Download CHAPTER 2 VOCAB

CHAPTER 2: THE "BUILDING BLOCKS" OF OUR NATION
____________________
NAME
2.1: FOUNDATIONS OF OUR GOVERNMENT’S CONCEPTS
1. __________________________: (1215), proved a monarch’s power DOES have
limits. (RULE OF LAW, LIMITED GOVERNMENT)
2. ___________________________: legislative (law-making ) group. First showed up
in England in the late 1300’s. At first it was merely an “advisory” group to the
king, but would later become more powerful than the monarch after the Glorious
Revolution. It is made up of two houses (House of Commons, House of Lords) –
which made it bicameral (two-house). (OUR CONGRESS IS BICAMERAL)
3. ____________________________: as mentioned in #2, this was the event that
switched the power in England from the monarch to Parliament. Parliament
would pass the English Bill of Rights shortly after taking power. (WE HAVE A
SIMILAR THING IN OUR CONSTITUTION – A BILL OF RIGHTS)
4. ___________________________: it’s a system of law based off tradition and
custom. To put in layman’s terms – it is law that uses previous court decisions to
arrive at decisions in current cases. For example, last week Little Jimmy was
sentenced to 50 hours community service for vandalizing a building. Big Jim
therefore, should be expected to get a similar punishment for committing the
same crime.
5. _______________________: “Enlightenment” philosopher, noteworthy for two
theories that helped shaped this nation:
a. _______________________: this theory suggests that we are all born with
natural “inalienable” rights that the government cannot take from us.
b. _______________________: theory that there is an unwritten “contract”
between the government and its people. The people agree to let a
government make rules for them, in return – the government is supposed
to protect and look out for their people’s best interests. If the government
fails to do so, then the people have the right to rebel and replace the
offending government with one that fulfills its obligation.
6. ________________________ another Enlightenment thinker. His major theory
was that power in government should be divided up – or separation of powers.
7. __________________________________ (1754): Idea proposed by Benjamin
Franklin that called for a semi-organized government over all of the colonies.
Franklin got this idea from the Iroquois Tribe. Ultimately, this idea was rejected by
the colonies (in 1754), but would later serve as a basis for the creation of our
government after the American Revolution.
===================================================================
2.2: EARLY COLONIAL DEVELOPMENTS
8. __________________________________ (Virginia): first permanent British
colony in America. Aside from that, noteworthy for being the first colony to make
use of representative democracy.
9. _____________________________ (Massachusetts): settled by the pilgrims on
the Mayflower. They had come to America to escape the religious persecution
taking place in England. On the way there, they drew up the Mayflower Compact
– which made this colony the first to use direct democracy.
10.____________________________: life was centered around cities, main
economic activity was shipbuilding and commerce.
11.____________________________: life centered around the plantation, there
were not many cities. Agriculture was the primary economic activity due to the
climate.
12.REGIONS: there were three regions
a. ______________________: Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire,
Connecticut.
b. ____________________: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware
c. ____________________: Virginia, Maryland, NC, SC, Georgia.
13.TWO REASONS PEOPLE CAME TO THE COLONIES
a. _____________________________. (Puritans, Quakers primary groups)
b. ______________________________ – mainly growing cash crops
14.__________________________________: religious movement that occurred
during the 1700’s. Religion in the colonies transformed from being ritualistic and
ceremony-based to personal. It is also notable for the fact it spread the concept of
egalitarianism, which meant everyone is equal. In addition, it introduced AfricanAmericans to Christianity.
15.____________________________________: this is the nature of the relationship
early on between Great Britain (changed name from England) and its colonies.
Basically – GB, with the exception of trade, ignored the colonies. The colonies in
turn, were allowed to develop politically and essentially governed themselves.
=================================================================
2.3: END OF SALUTARY NEGLECT… TO WAR
16.END OF SALUTARY NEGLECT: occurred due to two reasons;
a. ___________________________: it’s an economic theory that basically
means “wealth = power.” Great Britain began to view the colonies as a
source of acquiring wealth. They wanted to buy raw materials at dirt cheap
prices and sell finished goods at high prices. This angered the colonists
because it made it near-impossible to make any profit.
b. __________________________________: one of the wars that took place
in the global war, Seven Years’ War. This part of the war developed after
the colonists wandered off into Indian territory (past the Appalachians).
The colonists pleaded to GB to help them out after they were unable to
fight off the French/Indian alliance. GB sent soldiers over and put down the
war. This costs GB a lot of money, which they expected the colonists to pay
them back.
i. PROCLAMATION OF 1763: passed after the F&I War. Prohibited the
colonists from traveling beyond the Appalachian Mountains. Even
though GB gained a lot of the territory in question, the Indians still
resided in those territories and GB wanted to prevent another war
from breaking out. The colonists saw this as Parliament infringing
upon their freedom – which was one of the reasons both sides began
bickering.
17.TAXES, ACTS, THEN WAR. As you read earlier (#15b to be specific), Parliament
wanted to extract money from the colonies to help offset the debt they were in
due to the F&I War. They thought it would be best to collect this money in the
form of taxation, which were passed off as “Acts”
a. _____________________ (1765): required all legal documents, contracts,
newspapers, etc to have a special tax stamp placed on them. When these
items were purchased, the buyer would pay the tax. The colonists were
enraged by this and did everything they could to let the British know they
were not fond of this idea. (boycotts, etc). The colonists argued that, since
they had no representation in Parliament – this and any tax would be
unfair. (Led to the phrase No taxation, without representation!) After a
year, GB repealed the Stamp Act due to its ineffectiveness.
i. “No taxation without representation.” James Otis has been identified
as the creator of this phrase.
ii. SONS OF LIBERTY: this group was formed during this time to protect
the rights of the colonists.
b. ___________________________________ (1766): not a tax, but an official
declaration from Parliament stating they had the right to tax the colonies.
