Knowledge Platform HL History Flashcards
What is the commonly-accepted explanation for how the first “Native Americans” arrived in North America?
About 10-20,000 years ago, a land bridge connected what is modern-day Russia to modern-day Alaska (where the Bering Strait is now), and humans migrated across this land bridge, eventually heading south.
Approximately how many different Native American nations existed before the arrival of Columbus, and in what basic characteristics did they each differ from one another?
At least 100, each with a different language, social system, and stage of economic development.
What year did Cristobal Colón (a.k.a. Christopher Columbus) first arrive in the Western Hemisphere?
1492
What two European nations were the first to colonize the Americas, and which of these two was the first to colonize in North America?
Spain and Portugal
Spain was the first to colonize in North America
What is the difference between a “primary source” and a “secondary source”? If given an example of a source, could you identify it as one or the other if given the context in which it is being used?
A primary source is an account of an event from someone who was present at that event, or if one is researching conditions of a time period, someone who experienced that time period.
A secondary source is one that appears after the event or time period occurred, often based on primary sources with or without reference to other secondary sources (a source based entirely upon other secondary sources, such as an encyclopedia or wiki entry could be considered a “tertiary” source).
Why is a “Pilgrim” a “Puritan” but a “Puritan” is not necessarily a “Pilgrim”?
Puritans were English Christians who broke away from the Anglican Church, finding its rituals too “fancy” and obstructing a direct connection between man’s prayer and God. “Pilgrim” was the name given to a Puritan “separatist”, i.e., one who could no longer tolerate living in England, while many (non-Pilgrim) Puritans remained.
How did Puritans differ from Anglicans? How did Anglicans differ from Roman Catholics? What unites Catholics and Protestants (and therefore separates them from other religions)?
Puritans were English Christians who broke away from the Anglican Church, finding its rituals too “fancy” and obstructing a direct connection between man’s prayer and God. They emphasized simplicity.
Anglicans were supporters of the Church of England, which was started by King Henry VIII when the Pope, refused to grant him a divorce from his first wife. While Anglicans maintained some aspects of Catholic practice, they refused to recognize the authority of the Pope.
Both Anglicans and Puritans are Christian denominations under the heading “Protestant”, but share with Catholics a belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ, a belief not shared by adherents of other religions such as Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.
What kind of “religious freedom” were the “Pilgrims” who settled Plymouth Colony seeking?
Freedom to practice their brand of Christianity their way (i.e., not freedom for everyone to practice religion whatever way he/she preferred).
In what order were the Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, New Amsterdam, and Jamestown colonies settled? In the first third of which century?
Jamestown, New Amsterdam, Plymouth, and Massachusetts Bay.
Which of the these four colonies was not English, and which nation founded it? (Jamestown, New Amsterdam, Plymouth, and Massachusetts Bay)
New Amsterdam (founded by Dutch)
Which of the above colonies’ founding is associated with the U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving?
Plymouth
What agricultural product was instrumental in the survival and eventual prosperity of the Jamestown (Virginia) Colony?
Tobacco
What was the Mayflower Compact and why is it considered significant in the development of democratic government?
A document signed by the 40 “Pilgrims” on the Mayflower agreeing that they together, collectively, would form their own government when they arrived in the New World. This is regarded as an early instance of the philosophy that “government comes from the consent of the governed.” (It is important to note that there were 80 others on the ship who were not consulted in making the agreement)
What was the House of Burgesses and why is it considered significant in the development of representative government?
The first elected representative legislature in the English North American colonies. (Again, an early example of the self-government principle)
Which individual is associated with the quotations “No taxation without representation!” and “Give me liberty or give me death!”?
Patrick Henry and James Otis
What was the Stamp Act?
An unpopular tax on paper goods in Britain’s American colonies. Colonial reaction to this tax is often regarded, at least in popular imagination, as the first stirring of the American revolution.
What happened at the “Boston Tea Party?”
Members of the “Sons of Liberty”, an American anti-government militia boarded a ship laden with 15,000 pounds worth of tea and dumped its contents in Boston Harbor, prompting a harsh crackdown on the American colonies by the British government.
Why would it have made no sense for Paul Revere to have shouted “the British are coming!”?
Paul Revere was British (regarded himself as a subject of the King), as were all American colonists at the time.
Why are Lexington and Concord significant towns in U.S. history?
It was in these towns that the first exchanges of gunfire between local American militia-men and British troops occurred; considered the first battles of the “Revolutionary War.”
In the context of the 1770s, what did the terms “patriot”, “loyalist”, and “tory” mean?
Patriot = someone who supported American independence from Britain (the United Kingdom).
Loyalist = American colonist who opposed American independence.
Tory = member of British Parliament who opposed negotiations with American colonists over independence.
In which document would you find the phrase “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…”?
Declaration of Independence
Who made the “Louisiana Purchase”, what did it do to the size of the United States, and what role did Lewis and Clark play?
Thomas Jefferson arranged purchase of France’s territory in North America (the Louisiana Terr.), doubling the size of the U.S. Lewis and Clark were hired to conduct an expedition of this territory (with a corps of 40 or so) and were the first white men to cross from the Mississippi R. to the Pacific (as far as we know).
Who were the first four presidents of the United States (in order)?
George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison
Where is the Erie Canal and why was its construction so important to the development of the United States?
Located roughly in the center of New York State, it connects the Hudson River to the Great Lakes. Made it possible for Americans in the Midwest to participate in international trade and made NYC the economic capital of the U.S.
What is the significance of Fort Sumter?
South Carolina’s attack on Fort Sumter is considered the start of the U.S. Civil War.
What did the Southern states do (collectively) that ultimately resulted in civil war, and what is the correct way to spell this word?
They seceded from the U.S.
Who was U.S. president during the entirety of the Civil War?
Abraham Lincoln
Who won the U.S. Civil War?
The “North” (the states comprising the Union)
What was “Reconstruction” and when did it occur?
The time period just after the Civil War (lasting about 12 years) in which attempts were made to restore southern “seceded” states back to the union and to grant citizenship rights to about four million who had been emancipated from slavery.
What was a “Jim Crow law”?
A law (mostly used in southern states) designed to segregate African Americans from white society and to maintain them in second-class status. These types of laws began to be passed about twenty years after Reconstruction ended and continued until the 1960s.
Suffrage
The right to vote
Temperance
Opposition to the consumption of alcoholic beverages.
Nationalism
The belief that a nation’s fate should be controlled by its own people (and for ethnic peoples within another nation, the belief that they should have their own nation). It is not simply “pride in one’s country” (though that’s an ingredient).
Imperialism
The practice of one country imposing its will over other countries for economic, political, and military gain.
Capitalism
An economic system favoring private enterprise, and one that gives a central role to individuals who accumulate money (capital) and use it to invest in the creation of business ventures.
Socialism
One in which the working class is expected to control the means of production, and in which the social costs and benefits of business are widely shared by the society as a whole. (Note: Most economies today are a mixture of some aspects of both capitalism and socialism, including the U.S.)
Communism
A party of dedicated revolutionaries (communist party) controls society in order to reach the goal of worker control of production. Communism has often resulted in a totalitarian state in which personal freedom is severely limited even if socialist principles are ignored (such as North Korea).
Fascism
A political and economic system that, while retaining the private enterprise aspect of capitalism, places absolute power in the hands of a single leader/dictator, with an emphasis on strong nationalist beliefs and desire for military conquest.
Destruction of National Bank/”Trail of Tears”
Jackson
“Trustbusting”; “Speak softly and carry a big stick”
Teddy Roosevelt
“New Deal”
FDR
