Cultural Literacy Notes Flashcards
Bastille
A prison in Paris where many political prisoners, and other offenders, were held and tortured until the time of the French Revolution. The prison was attacked by workers (common leaders) on July 14th, 1789, during the revolution, the prisoners were released, and the building was later demolished.
Auschwitz
the Infamous concentration camp established by the Nazis in Poland. It was one of the 3 major locations where ethnic groups were taken to be put to death in gas chambers by order of the leaders of Third Reach
Alamo
A fort, once a chapel, in San Antonio, Texas where a group of Americans made a heroic stand against a much larger Mexican force in 1836, during the war for Texan Independence from MEXICO. The Mexicans under the command of General Santa Anna, besieged the Alamo and eventually killed all of the defenders, including Davy Crockett, a true American legend.
Appomattox Court House
A courthouse in Virginia where General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant in April of 1865 effectively ending the American Civil War. The surrender was one that did not diminish the dignity of the south or the southern soldiers or supporters of the war. The Civil War had been termed the war of “brother against brother” and the northern leaders had no wish to belittle the south. The aim was to begin a national healing process.
Crispus Attucks
A black sailor killed in the bastion massacre. It is purposed that he was among the first Americans to die in the struggle for Liberty.
Benjamin Benneker
African American scientist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Banneker taught himself calculus and trigonometry in order to make astronomical calculations for almanacs. He was hailed by the ABOLITIONISTS for proving that “the powers of the mind are disconnected with the colour of the skin.
Bill of Rights
The first ten amendments to the constitution of the United States. Among other provisions, they protect the freedoms of speech, religion, assembly, and the press; restrict governmental rights of search and seizure and list several rights of persons accused of crimes. *** After the new constitution was submitted to the states in 1787, several approved it only after being assured that it would have a bill of rights attached to it. Accordingly, these amendments were passed by the first congress under the constitution, and were ratified by the states in 1791.
Blue and Gray
The respective nicknames assigned to the union and confederate armies in the civil war. The union army, representing the north, wore blue uniforms. The confederate army, representing the south, wore a gray color uniform.
Daniel Boone
An American frontier settler of the 18th and early 19th centuries, best known for his explanation and settlement of KENTUCKY.
John Wilkes Booth
The assassin of Abraham Lincoln, Booth, an actor, was fanatically devoted to the confederate “cause” in the Civil War. While Lincoln was attending at play at Ford’s theater. Booth stole into the theater box and shot Lincoln in the head at point blank range. He then leaped down to the stage, breaking his leg, and escaped. Cornered later in a barn and died of gunshot wounds, possibly inflicted by himself.
Boston Massacre
A clash between British troops & town’s people in Boston in 1770. Before the Revolutionary War. The British fired into a crowd that was threatening them, killing five, including Crispus Attucks. The British Soldiers had been sent to help the government maintain order, and were resented even before this incident took place. The killings increased the colonist’s inclination toward revolution.
Boston Tea Party
This was an act of defiance toward the British Government by American Colonists; it took place in 1773, before the REVOLUTIONARY WAR. The government in London had given a British company the right to sell tea directly to the colonists, thereby undercutting American Merchants. A group of merchants found a ship in the harbor of Boston that was loaded with the company’s tea. They decided as Native Americans (Indian) boarded the ship, and threw hundreds of chests of tea overboard. The British government then tried to punish the colonists by closing the part of Boston, but this move only intensified American resistance to the rule of the king.
Battle of Bunker Hill
The first great battle of the revolutionary war. It was fought near Boston in June of 1775. The British drove the Americans from their fort at Breed’s Hill to Bunker Hill, but only after the Americans had ran out of gun powder. Before retreating, the Americans killed many British troops. *** The battle of Bunker Hill was an encouragement to the colonies, it proved that American forces, with sufficient supplies could inflict heavy losses on the British.an American officer, William Prescott, is said to have ordered during the battle, the famous expression. “DON’T FIRE UNTIL YOU SEE THE WHITES OF THEIR EYES”.
Civil War
The was fought in the united states between northern (union) and Sothern (confederate) states from 1861 to 1865, in which the confederacy sought to establish itself as a separate nation. The Civil war is also known as the “war between the states”. The war grew out of seep seated differences between the social structure and economy of the north and south. While “slavery” was an issue, it was by no means the only issue and generations of political makeovers had been unable to overcome the differences, the secession of the Southern States began in late 1860, after Abraham Lincoln was elected president. The Conservancy was formed in early 1861. The fighting began with the confederate attack on Fort Sumter in Charleston.
Constitution
The fundamental law of the United States drafted in Philadelphia in 1787, ratified in 1788 and put into effect in 1789. It established a strong central government in place of the loose federation of states.
Francisco Coronando
A Spanish explorer of the 16th century. Coronado traveled through much of what is now the south western United States searching for the legendary “seven gold cities of Cibola,” but found no treasure. One of his men was the first European to discover the Grand Canyon.
Dorthea Dix
a 19th century reformer who protested the practice of confining the mentally ill in prisons and whose labors led to the expansion and improvement of mental hospitals.
Stephen A. Dougglas
a political leader of the 19th century, known for twice running against Abraham Lincoln – for a seat in the senate from Illinois in 1858, which he won, and for the presidency in 1860, which he lost. The two engaged in the Lincoln – Douglas debates over slavery and other issues in 1858. Additionally, there was a time when both men sought the hand of the same woman in marriage.
Emancipation Proclamation
A proclamation made by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 stating that all slaves under the confederacy were from that moment on “forever free”. ^^^ In itself, the emancipation proclamation did not free any slaves, because it applied only to rebellious areas that the federal government did not control. Yet when people say that “Lincoln freed the slaves” they are referring to the Emancipation Proclamation.
First Amendment
The first article of the Bill of Rights. It forbids Congress from tampering with the freedoms of religion, speech, assembly, and the press
Forty-niners
Those who flocked to California in 1849 in search of golf, which had been discovered there in 1848. Reportedly, there were about 80,000 of them.
Founding Fathers
A general name for male American patriots during the revolutionary war. Especially the signers of the declaration of independence and those who drafted the constitution. John Adams, Ben Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Maddison, and George Washington were all Founding Fathers.
Benjamin Franklin
A patriot, diplomat, author, printer, scientist and inventor of the 18th century: one of the founding fathers of the United States. He was an important early researcher in electricity and proposed the modern model of electric current. He also demonstrated the Lightning was electricity by flying it in a thunderstorm and allowing it to get struck by lightning. Franklin used this discovery to invent the lightning rod. He produced other inventions, such as bifocal eye-glasses and the efficient Franklins stove. Particularly noble by his writing are: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN FRANKIN AND POOR RICHARDS ALMANAC.
Battle of Gettysburg
The greatest battle of the civil war, fought in South Central Pennsylvania in 1863, it ended in a major victory for the North and is usually considered the turning point of the war.
Gettysburg Address
A speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. Lincoln was speaking at the dedication if a soldier’s cemetery at the site of the Battle of Gettysburg. The opening and closing lines are particularly memorable. What surprised the audience was the length of the speech. It was very short, roughly 3 minutes. Compare this tp the speech just before the president’s. Edward Everett, one of the leading speakers of the day took 2 hours.
Indentured Servant
A person under contract to work for another person for a definite period of time, usually without but in exchange for free passage to a new country. During the 17th Century most of the white laborers in Maryland and Virginia came from England as Indentured Servants.
Jamestown
The first permanent English settlement in North America, founded in 1607 in Virginia. Jamestown was named for King James I (the 1st) of England. It was destroyed later in the 17th century in an uprising of Virgians against the governor.
