Download C-Notes US History

US History
C-Notes
Historical Inquiry
Bias -causes one to feel or show an inclination or prejudice
for or against someone or something
Multiple Perspectives -many different viewpoints
Reliability -the ability to be depended on for accuracy or
honesty
Corroboration -evidence that confirms or supports a
statement, theory, or finding
Historical Inquiry
Evidence -a body of facts or information indicating whether a
belief or proposition is true
Contextualization -to think about or provide information
about the situation in which something happens
Sourcing -process of evaluating a historical artifact e.g.
analyzing bias, author, perspective, audience, corroboration,
evidence, context, and reliability
Europe Before America
European
Economic
Conditions
Population
● Sharp population decrease after the Black
Death
○ Collapse of the “Feudal” System
● Quick population recovery: more that
pre-Black Death
● Seeking new “frontiers”
Production and Markets
● Need to find more land and resources
● European desire for entering the Indian
Ocean Economy
European
Colonial
Competition
Spain
● 1492 Columbus arrival marks the beginning
contact between Europe and the Americas
● Strongest European power under Philip II
(1527-98)
● Spanish conquistadors explore Mesoamerica &
South America
○ Destroying the Mexica/Aztec & Inca
Empires
● Later colonized south & southwestern US
● Conquistadors enslaved native people &
attempted to supplant their culture with
catholicism
European
Colonial
Competition
con..
Britain
● Colonies originally founded by joint-stock
companies, in hope of yielding a profit
● Others founded in search of religious freedom
France
● Established colonies to convert native
peoples to Catholicism.
● Also looking for natural resources such as
gold & trading furs
Netherlands
● Founded New Netherland to make money in
the fur trade
The Colonies
Southern
Colonies
Generally founded by those seeking economic gain
Jamestown, Virginia
● First permanent English settlement in America,
settled in 1607
● Founded by the Virginia Company of London
(joint-stock company)
● Successful as a colony because of several factors
○ Tobacco as a cash crop (introduced by John
Rolfe)
○ Opportunity to own land-via the headright
system
○ Lack of jobs in England
● Indentured Servants: colonists brought new settlers
who worked for 4-7 years in exchange for passage
New England
Colonies
● Not undertaken by joint-stock companies;
independent ventures
● More concerned with religious freedom (Pilgrims &
Puritans), but also adventurers
● Aimed to arrive near Jamestown, but arrived in
New England
● First Colony: Plymouth, 1620 (Gov. Wm. Bradford)
○ Harsh winter left 44 dead out of 102
Mayflower passengers
○ Good relationship with the neighboring
Wampanoag tribe
○ 1621: First Thanksgiving (Harvest Festival due
to abundant crop)
New England
Colonies
con…
Massachusetts
Massachusetts Bay Colony
● 1630: Puritan venture header by John Winthrop
● Religious utopia: “City Upon a Hill”
● Non-puritan elements, but religious law as a whole
○ Mandatory church
○ Church served as city-assembly
● Had own charter and was ruled by the local
governor
● Great Migration brought 15,000 Puritans by 1642
● Education: mandatory education = high literacy
rate
○ 1636: Harvard College first university in
America (training ministers)
Middle
Colonies:
Pennsylvania
Part of debt repayment by Charles II to Wm. Penn Sr.
● 1681: Penn’s Woods Colony (Pennsylvania)
○ Wm. Penn was a Quaker (Society of Friends):
pacifists & dissenting from the Church of
England
○ Relatively more liberal & open to non-members
than the Puritans; open religious policy
○ Well advertised colony, wide-spread European
migration (Germany, the Netherland, France,
Sweden)
○ Philadelphia as the capital, designed and built by
Penn. Quickly becomes the most populated city
in the colonies
■ Center of much cultural & political activity
Slavery
Slavery started as part of indentured servitude in
Jamestown
● Early indentured servants were set free after the
end of their servitude terms; as tobacco & rice
farming became more widespread, more laborers
are needed
● 1619: Enslaved Africans first brought to Virginia
● West Africa-North America connection: “The
Middle Passage” : brutal transportation conditions
● Plantations work (mainly in the south), household
or urban slaves (workshops, craftsmen, etc.)
