MW.Syl.1.1
Modern World History
09-10
Mr. Hogan
This course covers selected topics in World History from the late 1400s to the present day. It is a “world
history” course in the sense that it examines peoples and their cultures and how they have move and
changed in the past five hundred years. In man respects it is a course in geography and economics. It is
about exchange: the exchange of goods, ideas, technology and disease. It is about population and migration.
We will learn about important people and many nations and in this context. The current world is always
part of our consideration, as the patterns and issues that emerge by about 1500 continue to play out daily in
our lives and around the globe.
The text we will use is Felipe Fernandez-Armesto’s The World: A History. This is a sophisticated and
demanding account of the history of the world. Students will read it in small segments and with clear
guidance. The maps, art and photos are a remarkable and critical part of this book and are in some places
even more important and helpful than the text.
We will read many primary sources, both at home and in class from The Human Record, Vol II, edited by
Andrea and Overfield. Primary sources are the voices from the past that reach out us through time. They
bring to life the world of yesterday.
We will view DVDs and online videos regularly. DVDs we will view in part will include
Queen Victoria’s Empire
Cuba: An African Odyssey
Ghandi
Inside North Korea
The French Revolution
To Live! (China 20th c)
The War That Made America
Guns, Germs and Steel
The Haitian Revolution
China Rises
Islam, Empire of Faith
Online sources include PBS shows such as Frontline and selected interviews with scholars, authors and
journalists. These are available on youtube or program websites such as C-Span or Charlie Rose or Bill
Moyers. Also accessed online are political cartoons, documents, images of works of art and political and
topographical maps.
Currents developments are discussed regularly in the class, as the issues of world trade, migration of
peoples and cultural exchange constantly invite drawing of connections to today’s events.
Students will be assessed in several ways:
 Approach to class: preparation, seriousness of purpose, involvement in class both as a listener and
a speaker.
 Leadership in class: when assigned to lead or be a point person on a particular topic or day.
Students will be assigned to teams and a certain team is expected to lead on selected occasions
 Reviews of reading and class notes
 Little (pop)quizzes: these help to reveal consistency of preparation
 Big Quizzes: these are both objective and essay. Students write regular short essays: tightly
reasoned in class responses to a question or questions presented in advance
 Tests: full period versions of Big Quizzes
 Research paper. In the second semester students will write a research paper on a twentieth century
topic.
Assignments: These are designed to take between 25 and 45 minutes per night. Quizzes and tests will be
announced and scheduled as needed with at least three or four days notice.
1 The Human Record (THR) Andrea. P1-P2 stop at end of first para (“created”); P4-P6.
2 Fernandez-Armesto, The World (F-A or Armesto) Ch 15. Expanding Worlds.
Read 480-483. Art and text.
in class review primary, secondary, artifacts, oral sources, imply/infer,
logical conclusions, connecting the dots
maps 15.2, .3, .4.
494 Making Connections, column 2
In class begin class notes
3 F-A. 498-503 Ottomans. Art and text.
Look up steppeland and pastoralist
How was Timur a hurricane?
How were the Ottomans a monsoon? How did the Ottomans make money? What kind of military power did
they use? How did the Ottomans deal with many religions in one empire? Mehmet- Constantinople-1453what happened and why does it matter?
In class map 15.5, art
4 F-A. 503 first two sentences only of Chinese Imperialism; tippety-top 505-507 but omit from “Part, at
least” on 506 to “Confucianism over Daoism.” on 507.
Why does Armesto tell us of Zheng? How did Chinese ships compare with Euro ships in the 1400s? What
does Armesto think of the Chinese decision to maintain a land empire instead of a maritime empire?
At home and in class: Map 15.6 on 506. Timeline on 507.
5 F-A 507-512. Also study Map 15.7 on 510-511. How did Euros get to the Indian Ocean? Why were
Euros slow to cross the Atlantic? Where are the Azores? What technological improvements led to Euro’s
improved navigation and sea travel? Pay attention to the Portuguese, Columbus, Cabot. Find Madeira, the
Canary Islands and the Congo.
6 F-A Map 15.8 on pp. 514-515. Also read 519-522 and Art and Timeline on these pages. Where was
empire and where was it not? Pay attention to concepts of “state system”, “nationalism”. What is
sovereignty? Note the decline of the Church. Also note “world system”
F-A Part 7 Convergence-Divergence
Ch 16 Imperial Arenas 1500s and 1600s
7. Note timeline and Art 528-529; Art 530; Read 531-534. Art 534. What is the point of the opening story?
What “above all” are empires? How did imperialism affect evolution? Pay attn to Portuguese, Dutch,
Japanese and consider again the map 15.7 and map 15.8 and the wind and currents codes.
8 F-A 535-538 Portugal. What products? Why Portugal? What was the Portuguese “main business? Why
did Armesto tell us about Francisco? Until the mid 1600s how did Asian trade compare to New World trade
for Ptgl, Nth and Eng?
At home and in class: Art 536-537. 538. Map 16.1.
9 F-A 538-542. What were Hideyoshi’s dreams? What did he realize? Why Did Armesto tell us about
Cornelia? Where did Chinese emigrate to? So what? What do the Gujaratis tell us about the location and
power of Indian trade? What does Vora’s story tell us? [AT ANY NUMBER OF POINTS IN THE NEXT
FEW ASSTS THE FILM THE STORY OF INDIA MAY BE USED IN CLASS TO GIVE THE HISTORY
THAT BRING US UP TO THE MUGHALS]
At home and in class: Art 540, 541.
10 F-A 542-545 stop at “father-in-law.” What happened to the Portuguese in Asia? Can you figure out how
the Dutch became rivals of Portugal by 1580? Who was van Linschoten? What difference did he make? Art
543. Four reasons for Dutch dominance amongst Euros in Asian trade in 1600s? Why did the Dutch
succeed in Japan? Art 544, 545.
11 F-A 545-548 stop at Mughal section. What is the transition from maritime imperialism to territorial
imperialism? Timeline and Art 546-547. Why such a fuss over the “Icon of the Hosts of the Heavenly
King”? See Map 16.2 and locate Siberia and Mongolia. What differentiates Chinese imperialism from
Russian imperialism? Note the empires on Map 16.2, including Ottoman.
12 THR Andrea 7-10 stop above “The Papacy and the Monastic Orders.” Answer first three questions in
one sentence each.
13 F-A 548-550. Mughal India. How would you describe the Mughal Empire in 25 words or less? FILM IN
CLASS STORY OF INDIA [?] DISC ONE Map16.2. Art on 550. Go to Google Earth and review
topography and modern borders in the area seen on Map 16.2.
14 F-A 550-552. Map 16.2 on 549 is critical for this assignment. Art on 551. What is Armesto’s view of the
Ottomans? (Pay attention because the Ottomans survived into the 20th century and Iraq and the Middle
Eastern nations are carve-outs from the old Ottoman Empire.) Where is Turkey? Was Turkey rich? What
waterways were important to the Ottomans? What “transit points” did they control? What were their
disadvantages? On p 552 focus on the locations mentioned as points in the expanding Ottoman Empire and
try to find them on maps anywhere you can. When did the Ottomans stop expanding? See last sentence on
552—it is important to understand about the Ottomans.
15 THR Andrea. Islamic Heartland. 44-49 stop at rhc above the three deltas “part they choose.” Respond to
questions 103.
16 THR Andrea. Religion- South Asia. 59-62. Respond to first two questions.
17 F-A 554-557 American Empires. At home and in class: Map 16.3 on 553 Land Empires in the Americas.
What were four explanations for Spanish success in subduing the American peoples? What technologies
aided the Spanish? What about disease as a factor? “Spaniard’s triumph… was less a battlefield victory
than a diplomatic maneuver”. Explain. FILM AT SOME POINT: Guns Germs and Steel (GGS) 52 min on
Spaniards [
Episode Two : Conquest
Episode Two | Transcript
On November 15th 1532, 168 Spanish conquistadors arrive in the holy city of Cajamarca, at the heart of the Inca Empire, in Peru.
They are exhausted, outnumbered and terrified – ahead of them are camped 80,000 Inca troops and the entourage of the Emperor
himself.
Yet, within just 24 hours, more than 7,000 Inca warriors lie slaughtered; the Emperor languishes in chains; and the victorious
Europeans begin a reign of colonial terror which will sweep through the entire American continent.
Why was the balance of power so unequal between the Old World, and the New?
Can Jared Diamond explain how America fell to guns, germs and steel?
Two Empires
Spaniard Francisco Pizarro has gone down in history as the man who conquered the Inca.
Leading a small company of mercenaries and adventurers, this former swineherd from a
provincial town in Spain managed to demolish one of the most sophisticated Empires the
world has ever seen.
