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British colonial tax on tea, 1773
Cause: British merchants wanted American colonists to only buy their tea from them
Cause: American colonists had been smuggling in tea from other European nations (e.g. Dutch)
Effect: Americans protested the Tea Tax. The Sons of Liberty, a Patriot group, dumped the tea in the Boston Harbor in protest. This protest is known as the Boston Tea Party
Letter sent to King George II in 1775 by the Second Continental Congress stating the 13 colonies' loyalty to Britain
Cause: The first battle of the Revolutionary War was fired at Lexington and Concord, but the war was not official yet. Americans wanted to try one last time to resolve the tension with Britain without bloodshed
Effect: King George II rejected the Olive Branch petition, which led to the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the Revolutionary War (1775-1783)
Proposal that the legislative branch (Congress) would be comprised (made of) one house, where each state received equal representation regardless of size
Cause: At the 1787 Constitutional Convention, Southerners had proposed the Virginia Plan: each state's congressional representation would be based on its population size
Effect: The Connecticut Compromise combined the NJ and VA plan to create Congress: 2 houses (Senate with equal number from each state and House of Representatives, which depends on population size)
Only three-fifths of each state's enslaved population would be counted when determining representation for that state in Congress
Cause: At the 1787 Constitutional Convention, Southerners proposed that their enslaved population should be counted towards their representation in Congress. Northerners argued this was hypocritical and gave the South an unfair advantage
Effect: The Three-Fifths Compromise became part of the Connecticut Compromise, which created the legislative branch (Congress). The South did get an unfair advantage in Congress, which they would use to prevent anti-slavery discussion and laws for many years.
Documents written by James Madison, John Jay and Alexander Hamilton in 1788
Cause: 9 of the 13 states were needed to ratify the U.S. Constitution for it to take effect, but some of the Constitutional Convention delegates did not support it
Effect: The Anti-Federalist papers were published in response, to argue against the Constitution and for a Bill of Rights
Effect: The Federalist Papers succeeded in persuading the required number of delegates to vote for the Constitution
Thomas Jefferson's purchase of a large territory in the center of the U.S. from France
Cause: Jefferson wanted to expand the size of the US to further his vision of a nation of yeoman (small, independent) farmers
Cause: The U.S. government was concerned about threats posed by other European nations (e.g. Britain, Spain) in North America and wanted to protect its borders
Cause: Jefferson wanted control of the important port/trading city of New Orleans, which would allow Americans to ship and trade their goods using the Mississippi River
Effect: The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the US and gave America control over New Orleans and the Mississippi River
Effect: Jefferson's opponents criticized him because the purchase contradicted his strict contructionist interpretation of the Constitution
Compromise brokered (arranged/negotiated) by Kentucky senator Henry Clay about the creation of new states from territories: Slavery would be illegal in any new state created north of the 36/30 line--all states north of the line would be free states, and all states south of the line would be slave states--EXCEPT for Missouri
Cause: The creation of Missouri (territory) as a slave state would disrupt the balance of power in Congress (11 slave states, 11 free states)
Effect: Maine would enter the Union as a free state, while Missouri would be allowed as a slave state, keeping the balance in Congress. This would create an uneasy truce between the anti-slavery North and pro-slavery South that would eventually give way to increased sectionalism.
Legislative compromise (law) brokered by Illinois senator Stephen Douglas that stated popular sovereignty would be used to determine if slavery would be legal or illegal in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska
Cause: Americans in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska clashed over whether or not slavery would be allowed in those territories
Effect: Hundreds of pro-slavery Southerners and anti-slavery Northerners rushed to settle in Kansas, hoping to sway the state vote on slavery. This led to Bleeding Kansas, a series of violent clashes between pro- and anti-slavery forces.
Effect: Increased sectionalism in America, which lead to the American Civil War.
