US History to 1877 Flashcards
from http://www.studystack.com/flashcard-616560
Coastal Plain
Located along the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico with Broad lowlands providing many excellent harbors
Appalachian Highlands
Old eroded mountains (oldest mountain range in North America)
Canadian Shield
Wrapped around the Hudson Bay in a horseshoe shape
Interior Lowland
Rolling flatlands with many rivers broad river valleys and grassy hills
Great Plains
Flat lands that gradually increase in elevation westward; grasslands
Rocky Mountains
Rugged mountains stretching from Alaska almost to Mexico; high elevations
the Continental Divide
determines the directional flow of rivers
Basin and Range
Located west of the Rocky Mountains and east of the Sierra Nevadas and the Cascades Varying elevations containing isolated mountain ranges
Death Valley
the lowest point in North America
Coastal Range
Located along the Pacific Coast stretching from California to Canada Rugged mountains and fertile valleys
The Atlantic Ocean
served as the highway for explorers early settlers and later immigrants.
The Ohio River
was the gateway to the west.
Inland port cities
grew in the Midwest along the Great Lakes.
The Mississippi and Missouri rivers were used to
transport farm and industrial products. They were links to United States ports and other parts of the world.The Columbia River
The Colorado River
was explored by the Spanish.
The Rio Grande
forms the border with Mexico.
The Gulf of Mexico
provided the French and Spanish with exploration routes to Mexico and other parts of America.
The St. Lawrence River
forms part of the northeastern border with Canada and connects the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.
Cactus Hill
is located on the Nottoway River in southeastern Virginia.
People lived in Cactus Hill as early as
18000 years ago makes it one of the oldest archaeological sites in North America.
Inuit
inhabited present-day Alaska and northern Canada. They lived in Arctic areas where the temperature is below freezing much of the year.
Kwakiutl
homeland includes the Pacific Northwest coast characterized by a rainy mild climate.
Lakota people
inhabited the interior of the United States called the Great Plains which is characterized by dry grasslands.
Pueblo tribes
inhabited the Southwest in present-day New Mexico and Arizona where they lived in desert areas and areas bordering cliffs and mountains.
Iroquois homeland includes
northeast North America called the Eastern Woodlands which is heavily forested.
Natural resources
Things that come directly from nature
Human resources
People working to produce goods and services
Capital resources
Goods produced and used to make other goods and services
Obstacles to the explorations
includes trying to understand Cherokee Chickataw Inuit Sioux and Seminole languages.
Ghana Mali and Songhai became powerful by
controlling trade in West Africa.
The Portuguese
carried goods from Europe to West African empires trading metals cloth and other manufactured goods for gold
Roanoke Island (Lost Colony)
was established as an economic venture.
Jamestown Settlement
the first permanent English settlement in North America (1607) was an economic venture by the Virginia Company.
Plymouth Colony
was settled by separatists from the Church of England who wanted to avoid religious persecution.
Massachusetts Bay Colony
was settled by the Puritans to avoid religious persecution.
Pennsylvania
was settled by the Quakers who wanted freedom to practice their faith without interference.
Georgia
was settled by people who had been in debtors’ prisons in England. They hoped to experience economic freedom and start a new life in the New World.
King George III:
British king during the Revolutionary era
Lord Cornwallis:
British general who surrendered at Yorktown
John Adams:
Championed the cause of independence
George Washington:
Commander of the Continental Army
Thomas Jefferson:
Major author of the Declaration of Independence
Patrick Henry:
Outspoken member of the House of Burgesses; inspired colonial patriotism with his “Give me liberty or give me death” speech
Benjamin Franklin:
Prominent member of the Continental Congress; helped frame the Declaration of Independence; helped gain French support for American independence
Phillis Wheatley:
Enslaved African American who wrote poems and plays supporting American independence and who eventually gained her freedom
Paul Revere:
Patriot who made a daring ride to warn colonists of British arrival
Boston Massacre:
Colonists in Boston were shot after taunting British soldiers.
Boston Tea Party:
Samuel Adams and Paul Revere led patriots in throwing tea into Boston Harbor to protest tea taxes.
First Continental Congress:
Delegates from all colonies except Georgia met to discuss problems with Great Britain and to promote independence.
Battles at Lexington and Concord:
The first armed conflicts of the Revolutionary War
Approval of the Declaration of Independence:
The colonies declared independence from Great Britain (July 4 1776).
Battle of Saratoga:
This American victory was the turning point in the war.
Surrender at Yorktown:
This was the colonial victory over forces of Lord Cornwallis that marked the end of the Revolutionary War.
Signing of the Treaty of Paris:
Great Britain recognized American independence in this treaty.
Colonial advantages
Some colonists’ defense of their own land principles and beliefs and Additional support from France
The Great Compromise
decided how many votes each state would have in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The structure of the new national government included
three separate branches of government:
Weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation led to
the effort to draft a new constitution.
The Bill of Rights
Based on the Virginia Declaration of Rights (George Mason) and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (Thomas Jefferson)
Louisiana Purchase
Jefferson bought land from France (the Louisiana Purchase) which doubled the size of the United States.
