APUSH Midterm
Minutemen
A small, elite, Patriot force that were highly mobile and assembled quickly (in a minute)
Encomienda
-The Spanish system in the colonies that under which the first settlers had been granted authority over conquered Indian lands with the right to extract forced labor from the natives -Banned in 1542 -Replaced with the repartimiento system
James II
-The brother of Charles II -A devout Catholic and believer that kings ruled by divine right -King of England
European exploration and conquest were fueled by a desire for new sources of wealth, increased power and status, and converts to Christianity
-The precious metals that poured out from the New World into the Spanish treasury aroused the desire to match Spain's success -The establishment of Spain's America empire transformed the balance of power in the world economy -England's colonies= agricultural settlements with growing populations -New France & New Netherland= commercial ventures that didn't have a lot of colonists -Spain and France wanted to spread Catholicism -England wanted to spread Anglicanism
William Penn
-The proprietor of Pennsylvania
Royal African Company
-The slave-trading monopoly
Capitalism
-The system of making money and profits on products -The Dutch invention of the joint stock company, a way of pooling financial resources and sharing the risk of maritime voyages, proved central to the development of modern capitalism
Though George Washington's Farewell Address warned about the dangers of divisive political parties and permanent foreign alliances, European conflict and tensions with Britain and France fueled increasingly bitter partisan debates throughout the 1790s.
George Washington's Farewell Address states Americans always need to be in pursuit of liberty and freedom and divisive political parties and permanent foreign alliances can limit that. The European conflict and tensions between Britain and France also questioned how involved should Americans be.
Robert Morris
A banker and merchant from Philadelphia who became director of the congressional fiscal policy in 1780 causing state and federal efforts to regulate prices to cease.
Sam Adams
Popular American leader who agitated the population towards fighting for independence. Proposed to form a continental congress. Signed the Declaration of Independence.
Difficulties over trade, finances, and interstate and foreign relations, as well as internal unrest, led to calls for significant revisions to the Articles of Confederation and a stronger central government.
The lands in the west were a significant problem for Congress as Americans wanted to move west but Congress feared provoking the Indians. The government eventually had Indians surrender the lands but giving the land to citizens proved to be a hard task as many wanted free land to ensure prosperity but land sales could be a source of revenue for the government. Ordinance of 1784. America faced growing economic problems as they were broke from the war but also could not tax the states. States adopted their own economic policies since Congress couldn't inform anything so Congress didn't make any money. Inflation occurred. Shay's Rebellion (late 1786-early 1787).
The expansion of slavery in the lower South and adjacent western lands, and its gradual disappearance elsewhere, began to create distinctive regional attitudes toward the institution.
The lower South continued to import slaves so the importance of slavery continued to increase meanwhile in the rest of the country, slavery began to disappear or be banned. This caused the South to be known for slavery and the North more free, especially approaching the Civil War.
System of Checks and Balances
The structure of American government outlined in the Constitution. Also known as the "separation of powers". Refers to the way the Constitution seeks to prevent any branch of the national government from dominating the other 2. Authority within the government is diffused and balanced against itself to prevent an accumulation of power dangerous to liberty.
Pennsylvania Dutch
-Dutch lived in Pennsylvania
Charles II
-King of England
Following the Louisiana Purchase, the drive to acquire, survey, and open up new lands and markets led Americans into numerous economic, diplomatic and military initiatives in the Western Hemisphere and Asia.
-Continued push west
Natural Rights
-Existence predated the establishment of political authority -Protecting the security of life, liberty, and property required shielding a realm of private life and personal concerns- including family relations, religious preferences, and economic activity- from interference by the state
John Cabot
-1497=Sailed from England -1st European since the Vikings to encounter the North American continent
Amerigo Vespucci
-1499-1502- explored along the coast of South America that made know that a continent entirely unknown to Europeans had been encountered -New World would come to bear his name- America -Realized that the natives were distinct peoples, not residents of the West Indies as Columbus believed
As regional distinctiveness among the British colonies diminished over time, they developed largely similar patterns of culture, laws, institutions, and governance within the context of the British imperial system
-18th century Great Britain prided itself on being the world's most advanced and freest nation -Home of a complex governmental system with a powerful Parliament representing the interests of aristocracy and a merchant class -Single political-culural-economic capital -Common law, language, and mostly a devotion to Protestants, -Patriotism
In the economies of the Spanish colonies, Indian labor, used in the encomienda system to support plantation-based agriculture and extract precious metals and other resources, was gradually replaced by African slavery
-1537- Pope Paul III, who hoped to see Indians as devout subjects of Catholic monarchs, outlawed their enslavement and declared Indians to be "truly men" who must not be "treated as dumb beasts" -15 years later, Bartolomé Las Casas, a Dominican priest, published an account of the decimation of the Indian population in A Very Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies -Las Casas's writings denounced Spain for causing the death of millions of innocents -Las Casas insisted that Indians were rational beings and Spain had no grounds to deprive them of their lands and liberty -1542- Spain promulgated the New Laws, commanding that Indians no longer be enslaved -1550- Spain abolished the encomienda system, under which the 1st settlers had been granted authority over conquered Indian lands with the right to extract forced labor from natives -Government established the repartimiento system, whereby natives remained legally free and entitled to wages, but were still required to perform a fixed amount of labor each year. They weren't slaves= they had access to land, were paid wages, and couldn't be bought and sold. But there was still many abuses by Spanish landlords and by priests who required Indians to toil on mission lands as part of the conversion process -By the end of the 16th century, work in the Spanish empire consisted largely of forced wage labor by natives and slave labor by Africans on the West Indian islands and parts of the mainland -Over time, the initial brutal treatment of Indians somewhat improved -Black Legend= image of Spain as a uniquely brutal and exploitive colonizer
William Bradford
-1608= goes to Holland -1611= returns to England -1619= sailing of the Mayflower -1620= accidental landing at "Plymouth" -Leader of the colony of Plymouth
Slave Code
-1705= The House of Burgesses in Virginia, realizing the importance of slavery, enacted a new slave code that brought together the scattered legislation of the 17th century and added new provisions that embedded the principle of white supremacy in the law -Slaves were property, completely subject to the will of their masters and, more generally, of the white community -Slaves could be bought and sold, leased, fought over in court, and passed on to one's descendants -Blacks and whites were tried in separate courts -No black, free or slave, could own arms, strike a white man, or employ a white servant -Any white person could apprehend any black to demand a certificate of freedom or a pass from the owner giving permission to be off the plantation -Virginia went from a "society with slaves" to a "slave society" where slavery stood at the center of economic process
The 1820 Missouri Compromise created a truce over the issue of slavery that gradually broke down as confrontations over slavery became increasingly bitter.
-1819- Missouri wanted to enter the Union as a state
Asian, African American and white peoples sought new economic opportunities or religious refuge in the West, efforts that were boosted during and after the Civil War with the passage of new legislation promoting national economic development.
-A bit more equality as they were considered men as well
Anne Hutchinson
-A midwife and daughter of a clergyman -"a woman of a ready wit and bold spirit" -1634- arrived in Massachusetts with her husband to join their minister, John Cotton, who was expelled from his pulpit in England by church authorities -Began holding meetings in her home, where she led discussions of religious issues among men and women, including a number of prominent merchants and public officials -Viewed salvation as God's direct gift to the elect and couldn't be earned by good works, devotional practices, or other human practices -Most Puritans thought this but what set Hutchinson apart was her charge that nearly all the ministers in Massachusetts were guilty of faulty preaching for distinguishing "saints" from the damned on the basis of activities such as church attendance and moral behavior rather than an inner state of grace -Critics denounced her for Antinomianism (a term for putting one's own judgment or faith above both human law and the teachings of the church) -1637- placed on trial before a civil court for sedition (expressing opinions dangerous to authority) -Her position as a "public woman" made her defiance even more outrageous -Her meetings, according to Winthrop, were neither "comely in the sight of God nor fitting to your sex" -A combative and articulate, she ably debated interpretation of the Bible with her university-educated accusers -Held her own trial -When she spoke of divine revelations, of God speaking to her directly rather than through ministers or the Bible, she violated Puritan doctrine and sealed her fate -Was banished -Her family made its way to Rhode Island and then to Westchester, New York where she and most of her relatives died during an Indian war -Lived in New England for 8 years but left her mark on the region's religious culture -Showed how the Puritan in each individual's ability to interpret the Bible could easily lead to criticism of the religious and political establishment
Great Basin
-A region of the modern-day United States -Western Indians, such as the Hopi and Zuni, lived here before colonization
Caravel
-A ship capable of long distance travel -Made it possible for the Portuguese to sail down the coast of Africa and to return
Manorialism
-A system where commoners worked the land of the lord -The elite hoped to implement this in the New World
Roger Williams
-A young minister who arrived in Massachusetts in 1631 and soon began to insist that its congregations withdraw from the Church of England and that church and state be separated -Believed "soul liberty" required that individuals be allowed to follow their consciences wherever they led -To most Puritans, the social fabric was held together by certain religious truths, which couldn't be questioned. To Williams, any law-abiding citizen should be allowed to practice whatever form of religion he chose -For the government to "molest any person, Jew or Gentile, for either professing doctrine or practicing worship" violated the principle that genuine religious faith is voluntary -Aimed to strengthen religion, not weaken it -Insisted that the embrace of the government corrupted the purity of Christian faith and drew believers into endless religious wars like those that racked Europe -To leaders, like Winthrop, Williams's attack on the religious-political establishment of Massachusetts was bad enough, but Williams compounded the offense by rejecting the conviction that Puritans were an elect people on a divine mission to spread the true faith -Denied that God had singled out any group as special favorites
Abolitionists, although a minority in the North, mounted a highly visible campaign against slavery, adopting strategies of resistance ranging from fierce argument against the institution and assistance in helping slaves escape to willingness to use violence to achieve their goals.
-Abolitionists continued to increase in power
The U.S. sought dominance over the North American continent through a variety of means, including military actions, judicial decisions, and diplomatic efforts.
-Acquired more and more western lands
Permanent Villages
-After some time, the natives of North America began to built permanent villages -Ohio River Valley= mount builders -Towns of the Hopi and Zuni -Pueblos- small villages- that the Pueblo Indians lived in
Various groups of American Indians, women, and religious followers developed cultures reflecting their interests and experiences, as did regional groups and an emerging urban middle class.
-American Indians
Anglicization
-American colonies had more trade/communications with Britain than among themselves
Several factors promoted Anglicization in the British colonies: the growth of autonomous political communities based on English models, the development of commercial ties and legal structures, the emergence of a trans-Atlantic print culture, Protestant evangelism, religious toleration, and the spread of European Enlightenment ideas
-American colonies had more trade/communications with Britain than among themselves -Elites slowly developed a common lifestyle and sense of common interests -They became more and more English -Wealthy Americans tried to model their lives on British etiquette and behavior -Sought to demonstrate their status and legitimacy by importing the latest London fashions and literatures, sending their sons to Britain for education, and building homes equipped with fashionable furnishings modeled on the country estates and town homes of the English gentry -Richest group of mainland colonists=SC planters -Lived a lavish lifestyle amid imported furniture, fine wines, silk clothing, and other items from England -Elites emulated what they saw as England's balanced, stable social order -Liberty meant the power to rule- the right of those blessed with wealth and prominence to dominate over others -Viewed society as a hierarchical structure in which some men were endowed with greater talents than others and destined to rule -Social order=held together by the wens of influence that linked patrons and those dependent on them -One's status revealed in dress, manners, and the splendor of one's home -"Superiority" and "dependence", as one colonial newspaper put it, were natural elements of any society -Image of refinement served to legitimize wealth and political power -Colonial elites prided themselves on developing aristocratic manners, cultivating the arts, and making productive use of leisure -Colonies became more and more like Britain
Despite some governmental and private efforts to create a unified national economy, most notably the American System, the shift to market production linked the North and the Midwest more closely than either was linked to the South.