From Pizarro's home town of Trujillo, Jared Diamond pieces together the story of the Spaniards' victory over the Inca, tracing the
invisible hand of geography.
On the surface, the Spaniards had discovered a foreign empire remarkably similar to their own. The Inca had built an advanced,
politically sophisticated, civilization on the foundations of successful agriculture. They had ruthlessly conquered their neighbors in
South America, and by 1532 governed a vast territory, the length and breadth of the Andes.
But as Jared discovers, the Inca lacked some critical agents of conquest.
Horses vs Llamas
Eurasia boasted 13 of the 14 domesticable mammals in the world as native species. Among these was the horse.
As Diamond learns, the horse was fundamental to the farming success of Eurasian societies, providing not only food and fertilizer but
also, crucially, load-bearing power and transport – transforming the productivity of the land.
The only non-Eurasian domesticable animal species in the world was the llama – native, by chance, to South America. The Inca relied
on llamas for meat, wool and fertilizer – but the llama was not a load-bearing animal. Llamas can't pull a plow, nor can they transport
human beings.
And unlike horses, llamas could never be ridden for war.
Spanish horsemanship, based on principles of cattle-herding, was famous throughout Europe for its manoeuvrability and spontaneity –
skills learned by Pizarro's conquistadors in their youth. Horses could charge, mounted soldiers could slay with brutal efficiency.
Diamond realizes that, to a people like the Inca, who had never seen humans ride animals before, the psychological impact of these
alien mounted troops must have been huge.
Steel vs bronze
But Pizarro's men only brought 37 horses to Peru. So where did the rest of their shock value lie?
Well, once again, the Europeans had something the Americans didn't – they had steel.
For thousands of years throughout Eurasia, metal-working technology had evolved from the simplest ore-extraction of the first
Neolithic villages, to the highly-sophisticated forging of steel, in cities like Toledo and Milan. Geography had endowed Europe with
rich sources of iron and wood, and a climate conducive to high-temperature metallurgy.
Thanks to the geographic ease with which ideas spread through the continent of Eurasia, discoveries like gunpowder could also
migrate thousands of miles, from China to Spain.
And political competition within Europe fuelled a medieval arms race. Pizarro's conquistadors were armed with the latest and greatest
in weapons technology – guns, and swords.
The Inca, by comparison, had never worked iron or discovered the uses of gunpowder. Geography had not endowed them with these
resources. Nor had they received technologies from other advanced societies within the Americas. This included a technology even
more critical to Spanish success than their weapons, writing.
Writing
On the eve of battle, Pizarro and his men discuss how to tackle the vast army of the Inca. It seems an impossible task. But they have a
secret weapon up their sleeve – the weapon of past experience.
Jared Diamond travels to the library of Salamanca University, to read for himself the published accounts of Hernan Cortes' conquest
of Mexico.
Only twelve years before Cajamarca, Cortes and his men had faced similar odds against the vast army of the Aztec Empire. But
somehow Cortes had captured the Emperor and conquered the land for Spain.
Cortes and his soldiers sent their written accounts back to the general public in Europe, where they were widely published. Diamond
discovers a repository of dirty tricks at Salamanca – a collection of handbooks for would-be conquistadors. And on the eve of battle, it
was the printed lessons of Cortes that inspired Pizarro and his men.
By contrast, the Inca Emperor Atahualpa had never heard of Cortes, or even of his own neighbors, the Aztecs. Thanks to the
geography of the Americas, it was practically impossible for any ideas, technologies, or even news, to spread from north to south. So
whilst the Mayan civilisation of Central America had invented a form of written communication, it had never got as far as Peru. The
Inca were isolated – and Atahualpa had never even seen a book before.
Showdown
So, when presented with a copy of the Bible on November 16th, 1532, Atahuallpa throws
the alien object to the floor, prompting a furious and surprise attack from the
conquistadors. The combined impact of mounted troops, gunpowder and sharpened steel
lead to a massacre, and Atahuallpa is personally seized by Pizarro himself.
In a matter of hours, the Inca Empire lies in ruins. But the story of Eurasian triumph isn't
over.
Lethal gift of livestock
Inca Emperor Atahualpa had never
seen writing
Seven thousand Inca died at Cajamarca. Over the course of a generation, the Spaniards
killed tens of thousands more. But Diamond learns that up to 95% of the native population
of the entire Americas were wiped out after the conquest. Genocide alone can't account for
this number.
Instead, he discovers, native Americans fell victim to European germs – infections which they had never encountered before.
And Diamond realizes that European diseases like smallpox were a fatal inheritance of thousands of years of mammal domestication –
the lethal gift of livestock.
European farmers, rearing cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, horses and donkeys, lived in close proximity with their animals - breathing, eating
and drinking animal germs. Eventually some diseases crossed over to the human population and the resulting epidemics wiped out
millions of Europeans.
But each time, a few people would survive and the immunities they'd developed passed through their genes to the next generation. The
conquistadors who sailed to the Americas carried immunities like these.
But in Peru, the llama was never brought indoors, and never milked so the prospect for the spread of disease was severely reduced.
But then the Europeans arrived and a single Spanish slave arrived, infected with smallpox and the consequences were devastating. The
disease emptied the continent, killing millions of indigenous people who lacked any prior exposure, and therefore any immunity. The
European triumph was complete.
So Diamond has shown how guns, germs and steel had conquered the New World. But will his theories work in every corner of
the globe?
18 F-A 557-560. Art 558. Pocahontas and John Smith 559. At what point in time was Spain dominant in
the Americas? Why did Euro conquerors in North America “live in awe” of those to the south? Why was
the Spanish policy “always to preserve Native American populations”? Why was genocide the policy of
Euros in the north of the Americas? Where and when was King Philips War? Who won it? Read the last
twp paragraphs through without notes but answer this question in a sentence? What is Armesto’s view of
the attitude of the English in the Americas? And also Look at the last sentence of the assignment to find the
contrast between the story of Euros in Asia and Euros in the Americas
In class THR 124 Mountain of Silver (Spanish America) # 25 Espinosa
19 F-A 560-562. Timeline 562. Write in your notes a 100 word summary of the main point of this last
reading.
Ch 17 Ecological Revolutions of the 1500s and 1600s
1 F-A Ch 17 Ecological Revolution of 1500s and 1600s. Read to 568. Note photo 564, art on 567, 568.
What is the point of the intro story? What are the four “profound ecological transformations” of the 1500s
and 1600s? List them in your notes. How does Armesto define the Columbian Exchange? See Map 17.1
and make a list of plants, animals, foods and what continent they originated on. What were the staple
products in the New World? How did maize get to Asia? Where did potatoes become popular?
2 F-A 568-571. Note Art. Consult Map 17.1 and continue the list: where did different weeds, grasses and
livestock come from originally? Does any of this info surprise you? Why was sugar the most important
trade item? Why was it so profitable? What are four effects of the sugar trade “evident” “by the 1500s”?
Which empires competed for the sugar trade? What is the story of coffee. Write it in 100 words. Where did
it originate and how did it travel? Make a quick note on chocolate and tea.
3 F-A. Map 17.1 is essential again, noting all art. Read 574 beginning with 1st full para. “The result of” to
577, omit the 1st full para on 575 (“Benevolent…”). When did population begin to explode? Make a note
about the “worst demographic disaster in world history.” List the tribes and locations where disease
decimated populations in the Americas.
What were the killer diseases in Eurasia? How did disease in the Americas connect with the emergence of
African slavery?
4 F-A 577-579. Labor Transplantation. Why was colonial America without a sufficient labor supply? List
the reasons. Record population statistics in Va and New England. Record emigration of slaves from Africa
to the Americas. Which Euros engaged in the slave trade, and when? What crops became the key crops for
slave labor?
In class THR 174-176 Slave Trade documents ## 2, 3, 4.
5 F-A 582-586 Omit second para of reading at bottom of 582 beginning “Meanwhile”
Russia; China, India. A Closer Look 583. Art 584. Map 17.2 on 585. Can you find the 22 cities in Siberia?
Where do you think the “southwest steppelands are on Map 17.2? Why do you think Chinese officials
insisted “uncultivated land was wasted land”? Label the tree different shades of green on Map 17.2 with the
numbers 1, 2 and 3 indicating the order in which each area was controlled by Chinese rulers. How do you
understand the sentence beginning “Large-scale immigration preceded….”? What about the sentence
toward the bottom of 585 “The exploitability of illegal immigrants…”?
On 586 we see the four points Armesto identifies as trends concerning Russia, China and India. Find them
and identify them. What is Armesto’s view of the Mughal conquests?