● 500,000 enslaved African Americans in colonies
by 1776
Politics & Ideology
Increased
British
Control
●
●
●
“Salutary Neglect”: England regulated trade and gov’t in
the colonies, but otherwise interfered as little as
possible
1754: The French and Indian War -7 Years Wars
○
Part of the greater British vs. French wars
○
1763: Treaty of Paris, the French lose most possessions i North
America
Proclamation of 1763
○
○
●
Forbade American settlements beyond the Appalachian
Limited American frontier expansion
1765: The Stamp Act
○
○
First direct tax on the American colonies
Common English taxes at a lower rate
○
1765: Stamp Act Congress (8 colonies): “No taxation without
representation”
Philosophical
Resistance
● Americans had come to believe that the
sovereignty of their government lay in colonial
legislatures, not Parliament. This was the idea of
“actual representation”
● They also were becoming alienated from British
idea of “Virtual representation”, in which they
could not vote for members of Parliament.
●
Thus, Parliamentary taxation was a violation of
good government
Physical
Resistance
●
●
●
1770: Boston Massacre: British military takeover of
Massachusetts
○ Eight killed by the British
1773: The Tea Act
○ Establishing a Tea monopoly
■ The Tea Party: a cargo of tea is thrown to the sea at
Boston Ports
1774: Intolerable Acts
○ Boston Port Act: limiting trade in Boston
○ Administration of Justice: British officers cannot be tried in
the colonies
○ Quartering Act: Americans have to house British soldiers
○ Quebec Act 1774: increased the Quebec territory to Ohio
Valley
■ Propaganda: Benjamin Franklin’s “Join or Die” snake
Increased
Colonial
Resistance
●
●
1774:First Continental Congress
○ 12 Colonies, except Georgia
○ Asking the crown to reverse and nullify the acts
○ Granted that the parliament has to impose taxes,
but asked that the colonies be represented
○ Decided to meet in 1775 if grievances are not
addressed
○ Towns began organizing militias and stockpiling
weapons
1775: Battles of Lexington and Concord
○ Massachusetts militia inflicted casualties on British
soldiers, forced them to retreat
A New Nation
The
Declaration of
Independence
●
●
May 1775: the Second Continental Congress,
Philadelphia
○ Established Continental Army, led by George
Washington
○ Commissioned Thomas Jefferson to write
Declaration of Independence
Declaration of Independence
○ Basic human rights (Enlightenment ideals):
grievances against George III; declaring
independence
○ All signatories effectively traitors to the British
Crown
○ July 4, 1776 war for independence begins
The
Revolutionary
War
●
●
●
●
●
Sept-Oct 1777: Saratoga: first major American win
1777: the British conquered Philadelphia; Congress in
hiding
1778: Treaty of Alliance with France: Brings French
military and arms support
1781: Siege of Yorktown, VA
○ French naval siege
○ Lord Cornwallis surrenders
1783: Treaty of Paris: American Independence
○ Lands south of the Great Lakes went to the
Colonies
State
Constitutions
after
Independence
●
●
●
Changes to primogeniture (first born inherits)
landholding laws
Many colonies stopped a state supported church
Republican ideas emerge
○ Enlightenment ideas
■ Government’s role is to secure the rights of the
people
■ Gets its power from the consent of the people
○ Weak government
■ Weak governor
■ Frequent election for the legislature
■ Moving the capitals to smaller cities to stop the
concentration of power
Articles of
Confederation
●
●
●
●
First Plan of government for the newly independent
states; established an alliance between the
“brotherhood of states.”
Reflected a fear of a strong central government (federal
government) and states’ desire for sovereignty
Successes
○ Fought and won Revolutionary War
○ Northwest Ordinance of 1787
Failures
○ Congress could not levy taxes
○ No national executive or judiciary
○ 9 of 13 states needed to pass legislation
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