Review
1500-1800
Early Exploration
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Spanish & Portuguese were first
Why?
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Treaty of Tordesillas,
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The “3 Gs” – gold, glory & gospel
North West Passage to Asia.
Trade for Asian spices, silk, porcelain
Pope negotiated
divides the New World
Portugal gets Brazil
Spain gets most of the Americas: New Spain
English defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 marks a
shift in power
British, Dutch & French begin to influence the Americas
French
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explorers
Champlain (1608, St. Lawrence River)
Marquette & de la Salle (explored length of
Mississippi R)
Discover fishing grounds off Canadian (New
France) coast
Realize the potential of the fur trade
Don’t establish large settlements
Trade with the Indians
Franco-Indian relations are strong
Dutch
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explorers
Henry Hudson (1609, Hudson River)
Settled in New Amsterdam (now NYC)
Patroon plantation system
British
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Early explorers
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Virginia Company, 1607.
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Religious exiles
Mayflower Compact
Small settlement of families
Massachusetts Bay Company
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Jamestown
Gentlemen seeking gold & quick wealth
Saved by tobacco, John Smith, and John Rolfe
Indenture system brought labour from England
Pilgrims on “Mayflower” to Plymouth, 1620
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Raleigh (Roanoke Island, Virginia)
Puritans & Separatists
Religious exiles. 1630
John Winthrop (City on a Hill)
Great Migration = 1630-42.
Dissidents (Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson) from Mass. formed Rhode Island
(1644), and Connecticut (1639, Fundamental Orders of Connecticut).
Maryland – haven for Roman Catholics.
South Carolina – settled by English planters from Barbados.
North Carolina – overflow from Virginia.
NY and NJ – captured from Dutch.
British Colonies – Basic
Differences
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New England - harsh climate, infertile soils, small
farms, lumber, fishing, shipbuilding. Heavy Puritan
influence.
Middle Colonies (NY, NJ, Penn, Del) – milder climate,
fertile soils, mixed agriculture, ethnically mixed, Dutch,
German, British. Many Quakers.
Chesapeake colonies (VA, MD) – tobacco plantations,
more aristocratic, Church of England, hot, wet,
unhealthy.
Southern colonies (NC, SC, Georgia) – NC more like
VA, but SC & Georgia big plantations, indigo, rice,
cotton, communication by river, horrible roads,
indentured labor followed by slaves.
British Colonial Attitudes
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Colonies exist for benefit of the Mother country.
Mercantilist policy reflects this belief.
Britain interested in status quo – colonies provide Britain with raw materials, Britain
exports manufactured goods to colonies.
Britain busy with its own internal power struggles (Civil War, Glorious Revolution),
and leave colonists to govern themselves (Salutary Neglect).
France presents a danger to British colonies.
Hence French & Indian War, 1756-63. Very expensive. Britain incurs debt. After
victory, Britain feels need to keep Redcoats on American soil as defensive force.
Britain wants to avoid unnecessary conflict with Indians ~ Proclamation of 1763,
limiting colonists from settling land west of Appalachian Mt ridge.
Britain thinks it is only reasonable for colonists to help pay the debt incurred during
recent war ~ taxation of colonists.
Britain argues that colonists have “virtual representation” in Br. Parliament.
British govt. is contemptuous of colonial grievances, & respond with scorn.
Impose Quartering Act (10,000 Redcoats).
Impose Stamp Act (1765). Later repeal it due to colonial outrage.
Next come Townshend Acts – indirect taxes. Townshend taxes repealed by Br., but
tax on tea remains.
American Colonists’ Attitude
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Puritans think it is lovely to be able to practice their faith
without persecution.
 Consider themselves “British” and loyal to the king.
 But distance across the Atlantic is great, which over time
leads to a sense of difference and to misunderstandings.
 Communication to England is slow & infrequent.
 Over time the colonists become more ethnically mixed
(Dutch, Germans), and thus different from Old England.
 Appreciate the period of Salutary Neglect, and begin to
develop a sense of independence.
 Some colonists influenced by Enlightenment ideas in
Europe – democracy.
Causes of Revolutionary War
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Proclamation of 1763 really upsets the colonists.
Also not pleased with Quartering Act.
Taxes to pay off Fr & Ind. War peeves colonists. “No taxation w/o representation.”
Colonists don’t believe in “virtual representation.”
Impose boycott of British goods in response to Stamp Act.
