American History Quick Study Guide
Federalists vs Anti-Federalists
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2.
3.
Federalists
a.
Favored ratification of the constitution
b. Favored a powerful federal government
c.
Bill of Rights was not necessary to protect rights
Anti-Federalists
a.
Opposed ratification of the Constitution
b. Wanted a weak federal government which would not threaten state rights
c.
Wanted a Bill of rights which would protect the rights of people
Eventually Federalists eventually promised a Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution
became the law of the land
Economics
1.
2.
Supreme Court Cases
1.
2.
Plessy v. Ferguson
a.
Declared segregation is legal
i. Allowed for Jim Crow Laws
Brown v. Board of Education
a.
Overturned Plessy v. Ferguson in education
Geography
Amendments
1st =Freedom of press, religion, petition, assembly, and speech
13th =Abolished Slavery
14th =Citizenship to everyone
15th =Right to vote to all adult males
19th= Women’s suffrage (right to vote)
24th =Outlaws literacy tests and poll taxes as requirements for voting
26th =lowers voting age to 18
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a.
2.
3.
Skills and Methods
1.
2.
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5.
6.
Source: Person or document that provides information
a.
Primary: written during that time period
b. Secondary: Written later
All sources have a level of Bias (opinion)
A credible or reliable source is one which can be trusted
a.
Studies, research, data, facts, proven
Propaganda: used to persuade someone to your point of view
Thesis: Statement which must be supported by evidence
Stereotype: Oversimplified opinion or idea
Industrial Revolution
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Occurred after the American Civil War
Growth of Industry
Increased technology increased agricultural output and created factories in cities
a.
Population shifts rural to urban
Industrialization and Growth of Cities cause:
a.
Poor Working conditions
i. Low pay, dangerous conditions, long hours, child labor
b. Poor Living conditions
i. Unsanitary tenement apartments and slums
Effects of poor working and living conditions are Unions, Populism, and Progressivism
a.
Unions
i. Workers unite demanding better pay, hours, and conditions
b. Progressivism
i. People look to government to solve social problems
c.
Populism
i.
6.
Movement of farmers and laborers improving their conditions
Industrialization begins to form a middle class and improve the standard of living
The Depression of the 1930’s
1.
FDR grows the influence and scope of government with the New Deal
a.
New Deal Programs such as the FDIC, Social Security, SEC are still
around today
Trade
a.
Exports: Products leaving a country
b. Imports: Products entering a country
c.
Tariff: Tax on imports
i. High tariffs=Protectionism
ii. Low tariffs=Free Trade
d. Embargo/Blockade
i. Country refuses to trade with another country for
political of economic reasons
Federal Reserve
a.
Congress created the Federal Reserve to manage the nation’s
economy
b. The Fed sets monetary policy
i. Raise interest rates to slow the economy down and get
people to save
ii. Lower interest rates to speed the economy up and get
people to spend
4.
Cultural Diffusion: Transferring of one culture to another.
Technology such as internet, cell phones, and satellites have
increased cultural diffusion
b. Airplanes and cars have made traveling easier which also
increases cultural diffusion
Globalization
a.
The act, process, or policy of making something worldwide in
scope or application
Migration: Movement within a country
a.
Westward migration
b. 1st and 2nd great migrations
c.
Sun-Belt migrations
Immigration: Movement into another country
a.
Reasons for immigration
i. Freedoms
ii. Jobs
iii. Land
iv. Opportunities
Enlightenment
1.
2.
3.
17th Century intellectual movement
a.
Worked to limit the power of government and church
Enlightenment thinkers
a.
Locke: Natural rights and social contract
b. Montesquieu: checks and balances and 3 equal branches of
government
c.
Voltaire: Freedom of speech and religion
d. Rousseau: Popular Sovereignty (Will of majority)
Enlightenment ideas led to the American, French, and Latin American
Revolutions
a.
Declaration of Independence
i. Right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness; all men are
created equal; right to overthrow government
ii. Constitution
1. Based on popular sovereignty, created 3
branches, used checks and balances
iii. Bill of Rights
1. Protected individual rights
a.
Press, religion, and assembly
American History Quick Study Guide
Imperialism
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2.
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6.
7.
Equal Rights Organizations
Imperialism: Strong nation has political, social, and or economic control over a weaker nation
Imperialism is fueled by new markets, natural resources, military bases, and cultural superiority or anglosaxonism
U.S. becomes imperialist after the Spanish-American War
a.
