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Jamestown
Jamestown was Britains first try at establishing a colony in North America. The cash crop and majority of the economy was made up by the tabacco crop. The headright system said that if you paid your own way to Virgina you would get 50 acres of land. -
Pilgrims/Puritans
Pilgrims were Puritans who took the Mayflower over to America, and founded Plymouth colony in 1620. Puritans established the Massachusetts Bay Colony around 1630. John Winthrop said that the Pilgrim society of Plymouth should be based on Christian principles and should be the best. There was no religious tolerance for other religions. The Mayflower compact established a self-governing government for the new Plymouth Colony. The Halfway Covenant allowed kids to participate at church. -
Bacon's Rebellion
Led by Nathaniel Bacon, followers were angered by the lack of response to Indian attacks. Indentured servants were on Bacon's side. -
The Great Awakening
It was a movement of religious revival during the mid to late 18th century. Protestant religious revival swept Protestant Europe and British America. Preaches turned to more enthusiastic and had an evangelical style. -
Deism
Deism is the belief that the Christian god created the universe and then left it to run according to natural laws. Also that God gave people reason, not religion. -
Mercantilism/Salutary Neglect
Mercantilism established the colonies to provide raw materials to the Mother Country, and the colonies received manufactured goods in return. Salutary Neglect was the policy of avoiding strict enforcement of English laws in American colonies. It ended after the seven eyars war in 1763. -
French/Indian War
The French and Indian War (1756-1763), Britain and France fought for control of the Ohio Valley and Canada. Some Indians allied with the French but most of Iroquois nation, allied with the British. Britain won in 1763 and gained control of all of the remaining French possessions in Canada. Spain, which had allied with France, ceded Florida to Britain, but received Louisana in return. The Proclamation of 1763 said that Americans were not permitted to go passed the Appalachian Mountains. -
Declaration of Independence
Written by Thomas Jefferson, declared America independent from Great Britain. Ratified July 4,1776 -
The Revolutionary War (Apr 19, 1775 – Sep 3, 1783.)
A war for independence from Great Britain, fought on American soil. France aided the U.S. i, and the U.S. agreed to aid France. Ended by treaty of Paris. The Articles of Confederation(1781) was the first American constitution that established the US as a loose confederation of states under a weak national Congress, could not regulate commerce or collect taxes. Shay's Rebellion was a rebellion by debtor farmers in western Massachusetts, led by Daniel Shays, against Boston creditors. -
British violations of the Treaty of Paris
Britain violated the treaty by smuggling thousands of Black American ex-slaves out of the country on board their ships, and giving them refuge in Canada, or Britain itself. -
Land Ordinance of 1785/Land Ordinance of 1787
Land Ordinance of 1785 was a law that divided much of the United States into a system of townships to facilitate the sale of land to settlers and raise money. The 1787 Northwest Ordinance said Northern states would be accepted as free, and southern as slave. -
The Constitution
The Constitution established the rights and liberties of the American people. It created a federal government with three branches---legislative, judicial, and executive. It separates powers and establishes a system of checks and balances among them and defines the distribution of power between the federal government and the states. -
Founding Fathers Attitude Towards Political Parties
The founding fathers were not supportive of political parties. Believed it would divide the people -
Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights, consists of the first ten Constitutional Amendments. They guarantee certain rights to America citizens in all circumstances. Like freedom of speech and Right to Life, Liberty, and Property. This bill was put forth by Anti-Federalists, who feared forms of government intrusion on personal liberties. -
Hamilton's Economic Policies
Plan was to pay off foreign debts from the Revolutionary War, and
domestic debts through citizens selling bonds.
The federal government would take over state debts, and the
Bank of the United States was created.
