NCFE Study Guide: American History I
North America Before Settlement
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Native American tribes dominated North and South America. They migrated many years
 prior by walking across the Beringia Land Bridge into North America. They settled in regions where the environment could provide for them.
Hierarchy of power, tribes depended on the environment, nature dominated, traded, mobile societies, each tribe’s economy depended on the location (for example, tribes on
 the coast depended on whaling and fishing while inland tribes hunted and, often, farmed)
When Europeans began to explore, conquer, and settle, interactions were devastating for
Native American tribes. They were often plundered and robbed and treated unequally by the Europeans.
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Excerpt from The American Holocaust by David Stannard revealed by De las Casas the horrific treatment of the natives and the genocide that occurred.
Diseases like malaria, smallpox, chicken pox and influenza wiped out whole tribes.
Columbian Exchange: global exchange of goods and commodities from Europe to
Africa, and, then, into the Americas. It consisted of plants, animals, trade commodities, ideas, scientific knowledge, and human slave trade. Middle Passage was the journey of slaves from Africa to America in deplorable conditions. It made possible the development of the plantation system in
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 the South.
Reasons for exploration: 3 G’s (gold, God, glory). Treatment of the natives was terrible and began a mass genocide of many tribes.
The Early Colonies
 The early colonies were divided into three regions: New England, Middle and
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Southern. Each region developed differently and depended on different economic means.
New England Colonies: Pilgrims, VERY religious, Puritanism, Mayflower Compact
(1620: 1st attempt at self-government and consent of the governed in Plymouth,
Massachusetts-Wm. Bradford), Salem Witch Trials, persecution of those who were not conformists, had longer life expectancy, cooler climate, not good for large plantations and slave labor, depended on shipbuilding, logging, fishing) (slavery did not develop as it did in the South because the geography and climate were not favorable for large plantations)
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Middle Colonies : “Breadbasket colonies”, had both farming and industry, less religious than the New England colonies, more secular or focused on making money, observed religious toleration due to the mixture of many different groups of people
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Southern Colonies: agriculturally-based, good soil and climate favorable to farming, less religious, more secular and focused on making money, climate and geography were favorable to the development of slave labor, large plantations developed and the institution of slavery expanded, life expectancy was low due to disease and insects
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Jamestown: 1st English colony in America (1607), all the early colonies faced severe shortages, diseases, problems surviving, often turned to the natives for help. Fighting broke out after the Europeans made land encroachments.
American Revolution
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Causes: Glorious Revolution (overthrow of James by Wm. and Mary- inspired us),
French and Indian War (colonies fought the French/Indians over land encroachments-led the English to resent the money spent and to impose taxes on the colonists to replenish what was spent), Navigation Acts, British oppression and lack of political rights of the colonists, taxation without representation, Enlightenment ideas, Boston Tea Party, Boston
Massacre---there were many short term and long term causes of the Revolutionary War

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Sides: Patriots favored independence from England, and the Loyalists favored England
(they were loyal to the king). There were more “rebels” than loyalists in the colonies.
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Battles and Turning Points: o George Washington would emerge as a major leader and would later become first president.
Battles: Saratoga, turning point battle, after which the French entered. Valley Forge symbolized the determination and perseverance of the patriots and the strength of Washington’s leadership, Yorktown was surrender of
Cornwallis and marked the end of the War o Peace Treaty: Treaty of Paris of 183
 Aftermath: Colonists won their independence from England, but were unprepared for the challenges that lay ahead. They would first have the
Articles of Confederation which would prove weak with many problems. It would be replaced with the US Constitution by
1789. Colonists turned to a representative government in which the people would elect their leaders, not a direct democracy. Great
Compromise by Roger Sherman would establish a House of
Representative determined by the population of the state and a
Senate. This was a compromise, as arguments dominated the discussions over large vs. small states. The ⅗ Compromise would count 3 of 5 slaves toward membership in the House for southern states. It reflected the lack of representation of slaves at the time. George Washington was
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 elected the first president of the United States.
New Nation
Washington’s Presidency
Whiskey Rebellion :
Washington used federal troops to end farmers rebellion
Proof that a stronger federal gov’t had been established (National troops stopped the rebellion rather than a local militia).
Jay’s Treaty + Pickney’s Treaty( trade in New Orleans…expand use of Miss. R.)