6 586-589. Americas: Spanish areas; Brazil; North America. BE SURE TO REVIEW BEAUTIFUL MAP
17.3 What did the European colonist find as alternatives methods of exploitation of the land compared with
the Native American methods? What agricultural tool did the Spanish bring to the Americas? What crops
were native to the Americas? Identify the six characteristics of the big cities under Spanish rule. Why was
it more difficult for the Spanish to found cities in California? Where was sugar grown? Tobacco? Rice?
Wheat? Why did the Portuguese bother to expand inland so far in Brazil? Art 588. North America had
fewer resources for colonists. What eventually caused it to be prosperous? You should be able to find
“three trades”. What was different from Virginia southward? Explain this sentence: “Economic reliance on
capital-intensive enterprises created huge disparities of wealth.” Check timelines on 588 and 589.
In class THR 295 Persian opposition to Tobacco Concession # 59 Letter to Shirazi.
7 F-a 589-end. How did rulers attempt to create more wealth at home? Where and what were the new
energy sources? What is meant by “land reclamation” and what is one example from Europe and one from
Asia? In one sentence: what is the main point of the section “Frontiers of the Hunt?” See Making
connections on 595. From “IN PERSPECTIVE” list the “decisive transformations” that had occurred by the
end of the 1600s. What three global changes did the ecological revolution fuel?
Ch 18 Mental Revolutions
1 Ch 18 598-605 stop at “to those who keep it” at end of carryover para. Read quickly through this except
to slow when you come to: war on popular religion; Spanish Inquisition; Martin Luther; printing press;
Reformation; Counter Reformation; Jesuits. SPEND HALF OF YOUR TIME STUDYING MAP 18.1
Question for you: How important do you think the printing press was?
2 F-A 606-609 stop at end of carryover para. “eighteenth century”. What is a mission? Missionary? Where
is the thesis statement in this selection? Can you make sense of Map 18.2? What about the areas on the map
which are not unmarked? In the late 1500s and early 1600s how did Franciscans and Jesuits convert
Japanese? (We know what happened as of 1639 in Japan!) What were the three reasons the Chinese were
not converted in large numbers?
In class THR 95 Edict on Christianity- Hideyoshi
3 F-A 612-616 Islam. 620-621 India. MAPS 18.3 AND 18.4!!! Making Connections 614!! What were the
“two great arenas of Islamic expansion? What were the “fourfold means of conversion”? In India, what was
the relationship between Muslims and Sikhs?
In class THR 199 # 40 Wahhab
4 F-A 625-629 omit 2d, 3d, 4th and 5th paras. of reading on 625 from “If secularism to “the universe”.
Focus on Copernicus, Kepler, Bacon, Descartes and Newton. Also bold terms. Check out the art!
5 F-A Read from the very top of 630- end. List the Chinese tech inventions. Why do you think Armesto
included the story of the Jesuits bringing the skills of astronomy to China (he comes right out and tells
you!) IN PERSPECTIVE: List the areas where Islam, Buddhism and Christianity had spread in the 1500s
and 1600s. Why were the Americas important in terms of world religion?
WHY WERE THE MUSLIM AND BUDDHIST MISSIONARIES MOST ACTIVE IN THE 1500s AND
1600s? WHY WAS THE SPREAD OF SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT IMPORTANT FOR THE WEST?
In class THR 73 Confucianism #15 Meritorious Deeds
Ch 19 States in the 1500s and 1600s
1 F-A 636-640. Map 19.1. note Seas and Kingdoms. What were the three reasons Europe did not unify?
How did European rulers strengthen their power? Why was Spain so strong? Why did Spain not unify
Europe under her? Map 19.2 Note Treaty lines. Making Connections on 645 is a wonderful outline of the
reading.
2 645-648 Ottomans. Omit from the bottom carryover para on 647 “in most of” to the middle of 648 “to
beat them”. Why were the Ottomans able to build such a successful and long lasting empire? Focus on
terms including Constantinople, Topkapi, “efficiency of the Ottoman state”, “despotism” of the sultan.
What happened to the Ottomans in 1683? Find Vienna on Map 19.1 on 637.
In class THR 66 Women and Islamic Law #14 Ramli
3 649-653. Mughal India, Safavid Persia. Why was the Mughal Empire a victim of its own success? What
role did Shiite Islam play in Safavid Persia? Note carefully timeline on 653.
4 653-655; 656 (begin with 2d full para “Elements”) to 657. China. How did Chinese society change under
the Qing? Who were the mandarins and what power did they hold? How did the Ming lose power to the
Qing? Who were the Qing? Where is Manchuria? Who are the Manchus? Does this make sense to you?
What was the Manchu (Qing) attitude toward Chinese culture?
In class THR 209 Qing Revival#42 Kangxi
5 559-662 Americas. How did the “creole mentality” affect Spanish America? Maroons; ladinos; mestizos;
slave population statistics; Palmares. Art and figure 19.2. Map 19.5!!
6 662-end. What roles did African states play in the Atlantic slave trade? Dahomey; Ashanti. Map 19.6
Find the African states and European settlements. IN PERSPECTIVE: What regions were still outside of
global trade links? What caused increased demand? What was the new war technology?
In class THR 185 Slave Trade African Coast # 37 Thomas Phillips.
Part 8 Global Enlightenment 1700-1800
Ch20 Growth: Global Economy
1
Read to 680: What were the different views of Condorcet and Malthus? Record all statistics from
text (and also from Figure 20.1 and from Map 20.1 for 1500, 1600, 1700, 1800 from all tables); What is
urbanization? Identify and record Statistics that document this trend. What areas lagged behind in
population growth?
Also read 681 A Closer Look: Answer the question at the bottom of 681.
In class document: Malthus Essay (online). In class reading in text: “Explanations” p. 680 and p.682 (food
supply, urbanization, hygiene, others (progress, environment)
2
Read 682-687: 682-3 How were scurvy and smallpox contained? 684 Check the picture. 684-5
What other diseases appear to have been very deadly? 685 What economic trends of the 1700s are
identified? 685-7 What products did China produce and where. Record illustrative statistics. What roles do
Euros take on in China in the 1700s? Study the “high equilibrium trap” carefully. Can you explain it? Why
does Armesto compare this to our dependence on fossil fuels today? Study Map 20.2 and note bodies of
water; also Korea, Manchuria, the Mongolias, Taiwan, Burma, Annam (Vietnam).
3
Read 10.24 687-691 [stop above “British Example”]: be sure to see pic on 688 Dutch Trading
post; Explain the collapse of Indian industry in your own words; Identify on Map 20.3 each place
mentioned in the reading; make a list of what appear to you to be the top five products from India, acc to
the text and map. Please note the location of Afghanistan on the Map20.3. How many US troops are there
today? How many NATO or UN troops are there? Do you know what NATO is? FF: India will become a
British colony and not be independent until after World War Two. She today is one of a handful of nuclear
powers in the world. Look up India’s present population and compare with present population of US, BG,
China today. Look up industrialization in the glossary. What is the “overall picture’, acc to Armesto, of the
“West’s Productivity Leap”? Why did steam power finally develop on a wide scale in the west in the 1700s
when it been known for thousands of years before?
4
Read 691-694: Note British population figures; coal production; How did the Atlantic allow
economic growth for Great Britain?—pay careful attention to this paragraph on 692; record all stats re
British industrialization; identify on Map 20.4 each place and product mentioned in the text; What
industries grew as a result of mechanization? Which industries grew based on traditional methods? Can you
grasp Ricardo’s theory on labor and value? Try to state it in your own words. What other Euro nations also
saw industrial growth? See the iron bridge pic on 693: why is it in the text? See painting of sheep farm in
Norfolk. Why is it in the text? What went on in Korea and Japan that paralleled English agricultural
developments?
Skip to 700: In Perspective: Take good notes on paras 1, 2 and 4.
5
Turn in a 500 word essay on one of four questions (# 1, 2, 3 or 5) found on page 701 of your text.
Question 4 is not included, as we omitted material related to it. You will find out which question you are to
write on at the end of Thursday’s class. You will not all write on the same question.
CH 21 Global Interaction: Expansion and Intersection of Empires in the 1700s
1 to 708 stop above Persia and Ottomans: why is the introductory story in the text? What is the difference
b/w conquest and colonization? Consider China: which method was more important? Find the places
mentioned in this assignment on maps on 585, 613 and 713 to prepare you for Czar Nicholas and an open
notes (one page in your own handwriting) little map quiz on any or all places mentioned through 708.
Answer in your notes part 2 of question 2 on p. 735: What impact did Chinese immigration [emigration]
have on Southeast Asia? Pay careful attention to all pictures and subtext on these pages (through 708), esp
on p 707.