Colonies essentially ignored this.
c. __________________________________ (1767): long story short, a tax on
a bunch of goods. The colonists, just as they did under the Stamp Act, did
everything possible to fight this… ranging from boycotts, smuggling, etc.
After several years of being ineffective, the British repealed most of the
Townshend Acts with the exception of one… tea. Then redesigned it..
d. ____________________________ (1773): This law required all colonists to
purchase their tea from a single company the British East India Company.
This angered the colonists since it gave that company a virtual monopoly,
which led to prices being set high. The colonists reacted as they had with
the other Acts, which culminated with the Boston Tea Party.
i. BOSTON TEA PARTY: one night, several colonists dressed as Indians
snuck aboard one of the British tea ships and tossed all their tea
overboard. This greatly infuriated Parliament.
e. _________________________________________ (1774): a series of Acts
passed by Parliament designed to punish the colonies for their
“insubordination.” One of these acts closed Boston’s port and put it under
martial law (military control). People’s rights were taken away, such as jury
trials. Among the most controversial of these acts was the Quartering Act,
which gave British troops the right to occupy colonial homes. As for colonial
reaction, this eventually led to the American Revolution.
18._________________________________ (1770): Event involved several British
troops opening fire on Boston civilians, Five were killed, several were wounded.
As for why they had fired, the British had been provoked on several occasions,
ranging from insults to having rocks tossed at them. The soldiers were put on trial,
which resulted in most of them being acquitted (not guilty). The ones who were
found guilty were sentenced to a short stay in jail and having an “M” branded on
their hand. This relatively light punishment angered the colonists.
========================================================================
2.4: THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
19.________________________________________(es): There were two organized
meeting of representatives from all of the colonies. The purpose of these
meetings was to determine what to do concerning the rapidly deteriorating
(worsening) relationship between themselves and Great Britain after the passage
of the Coercive/Intolerable Acts.
a. FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS (1774): The representatives were not too
keen on the idea of going to war, so they decided to do two things. (A)They
decided to continue the boycott on British goods. (B) They sent a letter to
King George, asking for him to put an end to the “tyranny” of Parliament
towards the colonies. (this was called the Olive Branch treaty).
i. King George reacted by sending more troops, which led to the first
battles of the American Revolution (Lexington/Concord).
b. SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS (1775): by this point, it had seem
relations between the sides was beyond repair – so they decided to declare
independence. Thomas Jefferson was asked to write a written “notice” to
Parliament declaring this, so he wrote what is known today as the
Declaration of Independence. Which was completed on JULY 4, 1776.
i. In writing the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson borrowed
many of Locke’s ideas (remember 2.1 of these notes?) – particularly
natural rights/social contract. Jefferson argued that the colonists
were “in the right” in declaring independence since the British
government had failed the colonists (social contract). Jefferson also
borrowed Locke’s ideas of natural rights with the words “inalienable
rights of ….life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness”.
20.______________________________ – COMMON SENSE: Most colonists at the
time of the announcement of the Declaration of Independence were extremely
unsure about going to war with the British, since the British army was considered
to be by far the strongest in the world. Thomas Paine however, wrote a pamphlet
(article) titled “Common Sense”, explaining why independence was necessary. His
writing convinced many unsure colonists that war was the right step to take.
The American Revolution in a nutshell…
The colonists lost virtually every major battle of the war... but still won. George
Washington, whom had been chosen to lead over the colonial forces, realized the only
chance the colonists would have against a British army that was better
equipped/trained would be to engage in guerrilla warfare. After several years, with the
debt of war racking up and the unpopularity of the war back home in Great Britain – the
British finally surrendered.
What this leads to
The colonies had done the unthinkable – defeated Great Britain and became their own
nation. Unfortunately for this newly-birthed nation – their problems were far from over.
Which you’ll find out about in Chapter 3.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
2.1
1. What was the significance of the Magna Carta?
2. Where did the forefathers of our nation most likely get the idea to make our
legislature bicameral?
3. What were the major ideas John Locke came up with that influenced our nation?
4. What did Baron De' Montesquieu believe?
5. What most likely influenced our Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution?
6. What idea most likely influenced our nation when they decided to make a
national government?
2.2
1. What was the significance of the Jamestown colony?
2. What was the significance of the Plymouth colony?
3. How were the northern and southern colonies different?
4. What were the two reasons people came to the colonies?
5. How did salutary neglect affect the colonies?
2.3
1. What were the two reasons salutary neglected ended between the colonies and
Great Britain?
2. What was the Proclamation of 1763? Why did the colonists oppose it?
3. What was the first attempt the British employed to tax the colonists?
4. Who were the Sons of Liberty?
5. Why were the colonists opposed to British taxation?
6. Who coined the phrase "No taxation without representation!"..?
7. How were the Coercive (Intolerable) Acts different than the previous Acts passed
by the British?
2.4
1. How did the British respond to the requests made by the First Continental
Congress?
2. What major decision was reached at the Second Continental Congress?
3. Who's ideas did Jefferson borrow in writing the Declaration of Independence?
4. How did most colonists initially feel about going to war against Great Britain?
5. What pamphlet convinced many colonists that independence was the best choice
for the colonies?