Jay’s Treaty: avoided war from Britain, eliminated the British threats to the security of the US with
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 the British agreeing to abandon their military forts in the west
Farewell Address: No foreign entanglements and No political parties
Washington warned against the formation of alliances with foreign nations and the formation of political parties
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US should avoid permanent, entangling alliances.
Hamilton & Federalist vs Jefferson & Democratic-Republicans
Hamilton & Federalist believed in “loose interpretation” of the Constitution
Hamilton favored Federal power: Federal Banks and Federal Debt
Democrat Republicans believed in a “Strict Interpretation” of Constitution
Jefferson argued for more State power: state debt & banks
Jefferson thought that the National Bank was an unconstitutional act that unnecessarily strengthened federal power
Hamilton’s Economic Plan:
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 excise tax on whiskey, creation of a National Bank, and Federal Debt from the assumption of the states’ debt from the Revolutionary War
Hamilton’s financial plan created the most tension b/w the North and the South: the federal gov’t
 would assume state debt from foreign nations
Hamilton gained support for his plan to have the federal gov’t pay off foreign and domestic debts after the Revolutionary War by promising the South to move the Capital to the South
(Washington D.C.)

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Adams Presidency
XYZ Affair: French diplomats required payment to talk with US diplomats
Alien and Sedition Act – limit freedom of speech
Federalist passed to limit speech against gov’t and limit immigration, hurt Democratic-
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Republican party since they were not the majority party (Specifically designed to limit the political participation of recent immigrants in the late 1790s)
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions (written by Jefferson and James Madison) had a lasting impact on the US in that they introduced the “Doctrine of Nullification” in which states refuse to follow federal laws they feel are in violation of the Constitution
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Both the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions and the SC Exposition and Protest dealt with states having the right to nullify laws considered to be considered to be unconstitional
Midnight Judges- Adams appoints Federalist the last night of his presidency
Jefferson becomes next president and Madison never sends several of the appoints…Supreme
Court decides in Marbury v Madison
Jefferson’s Presidency
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Election of 1800: Hamilton votes for Jefferson, Aaron Burr looses (This election was considered a “political revolution” because political power transferred from one party to the next for the first time)
Hamilton vs. Aaron Burr… famous duel that Hamilton is killed 
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Property ownership was a requirement for voting prior to 1800
Louisiana Purchase 1803
Jefferson unsure he had the power to buy the land from France since he had a “strict interpretation” of Constitution…it did not mention the power
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Objective of the Lewis and Clark expedition: map out and explore the territory of the Louisiana
Purchase…Sacagawea –Indian guide
Napoleon in Europe: War b/w France and GB continues
Embargo Act of 1807- stopped foreign trade, meant to avoid war by preventing impressments of sailors, keep US out of war from GB & France (Jefferson wanted to stop Europe’s impressment of US sailors)
Federalist strongly opposed Jefferson’s Embargo Act because it hurt America more than 
Britain, it was a economic disaster for Americans dependent on foreign trade,
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Federalist opposed b/c it hurt New England seamen & merchants
President Madison and War of 1812
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Causes: War Hawks and Impressment
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Foreign policy prior to the War of 1812: British violations of the neutrality of American ships
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(Impressment)
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War Hawks pushed for war between U.S. and G.B.
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John Calhoun, Henry Clay, and Daniel Webster
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British Impressment: captured and forced US sailors to work on their ships
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Westward Expansion: conflicts b/w US and GB in western territories
War of 1812 Battles:
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Low Point: Burning of Washington, GB destroys US capital city
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Victories: Lake Erie (Admiral Perry victorious) & Horseshoe Bend(Jackson)
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Battle of New Orleans: after treaty signed, Andrew Jackson new Hero
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Treaty of Ghent—peace b/w GB and US same as before the war, nothing won/loss
Native Americans
Prior to 1820, the primary conflict between whites and Indians was the use of land
Battle of Fallen Timbers: General “Mad” Anthony Wayne defeats Tecumseh and Little
Turtle…Treaty of Greenville signed Natives pushed in NW Ohio only
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Tecumseh gone but his Prophet defeated at Battle of Tippecanoe, last major conflict in the East

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Sectionalism, Nationalism, & Reform
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President Monroe and Nationalism
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Voting before 1820: only white land property owners
By 1820, landless farmers obtained suffrage (right to vote)
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Removing property requirements for voting was a political issue for apprentices and tenant farmers
Sectionalism : division b/w North and South, growing cause of Civil War
Points of Tension: slavery, agrarian economy vs. industrial economy, state rights vs. power of the federal gov’t
Industrial Revolution: creates differences b/w north and south
Two Major Issues by mid-1800s: slavery and state rights
Henry Clay’s American System
Program for transportation projects, a protective tariff, and a national bank
Henry Clay: “Great Compromiser”…helps easy sectionalism in US
National Road, Erie Canal, Tariff of 1816
Erie Canal and Robert Fulton’s steam engine: helps NY city replaces Baltimore as major port in
US
Nationalism: Supreme Court Cases
Chief Justice Marshall: empowered national government through decisions
Marbury v. Madison = (power of Judicial Review), Gibbons v. Ogden, & McCulloch v.