Law restricting banning Chinese immigrants from coming to America for 10 years
Cause: Anti-Chinese sentiments, xenophobia, and nativism increased during the late 1800s, especially after the Panic of 1873. Many jealous Americans believed that Chinese immigrants (many of whom began coming to America to build the Transatlantic Railroad in the 1860s), were taking their jobs
Effect: The law sharply reduced the number of Chinese immigrants to America and led to increase xenophobia and nativism and more anti-(Chinese/Asian) immigrant laws.
Sensationalized news stories that used exaggeration and lies
Cause: Newspaper owners Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst were competing to see who could sell more newspapers
Effect: Yellow journalism greatly influenced American opinion about foreign affairs, leading to the Spanish American War and shaping the public's views on U.S. imperialism (especially pro-imperialism)
Message sent from Germany to Mexico in 1917 urging Mexico to ally with Germany by attacking the United States; in return, Germany would help Mexico win back the territories that it lost in the Mexican American War (1846-1848).
Cause: Germany wanted Mexico to ally with it and join the Central Powers during WWI
Effect: As a result of the Zimmerman Telegram and the sinking of the Lusitania (American ship by German submarines), America joined WWI.
Law that restricted the immigration of certain people to the United States based on their origins. It set quotas that limited the number of people that could come from certain areas
Cause: Following WWI (1914-1918) and the 1917 Russian Revolution that established Communism in the country that would become the USSR, Americans were afraid that Eastern, Central, and Southern European immigrants to the United States would try to destroy America's government/economic system and establish Communism or socialism
Effect: As a result of the National Origins Act of 1924 (aka Johnson-Reed Act or Immigration Act of 1924), immigration from Asia and Eastern, Central and Southern Europe declined, while immigration from Northern and Western Europe increase.
National government program that used a variety of policies and practices to help Americans during the Great Depression of the 1930s
Cause: During the Great Depression of the 1930s, many Americans became unemployed, poor, hungry, and homeless
Cause: Franklin D. Roosevelt promised to improve the economy and implement reforms that would prevent another economic depression and restore Americans' faith in government. As a result, Americans dissatisfied with President Herbert Hoover's laissez faire approach to the Great Depression elected FDR in a landslide
Effect: The New Deal greatly increased the Federal Government's role in the economy and society
Effect: Roosevelt's 3 R's (Relief, recover, and reform) employed many Americans and improved institutions and infrastructure, which helped to bring the U.S. out of the Depression.
The imprisonment of Japanese citizens (on the West Coast) during World War II as a result of Executive Order 9066
Cause: Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor, the American naval base in Hawaii
Cause: Anti-Asian sentiments increased in U.S. government during WWII, as government officials, the press, and other institutions claimed that Japanese Americans were a "fifth column" that was secretly working for Japan to betray America
Effect: Tens of thousands of Japanese Americans had their property seized (i.e. stolen) and their rights violated
Effect: Fred Korematsu filed a lawsuit as a result of the rights violations, but the Supreme Court ruled against him in Korematsu vs. the United States
U.S. foreign policy plan that provided money and supplies to (Western) European countries to rebuild after WWII
Cause: Many cities in (Western) European countries were destroyed due to German bombing in WWII
Cause: During the Cold War, America wanted to influence European countries to ally with the West instead of the Soviet Union/USSR
Effect: The Soviet Union saw the Marshall Plan as a threat
Effect: USSR leader Joseph Stalin created the Moscow Plan to counter the West's influence and provide aid to countries that wanted to rebuild post-WWII.
Open letter that George Washinton wrote to the American public as he was leaving office at the end of his second term as president. He warned against American involvement in foreign entanglements (especially with Europe) and the problems with "factions" (political parties)
Cause: Washington was troubled by the political infighting among U.S. government officials
Cause: Washington was also concerned by overseas wars in Europe, and believed that American involvement in these wars would negatively impact the U.S.
Effect: Advocates of isolationism would use Washington's warnings to argue against U.S. interventionism.
Effect: Anti-imperialists would do the same regarding imperialism.