U.S. History
Top 100
What every student should know
to pass the U.S. History EOC.
Goals 1-6
Goal 1: The New Nation (1789-1820)
• The learner will identify, investigate, and
assess the effectiveness of the institutions
of the emerging republic.
Suffrage during the Federalist Era
• Who could vote?
• White males who
owned property.
• Who could not vote?
• White males who did
not own property
• Women
• African-Americans
• Native Americans
Whiskey Rebellion, 1794
• Farmers in Pennsylvania
rebelled against Hamilton's
excise tax on whiskey. The
army put down the
rebellion.
• The incident showed that
the new government under
the Constitution could react
swiftly and effectively to
such a problem, in contrast
to the inability of the
government under the
Articles of Confederation to
deal with Shay's Rebellion.
Washington’s Farewell Address,
1796
• Would not seek a third term
• Warned against competing political parties
• Warned against complicated
entanglements of Europe
Development of the two-party
system
• Democratic
Republicans
• Led by Thomas Jefferson
• Thought states should
have more power
• Wanted to base economy
on farming
• Were pro-French
• Supported a strict
construction of the
Constitution
• Federalists
• Led by Alexander
Hamilton
• Favored a strong central
government
• Wanted to base economy
on industry and trade
• Were pro-British
• Supported a loose
construction of the
Constitution
XYZ Affair, 1797
• Delegates were sent to France to meet
with French foreign minister Talleyrand.
• The American delegates were told they
could meet with Talleyrand only in
exchange for a large bribe. They did not
pay the bribe.
Alien & Sedition Acts, 1798
• These laws were passed by the Federalist Congress and
signed by President Adams.
• The Alien Act increased the waiting period for an
immigrant to become a citizen from 5 to 14 years and the
president could deport dangerous aliens.
• The Sedition Act made it illegal to publish defamatory
statements about the federal government. It was an
attempt to silence opposition.
• The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which initiated
the concept of "nullification" of federal laws were written
in response to the Acts.
Marbury v. Madison, 1803
• The case arose out of
Jefferson's refusal to
deliver the commissions to
the judges appointed by
Adams' Midnight
Appointments.
• This case established the
Supreme Court's right to
judicial review.
Louisiana Purchase, 1803
• The U.S. purchased the land from the Mississippi River
to the Rocky Mountains from France for $15 million.
• Jefferson was interested in the territory because it was
valuable for trade and shipping and provided room to
expand.
• The Constitution did not give the federal government the
power to buy land, so Jefferson used loose construction
to justify the purchase.
Goal 2: Expansion and Reform
(1801-1850)
• The learner will assess the competing
forces of expansionism, nationalism, and
sectionalism.
Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin
• 1798 - The cotton gin was a machine
which could separate cotton from its
seeds. Whitney’s invention made cotton a
profitable crop. It also reinforced slavery in
the economy of the South.
Missouri Compromise, 1820
• Admitted Missouri
as a slave state
and Maine as a
free state. Declared
that all territory
north of 36°30"
would become free
states, and all
territory south of
that latitude would
become slave
states.
Monroe Doctrine, 1823
• Declared that Europe should not interfere
in the Western Hemisphere and any
interference by a European power would
be seen as a threat to the U.S.
• Mostly just a show of nationalism, the
doctrine had no major impact until the late
1800s.
Tariff of Abominations
• Tariff of 1828 raised the tariff on imported
manufactured goods. It protected the
North but harmed the South; South said
that the tariff was unconstitutional because
it violated state's rights.
Indian Removal, 1838-1839
• During the winter, troops evicted the
Cherokee tribe from their homes in
Georgia and moved them to Oklahoma.
Many died on the trail. The journey
became known as the "Trail of Tears".
Hudson River School of Art
• In the 1820s, a group of American
painters, painted landscapes.
Nativism
• An anti-foreign feeling that arose in the
1840's and 1850's in response to the influx
of Irish and German Catholics.
Women’s Reform Movement
• In the 1800's, women were not allowed to be involved in
politics or own property, had little legal status and rarely held
jobs.
