Elementary education: Social studies
Early exploration of NA


European motivation:
o Land to colonize
o Gold/riches
o Religious motivation
o Goods to trade
Christopher Columbus: 1492
o Made four trips from Spain.
o Was looking for direct route from Europe to Asia (wanted to avoid sailing around Africa)
o Had three ships the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria
The Colonial Era





Regional identities: The four distinct regions were: New England, the Middle Colonies,
the Chesapeake Bay Colonies (Upper South) and the Lower South.
Jamestown: was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia, the first permanent English
settlement in the Americas. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on
May 14, 1607
The new England colonies: The New England Colonies of British America included the colonies
of Massachusetts Bay Colony, Connecticut Colony, Colony of Rhode Island and Providence
Plantations and Province of New Hampshire. They were part of the Thirteen Colonies including
the Middle Colonies and the Southern Colonies.
The French Indian war:
o (1754–1763) The French and Indian War was a conflict between the American colonists
and the French over control of the Ohio Valley and the confluence of the Allegheny and
Monongahela rivers—modern day Pittsburgh. It received its title because the war was
Britain and its American colonies fighting against the French and their Indian allies.
o The name refers to the two main enemies of the British colonists: the royal French
forces and the various Indigenous forces allied with them.
o Consequences at end: France ceded French Louisiana west of the Mississippi River to its
ally Spain in compensation for Spain's loss to Britain of Florida (which Spain had ceded
to Britain in exchange for the return of Havana, Cuba). France's colonial presence north
of the Caribbean was reduced to the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, confirming
Britain's position as the dominant colonial power in the eastern half of North America.
The slave trade: The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade took place across
the Atlantic Ocean from the 16th through to the 19th centuries. The vast majority of slaves
transported to the New World were Africans from the central and western parts of the
continent, sold by Africans to European slave traders who then transported them to North and
South America.
The war for independence (1775-1783)


Reasons for the declaration of independence: (1763 to 1776) the colonists felt unfairly taxed,
watched over like children, and ignored in their attempts to address grievances. Religious issues
rose to the surface, political ideals crystallized, and, as always, economics were the essence of
many debates.
o Attempts by the British government to raise revenue by taxing the colonies (notably
the Stamp Act of 1765, the Townshend Tariffs of 1767 and the Tea Act of 1773) met
with heated protest among many colonists, who resented their lack of representation in
Parliament and demanded the same rights as other British subjects.
Major battles:
o Battle of lex/concord - 1775
o Battle of bunker hill - 1775
o Battle of Trenton NJ – 1776
o Battle of Oriskany NY – 1777
o Battle of Saratoga NY (turning point) – 1777
o Battle of Yorktown VA (surrender) – 1778
Founding the Nation

Articles of Confederation vs US Constitution:
o The articles were the first written constitution of the United States, superseded by the
Constitution in 1788
o America's first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, was ratified in 1781, a time
when the nation was a loose confederation of states, each operating like independent
countries. The national government was comprised of a single legislature, the Congress
of the Confederation; there was no president or judicial branch. The Articles of
Confederation gave Congress the power to govern foreign affairs, conduct war and
regulate currency; however, in reality these powers were sharply limited because
Congress had no authority to enforce its requests to the states for money or troops.
o it became increasingly evident that the young republic needed a stronger central
government in order to remain stable
o They developed a plan that established three branches of national government-executive, legislative and judicial. A system of checks and balances was put into place so
that no single branch would have too much authority. The specific powers and
responsibilities of each branch were also laid out.
o Subsequently agreed that government under the U.S. Constitution would begin on
March 4, 1789. George Washington was inaugurated as America's first president on
April 30, 1789. In June of that same year, Virginia ratified the Constitution, and New
York followed in July. On February 2, 1790, the U.S. Supreme Court held its first session,
marking the date when the government was fully operative. Rhode Island, the last
holdout of the original 13 states, finally ratified the Constitution on May 29, 1790.

