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Regents Busters
Colonial Era:
All 13 colonies were on the East (Atlantic) coast.
South is warm and fertile, had plantations and many slaves.
North is cool and less fertile and was less reliant on slaves, had more manufacturing and
trade.
British economic policy was mercantilism, by which the 13 colonies existed to benefit
Britain, so Britain restricted colonial trade.
The French and Indian War established British colonial dominance in North America but
led to tension between the British and the colonists.
To avoid conflict with Indians, the king’s Proclamation of 1763 prohibited settlement
west of the Appalachian Mountains and the British began taxing the colonists to pay for
the costs of the war.
This ended the period of Salutary Neglect, during which the British loosely enforced
mercantilist laws.
The colonists protested against this practice, calling it “taxation without representation,”
because the colonists had no representatives in the British Parliament.
American Revolution and Constitution:
Enlightenment thinkers like John inspired the Declaration of Independence
Locke
Locke proclaimed that all men are equal, have natural rights, and that a government’s
power comes from the consent of the governed.
Locke also argued that a government that did not protect natural rights should be
overthrown.
Many Americans were inspired to support independence by Thomas Paine’s pamphlet
Common Sense
The United States won the Revolutionary War and began its existence as an independent
country under the Articles of Confederation.
This system of government established a very weak national government and was
replaced by the Constitution.
The weakness of the Articles was revealed by Shays’ Rebellion.
The Constitution created a government consisting of three branches – legislative
executive, and judicial – and a strong national government.
Supporters of ratifying (approving) the Constitution were called Federalists; they wrote.
The Federalist Papers to drum up support for the Constitution
Opponents of the Constitution were called anti-Federalists; they demanded a Bill of
Rights be added to the Constitution.
Early Presidents:
George Washington was the first president; he established several important precedents
(examples), including having a group of advisors known as a cabinet, proclaiming
neutrality in foreign policy, and serving only two terms as president. Two of
Washington’s most important advisors were Thomas Jefferson (leader of the DemocraticRepublicans) and Alexander Hamilton (leader of the Federalist Party).
Thomas Jefferson believed in a limited national government and a strict interpretation of
the Constitution – in which Congress only had the power to do what was listed in the
Constitution.
Hamilton’s financial plan helped establish the credit of the United States.
Hamilton believed in a stronger national government and a loose interpretation of the
Constitution.
Hamilton claimed that the elastic clause allowed Congress to pass all laws that are
“necessary and proper,” including the creation of a national bank, which Jefferson
opposed.
Jefferson reversed his opinion on strict interpretation of the Constitution when he made
the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. This purchase doubled the size of the United States and
allowed it to establish control over the Mississippi River and New Orleans.
Andrew Jackson’s presidency was a time when Jackson claimed to support the common
man (who had recently gained the right to vote).
He used the spoils system to reward his supporters with government jobs and vetoed the
renewal of the 2nd Bank of the United States because he thought it only helped the
wealthy.
Jackson also strongly opposed South Carolina’s claim that it could nullify – not follow –
a tariff law passed by the United States.
Jackson’s opponents claimed he abused his power and acted like a king.
The president who probably came closest to acting like a king was John Adams, who
signed the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798, which made it a crime to criticize the
government.
Jefferson and Madison claimed in the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions that states
could nullify unconstitutional federal laws.
The Supreme Court actually has the power to declare laws unconstitutional, a practice
known as judicial review.
This was established by the Marshall Court in Marbury v. Madison.
In addition to strengthening the judicial branch, the Marshall Court strengthened the
national government.
The Civil War and Reconstruction:
The issue of slavery and differences in economic development (Northern manufacturing
vs. Southern plantations) led to sectional tensions between the North and South,
Sectional tensions increased with the issue of the westward expansion of slavery.
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850 tried to resolve this
tension, but Civil War broke out after southern states seceded from the Union in 1860 and
1861.
Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that his goal at the start of the war was simply to preserve
the Union, but he ended up issuing the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, freeing
slaves in areas in rebellion.
The Union won the war (because it was more industrialized) and slavery was completely
abolished by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
Southern states used Black Codes to restrict the rights of newly freed slaves.
African Americans were given new rights during the period of Reconstruction (18651877)
The 14th Amendment guaranteed citizenship and equal protection under the law
The 15th Amendment gave black men the right to vote. But after Reconstruction ended,
they were often denied these rights in the Southern states until the Civil Rights movement
of the 1950s and 60s.
Jim Crow laws established segregation and were upheld as constitutional if facilities were
“separate but equal” in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson.
Poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses prevented Southern African-Americans
from exercising their 15th Amendment right to vote.
President Johnson and the Radical Republicans in Congress disagreed on Reconstruction
policy, resulting in Johnson’s impeachment in 1868.
W.E.B. DuBois urged African-Americans to demand immediate social and political
equality, while Booker T. Washington said African-Americans should improve their
economic status through vocational training and temporarily accept segregation.
Industrialization:
After the Civil War, the United States’ economy rapidly expanded through
industrialization.
Businesses were not regulated by the federal government, which followed a laissez-faire
economic policy.
Availability of factory jobs encouraged many Americans and immigrants to move to
cities in a process known as urbanization.
Harsh treatment of workers led to the establishment of labor unions like the Knights of
Labor and the American Federation of Labor (AFL).
The AFL focused on “bread and butter unionism” – improving wages, working
conditions, and hours; they were successful because they were a union of skilled workers.
But, generally government policy favored business whenever workers went on strike.
Laws regulating the economy, like the Interstate Commerce Act and Sherman Antitrust
Act were passed in the late 19th century period known as the Gilded Age, but were not
enforced until the early 20th century
Progressivism:
In an attempt to remedy the problems associated with industrialization and urbanization,
the Progressive Movement developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Progressives believed that government could help improve the lives of people.
Progressive reforms included laws to ensure that food products were safe, the
environment was conserved, and constitutional amendments:
A. Providing for a personal income tax (16th),
B. Direct election of Senators (17th),
C. The right to vote for women (19th).
Journalists called muckrakers inspired many of these reforms.
Reforms like initiative, recall, and referendum tried to make the country more
democratic.
T. Roosevelt and Taft were trustbusters;
Wilson was also a progressive.
The Federal Reserve was created during Wilson’s presidency to regulate interest rates
and the money supply.
Imperialism and World War I:
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the United States sought to expand overseas, an
extension of the idea of Manifest Destiny, which had inspired settlement of the West and
the acquisition of new territories from Mexico in the 1840s.
The U.S. wanted to gain new markets for trade (Open Door Policy in China, for example)
and sources of natural resources.
The United States fought a war with Spain, inspired in part by Yellow Journalism, in
1898; after winning, the U.S. added Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to its
empire.
The three Progressive presidents, Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson all got the U.S. involved in
Latin America, though Roosevelt was the most enthusiastic about it.
He expanded the Monroe Doctrine, which in 1823 had warned European powers to stay
out of the Western Hemisphere, to claim the right of the U.S. to act as “international
police power” in Latin America.
The U.S. found itself drawn into World War I in 1917, mainly because German
submarines sank many American ships.
The U.S. helped the Allies win the war
But, the rest of the Allies who harshly punished Germany in the Treaty of Versailles
largely ignored President Woodrow Wilson’s peace proposal, known as the 14 Points.
The Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles because it would have required the U.S. to
join the League of Nations, violating the traditional principle of avoiding the permanent
alliances, which Washington had warned about in his Farewell Address.
The Roaring 20s and the Great Depression:
The 1920s seemed to be a time of economic prosperity, but overproduction, unwise
purchases made on credit, and an increasing gap between rich and poor contributed to the
beginning of the Great Depression in 1929.
Social changes took place in the 1920s (flappers, Harlem Renaissance)
People resisted Prohibition (18th Amendment), proving that it is impossible to legislate
morality.
Nativism led to immigration quotas in the 1920s.
The Great Depression saw unemployment rates reach 25% and resulted in tremendous
suffering.
President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal attempted to end the depression by involving
the federal government in the economy and in people’s well being more than it had ever
done before.
He was much more popular than Hoover, the president at the start of the Depression, who
refused to provide direct relief to the suffering people because Hoover was a believer in
“rugged individualism.”
World War II:
Germany’s anger over the Treaty of Versailles led to World War II breaking out in
Europe in 1939, after failed attempts by other European powers to appease Hitler by
giving into his aggressive demands.
The United States tried to avoid being drawn into the war by passing a series of
Neutrality Acts in the 1930s, but when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, the
United States entered the war, fighting on two fronts – in Europe and the Pacific.
Even before Pearl Harbor, the policies of Cash and Carry, Destroyers for Bases, and
Lend-Lease clearly showed the U.S. wanted the Allies to win. The U.S. and its Allies
won World War II.
