Pre/Colonial
What were three differences in the general style of French imperialism versus Spanish imperialism?
Motivation/Economy: French focused heavily on the fur trade and established trading posts; Spanish focused on extracting mineral wealth (gold/silver) and establishing large agricultural settlements (plantations, missions).
Demographics/Settler Population: French sent fewer colonists (primarily traders/trappers) and often relied on alliances; Spanish sent more settlers, soldiers, and priests, establishing a rigid social hierarchy (casta system).
Treatment of Indigenous Peoples: French generally treated Indigenous groups as trading partners; Spanish treated them as subjects to be converted and exploited for labor (e.g., encomienda).
What were the two major outcomes of the French and Indian War (Seven Years' War, 1754-1763)?
French Removal from North America: France ceded all its North American territory east of the Mississippi River to Great Britain, making Great Britain the dominant European power.
British Debt and Taxation: The massive war debt incurred by Great Britain led Parliament to begin enacting new taxes on the American colonies (e.g., Stamp Act), directly leading to colonial resistance and the Revolution.
What were two decisions from Jefferson's presidency that contradicted his values? What values did they contradict?
The Louisiana Purchase (1803): Contradicted his value of Strict Constructionism (the belief that the Constitution must be interpreted literally). The Constitution did not explicitly grant the President authority to purchase foreign lands.
The Embargo Act of 1807: Contradicted his value of limited government and support for free trade. This act used a massive expansion of federal power to halt all foreign trade, devastating the economy.
The Barbary Wars (1801-1805): Contradicted his value of reducing the size of the federal military and avoiding foreign entanglements (isolationism).
What are three vocabulary words you could use in an essay about Manifest Destiny and Westward Expansion?
Louisiana Purchase (1803): The acquisition of a vast territory from France that doubled the size of the United States and was the first major step in westward expansion.
Adams-Onís Treaty (1819): The treaty with Spain that resulted in the U.S. acquiring Florida and clarified the western boundary of the Louisiana Purchase, leading to Spanish withdrawal from the region.
Oregon Treaty (1846): A diplomatic agreement with Great Britain that settled the long-disputed claim over the Oregon Territory by establishing the U.S./Canadian border at the 49th parallel.
Mexican Cession (1848): The large region of land, including California and the Southwest, ceded to the U.S. by Mexico at the end of the Mexican-American War as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
Popular Sovereignty: The doctrine allowing the settlers of a federal territory to vote on whether to permit slavery within their boundaries (e.g., Kansas-Nebraska Act).
Annexation: The process of officially adding a territory to the United States (e.g., the Annexation of Texas in 1845).
The Forty-Niners/Gold Rush: The mass migration to California following the discovery of gold in 1848, which rapidly accelerated western settlement and the push for statehood.
Trail of Tears: The forced relocation of Indigenous peoples from the Southeast to lands west of the Mississippi River, a tragic consequence of westward expansion.
What shift during the early 1800s reinforced Andrew Jackson's belief that his era was especially democratic, and what term describes this expansion of voting rights?
Universal White Male Suffrage : The gradual elimination of property qualifications for voting in many states.
Draw the transatlantic trade triangle and identify at least one major good transported from Africa to North America, from North America to Europe, and from Europe to North America.
Africa to North America/West Indies: Enslaved people (primarily), but also gold, pepper.
North America/West Indies to Europe: Raw materials like tobacco, cotton, sugar, molasses, furs, timber.
Europe to North America/West Indies: Manufactured goods like textiles, iron tools, finished goods, and rum.
What were three weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation?
No Power to Tax: Congress could only request money from the states, leading to a constant lack of funds to pay debt (financial impotence).
No funds to raise an army.
No National Executive/Judiciary: No single leader or national court system to enforce laws passed by Congress or resolve disputes between states.
Difficult to Amend: Required a unanimous vote of all 13 states to amend the Articles.
Weak Interstate Commerce Control: Congress had no power to regulate trade between states, leading to tariffs and disputes among the states.
What were two major Supreme Court cases from the Jeffersonian Era/Era of Good Feelings, and what was the lasting impact of each?
Marbury v. Madison (1803): Established the principle of Judicial Review, granting the Supreme Court the power to determine if a law is constitutional, dramatically increasing the power of the Judicial Branch.
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819): Upheld the constitutionality of the Second Bank of the United States and established the principle of Implied Powers and the supremacy of federal law over state law.