Colonists smuggling goods to avoid British taxes. British try to stop this. Various
nasty incidents, the worst of which is “Gaspee” incident.
Creation of Sons & Daughters of Liberty.
John Dickinson writes “Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania”, complaining of tax
w/o rep.
Tea tax continues to upset some.
Tea Act (1773) gives Br. East India Co. monopoly on tea sales in colonies ~ Boston
Tea Party.
British respond with Intolerable (Coercive) Acts to punish colonists.
Quebec Act misinterpreted by colonists as another anti-British act.
First Continental Congress (1774) called to express dismay to king.
Lexington & Concord, April 1775.
Second Continental Congress, May 1775.
Olive Branch Petition from Cont. Cong. to King George III.
King rejects Petition.
Thomas Paine writes “Common Sense” (Jan. 1776) urging independence.
Declaration of Independence (Jefferson prime writer), July 4, 1776.
Articles of Confederation
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1776-1787 : sovereignty of states over the federal
govt; unicameral Congress; one vote one state
(same as old Continental Congress); amendments
only if unanimous agreement amongst the states;
empowered to make war ; make treaties ; admit
new states ; BUT NOT empowered to levy taxes,
raise troops, or regulate commerce.
Ratification of A of C delayed by arguments about
status of western lands (Virginia held extensive
holdings, but Maryland held no western lands.
What was fair ? Eventually Va. agreed to surrender
all western land claims to the feds.)
Financial disaster. Unable to tax. Printed
“Continentals” instead ~ massive inflation. Govt
forced to rely on loans from foreign countries
(France, Neth.). Rhode Island blocked an
amendment to give Congress power to tax. Army
not paid, threatened to mutiny.
Westward Movement
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Wilderness Road, 1775, Daniel Boone, through Cumberland
Gap, over the Appalachians
• By 1790, 100,000 settlers in Ky & Tenn. Indian troubles extensive.
British forts (Treaty of Paris ??) made matters worse for the settlers,
as Br. Agitated the Indians to oppose the American advance.
Spanish in Florida reacted the same way.
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Land Ordinance of 1784 (provided terr. Govt. and orderly
system for terr. To progress towards statehood.
Land Ordinance of 1785 (AKA N.W. Ordinance of 1785 orderly surveying & distrib. of land in townships 6 miles square,
composed of 36 one-square mile sections, one of which to be
set aside for education.
N.W. Ordinance of 1787 ( gave bill of rights for settlers, &
forbade slavery N. of Ohio River.)
These Ordinances were greatest successes of A of C.
Economic Problems
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Still tied to old British trade patterns
• Nation needed time to change, or expand, its trade partners, and to
improve its export capabilities.
• Farmers were obliged to accept British prices for agric. products,
and to buy British manuf. goods.
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Shay’s Rebellion, 1786
• Western Mass. farmers are in desperate economic straits (high
taxes, state’s war debts).
• War vet. Daniel Shays leads a mob to shut down the courts which
are seizing farms due to farmer debts.
• This disturbance causes panic in the East
• Bostonians financed an army to march west & crush the “rebellion”
• Many are left fearful that a weak federal govt without the power to
raise an army will not survive.
• New Constitution ?
Constitution
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Annapolis (Md) Convention, 1786. Only 5 states came.
Constitutional Convention, PhilaConvention’s proceedings secret
Wanted a system of checks & balances to avoid dictatorial abuses
James Madison, “father of the Const.”
Virginia Plan, bicameral, both based on pop.
New Jersey Plan, unicameral, equal state rep, increased fed. powers.
Great Compromise (Connecticut Compromise) – Presidency, Senate
with equal rep, & H of Reps with rep based on pop.
SLAVERY ? Neither endorsed nor condemned by Const. Three-Fifths
Compromise (for apportioning reps, & taxation).
Strong Presidency with veto power over Congress. Impeachment in
case of Pres committing crime.
Electoral College to elect Pres
Began division of nation into factions, or parties.
• Federalists in favour of strong fed. Powers
• Anti-federalists in favour of stronger state powers.
• Federalist Papers (Hamilton, Jay, Madison) were newspaper articles
designed to convince the public in favour of the Const.
• What about a Bill of Rights to protect individual liberties ?
Federalist Era
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Congress dominated by Federalists in first few years
Bill of Rights (first 10 Amendments), 1791
Judiciary Act, 1789, set up Supreme Court (this is the Act that
Marshall will find unconstit. in Marbury .v. Madison).