Bill of Rights: Ten of these amendments, known collectively as the Bill of Rights, were ratified
and became part of the Constitution on December 10, 1791. The Bill of Rights guarantees
individuals certain basic protections as citizens
Western Expansion



The war of 1812
o Causes of the war included British attempts to restrict U.S. trade, the Royal Navy's
impressments of American seamen and America's desire to expand its territory
o Wanted war based on their indignation over British violations of maritime rights as well
as Britain's encouragement of Native American hostility against American expansion in
the West.
o June 18, 1812, the president signed a declaration of war against Britain
o On December 24, 1814, commissioners signed the Treaty of Ghent, which would be
ratified the following February. On January 8, 1815, unaware that peace had been
concluded, British forces mounted a major attack on New Orleans, only to meet with
defeat at the hands of future U.S. president Andrew Jackson's army.
The Monroe doctrine: The Monroe Doctrine was a policy of the United States introduced on
December 2, 1823. It stated that further efforts by European nations to colonize land or
interfere with states in North or South America would be viewed as acts of aggression, requiring
U.S. intervention.[1] The Doctrine noted that the United States would neither interfere with
existing European colonies nor meddle in the internal concerns of European countries
Manifest destiny: In the United States in the 19th century, Manifest Destiny was the widely
held belief that American settlers were destined to expand across the continent. Manifest
destiny provided the rhetorical tone for the largest acquisition of U.S. territory.
o courageous pioneers believed that America had a divine obligation to stretch the
boundaries of their noble republic to the Pacific Ocean
The civil war and reconstruction

causes and effects of the civil war:
o Causes: a fundamental economic difference existed between the country's northern and
southern regions. While in the North, manufacturing and industry was well established,
and agriculture was mostly limited to small-scale farms, the South's economy was based
on a system of large-scale farming that depended on the labor of black slaves to grow
certain crops, especially cotton and tobacco
o In 1854, the U.S. Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which essentially opened all
new territories to slavery by asserting the rule of popular sovereignty over congressional
edict. Bleeding Kansas – struggle over slavery in expanding west.
o Lincoln's election in November 1860 was the final straw, and within three months seven
southern states--South
Carolina, Mississippi, Florida,Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas--had seceded from
the United States.
o



Effects: Lincoln had used the occasion of the Union victory at Antietam to issue a
preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves in the rebellious states
after January 1, 1863
o Grant accepted Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House on April 9. On the eve of
victory, the Union lost its great leader: The actor and Confederate sympathizer John
Wilkes Booth assassinated President Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington on April
14. Sherman received Johnston's surrender at Durham Station, North Carolina on April
26, effectively ending the Civil War.
Early Battles: Battle of fort sumpter, battle of bull run, battle of Wilsons creek
Reconstruction: The Union victory in the Civil War in 1865 may have given some 4 million slaves
their freedom, but the process of rebuilding the South during the Reconstruction period (18651877) introduced a new set of significant challenges. Under the administration of President
Andrew Johnson in 1865 and 1866, new southern state legislatures passed restrictive "black
codes" to control the labor and behavior of former slaves and other African Americans
o As a result of Johnson's leniency, many southern states in 1865 and 1866 successfully
enacted a series of laws known as the "black codes," which were designed to restrict
freed blacks' activity and ensure their availability as a labor force. These repressive
codes enraged many in the North, including numerous members of Congress, which
refused to seat congressmen and senators elected from the southern states.
o Congress passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867, which temporarily divided the South
into five military districts and outlined how governments based on universal (male)
suffrage were to be organized
o Among the other achievements of Reconstruction were the South's first state-funded
public school systems, more equitable taxation legislation, laws against racial
discrimination in public transport and accommodations and ambitious economic
development programs (including aid to railroads and other enterprises).
The end of reconstruction:
o After 1867, an increasing number of southern whites turned to violence in response to
the revolutionary changes of Radical Reconstruction. The Ku Klux Klan and other white
supremacist organizations targeted local Republican leaders, white and black, and other
African Americans who challenged white authority.
o When Democrats waged a campaign of violence to take control of Mississippi in 1875,
Grant refused to send federal troops, marking the end of federal support for
Reconstruction-era state governments in the South. By 1876, only Florida, Louisiana
and South Carolina were still in Republican hands. In the contested presidential election
that year, Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes reached a compromise with
Democrats in Congress: In exchange for certification of his election, he acknowledged
Democratic control of the entire South. The Compromise of 1876 marked the end of
Reconstruction as a distinct period.
The industrial revolution


Effects of industrialization:
o The Industrial Revolution brought about a greater volume and variety of factoryproduced goods and raised the standard of living for many people, particularly for the
middle and upper classes. However, life for the poor and working classes continued to
be filled with challenges. Wages for those who labored in factories were low and
working conditions could be dangerous.
o The Industrial Revolution, which took place from the 18th to 19th centuries, was a
period during which predominantly agrarian, rural societies in Europe and America
became industrial and urban.
o New transportation, stock exchange, banks, more goods, increases in urban
populations.
Resulting immigration and nativist policies:
o However, even in the 1840s and 50s, laborers were in demand to run and operate the
machinery as well as to build the railroads.
This led to mass immigration to the U.S. from European nations.
o The two main nations from where the immigrants came were from Ireland and
Germany.
o Immigrants began to take American job opportunities. Americans also opposed them for
religious and political reasons.
o "NATIVIST" political parties sprang up almost overnight. The most influential of these
parties, the KNOW NOTHINGS, was anti-Catholic and wanted to extend the amount of
time it took immigrants to become citizens and voters.
The great depression


