Periods 2 & 3: 1607-1800 Flashcards
1
Q
British North America population (1750)
A
2.5 million non-Indian inhabitants
2
Q
New France population (1750)
A
70,000 inhabitants
3
Q
Spanish North America population (1750)
A
20,000 inhabitants
4
Q
Why did British North America’s population grow?
A
- natural increase
- immigration
- the importation of slaves
5
Q
Characteristics of men in colonial society
A
- Landowning preserved for men
- Dominated politics
- English law gave the husband unlimited power in the home
6
Q
Characteristics of women in colonial society
A
- Average wife bore 8 children
- Domestic work
- Educated children
- Had limited legal and political rights
- Under English law, married women were considered to be under the protection of their husbands - this means they had no legal existence
7
Q
New England’s economy
A
- Subsistence farming
- Ship building
- Fishing
- Trading
- Rum-distilling
8
Q
The middle colonies’ economy
A
- Farmed wheat and corn
- Small manufacturing
- Trading
9
Q
The southern colonies’ economy
A
- Agriculture varied - subsistence and commercial agriculture
- Tobacco, indigo, and rice were major crops
10
Q
Self government in the colonies
A
Representative assemblies elected by eligible voters
11
Q
Religious toleration in the colonies
A
Permitted the practice of different religions with varying degrees of freedom
12
Q
Hereditary aristocracy in the colonies
A
Class system based on economics (not birth rights)
13
Q
Social mobility of the colonies
A
- All had the opportunity to improve their standard of living and social status
- Exceptions included African Americans
14
Q
Voting and colonial assemblies
A
- Women, blacks, and Native Americans could not vote
- Property qualifications excluded 40% of white males from voting
- Voter turnout in rural areas was low
- Colonies become increasingly self-governing
- Assemblies do not set trade regulations, print money, or declare war
15
Q
Salutary neglect
A
- Britain’s lack of interest and presence in colonial politics allowed assemblies to take considerable power and left the colonies alone to govern themselves
- Colonies then became more self-sufficient and eventually led them to feelings of individuality that they feared losing
- This brings forth the Declaration of Independence and other events
16
Q
Causes of the Great Awakening
A
- Change in religion (strongest 1730s and 1740s)
- Emotional sermons
- Met outdoors
- Countered Enlightenment rationalism
17
Q
Ideas of the Great Awakening
A
- Predestination - salvation by faith and not good works
- Stressed corrupt human nature, divine fury, and a need to repent and convert
18
Q
Jonathan Edwards
A
- Influenced New England
- One notable sermon - Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
- Argued that God was rightfully angry with human sinfulness
- Individuals who were sorry and gave penance for their sins could be saved; those who didn’t would suffer eternal damnation
19
Q
George Whitefield
A
- British preacher who travelled around the colonies
- Attracted large audiences (10,000 people)
- Emotional sermons
- God would save those who openly professed belief in Jesus Christ; those who didn’t would be damned to Hell
- Ordinary people with faith and sincerity could understand the gospels with depending on ministers to lead them
20
Q
Impacts of the Great Awakening
A
- Decline in influence of older sects - split American Protestant faith
- Stimulated the founding of new colleges
- Drew many African Americans and Native Americans to the Protestant faith for the first time
- Fostered greater religious tolerance
- Challenged clergy (untutored ministers could preach)
- Emotionalism became a part of Protestant services
- Democratizing effects by changing the way people viewed authority
21
Q
The Press (Peter Zenger case)
A
- 1735 - NY editor John Peter Zenger was brought to trial on a charge of libelously criticizing NY’s royal governor
- English common law stated that injuring a governor’s reputation was considered a criminal act, no matter whether a printed statement was true or false
- Outcome: The jury voted to acquit Zenger
- Did not guarantee complete freedom of the press but encouraged newspapers to take greater risks in criticizing the government
22
Q
The Enlightenment’s influence on the United States
A
- Natural rights
- Purpose of government
- Equality
- Consent of the governed
- Limited government
- Right to revolt
- All ideas are found in Locke’s works, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution
23
Q
The pull to America
A
○ Word-of-mouth information about America
○ Effective work and writing by recruiters
○ Appeal of land and economic opportunities
○ Desire to join earlier migrants
○ Safe pursuit of personal religious beliefs
- Hope of educating and converting Natives
24
Q
The push from England
A
○ Escape from direct religious persecution
○ Fear regarding the religious future at home
○ Anxiety about political change in Europe
○ Dismay over economy and a need for farmland
○ Relief from joblessness or personal adversity
○ Restlessness and desire for adventure
25
Roanoke (The Lost Colony)
* 1587 - Sir Walter Raleigh attempted to establish a settlement at Roanoke Island off the coast of North Carolina