• The women's movement was often overshadowed by the
anti-slavery movement. Men who had been working with the
women's movement worked for the abolition of slavery once
it became a major issue.
Henry Clay
• Clay helped heal the
North/South rift by
aiding passage of the
Compromise of 1850,
which served to delay
the Civil War.
Goal 3: Crisis, Civil War and
Reconstruction (1848-1877)
• The learner will analyze the issues that led
to the Civil War, the effects of the war, and
the impact of Reconstruction on the
nation.
Compromise of 1850
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Admitted California as a free state
Organized Utah and N.M. without restrictions on slavery
Adjusted the Texas/N.M. border
Abolished slave trade in D.C.
Established tougher fugitive slave laws.
Its passage was hailed as a solution to the threat of
national division.
Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854
• This act repealed the Missouri
Compromise. Popular sovereignty (vote of
the people) would determine whether
Kansas and Nebraska would be slave or
free states.
Dred Scott v. Sanford, 1857
• A Missouri slave sued for his
freedom, claiming that his
four year stay in free land
had made him a free man.
The U.S. Supreme Court
decided he could not sue in
federal court because he
was property, not a citizen.
Causes of Secession, 1860
• After Lincoln was elected, seven Southern
states seceded. They cited as their reason
for seceding the election of a President
“whose opinions and purposes are hostile
to slavery.”
Emancipation Proclamation, 1862
• Lincoln freed all
slaves in states
that had
seceded. Lincoln
had no power to
enforce the law.
Battle of Gettysburg, 1863
• 90,000 soldiers under Meade vs. 76,000
under Lee, lasted three days and the
North won. Considered a turning point of
the Civil War.
Civil War Amendments
• 13th - Freed all slaves, abolished slavery.
• 14th - It granted full citizenship to all native-born
or naturalized Americans, including former
slaves and immigrants. No state shall deny a
person life, liberty, or property without due
process of law.
• 15th - No one could be denied the right to vote
on account of race, color or having been a slave.
It was to prevent states from amending their
constitutions to deny black suffrage.
Reconstruction Plans
• Presidential Plans
• Congressional Plan
• Lincoln offered the
• “Radical Republicans”
“Ten Percent Plan.”
passed the WadeDavis Bill. Lincoln
• Johnson’s plan was
pocket vetoed the bill.
similar to Lincoln’s,
but required wealthy
• Established
planters to request
Freedmen’s Bureau
pardons and did not
and passed the Civil
support voting rights
Rights Act of 1866.
for African-Americans.
Civil Rights Act of 1866
• Prohibited abridgement of rights of blacks
or any other citizens.
Compromise of 1877
• Hayes promised to show concern for
Southern interests and end Reconstruction
in exchange for the Democrats accepting
the fraudulent election results. He took
Union troops out of the South.
Goal 4: The Great West and the
Rise of the Debtor (1860-1896)
• The learner will evaluate the great
westward movement and assess the
impact of the agricultural revolution on the
nation.
Motivation for Westward Movement
• Government
Incentives
• Pacific Railway Acts
• Morrill Land-Grant Act
• Homestead Act
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•
•
Private Property
Miners
Cattle ranchers
Farmers
Challenges of Westward Movement
• Lack of resources; wood and water
• Severe weather, bugs, floods, prairie fires,
dust storms, drought
• Conflicts with Native Americans
Improvements in Agriculture
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Mechanized reaper – reduced labor force
Steel plow – cut through dense sod
Barbed wire – kept cattle off crops
Windmills – powers irrigation systems
Hybridization – allowed greater yields
Transcontinental Railroad, 1869
• Union Pacific began in Omaha in 1865
and went west. Central Pacific went east
from Sacramento and met the Union
Pacific Railroad at Promontory Point,
Utah.
Dawes Act, 1887
• It tried to dissolve
Indian tribes by
redistributing the land.
Designed to forestall
growing Indian
poverty, it resulted in
many Indians losing
their lands to
speculators.
Helen Hunt Jackson
• A muckraker whose book
exposed the unjust
manner in which the U.S.
government had treated
the Indians. Protested
the Dawes Severalty Act.
