US History Regents Flashcards
Proclamation line of 1763
Boundary between Native Americans and colonists created by GB to avoid conflict.
New England Colonies
First society created in the U.S, geographical location helped them make money by fishing because their area had rocky soil.
Southern Colonies
Opposite of NE colonies in terms of agriculture, made money from farming.
Great Plains
Flat grassy region in the U.S, a lot of the Great plains intersected with southern states
Triangular slave trade
Order in which the U.S gained slaves
Mercantilism
British taking raw materials from colonists to sell them as manufactured in GB.
Salutary Neglect
GB ignores the Colonists problems, therefore Colonists start selling with other countries.
French and Indian war
-France and Native Americans fought Colonists and GB over the Ohio River Valley.
-Puts an end to Salutary Neglect
-causes GB to start taxing the colonists and is one of the major causes of the AR.
Mayflower compact
Colonists wanting to create own personal Democracy.
Albany plan of union 1754
Failure of colonies attempting to come together due to colonies not wanting to lose power.
Declarations of Independence
- Written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776 (inspired by French Enlightenment)
- A list of reasons why the colonists should separate from GB
- NO TAXATION W/O REPRESENTATION (if you’re going to tax us, include us in the government)
- Social contract theory of government
- Like the Bill of Rights it balances the power between the government and the people
Social Contract Theory of Government
The purpose of the government is to protect the natural rights of the people. People have the right to overthrow the government if this is not happening.
Thomas Paine
Wrote a book called common sense, tells the people that it’s common sense to seperate.
Major Events Leading Up to the Revolutionary War
- Sugar and Stamp Act
- Quartering Act
- Townshend Act
- Boston Massacre
Sugar and Stamp Act
Taxes on molasses and printed materials
Quartering Acts
Colonists provide housing for British solidiers
Townshend Acts
Taxes on goods and tea
Boston Massacre
5 colonists were killed by British soldiers
How did the U.S. win the AR?
- Home-court advantage (because they know the layout of the land)
- Help of France
What was the new boundary after the revolutionary war?
Mississippi
The Articles of Confederation
- First form of government after the AR. Unionize the colonies.
- Created decentralized government, gave each state its own power
Problems with the Articles of Confederation
Couldn’t truly unionize because states weren’t able to compromise. Not every state was on the same page so they couldn’t agree and this was an issue because the states had all the power
Success of the Articles of Confederation
- Provided a system of government in America
- Helped them add new states
Constitutional Convention of 1787
- Bunch of U.S. officials came together to discuss the problems with the Articles of Confederation
- Shays Rebellion exposed the issues of the articles of confederation
- Led to the creation of the U.S. Constitution
Great Compromise
- Decision made during the Constitutional Convention to balance out the power/voices. They chose to have 2 houses, the house of senate and the house of representatives
-
House of Senate
- Equal representation (e.g. each state would have one senate)
House of Representatives
- Based off of state size (e.g. Texas would have more representatives than New York)
3/5th Compromise
- Slaves were only counted as 3/5th of people
- They only counted 3/5th of the slave population for the House of representatives
Other Major Compromises
- Slave Trade
- Taxation
- Election of the President
Federalist
- Supported the Constitution and wanted a strong central government
- ex. George Washington & Alexander Hamilton
- Federalist Papers to support the constitution
Anti-Federalist
- People who didn’t support the Constitution because they didn’t want the government to have too much power (they wanted their individual rights)
- Only way they supported the constitution if they included the Bill of Rights
Bill of Rights
- Preserve the individual rights of the people
- Made up of 10 amendments
- First amendment: freedom of speech
- Fourth amendment: protect against search and seizure
- Separation of church and state
U.S. Consitution
The rules of how to govern America
Enlightenment influence on Constitution
- Create a system of checks and balances
- Create the 3 branches of government (legislative, judicial, and executive)
Democracy
A government ran by people for the people.