In class THR 217 #44 Emperor Qianlong, Edict on Trade
2 I will lecture re 708-710 (Persians and Ottomans); read carefully in text 710-715 British India, Dutch
East Indies: Answer in your notes – What were the problems that weakened the Mughals? What methods
did the British use to gain power in India? What parallels does the text draw b/w British imperialism in
India and Spanish conquest in the Americas?
Check Maps 21.2 and 21.3 for rivers: Tigris, Euphrates, Nile, Ganges, Indus. And mts: Himalayas. Be
prepared in case Czar Nicky gives a little q. The discussion in the text is obscure regarding the
French, but can you connect the dots from the info from 1700s India to the Vietnam War of the
late 1900s? (This is an unfair, but nonetheless great, question).
In class THR 194 #39 Euro designs on India
3 read 715-720 [716 and 717 are entirely taken up by Map21.4] (OMIT 2d para on 715 (Our traditional
image”) and also OMIT 1st full para on 718 (Depictions of…”) and OMIT 1st full para on 719 (Yet there
was…”) STOP AT end of 1st full para on 720: Black Atlantic: statistics; what were other forms of forced
labor aside form slavery? Pages 718-721 are fairly difficult with too much data being thrown at you. Read
them with the following questions in mind: What were the acceptable sexual relationships between blacks
and whites in Surinam? (719-720); What might explain a slave population in the British West Indies of
350,000 in 1780 when 1.2 M had been imported? Why does it appear the Europeans did not colonize West
Africa?
Map21.4 when do slaves come to the Caribbean? When is the slave trade ended in GB? Brazil? Cuba?
When is slavery ended in Brazil? US? Why do you think more slaves were not imported from the
westernmost coast of Africa? What other continents beside the Americas appear to have imported African
slaves in large numbers, according to this map? Record the estimated numbers of African slaves imported
to different places on this map (I found 7). In the Americas can you tell what crop is grown in the most
places, according to this map? Note the Himalayas, Andes, Rockies, Alps. Also note the Sahara and the
Horn of Africa, The Arabian Peninsula, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Also the Mississippi,
Amazon, and the Ganges Rivers. Also note Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Philippines. Read the notes re
Europe, Russia and China.
4 read 722-725: Map 21.6 on p. 731. Details TBA—What is the point of presenting the Araucanos and the
Sioux? Does Armesto give any hint as to when and why the French failed in pursuit of Empire in the
Americas? Where was the Portuguese success and what resources and crops proved most lucrative to them?
How did the Spanish eventually decide to spread their influence throughout the Americas? (what
technique(s) did they use?
5 728-732 end at “the main beneficiaries.” In what ways was the British American society that broke away
from Britain in the 1770s and 1780s a “new society”? How were the migrants to British North America
people “with alienated loyalties”? Why did New England become a region driven by maritime trade and
how did that contribute to independence? What two vital interests of colonists did British rule threaten?
How did Spanish colonies undergo a similar experience? How was their experience markedly different?
How did the Seven Years War cause problems between British and the British American colonists? Map
21.6!!!!!
Ch 22 Assignments
Exchange of Enlightenments. Thought in the 1700s
1 Read Ch 22 to 741 stop at end of first full paragraph “writing”. We will address the first Focus Question
on 738; also, what is the point of the Maupertuis story? Pay attention to how Armesto portrays China of the
1700s; who was Voltaire. What was his view of China? What was the view of other Euro elites?
In class THR 149 #30 Voltaire Treatise on Toleration
2 Read 745-747. Making Connections 745. ALSO! Be sure to check A Closer Look on 749. Be sure to look
up “Confucianism” on your own, as it is referred to in this reading. How would you describe the attitude of
the Chinese government to Western ideas in the 1700s? How would you describe the role of the Jesuits in
China in this period? Can you figure why China remained the dominant intellectual influence on Japan at
this time? Did Japan have its own scientific revolution and enlightenment? How did China and Japan view
Europe in the 1700s? Return to habit of Big Points and Grand Overarching point.
-In class document: Qianlong, Letter to George III
3 F-A 750-754 What does Armesto think is so important about the Encyclopedia? What is meant by “free
trade”? what is “laissez-faire”? What was the main point of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations? Pay
attention to Wollstonecraft and de Gouges.
In class THR 151 #31 Adam Smith- Wealth of Nations
5 THR 155 158 Revolution in France. Read all text and document #32 Declaration of the Rights of Man
Answer the questions in your notes.
6 THR 159-162 Text and document # 33 Decree. Answer questions.
7 Read Armesto 761-763. According to Armesto, what examples of progress can be attributed to the
Enlightenment?
Part 9 The Frustrations of Progress
Ch 23 Energy Revolutions
1 Read Armesto, 768-769, esp see Map 23.1 on 774-775 and record timeline. Then read Ch 23 The Energy
Revolution to p 776, stopping above the section on Food. Why did the world’s population begin to rapidly
rise during the 1800s?
2 Read 776-782 on food. Record for two sets of data: population shifts (growth and also great loss of
population in certain locations) and technology changes affecting food production and distribution. These
will impact US immigration enormously in the 1800s and early 1900s. Why did industrialization increase
the world’s food supply?
3 Read 782-784 ending with “mechanization”. Also read from 786 beginning with “Of course” to 789
where the section end sat the top of the page. How was industrialization related to the growth of military
power? Note railroad dates and mileage stats. Also steam and coal and electric power and their uses. When
did the internal combustion engine and gasoline appear? Making connections 788. Note technology on Map
23.2 on 781.
In class THR 254 #50 Darwin- Origin of Species
4 Study map 23.4 on p 790 in Armesto. Read pp. 792- 797 stopping at “as much silk as China”. Study all
maps, esp 23.8!!!! and add map 23.7 on p 799. Why did the economies of the US and Latin America
develop in different ways?
5 Read 800-803 ending at “Egypt’s grasp”. Why did Japan and China pursue different policies toward
industrialization? Maps 23.7 and 23.8. See Art: Suez Canal!!
6 Read to 806. How did British Imperialism affect the industrial development of India and Egypt?
See Figure 23.1. What trends are evident?
806 In Perspective: Answer the question: Why the West?
THR Primary sources
In class: WHAT ARE THE EXPLANATIONS FOR INDUSTRIALIZATION IN THE 1800S?
WHY DID POPULATION INCREASE NOT CONFORM TO MALTHUSIAN LOGIC?
Essay due Mon/Tue next: What is meant by the term “industrialization”? How and why did
industrialization succeed in the 1800s in (pick one:US, Britain, Japan) and not develop similarly in (pick
one: India, China, Latin America)? 12 point Times New Roman font, 1.5 spaced. 1.5 to 2 pp in length.
Turned in electronically and also on paper by class beginning Mon/Tues
Armesto Ch 24: Work and Society in the 1800s
1 Read 808-813. reading for the following questions:
1 What is the point of the story of Oshio?
2 “…economic status rivaled age-old ways of determining people’s place in society” Explain this quote and
note Karl Marx’s name.
2a What is meant by the “shaken kaleidoscope of class and rank”? What is paternalism?
3 How was “industrialization a strange experience” for those caught up in it?
4 Why did people leave the country for work in factories?
5 How did Henry J. Heinz (as in Theresa Heinz, his descendant, wife of John Kerry) epitomize the “gospel
of work”?
2 Read to 816, ending at “feel secluded.” leads, reading for the following questions:
1 What is meant by “philanthropic industrialization”?
2 Answer the question at bottom of 814
3 Note the miseries of industrialization
4 What was Marx’s theory of class warfare? KNOW THIS
5 Why did it not prove true?
6 Note the growth of Manchester: what color represents the new parts of the city?
7 Here is the hard part of the questions:
What is socialism?
Why were “socialists in America the first to sell out to capitalism”?
In class THR 246 # 48 von Leixner,, Letters from Berlin
3. from 817`to 819 stopping at “200,000 people by the 1880s”. But also study Map 24.2 on p 820 and the
MAKING CONNECTIONS box on 821. Urbanization.
1 Study chart on 817. How many of the ten largest cities are in the west?
2 What “economic considerations drove industry into cities”?
3 List the towns (and their countries and continents) that were created by mining. And identify the items
mined.
4 List the booming port cities and their countries and continents.
5 How many of the streets in Cairo, circa 1900, are “new streets” according to the map?
6 Read the box on 821 and circle all terms you do not understand. Either figure out their meaning from the
context or look them up.
4. Read 821 to 825 but omit from the end of the Bengali poem (“Bengali race is ruined”) to the passage on
824 ending with “middlemen, miller, and shipper”.