Maryland: all 3 secured the power to Federal gov’t
Nationalism and Foreign/Domestic Policy
Adams-Onis Treaty: gained Spanish Florida and claims to Oregon
Monroe Doctrine: warned European Powers that the US considered the Western Hemisphere within its sphere of influence
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Nationalism in Literature and Art:
Hudson River School for the Arts- focused on American scenic beauty as being superior than that
 of Europe
Washington Irving, Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and James Fennimore Cooper: writers created distinct American literature
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US painters offered affordable portraits of US landscapes to the public
Webster’s Dictionary (1806) English to American language
Missouri Compromise 1820
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 attempts to solve slavery issue in W. Territories
Slavery prohibited north of the 36, 30 parallel in the Louisiana Purchase Territory
Maine admitted as a free state and Missouri a slave state
Henry Clay: “Great Compromiser”
Jackson’s Presidency
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Adams vs. Jackson 1824, Jackson looses,House votes for Adams/Jackson wins next
 Log Cabin President and Spoils System
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1 st
Log Cabin President... “common man” appeal
Spoils System example: loyal supporter given gov’t job as a reward
Indian Removal Act 1830
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Allowed white settlement of Indian lands: Cherokee people/5 civilized tribes
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Worchester v. Georgia: sided with Cherokee but Jackson said, “Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.”
Bank of the United States (BUS)
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Jackson wanted to do away with the National Bank in favor of state level “pet banks” that ended up printing excessive amounts of money, creating a Recession and after the Panic of 1837

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South Carolina Nullification Crisis
South Carolina challenged the US authority on the issue of the tariff act of 1828 and 1832…
South called it the “Tariff of Abominations” b/c it helped the North more than the South
President Jackson sent federal troops to S.C. to end the Nullification Crisis
Reforms in societies and the arts
2 nd
Great Awakening – 19 th
century religious movement in which individual responsibility for seeking salvation was emphasized, along with the need for personal and social improvement
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Reforms: Education: Horace Mann …Prison and Mentally Ill: Dorthea Dix
Women’s Rights: early 1800s
Seneca Falls Convention: first women’s rights convention… “All men and Women are created
Equal”… Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony
Sojourner Truth: “Ain’t I a Woman” speech
Abigail Adams had asked her husband (John Adams) to remember the ladies when they were writing the Constitution
Abolitionist: movement against slavery ,
William Lloyd Garrison: editor of the “Liberator” newspaper against slavery; it increased 
 sectionalism
Garrison angered Southerners by condemning slavery on moral grounds and demanding immediate emancipation and racial equality without compensation to slave owners
Transcendentalism: Literary movement focus on: Nature, Truth, Individualism
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Civil Disobedience: Thoreau—impacted Gandhi and MLK
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Famous Authors: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau
Religions impact on debate of slavery: Southern women got involved in the abolition movement
Expansion
New Nation and Texas
Texas’s Independence
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Austin: empressario – sells land, put in prison Mexican leader Santa Anna
 “Remember the Alamo” Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie die defending a fort, all are killed, no
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 prisoners, becomes the war cry for Texas freedom fighters
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Sam Houston defeats Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto
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Texas gains independence and becomes the “Lone Star Republic”
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The annexation of Texas caused sectional feelings because it might become a slave state.