-American system of manufactures relied on the mass production of interchangeable parts that could be readily assembled into standardized finished products
George Whitefield
-An English preacher in the 1st Great Awakening
Squanto
-An Indian who helped the Pilgrims survive -Was kidnapped with 20 other Indians and brought to Spain in 1614 by the English explorer Thomas Hunt, who planned to sell them as slaves -He was rescued by a local priest and made his way to London, where he learned English -He returned to Massachusetts in 1619 only to find that his people, the Patuxet, had succumbed to disease -Served as an interpreter for the Pilgrims, taught them where to fish and how to plant corn, and helped in the forging of an alliance with Massasoit, a local chief
Efforts to exploit the nation's natural resources led to government efforts to promote free and forced migration of various American peoples across the continent, as well as to competing ideas about defining and managing labor systems, geographical boundaries and natural resources.
-As the population moved west, the nation's borders expanded
U.S. interest in expanding trade led to economic, diplomatic, and cultural initiatives westward to Asia.
-Asia= very good trading partner
Late 17th-century efforts to integrate Britain's colonies into a coherent, hierarchical imperial structure and pursue mercantilist economic aims met with scant success due largely to varied forms of colonial resistance and conflicts with American Indian groups, and were followed by nearly a half-century of the British government's relative indifference to colonial governance
-Attempts to make the colonies more British -The elite got more British and prided themselves on that while the commoners grew poorer -Large conflicts with Indians -Colonial Governments took control
Francisco Pizarro
-Conquered the great Inca kingdom centered in modern-day Peru -Captured the Incan king, demanded and received a ransom, killed the king anyways
The Pueblo Revolt
-August 1680 -An uprising that aimed to drive the Spanish from New Mexico and restore the Indians's traditional autonomy -Led by Popé -New Mexico's Indians joined in a coordinated uprising under Popé's leadership -Spanish became the revolt's "lingua franca" (a common means of communication among persons of different linguistic backgrounds) -Some 2,000 warriors destroyed isolated farms and missions, killing 400 colonists, including 21 Franciscan missionaries then surrendered Santa Fe -Eventually, the Spanish had no choice but to flee -Within a weeks, 100 years of colonization in New Mexico had been destroyed -The most complete victory for Native Americans over Europeans and the only wholesale explosion of settlers in North American history -The revolt arose from the "many oppressions" the Indians suffered -The victorious Pueblos turned with a vengeance on all symbols of European culture, uprooting fruit trees, destroying cattle, burning churches and images of Christ and the Virgin Mary, and wading into rivers to wash away their Catholic baptisms -Rebuilt places of worship, kivas, and resumed sacred dances -Cooperation among the Pueblos soon evaporated -End of the 1680s, warfare broke out in several villages -1690 ish- Popé died -1692- Spanish launched an invasion that reconquered New Mexico -In the 18th century, colonial authorities adopted a more tolerant attitude towards traditional religious practice and made fewer demands on Indian labor
Enslaved and free African Americans, isolated at the bottom of the social hierarchy, created communities and strategies to protect their dignity and family structures, even as some launched abolitionist and reform movements aimed at changing their status.
-Barred from schools and other public facilities, free blacks laboriously constructed their own institutional aid and educational opportunities, as well as independent churches, most notably the African Methodist Episcopal Church
Reinforced by a strong belief in British racial and cultural superiority, the British system enslaved black people in perpetuity, altered African gender and kinship relationships in the colonies, and was one factor that led the British colonists into violent confrontations with native peoples
-British thought they were superior -Though of anyone who wasn't British as "slaves" -Blacks viewed as slaves, whites viewed as free -Unified all of the cultures, religions, traditions of various African tribes into a single African-American culture that grew quickly in the South but slower up north -British colonists invaded native lands due to their views of superiority causing conflict
As various constituencies and interest groups coalesced and defined their agendas, various political parties, most significantly the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans in the 1790s and the Democrats and Whigs in the 1830s, were created or transformed to reflect and/or promote those agendas.
-By the mid-1790s, 2 increasingly coherent parties had appeared in Congress, the Federalists and Republicans
The growth of an Atlantic economy throughout the 18th century created a shared labor market and a wide exchange of New World and European goods, as seen in the African slave trade and the shipment of products from the Americas
-Caribbean=commercial focus of the British empire & the major producer of revenue for the crown -Slave-grown products from the mainland occupied a larger and larger part of Atlantic commerce -Triangular trade -Atlantic commerce consisted primarily of slaves, crops produced by slaves, and goods destined for slave economies
Conflicts in Europe spread to North America, as French, Dutch, British, and Spanish colonies allied, traded with, and armed American Indian groups, leading to continuing political instability
-Caused wars -Natives "playing both sides"- working with two fighting European nations at the same time -Caused wars between Indians as well -Indians encroaching on other Indians's land due to colonization
Feudalism
-Class system with lords and serfs -English North America in 17th century was a place where entrepreneurs sought to make fortunes, religious minorities hoped to worship without governmental interference and to create societies based on biblical teachings, and aristocrats dreamed of re-creating a vanished world of feudalism -Slavery, not feudalism, made Carolina an extremely hierarchical society
The introduction of new crops and livestock by the Spanish had far-reaching effects on native settlement patterns, as well as on economic, social and political development in the Western Hemisphere
-Columbian Exchange -By the mid-16th century, Spain established an immense empire that reached from Europe to the Americas and Asia -Oceans became highways for the exchange of goods and the movement of people -Spanish galleons carried gold and silver from Mexico and Peru eastward to Spain and westward to the Philippines and to China -Spanish empire included the most populous parts of the New World and the regions richest in resource -Spain's empire was bigger than the Roman Empire -Center= Mexico City -Spanish America= "empire of towns" -Stable government -Viceroys -Haciendas and mines provided income for Spanish
Spanish Exploration
-Columbus -Establishment of the Spanish global empire -While the Spanish empire centered on Mexico, Peru, and the West Indies, the hope of a finding a new kingdom of gold led Spanish explorers into parts of the modern-day United States -1513= Juan Ponce de León enters Florida in search of slaves, wealth, and a fabled fountain of youth, only to be removed by Indians -1528= another expedition seeking plunder in Florida left from Spain, but after a series of storms only a few men reached the Gulf Coast. For 7 years, they traversed the Southwest until a few survivors arrived in Mexico in 1536 -1530s and 1540s= Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo explored the Pacific coast as far north as present-day Oregon, and expeditions led by Hernando de Soto, Cabeza de Vaca, Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, and others marched through the Gulf region and the Southwest, fruitlessly searching for another Mexico or Peru -Coronado explored much of the interior of the continent, reaching as far north as the Great Plains, and became the 1st European to encounter the immense herds of buffalo that roamed the West
Africans developed both overt and covert means to resist the dehumanizing aspects of slavery
-Combined various languages into one so only they could understand Developed African-American culture
Resistance to imperial control in the British colonies drew on colonial experiences of self-government, evolving local ideas of liberty, the political thought of the Enlightenment, greater religious independence and diversity, and an ideology critical of perceived corruption in the imperial system
-Commoners began to think for themselves and talk about politics -Spread of the press -Liberalism and Republicanism spread
National leaders made a variety of proposals to resolve the issue of slavery in the territories, including the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Dred Scott decision, but these ultimately failed to reduce sectional conflict.
-Compromise of 1850
In spite of slavery, Africans' cultural and linguistic adaptations to the Western Hemisphere resulted in varying degrees of cultural preservation and autonomy
-Creation of languages that combined multiple African languages -In the South, slaves were still very African; speaking their languages, building African style houses, giving their children African names, etc. -Up north, African culture celebrated on holidays -Creation of African-American culture
Regional interests continued to trump national concerns as the basis for many political leaders' positions on economic issues including slavery, the national bank, tariffs, and internal improvements.
-Divide between North and South
The second party system ended when the issues of slavery and anti-immigrant nativism weakened loyalties to the two major parties and fostered the emergence of sectional parties, most notably the Republican Party in the North and Midwest.
-Divide over slavery and territory
The Enlightenment
-During the 18th century, many educated Americans began to be influenced by the outlook of the European Enlightenment -This philosophical movement, which originated among French thinkers and soon spread to Britain, sought to apply the scientific method of careful investigation based on research and experiment to political and social life -Enlightenment ideas crisscrossed the Atlantic -Enlightenment thinkers insisted that every human institution, authority, and tradition be judged before the bar of reason -One inspiration= reaction against the bloody religious wars that racked Europe in the 17th century -Enlightenment thinkers hoped that "reason", not religious enthusiasm, could govern human life -Criticism of social and political institutions based on tradition and hereditary privilege rather than the dictates of reason could also be applies to established churches -18th century= many prominent Americans moved toward the position called Arminianism, which taught that reason alone was capable of establishing the essentials of religion -Others adopted Deism, a belief that God essentially withdrew after creating the world, leaving it to function according to scientific laws without divine intervention -Arminians, Deists, and others viewed thought belief in miracles, in the revealed truth of the Bible, and in the innate sinfulness of mankind were as outdated superstitions that should be abandoned in the modern age -17th century= Isaac Newton revealed the natural laws that governed the physical universe -Deists believed that this was the purest evidence of God's handiwork -Many Protestants of all dominations could accept Newton's finding while remaining devout churchgoers -Deists concluded that the best form of religious devotion was to study the workings of nature, rather than to worship in organized churches or to appeal to divine grave for salvation
Although Confederate leadership showed initiative and daring early in the war, the Union ultimately succeeded due to improved military leadership, more effective strategies, key victories, greater resources, and the wartime destruction of the South's environment and infrastructure.
-Each side tried to find ways to maximize its advantages
In the Northeast and along the Atlantic Seaboard some societies developed a mixed agricultural and hunter-gatherer economy that favored the development of permanent villages
-Eastern North America, hundreds of tribes inhabited towns and villages scattered from the Gulf of Mexico to modern-day Canada -Lived on corn, squash, beans, supplemented by fishing and hunting deer, turkeys, and other animals -Trade routes crisscrossed the continent -Frequent tribal wars to obtain goods, seize captives, or take revenge for the killing of relatives -In the southeast, the Choctaw, Cherokee, and Chickasaw each united dozens of towns in loose -alliances -In modern New York and Pennsylvania, 5 Iroquois peoples- the Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca, -Onondaga- formed a Great League of Peace, bringing a period of stability to the area -Sheer diversity -Each group had its own political system and religious belief and North America was home to hundreds of different languages -Indians didn't think of themselves as a single unified people, an idea invented by Europeans and only many years later adopted by Indians themselves
Migrants from Europe increased the population in the East and the Midwest, forging strong bonds of interdependence between the Northeast and the Old Northwest.
-Economic expansion fueled a demand for labor which was met by increased immigration
The market revolution helped to widen a gap between rich and poor, shaped an emerging distinctive middle class and caused an increasing separation between home and workplace, which led to dramatic transformations in gender and family roles and expectations.
