TYPES OF SOURCES
PRIMARY SOURCE: Sources created by witnesses at the time of an
event. First hand information (Letter
written by soldier during World War II, or
original plans for building the Panama Canal)
SECONDARY SOURCE: Sources based on interpreting and analyzing
primary sources. Second hand information
(your history textbook, a biography of a
famous person)
IMPORTANT DATES
1776 DELCARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
1787 CONSTITUTION
1861-1865 CIVIL WAR
1898 SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
1914-1918 WORLD WAR I
1929 STOCK MARKET CRASH—GREAT DEPRESSION
1939-1945 WORLD WAR II
1957 SPUTNICK LAUNCHES US/SOVIET SPACE RACE
1968 MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. ASSASSINATED
1969 U.S. LANDS ON THE MOON
1991 COLD WAR ENDS
2001 9/11 ATTACKS ON WORLD TRADE CENTER/PENTAGON
2008 OBAMA (FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN PRESIDENT)
TIME PERIODS OF AMERICAN HISTORY
(PAST THE CIVIL WAR)
INDUSTRIALIZATION & THE GILDED AGE
THE PROGRESSIVE ERA
WORLD WAR I
ROARING TWENTIES
GREAT DEPRESSIOIN & THE NEW DEAL
WORLD WAR II
CIVIL RIGHT
COLD WAR
SIXTIES
WOMEN’S RIGHTS
WATERGATE
NEW MILLENNIUM
REAGAN
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
Mostly written by Thomas Jefferson
Gave reasons why colonists wanted (demanded) independence from
Great Britain.
Listed the grievances of American colonists against the British King
(the things King George III had done wrong)
Said that the purpose of government was to protect citizens
(unalienable) rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
Justifies the overthrow of the government that abuses the rights of
the people
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
When in the Course of human events, it becomes
necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands
which have connected them with another…
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men
are created equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.-That to secure these rights, Governments are
instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from
the consent of the governed, --That whenever any
Form of Government becomes destructive of these
ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to
abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its
foundation on such principles and organizing its powers
in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to
effect their Safety and Happiness...
PEOPLE TO KNOW (REVOLUTION)
JOHN TRUMBULL, SR:
Colonial governor who sided with the
colonists against the British
JOHN PETER MUHLENBERG:Clergyman who recruited soldiers to
fight the British
JOHN JAY: Helped write Federalist Papers; first Chief Justice of
Supreme Court; negotiated Jay Treaty (boundaries with
England)
PEOPLE TO KNOW (REVOLUTION—Declaration signers)
BENJAMIN RUSH: Father of American Medicine; signed the
Declaration of Independence
JOHN WITHERSPOON:
Signer of the Declaration of
Independence, President of New Jersey
College (Princeton)
JOHN HANCOCK: President of Second Continental Congress, signed
the Declaration of Independence (big signature)
ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE
Frenchman who came to the United States
Wrote Democracy in America.
Identified 5 key characteristics of American democracy that set us
apart from Europe:
LIBERTY
EGALITARIANISM (EQUALITY)
INDIVIDUALISM
POPULISM
LAISSEZ-FAIRE
BILL OF RIGHTS
Passed to provide protections for the individual and to assure
acceptance of the Constitution
First Amendment provides freedom of speech, religion, press.
Provides right to assemble and to petition the government to correct
wrongs.
Second Amendment provides the right to bear arms.
Third Amendment protects citizens from having to quarter (house)
soldiers.
Fourth Amendment says no unreasonable search or seizure
Fifth Amendment established “due Process” protections—no self
incrimination
Sixth Amendment provides speedy, public trial/ right to confront
witnesses/ right to counsel
Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment; no
excessive bail
U.S. CONSTITUTION (1787)
Replaced the ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION
Set up a new national government
Set up three branches of government:
EXECUTIVE (President)
LEGISLATIVE (Congress)
JUDICIAL (Supreme Court)
Provided system of Checks and Balances to ensure no branch too
powerful.
E PLURIBUS UNUM
“OUT OF MANY ONE
It was the motto suggested by the
committed appointed by Congress in July
1776 to design a seal for the country
-Is the motto that was selected by
Charles Thomson in 1782 when he
created the Great Seal with the
American bald Eagle centerpiece
-It represents the union between the
states and the federal government