1 What were the “big areas of growth in agriculture?”
2 Why did Armesto tell us the story line of the Dutch novel Max Havelaar?
3 Explain the quote “agriculture, like industry, became a specialized activity”
4 Note the Ottoman Empire info and also Bengal info. What changed? What crop(s) became so profitable?
5 What is Armesto’s point about the impact of the mining industry on the lives of the workers? (pp 824825)?
6 See Map 24.3: What are the major minerals which are found in North America?
In class THR 190 Insider’s View of Ottoman Decline #38 Mehmed Pasha
5. 825-828 end at “end of the nineteenth century”
1 Three “doctrines of growing appeal in the world… especially in … parts of the West were?
1a What do you think “economic liberalism” is?
2 In what ways did south’s slave labor and slave trade benefit other parts of the U.S. and the world?
3 Why did opponents first attack the slave trade, rather than slavery itself?
4 Why did abolition of the slave trade not lead to the end of slavery? (two reasons)
5 How was Haiti a story different from other slave societies?
6 The Haitian slave revolution is a tricky story. Can you summarize it in three or four bullet points?
7 list the dates of the end of slavery as they appear on p. 827 and in the text on 828. Do not confuse the
ending of the slave trade with the end of slavery. Also note the US ends the importing of slaves in 1809, but
the internal trading of slaves would not be affected by that.
In class THR 180 Path to enslavement in America # 36 Equiano by himself
6. 828- 832
BIG QUESTION:
WHAT FORMS OF LABOR REPLACED SLAVERY IN THE 1800S?
1Can you compare the status of a slave to that of a serf? Try it in a sentence.
2Is Armesto saying that Japanese peasants’ lives better off than common workers in other countries?
3Compare the conditions of “coolies” to that of slaves
4“Other forms of forced labor survived” What was so bad about female and child labor?
5Read the three full paragraphs on 831 and answer this question: is the writer reporting facts or is he
editorializing (stating opinion)??
6“Schools were repressive and designed to mold children according to adult agendas”
What problems were faced by newly freed slaves?
How “massive” was the massive migration of free labor? And to where did it flow?
7. 838-end MAP 24 5 24.6
What is the “gap” discussion about?
Why did “time” become “standardized”?
What is the significance of Cook’s travel agency?
Cultural exchange was not one way. Explain
What was the place of the US in the new global cultural exchange?
WHICH OF THE ABOVE QUESTIONS RAISES THE BIGGEST POINT(S)?
Online asst: find the timezones of the United States on a map. Do they make sense?
Armesto, Ch 25. Western Dominance
1 From intro to bottom of 848. Opium Wars. Identify the causes of British success in war against the
Chinese; The British and the Chinese viewed opium differently-explain; Identify the date and terms of the
Treaty of Nanking; Study Map 25.1 Count up the leased territory and treaty ports for each of the five listed
countries. Track the attacks on China. What is the definition of a superpower. Where are the British in
Asia? Where are the French? US? Dutch? Fix dates next to the areas of control.
2.848-853 Prior to the 1800s where had empires emanated from? record stats and list the countries
alongside their new territories. Be sure to note the date of the Suez Canal. What were the demographics of
Western imperialism? Study Fig 25.1. How many people are in the British Empire in 1939? Note the
industrial technologies that were behind imperialism. How was resistance to imperialism sometimes
effective? Be sure to review all pictures: what is the “allegory of the British Empire?” Study Map 25.2
Especially study Africa. List the European countries with claims in Africa as of 1900. Also what Empire
controls the most land in the world in 1900 acc to this map?
3. 858-865 end at carryover para. on 865 “European control.” Check out the “Making Connections” on p
857. How would you rank the technologies in order of importance to the development of Empire? read
“Business Imperialism” and also read the first para of Imperialism in the “New Europes” (stop at
“imperialism”). BUT OMIT last on page 862 (from “Hostility” to “independence”). Define business
imperialism; who invested in Latin America? Explain this statement “New European capital found a way
around the Monroe Doctrine”; Be prepared to discuss Map 25.3. List the countries and the minerals they
extracted from Africa.
4. 867-870 Japan, Russia, United States; 875-876 The Reach of Empire.
What are the Big points regarding Japan, US and Russia? What is the Grand Point of The Reach of
Empire?
Armesto, Ch 25. Western Dominance
1 From intro to bottom of 848. Opium Wars. Identify the causes of British success in war against the
Chinese; The British and the Chinese viewed opium differently-explain; Identify the date and terms of the
Treaty of Nanking; Study Map 25.1 Count up the leased territory and treaty ports for each of the five listed
countries. Track the attacks on China. What is the definition of a superpower. Where are the British in
Asia? Where are the French? US? Dutch? Fix dates next to the areas of control. BLACK
2.848-853 Prior to the 1800s where had empires emanated from? record stats and list the countries
alongside their new territories. Be sure to note the date of the Suez Canal. What were the demographics of
Western imperialism? Study Fig 25.1. How many people are in the British Empire in 1939? Note the
industrial technologies that were behind imperialism. How was resistance to imperialism sometimes
effective? Be sure to review all pictures: what is the “allegory of the British Empire?” Study Map 25.2
Especially study Africa. List the European countries with claims in Africa as of 1900. Also what Empire
controls the most land in the world in 1900 acc to this map? RED
3. 858-865 end at carryover para. on 865 “European control.” Check out the “Making Connections” on p
857. How would you rank the technologies in order of importance to the development of Empire? read
“Business Imperialism” and also read the first para of Imperialism in the “New Europes” (stop at
“imperialism”). BUT OMIT last on page 862 (from “Hostility” to “independence”). Define business
imperialism; who invested in Latin America? Explain this statement “New European capital found a way
around the Monroe Doctrine”; Be prepared to discuss Map 25.3. List the countries and the minerals they
extracted from Africa. WHITE
4. 867-870 Japan, Russia, United States; 875-876 The Reach of Empire.
What are the Big points regarding Japan, US and Russia? What is the Grand Point of The Reach of
Empire? BLUE
5. THR 286-287, Royal Niger Company; 295-298 Persian Opposition to the Tobacco Concession GOLD
6. THR 306-308 Pros and Cons of British Rule in India BLACK
7. THR 311- 313, Curse of Opium; 318-321 Eastern Ethics and Western Science. RED
8. THR 333-335 The Fall of Vietnam
4. 866 – 869. Read carefully “Empires Elsewhere” Why did Japan emerge as a competitor to western
empires? Study the Russian Empire in text and the Map 25.4. Much of this was the Cold War empire of the
Soviets, until 1991. Consider “Manifest Destiny”. Note the conflict b/w Russia and Japan in Asia on the
map. This set the stage for Pearl Harbor in 1941. According to Armesto, what are the parts of the American
Empire that were acquired in the 1800s. List them.
5. 869-873. Read “Doctrines of Superiority” casually until you get to the term “Social Darwinism.” Be
sure you know it. Read Civilizing Mission carefully. What does Armesto mean by it? Pictures again.
In Class THR 254-256 “On the Origin of Species”
6. In class. No notes. 1-1.5 pages. How was the West able to dominate so much of the world in the 1800s?
Provide two examples.
Describe a rationale the West used to justify this domination.
Ch 26 The Changing State in the 1800s
1 F-A to 881 What is nationalism? Why was nationalism so potentially disruptive?
2 881-882. Describe in your own words (one sentence) the problem faced by Jews. Study Map 26.2: in one
sentence- what did you learn from it? 886- 887 stop at “educated classes of the empire” Answer this
question in your own words: what change does “constitutionalism represent?” 888-890 stop at
“government contested it”. In your own words: what does Armesto mean by “centralization”? Also in your
own words: Acc to Armesto, what was the US Civil War about?Why was nationalism so potentially
disruptive?
3 See Making Connections Chart on 894—study it—load it in your notes by hand and form in your own
words one question for each row (horizontal)
Study Map 26.4 and read two paras. on pp 899-900 from “Among many…” to “… with difficulty”
---------------------------------
4 901-903. Describe in your own words how Armesto views the impact of American democracy on
“European elites.”
5 904- 906. Stop at “dreary determinism”. What is socialism, acc to Armesto? What roles did the socialists
of the 1800s want government to play? What did Marx predict and what was his reasoning?
6 THR 249 #49 Marx and Engels The Communist Manifesto. Read the primary source only. Answer the
questions. State the Big Point
Part 10: Chaos and Complexity: The World of the 20th Century.
Ch 28 Global Politics in the 1900s
Issues: How did the World Wars weaken Europe’s Global Dominance?
Why were totalitarian regimes so widespread?
How did the US become the World’s only superpower
Why did the Cold War lead to the collapse of the Soviet Union?
How did decolonization affect Asia and Africa?
Why did democracy spread?
Are the European Union and China the likely superpowers of the 21st century?
Videos – The Great War (PBS). The Cold War (CNN)
1 See timeline on 914-915 under Culture and note the six events and their dates
Armesto 952-956 stopping at “among the powers”. Be sure to se Map 28.1
What does Armesto mean by the World War Era 1914-1945?