-Economic transformation produced an explosive growth in the nation's output and trade and rise in the general standard of living
Feudalism in the British Colonies
-English North America in 17th century=a place where entrepreneurs sought to make fortunes, religious minorities hoped to worship without governmental interference and to create societies based on biblical teachings, and aristocrats dreamed of re-creating a vanished world of feudalism -Those who drew up blueprints for settlements were expected to reproduce the social structure with which they were familiar, with all its hierarchy and inequality Political Autonomy -Early rulers of Carolina wanted it to have feudalism to have classes but slavery did this, not feudalism
White Superiority
-English had long viewed alien peoples with disdain and described these strangers in remarkably similar language as savage, pagan, and uncivilized, often comparing them to animals -"Race" and "racism"= modern concepts that didn't fully develop in the 17th century -Main lines of division within humanity=civilization vs. barbarism or Christianity vs. heathenism, not race or color
Henry Hudson
-Englishman employed by the Dutch East India Company
Portuguese Exploration
-European conquest of America began as a search for a sea route to India, China, and the East Indies islands, the source of silk, tea, spices, porcelain, and other luxury goods -Profit and piety, the desire to eliminate Islamic middlemen and win control of the lucrative trade for Christian western Europe- combined to inspire the quest for a direct route to Asia -Portugal took advantage of new techniques of sailing and navigation to begin exploring the Atlantic -Development of the caravel, the compass, and the quadrant made it possible to sail down the coast of Africa and return to Portugal -Hoped to locate the source of gold that had been transported across the Sahara to North Africa and Europe Slave Labor -Until 1434, no European sailor had seen the coast of Africa below the Sahara or the forest kingdoms south of Mali that contained the gold fields -1434- a Portuguese ship brought a sprig of rosemary from West Africa, proof that one could sail beyond the desert and return -1485- Portuguese reached Benin, an imposing city whose craftsmen produced bronze sculptures -Portuguese established fortified trading posts on Africa's western coast -The profits reaped by these Portuguese "factories", named since merchants were know as factors, inspired other European powers to follow in their footsteps -Portugal also began to colonize Madeira, the Azores, and the Canary and Cape Verde Islands, which lie off the African coast in the Atlantic -Portuguese mariners pushed their explorations southward along the coast
The goals and interests of European leaders at times diverged from those of colonial citizens, leading to growing mistrust on both sides of the Atlantic, as settlers, especially in the English colonies, expressed dissatisfaction over territorial settlements, frontier defense and other issues
-European leaders wanted to make money, citizens wanted lands that the government wouldn't give them -Uprisings occurred in the colonies
Continuing contact with Europeans increased the flow of trade goods and diseases into and out of native communities, stimulating cultural and demographic change
-Europeans brought over diseases that the natives never saw before causing epidemics that wiped out their population -Caused the Europeans to gain power in the New World easier since there wasn't as many people to conquer
By supplying American Indian allies with deadlier weapons and alcohol, and by rewarding Indian military actions, Europeans helped increase the intensity and destructiveness of American Indian warfare
-Europeans traded Indians weapons and alcohol for furs and other goods -Told their allies to go capture slaves -Decrease in Indian population
Mercantilist Economies
-Everything the colonists do is for the mother country -Producing wealth for the mother country -Colonies supplied Britain with a valuable agricultural product, imported large amounts of British goods, and we closely linked in culture/political values to London
Ben Franklin
-Exemplified the Enlightenment spirit through his activities (establishing a newspaper, debating club, and library; publishing the widely circulated Poor Richard's Alamack; and conducting experiments to demonstrate that lighting is a form of electricity) and made him probably the best-known American in the 18th century world
With the opening of canals and new roads into the Western territories, native-born white citizens relocated westward, relying on new community systems to replace their old family and local relationships.
-Few Americans moved west as lone pioneers
House of Burgesses
-First elected assembly in colonial America -Established in Virginia in 1618 -First met in 1619 -Hardly a model of democracy- only landowners could vote, and the company and its appointed governor retained the right to nullify any measure the body adopted -Its creation established a political precedent that all English colonies would eventually follow
Royal Colony
-Founded by the crown -Directly ruled by the crown
A new national culture emerged, with various Americans creating art, architecture, and literature that combined European forms with local and regional cultural sensibilities.
-Free African Americans often possessed craft skills
Despite the outlawing of the international slave trade, the rise in the number of free African Americans in both the North and the South, and widespread discussion of various emancipation plans, the U.S. and many state governments continued to restrict African Americans' citizenship possibilities.
-Free blacks found themselves excluded from the new economic opportunities
With expanding borders came public debates about whether to expand and how to define and use the new territories.
-Free vs. slave state debate
French and Dutch colonial efforts involved relatively few Europeans and used trade alliances and intermarriage with American Indians to acquire furs and other products for export to Europe
-French initially aimed to find gold and locate a Northwestern Passage, a sea route connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific -16th century- only explorers, pirates preying on the Spanish shipping, and fur traders visited the east coast of North America -French establishments in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland failed -1608= Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec -1673= Jacques Marqueette and Louis Joliet located the Mississippi River -New France eventually forms a giant arc along the St. Lawrence, Mississippi, and Ohio Rivers -Small populations -Emphasis on fur trade rather than agricultural -Viability depended on good relations with local Indians -Early 17th century, the Netherlands dominated international commerce -Netherlands established a far-flung empire that reached from Indonesia to South Africa and the Caribbean and, temporarily, Brazil -Religious freedoms attracted settlers -Dutch came to North America to trade, not conquer -Less interested in settling the land than exacting profits from it -Unlike their European competitors, the English eventually sought to establish colonies based on agriculture, sending relatively large numbers of men and women to acquire land and populate their settlements, while having relatively hostile relationships with Native AClaimwned itmericans -Claimed the land with no concern that the natives already owned it -Large amount of English/slaves in colony -Took over the areas causing natives to have wars since they kicked them out causing wars/hostile relationships
Baron Montesquieu
-French political philosopher -Said the British structure of the House of Commons, House of Lords, and king who all check the power of each other made Britain "the one nation in the world whose constitution has political liberty for its purpose"
Jonathan Edwards
-From Massachusetts
Substantial numbers of new international migrants — who often lived in ethnic communities and retained their religion, language and customs — entered the country prior to the Civil War, giving rise to a major, often violent nativist movement that was strongly anti-Catholic and aimed at limiting immigrants' cultural influence and political and economic power.
-General population was very nativist and anti-Catholic
John Peter Zenger
-German born printer
John Winthrop
-Governor of Massachusetts -1645 speech to Massachusetts legislature explaining the Puritan conception of freedom -Distinguished sharply between 2 kinds of liberty -"Natural" liberty, or acting without restraint, suggested "a liberty to do evil" -This was the false idea of freedom supposedly adopted by the Irish, Indians, and bad Christians generally -Genuine "moral" liberty meant "a liberty to that only which is good" -It was quite compatible with severe restraints on speech, religion, and personal behavior -True freedom depended on "subjection to authority" both religious and secular; otherwise, anarchy was sure to follow -To Puritans, liberty meant that the elect had a right to establish churches and govern society, not that others could challenge their beliefs or authority
William Berkeley
-Governor of Virginia -Ran a corrupt regime in alliance with an inner circle of the colony's wealthiest tobacco farmers for 30 years. Rewarded followers with land grants and lucrative offices -Maintained peaceful relations with Virginia's remaining native population. His refusal to allow white settlement in areas reserved for Indians angered many land-hungry colonists -1676 ish, long-simmering social tensions coupled with widespread resentment against the injustices of the Berkeley regime erupted in Bacon's Rebellion -Bacon's Rebellion -Bacon's Rebellion's leader, Nathaniel Bacon disdained his coterie as mean of "mean education and employments". Backers-men outside the governor's circle of cronies -1676, fled after Jamestown was burned down and Bacon became the ruler of Virginia
Walter Raleigh
-Granted a charter from the government, authorizing him to establish a North American colony at his expense -1585- dispatched a fleet of 5 ships with 100 colonists to set a base on Roanoke Island, partly to facilitate continuing raids on Spanish shipping -1586- Venture abandoned -1586- Second group of 100 settlers, composed of families who hoped to establish a permanent colony -Their fate remains unknown -After the two failures, he was bankrupt and lost his enthusiasm for colonization
Great Plains
-Had herds of buffalo- descendants of the prehistoric giant bison -Many Indians= hunters or lived in agricultural communities -Coronado explored much of the interior of the continent, reaching as far north as the Great Plains, and became the 1st European to encounter the immense herds of buffalo that roamed the West
Homogenous Society
-Having a Protestant, British society in the colonies
Oliver Cromwell
-Head of the victorious Parliamentary army in the English civil war
Improvements in technology and more organized methods for conducting international trade helped drive changes to economies in Europe and the Americas
-Improvement in navigation -Improvement in farm technologies -Allowed for more trade, economies to increase
Widespread deadly epidemics
-In addition to goods and ideas, Europeans brought germs previously -unknown in the Americas during the Columbian Exchange -An estimated 50-90 million people lived in the Americas pre-Columbus -In 1492: -Europe's population (including Russia)=90 million -China and modern-day India's population=210 million -Modern-day United States Indian population=2-5 million -Indian populations suffered a catastrophic decline because of contact with Europeans and their wars, enslavement, and diseases like smallpox, influenza, and measles -The Indians weren't exposed to these diseases so they didn't have the antibodies to fight them -Many West Indian islands were all but depopulated -On Hispaniola, the native population, estimated 300,000-1 million in 1492, had disappeared 50 years later -Population of Mexico fell by more than 90% in the 16th century -The native population in the modern-day United States, the native population continued to fall -Perhaps 80 million people, close to 1/5 of all humankind, died in the 1st century and a half after European contact
Lincoln's election on a free soil platform in the election of 1860 led various Southern leaders to conclude that their states must secede from the Union, precipitating civil war.
-In effect, 2 Elections occurred in 1860
Increasing numbers of Americans, especially women in factories and low-skilled male workers, no longer relied on semi-subsistence agriculture but made their livelihoods producing goods for distant markets, even as some urban entrepreneurs went into finance rather than manufacturing.
-In some industries, most notably textiles, the factory superseded traditional craft production altogether
Cultural Autonomy
-In the Spanish empire, the whole empire had the same culture and religion (Catholicism) -All the African slaves had different cultures
-Societies responded to the lack of natural resources in the Great Basin and the western Great Plains by developing largely mobile lifestyles
-In the arid northeastern area of modern-day Arizona, the Hopi and -Zuni and their ancestors engaged in settled village life for over 3,000 years -Peak= 900-1200 -They planned towns with large multiple-family dwellings in local canyons, constructed dams and -canals to gather and distribute water, and conducted trade with groups as far away as central Mexico and the Mississippi River valley -Pueblo Bonita= largest structure, in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, was 5 stories high with more than 600 rooms -After their decline, survivors moved south and east, where they established villages and perfected desert farming techniques -These survivors were called the Pueblo Indians because they lived in small villages, pueblos, when the Spanish first encountered them in the 16th century
Plantation-based Agriculture
-In the southern colonies, large plantations for rice and indigo made large profits -Used slave labor
The abundance of land, a shortage of indentured servants, the lack of an effective means to enslave native peoples and the growing European demand for colonial goods led to the emergence of the Atlantic slave trade
-Incessant demand for workers spurred by spread of tobacco cultivation led Chesapeake planters to turn to the transatlantic slave trade -Compared to indentured servants, slaves offered planters many advantages: as Africans, they couldn't claim the protections of English common law; their terms of service never expired; their children became slaves; their skin color made it difficult for them to hide after escaping; accustomed to intensive agricultural labor and had immunity to European disease -Change from indentured servants to slavery
Coureurs de bois
-Independent French-Canadian man who traveled in New France and North America -Often a fur trader
Treaty of Tordesillas
-Issued by Pope Alexander the 6th -Divided the world in half- Spanish explore one half, Portuguese explore the other
The desire for access to western resources led to the environmental transformation of the region, new economic activities, and increased settlement in areas forcibly taken from American Indians.