What were two incidents that fueled Southerners' fears that the enslaved population would rise up, kill them, and destroy their way of life?
Nat Turner's Rebellion (1831): The largest and deadliest slave revolt in U.S. history. The violence terrified Southern slaveholders and led to much harsher Black Codes to restrict the movements and rights of all Black people.
The Amistad (1839): A highly publicized legal case involving enslaved Africans who successfully mutinied on a slave ship. The Supreme Court battle over their freedom was seen by the South as evidence of Northern interference with their property rights.
John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry (1859): An attempt by the radical abolitionist John Brown to seize a federal armory, arm enslaved people, and incite a widespread rebellion. Southerners viewed it as absolute proof that the North was willing to use violence and outside forces to end slavery.
The Wilmot Proviso (1846): A proposal that sought to ban slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico. Though it failed, the South viewed its repeated passage in the House as a massive, hostile attempt by the North to destroy the balance of power in the Senate and legislate the end of their entire way of life.
What are two key takeaways from the 14th Amendment?
Birthright Citizenship: Defined a citizen as anyone born or naturalized in the U.S. (Citizenship Clause), specifically overriding the Dred Scott decision.
Equal Protection: Mandated that no state shall deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws (Equal Protection Clause).
Due Process: Prohibited states from depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law (Due Process Clause).
What were the names of the two labor systems forced upon Native Americans by the Spanish, and how were they different?
Encomienda System: institution granting colonists forced labor and tribute rights over a specific number of Indigenous people.
Casta System: rigid, hierarchical racial classification system in Spanish colonies that determined a person's social status, rights, and economic opportunities based on their ancestry (Spanish, Indigenous, African).
What were three compromises made at the Constitutional Convention?
The Great Compromise (Connecticut Compromise): Created a bicameral legislature (House based on population, Senate with equal representation).
Three-Fifths Compromise: Determined that three-fifths of the enslaved population would be counted for both representation and taxation.
The Commerce Compromise: The national government was given the power to regulate trade, but was forbidden from taxing exports or interfering with the slave trade for 20 years.
The Electoral College: A compromise between electing the President by a popular vote and by a vote in Congress.
Slave Trade Clause: Slave trade could not be banned until 1808.
What declaration did the U.S. make about South America during this period and what did it say?
The Monroe Doctrine (1823): The Western Hemisphere was closed to future European colonization. The U.S. pledged not to interfere with existing European colonies, and Europe was ordered not to interfere with the newly independent nations of Latin America.
What were the two major takeaways from the Supreme Court case of Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)?
Black Americans are Not Citizens: The Court ruled that enslaved and free Black Americans were not and could never be citizens of the United States, and therefore had no right to sue in federal court.
The Missouri Compromise is Unconstitutional: The Court ruled that Congress had no constitutional power to prohibit slavery in the territories, effectively opening all territories to slavery.
What was the role of the Compromise of 1850 in delaying the Civil War, and what doctrine did it attempt to use to resolve the issue of slavery in the new Western territories?
The compromised aimed to temporarily settle the dispute over slavery in the Mexican Cession by admitting California as a free state. It relied on the doctrine of 'Popular Sovereignty', allowing settlers in the Utah and New Mexico territories to decide the issue for themselves.
What are three vocabulary terms (not used in the 300 question) that a historian might use to discuss the role of slavery in the Columbian Exchange?
The Middle Passage: The forced journey of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas, a direct result of the catastrophic decline in Indigenous populations and the insatiable labor demand created by the cash crops of the Columbian Exchange.
Indentured Servitude: A labor system where a person (often a poor European) voluntarily sold their labor for a fixed period (typically 4-7 years) in exchange for passage to the colonies, food, and shelter. This system initially provided the main labor source for cash crops like tobacco in colonies like Virginia, but it declined as chattel slavery became more economically viable and prevalent.
Chattel Slavery: The system established in the Americas where enslaved people were treated not as temporary laborers or legal persons, but as movable property (chattel) for the lifetime of the enslaved individual and for their descendants. This system made labor a permanent, inheritable commodity, which drastically increased the profitability of cash crops.
Cash Crop Economy: The economic system in the Americas (especially the Southern colonies and Caribbean) based on the mass production of profitable, labor-intensive crops like sugar, tobacco, and cotton. The immense profits generated by this system created the persistent, massive labor demand that fueled both indentured servitude and, ultimately, the development and entrenchment of African chattel slavery.