What were the different ideologies competing in Europe?
Who were the powers in the Great War and how did the sides line up?
How did the war go wrong for all belligerents?
In class THR 347 #70 Popular Art and Poster Art- The Romance of War
2 956-961 see list of casualties and the photos.
Why did the US enter the war? Why on the side it did?
What were the real “depths of destruction”?
What is Armesto’s view of President Wilson?
What was the League of Nations and why did it fail?
List every country mentioned in this reading.
In class THR 351 #71 Clapham- Incomplete Soldier
3 961-963 stop at “justice” Why was there such post-war disillusionment?
What was happening in Asia?
In Indonesia, India and Africa?
How much wealth was lost in the US in the Depression?
4 963-966 to “both extremes together” Map 28.2 is terrific.
Do you understand the “three alternatives? Explain.
What happened in Russia?
What were the two parties in China?
Can you make sense of Armesto’s definition/explanation of fascism?
In class THR 356 #72 Lenin- What is to be Done?
5 966-968. Note Mussolini, National Socialist German Workers Party, Hitler, What were Hitler’s aims?
What were Stalin’s? What event brings Britain and France into war with Germany? And when? Copy the
timeline on 969 into your notes.
In class THR 363 #74 Mein Kampf
7 968-970 Second World War. All Photos. See Making Connections on 971. Study Map 28.3 and write up
to 200 words telling the story of various troop movements and the extent of Axis powers in Africa and
Japan’s expansion in the Pacific.
How did the US end up at war with Germany—lay out the events. Why did the Japanese conquer Dutch
and British colonies in Southeast Asia? Who were the Allies? Who were the Axis? “What made Allied
victory in Europe irreversible”? Why was there never any real likelihood of long term victory for Japan in
the Pacific?
In class videos – Atlantic Charter; Battle of Britain; D-Day Invasion; Hiroshima; Dresden; Stalingrad;
Berlin 1945; Surrender of Japan Sept 1945
7A THR 383-386 ##1-6 Documents and Transcripts re dropping the Atomic Bomb.
8? 970 – 974 end at “divided”. What was the “Iron Curtain”? Who was George Marshall? Did Russia join
the Marshall Plan? What was the “American vision”? Explain Germany’s partitioning. What was mutually
assured destruction”? What is your understanding of the Cold War after reading the para at the bottom of
972? In up to 50 of your own words. Note the 1962 crisis (Cuba). Why was “the Soviet phenomenon bound
to fail”? What changed in China in 1949 and who was Mao Zedong? How did the Korean War start? How
did it end?
In Class : THR 430 Cold War Origins; A Soviet Perspective. # 88 Novikov Telegram
Video—Iron Curtain speech of Churchill. Mao. Kruschev.
Film- Thirteen Days
9 974-979 Based on the text, make a timeline of events in Vietnam from the 1950s to 1975. Why was the
“space race” important? Based on the reading on 976-977, list the factors in the demise of the Soviet
Union. In China, what was Mao’s view of the USSR and the US? How did Deng differ From Mao? What
did Richard Nixon do to change China’s role in the world? Map 28.6 List the countries where China
supported insurgents; list the dates and places of Chinese invasions and border disputes.
In class: THR 455 #94 Deng Xiaoping Speeches and Writings; # 95 Gorbachev, Perestroika
10 979-982 stop at “in the 1950s”. What does Armesto mean by decolonization? How were white rulers
driven out of Southeast Asia? What happened to the Philippines? When were the Dutch moved out of
power in Indonesia? When did the French lose Vietnam? When did the British leave India and what two
nations formed out of this and with what religions dominating each? Which groups won and lost in
decolonization? Acc to Armesto, what led to the Euros granting African nations. Why were Nasser and the
Suez Crisis important? Why did French in Algeria fight against their own French government? Study Map
28.7 . Count the number of new states and the earliest and latest to become independent.
Video—The last King of Scotland
In class THR 408 Vietnamese Condemnation of French Rule.
11 982 starting with “In fairness”-984. Decolonized lands had two problems—identify them. List the civil
wars described. What is Armesto’s view of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict? Up to 100 words. What is meant
by “the post-industrial age”? Why was business imperialism “hard to throw off”? How did Cuba manage to
throw off the US?
12 984-987 The New World Order. What is meant by “soft power”? What is suffrage? Map 28.8 Try to list
as many as you can of the free countries. What are the human rights? What was the Helsinki agreement.
“American leaders from the 1980s onward lacked the “vision thing”. Can you figure out what Armesto
means by this?
13 987-end Euro Union, IN PERSPECTIVE
What is a global hegemon? What made the European Coal And Steel Community so important? What is the
key phrase in the Messina Declaration? What is the difference between international and supranational?
What does Armesto mean by “protection” on 998? What divided the European Union members from 86 to
2004? Sum it up in your own 25 words: what is the real problem with leadership of the European Union?
Read In Perspective and answer one question: what does Armesto think of the role of the US in the world?
In class THR 473 #98 Ralph Nader on Free Trade
RESEARCH PAPER
Sample of closed research paper.
World History Closed Research Paper –
Defend this thesis (or attack it)
The war between Mexico and the United States from 1846-1848 was the inevitable result of western
imperialism. Length: 5-7 pp typed. Times New Roman 12 pt font double spaced 20 lines per page. Normal
character spacing.
You must use only the following sources:
Armesto
The materials below
Must include:
Title page
Footnotes or end notes
Bibliography
Review these documents and maps. They are, for the most part, arranged in reverse chronological order.
You will need to define “western imperialism” and Armesto should help you with this. You can
explain/define the War with Mexico. The term “inevitable result” needs some consideration. You may
choose to “define” or reword that phrase. That is up to you. Then you can set about arranging evidence in
order to defend or attack the thesis. You do not need to use all of the evidence. I will provide guidance in
class for title page, footnotes/end notes and bibliography.
Doc A:MEXICAN WAR. The conflict between the United States and Mexico in 1846-48 had its roots in
the annexation of Texas and the westward thrust of American settlers. On assuming the American
presidency in 1845, James K. Polk attempted to secure Mexican agreement to setting the boundary at the
Rio Grande and to the sale of northern California. What he failed to realize was that even his carefully
orchestrated policy of graduated pressure would not work because no Mexican politician could agree to the
alienation of any territory, including Texas.
Frustrated by the Mexican refusal to negotiate, Polk, on January 13, 1846, directed Gen. Zachary Taylor's qv
army at Corpus Christi to advance to the Rio Grande. The Mexican government viewed that as an act of
war. On April 25 the Mexican troops at Matamoros crossed the river and ambushed an American patrol.
Polk seized upon the incident to secure a declaration of war on May 13 on the basis of the shedding of
"American blood upon American soil"….
Initial American strategy called for a blockade of the Mexican coast and the occupation of the northern
Mexican states in the unrealistic hope that these measures would lead to an acceptable territorial
settlement….
Neither American success on the battlefield nor the restoration to power of the deposed strongman Antonio
López de Santa Annaqv brought the expected negotiations. The administration prepared a new army under
Gen. Winfield Scott to march from the coast to Mexico City…. In the battles of Contreras and Churubusco
on August 19-20, his 8,500 men drove possibly three times their number of Mexican defenders into the
Mexican capital. When Santa Anna did not sue for peace as expected, Scott resumed the assault on the city
with an attack on its outworks at Molino del Rey on September 8. In the final assault on September 13-14,
Scott's force seized the heights of Chapultepec and breached the inner defenses. Santa Anna abandoned the
city but salvaged enough of his army to attack Puebla unsuccessfully later in the month. The Mexicans
could not prevent American occupation at will of other cities in central and eastern Mexico…. Since no
Mexican government functioned after the fall of Mexico City, Scott and the State Department's agent,
Nicholas P. Trist, had to wait until February 1848 before a government could be formed that would agree to
peace. Then, in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo,qv the United States gained California, Arizona, New
Mexico, and the Rio Grande boundary for Texas, as well as portions of Utah, Nevada, and Colorado.
K. Jack Bauer, The Mexican War, 1846-1848 (New York: Macmillan, 1974). K. Jack Bauer, Surfboats and
Horse Marines: U.S. Naval Operations in the Mexican War, 1846-48 (Annapolis: U.S. Naval Institute,
1969).