* When Governor John White returned in 1590 after going to England to get supplies, there was no trace of the colony
○ The only thing left of then was the word "Croatoan" carved into a tree
* 1st English child was born there
○ Virginia Dare - August 18, 1587
26
Jamestown (1607)
* King James I chartered the Virginia Company, which funded Jamestown
○ The 1st permanent English settlement
* Jamestown nightmare:
○ 1607: 40 settlers died on the voyage
○ Gentlemen settlers refused to work
○ Marshy land prone to disease
○ Settlers wasted time looking for gold
27
Tobacco in Virginia
* Prominent in Chesapeake, VA
* Tobacco provided the colony with a "cash crop"
* Problems with tobacco:
○ Destroys land
○ Colonists kept moving westward
○ Demand for labor increased
28
Indentured servants in the colonies
* 4-7 years of service
* Promised "freedom dues" (land and money)
* Forbidden to marry
* Temporary solution to labor issues
○ 1610-1614: Only 1 in 10 outlived their indentured contract
* Headright system: Land grants offered by Virginia; led to growth in the colonies
29
Causes of Bacon's Rebellion
* Sir William Berkeley favored wealthy planters
* Nathaniel Bacon led a rebellion that killed all Natives in sight and burned Jamestown
* The frustrations of Bacon's Rebellion:
○ Lack of land
○ Lack of political power
○ Lack of help to suppress Native American attacks
30
Impact of Bacon's Rebellion
○ Demonstrated tension in colonial society between social classes (wealthy planters and landless/poor farmers)
○ Colonial resistance to royal control
31
Maryland (Chesapeake Colony)
* Proprietorship: Lord Baltimore given land by King Charles I
* Act of Toleration (1649): Religious freedom for all Christians (intention to protect Catholics)
○ One of the first laws to promote religious toleration in the colonies
32
The Plymouth colony
○ Settled by Pilgrims (Separatists)
○ Because the Church of England enrolled all the king's subjects, Separatists felt they had to share the Church with the "damned"
○ Believed in a total break from the Church of England
○ William Bradford
33
The Massachusetts Bay Colony
○ Settled by Puritans
○ Led by John Winthrop
○ Believed in predestination
○ Wanted total reform (purify) the Church of England
○ Hoped to create a religious "City Upon a Hill"
○ "Great Migration" of the 1630s
○ Turmoil in England sent about 70,000 Puritans to America
34
The Mayflower Compact
* 1620: Pilgrims landed at Plymouth
○ The Mayflower Compact: An agreement to form a crude government and submit to majority rule
○ Led to adult male settlers meeting in assemblies to make laws in town meeting
* Direct democracy
35
John Winthrop and the MA Bay Colony
* Well-off attorney and manor lord in England
* Puritan minister
* Goal: Wanted to be a "City Upon a Hill"
○ Believed that they had an agreement with God to serve as a model for all people
* Became 1st governor of Massachusetts
○ Believed that he had a calling from God to lead there
○ Served as governor or deputy governor for 19 years
36
Characteristics of the New England colonies
* Mixed economy: Agriculture and commerce
* Low mortality: Average life expectancy was 70
* Many extended families
* Average 6 children per family
* Average age at marriage:
○ Women - 22 years old
○ Men - 27 years old
* Authoritarian male father figures controlled each household
* Ministers and magistrates controlled church congregations and households
* Town hall meetings became basis of governance
○ All church-going males could participate
37
Roger Williams
○ Popular minister in Salem
○ Argued for full break with Anglican Church
○ Protested treatment of Natives
○ Wanted separation of Church and State
○ Fled MA Bay Colony and founded Rhode Island (Providence - 1636)
§ Rhode Island had religious toleration and fair treatment of Native Americans
38
Anne Hutchinson
○ Believed the idea that faith alone, not deeds, was necessary for salvation
○ Exiled from MA Bay Colony - moved to Rhode Island (Portsmouth - 1638)
39
Halfway Covenant
* An effort to maintain the church's influence and membership, a halfway covenant was offered by some clergy
○ People could become partial church members even if they had not felt a conversion (fulfilling the formal religious process)
* This signaled that the population was growing faster than the authority could exert control
40
New York colony
* Originally a Dutch colony (New Amsterdam)
* Religiously and ethically diverse
* Commerce and trade
41
New Jersey colony
* NY was too large to administer/split the land
* Allowed religious freedom
* Became a royal colony in 1702
42
Pennsylvania colony
* Founded by William Penn
* "Holy Experiment"
* Religious Society of Friends - proprietor colony
* Liberal with a representative assembly
* Treated Natives fairly
* Extended rights to women
* Religious toleration and freedom
43
Mercantilism
- An economic practice by which governments used their economies to augment state power at the expense of other countries
○ The ultimate goal was to become self-sufficient so that the nation did not have to depend on other countries for goods
44
Triangle trade
A pattern of colonial commerce connecting 3 regions and crossing the Atlantic Ocean
45
The Navigation Acts