-Jackson excluded Indians from the nationalism experienced during this time period
Resistance to initiatives for democracy and inclusion included pro-slavery arguments, rising xenophobia and anti-black sentiments in political and popular culture, and restrictive anti-Indian policies.
-Lack of employment for blacks, women, and Indians
The New England colonies, founded primarily by Puritans seeking to establish a community of like-minded religious believers, developed a close-knit, homogeneous society and — aided by favorable environmental conditions — a thriving mixed economy of agriculture and commerce
-Left England since they feared that "Popish" practices had grown to much and ""the consciences of God's saints...could no longer bear them" -Hoped to escape what they believed to be the religious and worldly corruptions of English society -Would establish "a city set on a hill", a Bible Commonwealth whose influence would flow across the Atlantic and save England from godlessness and social decay -Came in search of liberty -Freedom= spiritual affair, implied the opportunity & responsibility to obey God's will through self-government and self-denial -Pilgrims established Plymouth, on Cape Cod -Mayflower Compact -Most settlers arrived in Massachusetts arrived in families -Population grew quickly -Male authority -Principle of consent -Puritan democracy was for those within the circle of church membership; those outside the boundary a secondary place in the Bible Commonwealth -1641- adopted the traditional understandings of liberties as privileges that derived from one's place in the social order -Religious uniformity=essential to social order -Religion=primary motivation for emigration -Exports=fishing and timber -Merchants
The First Great Awakening
-Like freedom of the press, religion was another realm where the actual experience of liberty outstripped its legal recognition -Religion remained central to 18th century American life -Religious disputes often generated more public attention than political issues yet many church leaders worried about lax religious observance as colonial economic growth led people to be more and more preoccupied with worldly affairs -Many ministers were concerned that westward expansion, commercial development, the growth of Enlightenment rationalism, and lack of individual engagement in church services were undermining religious devotion -These fears helped to inspire the revivals that swept through the colonies beginning in the 1730s -The revivals were less a coordinated movement than a series of local events united by a commitment to a "religion of the heart", a more emotional and personal Christianity than that offered by existing churches -18th century witnessed a revival of religious fundamentalism in many parts of the world, in part a response to the rationalism of the Enlightenment and a desire for greater religious purity -In the Middle East/Central Asia where Islam was widespread, followers of a form of the religion known as Wahhabism called for a return to the practices of the religion's early days -In Eastern Europe, Hasidic Jews emphasized the importance of faith and religious joy as opposed to what they considered the overly academic study of Jewish learning and history in conventional Judaism -Methodism and other forms of enthusiastic religion were flourishing in Europe -Great Awakening=transatlantic movement -During the 1720s and 1730s, the New Jersey Dutch Reformed clergyman Theodore Frelinghuysen, his Presbyterian neighbors William and Gilbert Tennent, and the Massachusetts Congregationalist minister Jonathan Edwards pioneered an intensely emotional style of preaching -Edwards's Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God portrayed sinful man as a "loathsome insect" suspended over a bottomless pit of eternal fire by a slender thread that might break at any moment -Edwards's preaching, declared a member of his congregation, inspired worshippers to cry out, "What shall I do to be save- oh, I am going to hell!". Only a "new birth", immediately acknowledging one's sins and pleading for divine grace, could save men from eternal damnation -Religious emotionalism wasn't confined to the American colonies- it spread through much of mid-18th century Europe as well -George Whitehead -A host of traveling preachers, "evangelists" (meaning, literally, bearers of good news) held revivalist meetings, often to the alarm of established ministers -Critics of the Great Awakening produced sermons, pamphlets, and newspaper articles condemning the revivalist preachers for lacking theological training, encouraging disrespect for "the established church and her ministers", and filling churches with "general disorder" -Connecticut sought to stem the revivalist tide through laws punishing disruptive traveling preachers -By the time they subsided in the 1760s, the rivals had changed the religious configuration of the colonies and enlarged the boundaries of liberty -Whitefield inspired the emergence of numerous Dissenting churches -Congregations spilt into factions headed by the Old Lights (traditionalist) and New Lights (revivalists) and new churches proliferated -Many of the new churches began to criticize the colonial practice of levying taxes to support an established church; they defended religious freedom as one of the natural rights government mustn't restrict -Reflected existing social tensions, threw into question many forms of authority, and inspired criticism of aspects of colonial society -Attracted primarily men and women of modest means- "rude, ignorant, void of manners, education, or good breeding" -Revivalist preachers frequently criticized commercial society, insisting that believers should make salvation, not profit, "the one business of their lives" -In New England, they condemned merchants who ensured the unwary in debt as greedy and unchristian -Baptist and Methodist revivalists criticized the wordiness of wealthy planters and attacked as sinful activities such as gambling, horse racing, and lavish entertainments on the Sabbath -Few preachers condemned slavery -Few converts, like Robert Carter III, emancipated their slaves after concluding that black and white were brothers in Christ -Revivals brought numerous slaves into the Christian fold, an important step in their acculturation as African-Americans -Few blacks took up preaching -Revivals broadened the range of religious alternatives available to Americans, thereby leaving them more divided than before and at the same time more fully integrated into transatlantic religious developments -The newspaper/pamphlet wars it inspired greatly expanded the circulation of printed material in the colonies -Encouraged many colonists to trust their own views -In listening to the sermons of self-educated preachers, forming Bible study groups, and engaging in intense religious discussions, ordinary colonists asserted the right to independent judgment -"The common people claim as good a right to judge and act for themselves in matters of religion as civil rulers or the learned clergy" -Revivalists's aim= spiritual salvation, not social or political revolution -But the independent frame of mind they encouraged would have significant politic consequences
Many white Americans in the South asserted their regional identity through pride in the institution of slavery, insisting that the federal government should defend that institution.
-Lurking behind the political battles of the 1790s lay the potentially divisive issue of slavery
The idea of Manifest Destiny, which asserted U.S. power in the Western Hemisphere and supported U.S. expansion westward, built on a belief in white racial superiority and a sense of American cultural superiority, and helped to shape the era's political debates.
-Manifest destiny= the U.S. was destined to spread all of the continent
With the acceleration of a national and international market economy, Americans debated the scope of government's role in the economy, while diverging economic systems meant that regional political and economic loyalties often continued to overshadow national concerns.
-Many Americans experienced the market revolution not as an enhancement of the power to shape their own lives, but as a loss of freedom
Hunter-gatherer Economy
-Many of the Indian natives relied on hunting and gathering for food -On the Pacific coast, Indians lived primarily by fishing, hunting sea mammals, and gathering wild plants/nuts -Great Plains- some Indians hunted buffalo, some farmed
Conquistador
-Men who came from other lands and conquered the natives -Examples: Hernán Cortés (conquered the Aztecs) and Francisco Pizarro (conquered the Incas)
As European nations competed in North America, their colonies focused on gaining new sources of labor and producing and acquiring commodities that were valued in Europe
-Mercantilism -Everything the colonies did was for the mother country -Caused an increase in slavery
The demographically, religiously and ethnically diverse middle colonies supported a flourishing export economy based on cereal crops, while the Chesapeake colonies and North Carolina relied on the cultivation of tobacco, a labor-intensive product based on white indentured servants and African chattel
-Middle colonies= slavery less common and it was mainly small farming -In the Chesapeake and North Carolina, large tobacco farms common with lots of slaves (not as many as South Carolina and Georgia) to work the land -Chesapeake and North Carolina produced more money than middle colonies due to the high demand crop, tobacco
Proprietary Colony
-Monarchy grants 1 person (the propertior) the right to rule the colony -Example: Lord George Calvert in Maryland
Empire Building
-Needs commerce -Global power necessary -Wealthy
The spread of maize cultivation from present-day Mexico northward into the American Southwest and beyond supported economic development and social diversification among societies in these areas
-North & South America were hardly an empty wilderness when Europeans arrived -Contained cities, roads, irrigation systems, extensive trade networks, large structures, such as the pyramid-temples -Tenochitlán= population of 250,000, one of the world's largest cities -When Europeans arrived, wide variety of natives lived within the borders of the United States -North American Indian civilizations had not developed the scale, grandeur, or centralized organization of the Aztec and Inca societies -Lacked the technologies Europeans had mastered, like metal tools and machines, gunpowder, and scientific knowledge needed for long-distance navigation -No society north of Mexico achieved literacy -Lacked wheeled vehicles -Their "backwardness" became a central justification for European conquest -Perfected techniques of farming, hunting, and fishing, developed structures of political power/religious belief, and engaged in networks of trade and communications -Mississippi River Valley Mound Builders
Political Autonomy
-Often one government ruled -In the English colonies there were two groups: liberals and republicanism
A mix of foraging and hunting did the same for societies in the Northwest and areas of California
-On the Pacific coast, hundreds of distinct groups resided in independent villages and lived primarily by fishing, hunting sea mammals, and gathering wild plants and nuts -As many as 25 million salmon swam up the Columbia River each year, providing abundant food for natives -On the Great Plains, with its herds of buffalo, many Indians were hunters (who tracked animals on foot before the arrival of horses with the Spanish), but others lived in agricultural communities
West Africa
-Part of British triangular trade -Were most slaves were exported
Serf
-Peasants working land owned by feudal lords -Legally bound to provide labor and other services
New crops from the Americas stimulated European population growth while new sources of mineral wealth facilitated the European shift from feudalism to capitalism
-Potatoes= very important for Irish -New crops provided more food for Europeans causing better health and a larger population -Wealth from Americas caused merchants and trade to increase causing Europe to shift from feudalism to capitalism
Mercantilism
-Prevailing theory that the government should regulate economic activity so as to promote national power -Should encourage manufacturing and commerce by special bounties, monopolies, and other measures -Trade should be controlled that more gold and silver flowed into the country than left it -Exports of goods, which generated revenue from abroad, should exceed imports, which required paying foreigners for their products -Role of colonies=to serve the interests of the mother country by producing marketable raw materials and importing manufactured goods from home -Commerce=foundation of empire -Rested on the idea that England should enjoy the profits arising from the English empire
Henry the Navigator
-Prince of Portugal -Helped to develop Portugal's navigation system
Both the Union and the Confederacy mobilized their economies and societies to wage the war even while facing considerable home front opposition.
-Propaganda boosted the morale of the people and the war effort
John Locke
-Published The Reasonableness of Christianity in 1695, which insisted that religious belief should rest on scientific evidence -Leading philosopher of liberty -Two Treatises of Government, written around 1680, had limited influence in his lifetime but became extremely well known in the next century -Held the principles that governed the family were inappropriate for organizing public life -Wrote government was formed by a mutual agreements among equals (the parties=male heads of households) -In this "social contract", men surrender a part of their right to govern themselves in order to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law. Retained, their natural rights, whose existence predated the establishment of political authority -Protecting the security of life, liberty, and property required shielding a realm of private life and personal concerns- including family relations, religious preferences, and economic activity- from interference by the state -During the 18th century, Lockean ideas- individual rights, the consent of the governed,the right of rebellion against unjust/oppressive government- would become familiar on both sides of the Atlantic -Spoke of liberty as a universal right yet seemed to exclude many persons from its full benefits -1 of the 1st theorists to defend the property rights of women and their access to divorce, and condemned slavery as "vile and miserable estate of man" -Helped draft the Fundamental Constitution of Carolina -Investor of the Royal African Company -Lockean liberalism opened the door to the poor, women, and even slaves to challenge limitations on their own freedom
As the territorial boundaries of the United States expanded and the migrant population increased, U.S. government interaction and conflict with Hispanics and American Indians increased, altering these groups' cultures and ways of life and raising questions about their status and legal rights.