Cross of Gold Speech, 1896
• Given by William
Jennings Bryan, he
said people must not
be "crucified on a
cross of gold",
referring to the
Republican proposal
to eliminate silver
coinage and adopt a
strict gold standard.
Goal 5: Becoming an Industrial
Society (1877-1900)
• The learner will describe innovations in
technology and business practices and
assess their impact on economic, political,
and social life in America.
Influence of Big Business
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Larger pools of capital
Wider geographic span
Broader range of operations
Revised role of ownership
New methods of
management
Laissez-faire
• A theory that the economy does better
without government intervention in
business.
Credit Mobilier Scandal, 1872
• Union Pacific received a government
contract to build the transcontinental
railroad
• It "hired" Credit Mobilier to do the
actual construction, charging nearly
twice the actual cost of the project.
• The scheme was discovered and the
company tried to bribe Congress
with gifts of stock to stop the
investigation.
• This was the biggest bribery scandal
in U.S. history, and led to greater
public awareness of government
corruption.
Jane Addams’ Hull House, 1889
• Social reformer who worked to improve
the lives of the working class. She founded
Hull House in Chicago, the first private
social welfare agency in the U.S., to assist
the poor, combat juvenile delinquency and
help immigrants learn to speak English.
Social Darwinism
• Applied Darwin's
theory of natural
selection and "survival
of the fittest" to human
society -- the poor are
poor because they are
not as fit to survive.
Used as an argument
against social reforms
to help the poor.
Gospel of Wealth, 1889
• Andrew Carnegie was
an American millionaire
and philanthropist who
donated large sums of
money for public works.
His book argued that
the wealthy have an
obligation to give
something back to
society.
Labor Practices
• Collective Bargaining - Discussions held
between workers and their employers over
wages, hours, and conditions.
• Labor Unions – organization of workers
• Strikes – refusal to perform work until
demands are met.
Labor Unions
• Knights of Labor
• An American labor
union originally
established as a
secret fraternal order
and noted as the first
union of all workers. It
was founded in 1869.
• American
Federation of Labor
• Began in 1886 with
about 140,000
members; by 1917 it
had 2.5 million
members. It is a
federation of different
unions.
Thomas Nast
• Newspaper cartoonist
who produced satirical
cartoons, he invented
"Uncle Sam" and came
up with the elephant and
the donkey for the
political parties. He
nearly brought down
Boss Tweed.
Jacob Riis
• Early 1900's writer who exposed social
and political evils in the U.S. Muckraker
novel.
Goal 6: The emergence of the United
States in World Affairs (1890-1914)
• The learner will analyze causes and
effects of the United States emergence as
a world power.
Alfred Mahan
• As Americans increased business
overseas it became necessary to protect
those investments. In order to protect
those investments America built the "great
white fleet" that had been requested by
Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan.
Josiah Strong
• One of the leading
proponents of imperialism
was Minister Josiah Strong.
• Strong claimed that America
as the leading nation in the
world it was our destiny to
acquire new lands. This idea
sounds a lot like Manifest
Destiny because it is the
same idea.
Seward’s Folly, 1867
• An eager expansionist, Seward was the
energetic supporter of the Alaskan
purchase and negotiator of the deal often
called "Seward's Folly" because Alaska
was not fit for settlement or farming.
Annexation of Hawaii, 1898
• By the late 1800s, U.S.
had exclusive use of
Pearl Harbor. In July
1898, Congress made
Hawaii a U.S. territory,
for the use of the islands
as naval ports.
Causes of Spanish-American War,
1898
• An explosion from a mine in the Bay of
Havana crippled the warship Maine. The
U.S. blamed Spain for the incident and
used it as an excuse to go to war with
Spain.
Open Door Policy, 1899
• Hay sent imperialist nations a
note asking them to offer
assurance that they would
respect the principle of equal
trade opportunities,
specifically in the China
market.
Roosevelt Corollary, 1904
• U.S. would act as international policemen.
An addition to the Monroe Doctrine.