US History: The Revolutionary Era

• US History STAAR Guide for Social Studies, Exit Level STAAR

The Revolutionary Era

• George Washington commanded the Continental Army and was the 1st President of the United States.
• Thomas Jefferson authored the Declaration of Independence and was the 3rd President.
• Benjamin Rush was an American physician, political leader, and signer of the Declaration of Independence.
• John Hancock was an American Revolutionary leader and first signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.
• John Jay was a Founding Father who served the new nation in law and diplomacy.
• John Jay established judicial precedents and negotiated the Jay Treaty of 1794.
• John Witherspoon was a Scottish-American Presbyterian minister and the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence.
• John Muhlenberg was a Lutheran minister and general in the Continental Army.
• John Muhlenberg commanded the infantry at the battle of Yorktown.
• Charles Carroll was an American patriot leader, the longest-surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, and the only Roman Catholic to sign it.
• Jonathan Trumball, Sr. was one of the few Americans who served as governor in both a pre-Revolutionary colony and a post-Revolutionary state.
• During the American Revolution he was the only colonial governor who supported the American side.
• The Declaration of Independence lists grievances against King George III and justifies the colonies breaking away from England.
• Unalienable rights are rights that cannot be taken away: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Causes of the Revolution

• The British taxed the colonies for revenue to pay for the French and Indian War.
• "No taxation without Representation!" was a slogan as Colonists resented being taxed without having a voice in Parliament.
• Tax acts included the Stamp Act, Sugar Act, and Tea Act.
• The Boston Massacre was a key event.
• The Intolerable Acts were important.
• Loyalists were Americans who supported Great Britain during the revolution.
• Patriots were Americans who favored independence from Great Britain during the revolution.

The United States Constitution

• Magna Carta (1215) limited the king's powers and provided trial by jury.
• The English Bill of Rights (1687) influenced the Constitution via forbidding punishment, granting right to bear arms, requiring legislative approval for laws, and legislative branch approval for taxes.
• The Declaration of Independence (1776) grievances are addressed in the Bill of Rights.
• The Declaration of Independence also lists the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
• The Federalist Papers (1787-1788) essays were written to encourage ratification of the Constitution, by authors including Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison.

Replacing the Articles of Confederation

• The Articles of Confederation (1781) was the first form of government established by the thirteen states.
• The Articles of Confederation was replaced by the U.S. Constitution because it had a weak central government.
• Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation included no executive branch to enforce laws.
• Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation included that Congress could not collect taxes.
• Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation included no national court system.
• Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation included that each state had only one vote in Congress, regardless of population.

Constitution Facts

• 1787 - Delegates from the thirteen states drafted the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia.
• The Preamble is the introduction of the Constitution, and states its purpose.
• Ratification of the constitution required formal approval to go into effect, 9 out of 13 states had to ratify.

Principles of the U.S. Constitution

• Separation of Powers divides the powers of the government into three branches, including Legislative, Executive, and Judicial.
• Legislative Branch makes the laws.
• Executive Branch executes the laws.
• Judicial Branch interprets the laws.
• Federalism is where Power is shared between the states and national government.
• Republicanism is A system where people vote for elected representatives to run the government.
• Checks and Balances makes sure no branch of government becomes too powerful.
• The President can veto a bill and Congress has the power to override the veto.
• Limited Government is the restriction of power of the government by the U.S. Constitution.
• "No one is above the law."
• Popular Sovereignty provides the people hold supreme power, as addressed in the preamble..."We the people..."

The Bill of Rights

• The Bill of Rights are the first ten amendments of the Constitution
• The purpose is to protect individual rights and liberties.
• The Bill of Rights was necessary in order for some states to ratify the Constitution.
• 1st Amendment: Freedom of speech, religion, and press; right to assemble; right to petition.
• 2nd Amendment: Right to bear arms.
• 3rd Amendment: No quartering of soldiers during peace time.
• 4th Amendment: No unlawful search and seizure.
• 5th Amendment: No double jeopardy; cannot be compelled to be a witness against himself.
• 6th Amendment: The right to a fast and public trial.
• 7th Amendment: Trial by jury.
• 8th Amendment: No cruel or unusual punishment.
• 9th Amendment: Rights reserved to the people.
• 10th Amendment: Powers reserved to the states.