-Pushed into their native lands during western expansion
Southern cotton furnished the raw material for manufacturing in the Northeast, while the growth in cotton production and trade promoted the development of national economic ties, shaped the international economy, and fueled the internal slave trade.
-Rise of the Cotton Kingdom
The South remained politically, culturally, and ideologically distinct from the other sections, while continuing to rely on its exports to Europe for economic growth.
-Rise of the cotton kingdom, which continued the importance of slaves as a labor source
The presence of slavery and the impact of colonial wars stimulated the growth of ideas on race in this Atlantic system, leading to the emergence of racial stereotyping; the development of strict racial categories among British colonists contrasted with Spanish and French acceptance of racial gradations
-Rising number of slaves in the colony -Blacks seen as slaves, whites seen as free -Whites thought they were superior -Spanish and French had mixed races while the British didn't since blacks were always associated with slavery
Innovations including textile machinery, steam engines, interchangeable parts, canals, railroads and the telegraph, as well as agricultural inventions, both extended markets and brought efficiency to production for those markets.
-Roads
Triangular Trade
-Series of trade routes -Carrying British manufactured goods to Africa and the colonies, colonial products, like tobacco, indigo, sugar, and rice, to Europe, and slaves from Africa to the New World -Most colonial vessels went back and forth between cities like New York, Charleston, and Savannah, and to Caribbean ports -Areas where slavery was a minor institution also profited from slave labor -Merchants in New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island participated actively in the slave trade, shipping slaves from Africa to the Caribbean or southern colonies -Largest market for fish, grain, livestock, and lumber exported from New England and the Middle Colonies=West Indies -1720, 1/2 the ships entering/leaving the New York Harbor were engaged in trade with the Caribbean
Indentured Servant
-Settlers who could pay for their passage arrived in America as free persons -In the 17th century, nearly 2/3 of English settlers came as indentured servants, who voluntarily surrendered their freedom for a specified time (usually 5-7 years) in exchange for passage to America -They could be bought/sold, couldn't marry without their owner's permission, subjected to physical punishment, and saw their obligation to labor enforced by the courts -Often, female servants had longer terms if they got pregnant -Looked forward to a release from bondage -If they survived their period of labor, they received "freedom dues" and were free members of society -For most of the 17th century, indentured servitude wasn't a guaranteed route to economic autonomy -High death rate -Low freedom dues
Supreme Court decisions sought to assert federal power over state laws and the primacy of the judiciary in determining the meaning of the Constitution.
-Several times in this time period, the Supreme Court asserted the federal power and the primacy of the judiciary in suppressing local uprisings, such as Gabriel's Rebellion to prove their power
Lincoln's decision to issue the Emancipation Proclamation changed the purpose of the war, enabling many African Americans to fight in the Union Army, and helping prevent the Confederacy from gaining full diplomatic support from European powers.
-Signed on January 1, 1863
With little experience dealing with people who were different from themselves, Spanish and Portuguese explorers poorly understood the native peoples they encountered in the Americas, leading to debates over how American Indians should be treated and how "civilized" these groups were compared to European standards
-Simply took over the areas and conquered the people -Though of natives as uncivilized and barbaric
Slave Labor
-Simultaneous expansion of freedom and slavery -Slaves made up around 280,000 of the 585,000 persons who arrived in Britain's mainland colonies between 1770-1775 -Slavery existed in every colony of British North America and few slaves were fortunate enough to gain their freedom -Of the estimated 7.7 million Africans transported to the New World between 1492-1820, more than half arrived between 1700-1800 -In the 18th century, slavery= regulated business in which European merchants, African traders, and American planters engaged in a complex bargaining over human lives, all with the expectation of securing a profit. Vital part of world commerce -Every European empire in the New World utilized slave labor and battled for control of this lucrative trade -Free laborers working for wages was atypical and slavery was the norm -The 1st mass consumer goods in international trade were produced by slaves- sugar, rice, coffee, and tobacco -Rising demand for these products fueled the rapid growth of the Atlantic slave trade -Slave-grown products from the mainland occupied a larger and larger part of Atlantic commerce -Triangular trade -Freedom meant in part the power and right to enslave others -Most African rulers took part in the slave trade, and proved quite adept at playing the Europeans off against one another, collecting taxes from foreign merchants, and keeping the capture and sale of slaves under their own control -Traders remained in their "factories" and purchased slavesbrought to them by African rulers and dealers -By the 18th century, militarized states like Ashanti and Dahomey would arise in West Africa, with large armies using European firearms to prey on their neighbors in order to capture slaves -Grew to become more and more central to West African society, a source of wealth for African merchants and of power for newly emerging African kingdoms -Middle Passage -The area that would become the U.S. imported between 400,000-600,000 slaves -By 1770, due to the natural reproduction of the slave population, about 1/5 of the estimated 2.3 million persons (not including Indians) living in the English colonies of North America were Africans and their descendants -3 distinct slave systems by the mid-18th century -Tobacco-based plantation slavery in the Chesapeake -Rice-based plantation slavery in South Carolina and Georgia -Nonplantation slavery in New England and the Middle Colonies -Oldest and largest=Tobacco plantation system of the Chesapeake where more than 270,000 slaves resided in 1770, nearly 1/2 of the region's population -Period after 1680 witnessed a large shift from indentured servitude to slavery on the region's tobacco plantations -18th century, growing world demand for tobacco encouraged continued slave import -By the eve of the American Revolution, the center of gravity of slavery in the colony had shifted from the Tidewater (region along the coast) to the Piedmont farther inland -Most Chesapeake slaves worked in the fields, but thousands labored as teamsters, as boatmen, and in skilled crafts -Numerous slave women became cooks, seamstresses, dairy maids, and personal servants -Slavery common on small farms as well as plantations -1770=Nearly 1/2 of Virginia's white families owned at least 1 slave -Slavery laid the foundation for the consolidation of the Chesapeake elite, a landed gentry that, in conjunction with merchants who handled the tobacco trade and lawyers who defended the interests of slaveholders, dominated the region's society and politics -Transformed the Chesapeake into an elaborate hierarchy of degrees of freedom -Violence lay at the heart of the slave system -Whites increasingly considered free blacks dangerous and undesirable. Free blacks lost the right to employ white servants and to bear arms, were subjected to special taxes, and could be punished for striking a white person, regardless of the cause -Farther south, a different slave system, based on rice production, emerged in South Carolina and Georgia -Early South Carolina economy focused on the export to the Caribbean of Indian slaves and to England of deerskins and furs obtained from Indians -Local Creek Indians initially welcomed the settlers and began selling them slaves, generally war captives and their families, most of whom were sold to the West Indies -Launched wars against neighboring tribes for the purpose of capturing and selling slaves -As the plantation system expanded, however, the Creeks became more and more concerned, not only because it led to encroachment on their land but also because they feared enslavement themselves. They were aware that only a handful of slaves worked in nearby Spanish FL. The Creeks preferred to deal with the Spanish who "enslave no one as the English do" -Frontier conditions allowed leeway to South Carolina's small population of African-born slaves, who farmed, tended livestock, and were initially allowed to serve in the militia to fight the Spanish and the Indians -Introduction of a marketable staple crop, in this case rice, led directly to economic development, the large-scale importation of slaves, and a growing divide between white and black -South Carolina= first mainland colony to achieve a black majority. By the 1730s, 2/3 of its population was black -In the 1740s, another staple, indigo (a crop used in producing blue dye), was developed. Indigo required large-scale cultivation and was grown by slaves -Africans taught English settlers how to cultivate rice -Since mosquitoes bearing malaria (a disease to which Africans had developed partial immunity) flourished in the watery rice fields, planters tended to leave plantations under the control of overseers and the slaves themselves -In the Chesapeake, field slaves worked in groups under constant supervision -Under the "task" system that developed in 18th century South Carolina, individual slaves were assigned daily jobs, the completion of which allowed them time for leisure or to cultivate crops of their own -Fearful of the ever-increasing black population majority, SC's legislature took steps to encourage the immigration of "poor Protestants", offering each newcomer a cash bounty and occasionally levying taxes on slave imports, only to see such restrictions overturned in London -Rice cultivation also spread into Georgia in the 18th century -By 1770, as many as 15,000 slaves labored on Georgia's coastal rice plantations -Far less central to the economies of New England and the Middle Colonies, where small farms predominated -Slaves made up only a small percentage of the populations and it was unusual for even rich families to own more than 1 slave -Slaves worked as farm hands, in artisan shops, as stevedores loading and unloading ships, and as personal servants -In the early 18th century, about 3/4 of the urban elite owned at least 1 slave -Since the slave population was so small that they posed to threat to the white majority, laws were less harsh in the South -1770= the 17,000 slaves represented less than 3% of the region's population, slave marriages were recognized in law, the severe physical punishment of slaves was prohibited and slaves could bring suit sin court, testify against whites, and own property and pass it own to their children -With white immigration lagging behind that of Pennsylvania, the colony's Hudson Valley landlords, small farmers, and craftsmen continued to employ considerable amounts of slave labor in the 18th century -As New York City's role in the slave trade expanded, so did slavery in the city. 1746= its 2,440 slaves amounted to 1/5 of New York City's total population. Slaves worked in all sectors of the economy -1770= about 27,000 slaves lived in New York & New Jersey, 10% of their total population -Slavery was also a significant presence in Philadelphia, although the institution stagnated after 1750 as artisans and merchants relied increasingly on wage laborers, whose numbers were augmented by population growth and the completion of the items of indentured servants -Many employers concluded that relying on slave labor, which could be hired and fired at will, made more economic sense than a long-term investment in slaves -The slave population began to reproduce itself by 1740, creating a more balanced sex ration than in the 17th century and making possible the creation of family-centered slave communities -Slaves were continuously exposed to white culture. Many slaves learned English and were swept up in religious revivals known as the Great Awakening -In South Carolina and Georgia, 2 very different black societies emerged -On the rice plantations, slaves lived in extremely harsh conditions and had a low birthrate throughout the 18th century, making rice production dependent on continued slave imports from Africa. Slaves seldom came in contact with whites and enjoyed far more autonomy than elsewhere in the colonies. The larger structures of their lives were established by slavery, but they were able to create an African-based culture. They constructed African-style houses, chose African names for their children, spoke Gullah, a language that mixed various African roots and was unintelligible to most whites. Slaves slowly created families and communities that bridged generations -In the northern colonies, where slaves represented a smaller part of the population, dispersed in small holdings among the white population, a distinctive African-American culture developed more slowly -Common threads that linked these regional African-American cultures=experience of slavery and desire for freedom -Runaway Slaves -Slave uprisings -Slaves had "no notion of liberty" and in 18th century America, dreams of freedom knew no racial boundary
As over-cultivation depleted arable land in the Southeast, slaveholders relocated their agricultural enterprises to the new Southwest, increasing sectional tensions over the institution of slavery and sparking a broad-scale debate about how to set national goals, priorities and strategies.
-Slaveholders moved from southern states like V.A. and S.C. to the deep South and once the Deep South was over-cultivated, they continued to move west
The North's expanding economy and its increasing reliance on a free-labor, manufacturing economy contrasted with the South's dependence on an economic system characterized by slave-based agriculture and slow population growth.
