North American History: Native Americans and Colonization

Native American Tribes and Colonization

• The Iroquois Confederacy was considered the most organized Native American tribe at the time of European contact.
• The "Three sister" farming method led to growth in population for groups like the Creek, Choctaw, and Cherokee in the southeastern parts of North America.

European Colonization of North America

• The Big 4 Maritime Powers that eventually colonized North America were Spain, England, France, and Netherlands.
• The first permanent colony in what would become the United States was Jamestown, Virginia.
• The Navigation Acts of 1660 and 1663 forced the colonists to trade only with England and made them use only English ships to transport their goods.

Impact of European Colonization on Native Americans

• Disease was the biggest disrupter of Native American life.
• The Iroquois Confederacy hindered French expansion into the Ohio River Valley.

American Revolution

• Mercantilism is the economic theory that a nation attains power through wealth and trade.
• The Congregationalists and the Presbyterians were the two denominations that tended to support revolutionary ideas the most.
• The Proclamation of 1763 prohibited Anglo-American colonists from settling on lands acquired from the French following the French and Indian War, which angered colonists.
• The Intolerable Acts were passed to raise money to cover debts incurred in the Seven Years’ War and to reassert authority over the North American colonies.
• Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense promoted independence and made a clear case for it.
• The Declaration of Independence established the rights to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

American Independence and Expansion

• The Battle of Saratoga was a key victory for the Americans, which lifted patriot morale, furthered the hope for independence, and helped to secure foreign support needed to win the war.
• The Louisiana Purchase covered 828,000 square miles and cost the US 15 million dollars.
• The Missouri Compromise admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a non-slave state at the same time.

Slavery and Conflict

• The Three-fifths compromise was a key provision in the US Constitution that addressed the North-South controversy over slavery.
• Tecumseh's Confederacy was a Native American alliance that tried to push back the Americans.
• The west and the south were the most insistent regions demanding a declaration of war against the British by 1811.
• The Cherokee strategy for dealing with white encroachment was to settle in each territory and vote on the issue of whether to permit slavery or not.
• Harriet Beecher Stowe's book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” highlighted the evils of slavery, angered the slaveholding South, and inspired pro-slavery copy-cat works in defense of the institution of slavery.