Causes/stock market crash: The American economy entered an ordinary recession during the
summer of 1929, as consumer spending dropped and unsold goods began to pile up, slowing
production. At the same time, stock prices continued to rise, and by the fall of that year had
reached levels that could not be justified by anticipated future earnings. On October 24, 1929,
the stock market bubble finally burst, as investors began dumping shares en masse. A record
12.9 million shares were traded that day, known as "Black Thursday." Five days later, on "Black
Tuesday" some 16 million shares were traded after another wave of panic swept Wall Street.
The New Deal:
o When President Franklin Roosevelt took office in 1933, he acted swiftly to try and
stabilize the economy and provide jobs and relief to those who were suffering. Over the
next eight years, the government instituted a series of experimental projects and
programs, known collectively as the New Deal, which aimed to restore some measure of
dignity and prosperity to many Americans. More than that, Roosevelt’s New Deal
permanently changed the federal government's relationship to the U.S. populace.
o Ended prohibition to boost spending
o
the Agricultural Adjustment Act, the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, and the National
Industrial Recovery Act, Roosevelt had won passage of 12 other major laws, including
the Glass-Steagall Banking Bill and the Home Owners’ Loan Act, in his first 100 days in
office.
20th century developments


The assembly line:
o Ford invents the first assembly line.
o Assembly lines were crucial to war materials for the armed services
o Gave women jobs. They worked at the assembly lines previously worked by men.
The cold war:
o Americans had long been wary of Soviet communism and concerned about Russian
leader Joseph Stalin’s tyrannical, blood-thirsty rule of his own country. For their part,
the Soviets resented the Americans’ decades-long refusal to treat the USSR as a
legitimate part of the international community as well as their delayed entry into World
War II, which resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of Russians
o America’s only choice was the “long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of
Russian expansive tendencies
o Arms race for nuclear weapons, both sides developing and testing atomic
bombs/hydrogen bombs
o Beginning in 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) brought the
Cold War home in another way. The committee began a series of hearings to find
communists in the US, anticommunist hysteria spread throughout the 1950s
o In June 1950, the first military action of the Cold War began when the Soviet-backed
North Korean People’s Army invaded its pro-Western neighbor to the south. Many
American officials feared this was the first step in a communist campaign to take over
the world and deemed that nonintervention was not an option. Truman sent the
American military into Korea, but the war dragged to a stalemate and ended in 1953.
o Other international disputes followed. In the early 1960s, President Kennedy faced a
number of troubling situations in his own hemisphere. The Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961
and the Cuban missile crisis the following year
o President Richard Nixon began to implement a new approach to international relations.
The same time, he adopted a policy of "détente"–"relaxation"–toward the Soviet Union.
In 1972, he and Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev (1906-1982) signed the Strategic Arms
Limitation Treaty (SALT I), which prohibited the manufacture of nuclear missiles by both
sides
o Cold War heated up again under President Ronald Reagan. As a result, he worked to
provide financial and military aid to anticommunist governments and insurgencies
around the world. This policy, particularly as it was applied in the developing world in
places like Grenada and El Salvador, was known as the Reagan Doctrine.
o