Westward Expansion

• Manifest Destiny was the belief that the United States should stretch from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans; land acquisition through the 1860s.
• Texas (1845) joined the US as the 28th state.
• Mexican Cession (1848) of California and New Mexico was sold to US for $15 million after the Mexican War.
• Utah Territory (1850) was established as a territory; Brigham Young becomes governor.
• Gadsden Purchase (1853) was bought from Mexico for $10 million
• Oregon Territory (1859) becomes the 33rd state

Railroads

• Railroads encouraged settlement in the West.
• Railroads created thousands of new jobs.
• The Transcontinental Railroad completed in 1869 connected the U.S. east and west coasts by railway.
• California Gold Rush (1849) had over 40,000 people migrate from the East to "strike it rich."
• The Great Plains are the grassland of Central North America that extends from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains.
• The Homestead Act (1862) was a law that provided 160 acres to anyone who was willing to settle land in the West.
• Exodusters were African Americans who migrated to Kansas after Reconstruction.
• Cattle Drives: As demand for beef increased, cowboys drove herds of cattle along cattle trails to be shipped to the East by railroad.

Technology on the Great Plains

• Soddy was a house built of mud and grass because of a lack of wood.
• Barbed wire was used to fence in land eventually leading to the end of the open frontier.
• Windmill allowed dry-land farming by bringing up underground water to irrigate crops.
• Steel Plow was used to break up soil to allow the planting of crops and made farming more efficient.

Native Americans and A Way of Life

• Buffalo was relied on by the Great Plains Indians for survival.
• When the buffalo was killed off, so was the lifestyle of the Plains Indians.
• Reservations were plots of land given to Native Americans to live on as white settlers moved West.
• Dawes Act : U.S. law that attempted to assimilate Indians by giving them individual plots of land.
• Battle of Wounded Knee: U.S. soldiers massacred 300 unarmed Native Americans in 1890, ending the Indian Wars.

The Gilded Age

• Andrew Carnegie controlled most of the Steel industry.
• He was also known as a "Captain of Industry" and a "robber baron.".
• His Gospel of Wealth was about the role of industrialists.
• John Rockefeller owned Standard Oil and Controlled 90% of the oil industry in the late 1800's by making Standard Oil a trust.
• Monopolies happen when one company controls the supply of a product or service.
• Trusts: Small companies join together to form one large company, usually as a monopoly.

Reactions to Big Business

• Sherman Antitrust Act outlawed business monopolies.
• Labor Unions: Organizations that protected the interests of the worker.
• Labor unions dealt with the dangerous working conditions and long working hours that workers were faced with.
• Labor unions helped end child labor practices.
• Famous labor unions include the Knights of Labor and American Federation of Labor (AFL).
• Labor unions helped organize strikes to protest the injustices of the workplace.
• Industrialization is the rise of a manufacturing economy and decline of an agricultural economy.
• Urbanization is the large growth of cities.
• Urbanization caused a large range of urban problems including sanitation, transportation, and crowded living conditions.
• Jane Addams founded Chicago's Hull House and campaigned for feminists and child labor reform.
• Settlement houses were community centers that helped immigrants address the problems of squalid living conditions, disease, illiteracy, and unemployment.
• Social Gospel was a movement applying Christian ethics to social issues, particularily issues of social justice.
• Chinese Exclusion Act banned Chinese immigration to U.S. beginning in 1882 and was lifted in 1943.
• Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 was designed to regulate the railroads and their monopolistic ways of doing business.
• Federal Reserve Act of 1913 created and set up the Federal Reserve System and granted it the legal authority to issue Federal Reserve Notes now commonly known as the U.S. Dollar.

