US History Flashcards
first colony in the US
Jamestown
born in Genoa on October 31, 1451. He spent much of his life sailing, and read astronomy, geography, and history. He was inspired by the writings of Marco Polo and his tales of adventure in the East.
Christopher Columbus
They determined Columbus was not in the Indies
Amerigo Vespucci
March 1765, taxed a wide range of transactions in the colonies. Up until then, each colony had its own government that decided which taxes they would have and collected them.
The Stamp Act
June-July 1767, passed by the British Parliament, taxed goods imported to the American colonies
The Townshend Acts
March 1770, disagreement between an apprentice wigmaker and a British soldier led to a crowd of 200 colonists surrounding seven British troops. Americans began taunting the British and throwing things at them, the soldiers fired into the crowd, killing five people.
The Boston Massacre
December 1773, Sons of Liberty confronted the British for the taxes on tea. They wore disguises and dumped 92,000 pounds of British tea into the harbor.
The Boston Tea Party
March-June 1774, a series of laws which closed Boston Harbor until restitution was paid for the destroyed tea, replaced the colony’s elected council with one appointed by the British, gave sweeping powers to the British military governor General Thomas Gage, and forbade town meetings without approval.
The Coercive Acts
April 1775, British General Thomas Gage led a force of British soldiers from Boston to Lexington, where he planned to capture colonial radical leaders Sam Adams and John Hancock, and then head to Concord and seize their gunpowder.
Lexington and Concord
An American attorney and statesman who represented Kentucky. He helped enact the Missouri Compromise (MO came in as a slave state, but banned slavery north of the Missouri line: the bottom part of the state of MO)
Henry Clay
Freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, right to petition the government
First Amendment
Right to bear arms
Second Amendment
Right to be secure from all unreasonable searches and seizures of his person, his house, his papers, and all his possessions
Fourth Amendment
Guarantees the right to a grand jury, forbids “double jeopardy,” and protects against self-incrimination (the right to remain silent)
Fifth Amendment
Guarantees the rights of criminal defendants, including the right to a public trial without unnecessary delay, the right to a lawyer, the right to an impartial jury, the right to know who your accusers are, and the nature of the charges and evidence against you
Sixth Amendment
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted
Eighth Amendment
Powers not delegated to the US by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people
Tenth Amendment
Known as the father of the Constitution; from his notes, we know day by day activities for the entire convention
James Madison
Basis came from the Virginia Plan (3 branches of government)
US Constitution
Congress is split into the Senate and House of Representatives. Each state has two senators, but the number of representatives in the House depends on the population
Legislative Branch
President, Vice President, and cabinet
Executive Branch
Has veto power, is head of the military, and responsible for making treaties with foreign countries.
President
must approve all treaties and declarations of war
Congress
America’s federal court system. The Supreme Court oversees establishing lower federal courts and settling disputes over the application of federal laws to make sure all laws are constitutional.
Judicial Branch
nine justices of the Supreme Court are appointed by ________ and approved by _______
president, congress
each branch can check the power of the other branches so that power is distributed evenly
Checks and balances
he is on the $10 bill; he started the first National Bank; development of political parties
Alexander Hamilton’s financial plan
wanted a strong federal government (focus on business; Hamilton is the leader)
Federalists
wanted the states to have the power (focus on farming: Thomas Jefferson is the leader)
Democratic Republicans
weak and ineffectual policy
George Washington’s Foreign Policy
Washington didn’t choose a side when France and Britain were at war
Neutrality Proclamation
Second President, only Federalist President, Alien Act and Sedition Acts, XYZ Affair
John Adams
focus on immigration, making it difficult for people to come to the US from other countries
Alien Act
taking away the first amendment rights of the people; not allowing people to speak out against the government or federalist party
Sedition Acts
France tried bribing us to work together
XYZ Affair
Third President, the Louisiana Purchase. He quit his position in the cabinet because of the Neutrality Proclamation. Our nation begins to expand during this time.