-Slavery affected the lives of all Americans, both white and black
The colonies along the southernmost Atlantic coast and the British islands in the West Indies took advantage of long growing seasons by using slave labor to develop economies based on staple crops; in some cases, enslaved Africans constituted the majority of the population
-Slaves grew rice and indigo in the southern colonies -Due to malaria, the planters left leaving the slaves alone on the plantations -South Carolina first state to have a black majority -South Carolina and Georgia had very high black, slave, populations
Emergence of racially mixed populations Caste system defined by an intermixture among Spanish settlers, Africans and Native Americans
-Spanish forced tens of thousands of Indians to work in gold/silver mines, which supplied the empire's wealth, and on large-scale farms, haciendas, controlled by Spanish landlords -Spanish barred non-Spaniards and non-Christian Spaniards from emigrating -A total of 750,000 colonists in the 3 centuries of Spanish colonial rule -Persons of European birth, peninsulares, stood atop the social hierarchy -Indian inhabitants always outnumbered European colonists and their descendants in Spanish America -Spanish authority granted Indians certain rights within colonial society and looked forward to their eventual assimilation -Spanish ordered wives of colonists to join them in America and demanded that single men marry -With a low population of Spanish women, intermixing of colonists and Indians began -As early as 1514, the Spanish formally approved these marriages, partly as a way of bringing Christianity to the natives -By 1600, mestizos (persons of mixed origin) made up a large part of the population and later on, they repopulated the Valley of Mexico -Spanish America evolved into a hybrid culture, part Spanish, part Indian, and in some areas part African but with a single faith, language, and governmental system -1531- Juan Diego, a poor Indian, reported seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary near a Mexican village and the Virgin of Guadalupe would come to be revered by millions as a symbol of the mixing of Indian and Spanish cultures, and later of the modern nation of Mexico
Conquest of the Americas
-Spanish took the lead in exploration and conquest -Inspired by a search for wealth, national glory, and the desire to spread Catholicism, Spanish conquistadores, often accompanied by religious missionaries and carrying flags emblazoned with the sign of the cross, radiated outward for Hispaniola -1513= Vasco Núñez de Balboa trekked across the isthmus of Panama and became the 1st Europe to reach the Pacific Ocean -Between 1519-1522, Ferdinand Magellan led the 1st expedition to sail around the world, encountering the Pacific islands and peoples previously unknown to Europe and correcting Columbus's erroneous assessment of the earth's size -Hernán Cortés= the 1st explorer to encounter a major American civilization -Cortés arrived at Tenochitlán, the nerve center of the Aztec empire, in 1519 -Cortés conquered the Aztec city with only a few hundred men, relying on superior military technology such as iron weapons and gunpowder, as well as shrewdness in enlisting the aid of some of the Aztecs's subjects, who supplied him with thousands of warrior -Cortés's most powerful ally= disease- a smallpox epidemic that devastated Aztec society -A few years later, Francisco Pizarro conquered the great Inca kingdom centered in modern-day Peru Pizarro captured the Incan king, demanded and received a ransom, then killed the king anyways -Soon treasure fleets carrying cargoes of gold and silver from the mines of Mexico and Peru were traversing the Atlantic to enrich the Spanish crown
Unlike Spanish, French and Dutch colonies, which accepted intermarriage and cross-racial sexual unions with native peoples (and in Spain's case with enslaved Africans), English colonies attracted both males and females who rarely intermarried with either native peoples or Africans, leading to the development of a rigid racial hierarchy
-Spanish, French, and Dutch wanted an increase of population so encouraged intermarriage -The British colonies had larger populations so no need to force population increase -View of non-British as slaves and as inferior, so they didn't intermarry -View of whites as free, blacks as slaves -Whites were higher up than Africans/natives on the racial hierarchy and only interacted with them in wars or if they were their slaves
European attempts to change American Indian beliefs and worldviews on basic social issues such as religion, gender roles and the family, and the relationship of people with the natural environment led to American Indian resistance and conflict
-Thought of themselves as superior to natives -Didn't appreciate the native culture/ways of doing things -Wanted men to have power in individual households -Wanted to spread Christianity -Indians fought back
Bacon's Rebellion
-Spark= a minor confrontation between Indians and colonists on Virginia's western frontier -Settlers demanded that the governor authorize the extermination or removal of the colony's Indians, to open more land for whites -Berkeley, the governor of Virginia, refused since he feared all out warfare and he continued to profit from the trade with Indians in deerskins -An uprising followed that soon careened out of control -Beginning with a series of Indian massacres, it quickly grew into a full-fledged rebellion against Berkeley and his system of rule -Conflict within the Virginia elite -The leader, Nathaniel Bacon, was a wealthy and ambitious planter who had arrived in Virginia in 1673, disdained Berkeley's coterie as men of "mean education and employments" -Backers included men of wealth outside the governor's circle of cronies -Bacon's call for the removal of all Indians from the colony, a reduction of taxes at a time of economic recession, and an end to rule by "grandees" rapidly gained support from small farmers, landless men, indentured servants, and even some Africans -Bacon promised freedom (including access to Indian lands) to all who joined his ranks -Bacon's followers invoked the tradition of "English liberties" and spoke of the poor being "robbed" and "cheated" by their social superiors -1676= Bacon gathered an armed force for an unauthorized and indiscriminate campaign against those he called the governor's "protected and darling Indians". Bacon refused Berkeley's order to disband and marched on Jamestown, burning it to the ground -Berkeley fled and Bacon became the governor of Virginia -Bacon's forces plundered the estates of Berkeley's supporters -Only the arrival of a squadron of warships from England restored order and Bacon's Rebellion was over -23 of Bacon's supporters were hanged (Bacon fell ill and died shortly after Berkeley's departure)
States' rights, nullification, and racist stereotyping provided the foundation for the Southern defense of slavery as a positive good.
-States' rights
Federal government attempts to assert authority over the states brought resistance from state governments in the North and South at different times.
-Tariffs to make more money angered the population
"Atlantic world"
-The British colonies in North America, Britain, and Africa
Western Hemisphere
-The New World -France sent less emigrants to Western Hemisphere in fear that significant emigration would undermine -France's role as a European great power and might compromise its efforts to establish trade and good relations with the Indians
The Second Great Awakening, liberal social ideas from abroad and Romantic beliefs in human perfectibility fostered the rise of voluntary organizations to promote religious and secular reforms including abolition and women's rights.
-The Second Great Awakening
The Columbian Exchange
-The transatlantic flow of goods and people -Altered millions of years of evolution -Plants, animals, and cultures that had evolved independently on separate continents were now thrown together -Plants introduced to Europe from the Americas= corn, tomatoes, potatoes, peanuts, tobacco, cotton -Introduced to the Americas from Europe= wheat, rice, sugarcane, horses, cattle, pigs, sheep -Europeans also carried germs previously unknown in the Americas
Middle Passage
-The voyage across the Atlantic -The second or middle leg in the triangular trading routes linking Europe, Africa, and America -Slaves were crammed aboard vessels as tightly as possible in order to maximize profits -Diseases like measles and smallpox spread rapidly -1 in 5 slaves perished before reaching the New World -Some ship captains threw the sick overboard in order to stop the spread of disease -High death rate for crews -Less than 5% of slaves were destined for mainland North America -Most were destined for Brazil or the West Indies
Whites living on the frontier tended to champion expansion efforts, while resistance by American Indians led to a sequence of wars and federal efforts to control Indian populations.
-White Americans continued to push out further and further into "Indian country" threatening their lands
Columbus
-Thought the Earth was round -Believed by sailing westward he could relatively quickly cross the Atlantic and reach Asia -Religious and commercial motives reinforced one another for him -Along with developing trade, he hoped to convert Asians to Christianity and enlist them in a crusade to redeem Jerusalem from Muslim control -Sought financial support throughout Europe for his voyage -Most of his contemporaries knew that he considerably underestimated the earth's size, which helps to explain why he had trouble gaining backers for his expedition -King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain agreed to become sponsors -Along with the crown, much of his financing came from Spanish and Italian bankers and merchants, who desperately desired to circumvent the Muslim stronghold on East trade -October 12, 1492- 33 days after sailing from the Canary Islands, Columbus and his expedition arrived at the Bahamas (probably San Salvador, Watling Island) -He then encountered Hispaniola (modern-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic) and Cuba -When one ship ran aground, he abandoned it and left 38 men behind on Hispaniola but found room to -bring 10 natives back to Spain for conversion to Christianity -1493- Columbus returned with 17 ships and more than 1,000 men to explore the area and establish a permanent base, La Isabella, that later failed
Spanish and Portuguese traders reached West Africa and partnered with some African groups to exploit local resources and recruit slave labor for the Americas
-Until 1434, no European sailor had seen the coast of Africa below the Sahara or the forest kingdoms south of Mali that contained the gold fields -1434- a Portuguese ship brought a sprig of rosemary from West Africa, proof that one could sail beyond the desert and return -1485- Portuguese reached Benin, an imposing city whose craftsmen produced bronze sculptures -Portuguese established fortified trading posts on Africa's western coast -The profits reaped by these Portuguese "factories", named since merchants were know as factors, inspired other European powers to follow in their footsteps -Portugal also began to colonize Madeira, the Azores, and the Canary and Cape Verde Islands, which lie off the African coast in the Atlantic -Portuguese established plantations on the Atlantic islands, eventually replacing the native populations with slaves shipped from Africa -Slavery in Africa predated European's coming -Slavery was one of several forms of labor in Africa -The coming of the Portuguese, followed by other European traders, accelerated the buying and selling of slaves within Africa -Between 1450-1500, at least 100,000 African slaves were transported to Spain and Portugal -1502- 1st African slaves transported to islands in the Caribbean -Portuguese mariners pushed their explorations southward along the coast
Charter Colony
-Virginia started off as this -There is a joint-stock company (multiple individuals join their money to form a company and charter an expedition) -London Company of Virginia -Has royal support but funded by business people in England
Spanish colonizing efforts in North America, particularly after the Pueblo Revolt, saw an accommodation with some aspects of Native American culture; by contrast, conflict with American Indians tended to reinforce English colonists' worldviews on land and gender roles
-Wanted to continue their presence in the Americas so they knew that they had to be more lenient on the natives -Didn't try to convert them as much -English Conflicts with natives reinforced that they were superior and could take their lands/decimate their populations
Spain sought to establish tight control over the process of colonization in the Western Hemisphere and to convert and/or exploit the native population
-Wanted to convert natives to Catholicism -Wanted to remove all sources of wealth from their colonies to make Spain richer -The Black Legend
Vasco da Gama
1498- sailed around the Cape of Good Hope to India demonstrating the feasibility of a sea route to the East
Albany Plan of Union
1754. Drafted by Benjamin Franklin at the start of the Seven Years's War. Envisioned the creation of a Grand Council composed of delegates from each colony, with the power to levy taxes and deal with Indian relations and the common defense. It was never sent to London for approval.
Quartering Act
1765, housing of British troops in American houses. This angered the colonists
Declaratory Act
1766, Parliament rejected American's claims that only their elected representatives could levy taxes.
Townshend Acts
1767= government in London decides to impose a new set of taxes on the Americans (devised by the chancellor of the Exchequer, Charles Townshend). Townshend persuaded Parliament to impose new taxes on imported goods and create a new board of customs commissioners to collect them and suppress smuggling. Intended to use the revenues to pay the salaries of American governors and judges. Opposition to the Townshend duties developed slower than that of the Stamp Act. 1768- leaders in several colonies decided to reimpose the ban on importing British goods. Townshend crisis leads to Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania.
Loyalists
20 to 25% of free Americans were Loyalists and nearly 20,000 fought on the British side. Most numerous in New York, Pennsylvania, and the Carolinian and Georgian backcountry. Some were wealthy men whose livelihoods depended on working relationships with the British while others feared anarchy in American victory. 60,000 Loyalists left the United States after the war. The Treaty of Paris vowed that Loyalists would receive equality but that did not occur. To them, American independence meant a loss of freedom.