Washington estab. a Cabinet (not mentioned in Const)
Hamilton pushed for paying the national debt at face value (“at
par”), plus fed assumption of state debts, estab of a Bank of the
US, and tax & subsidy help to encourage American
manufacturing. Get revenue from protective tariff, and from tax
on distillers (Whiskey Rebellion)
Jefferson opposed much of Hamilton’s financial plan (enrich a
small elite at the expense of the yeoman farmer)
Federalists & Republican parties beginning to form
Hamilton & Feds pushing the idea of “implied powers”
Jeff & Reps pushing idea of “strict” interpretation of Const
Foreign Policy
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French Revolution. America “Neutral”.
Citizen Genet a nuisance. Both Br & Fr
interfering with Am shipping. Jay’s Treaty,
1794, tried to settle matter with Br, but
unpopular back home.
Pinckney’s Treaty with Spain, 1795, by which
Spain opened Mississippi as a trade route.
Indian troubles along the frontiers, with
Britain, Spain stirring up trouble. General
Wayne’s victory over Indians at Battle of
Fallen Timbers ~ Greenville Treaty ~ Ohio
Valley opened up to American settlers.
Domestic Issues
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Whiskey Rebellion, 1794
• Western Penn. farmers balk at excise tax on
whiskey
• terrorize tax collectors
• Washington sends federal militia of 15,000 –
excessive
• Young fed govt gains prestige.
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New states (Ky, Tenn, Vermont) formed out
West, thus strengthening political clout of the
West
John Adams’ Presidency, 17971801
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Adams defeated Jefferson in 1796
Jefferson becomes V-P
XYZ Affair, 1798 (French prove difficult to talk to, unless you’re
loaded)
Quasi-War, 1798-99, with France. Result of XYZ Affair, and
French interfering with Am shipping. Embargo on trade with
France, & Am ships ordered to shoot at armed French ships.
Napoleon eases the tension with treaty in 1800.
Alien & Sedition Acts, 1798. Adams stifling foreign influences,
and stifling dissent of the opposition Republicans.
Kentucky & Virginia Resolutions. Reps think A & S Acts are
unconstit, but who decides the constit of fed laws ? Jefferson &
Madison say “we” do, the states. They use John Locke’s
“compact theory” to argue that states can freely nullify fed laws
which are obnoxious to the state. Ky & Va actually adopted the
Resolutions, but no one else did, and when A & S Acts were
nixed soon after, the issue died. But John C. Calhoun had been
listening, and he would pick up on the idea in the 1830s
nullification crisis, and the South would secede in 1861 on the
same principle.
Beginnings to Constitution
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Even though the Albany Plan of Union was not successful, why was it an important
precedent?
For what three reasons did Native Americans side with France during the French and
Indian War?
In what three ways did the Seven Years’ War directly affect the colonists’ growing
discontent toward the British?
How did the Sugar Act differ from the preceding Navigation Acts?
How did colonial protest evolve? What steps were initially ineffective and what later
steps proved successful?
What poor choices made by the British eventually heightened the pre-Revolutionary
era conflict?
In what ways did the colonies attempt to unite and/or share information?
Why could many colonists rightly claim that the conflict was primarily a Boston issue?
What were the three main results of the First Continental Congress?
What was the significance of the “shot heard ‘round the world”?
John Adams once claimed that 1/3 of the colonists were for revolution, 1/3 were
against, and 1/3 didn’t really care. What types of people fell into each category?
What documents were most influential during the Revolutionary Era? What was the
purpose of each?
What factors contributed to America being able to win the Revolutionary War?
What were the faults and the strengths of the Articles of Confederation?
What were the main events of the Critical Era?
What compromises needed to be made for the Constitution to be successful?
What were the positions of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists?
Washington to Jefferson
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What were the precedents established by Washington
during his presidency?
 How did Hamilton’s economic policies differ from those
of Jefferson?
 To what extent was did the French Revolution cause
dissension in America?
 What elements of Adams and Jefferson’s presidencies
foreshadowed future conflicts between political parties
and geographic regions?
 How were the branches of the Federal Government
strengthened during Jefferson’s Presidency?
 What was the relation between expansion and slavery?
What attempts were made to postpone conflict?
 Prior to the 1804 election what problem kept plaguing
the presidential election?
 How did Jefferson’s interpretation of the role of VicePresident differ significantly from that of Adams’s and
that used today?