In the Lewis and Clark expedition Meriwether Lewis and William Clark explored the Louisiana Purchase and the Oregon Territory
from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean.
Florida
Spain gave this to the United States through a treaty.
Texas
was added to the United States after it became an independent republic.
Oregon
This Territory was divided by the United States and Great Britain.
California
War with Mexico resulted in this and the southwest territory becoming part of the United States.
“Manifest Destiny”
the idea that expansion was for the good of the country and was the right of the country
The cotton gin was invented by
Eli Whitney. It increased the production of cotton and thus increased the need for slave labor to cultivate and pick the cotton.
Jo Anderson (an enslaved African American) and Cyrus McCormick
worked to invent the reaper. McCormick was an entrepreneur who brought the reaper to market. The reaper increased the productivity of the American farmer.
The steamboat was improved by the entrepreneur
Robert Fulton.
The steam locomotive
provided faster land transportation.
Kansas-Nebraska Act:
People in each state would decide the slavery issue (“popular sovereignty”).
Missouri Compromise (1820):
Missouri entered the Union as a slave state; Maine entered the Union as a free state.
Border states (slave states)
Delaware Maryland Kentucky & Missouri
Abraham Lincoln
Opposed the spread of slavery and Issued the Emancipation Proclamation
Jefferson Davis
Was president of the Confederate States of America
Ulysses S. Grant
Was general of the Union army that defeated Lee
Robert E. Lee
Was leader of the Army of Northern Virginia and Urged Southerners to accept defeat at the end of the war and reunite as Americans when some wanted to fight on
Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson
Was a skilled Confederate general from Virginia
Frederick Douglass
Was an enslaved African American who escaped to the North and became an abolitionist
The firing on Fort Sumter S.C.
began the war.
The first Battle of Manassas (Bull Run)
was the first major battle.
The signing of the Emancipation Proclamation
made “freeing the slaves” the new focus of the war. Many freed African Americans joined the Union army.
The Battle of Vicksburg
divided the South; the North controlled the Mississippi River.
The Battle of Gettysburg
was the turning point of the war; the North repelled Lee’s invasion.
Lee’s surrender to Grant
at Appomattox Court House in 1865 ended the war.
Disease
was a major killer.
Benjamin Banneker
African American surveyor who helped design the plans for Washington DC.
Spain: Francisco Coronado
claimed the Southwest of the present-day United States for Spain.
France: Samuel de Champlain
established the French settlement of Québec.
Robert La Salle
claimed the Mississippi River Valley for France.
England:
John Cabot explored eastern Canada.
The Portuguese made voyages of discovery along
the coast of West Africa.
Articles of Confederation
Provided for a weak national government & Gave Congress no power to tax
The first ten amendments to the Constitution provide
a written guarantee of individual rights (e.g. freedom of speech freedom of religion).
George Washington
Federal court system was established & The Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution of the United States of America.
Benjamin Banneker an African American astronomer and surveyor
helped complete the design for the city.
John Adams
A two-party system emerged during his administration.
Thomas Jefferson
He bought Louisiana from France (Louisiana Purchase).
Lewis and Clark explored
new land west of the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean.
James Madison
The War of l812 caused European nations to gain respect for the United States.
James Monroe
He introduced the Monroe Doctrine
Monroe Doctrine
a warning European nations not to interfere in the Western Hemisphere.
Which groups settled New England
Puritans and Pilgrims
Most individuals settling in Virginia were seeking
economic opportunities.
Which colony did the Virginia Company of London establish in 1607?
Jamestown
The primary pull factors for European colonization in North America was
religious freedom and economic opportunities.
The American Indian view of interaction with English settlers
The American Indians worried about food sources for the future.
The New England region is present day
Connecticut Massachusetts New Hampshire and Rhode Island
The Middle Atlantic region is present day
Delaware Maryland New Jersey New York and Pennsylvania
The Southern region is present day
Georgia North Carolina South Carolina and Virginia
The New England region products & commerce include
lumber shipbuilding trade molasses fur trade fishing and subsistence farming
The Middle Atlantic region products & commerce include
shipbuilding small-scale farming and trade
The Southern region products & commerce include
cash-crops indigo rice tobacco and plantations
New Englands reason for settlement was
religious freedom
Middle Atlantics reason for settlement was
economic opportunity and religious freedom
The Southern regions reason for settlement was
economic opportunity and business venture (Virginia Company of London)
What groups of people made up the New England region.
Pilgrims and Puritans
The economy of the New England colonies was partially based
on shipbuilding and fishing
The economy of the middle colonies was based primarily on
small-scale farming shipbuilding and trade.
The colonial region whose economy was based on shipbuilding lumbering and small-scale subsistence farming was
the New England
Why was slavery most predominant in the Southern colonies?
Large-scale agriculture required extensive labor
In an attempt to prevent conflict between the colonists and the Indians Britain issued
the Proclamation of 1763. This act prohibited settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains. Colonists were angered by it and ignored it
In time colonization led to ideas of representative ________ and religious ________ that over several centuries would inspire similar transformations in other parts of the world.
government tolerance
New England colonies used ______ in the operation of government.
town meetings
Virginia and the other Southern colonies had a social structure based on
family status and the ownership of land.