The Proclamation of 1763 infuriated American colonists. What did it state, and why did the colonists view it as a denial of their rights?
It forbade all settlement and expansion west of the Appalachian Mountains, reserving the territory for Indigenous groups to prevent costly conflicts.
Colonists felt they had a right to the land they helped win in the war and saw it as an unwarranted intrusion of British control over their westward expansion and economic opportunity, restricting their liberty and property rights.
Identify three major philosophical disagreements between Federalists (later Whigs) and Democratic-Republicans (later Democrats) at the beginning of the 1800s.
Constitutional Interpretation: Federalists advocated for a loose construction of the Constitution (Implied Powers), believing the federal government had the authority to take actions not specifically listed to meet national goals. Democratic-Republicans insisted on a strict construction (Explicit Powers), arguing the government could only do what was literally written in the document.
2. Economic Philosophy: Federalists championed commerce and manufacturing as the key to national wealth, aiming to build a diverse, urban economy. Democratic-Republicans emphasized agrarianism, viewing the independent, virtuous farmer as the foundation of the American republic.
National Bank: Federalists strongly supported the National Bank under the "Necessary and Proper" clause. Democratic-Republicans vehemently opposed the Bank, arguing it was unconstitutional and served only the interests of Northern, wealthy speculators.
Foreign Policy: Federalists generally favored Great Britain as a stable trading partner and a model for order, viewing the radical French Revolution with alarm. Democratic-Republicans tended to be Pro-French in spirit, viewing the French cause as a continuation of the global struggle for liberty against monarchy.
What were two advantages the North and South each had at the beginning of the Civil War?
North (Union) Advantages:
Industrial Capacity: Vast majority of the nation's factories and a greater capacity to produce arms/supplies.
Population: Approximately 22 million people versus the South's 9 million.
Infrastructure: Extensive network of railroads.
Established Navy: The North possessed an existing, ready navy that was crucial for enforcing the Anaconda Plan (blockading Southern ports)
Established Government: The North had a pre-existing, recognized federal government, an established treasury, and an extensive, interconnected railroad network.
South (Confederacy) Advantages
Defensive War: Fighting on their home territory, which meant shorter supply lines and familiar terrain.
Superior Military Leadership: Initially, had more experienced and highly-regarded military leaders (e.g., Robert E. Lee).
King Cotton/Cotton Diplomacy: The South believed that the world's reliance on their cotton would force European powers, especially Great Britain, to intervene on their behalf and break the Union blockade.
Way of Life Motivation: Southern soldiers were defending their homes and way of life, giving them a fierce will to fight and endure.
Identify and define three vocabulary words that describe changes to the roles and position of women during or shortly after the Revolutionary War.
Republican Motherhood: The early post-Revolutionary ideal that women's primary role was to raise virtuous, patriotic sons educated in the principles of republicanism, giving them an initial civic importance.
Homespun Movement: Women's support for the colonial resistance by spinning their own cloth at home. This act demonstrated economic defiance against British goods and politicized women's domestic labor for the first time.
Cult of Domesticity: A post-Market Revolution ideal that rigidly defined women's proper role as running the home (the "separate sphere") and providing a moral/spiritual refuge for their husbands from the competitive outside world.
Abolitionism/Temperance (or other Reform Movement): The rise of women's direct advocacy in public life during the Second Great Awakening and reform movements.
Seneca Falls Convention (1848): The first major women's rights convention in U.S. history. It produced the Declaration of Sentiments, which formally demanded equal rights for women, most notably the right to vote.
What are two characteristics (each) unique to the New England colonies, Middle Colonies, and the Chesapeake Southern colonies?
New England Colonies (e.g., Massachusetts, Rhode Island)
Religious Homogeneity: Dominated by Puritans seeking to establish a "city upon a hill" (Massachusetts Bay). Dissenters (like Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson) were often banished, leading to the founding of other colonies like Rhode Island.
Economic Focus: Economy based on commerce, fishing, whaling, shipbuilding, and small-scale manufacturing, due to poor, rocky soil and a shorter growing season.
Government/Society: Characterized by town meetings and closely knit villages; these direct democracy practices fostered a high degree of civic participation and local control.
Labor: Labor was primarily provided by small family farms and paid laborers; reliance on slavery was minimal compared to the South.
Social/Culture: Emphasis on public education (for Bible literacy) and the establishment of early colleges (like Harvard, 1636).
