was based on timber, fishing, shipbuilding, and trade.
Middle colonies
The middle colonies included New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. People worked in industry and agriculture. The society was more diverse and sophisticated. People living in New York came from all over Europe.
Southern colonies
The Southern colonies included Virginia, Georgia, and North Carolina and South Carolina. Most people were farmers. Some owned small farms that they worked themselves. The wealthy farmers owned large plantations and used African slaves as workers.
Glorious revolution
As time went on, all the colonies developed governments based on the British tradition of citizen participation. In Britain, the Glorious Revolution limited the power of the king and gave more power to the people. The American colonists closely observed these changes. Colonial assemblies claimed the right to act as local parliaments. They passed laws that limited the power of the royal governor and increased their own authority.
1700’s
The ideas of liberalism and democracy are the basis of the U.S. political system. As the colonists built their new society, they believed more strongly in these ideas. Britain’s 13 colonies grew in population and economic strength during the 1700s. Although ruled by a distant government, the colonists governed many local affairs.
Stampt act
After Britain won a costly war with France in the 1750s, the colonists were asked to help pay for the war, and for Britain’s large empire. These policies restricted the colonists’ way of life. The Stamp Act of 1765 taxed all legal papers, licenses, newspapers, and leases.
The Stamp Act united the colonists in an organized resistance. The main problem was that they weren’t allowed to participate in the government that taxed them.
Boston Tea Party
(1773) A group of men sneaked on three British ships in Boston harbour and threw the cargo of tea overboard. This event became known as the Boston Tea Party. The British Parliament punished Massachusetts by closing Boston’s port and by restricting local authority. Colonists called these new laws the Intolerable Acts and united to oppose them. All the colonies except Georgia sent representatives to Philadelphia in September 1774 to talk about their “present unhappy state.” It was the First Continental Congress.
July 4, 1776
The Second Continental Congress created a committee to write a document that outlined the colonies’ complaints against the king and explained their decision to separate from Britain. The reasons were based on French and British ideas. Thomas Jefferson was the main writer of the Declaration of Independence. The Second Continental Congress accepted this document on July 4, 1776.
Treaty of Paris
In 1778, France recognized the United States as an independent country and signed a treaty of alliance. France helped the United States as a way to weaken Britain, its long-time enemy. The Treaty of Paris turned the 13 colonies into states, but the job of becoming one nation remained.
Articles of Confederation
In 1783, the 13 colonies became the United States. Before the war ended, the colonies had developed the Articles of Confederation, a plan to work together as one nation, but the connections among the 13 states were loose. Each state had its own money, army, and navy; traded and worked directly with other countries.
US constitution
The Constitution provided the framework for the new government. The national government could create money, impose taxes, deal with foreign countries, keep an army, create a postal system, and wage war. To keep the government from becoming too strong, the U.S. Constitution divided it into three equal parts—a legislature (Congress), an executive (president), and a judicial system (Supreme Court). Each part worked to make sure the other parts did not take power that belonged to the others.