in 1989, every other communist state in the region replaced its government with a
noncommunist one. In November of that year, the Berlin Wall–the most visible symbol
of the decades-long Cold War–was finally destroyed. COLD WAR OVER
The space age:
o Space exploration served as another dramatic arena for Cold War competition. On
October 4, 1957, a Soviet R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile launched Sputnik (Russian
for "traveler"), the world's first artificial satellite and the first man-made object to be
placed into the Earth's orbit.
o In 1958, the U.S. launched its own satellite, Explorer I, designed by the U.S. Army under
the direction of rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, and what came to be known as
the Space Race was underway
o Soviets were one step ahead, launching the first man into space in April 1961.
o JFK made the bold public claim that the U.S. would land a man on the moon by the end
of the decade. His prediction came true on July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong of
NASA’s Apollo 11 mission, became the first man to set foot on the moon, effectively
winning the Space Race for the Americans.
Civil rights:
o Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision of 1954, the Civil
Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965
o December 1, 1955. Rosa Parks of Montgomery, Alabama, The boycott lasted more than
a year
o Although Parks and King were members of the NAACP, the Montgomery movement led
to the creation in 1957 of a new regional organization, the clergy-led Southern Christian
Leadership Conference (SCLC) with King as its president.
o Student sit-ins designed to end segregation at southern lunch counters. These protests
spread rapidly throughout the South and led to the founding, in April 1960, of the
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).
o August 28 March on Washington, which attracted at least 200,000 participants. King's
address on that occasion captured the idealistic spirit of the expanding protests. "I have
a dream,"
o The Civil Rights Act of 1964. This legislation outlawed segregation in public facilities and
racial discrimination in employment and education. In addition to blacks, women and
other victims of discrimination benefited from the act.
o On March 7 an SCLC planned march from Selma to the state capitol in Montgomery
ended almost before it began at Pettus Bridge on the outskirts of Selma, when mounted
police using tear gas and wielding clubs attacked the protesters. News accounts of
"Bloody Sunday" brought hundreds of civil rights sympathizers to Selma.
o ,King on March 9 turned back a second march to the Pettus Bridge when it was blocked
by the police. That evening a group of Selma whites killed a northern white minister
who had joined the demonstrations. In contrast to the killing of a black man, Jimmy Lee
Jackson, a few weeks before, the Reverend James Reeb's death led to a national outcry.
After several postponements of the march, civil rights advocates finally gained court
permission to proceed. This Selma to Montgomery march was the culmination of a stage
of the African-American freedom struggle. Soon afterward, Congress passed the Voting
Rights Act of 1965
Forms of Government

Three branches of fed gov:

Local governments: Local governments generally include two tiers: counties and municipalities,
or cities/towns

State governments: In every state, the executive branch is headed by a governor who is directly
elected by the people. In most states, the other leaders in the executive branch are also directly
elected, including the lieutenant governor, the attorney general, the secretary of state, and
auditors and commissioners.
The influence of the Magna Carta:



Magna Carta was the first document forced onto a King of England by a group of his subjects,
the feudal barons, in an attempt to limit his powers by law and protect their privileges. It was
preceded and directly influenced by the Charter of Liberties in 1100, in which King Henry I had
specified particular areas wherein his powers would be limited.
The charter was an important part of the extensive historical process that led to the rule
of constitutional law in the English speaking world. Magna Carta was important in
the colonization of American colonies as England's legal system was used as a model for many of
the colonies as they were developing their own legal systems.
It influenced the early settlers in New England and inspired later constitutional documents,
including the United States Constitution.

The American Constitution is the supreme law of the land, recalling the manner in which Magna
Carta had come to be regarded as fundamental law.
Geography, anthropology and sociology
World geography


Major mountain ranges:
o Andes – SA (largest in the world)
o Rocky mountains – west coast US
o Himalayas (along top edge of inda)
o Great dividing range (Australia)
o Tien shan (central asia)
o Alps (Europe)
o Karakoram (basically w him.)
o Atlas (Africa)
Major bodies of water:
o Pacific ocean
o Atlantic ocean
o Indian ocean
o Arctic ocean
o Southern ocean
o Longest rivers = nile, amazon, Yangtze, mississippi
o Largest lakes = caspian sea, lake superior, lake Victoria, lake huron, lake Michigan
Interaction with physical and human systems



How do people change the environment?
o Pollution, deforestation, global warming
Natural resources: Materials or substances such as minerals, forests, water, and fertile land that
occur in nature and can be used for economic gain.
Human made resources:
o man made resources are refined raw materials that need additional value added work
to become finished goods, such as raw steel, aluminum, and other commodities that are
not simply taken directly out of the ground.
o Human-made resources, also known as capital or capital resources, is material wealth
created by humans that can be used to create more wealth. Examples include money,
factories, roads, and technology. natural resources are raw materials and land.
Geography and Man