○ Trade carried only on English/colonial ships
○ Trade had to pass through English ports
○ Certain enumerated goods from the colonies could be exported only to England
- Smuggling became a problem
46
The Slave Trade
10-15 million people were taken from Africa and sold to the Americas
47
The Middle Passage
- Put as many people as they could into the cargo department
- 1619: First British ship carried 20 Africans to Jamestown
- Over 350 years -> 36,000 slaves ships crossed the Atlantic
- For every 100 slaves captured, 40 died before they reached the New World
48
The South and Slavery
- First Africans were used as indentured servants
- The South was based on cash crops -> needed cheap labor
- Preferred African workers to Europeans servants
- White servants could run away and blend in, while Africans could not
- Less expensive to maintain than indentured servants
49
The Virginia Law of 1662
- "All children borne in the country shall be held bond or free according to the condition of the mother"
- Black motherhood for slaves became a legal curse
- Slave women were valued for their work and ability to produce children -> more enslaved children, more free labor
- Chattel slavery: Creating slaves through childbirth
50
The economic issue of slavery
The South's economy depended on slavery and free labor to continue harvesting cash crops
51
The political issue of slavery
The issue of counting slaves as a part of the population for representation in government
52
Albany Plan of Union (1754)
- First real attempt of unity between the colonies
- Colonies feared if they all united, they would lose their privileges from their states
- Plan fails -> lack of unity
- After the French and Indian War, the taxes passed by Britain begin to unite the colonies as they have one common issue
53
Treaty of Paris (1763) - what each country got/lost
- France: lost her Canadian possessions, most of her empire in India and claims to lands east of the Mississippi River
- Spain: got all French lands west of the Mississippi River and New Orleans
- England: got all French lands in Canada, exclusive rights to the Caribbean slave trade and commercial dominance in India
54
Britain's colonial policies before the French and Indian War
- Goal: Trade
- Navigation Acts not enforced
- Salutary neglect
- No British troops stationed
55
Britain's colonial policies after the French and Indian War
- Goal: Revenue
- Navigation Acts enforced
- No salutary neglect
- British troops stationed
56
Immediate effects of the French and Indian War
Tension between the colonies and Britain over trade, taxation, and troops
57
Long-term effects of the French and Indian War
The American Revolution
58
Effects of the French and Indian War on the colonies
- It united them against a common enemy for the first time
- It created a socializing experience for all the colonists who participated
- It created bitter feelings towards the British that would only intensify
- Happy with their contributions
- Wanted access to new frontier (Ohio River Valley)
59
The Sugar Act (1764)
Imposed taxes on sugar, molasses, and other products that were imported
60
The Quartering Act (1765)
- Required the colonists to provide food, shelter, and other supplies to British soldiers stationed in the colonies
- Intended to help defray the costs of maintaining a standing army in the colonies and to ensure that the soldiers were properly cared for
61
The Stamp Act (1765)
Imposed a tax on all printed materials, including newspapers, legal documents, and even playing cards
62
The Townshend Acts (1767)
Imposed taxes on a variety of imported goods, including glass, lead, paint, and tea
63
The Tea Act (1773)
- Granted the British East India Company a monopoly on the sale of tea in the colonies and lowered the price of tea
- Led to the Boston Tea Party
64
"No taxation without representation"
- widely used by colonists to protest against British taxes and policies
- it was based on the idea that the colonists should not be taxed by the British government unless they had representatives in Parliament who could advocate on their behalf
65
The nonimportation agreement
a boycott of British goods, such as wool and linen, that was implemented by the colonists as a way to protest British policies
66
First Continential Congress
- Philadelphia 1774
- the colonists discussed ways to solve their grievances and petitioned Parliament
- Created a colony-wide Committee of Correspondence and sent a polite letter to King George III explaining their dissatisfaction, emphasizing their loyalty
67
Common Sense by Thomas Paine
- Argued for American independence from British rule, not reconciliation
- the British government was too distant and unresponsive to the needs of the colonists
- the British monarchy was corrupt and tyrannical
- the colonies were capable of governing themselves
68
The Declaration of Independence
- The colonies' formal declaration of independence from Britain
- Explained their grievances against Britain and why they were separating
- Included concepts like natural rights, consent of the governed, and right to revolt
69
Important battles of the Revolution
- Battle of Lexington and Concord: Beginning of the war