- We have elections that give everyone a voice. They are free and not unfair
Republican Government
Every government official has to be elected by the people
Division of Power
A system created to ensure that not one part of the government has too much power
Federalism
Divides the power between the states and the nation (federal)
Reserved Power
Power given the states
ex. segregation in schools
Delegated Power
Power that’s federal
ex. declare war
Concurrent Power
Both federal and state power
ex. minimum wage
Legislative Branch
People who write the laws
Congress- House of Representative and House of Senate
Executive Branch
The President and his cabinet
Judicial Branch
Federal courts and the Supreme Court
Checks and Balances
The process of each branch of the government doesn’t get too much power
- Impeachment
- Veto is an ability to check the legislative branch
- Senate must pass treatise written by the President
- Supreme Court can say that a law is unconstitutional
- President picks the supreme court judges but the senate must approve
Flexibility of the Constitution
There’ a bit of flexibility to the constitutional rules
Electoral College
- It was created because there wasn’t really trust amongst the people (because they thought they were uneducated)
- True way to win the presidential election
- Based off of the size of the state
George Washington
First president of the United States and the General during the AR
- Proclamation of Neutrality
- Set examples
- Farewell Address (stay neutral and avoid alliances!)
- Whiskey Rebellion (sent a message)
Alexander Hamilton
First Treasury of the United States
Very good financially and helped them financial. He made the first national banks. Helped pay off debt
Thomas Jefferson
- Opposed Hamilton’s plan on National Banks
- Believed in strict Constitution rules
- Disagreements with Hamilton created the two party system
- Purchased Louisiana (Louisiana Purchase)
John Marshall
- Chief Justice during Thomas Jefferson’s Presidency
- Expanded the power of the federal government through the judicial branch
War of 1812
- America and GB fought over the Atlantic Ocean because they were both trading there. America wins again
- Americans feel a sense of patriotism
- Treaty of Ghent (ended the war); British couldn’t trade there anymore
War Hawks
People in Congress who agreed to the War of 1812
Monroe Doctrine (1823)
- Any European country cannot come into the Western Hemisphere and cannot colonize any of the Latin American countries
- Don’t want future conflict
- Written by President James Monroe
End of Property Requirements
Meant that all white men were able to vote whether you had property or not. Before you needed a property to vote
Spoils System
-Reward supporters by giving them a government job. Andrew Jackson used the spoils system.
- Andrew Jackson agreed with it because he felt it gave more citizens a role in the government
Andrew Jackson
- Spoils system abuser
- Abused the veto
- Gained the trust of the people to win the election
- Forcibly moved Native Americans from Mississippi to Oklahoma (Trail of Tears)
Worcester v. Georgia
Native Americans didn’t have to go anywhere but Jackson ignored it and made them move west anyways
Whig Party
People who disagreed with Andrew Jackson’s thoughts and beliefs
Erie Canal
Man-made waterway that made shipping from the mid-west to the east easier and less expensive
Gold Rush (1849)
When they found gold in California. So everyone wanted to move over there and it increased migration to the west.
Homestead Act of 1862
Promoted people to move westward by giving them free land
Pacific Railway Ract (Transcontinental Railway Act) (1862)
Gave railroad companies a lot of lands so they could make a transcontinental railway to promote movement of people
Manifest Destiny
Americans felt that they were destined to expand west.
- Led to the Mexican American War because Americans took over Texas which was Mexican land. They took it because they felt that it was their destiny
Abolitionist during Manifest Destiny
They didn’t agree with Manifest Destiny because they thought that if the U.S. added more states, it would make more slave states which means more slave states.
- Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman
How did Westward Expansion lead to the Civil War?
Caused conflict because they didn’t know if the new states they created should be slave states.
President James Polk
Made policies influencing westward conflict in Texas, California
Missouri Compromise of 1820/ Compromise of 1850 / Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854
All compromises to determine whether certain states should be slave states or free states. This occurred because they were expanding.
Popular Sovereignty
- Created by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854
- The mass majority of the new states decided whether the state would be a free state or a slave state
Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)
Court case that stated you cannot ban slavery in US territories
Bleeding Kansas
Physical altercation between people who were pro slavery and abolitionist
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe
- Described slavery and it was sad so it inspired the North to become abolitionist
Underground Railroad
A way that slaves were able to sneak into free states
U.S. Civil War (1861-1865)
Due to Abraham Lincoln being elected (since he didn’t want slavery in the new territories), the southern states decided to separate from the rest of America and create their own country called the Confederate States. It was a fight between the North (Union) and the South (Confederates).
Why were the North and South disagreeing?
- Slavery
- State power (South wanted state power and not the North)
Sectionalism
Loyalty to only one area as opposed to the whole country
Reasons for the South Seceding
- Sectionalism
- Abraham Lincoln being elected because he didn’t want slavery in the new states. This was a problem because they wanted the new states to have a pro-slavery vote
- The government brokedown the compromise of Kansas-Nebraska. They pretty much went against what they stated.