Politics During the Gilded Age

• Political machines were corrupt organized groups that controlled political parties in the cities, led by a political boss.
• The Tweed Ring Scandal was a Political scandal involving William Tweed and the Tammany Hall political machine in New York City.
• Political cartoons by Thomas Nast helped raise awareness of political corruption.
• Civil Service Reform laws passed in the 1870s and 1880s began to require government workers to take tests to work for the government and began replacing the "spoils system".

Why Do People Move?

• About 20 million European immigrants arrived in the U.S. between 1870 and 1920.
• Before 1890, most immigrants came from Western and Northern Europe, known as the "Old Immigrants."
• An increase of Southern and Eastern immigrants occurred after 1890, known as the "New Immigrants," and their arrival increased social tension.
• 300,000 Chinese immigrants arrived between 1851 and 1883.
• Tenements were apartments built in city slums to house large numbers of people.
• Many immigrants were forced to live in tenements in "slum" neighborhoods.
• Child Labor was a major problem during the Gilded Age.
• Sweat shops were small factories where workers work many hours in bad conditions for little pay, and immigrants (and children) were considered cheap labor.
• Populism: The movement of the people, born with the founding of the Populist Party in 1892, their leader was William Jennings Bryan.
• The Farm Crisis (1880s-1890s) was when farmers had overfarmed their land, were being overcharged to ship products and were deep in debt, leading to support of Populist Party.
• Frances Willard was an American educator, temperance reformer and women's suffragist.

The Progressive Era

• Goals of Progressivism were to protect social welfare, create economic reform, and political reform of government.
• Muckraker - Reporters and writers who exposed government corruption and the abuses of big business.
• Suffrage means the right to vote.

Important Legislation During the Progressive Era

• 16th Amendment established the federal income tax.
• 17th Amendment was the direct election of U.S. Senators, made the government more responsive to the people.
• 18th Amendment was the prohibition of alcohol.
• 19th Amendment was the right to vote for women.
• Initiative is a procedure by which citizens can propose a law to be placed on a ballot.
• Referendum is a vote on an initiative.
• Recall is a procedure by which a public official may be removed/recalled from office by popular vote.
• Ida B. Wells was an African American journalist who led an anti-lynching crusade in the United States in the 1890s.
• Theodore Roosevelt's was a Trustbuster, attempting to reform big business by breaking up trusts.
• Conservation was the preservation of wilderness areas.
• The Meat Inspection Act regulated the preparation of foods and the sale of medicines.
• Bull Moose Party was Roosevelt's political party in the election of 1912, running as a third-party candidate.
• Susan B. Anthony was the leader of the women's suffrage movement.
• W.E.B. Du Bois advocated for equality for African-Americans and early civil rights leader and founder of the NAACP
• Eugene V. Debs was a Labor leader who attempted to form a labor union, also running for President under the Socialist Party, achieving approx. 6% of the vote.
• Upton Sinclair authored The Jungle, a book that describes the terrible conditions of meat-packing plants and the struggles immigrants faced.
• Sinclair's novel led to the Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act.
• Woodrow Wilson was the last President of the Progressive Era.
• Wilson passed the Clayton Antitrust Act which continued to crack down on monopolies.

Expansionism

• Expansionsim refers to the doctrine of a state expanding base by means of military aggression.
• Alaska (1867) was purchased from Russia in 1867 and was known as "Seward's Folly".
• Hawaii (1898): Queen Liliuokalani was removed from power and Hawaii was annexed to the United States.
• Sanford B. Dole served as President, Territorial Governor, and a US District Judge after the monarchy ends.

Spanish American War (1898)

• Spanish cruelty: Spain's military abused power and mistreated Cubans.
• Yellow Journalism, exaggerated news to get a reaction.
• De Lome Letter intercepted from a Spanish ambassador criticizing President McKinley.
• U.S.S. Maine warship which exploded in Havana Harbor leading the US to blame the Spanish and declare war.

Spanish-American War Results

• Spain loses most of its empire
• The Platt Amendment allows the U.S. to control Cuba
• The U.S. acquired the territories of the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico, increasing its strength as a world power
• Open Door Policy ensured that the U.S. could trade with China
• Teddy Roosevelt and Expansionism
• Rough Riders were a Volunteer cavalry unit led by Teddy Roosevelt that gained fame at the battle of San Juan Hill.
• Roosevelt Corollary - Teddy Roosevelt declared that the U.S. would act as an international police power in Latin America
• Panama Canal is a man-made waterway that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, which Roosevelt began construction of when he was President in 1904.

