History 201
 American History I
 From Discovery
 To
 Civil War
Intro
 We chronicle the history of the U.S. from
colonial origins to the beginning of the 21st
century.
 Key themes: 1) Exceptionalism; 2)
socioeconomic mobility and opportunity; 3)
Universal suffrage—democracy; 4) “The
Melting Pot” and the American Identity.
 This the continuing saga of how to make a
Republic and as Franklin suggested, “Keep
it if we can.”
Living Bravely and World’s Apart
 Christopher Columbus’s voyage from
Spain, across the Atlantic, marked the
beginning of the most important encounter
of places and peoples in human history.
 Colin Calloway described “New Worlds for
All.”
 The New World was first inhabited maybe
around 40,000 to 12,000 yrs ago—we
suspect, mostly populated from Eastern
Asia(central Siberia)—the Archaic period
Living Bravely—New World
 The remains of Kennewick Man discovered
in Washington state have contributed to the
controversy of just who the first immigrants
truly were and where did they come?
 First Americans, Paleo-Indians, around
1500, numbered around 70 million—
probably spoke over 300 dialects and even
completely different languages. Became
settled Farmers with permanent villages.
New World
 Some Native cultures reached heights of
sophistication and were much developed.
 The Incas, The Aztecs and the Olmecs are
just a few examples. They had highly
developed religious and political practices.
The Mayans actually had sophisticated
writing systems.
 Not really a new world—very much
inhabited—crossed the Siberian land bridge
with 3 successive waves of Asian migrants.
New World Settlement
 Regardless of who or where, settlement
took place rapidly. The Aztecs settled as a
culture and developed a city called
Tenochtitlan—The Pueblos or the Anasazi
settled further up the Southwest from
Mexico—(Hopi Indians).
 Throughout the Southeast the adenaHopewell developed intricate “Moundbuilding” societies—culminating at Cahokia
in the Mississippi Valley.
 Interestingly enough, most Native Peoples
practiced an unstable social relationship.
New World
 Tenochtitlan probably
inhabited around
200,000 people—
looked very much like
a European city
around 1200.
 But as things in
Mesoamerica changed
and developed so did
things in Europe—
creating an unknown
confrontation.
Europe
 After the collapse of the Roman Empire, Europe
lapsed into an economic and cultural backwater.
 Continent fragmented—East controlled by
Byzantine and West remnants of Roman rule.
 It was politically disorganized, economy reduced
to primitive levels of barter;
 It emphasizes the difficulty ancient empires have
in trying to resurrect themselves—importing new
ideas and technology was expensive.
Europe
 Crusades changed
this-opened up the
idea of state supported
and organized
exploration;
 Saw the cultural
benefits of trading
with the East and the
Orient—spices, books,
technology etc …
 Marco Polo—very
famous
Marco Polo
 Opened up the possibilities of world
markets; but also, revealed difficulties of
private financing;
 Europe frustrated by lack of geographic
proximity, costs, Mediterranean
monopolies, Europe underwrote their own
expeditions and form Joint Venture
companies.
 Prince Henry the navigator(Portuguese)
avoiding the original “Robber barons” over
land routes began a sea exploration along
the coast of West Africa.
Christopher Columbus
 I say all that to get to this—This search for new
markets and trade routes led to state sponsored
exploration;
 More and more Seafarers searched for quicker
routes to the Indies—ie Vasco da Gama succeeded
in rounding the cape of Good Hope—now India
was open to a European reciprocity of trade.
 Columbus convinced King Ferdinand and Queen
Isabella of Spain he could reach the Orient sailing
west
New World
 The European visit to the New World was
surprisingly a great disappointment. It was seen a
probable formidable obstacle to the reaching
China.
 Magellan’s trip proved that the pacific Ocean was
bigger than first thought;
 Balboa tried to find a path across the Isthmus of
Panama—but also failed;
 Many looked for the Great Northwest Passage, but
to no avail—North America was turning into a
booby prize! So they looked elsewhere for
awhile.