- They disagreed over the power of the states and the power of the federal government (the South wanted more power to the states)
Abraham Lincoln
President during the Civil War
Main goal was to preserve the Union (the country) and keep the country together.
Habeas Corpus
A law that stated you can’t throw anyone in jail without a good reason. Lincoln suspended this and threw many anti-Unionist in jail.
How did Lincoln expand Presidential power during the Civil War?
- Suspended Habeas Corpus
- Expanded the army without approval of Congress
- Censored anti-Unionist papers (took away freedom of speech)
During wartime, people’s rights are restricted
Emancipation Proclamation (1862/1863)
Freed all the slaves from the confederate states in order to bring them to the Union’s army. He did this because he was scared that England and the Confederate States were forming an army.
Reasons why the North (Union) won the Civil War
- They were more economically prepared
- They had more weapons and people in the army
Results of the Civil War
- Federal government became very strong
- North became very wealthy because of all the products that were created during the war
- 13th, 14th, 15th amendments were passed
13th Amendment
Abolished slavery
14th Amendment
Equal protection and citizenship
15th Amendment
EVERYONE (except woman) had the right to vote
Reconstruction Era
Time period after the Civil War where the Union was attempting to bring the South back together and unify the country.
The military was in the South during Reconstruction to make sure the South would obey the Reconstruction rules
Lincoln’s Plan for Reconstruction
- Wanted to give Southerners representation in government
- He wanted to restore the country as soon as possible so what he did in order to do that was pardon all the Southerners who participated in the war and he wanted to pretend that the war never really happened and he wanted to forgive them and welcome them back into the Union
Radical Republican
- A group of Republicans (Northerners) who opposed Lincoln’s plan of Reconstruction because they felt like the Southerners should be punished
- They wanted the Southerners to be more progressive like the North
- They wanted voting rights for everyone (except women)
- They only would allow the South back if they created the 14th amendment
Lincoln’s Assassination
Important because the Radical Republicans took over his plans for Reconstruction
President Andrew Johnson
The successor of Abraham Lincoln
- He agreed with Abraham Lincoln’s ideas of Reconstruction
- He was the first president impeached because the Radical Republicans didn’t like the fact that he agreed with Lincolns plans, they used him firing the Secretary of War to get him impeached but it didn’t work and he remained in office
Limitations of the 15th Amendment
- Poll taxes
- Literacy test (most African Americans were not able to read or write so this was unfair)
Jim Crow Laws (1870-1880)
Laws that restricted African American rights with the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendment
- ex. requirement of a literacy test to vote
Plessy v. Ferguson
Supreme Court case in 1896 that said black and white people had to be separate but equal (later overturned by the Civil RIghts Act of 1964)
Sharecroppers
Allowed African Americans to work on plantations with little pay. A lot of former slaves did it because it was the only thing they were qualified for. This benefited the Southerners because they were able to have people work on their plantations while barely even paying them.
New South
Term used for the South during Reconstruction. Farmers started growing a variety of things. Due to the large increase in farming from the war, it wasn’t as expensive to purchase farm goods so farmers became poorer.
Carpetbaggers
Northerners that moved to the South to help them with their government.
Causes of the Industrial Revolution
- The northeast had a lot of labor and money so it started there.
- The Erie Canal was finished so they were able to transport a lot of things and the transcontinental railroad made transportation cheaper and easy
- Mechanization of farming; new technology was created that made farming easier and more efficients (ex. cotton gin)
- They started using hydropower
Effects of the Industrial Revolution
- Small businesses couldn’t compete with big businesses so it led to them shutting down
- Bigger businesses eliminated smaller businesses (competition)
- A lot of immigration to the US because of the job opportunities
- Led to the creation of the middle class. And rich people gained more wealth while the poor become poorer.
Tariffs
Tax on foreign goods because America wanted citizens to buy American products instead of foreign products. Big businesses agreed with this because that way they could get more money.
Corporation
- Major business in America after the Civil War
- They were able to compete with smaller businesses because they had more machines and people working compared to the small businesses
- This got their work done faster and quicker
- They wanted companies that manufacture and distribute to be the same
Social Darwinism
- Theory that stated that the difference between bigger and smaller businesses was survival of the fittest. So the bigger businesses would succeed and the smaller businesses would die out
- This justified monopolies
- Believed that rich people were just harder workers than the poor people
Laissez Faire Capitalism
The government shouldn’t be involved in the economy. Influenced economic growth.