Thomas Jefferson
1803, we bought land from France that doubled the size of the US (bought the land that is now the Great Plains)
Louisiana Purchase
Fourth president, we go to war with England again
James Madison
British were taking our ships and imprisoning sailors, then forcing them into the British Navies
War of 1812
- The opening of new world was associated with the “Age of Discovery”
- European explorers discovered a new continent
- European rivalry over new lands: Spain, France, England, Portugal, and the Netherlands
Exploration and Colonization
Geographic diversity helped to create distinct economic regions: New England (rocky, not a lot of fertile land), middle (fertile and non-fertile land), and southern colonies (fertile land/plantations)
English Colonies in North America
- Colonies began to develop self-government
- Development of a strong middle class
- The prevalent religion was Protestant: greater religious tolerance
English Colonies in North America
- 1756-1763, War in which the French fought against the British and Indian tribes fought for both sides
- Cost of war leads to taxes in the American colonies
- Opposition to British actions because of this is what leads to talks of a revolution
French and Indian War
- 1776-81, Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.”
- Colonies were under equipped
- Washington’s leadership turned the tide of battle
- Defeat at Cornwallis at Yorktown (1781) brought victory to the colonies
American Revolution
- The Articles of Confederation (1781-1789) were inadequate
- The need for a strong central government led to the framing of the Constitution (1789)
- The government under the Constitution solved many major problems
Beginning the New Nation
- The Stamp Act
- The Townshend Acts
- The Boston Massacre
- The Boston Tea Party
- The Coercive Acts
- Lexington and Concord
Causes of the American Revolution
- Land was not good for large scale agriculture (not much need for slavery)
- Many waterways (source of power)
- Textile industry manufacturing
Geography of New England
- 1813: Lowell built first US textile mill
- Canals improve transportation between North and West
- Northern cities grow rapidly as textile industry grows
Industrialization of the North
- Soil of coastal plains is perfect for large-scale agriculture
- Indigo, rice, and tobacco grow as cash crops
- Short staple cotton grows well, but is expensive to produce
Geography of the South
- Needed for textile plants in northern US, Britain, and France
- Plantations spread from Atlantic coast to east Texas
- Growing is labor intensive
King Cotton
- Slave trade began during 7th century
- African kingdoms made slaves of prisoners of war
- Slaves were sold to Arab traders
Slavery in Africa
- Should Maine come in as a free or slave state?
- Missouri: free or slave state?
- Should slavery be allowed to expand into the Louisiana Territory?
Missouri Compromise
- People were not happy with this document because it gave no real power to the Federal government
- Alexander Hamilton wrote: “The government was fit neither for war nor for peace.”
- In early 1787, congress had all 13 states send representatives to Philadelphia to fix this document
Articles of Confederation
- Supposed to start May 14, 1787, but only delegates from VA and PA were there
- May 25, 1787: event began
- RI did not send delegates because they thought the big states such as VA would take all the power
Constitutional Convention
- George Washington was chosen as chairman
- Oldest delegate: Benjamin Franklin (82 years old)
- Key people missing: Sam Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams
Constitutional Convention
- Causes: violations of US neutrality and imprisonment of sailors
- US victory resulted in new national pride and prestige
War of 1812
- 1816-23
- Marbury v. Madison
- James Monroe
- Era of Good Feelings
- The Monroe Doctrine
- Development of a new American culture
New Nationalism
The authority of the Supreme Court was established
Marbury v. Madison
5th President, Era of Good Feelings, Monroe Doctrine
James Monroe
Characterized by the successes of the Republican party
Era of Good Feelings
Defined American interests in the northern hemisphere (only because England “had our back”)
The Monroe Doctrine
Seventh president, was loved by the common man (liked to fight; house party on the White House lawn), war against the bank and tariffs (taxes on imported goods), the spoils system, favored a strong national government and did not hold back
Andrew Jackson
- Andrew Jackson
- Nationalistic policies and states’ rights
- The Democratic favored a strong national government
- 1826-36
Jacksonian Democracy and the Rise of the Common Man
encouraged US expansion, “God’s will for us to move west”
Manifest Destiny
- The rise of the West
- Manifest Destiny
- Annexation of Texas
- Mexican American War