Delegates from the states worked through a series of compromises to form a Constitution for a new national government, while providing limits on federal power.
55 prominent Americans gathered for the Constitution Congress in May 1787, ultimately scrapping the Articles of Confederation entirely and drafted a new constitution. They believed they needed to strengthen national authority and curb "the excesses of democracy". New constitution would create a legislature, an executive, and a national judiciary and Congress would have the power to raise money with reliance on the states. States would be prohibited from infringing on property rights and the government would represent the people. Balance the competing claims of liberty and power. Virginia Plans versus the New Jersey Plan. Having an House of Representatives represented an expansion of democracy. Supreme Court and president. Different way of election. Federalism (relationship between national government and states with a strengthening of national authority) and "checks and balances". Debate over slavery, 3/5 clause. Constitutional Congress ended September 17, 1787.
John Dickinson
A lawyer that published Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania. Argued for reconciliation with the mother country with the colonists enjoying all of the traditional rights of Englishmen. Shows that many American leaders still assumed that political debate should occur among the educated elite.
Common Sense
A pamphlet written by Thomas Paine, who emigrated to Philadelphia in 1774 and advocated for the American cause. Appeared in January 1776. Attacked the "so much boasted Constitution of England" and the principles of hereditary rule and monarchial government. Said the British monarchy was headed by "the royal brute of England" and the English constitution was made in part of "the base remains of two ancient tyrannies...monarchial tyranny in the person of the king [and] aristocratical tyranny in the persons of the peers". Outlined a vision of the historical importance of the American Revolution as Paine stated the new nation would become the home of freedom.
Pontiac's Rebellion
After the Seven Years's War, the departure of the French eliminated the balance-of-power diplomacy that had enabled groups like the Iroquois to maintain a significant degree of autotonomy. Indians saw the British celebration of the victory as a triumph of liberty as a threat to their freedom. 1763, Indians of the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes launched a revolt against the British. Named after an Ottawa war leader, the rebellion owed at least as much to the teachings of Neolin, a religious prophet from Delaware. Neolin had a vision saying Indians must reject European technology and join as a single people.
The Spanish, supported by the bonded labor of the local Indians, expanded their mission settlements into California, providing opportunities for social mobility among enterprising soldiers and settlers that led to new cultural blending.
Alarmed by Russians in the area, Spain saw it as a threat to their American empire and ordered the colonization of California. Several towns were established and converted thousands of Indians to Catholicism. They also taught natives Spanish and intercede settled agriculture and skilled crafts. Wanted to convert Indians to Spanish culture. Many missions in California, many relied on Indian labor. Small populations and some mixed race peoples.
Charles Willson Peale
American painter who painted the the figures of the American Revolution. Founder of the first major museum in America.
John Trumbull
American painter. His paintings of major scenes of the Revolution provide a unique record of the events and participants of the conflict.
During and after the American Revolution, an increased awareness of the inequality in society motivated some individuals and groups to call for the abolition of slavery and greater political democracy in the new state and national governments.
Americans began to realize the inequalities in freedom formed by the existence of slavery. More discussion of the issue. Antislavery grew among the Quakers. Began hopes that slavery could be removed from American life. Many slave owners voluntarily freed their slaves and slavery was slowly removed from the Northern states.
Migrants continued to launch new settlements in the West, creating new distinctive backcountry cultures and fueling tension and rivalry with older coastal settlements.
Americans continued to push west in search of greater economic opportunity especially in the Northern parts past Kentucky. More people moved west which caused some tension between the original states as they lost parts of their populations.
As western settlers sought free navigation of the Mississippi River, the United States forged diplomatic initiatives to manage the conflict with Spain and to deal with the continued British presence on the American continent.
Americans moved farther west into the lands of other powers causing the Americans to have to have better relationships with these countries.
Calls during the ratification process for greater guarantees of rights resulted in the addition of a Bill of Rights shortly after the Constitution was adopted.
Anti-Federalists predicted that the new government would fall under the sway of merchants, creditors, and others hostile to the interests of ordinary Americans. Also, Anti-Federalist pointed out that a lack of a Bill of Rights left unprotected rights including trial by jury and freedom of speech and the press. Every state constitution contained a declaration of citizens' rights causing most Americans to believe the Constitution should have one as well. Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791 and offered a definition of the "unalienable rights". The Bill of Rights shows changes in American life from the Revolution.
Intolerable Acts
As a response to the Boston Tea Party, Parliament closed the port of Boston until all the tea was paid. They also curtailed town meetings and authorized the governor to appoint members to the council instead of having a vote. Also had the quartering of soldiers. This angered the Americans.
Boston Tea Party
As a result of the tea tax, many colonists insisted that paying it would acknowledge Britain's right to tax the colonies. As tea shipments arrived, resistance developed in the ports. December 26,1773, a group of colonists disguised as Indians boarded 3 ships at harbor in Boston Harbor and threw more than 300 chests of tea into the water. The loss to the East India Company was around 10,000 pounds (around $4 million today)
Rationalism
Belief that opinions/thoughts should be based on reason/science vs. religion/feelings
William Pitt
British Secretary of State who took office in 1757. Devised a strategy of providing funds to Prussia and Austria to enable them to hold the line against France and its ally Spain in Europe, while the British struck the French's weak point, its colonies.
William Howe
British commander who failed in his attempt to take control of Boston. His forces cut down the original liberty tree. If he had prosecuted the war more vigorously at the outset, he may have nipped the rebellion in the bud by destroying Washington's army. Attacked New York in summer 1776. Never managed to inflict a decisive defeat on the Americans.
Edward Braddock
British general during the Seven Years's War. Led an expedition against Fort Duquesne (modern Pittsburgh) and was ambushed by French and Indian soldiers, leaving him and 2/3 of his men hurt or dead.
Proclamation of 1763
Caused by the fighting between Indians and colonists. Prohibited colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains. Banned the sale of Indian lands to private individuals. Aimed to avoid being dragged into endless border conflict. Enraged settlers and speculators hoping to take advantage of the French leaving the lands. This policy was often ignored.
The colonists' belief in the superiority of republican self-government based on the natural rights of the people found its clearest American expression in Thomas Paine's Common Sense and in the Declaration of Independence.
Common Sense showed that the colonists' natural rights as citizen and also people were violated. Both ideals of the Great Awakening and the Enlightenment caused Americans to believe that they have God given, undeniable rights that the British have denied them. The Declaration of Independence stated the same denials of basic, God given, undeniable rights of the Americans from the British. Jefferson also stated these rights.
Maize Cultivation
Corn= major crop in the Americas that the Indians introduced to Europeans
Writ of Assistance
Court orders authorizing customs officers to conduct searches for premises. First introduced in Massachusetts in 1751 in order to enforce the Acts of Trade. James Otis represented Boston merchants in challenging the renewal of the writs. Failed to convince the court but gained public support in saying the writs violated the natural rights of the colonists.
As settlers moved westward during the 1780s, Congress enacted the Northwest Ordinance for admitting new states and sought to promote public education, the protection of private property, and the restriction of slavery in the Northwest Territory.
Defined the terms by which western land would be marketed and settled. The Ordinance of 1784 established stages of self-government for the west. The area would be divided into districts initially governed by Congress and then eventually would become states. Land would be surveyed by the government and the sold in sections of 1 square mile (640 acres) at $1 per acre. The system promised to control and concentrate settlement and raise money for Congress. Officials found it difficult to regulate the thirst for new land. 1787, Congress decided to sell large tracts to private groups for resale. Northwest Ordinance of 1787 called for eventual establishment of 3-5 states north of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi and was the first official recognition that Indians continued to own their land.
Declaration of Rights and Grievances of First Continental Congress
Document written during the First Continental Congress sent to the King that stated the rights colonists have as British citizens and their grievances.
The constitutional framers postponed a solution to the problems of slavery and the slave trade, setting the stage for recurring conflicts over these issues in later years.
Due to conflict, the constitutional framers prohibited Congress from abolishing the slave trade for 20, required states to return fugitives to their owners, and provided 3/5 of the slave population would be counted for the state's representation in the House of Representatives and its electoral votes for president. Comprise so Americans wouldn't start a civil war.
During and after the colonial war for independence, various tribes attempted to forge advantageous political alliances with one another and with European powers to protect their interests, limit migration of white settlers and maintain their tribal lands.
During and after the war, tribes formed alliances along themselves to gain power but also with what ever side of the war that was currently winning. The Proclamation Line limited white settlers's migration and after the war, the government discouraged settlement west. Governments tried to buy or have the lands ceded to them instead of just taking them over.
The continued presence of European powers in North America challenged the United States to find ways to safeguard its borders, maintain neutral trading rights and promote its economic interests.
Even though the Americans had gained their freedom, they still had to have alliances with other European powers. The British still had a large presence in the New World, especially since they had forts just outside American borders, so a friendly relationship was necessary. Also, the British and the America still traded a lot with each other. The Americans continued their alliance with the French, a alliance lasting into modern times.
Many new state constitutions and the national Articles of Confederation, reflecting republican fears of both centralized power and excessive popular influence, placed power in the hands of the legislative branch and maintained property qualifications for voting and citizenship.
Every state adopted a constitution and all Americans agreed their government would be a republic. The provisions of the state constitutions reflected the balance of power between advocates of internal change and those who feared excessive democracy. Voting was viewed as an entitlement rather than a privilege and their was a great expansion of the right to vote. Government didn't hold much power so the states did.
The Bill of Rights
First 10 amendments to the Constitution. Every state constitution contained some kind of declaration of the rights of citizens and the majority of Americans believed the Constitution should have one as well. Ratified in 1791. Offered a definition of the "unalienable rights" mentioned in the Declaration of Independence. Established freedom of expression as a cornerstone of the popular understanding of American freedom.
Patriots
Group of citizens that during the American Revolution supported the American cause of independence
The Iroquois Confederacy
Group of several Indian tribes. Both sides of the war wanted to ally with the Iroquois. Different tribes in the alliance sided with different sides of the war.
The Federalist Papers
Hamilton, Madison, and Jay generated support for ratification by publishing a series of 85 essays that appeared in newspapers and were gathered in a book in 1788. Hamilton wrote 50, Madison wrote 30, and Jay wrote 5. Today, the essays are regarded as among the most important American contributions to political though.
Patrick Henry
His four resolutions, including the colonists should enjoy the same liberties, privileges, franchises, and immunities as the British, right to consent to taxation, were approved by the House of Burgess One of the 7 delegates from Virginia to the First Continental Congress. Good public speaker. Condemned slavery but feared abolition. Warned that in time of war the new government may take steps to arm and free slaves.
Enlightenment ideas and women's experiences in the movement for independence promoted an ideal of "republican motherhood," which called on white women to maintain and teach republican values within the family and granted women a new importance in American political culture.
Improvement in status for many women. "Republican motherhood"= as a result of independence, women played an indispensable role by training future citizens. To better educate these future citizens, the expansion of educational opportunities for women was encouraged so they could impart political wisdom to their children. Idea of companionate marriage that had mutual dependency instead of male dominance.
Town Meeting
In Plymouth, the Pilgrims would meet to make decisions for the colony
Intolerable Acts
In response to the Boston Tea Party, the British Parliament close the port of Boston until the tea was paid for. Also, it curtailed town meetings and allowed the governor to appoint members to the council instead of having a vote. Also allowed for quartering of soldiers.
Many Europeans developed a belief in white superiority to justify their subjugation of Africans and American Indians, using several different rationales
Inferior because they weren't white, weren't Christian, didn't have the same family structures, different cultures, etc.
As national political institutions developed in the new United States, varying regionally-based positions on economic, political, social and foreign policy issues promoted the development of political parties.