Human migration: Human migration is movement by humans from one area to another,
sometimes over long distances or in large groups. Historically this movement was nomadic,
often causing significant conflict with the indigenous population and
their displacement or cultural assimilation. Only a few nomadic people have retained this form
of lifestyle in modern times. Migration has continued under the form of both voluntary
migration within one's region, country, or beyond and involuntary migration (which includes
the slave trade, trafficking in human beings and ethnic cleansing). People who migrate into a
territory are called immigrants, while at the departure point they are called emigrants. Small
populations migrating to develop a territory considered void of settlement depending on
historical setting, circumstances and perspective are referred to as settlers or colonists, while
populations displaced by immigration and colonization are called refugees.
World history and economics
Classic civilizations
 Mesopotamia: Most of Ancient Mesopotamia was located in what today is the country of Iraq.
Mesopotamia was known as the land between two rivers. The Tigris River ran along the north
and the Euphrates River ran along the south. Ancient Mesopotamia is considered the cradle of
civilization, because the people of this culture developed many things such as government,
written language, religion, agriculture, and cities. The Ancient Mesopotamians
developed sanitation techniques, the "Pythagorean theorem, and glass. They revolutionized
transportation around 3500 BC by inventing the wheel and were among the first to harness the
wind as an energy source by using the sail. Ancient Mesopotamia is where the world's first cities
appeared between 4000 - 3500 BC.
 Egypt: unification around 3100 B.C. to its conquest by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C.—ancient
Egypt was the preeminent civilization in the Mediterranean world. A culture with few equals in
the beauty of its art, the accomplishment of its architecture or the richness of its religious
traditions.
 China: three dynastic cycles—the Zhou, the Qin, and the Han—covered many centuries of
classical China
 Greece: refers to the period between the Persian Wars at the beginning of the fifth century B.C.
and the rise of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. The classical period was an era of war and
conflict. Ancient Greece’s most enduring contribution to the modern world: the system known
as demokratia, or "rule by the people."
 Roman republic to the Roman Empire: 509 BC, Rome was a republic. Ruled by the people
(senators). Gained lots of land, power, etc. but politicians and generals became power hungry
and in the 1st/2nd centuries BC, the republic falls apart and Caesar gains control becomes
emperor and Rome becomes an empire.
A Modern World System

WWI:
o 1914 to1918; 4 years
o The Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey) and the Allied Powers
(France, Britain, Russia, Italy, Japan, and (from 1917) the U.S.)
o WHY: War between countries for acquiring colonies or territory or resources
o



Causes: Assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria in June 1914. Militarism,
Imperialism, nationalism and alliance system.
WWII
o 1939 to 1945; 6 Years
o The Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) and the Allied Powers (France, Britain, the
U.S., the Soviet Union, and China)
o Causes: Political and economic instability in Germany. The harsh conditions of the Treaty
of Versailles (created at end of WWI) Rise of power of Adolf Hitler and his alliance with
Italy and Japan to oppose the Soviet Union
Decolonization after WWII:
o The term refers particularly to the dismantlement, in the years after World War II, of
the Neo-Imperial empires established prior to World War I throughout Africa and Asia
Globalization:
o Started when goods could be shipped across the world (shipping containers)
o Took a step backwards during WWI/great depression and WWII
o Initially, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), led to a series of
agreements to remove trade restrictions. GATT's successor was the World Trade
Organization (WTO), which created an institution to manage the trading system
Cross Cultural Comparisons


The two meanings of culture: Specifically, the term "culture" in American anthropology had two
meanings:
o the evolved human capacity to classify and represent experiences with symbols, and to
act imaginatively and creatively
o And the distinct ways that people living in different parts of the world classified and
represented their experiences, and acted creatively
Four levels of cultural complexity:
o human culture: things everyone has in common
o Primal culture: characteristics we are born w and cannot change
o Absorbed culture: nationality language religion
o Learned culture: the result of conscious choices
The Key Terms of Economics



Supply: Supply represents how much the market can offer.
Demand: Demand refers to how much (quantity) of a product or service is desired by buyers.
Scarcity: Scarcity means that people want more than is available





Choices: scarcity causes choice. Scarcity requires choice. People must choose which of their
desires they will satisfy and which they will leave unsatisfied.
Money/currency:
o Money is any object or record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and
services and repayment of debts in a given socio-economic context or country
o The money supply of a country consists of currency (banknotes and coins) and bank
money (the balance held in checking accounts and savings accounts)
Goods/services: Generally, goods and services are the outcome of human or nature efforts.
In economics, economic output is divided into physical goods and intangible services.
Inflation: In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in
an economy over a period of time.[1] When the general price level rises, each unit of currency
buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing
power of money – a loss of real value in the internal medium of exchange and unit of account
within the economy
The stock market: A stock market or equity market is a public entity (a loose network of
economic transactions, not a physical facility or discrete entity) for the trading of company
stock (shares) and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock
exchange as well as those only traded privately.