Japan was forced to surrender after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on it in
1945, but the U.S. occupation of Japan helped that country become democratic and an
economic power. The Nuremberg Trials punished Nazi leaders for planning the
Holocaust, establishing the precedent that individuals could be held accountable for their
actions during wartime.
The United States emerged from World War II as one of two superpowers, the other
being the Soviet Union, an ally during World War II.
The two superpowers were soon engaged in the Cold War
Cold War:
The U.S. and U.S.S.R. were rivals from 1945 until the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
During most of this time period, the United States’ foreign policy was containment, a
determination to stop the spread of communism.
Containment efforts in Europe included the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, Berlin
Airlift and the creation of NATO. The Eisenhower Doctrine expanded containment to the
oil-rich region known as the Middle East.
Containment in the Western Hemisphere included the Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba
which helped lead to the Cuban Missile Crisis and nearly a nuclear war.
Containment efforts in Asia included the Korean War, an undeclared war in which the
United Nations authorized the use of force to repel an invasion of South Korea by the
communist North, and the Vietnam War.
The U.S. tried to prevent Vietnam from becoming communist because of belief in the
domino theory, that if Vietnam became communist, so would its neighbors.
The U.S. lost the Vietnam War in part because of guerilla tactics of Vietnamese
Communists, and in part because American public opinion had turned against the war and
the draft.
Defeat in Vietnam led Richard Nixon to pursue détente, an easing of tensions with the
Soviet Union, a concept symbolized by efforts like the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty
(SALT).
The Vietnam War also led to reforms like:

The end of the military draft,

The War Powers Act,

Extension of the right to vote to 18 year olds with the 26th Amendment.
Détente ended around 1980
Ronald Reagan called the Soviets an “Evil Empire”
Reagan resumed the arms race and some believe singlehandedly caused the Soviet Union
to go bankrupt and collapse. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 marked a major
milestone in the end of the Cold War.
Post World War II Presidents:
Truman – desegregated the military and proposed to expand the New Deal with the Fair
Deal
Eisenhower – built Interstate Highway System and used the Army to protect the Little
Rock 9
Kennedy – New Frontier was his liberal domestic agenda; the Peace Corps reached out to
the 3rd World, and the Alliance for Progress reached out to Latin America
Johnson’s (New Deal like) Great Society was his liberal combination of government
programs to end poverty and racism, but the Vietnam War made it hard to pay for these
programs
Nixon – would have been impeached for the Watergate Scandal, resigned instead and
executive privilege was weakened
Ford – was never elected either president or vice president and he pardoned Nixon; Carter
was unpopular because of the poor economy (stagflation) and foreign policy setbacks like
the Iran Hostage Crisis
Reagan brought back optimism and cut taxes based on supply-side economics, which
combined with military spending, increased the national debt
George H.W. Bush was hugely popular for his handling of the Persian Gulf War, but was
not re-elected because of a struggling economy;
Bill Clinton presided over an economic boom, but was impeached (though not removed
from office) for perjury and obstruction of justice
George W. Bush cut taxes and began the War on Terror, launching invasions of
Afghanistan and Iraq and was president during the financial crisis of 2008
Barack Obama has tried to fix the economy, with limited success.
Post World War II Society and Economy:
The 1950s were characterized by the baby boom, prosperity, and suburbanization.
The Civil Rights movement had major milestones with Jackie Robinson in 1947,
desegregation of the military in 1948, Brown v. Board of Ed in 1954, the Montgomery
Bus Boycott in 1955-6, sit-ins beginning in 1960, the March on Washington in 1963.
·
Martin Luther King advocated non-violent civil disobedience to achieve civil rights
·
Malcolm X advocated the use of violence if necessary
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 were important laws passed
in response to the Civil Rights Movement.
The movement also inspired the push for women’s rights (Betty Friedan and N.O.W.),
gay rights, the American Indian Movement, Hispanic rights (Cesar Chavez), and student
protests against the Vietnam War.
The Warren Court (1953-1969) made many liberal Supreme Court decisions banning
prayer in school and expanding rights for those accused of crimes.
Conservatives opposed these decisions and the later decision in Roe v. Wade legalizing
abortion on the basis of the right to privacy.
The 9/11 attacks led to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the
Patriot Act.
Economics:
Computers have contributed to globalization – an increased international economic
interdependence
NAFTA shows U.S. commitment to globalization – there has also been an economic shift
from manufacturing to service sector jobs.
U.S. often has a trade deficit, importing more than it exports.
In the 1980s and into the 1990s, Japan was our chief economic rival; today that rival is
China.