World War I (1914-1918)

• Militarism: Nations built large armies to help them secure their empires.
• Alliances: European nations signed secret treaties with each other that created a system of alliances.
• Imperialism was when European countries sought to create empires.
• Nationalism was the Strong feelings of pride for one's country.
• The start of World War I was in 1914 in Europe.
• The U.S. entered WWI on the Allied side in 1917.
• The Allies eventually won in 1918 when Germany surrendered.
• Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria Hungary was assassinated by a Serbian in 1914, one of the causes of World War I.
• Woodrow Wilson sought to fight the war "to make the world safe for Democracy."
• Gen. John Pershing commanded the American Expeditionary Forces, helped end the stalemate and led the Allies to Victory.
• Henry Cabot Lodge opposed the League of Nations.

WWI Allied Powers

• Great Britain
• France
• The United States
• Russia
• Serbia

WWI Central Powers

• Germany
• Austria-Hungary
• The Ottoman Empire
• Bulgaria

Reasons for U.S. Involvement in WWI

• Close Ties with the Allies where Americans and British spoke the same language and shared a notion of democracy.
• Unrestricted Submarine Warfare which was the German policy of sinking any ships in the water
• The Lusitania was a British passenger ship that was destroyed by a German submarine, killing 128 Americans.
• Zimmerman Note was when Germany sent a telegram to Mexico proposing an alliance if the United States entered and promising the return of land.
• Trench Warfare caused Opposing sides attack from ditches.
• Stalemate happens when a situation where neither side gain an advantage in combat.
• The Battle of Argonne Forest was the final allied offensive of WWI.
• Wilson's Fourteen Points - Woodrow Wilson's proposal for peace after WWI, which called for freedom of the seas, ending secret treaties, and a League of Nations.
• A League of Nations was formed to solve disputes between countries.
• The United States did not join due to fears of being pulled into another international war.
• The Treaty of Versailles ended WWI blaming Germany for WWI and imposing harsh punishment which helped lead to the rise of Adolf Hitler.
• Alvin York received the Medal of Honor.

The Roaring Twenties

• Henry Ford created the Model T using the assembly line to speed up production.
• William Jennings Bryan was the prosecutor in the Scopes Trial for creationism.
• Clarence Darrow defended Scopes and argued that evolution should be taught.
• Charles Lindbergh made the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
• Glenn Curtiss was a pioneer aviator and manufacturer.
• Marcus Garvey organized the first important American black nationalist movement.

Political Issues during the Roaring Twenties

• The Red Scare had people fearing that Communists would take over.
• The Teapot Dome Scandal happened during Warren G. Harding's Presidency.

The Economy During the Roaring Twenties

• Government policies reduced interference in business
• The growth and use of the automobile industry increased.
• Efficient production techniques such as the assembly line created mass consumerism.
• Overconfidence of American consumers led to the widespread use of credit.
• Flappers embraced urban attitudes and fashions
• 18th Amendment - Prohibition of alcohol increased organized crime
• 21st Amendment repealed prohibition.

Roaring 20s Theories

• Social Darwinism theory of societies applying Darwinian evolution to sociology and politics.
• Eugenics advocated practices aimed at improving genetic composition of humans.
• Nativism favored established inhabitants over newcomers.

1920's Culture

• Term Jazz Age defined the era.
• Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington were Jazz composers.
• The Great Migration mass migration of African-Americans to Northern cities from 1910-1930.
• The Harlem Renaissance was a Period of African-American cultural creativity.
• American Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 granted citizenship.