The growth of a plantation-based agricultural economy in the hot humid coastal lowlands of the Southern colonies required _______ labor on a large scale.
cheap
Most plantation labor needs eventually came to be satisfied by the
forcible importation of Africans.
To help cover the costs of the French and Indian War the British imposed taxes on the colonists.
Stamp Act 1765
All colonies except ____ sent representatives to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1774. This Congress issued as its final resolution called the ______.
Georgia The Declaration of Resolves. King George III ordered British troops to put down the rebellion.
On April 19 1775 Minutemen and British troops met at _______. Shots were fired and ___ colonists were killed. More fighting broke out as the British moved on to _____ . At least 273 British soldiers were killed or wounded on the march back to ___ .
Lexington Massachusetts. eight Concord Boston
Patriots remained loyal to Britain and agreed with taxation as a means of paying for Britain protecting settlers from Indian attacks for covering the cost of administering the Empire and for defending against a French comeback.
Loyalist
Thomas Paine published a pamphlet called _____ in January of 1776. This pamphlet challenged the King of England’s rule of the colonies. It also shifted the focus of colonial anger from the Parliament to the Crown.
Common Sense
Which English immigrant challenged the rule of the American colonies by the King of England in a pamphlet called Common Sense?
Thomas Paine
The American Revolution began with a battle between British and colonial troops at
Lexington and Concord
The contribution of which country’s army and navy helped the colonists win the American Revolution?
France
Which are the key principles of the Declaration of Independence?
Equality Liberty Constraint
According to Locke if a government failed to fulfill its social contract with its citizens
they could overthrow the government for a new one.
We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. is a quote from
Declaration of Independence
Why was George Washington important to the American Revolution?
He was a strong commander of the Continental Army.
The Articles of Confederation was unsuccessful as a government system because
it established a weak national government
The author of the Bill of Rights and the Virginia Plan proposing a federal government with three branches was
James Madison
The concepts used when drafting the Bill of Rights were derived from which documents?
Virginia Declaration of Rights and Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom
The Bill of Rights can be described as
a written guarantee of individual rights.
In a federal system of government power is shared between
the state and national levels of government.
In the government provided by the Articles of Confederation
states had one vote regardless of size.
Describe the Missouri Compromise
Missouri was to enter as a slave state and Maine was to enter as a free state. A line was to be drawn along the southern border of Missouri and the extension of slavery into territories north of this line was to be forbidden.
Describe the Compromise of 1850
California would enter as a free state. Slavery would be decided by popular sovereignty in Utah and New Mexico territories.
Describe the Kansas-Nebraska Act
The issue of slavery would be decided by popular sovereignty in Kansas and Nebraska.
The Louisiana Purchase
acquired during the administration of Thomas Jefferson doubled the size of the United States.
Which region was most opposed to high protective tariffs?
the South
Uncle Tom’s Cabin a novel that inflamed Northern abolitionist sentiment was written by
Harriet Beecher Stowe.
April 9 1865: Generals ____ and ____ met at a farmhouse in Appomattox Virginia to sign the agreement that would end the Civil War.
Grant Lee
President of the United States during the Civil War; insisted that the Union be held together by force if necessary
Abraham Lincoln
U.S. senator who became president of the Confederate States of America
Jefferson Davis
Union military commander who won victories over the South after several other Union commanders had failed
Ulysses S. Grant
Confederate general of the Army of Northern Virginia (opposed secession but did not believe the Union should be held together by force); urged Southerners to accept defeat and unite as Americans again.
Robert E. Lee
Former enslaved African American who became a prominent abolitionist and urged Lincoln to recruit former enslaved African Americans to fight in the Union army
Frederick Douglass
Lincoln believed America was not a _______ but a whole country that could not be divided.
collection of states.
In November 1863 President Lincoln dedicated a cemetery at the Gettysburg battlefield. The speech he gave at the dedication has become known as the
Gettysburg Address.
The Battle of Gettysburg Pennsylvania began July 1 1863. A total of 51000 Union and Confederate soldiers lost their lives in this battle. The Union victory at Gettysburg was ___________________.
a turning point of the war.
April 12 1861: ________ forces fired on Fort Sumter in the Charleston South Carolina harbor.
Confederate
April 14 1865: just a few days after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Abraham Lincoln was
assassinated.
The South lay in ruins following the Civil War. It would take ______ for the Southern economy and infrastructure to recover.
decades
The opening conflict of the Civil War was at
Fort Sumter.
Which former slave became a prominent abolitionist and encouraged Lincoln to recruit former slaves to fight for the Union?
Frederick Douglass
The Emancipation Proclamation was issued after the battle of
Antietam.
I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States are and henceforward shall be free; . . . The excerpt above is from which important document?
Emancipation Proclamation
President Lincoln believed it is ___________ for states to secede.
illegal
The Civil War ended at the Battle of Appomattox Courthouse on April 9
1865
Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to
General Grant