U.S. Acquires Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines
American Business fuels the acquisition of Hawaii
Government buys Alaska from Russia
U.S. intervenes in Asia
a.
Open Door Policy in China
i. China is broken up into spheres of influence
President Teddy Roosevelt has his “Big Stick” foreign policy
a.
U.S. builds the Panama Canal and intervenes in Latin America
WWI
1.
2.
U.S. involvement
a.
Isolationist mentality leads to U.S. neutrality at beginning of
the war
i. We do sell supplies to both sides initially then to
just allies
b. Reasons for American entrance
i. Unrestricted submarine warfare
ii. Sinking of the Lusitania
iii. Zimmerman Note
iv. Historical and economic ties to the allies
Results of WWI
a.
U.S. emerges from WWI as heroes and as a world power
b. Treaty of Versailles ends the war
i. U.S. never signs the Treaty of Versailles because it
Is too harsh on Germany
c.
League of Nations is formed
i. U.S. never joins the league of nations despite
President Wilson’s desire to join
ii. Senate votes not to join because of fear of future
European involvement
iii. League of Nations is extremely ineffective
2.
3.
4.
Foreign Policy
a.
U.S. returns to isolationism
b. Upset with human and economic cost of war the U.S.
participates in disarmament
i. Washington Naval Conference
Domestic Policy
a.
1st Red Scare- Fear of Communism
i. Result of communist revolution in Russia
b. Immigration Restriction
i. Nativism grows in U.S
1. Preference for native born over
foreign born
ii. Quota system for immigration is developed
c.
1st Great Migration
i. African Americans move south to north to escape
Jim Crow laws in the south as well as for factory
jobs in the north
1. Harlem Renaissance begins which
celebrates African American culture
through music, art, and literature
d. U.S. Economy and business grow throughout the 1920’s due
to governments hands off approach
End of the 1920’s ushers in the beginning of the Great Depression
a.
Causes
i. Overproduction/Under consumption
ii. Debt
iii. Bank Failures
iv. Stock Market Crash
President Hoover attempts to reassure the country that the economy
will fix itself but the situation worsens and he loses reelection to FDR
2.
3.
4.
Women
a.
N.O.W
i. Equal Pay, equal representation
Hispanic Americans
a.
United Farm Workers
i. Unionize
Native Americans
a.
A.I.M
i. Compensation for lost lands
African Americans
a.
N.A.A.C.P
i. Equality
WWII
1.
2.
U.S. Involvement
a.
Isolationist mentality leads to U.S. neutrality at beginning of the
war
b. Reasons for American Entrance
i. Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor
c.
2nd Great Migration of African Americans
d. Minorities and Women (Rosie the Riveter) gain opportunities
e. Internment of Japanese Americans
Results of WWII
a.
United Nations is established to preserve world peace
b. Nation of Israel established
c.
Cold War begins
i. U.S. vs USSR
Cold War
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2.
3.
4.
The Roaring 1920’s
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5.
6.
7.
Toward the end of WWII the U.S. and the Soviet Union became suspicious
of each other.
a.
Arms race, space race
U.S developed a foreign policy based on containment of communism
known as the Truman Doctrine
Europe was split in half by the iron curtain or Soviet bloc
Marshall Plan was the U.S. program to rebuild Europe after WWII
a.
Plan was rejected by the Soviets and their satellite nations
b. Plan rebuilt Europe and weakened the appeal of communism in
Western Europe
U.S. and U.S.S.R disagree over Berlin
a.
First the Berlin airlifts then the Berlin Wall
Cuban Missile Crisis
a.
Bay of Pigs invasion fails at removing Castro from power in Cuba
b. Soviet Union installs nuclear missiles in Cuba
c.
War is prevented when both Kennedy and Khrushchev agree to
remove missiles pointed at one another
Vietnam War and Korean War are both fought to keep communism from
spreading
1950’s and 1960’s
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
U.S. economy is very strong following WWII
Cities suffer financially as middle class moves to suburbs
Bayby Boomers: Large increase in birthrate following WWII
2nd Red Scare due to the competition with the U.S.S.R
McCarthyism: campaign to root out communism in the U.S.
a.
H.U.A.C, Hollywood 10
New Technologies and medicines created a higher standard of living and
more leisure time especially for middle class America
Civil Rights Movement
1.
2.
3.
4.
Jim Crow Laws allow for the legal separation of races (segregation)
Civil Disobedience: peaceful form of protest
a.
Marches, boycotts, sit-ins
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Voting Rights Act of 1965
American History Quick Study Guide