The Great Depression, 1929-1940

• Decline in agricultural prices and an Unequal distribution of income.
• Overproduction of consume goods combined with Consumer overconfidence to cause buying on credit
• Buying up stocks and Bank failures.
• The Stock Market Crash in 1929.
• President Herbert Hoover was criticized for allowing the Depression to deepen.
• Franklin D. Roosevelt implemented the New Deal.
• FDR gave fireside chats on the radio.
• Eleanor Roosevelt - First Lady and supporter of FDR's New Deal and WWII policies championing civil rights for women and minorities.
• Unemployment rose to 25% during the Great Depression.
• "Hoovervilles" appeared outside of the cities.
• Bread lines and soup kitchens were created in order to feed the unemployed.
• The Dust Bowl area of the Great Plains had heavy droughts, forcing residents to relocate.
• John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath describes the hardships of The Great Depression.
• The government sought to fight the Great Depression with Roosevelt's New Deal including the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) which attempted to raise crop prices by lowering production.
• Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) gave jobs to young planting trees , fought forrest fires and built public parks.
• Works Progress Administration (WPA) – Created jobs by hiring writers and artists. FDIC was Created for Providing insurance for people's bank accounts.
• SEC regulate the stock market.
• Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) – Program that built dams in order to control flooding and provide electric power.
• The Social Security Act provided aid to the disabled and old age pensions.

World War II (1941-1945)

• 1939 Adolf Hitler invades Poland marking the Begin of WWII.
• 1941-Japan attacks Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii.
• 1945- Germany is defeated to end the war in Europe.
• Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed in an effort to end the war.
• Franklin D. Roosevelt was President who Declared war on Japan.
• Harry Truman made the decision to use the atomic bomb on Japan.
• Dwight Eisenhower was in charge of Normandy.
• Douglas MacArthur was in charge on the Pacific Ocean.
• Omar Bradley led the U.S. 1st Army during the Invasion of Normandy.
• George Marshall was responsible for the Marshall Plan.
• Chester Nimitz was the commander for the Pacific Fleet.

Allied and Axis Powers

• Allied Powers were Great Britain, France, United States, and Soviet Union
• Axis Powers were Germany, Italy, and Japan
• The Rise of the dictator.
• Germany invades Poland.

The War in the Pacific

• Pearl Harbor: On December, Japan attacked the U.S naval base in Pearl Harbor.
• Battle of Midway: The turning point war in the Pacific.
• Island-hopping: The U.S. strategy used to reach Japan by taking island at time.
• Hiroshima and Nagasaki where were locations atomic bombs.
• Bataan Death March: The imperial Japanes Army transferred 76000 Americans and Philipino prisoners of war.
• The Flying Tigers: The were called "The 1st American Volunteer".
• Navajo Code Talkers: Were Young Navajo.
• The Holocaust was the Murder of 6 million Jew and others
• Two-front war- When Germany fought British and American troops from the East
• Dwight D. Eisenhower lead attack on. German Airmen- black servicemen of the US The United States ended Great Depression
• Rationing- Wartime restriction of items used by the public.
• Internment of Japanese-Americans- Victory-Vegetable, herb gardens planted at private residences and public park
• We Can Do It!
• US Office of War for Japanese for the duration

Post-War America

• GI Bill- The Laws gave military financial educational.
• Taft-hartley act- Law passed the 1947
• Suburbs- The first major city
• The baby- The period from the end of the World War II through

Life and The Cold War was when Competition was U.S and U.S.S.R for supremacy.

John F. Kennedy- Kennedy and Richard Nixon

• Peace Corps- Volunteer program that helped developing nations. -New Frontier-kennedy program that addressed problems that society

• NASA United agency that sent Americans to outerspace

• Harry Truman-The laws that gave military

• Lift- The laws passed that gave them education

• interstate highway- 55

• Johnsons Rights

1. Made discrimination race

• 3. voting that eliminated test for voters
• Nixo was when people didn't partitape in antisore.
• Gave citizens 8 years.

Cold War Tension

• Containment was The key for to prevent the communism other nations.

• United Nations - Serve peacekeeping in wars conflict.

• Thruman doctrine - Given to help.

• The was propose was the George marshal for western world.

After there was a Korean war where After divided b/w the war

The house committee was used to to invested the committee.

• Ameriforeigns were accused communism
• Nuclear weapon - Us success for the bomb