Lesson 5 US

Question 1

Who’s Henry David Thoreau?

Answer 1

Wrote a book about his experience living in the woods.
He lived isolated and self-sufficient in a hut in Wooden Pond.
A “rugged invidualist”. Against the pursuit of wealth for itself.

Question 2

Rugged individualism:

Answer 2

Rugged individualism, term that indicates that an individual is self-reliant and independent from outside, usually state or government assistance.
Associated with the notion of laissez-faire and non-interventionist governmen.

Question 3

7th President

Answer 3

Andrew Jackson (1829-1837)
He was a self-made man, the man of the people.
Democrat

Question 4

What did Andrew Jackson stand for?

Answer 4

He wanted the government to serve Americans
Democratisation of white men (voting) and
End of an elite controling the goverment
Democration of the press (a lot of newspapers were created)
Every abled bodied person who can work should do it
He wanted to end the class system of the time
Believe in a Laissez-faire attitude from the government

Question 5

Which people are in the producing class according to Andrew Jackson?

Answer 5

Craftsmen
Farmers
Planters
“Real people”
Self-reliant
Simple
Hard working

Question 6

Which people are in the non-producing class according to Andrew Jackson?

Answer 6

Stockholders
Bankers
Monopolizing the government and using the law and the system to their advantage selfishly

Question 7

What measures and tasks did Jackson undertook?

Answer 7

He ended the Bank of the United States (reducing the power of the government)
Reduce tariffs
Limit federal spending
Expanding the Western Frontier
Charters of Incorporation
Workers’ rights (10 hours work days)

Question 8

Charters of Incorporation

Answer 8

Documents establishing the existence of a company, in order to help people new businesses and go push the Western Frontier

Question 9

16th President of the US

Answer 9

Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865)
Rags to riches as well
Believed in the self-made man
Republican

Question 10

Abraham Lincoln on slavery?

Answer 10

For him, it was bad for black people but also white men because it was unfair competition for them.
He wanted anyone to have a chance to get upward mobility.

Question 11

What policies did Lincoln put into place?

Answer 11

January 1, 1863, the Emancipation proclamation
Expanded Domestic Legislation
Restored high tariffs
Improvements in transportation and communication infrastructure (Telegraph
Pacific Railroad Act 1862
Homestead Act of 1862

Question 12

The Emancipation Proclamation

Answer 12

Jan 1, 1863,
The proclamation declared “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free.”

Question 13

When was the civil war?

Answer 13

1861-1865

Question 14

Civil War casualties?

Answer 14

750 000

Question 15

What did the Republicans use to think about government intervention?

Answer 15

That it would help people succeed. Create a fair and level playground

Question 16

Pacific Railroad Act 1862

Answer 16

Provided federal subsidies in order to construct a transcontinental railroad.

Question 17

Homestead Act of 1862

Answer 17

Giving an opportunity to people to buy cheap land and to work in the west.

Question 18

13th Amendment

Answer 18

1865
Abolition of slavery

Question 19

14th Amendment

Answer 19

1868
Citizenship to black people that were born in the US
(Overturned the “Dred Scott v. Standford 1857” decision)

Question 20

“Dred Scott v. Standford 1857”

Answer 20

He was a slave from the south, tried to sue his owner after they moved to the north, he lost because he did not have the legal right to sue his master

Question 21

Who were excluded from the American Dream?

Answer 21

Poor white men, immigrants, black people, women, natives, Jews, Catholics

Question 22

Discrimination against poor white men:

Answer 22

Subsistence Farmers but not on their property so they did not have the same rights as land owners
Nativism and xenophobia against immigrants
Antisemitism and other -isms
Religious discrimination

Question 23

Subsistence Farmers

Answer 23

They farm for themselves and their families

Question 24

Nativism

Answer 24

The policy of protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants

Question 25

The Know-Nothings

Answer 25

Nativist, racist, anti catholic party

Question 26

India Removal Act, 1830

Answer 26

400 000 people relocated
Did not explicitly said that the Native Americans had to move, but they would have to follow the US laws instead of the law of the tribe and autonomy

Question 27

1838-1839

Answer 27

Trail of tears
Cherokees
Forced at gun point to migrate to the West
4000 people died in this process, they did not have enough food etc.

Question 28

In what ways were women 2nd class citizens?

Answer 28

Married women could own land and couldn’t earn money for themselves.

But also the moral conscience of the nation (they participated in a lot of movements such as Public education, criminal punishment (harsher for crimes against women, Temperance Movement)

Question 29

Temperance Movement

Answer 29

To limit the consumption of alcohol

Question 30

Why were women considered the ‘moral conscience of the nation’?

Answer 30

They participated in a lot of movements such as:
Public education,
criminal punishment (harsher for crimes against women
Temperance Movement

Question 31

The Seneca Falls Convention
The Seneca Falls Manifesto Or ‘Declaration of Sentiments’

Answer 31

Elizabeth Cady Staton and Lucretia Mott
They were for the abolition of slavery.
They did a convention to ask for more rights for Women and wrote a manifesto

Question 32

The abolitionist movement was lead by:

Answer 32

Harriet Beecher Stowe: Author of a famous book ‘Uncle Tom’s cabin’ a story that was about the life of a slave
Harriet Tubman, she was a slave. She was a part of the Underground Railroad (to help slave escape their condition) after having been saved by it
Frederick Douglass, he was a former slave who wrote an autobiography. He was also a part of the women’s rights movement

Question 33

What’s the ‘Underground Railroad’?

Question 34

What are sharecroppers?

Answer 34

Black people could cultivate their crops but on white men’s properties and give them a part of it