History of the US

Question 1

Pre-colonization

Answer 1

• Arrival of native American tribes across Beringia during the last ice-age
• Hunter-gatherers
• The first farmers

Question 2

Colonization

Answer 2

• 1492: Christopher Columbus;
• Exploration of North America (H. Hudson, J. Cabot, Lewis and Clarke).
  
  • W. Raleigh – Virginia
  • F. Drake – California.
• 1607: Jamestown founded in Virginia. First permanent English settlement in the Americas.
• 1620: Mayflower ship brings first pilgrims (religious emigrants from England) => New England.
• 1733: 13 British colonies in North America

Question 3

American War of Independence (1775 - 83)

Answer 3

• Reason: problems with tolls and tarifs => Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party (1773)
• Beginning of the war => Lexington, Concord – after initial success, Americans lose
• 2nd Continental Congress in Philadelphia => Declaration of Independence (1776)
• Support of France, victories (Saratoga 1777) => England aknowledges the USA (1783)

Question 4

The Founding Fathers

Answer 4

• Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, Adams, Hamilton, and Madison
• Writers of the Constitution, The Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence

Question 5

Important documents

Answer 5

Declaration of Independence (1776), The Constitution (1783), The Bill of Rights (1789)

Question 6

First half of the 19th century

Answer 6

• Expansion westwards
  
  • The Oregon Trail, travelled by settlers, farmers, miners, ranchers, and business owners and their families
  • The Calfiornia Gold Rush: news of gold brought many people to California from the rest of the United States and other countries.
• Relocation of Native Americans to reservations
  
  • ​Trail of Tears: In 1838 and 1839 President Andrew Jackson forced the Cherokee Nation to give up its lands east of the Mississippi River and to move to an area in present-day Oklahoma.
• ​Slavery in the South (North was free)
  
  • South was mostly agricultural, while North was industrial

Question 7

The Civil War (1861 - 65)

Answer 7

• 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln
• The Civil War starts with the secession of of several slave-holding states
• South (Confederacy, agricultural, slave-holding) vs. North (the Union, free, industrial)
• 1861 The Confederates attack Fort Sumter = beginning of the Civil War
• 1863 Decisive Battle of Gettysburg – The Union wins after long campaign in the South that leaves it in ruins
• 1863 Lincoln abolishes slavery
• 1865 – The Confederacy re-joins Union and the Reconstruction starts (rebuilding of ruined Southern towns)

Question 8

The Gilded Age (1870 - 1918)

Answer 8

• Rise of a very strong economy and industry.
• Theodore Roosevelt was an important president of this time (nationalist, environmentalist, expansionist)
• Increased immigration to the US
  
  • Ellis Island in New York is where many immigrants in this time first set foot in the US
• Spanish-American War and Phillippine-American War in this period
  
  • American victories in both cases
  • The US gained new territories in the Spanish-American War (Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam) and kept the Phillippines through the Phillippine-American War

Question 9

The Great Depression (1929 - 1939)

Answer 9

• 1929 - stock market crash and the beginning of the Great Depression
  
  • Economy failed, mass unemployment and poverty
• Happened at the same time as the Dust Bowl
  
  • ​a series of dust storms and drought in most American farms, destroyed agricultural industry
• The New Deal - Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s solution to the Great Depression. Started many new social programs to help the poor

Question 10

WWII

Answer 10

• European Theatre (vs. Nazi Germany) and Pacific Theatre (vs. Japan)
  
  • American role in Europe: Invasion to Italy, D-Day (invasion of Normandy), liberation of France and Germany
  • Pacific: island battles (Iwo Jima, Guadalcannal, Guam etc.), navy, nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Question 11

The Cold War (1946 - 1989)

Answer 11

• competition between the USA and the USSR for world domination
• Presidents in this time include JFK and Ronald Reagan
• fear of WWIII/atomic war (the video game Fallout 4 is based on the fears and media imagination of this time :)
• Proxy wars: Korea, Vietnam, Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• Space Race: 1950s the USSR first satellite and first man in space; 1960s The USA: Apollo project – The Moon landing (1969)
• Arms (weapons) Race: 1980s Reagan’s and Bush’s USA strong economy beats the USSR’s weak economy => The US wins

Question 12

Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826)

Answer 12

• American lawyer, diplomat in France, governor of Virginia, minister of foreign affairs and co-author of the Declaration of Independence, The 3rd President of the USA (1801-1809)
• Negotiated French help in the War of Independence
• Political parties – Republicans (Jefferson) x Federalists (Washington)
• Advocate of democracy, freedom and equality of people (but only white men; he owned 600 slaves)
• Lived in Virginia on his farm (Monticello), supported the USA as an agricultural state
• As the President, he bought French colony of Luisianna from Napoleon I Bonaparte

Question 13

Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)

Answer 13

• 16th president of the USA (1861-1865)
• Came from a poor family, but became a lawyer.
• Visited the South and hated slavery – got support of the abolishionist party
• When he became President in 1860, southern states South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia and Texas left the Union
• On January 1, 1863 abolished slavery in the USA and proclaimed all black people free men.
• In 1864 re-elected as the President, but next year killed by southern zealot, actor John Wilkes Booth

Question 14

Theodore Roosevelt (1858 - 1919)

Answer 14

• The 26th President of the USA (1901-1909, Republican Party)
• Naturalist, hunter, soldier and adventurer
• Fought in the war for Cuba against Spain
• Started the program of protecting natural resources and declared National Parks
• As a hunter, he saved a baby bear on one of his expeditions – the bear was named after him – Teddy – and inspired popular toys

Question 15

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968)

Answer 15

• American pastor and
• *civil rights leader**
• Fought against segregation and oppression of African Americans in southern states
• Black rights movement – radical (Malcolm X, Black Panthers Party) x non-violent (Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr.)
• Campaigns organized with the help of church
• 1963 – March on Washington – „I have a dream…“
• 1964 – Nobel Peace Price
• 1968 – assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee
• His birthday is an American national holiday

Question 16

Answer 16

Pilgrims in the New World negotiating with Indians

Question 17

Answer 17

The Founding Fathers

Question 18

Answer 18

The Space Race; American astronaut Neil Armstrong (first person to walk on the Moon)

Question 19

Answer 19

Thomas Jefferson

Question 20

Answer 20

Abraham Lincoln

Question 21

Answer 21

Theodore Roosevelt

Question 22

Answer 22

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (called FDR)