President Tyler adds Texas to the Union last days of his presidency
Mexican American War
Tyler to Polk Presidency
54, 40 or Fight: Oregon Territory
Northern boundary of US peacefully decided at 49 th
parallel
Polk, election in 1844: his campaign appealed to both the North and the South b/c he supported territorial expansion
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Manifest Destiny - America has a destiny and right, by God, to expand from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean
Mexican-American War
President Polk favors expansion of US
The outcome of the Mexican-American War increased sectional tensions throughout the 1850s because territorial expansion led to debates about the extension of slavery into the new areas.
Wilmont Proviso – Increased sectionalism: stated that any land taken from the war would be free territories, no slavery (Failed to pass Congress)
Henry David Thoreau was jailed for refusing to pay taxes for a war which he believed supported the expansion of slavery westward. This motivated him to write “Civil Disobedience”
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

 New Mexico, Arizona, Cali., Utah, and Nevada gained by the US, Mexico lost ½ its land, US paid 15 million
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Result: increased sectionalism and tension between North and South because of slavery question, large tracts of land would be open to slavery
Territorial expansion led to intense debates about the extension of slavery in the new areas
Gadsden Purchase: US paid 10 million for small piece of land set final Southern border and build transcontinental railroal
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Slavery in America
Middle Passage and Slave Trade from Africa to America
Underground Railroad secret transportation to help slaves escape North
Harriet Tubman secretly returned to the South 19 times to help free slaves
Abolition Movement Leaders—end slavery
 Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglas, and William Lloyd Garrison
Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Autobiography of Frederick Douglas
 Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” which showed Northerners the horrors of slavery: “so you’re the little woman who wrote the book that made this great
 war”
The Quakers believed that Gods “inner light” shined in everyone
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Economy of the South : plantations and cotton
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Cotton Gin help expand slavery become a thriving institution by 1820
Invented by Eli Whitney
Because of the Cotton Gin, it was profitable and desirable to expand slavery further west and south.
Crisis, Civil War, and Reconstruction
Sectionalism and Division
Compromise of 1850
California admitted as a free state, Utah and New Mexico Territories would decide slavery by 
Popular Sovereignty -people have power to decide/vote
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Slave Trade abolished in Washington D.C.
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Extension of slavery westward increases sectionalism
Daniel Webster, “state rights and liberty, one and inseparable.”
Fugitive Slave Law: enabled slaveholders to recapture slaves who had fled, required free states to help capture and return escaped slaves
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South believed that slavery, its way of life –was threatened
Dred Scott Decision:
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Dred Scott vs. Sandford: regardless of location, slaves were not citizens and had no right to sue in the U.S. courts
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Supreme Court Decision said that Congress had no power to deny slavery in the territories—
Declared Missouri Compromise Unconstitutional
Bleeding Kansas
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Kansas-Nebraska Act: Violence in Kansas (1854-55) symbolized the growing sectional division
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 in the US because it represented a struggle between pro-slavery and free-soil advocates over the extension of slavery
Kansas-Nebraska Act led to bloodshed: the legislation left the issue of slavery to be determined by popular sovereignty, so pro-slavery and anti-slavery radicals clashed over the issue
Harpers Ferry
John Brown, Harpers Ferry, Virginia: he hoped to steal weapons from a federal arsenal for use in a slave revolt (this renewed fears of slave revolts throughout the South).
John Brown hanged: The North was shocked at the Southern decision to hang Brown, The South was shocked that the North didn’t realize that Brown tried to kill them

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Political Parties
Know-Nothings opposed immigration, Nativist-support people born in US
Democrat Party split between North and South on slavery issue
Republicans: new party, against slavery for territories and new states, formed from Whigs, Free-
Soilers, and Northern Democrats
Lincoln v. Douglas debates
Freeport Doctrine- Douglas’s argument for Popular Sovereignty
Lincoln lost election but gained a reputation as a strong Republican candidate for the Presidency
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Election of 1860: Lincoln and S.C. Secession
South Carolina warned they would secede if Lincoln was elected
Southern states seceded b/c they thought it was only a matter of time before Lincoln & the
Republicans would move to abolish slavery and they wanted to protect their state sovereignty
Please remember that the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, the Hartford Convention, and the
Webster-Hayne Debate all dealt with the issue of states’ rights.