Middle Colonies (e.g., Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey)
Religious and Ethnic Diversity: Known for its tolerance and pluralism, attracting Quakers, Dutch, Germans, Scots-Irish, and others. Pennsylvania, founded by William Penn, was a safe haven for Quakers.
Economic Focus: Known as the "Bread Basket" due to the abundance of fertile land and focus on grain production (wheat, oats, corn). Also engaged in trade and manufacturing.
Urban Centers: Developed major mercantile trading cities like Philadelphia and New York, which became vital hubs for colonial trade and commerce.
Government/Society: Government structures were generally more flexible than New England, combining elements of local control and county systems.
Geographic Advantage: Benefited from navigable rivers (like the Delaware and Hudson), which facilitated trade and the transport of goods deep into the interior.
Chesapeake/Southern Colonies (e.g., Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina)
Economic Focus: Economy built primarily on large-scale cash crop agriculture (tobacco in the Chesapeake, rice and indigo further south).
Labor System: Heavy, growing reliance on chattel slavery as the primary labor source, particularly after the decline of indentured servitude in the late 17th century.
Settlement Pattern: Characterized by a dispersed population centered on large plantation systems rather than compact towns, making community life and public services (like schools) difficult.
Social Hierarchy: Developed a rigid hierarchical society dominated by a small group of wealthy, land-owning planter elites.
Religious Affiliation: The Anglican Church (Church of England) was the most prominent religious institution, though it was often less influential in daily life than in New England.
Identify and briefly define 3 vocabulary words to describe the government created by the US Constitution?
Republicanism: The belief that government should be based on the consent of the governed, with sovereignty resting in the people, who then exercise that power through elected representatives.
Separation of Powers: The division of the federal government's authority into three distinct and independent branches: the Legislative (Congress), Executive (President), and Judicial (Courts).
Checks and Balances: A system built into the Constitution that allows each of the three branches to limit the power of the other two, preventing any single branch from becoming too dominant.
Federalism: The principle that divides and shares power between the national (federal) government and the state governments, each having its own defined sphere of authority.
Constitutionalism: The principle that the powers of the government are limited by a written constitution, which outlines the duties, structure, and boundaries of governmental authority.
Popular Sovereignty: The principle that the authority of the government is created and sustained by the consent of its people, through their elected representatives; the people are the source of all political power.
Limited Government: The idea that a government's power over its citizens is not absolute; it can only do what the people give it the power to do, and it must operate within the rule of law.
What are two ways the Market Revolution changed the United States? Name two key inventions/innovations that drove this change.
Shift to Wage Labor: Increasingly shifted production from self-sufficient homes and small farms to factories, mills, and paid workplaces. This created a new, large class of wage laborers and fueled a growing, urbanized population.
Interdependence through Transportation and Communication: The building of canals, roads, steamboats, and railroads drastically lowered shipping costs and travel times. This physical interconnectivity allowed for the rapid spread of information (telegraph) and connected previously isolated local economies into a single national market.
Regional Specialization: The improved infrastructure allowed each major region to focus on what it did best: the North on industry and finance, the West on commercial foodstuffs, and the South on cotton. This specialization made the regions increasingly dependent on one another.
Rise of the Middle Class: The growth of commerce, industry, and new managerial/clerical jobs created a distinct urban middle class. This new class placed high value on social mobility, education, and morality (often characterized by the Cult of Domesticity for women).
What were two strategies that ultimately helped the North win the Civil War? (Cite a specific strategy and a corresponding action/figure).
The Anaconda Plan: This naval strategy blockaded Southern ports and seized the Mississippi River (e.g., Admiral Farragut) to choke off the Confederacy and split it in two.
Total War / War of Attrition: The North used its superior resources in relentless attacks to destroy the South's ability and will to fight, targeting civilian infrastructure (e.g., Sherman's March to the Sea).
Emancipation as a War Aim: The Proclamation made the war a moral crusade to end slavery, which prevented European intervention and added essential Black troops to the Union Army (e.g., 180,000 African American troops).
Gettysburg Address: Lincoln consistently unified the North's efforts and secured commanders like Grant and Sherman, providing the political will and moral clarity needed to win (e.g., The Gettysburg Address).
What was the name of 1896 court case undercut reconstruction efforts and what was the legal doctrine it established.
Plessy v Fergusson established the 'separate but equal' doctrine.