Also there should be a uniform currency across the United States. -
Eli Whitney
American inventor who developed the cotton gin. Also contributed to the concept of interchangeable parts that were exactly alike and easily assembled or exchanged. -
Washington's Neutrality Proclamation
A formal announcement issued by President George Washington on April 22, 1793, declaring the United States a neutral nation in the conflict between Great Britain and France. -
Washington's Farewell Address
A document by George Washington in 1796, when he retired from office. He said that we should stay away from permanent alliances with foreign countries, and not have political parties. -
Alien and Sedition Acts
Alien Act made it more difficult for foreigners to become US citizens
Sedition Act made it illegal to speak out against the government -
Election of 1800
Thomas Jefferson ran against John Adams in the fourth presidential election. Jefferson represented the Democratic-Republicans. Jefferson won and that led to a generation of Democratic-Republican Party rule and the eventual demise of the Federalist Party. -
Marbury v. Madison
Chief Justice John Marshall asserted the right of the Supreme Court to determine the meaning of the U.S. Constitution. The decision established the Court's power of judicial review over acts of Congress -
Louisiana Purchase
Jefferson bought the Louisiana territory from France in 1803 for $15 million. The purchase secured American control of the Mississippi river and doubled the size of the nation. -
War of 1812
A war between the U.S. and Great Britain caused by American outrage over the impressment of American sailors by the British and French. The British were taking American ships, and British aided the Indians attacking the Americans on the western frontier. -
Lowell System
A textile factory system of the early 19th century that employed young women from New England farms to increase efficiency, productivity and profits -
Hartford Convention
The Hartford Convention was a series of meetings in Hartford, Connecticut, United States, where New England Federalist Party met to discuss their grievances concerning the ongoing War of 1812 and the political problems. Overshadowed by Jefferson's victory and eventually ended the Federalist Party -
Cult of Domesticity
Idea that women should be in the home and avoid the rough world of politics and business in the larger sphere of society. Popular in the Mid-19th Century, caused womens rights movements. -
Missouri Compromise 1820
Missouri wanted to join the Union as a slave state, but it would unbalance the Union so there would be more slave states then free states. The compromise set it up so that Maine joined as a free state and Missouri joined as a slave state. Congress also made the 36*30* line. -
American System/Clay-Whig Policies
A planet by Henry Clay's to promote American industry. Clay advocated a strong banking system, a protective tariff, and a federally founded transportation network. -
Monroe Doctrine
Written by John Quincy Adams, addresses Europe and says America is no longer open to European colonization and America will attack if they try -
Tariff of Abominations/Nullification Crisis
Tariff of 1828 (Tariff of Abominations) was a tariff passed by the U.S. Congress. It was the highest tariff in U.S. and its goal was to protect industry in the northern United States from competing European goods by increasing the prices of European products. Nullification Crisis was South legislature, declared the tariff null in the state and threatened secession if the federal government tried to collect duties. -
Andrew Jackson
Jackson made the Indian Removal Act in 1830, allowed him to negotiate land-exchange treaties with tribes living east of the Mississippi. Paved the way for forced emigration of tens of thousands of American Indians to the West. Andrew Jackson wanted to get rid of the U.S. bank and put government money in smaller "pet banks" or state banks -
Irish Immigration
The Irish migrated during the Potato Famine, a time when Ireland's main food source completely became rotten. Because the Irish did not come the U.S. with enough money to buy land, they mostly remained in the northeastern port cities. Irish worked in factories in America. Nativists emerged who only wanted native whites in America. -
Transcendentalism
A philosophy made by Ralph Waldo Emerson in the 1830's where each person has a direct communication with God and Nature, and there is no need for organized churches. It promoted individualism, self-reliance, and freedom from social constraints, and emphasized emotions. -
William Lloyd Garrison
Garrison was a famous American abolitionist, social reformer, and journalist. He wrote The Liberator and for founded of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Garrison was also a voice for the women's suffrage movement. -
Emerson, Cooper and other early 19th c. authors
Ralph Waldo Emerson was one of the forerunners of the transcendentalist movement. Henry David Thoreau was a famous American transcendentalist who turned to the environment for inspiration. Cooper was the first great American author. He wrote in the early 19th century. -
Manifest Destiny
The idea that Americans had the God given right to expand westward. Whig Party (North) opposed the idea of Manifest Destiny. most Democrats strongly supported Manifest Destiny . (South) -
Mexico
(1846-1848) Conflict after US annexation of Texas. Mexico still considered Texas its own. The US won. The Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War. Mexico gave up all claims to land from Texas to California for $15 million. Whigs were Pro-National Bank and wanted National government control/build canals & roads "American System." They opposed spread of slavery and were Anti-Mexican War. -
Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo
(1848) Ended Mexican-American War. Mexico gave up all claims to land from Texas to California for $15 million -
Popular Sovereignty
The idea that people of a specific territory would vote if they wanted their state to be a slave state or not. -
Compromise of 1850
Written by Henry Clay, the compromise instated the Fugitive Slave Act, banned slave trade in DC, admitted California as a free state, split up the Texas territory, and instated popular sovereignty in the Mexican Cession. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
It was a law that allowed for popular sovereignty (people living in an area could decide if slavery would be allowed or not.)
Made by Stephen Douglas, spend Kansas and Nebraska to popular sovereignty, Kansas would be slave and Nebraska would be free. It overturned the Missouri Compromise and many in the north were upset. Democratic party split. -
John Brown
John Brown was a violent abolitionist that took radical extremes to make his views clear. In May of 1856, Brown led a group of his followers to Pottawattamie Creek and killed 5 pro-slavery men. North supported him and South hated him. He was hung in Harpers Ferry after capturing an Armory -
Dred Scott Case
Dred Scott v. Sanford ruled that because slaves were "property," that Dred Scott had no right to a trial. The Missouri Compromise (36*308 line) is declared unconstitutional . -
Lincoln/Republican policy on slavery in 1860
As president, Lincoln promoted equal rights for African Americans. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation was determined to preserve the Union. The Republican party believed in the non-expansion of slavery. -
Civil War
The abolitionist movement concentrated on ending slavery in the United States and caused the greatest tension between the North and South. The American system, before the Civil War, caused the north to develop into a diverse industrial economy, while the south remained mostly agricultural. This created differences socially and economically. North had more weapons and more fighters, but south had him field advantage. -
Emancipation Proclamation
Made by Lincoln as a way to broaden the goals of the war and achieve a moral victory. Freed the slaves in the Confederacy, but not in the Border states. Its principles changed the purpose of the war and caused Europeans to withdraw from supporting south. -
Seneca Falls Convention
Women's rights convention to get equal rights as men. Here they wrote the Declaration of Sentiments. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony were leading ladies.