Lincoln argued that secession was illegal and the establishment of the Confederate States of
America had no legal foundation under the Constitution on the basis that the Constitution of the
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United States, which formed the Union, represented the collective will of the people and could not be destroyed by state legislatures…once a state ratified the constitution they surrendered their power to the federal gov’t
Civil War
Lincoln president: Beginning of Civil War
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Abraham Lincoln’s main goal at the beginning of the Civil War was to Preserve the Union
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Lincoln struggles to find a General of the Union Army
 General Lee offered to command of Union but couldn’t bring himself to fight against his home
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 state of Virginia
 Generals McClellan, Hooker, Burnsides, & Meade didn’t attack
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Finally finds General Grant…Policy of Total War: attack and force the South to surrender unconditionally
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Anaconda Plan – Union strategy of blockading southern ports, controlling the Mississippi River, cutting the South in half, and surround and cutting off South from supplies and communications
Turning Point Battles
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Battle of Bull Run: Confederate victory showed war would not be short
Vicksburg 1863: Union victory that split the Confederacy in half and the Union could use the
Mississippi River
Gettysburg – Union victory, last battle in the North, bloodiest battle
Gettysburg Address –Lincoln’s speech unified nation
Antietam- bloodiest single day battle
Sherman’s March to the Sea – Gen. Sherman burns Atlanta, and everything in his path on the way to and through South Carolina…enforces Total War
Helps Lincoln get re-elected
Result of the Civil War: confirmed power of National Gov’t and made by making succession illegal
Emancipation Proclamation: Lincoln freed slaves in the South
Encouraged African Americans to serve in the Union Army as they now saw the war as a battle for people’s freedom
Paved the way for the 13 th
Amendment: abolished slavery
Military Technology: Monitor vs. Merrimack: iron clad ships, submarine, rifle
Income Tax and Military Draft
Income tax first time enforced by the Federal Gov’t to pay for war
Rich could buy their way out of Conscription (draft)

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Other than the sale of land, the main source of revenue for the federal government before 1860 was the collection of tariffs.
Reconstruction
Lincoln assassination hurt the South after the Civil war because Radical Republicans gained
 more influence over Reconstruction policies such as the establishment of military districts – 5 in the South
Amnesty Act – pardoned former Confederates and returned the right to vote and hold public office
Johnson’s Presidency
Radical Republicans wanted to control Reconstruction
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Reconstruction Act: divided south in military districts: help stop Black Codes that regulated the lives of free blacks
Former slaves voted Republican, some elected into Congress – Hiram Revels
Civil War Amendments 13 th
, 14 th
, & 15 th
13 th
-- freed slaves, 14 th
—“Equal protection under the Law” (citizenship), 15 th
– right to vote
Civil Rights Acts 1866—passed to stop black codes and give rights to African
American’s…vetoed by Johnson but passed with Radical Republicans
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Johnson tried to limit Congressional Reconstruction by vetoing reconstruction laws passed by
Congress
Jim Crow Laws, Black Codes, Grandfather Clause
Jim Crow laws were passed by Southern States as a reaction to Radical Republicans to undermine  the 14 th
and 15 th
amendments (Violated the equal protection clause of the 15 th
Amendment)
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Blacks could not vote because of Poll Taxes, Literacy tests, and Grandfather Clause
Black Codes restricted the rights of newly freed slaves.
Sharecropping is introduced (a landowner dictated the crop and provided the sharecropper with a place to live, as well as the seeds and tools, in return for a “share” of the harvested crop
 KKK created following reconstruction, viewed as terrorist organization
Johnson Impeached: 1 st
President to be impeached
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Johnson angered Radical Republicans by vetoing Civil Rights Acts
 Congressman Thaddeus Stevens led the call to impeach Johnson after he violated the Tenure of
Office Act
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Johnson needed permission to fire cabinet members
 Johnson’s presidency was spared by one vote
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President Grant was surrounded by corruption
Compromise of 1877
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1876 election: Rutherford B. Hayes made a deal in order to defeat Tilden in the presidential election which ends Reconstruction; Republicans gained the presidency, Democrats gained
Home Rule in the South; Southern Democrats strongly supported the idea of an early end to
Military Reconstruction
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Civil War and Reconstruction were victories for the supremacy of the National Gov’t, no state has seceded since the war