Doc B: Trade Routes by Linda K. Salvucci from The United States and Mexico at War
The history of commerce between early national Mexico and the United States remains largely untold due
to the lack of good serial data…. Maritime trade statistics, collected by the U.S. Treasury from 1824
onward, reveal that Mexico traded silver-mostly specie and some bullion-for manufactured cloth, for wheat
flour coming through New Orleans, and for raw cotton for the Mexican textile industry, which tariffs
enacted by Mexico in 1829, 1837, and 1842-1843 attempted to protect. Still, before 1838, finished cotton
accounted for between 30 and 40 percent of domestic U.S. exports to Mexico. Moreover, before 1841,
reexports constituted at least half of all U.S. exports to Mexico by value every year. Such quantitative
evidence suggests what other qualitative information confirms: before the Texas Revolution (1835-1836),
the composition of U.S. exports and reexports to Mexico reflected mostly economic factors and
commercial restrictions. After that, political and diplomatic calculations came into play, as the United
States and Great Britain competed more directly for influence in Mexico….
English goods reached Mexico through Texas; this is one reason Texas dominated the political economy of
trade between 1825 and 1848…. To encourage settlement of the northern frontier, Mexico granted Texas
settlers a seven-year exemption from tariffs in 1823. Attempts to collect duties in the early 1830s
exacerbated political tensions, leading one economic historian to label the U.S.-Mexican War as an
"irrepressible" conflict. Texas had no coastal customs house until 1830, but it is clear that Texas cotton was
shipped to New Orleans on U.S. vessels. British merchant companies also gave U.S. traders serious
competition in California….
After the U.S.-Mexican War, Mexico's trade with the United States grew more rapidly than its trade with
Europe, so that over the rest of the century the United States accounted for an increasing share of Mexico's
foreign commerce….
Doc C: Expansionism and Imperialism By Thomas Hietala
The United States experienced its most rapid territorial growth during
the mid-1840s. The nation annexed Texas in 1845, acquired Oregon south of 49° north latitude in a treaty
with Great Britain in 1846, and conquered and held California and New Mexico during the U.S.-Mexican
War. The nation also obtained vast cessions from Native American tribes, which were relocated to remote
and unwanted regions, a process begun in the seventeenth century….
Politicians, editors, soldiers, and citizens, wanted new territory for various reasons. In the case of Texas,
the Tyler administration sought to prevent the abolition of slavery there, control a potential rival in cotton
production, provide a haven for masters and their slaves, thwart Great Britain from keeping Texas
independent, and comply with the wishes of most Texians to join the United States. In the Oregon dispute,
Democrats hoped to dominate Asian commerce, provide land for future pioneers, and safeguard citizens
already settled there. The war with Mexico and the strategy of conquest revealed a desire to secure a border
at the Rio Grande, satisfy claims against Mexico, and acquire California to monopolize trade with Asia.
Democrats wanted to supply abundant land to the nation's poor and to future immigrants. To attain this
laudable goal, however, they relied on bribery, bullying, and warfare to wrest land from Native Americans
and Mexicans. Often idealistic, they were also racist and materialistic….
Doc D
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
February 2, 1848
ART. I. THERE shall be firm and universal peace between the United States of America and the Mexican
Republic, and between their respective countries, territories, cities, towns, and people, without exception of
place or persons. . . .
ART. V. The boundary line between the two Republics shall commence in the Gulf of Mexico, three
leagues from land, opposite the mouth of the Rio Grande, otherwise called Rio Bravo del Norte, or opposite
the mouth of its deepest branch, if it should have more than one branch emptying directly into the sea; from
thence up the middle of that river, following the deepest channel, where it has more than one, to the point
where it strikes the southern boundary of New Mexico; thence, westwardly, along the whole southern
boundary of New Mexico (which runs north of the town called Paso) to its western termination; thence,
northward, along the western line of New Mexico, until it intersects the first branch of the River Gila; (or if
it should not intersect any branch of that river, then to the point on the said line nearest to such branch, and
thence in a direct line to the same;) thence down the middle of the said branch and of the said river, until it
empties into the Rio Colorado; thence across the Rio Colorado, following the division line between Upper
and Lower California, to the Pacific Ocean. . . .
ART. VII. The River Gila, and the part of the Rio Bravo del Norte lying below the southern boundary of
New Mexico, being, agreeably to the fifth article, divided in the middle between the two republics, the
navigation of the Gila and of the Bravo below said boundary shall be free and common to the vessels and
citizens of both countries; and neither shall, without the consent of the other, construct any work that may
impede or interrupt, in whole or in part, the exercise of this right; not even for the purpose of favoring new
methods of navigation. . . .
ART. VIII. Mexicans now established in territories previously belonging to Mexico, and which remain for
the future within the limits of the United States, as defined by the present treaty, shall be free to continue
where they now reside, or to remove at any time to the Mexican republic, retaining the property which they
possess in the said territories, or disposing thereof, and removing the proceeds wherever they please,
without their being subjected, on this account, to any contribution, tax, or charge whatever. . . .
ART. XII. In consideration of the extension acquired by the boundaries of the United States, as defined in
the fifth article of the present treaty, the Government of the United States engages to pay to that of the
Mexican Republic the sum of fifteen millions of dollars. . . .
Doc E Abraham Lincoln Speech: The War with Mexico
Mr. Chairman: January 12, 1848
…. The President, in his first war message of May 1846, declares that the soil was ours on which hostilities
were commenced by Mexico…. Now I propose to try to show, that the whole of this,--issue and evidence-is, from beginning to end, the sheerest deception. The issue, as he presents it, is in these words "But there
are those who, conceding all this. to be true, assume the ground that the true western boundary of Texas is
the Nueces, instead of the Rio Grande; and that, therefore, in marching our army to the east bank of the
latter river, we passed the Texan line, and invaded the teritory of Mexico." ….The main deception of it is,
that it assumes as true, that one river or the other is necessarily the boundary; and cheats the superficial
thinker entirely out of the idea, that possibly the boundary is somewhere between the two, and not actually
at either…. A true issue, made by the President, would be about as follows "I say, the soil was ours, on
which the first blood was shed; there are those who say it was not."
I now proceed to examine the Presidents evidence, as applicable to such an issue. When that evidence is
analized, it is all included n the following propositions:
1. That the Rio Grande was the Western boundary of Louisiana as we purchased it of France in i803.
2. That the Republic of Texas always claimed the Rio Grande, as her Western boundary.
3. That by various acts, she had claimed it on paper.
4. That Santa Anna, in his treaty with Texas, recognised the Rio Grande, as her boundary.
5. That Texas before, and the U. S. after, annexation had exercised jurisdiction beyond the Nueces-between the two rivers.
6. That our Congress, understood the boundary of Texas to extend beyond the Nueces.
Now for each of these in it's turn.
His first item is, that the Rio Grande was the Western boundary of Louisiana, as we purchased it of
France in 1803; and seeming to expect this to be disputed, he argues over the amount of nearly a page, to
prove it true; at the end of which he lets us know, that by the treaty of 1819, we sold to Spain the whole
country from the Rio Grande eastward, to the Sabine. Now, admitting for the present, that the Rio Grande,
was the boundary of Louisiana, what, under heaven, had that to do with the present boundary between us
and Mexico? How, Mr. Chairman, the line, that once divided your land from mine, can still be the
boundary between us, after I have sold my land to you, is, to me, beyond all comprehension. And how any
man, with an honest purpose only, of proving the truth, could ever have thought of introducing such a fact
to prove such an issue, is equally incomprehensible. His next piece of evidence is that "The Republic of
Texas always claimed this river (Rio Grande) as her western boundary[.]" That is not true, in fact. Texas
has claimed it, but she has not always claimed it. There is, at least, one distinguished exception. Her state
constitution,--the republic's most solemn, and well considered act--that which may, without impropriety, be
called her last will and testament revoking all others--makes no such claim. But suppose she had always
claimed it. Has not Mexico always claimed the contrary? so that there is but claim against claim, leaving
nothing proved, until we get back of the claims, and find which has the better foundation…. I next consider
the President's statement that Santa Anna in his treaty with Texas, recognised the Rio Grande, as the
western boundary of Texas. Besides the position, so often taken that Santa Anna, while a prisoner of war--a
captive--could not bind Mexico by a treaty…. He did not recognise the independence of Texas; he did not
assume to put an end to the war; but clearly indicated his expectation of it's continuance; he did not say one
word about boundary, and, most probably, never thought of it….
…. I am now through the whole of the President's evidence; and it is a singular fact, that if any one
should declare the President sent the army into the midst of a settlement of Mexican people, who had never
submited, by consent or by force, to the authority of Texas or of the United States, and that there, and
thereby, the first blood of the war was shed, there is not one word in all the President has said, which would
either admit or deny the declaration….
"The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln," Volume 1, Edited by Roy P. Basler, Rutgers University
Presss, New Brunswich, New Jersey, 1953, pages 431-42.
Doc F James K. Polk
Message on War with Mexico
May 11, 1846
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
The existing state of the relations between the United States and Mexico renders it proper that I should
bring the subject to the consideration of Congress. . . .