- Battle of Trenton: Caught the Hessians by surprise; brought hope to the Patriots
- Battle of Saratoga: French join the American cause; turning point in the war
- Battle of Yorktown: British surrender, ending the war
70
Treaty of Paris (1783)
- recognized the independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of the United States
- set the boundaries between the newly independent nation and British North America (Mississippi River - western boundary of USA)
- marked the first time that a colony had successfully rebelled against its European colonial power and established its independence
71
Republican motherhood
the idea that gave women more purpose to educate and nurture the future of America
72
Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation
- One branch, one house, one vote
- No power to levy or collect taxes
- no power to regulate foreign trade
- no power to enforce laws
- Approval of 9/13 states was needed to enact laws
- 13/13 states needed to approve amendments to the Articles
- No executive or judicial branch
73
Strengths of the Articles of Confederation
- Land Ordinance of 1785: allowed the federal government to sell western lands to pay off the national debt and organize these new lands into townships and public schools
- Northwest Ordinance of 1787: set a process for new states to join the United States of America, ensuring the country would continue to grow
74
Shay's Rebellion
- a series of armed protests that occurred in Massachusetts between 1786 and 1787, led by a veteran of the Revolutionary War, Daniel Shays
- The rebellion was sparked by economic grievances, particularly by the heavy debt and high taxes faced by farmers and smallholders in the state
- Revealed the weaknesses of the Articles and a need for a new form of government
75
The Federalist Papers
- 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay
- Favored the Constitution (Anti-federalists opposed it and favored the Articles)
- explained the features of the proposed Constitution and sought to persuade the citizens of New York to ratify it
76
The Bill of Rights
- Written by James Madison
- First 10 amendments added to the Constitution
- tipped the balance because it satisfied the antifederalists' concern that a federal government could infringe on citizens' rights
77
Judiciary Act of 1789
Set the number of justices on the Supreme Court as well established the district and appellate courts
78
Hamilton's financial plan
- US government would take on the responsibility of paying the remaining state debts. US promised to fund its foreign and domestic obligations at full face value.
- Protect the young nation’s “infant” industries and collect adequate revenues at the same time by imposing high tariffs on imported goods.
- Create a national bank for depositing government funds and printing banknotes that would provide the basis for a stable US currency.
79
Whiskey Rebellion (1794)
- Farmers in southwestern Pennsylvania protested harshly against the whiskey tax, which was the government's primary source of money
- President Washington sent a militia to western Pennsylvania and squashed the uprising
- Federalists supported this action, while Antifederalists hated it
80
Proclamation of Neutrality (1793)
kept America out of the French Revolution and gave the U.S. time to build its nation
81
Jay's Treaty (1794)
- Britain was violating the Treaty of Paris by impressing American ships and sailing along the northern border
- Washington sent John Jay to London to negotiate
- Britain rejected the neutral rights and they would continue to search American vessels on the high seas
- There would be no compensation for ships confiscated until American debt to Britain was paid off
82
Federalists (beliefs)
- Led by Alexander Hamilton
- Favored strong, central govt and central power
- Favored industrialized and manufacturing economy
83
Democratic-Republicans (beliefs)
- Led by Thomas Jefferson
- Favored weaker central govt and stronger state govts
- Favored farming and agriculture
84
Washington's Farewell Address
- Stay out of foreign alliances
- Not to get involved in political affairs
- Not to form political parties
- Set the precedent for two-term presidency
85
XYZ Affair (1797)
- France was angry over Jay's Treaty and began to seize American ships
- Adams sent three American diplomats to France to negotiate
- France had deployed three secret diplomats, named X, Y, and Z, to the talks
- Wanted expensive bribe money from the Americans for the mere opportunity to talk with France
- Negotiations quickly failed, and the Americans returned home
86
Quasi War crisis (1798-1800)
- Unofficial fighting with France
- No official and prolonged war took place
87
Alien Act (1798)
- slowed the naturalization process
- Allowed the president to deport immigrants deemed dangerous
- Extended time to become a US citizen from 5 to 14 years
- Stopped immigrants from voting for Democratic Republicans
88
Sedition Act (1798)
- Criminal offense to criticize the government
- Restricted free speech
89
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
- The right to nullify -> States have the right to void any act of Congress they believe to be unconstitutional
- Did not pass