- Discovery of Gold
- The Oregon Trail
Territorial expansion of the US
- 1848
- This war added CA and parts of the Southwest to the US
Mexican American War
The period right after the civil war
Reconstruction
Issues with the role of central government, states’ rights, slavery, and the fate of the Union itself
Civil War
- From 1861-1865, the US was engaged in the costliest war ever held on American soil
- Over 600,000 soldiers died in the fight, with an undetermined amount of civilian casualties
- The North (Union)
- The South (Confederate)
Civil War
- The southern economy dependence on slavery and cotton
- Sectionalism
- Cotton gin
Geographic and Economic Factors of Slavery
1800-1876
Civil War and Reconstruction
its relation to the “Cotton South”
Sectionalism
created by Eli Whitney; machine where seeds and thorns removed from cotton
Cotton gin
1820, limited the growth of slavery
The Missouri Compromise
1837, added potential slave territory to the US
The Annexation of Texas
1848, considered a proslavery, expansionist war
The Mexican War
California added to the US
The Compromise of 1850
1854, bloodshed over expansion of slavery (let the people living in Kansas and Nebraska decide if slavery would continue, people not living in the state came into vote “Bleeding Kansas”, resulting in fighting with swords and guns on the streets
Failure of the Kansas-Nebraska Act
failed to solve the slavery question; a slave sued for his freedom, went to the Supreme court and he lost (slaves not allowed to be in court)
The Dred Scott decision
superiority in manpower, firepower, and economic resources
North’s advantage during Civil War
leadership and territory
The South’s advantage during Civil War
1863, ended the South’s chances for foreign recognition
Defeat at Gettysburg
Economic and military weakness led to _______’s surrender at Appomattox in 1865
Robert E. Lee
Who did Robert E. Lee surrender to?
Ulysses S. Grant (Union General)
- 1865-1876
- Need for economic, political, social, and military reconstruction of the south
- The President and Congress differed on plans to reconstruct the South
Reconstruction: Attempts to reunite the Nation
- Under radical control (Congress) from 1868-1876.
- 14th &15th Amendments, Civil Rights bills, impeachment of President Johnson
- The disputed election of 1876 ended this (Social justice for blacks suffered a setback, commitment to equal opportunity was delayed a hundred years)
Reconstruction: Attempts to reunite the Nation
- Late 1700’s: most people worked on fields
- Innovations altered the way people lived and worked for the next 150 years
- New machines were built that were powered by water, steam, and coal (these replaced hand-powered tools)
- The first factories were built during this time
- Fuel, clothing, and food all became more affordable.
Industrialization
- Manufactured goods were sold halfway around the world
- Pollution from coal powered factories turned the cities black
- Lack of housing created the first urban slums
- Worst conditions seen in the textile mills of New England
- Global village: we can connect with people around the world as if they lived next door.
Industrialization
- 1876-1910
- Homestead Act
- Transcontinental Railroad
- Chinese Exclusion Act
Western Expansion and Industrial Development
- Western Industries based on mining, cattle, and grain
- Farmers and ranchers settled the Great Plains
Western Expansion and Industrial Development
1862, “If you are on it, it is yours”
Homestead Act
- 1869, connects the East Coast with the West Coast
- Immigrant labor (Irish/Chinese) helped build this
Transcontinental Railroad
1862, rules on who can and cannot come here from China
Chinese Exclusion Act
- Many patents created during this time
- Inventions promoted industrial growth
- Raw materials and geographic factors to regional diversity
- Communication and transportation
Expansion of Industrial Growth
- Assembly line and mass production
- Expanding markets at home and abroad
- Growth of steel, mining, electric, petroleum, textile, and food processing
Expansion of Industrial Growth
- Mechanization and the factory system
- Growth of labor unions
- Changes in social, economic, and political systems
- Rise of cities
Changing attitudes and conditions
- The Sherman Act
- The Clayton Antitrust Act
- Regulated interstate commerce
- Workmen’s compensation, child labor laws, working conditions, and minimum wages
Need for government intervention
1890; outlawed every contract, combination, or conspiracy in restraint of trade, and any monopolization, attempted monopolization, or conspiracy or combination to monopolize
The Sherman Act
1914, intended to strengthen earlier antitrust legislation, the act prohibits anti competitive mergers, predatory and discriminatory pricing, and other forms of unethical corporate behavior.
The Clayton Antitrust Act