Freebooters
 These guys were state sponsored to some
degree-but essentially private owned
expeditions (Cortes, Pizzaro etc …)
 Looking for Gold and Riches—not
settlement—without constraint and minimal
oversight these guys implemented their own
code of law and ethics;
 Essential a social-experiment with untold
riches to be had—this came at a tremendous
cost to the native people’s.
American Nation Building
 So, this has what to do with American
history? It created and perpetuated a notion
of what people wanted and desired out of
government and society.
 1) Passion for Freedom—many different
forms; political, religious, and economic—
but freedom in whatever form is an urge
still present today;
 2) Education—a classic American form of
opportunity to become an educated selfmade man—individual opportunity.
American Nation Building
 3) Popular Government—democracy,
republicanism, whatever—people have the
inalienable right to govern themselves—we
may fight amongst ourselves, but we have
never fought over whether we should
become a Monarchy;
 4) experimentation—a forward-looking
attitude, an ingenuity to make things better
with what we have. WE welcome the new
and untried—we have few constraints and
tend to assimilate quickly.
American Nation Building
 5) Exceptionalism—we really believe this;
we are a “city upon a hill” for others to
emulate. We created the first truly
successful Colonial war for independence
and created successfully the first large scale
Democratic Republic—while other nations
butchered one another over whether the
Psalms should be sung in Latin or French,
we developed religious toleration;
 We opened our political and economic
system to anyone—based on brains and
talent and not heredity.
American Nation Building
 Yes, it has created a certain savoir fair a
ethnocentric smugness that creates issues
form time to time; but it is a suggestion that
our country above all others, with its
problems, is worth saving.
 We are committed to a certain set of ideas,
built not around race or ethnicity, but
around political documents such as the
Constitution, Declaration of Independence,
and Civil Rights—a deep seated passion for
freedom—we are very different from others.
Early Americans
 DNA fortifies the Asian
invasion; However, other native
tribes do not fit the bill;
 Seems they came from here—
very odd indeed.
 Kennewick man—carbon
dating puts him 8,000yrs old,
but DNA also suggests he is not
related to Asian influence—a
conundrum indeed.
 Regardless by 1492, probably
70 million people in both South
and North America
European Arrival on Eastern Seaboard
 The Spanish had essentially plundered the
Islands, North and South American
Continents—but really no other Old World
peoples settled permanently with any
success.
 There was the attempt of Roanoke and the
“Lost Colony” but even the Spanish had a
hard time settling permanently in the
Contiguous land east of the Mississippi.
Eastern Seaboard
 Though exposure to disease had wiped out
many tribes, there still remained about
125,000 Indians along the eastern seaboard.
 Fishing, agriculture, and hunting, hunter-
gatherers—they had all they needed to
sustain life.
 3 Large family groups dominated east of the
Mississippi: Algonquins, Iroquois, and
Muskhogean
Eastern Woodland Indians
 Algonquians—included the Abnaki, the
Delaware and Powhatan confederacy;
 Iroquois—five nations controlled the Great
Lakes region(Mohawk,, Oneida, Cayuga,
Onondaga, and seneca, later the Tuscarora;
 Muskhogean—included the Creeks,
Seminoles and Cherokees.
Eastern Woodland Indians
Eastern Woodland Society
 Never fully reached the impressive level of
civilization attained by their southern continent
cousins.
 Essentially still in the Stone Age upon European
arrival—one reason Europeans considered
themselves far more advanced.
 Politically ruled over by Elders and by
persuasion—never by fiat; They remained a
loosely organized—This proved detrimental, as
the Europeans were a tightly organized unit.
Eastern Woodland Society
 Slash/Burn Agri. Corn
a staple crop, but also
beans, pumpkins, and
squash.
 Labor was communal;
women performed
most all agriculture
tasks;
 Men—hunted, fished,
occasional war; Game
provided food and
clothing and shelter.
Eastern Woodland Society
 Nomadic—Autumn moved to the interior for
shelter from the coastal cold winters;
Summer moved upstream away from the hot
dismal miasmic swamps and tide water
basins that carried diseases.
 Indians tended to follow patterns for
survival—The Europeans considered them
uncivilized—a permanent settlement meant
staying put not moving around—the Indians
smiled and watched them die by the
thousands.