In my message at the commencement of the present session I informed you that … I had ordered an
efficient military force to take a position "between the Nueces and the Del Norte." This had become
necessary to meet a threatened invasion of Texas by the Mexican forces, for which extensive military
preparations had been made. The invasion was threatened solely because Texas had determined, in
accordance with a solemn resolution of the Congress of the United States, to annex herself to our Union,
and under these circumstances it was plainly our duty to extend our protection over her citizens and soil….
Meantime Texas, by the final action of our Congress, had become an integral part of our Union. The
Congress of Texas, by its act of December 19, 1836, had declared the Rio del Norte to be the boundary of
that Republic. Its jurisdiction had been extended and exercised beyond the Nueces. The country between
that river and the Del Norte had been represented in the Congress and in the convention of Texas, had thus
taken part in the act of annexation itself, and is now included within one of our Congressional districts. Our
own Congress had, moreover, with great unanimity, by the act approved December 31, 1845, recognized
the country beyond the Nueces as a part of our territory by including it within our own revenue system, and
a revenue officer to reside within that district has been appointed by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate. It became, therefore, of urgent necessity to provide for the defense of that portion of our country.
Accordingly, on the 13th of January last instructions were issued to the general in command of these troops
to occupy the left bank of the Del Norte. This river, which is the southwestern boundary of the State of
Texas, is an exposed frontier.
The movement of the troops to the Del Norte was made by the commanding general under positive
instructions to abstain from all aggressive acts toward Mexico or Mexican citizens and to regard the
relations between that Republic and the United States as peaceful unless she should declare war or commit
acts of hostility indicative of a state of war. . . .
The Mexican forces at Matamoras assumed a belligerent attitude, and on the 12th of April General
Ampudia, then in command, notified General Taylor to break up his camp within twenty-four hours and to
retire beyond the Nueces River, and in the event of his failure to comply with these demands announced
that arms, and arms alone, must decide the question. But no open act of hostility was committed until the
24th of April. On that day General Arista, who had succeeded to the command of the Mexican forces,
communicated to General Taylor that "he considered hostilities commenced and should prosecute them." A
party of dragoons of 63 men and officers were on the same day dispatched from the American camp up the
Rio del Norte, on its left bank, to ascertain whether the Mexican troops had crossed or were preparing to
cross the river, "became engaged with a large body of these troops, and after a short affair, in which some
16 were killed and wounded, appear to have been surrounded and compelled to surrender.". . .
… Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory and shed American
blood upon the American soil. She has proclaimed that hostilities have commenced, and that the two
nations are now at war.
As war exists, and, notwithstanding all our efforts to avoid it, exists by the act of Mexico herself, we are
called upon by every consideration of duty and patriotism to vindicate with decision the honor, the rights,
and the interests of our country. . . .
In further vindication of our rights and defense of our territory, I invoke the prompt action of Congress to
recognize the existence of the war, and to place at the disposition of the Executive the means of prosecuting
the war with vigor, and thus hastening the restoration of peace. . . .
Doc G James Polk
Inaugural Address
March 4, 1845
….The Republic of Texas has made known her desire to come into our Union…. Texas was once a part of
our country--was unwisely ceded away to a foreign power--is now independent, and possesses an
undoubted right to dispose of a part or the whole of her territory and to merge her sovereignty as a separate
and independent state in ours. I congratulate my country that by an act of the late Congress of the United
States the assent of this Government has been given to the reunion, and it only remains for the two
countries to agree upon the terms to consummate an object so important to both…..
To Texas the reunion is important, because the strong protecting arm of our Government would be
extended over her, and the vast resources of her fertile soil and genial climate would be speedily developed,
while the safety of New Orleans and of our whole southwestern frontier against hostile aggression, as well
as the interests of the whole Union, would be promoted by it.
….None can fail to see the danger to our safety and future peace if Texas remains an independent state or
becomes an ally or dependency of some foreign nation more powerful than herself. Is there one among our
citizens who would not prefer perpetual peace with Texas to occasional wars, which so often occur between
bordering independent nations? Is there one who would not prefer free intercourse with her to high duties
on all our products and manufactures which enter her ports or cross her frontiers? Is there one who would
not prefer an unrestricted communication with her citizens to the frontier obstructions which must occur if
she remains out of the Union? Whatever is good or evil in the local institutions of Texas will remain her
own whether annexed to the United States or not….
In the management of our foreign relations it will be my aim to observe a careful respect for the rights of
other nations, while our own will be the subject of constant watchfulness. Equal and exact justice should
characterize all our intercourse with foreign countries….
Doc H The Annexation of Texas Joint Resolution of Congress March 1, 1845
(U. S. Statutes at Large, Vol. V, p. 797-8)
Resolved . . . , That Congress doth consent that the territory properly included within, and rightfully
belonging to the Republic of Texas, may be erected into a new State, to be called the State of Texas, with a
republican form of government, to be adopted by the people of said republic, by deputies in convention
assembled, with the consent of the existing government, in order that the same may be admitted as one of
the States of this Union.
2… such States as may be formed out of that portion of said territory lying south of thirty-sic degrees thirty
minutes north latitude, commonly known as the Missouri compromise line, shall be admitted into the Union
with or without slavery, as the people of each State asking admission may desire. And in such State or
States as shall be formed out of said territory north of said Missouri compromise line, slavery, or
involuntary servitude, (except for crime,) shall be prohibited.
MAP 1 Mo Compromise 1820
Doc I Indian Removal
Extract from Andrew Jackson's Seventh Annual Message to Congress
December 7, 1835
The plan of removing the aboriginal people who yet remain within the settled portions of the United States
to the country west of the Mississippi River approaches its consummation. It was adopted on the most
mature consideration of the condition of this race, and ought to be persisted in till the object is
accomplished, and prosecuted with as much vigor as a just regard to their circumstances will permit, and as
fast as their consent can be obtained. All preceding experiments for the improvement of the Indians have
failed. It seems now to be an established fact they they can not live in contact with a civilized community
and prosper.… In the discharge of this duty an extensive region in the West has been assigned for their
permanent residence. It has been divided into districts and allotted among them. Many have already
removed and others are preparing to go, and with the exception of two small bands living in Ohio and
Indiana, not exceeding 1,500 persons, and of the Cherokees, all the tribes on the east side of the
Mississippi, and extending from Lake Michigan to Florida, have entered into engagements which will lead
to their transplantation.
The plan for their removal and reestablishment is founded upon the knowledge we have gained of their
character and habits, and has been dictated by a spirit of enlarged liberality. A territory exceeding in extent
that relinquished has been granted to each tribe. Of its climate, fertility, and capacity to support an Indian
population the representations are highly favorable. To these districts the Indians are removed at the
expense of the United States, and with certain supplies of clothing, arms, ammunition, and other
indispensable articles; they are also furnished gratuitously with provisions for the period of a year after
their arrival at their new homes....
MAP 2 Indian Removal
Doc J Declaration of the People of Texas
November 7, 1835
WHEREAS, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and other Military Chieftains have, by force of arms,
overthrown the Federal Institutions of Mexico, and dissolved the Social Compact which existed between
Texas and the other Members of the Mexican Confederacy -- Now, the good People of Texas, availing
themselves of their natural rights,
SOLEMNLY DECLARE
1st. That they have taken up arms in defence of their Rights and Liberties, which were threatened by the
encroachments of military despots, and in defence of the Republican Principles of the Federal Constitution
of Mexico of eighteen hundred and twenty-four.
2d. That Texas is no longer, morally or civilly, bound by the compact of Union; yet, stimulated by the
generosity and sympathy common to a free people they offer their support and assistance to such of the
Mexicans of the Mexican Confederacy as will take up arms against their military despotism.
3d. That they do not acknowledge, that the present authorities of the nominal Mexican Republic have the
right to govern within the limits of Texas.
4th. That they will not cease to carry on war against the said authorities, whilst their troops are within the
limits of Texas.
5th. That they hold it to be their right, during the disorganization of the Federal System and the reign of
despotism, to withdraw from the Union, to establish an independent Government, or to adopt such
measures as they may deem best calculated to protect their rights and liberties; but that they will continue
faithful to the Mexican Government so long as that nation is governed by the Constitution and Laws that
were formed for the government of the Political Association….
These DECLARATIONS we solemnly avow to the world, and call GOD to witness their truth and
sincerity; and invoke defeat and disgrace upon our heads should we prove guilty of duplicity.
P. B. Dexter, Secretary.
B. T. Archer, President.
[Thanks to Jean Carefoot of the Texas State Library for assistance in properly identifying this document.]
MAP 3 LA Purchase 1803 (below)