In the U.S., differing opinions began to occur so different political parties developed, which is important to modern politics. Regional differences also caused this.
Despite considerable loyalist opposition, as well as Great Britain's apparently overwhelming military and financial advantages, the patriot cause succeeded because of the colonists' greater familiarity with the land, resilient military and political leadership, ideological commitment, and support from European allies.
In the war, the newly formed American army faced the greatest military power of the time. Britain had a well-trained army, a powerful navy, and experienced commanders while the Americans had local militias and a poorly equipped Continental army. Due to the Seven Years' War and intensive militia training, many Americans had military experience and they fought at home for a cause that inspired devotion and sacrifice. Men with little hopes of freedom enlisted. The war would be costly for the British and they also misjudged the level of support for independence. The British's enemy, France, aligned with America which balanced the forces.
Pope Alexander VI
Issued the Treaty of Tordesillas, which divided the world in half- Spanish explore one half, Portuguese explore the other
Olive Branch Petition
July 1775, Congress addressed this to George III, reaffirming Americans' loyalty to the crown and hoping for a "permanent reconciliation"
Battle of Bunker Hill
June 17, 1775, the British dislodged colonial militiamen from Breed's Hill, although only at a heavy loss in casualties. The arrival of the American cannon in March 1776 made the British position in Boston impossible so they abandoned the city.
Committee of Correspondence
Located in Boston. Communicated with other colonies to encourage opposition to the Sugar and Currency Acts. Mercy Otis Warren was a founder.
Second Continental Congress
May 1775. Authorized raising of an army, printed money to pay for it, and appointed George Washington as commander
Astrolabe
Measures latitude and longitude, invented in Middle East and perfected in Europe
Paul Revere
Member of the Boston Sons of Liberty. A silversmith and engraver. Helped to stir up indignation against the British army by producing a widely circulated yet inaccurate print of the Boston Massacre depicting a line of British soldiers firing into an unarmed crowd,One of the riders from Boston that warned local leaders of the British approach
The Constitution's failure to precisely define the relationship between American Indian tribes and the national government led to problems regarding treaties and Indian legal claims relating to the seizure of Indian lands.
Northwest Ordinance stated that the Indians owned their land. Seizing Indian's land would cause wars that would cost more than buying the land, signing treaties, or voluntary removal. Thought the Indian presence would disappear causing a bit of confusion.
Sugar Act
On April 5, 1764, colonial merchants had been required to pay a tax of six pence per gallon on the importation of foreign molasses. It also increases taxes in coffee, indigo and wine. It also banned the importation of rum and wine from France. These taxes were raised without consent of the colonists. This Act was designed to raise revenue for the British Homeland from the colonies.
The Gaspée Affair
On June 9, 1772, a local vessel out of Newport was traveling to Providence when its captain baited the HMS Gaspee and led Duddington into shallow waters near Warwick. The Gaspee ran aground at a place that is now known as Gaspee Point. News of the grounding quickly reached Providence and 55 men, led by John Brown, planned an attack on the ship. The following evening they surrounded and boarded the ship, wounding Duddington and capturing the entire crew. All were hauled ashore and abandoned, to watch as the Gaspee was looted and then burned.
John Hancock
One of Boston's most prominent merchants. Owned the ship Liberty, which the capture of caused the Boston Massacre. First to add his name to the Declaration of Independence. President of the Second Continental Congress. An anti-federalist.
The resulting independence movement was fueled by established colonial elites, as well as by grassroots movements including newly mobilized laborers, artisans and women, and rested on arguments over the rights of British subjects, the rights of the individual and the ideas of the Enlightenment.
Opponents to the Stamp Act didn't just rely on debate. Crowds forced those chosen to administer the act to resign and destroyed shipments of stamps. Later on, the Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party, and Gaspée Affairs occurred in opposition to the British. The colonists began to fight back against the British. The Continental Congress occurred and then Lexington and Concord which started the Revolutionary War.
Anti-Standing Army Ideology
Opposition to armies located on the outskirts of America during times of peace
Sons of Liberty
Organized processions with citizens yelling liberty in the streets of New York City. Great following from craftsmen, laborers, and sailors. Had groups in several cities.
Revenue Act of 1767
Placed goods such as wool and hides on the enumerated list, which means they had to be shipped through England
James Madison Virginia Plan
Plan proposed by James Madison. Proposed the creation of a two-house legislature with state's population determining its representation in each.
George Grenville
Prime Minister of Britain. Introduced the Sugar Act.
Cotton Mather
Puritan minister during the Great Awakening
As the first national administrations began to govern under the Constitution, continued debates about such issues as the relationship between the national government and the states, economic policy, and the conduct of foreign affairs led to the creation of political parties.
Ratification wasn't certain. Anti-federalism. Bill of Rights. American nationality combined civic and ethnic nationalism. Indians, slaves, and people are all mentioned in the Constitution but only people are entitled to American freedom. Arguments over if Indians could become citizens or part of American society. Arguments over the rights of slaves and then the rights of free blacks.
Bartholomeu Dias
Reached the Cape of Good Hope in 1487
Currency Act
Reaffirmed the earlier ban on colonial assemblies issuing paper as "legal tender" or money that individuals are required to accept in payments of debt.
James Otis
Represented Boston merchants in challenging the renewal of the writs. Failed to convince the court but gained public support in saying the writs violated the natural rights of the colonists.
Boston Massacre
Royal troops stationed in Boston in 1678 after rioting followed the British seizure of the ship Liberty for violating trade regulations. March 5, 1770, a fight between a snowball-throwing crowd of Bostonians and British troops escalated into an armed confrontation leaving 5 Bostonians dead. Paul Revere helped stir up indignation against the British army.
First Continental Congress
September 1774, the most prominent political leaders of the colonies met in Philadelphia to coordinate resistance to the Intolerable Acts.
Treaty of Paris (1783)
September 1783. Ended the Revolutionary War. Called for the return of seized lands and the right to sue in court for Loyalists, which did not actually occur.
The American Revolution and the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence had reverberations in France, Haiti, and Latin America, inspiring future rebellions.
The American Revolution showed the undeniable rights inspiring other countries who felt their rights were being denied as well to revolt following the example of the Americans.
Three-Fifths Compromise
The Constitution that 3/5 of the slave population would be counted in determining each state's representation in the House of Representatives and its electoral votes for president.
The French Revolution's spread throughout Europe and beyond helped fuel Americans' debate not only about the nature of the United States' domestic order, but also about its proper role in the world.
The French Revolution propelled questioning about the American government system in the states causing events like Shay's Rebellion to occur. The French Revolution also allowed Americans to see their global influence.
The French withdrawal from North America and the subsequent attempt of various native groups to reassert their power over the interior of the continent resulted in new white-Indian conflicts along the western borders of British and, later, U.S. colonial settlement and among settlers looking to assert more power in interior regions.
The French withdrawal opened up more land which was wanted by both the Indians and the colonists. Colonists continued to push west in search for more land causing conflict with Indians. In the U.S., the western lands were a major issue as the population wanted it but the government didn't want to anger the natives. Eventually, the land was either ceded or sold to the U.S.
English population growth and expansion into the interior disrupted existing French-Indian fur trade networks and caused various Indian nations to shift alliances among competing European powers.
The Ohio Valley became caught up in a complex struggle for power involving the French, British, rival Indian communities, settlers, and land companies. Indians learned that direct military confrontation with Europeans meant suicide, and an alliance with one European power exposed them to danger. Often, Indians played the European powers for their best interests. British colonists moved farther west causing tension and the Seven Years' War.
Great Britain's massive debt from the Seven Years' War resulted in renewed efforts to consolidate imperial control over North American markets, taxes, and political institutions — actions that were supported by some colonists but resisted by others.
The Seven Years' War left Britain with an enormous debt and vastly enlarged overseas possessions to defend, which led the British governments to come up with ways to have the colonies share the cost of empire. The Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Townshend Acts, Tea Act, Intolerable Acts, and Navigation Acts were formed in order to make the colonists pay but only enraged the colonists. British thought that the colonies should pay part of the debt as part of the bill for continued protection and also stop cheating the treasury by violating the Navigation Acts. No taxation without representation. The Stamp Act.
Stamp Act Congress
The Stamp Act was enacted by British Parliament in 1765 to tax colonists for every piece of printed paper created in the colonies. The revenue made from this taxation was supposed to be used in an effort to protect the American frontier near the Appalachian Mountains. Although the tax was small, it upset the colonists because it was an effort to raise money without the consent of the colonist, something that other taxes at this time did not do. In response the Virginia House of Burgesses declared that the English could not do this and were effectively dissolved by the Virginia governor.
Stamp Act Crisis
The Stamp Act was enacted by British Parliament in 1765 to tax colonists for every piece of printed paper created in the colonies. The revenue made from this taxation was supposed to be used in an effort to protect the American frontier near the Appalachian Mountains. Although the tax was small, it upset the colonists because it was an effort to raise money without the consent of the colonist, something that other taxes at this time did not do. In response the Virginia House of Burgesses declared that the English could not do this and were effectively dissolved by the Virginia governor.
Agricultural Economy
The colonies produced farm products for exports providing the primary source of income
Great Compromise
The compromise between the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan. Established two-house Congress consisting of a Congress with 2 members per state and a House of Representatives according to population.
After the British defeat of the French, white-Indian conflicts continued to erupt as native groups sought both to continue trading with Europeans and to resist the encroachment of British colonists on traditional tribal lands.
The war eliminated the balance-of-power diplomacy that allowed groups to maintain some autonomy. Indians saw the removal of the French as a threat to their freedom since they largely fought on the French side. Without consent, French ceded Indian lands to the British. 1763- Pontiac's Rebellion, in which Indians of the Ohio Vally and Great Lakes revolted against the British from an idea all Indians were a single people and only by working together, they could regain their independence. To prevent further Indian conflict, the British established the Proclamation Line.
Protestant evangelical religious fervor strengthened many British colonists' understandings of themselves as a chosen people blessed with liberty, while Enlightenment philosophers and ideas inspired many American political thinkers to emphasize individual talent over hereditary privilege.
Through the Great Awakening, many British colonists though of themselves as a chosen people blessed with liberty and also right in their ways meanwhile, the Enlightenment caused Americans to think that reason could govern human life. Many American leaders held Enlightenment views causing for more of a separation of Church and State which did not occur in England at the time.
Branches of Government
Two house Congress consisting of a Senate in which each state has 2 members, and a House of Representatives appointed according to population.
Lexington and Concord
War broke out between the colonists and British on April 19 when a force of British soldiers marched from Boston toward the nearby town of Concord seeking to seize arms stockpiled there. Riders from Boston warned local leaders of the troops's approach so they could resist the advancement. Around 49 Americans and 73 British died. Called "the shot heard 'round the world".
Virginia Resolves
Virginia's response to the Stamp Act, created by the Virginia General Assembly, one of the first acts of revolution to a British law. States that the colonists needed to enjoy the right of British citizens, taxation of the colonists must be done by them or their representatives, the crown has disrespected their legal system, only the General Assembly of Virginia has the power to impose taxes on the colonists and any attempt to put this power on anyone else destroys their freedom.
Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom
Written by Thomas Jefferson, a statement about freedom of conscience and the separation of church and state. Passed by the Virginia General Assembly on January 16. 1786.
Mutiny Act
Yearly act sent out by British Parliament that is added to each year. For example, in 1765, the Quartering Act was added.
Daughters of Liberty
Women who spun and wove at home so as to not to purchase British goods
Treaty of Paris
Written at the end of the Seven Years's War. In this, France ceded Canada to Britain in exchange for the return of the sugar islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique.