History: Social Sciences

Major Ages in Europe

• Hellenistic/Greek Period: 323 BCE (death of Alexander the Great) to 64 BCE (annexation of the Greek Seleucid Empire by Rome).
• Ancient Greeks contributed to mathematics, government, philosophy, architecture, and naval technology.
• Athens was an early example of democracy due to its mountainous terrain with natural harbors, fostering sea dependence and natural protection.
• Alexander the Great spread Greek culture throughout the known world.
• Roman Period: Heavily influenced by Greece, Rome advanced military technology, political science, and architecture.
• Latin became the basis for many European languages.
• Rome transitioned from a republic to an empire after Caesar's assassination in 44 BCE.
• The Roman Republic's governmental structure served as a model for modern western societies.
• Constantine's Reign (306-337 A.D.): Legalized Christianity, which later became the Roman Empire's official religion into the Byzantine Empire, and established Constantinople (now Istanbul) as the Eastern Roman Empire's capital, a cultural hub in the Middle Ages.
• Sack of Rome (410 AD): Marked the end of classical Rome and the beginning of the Dark Ages, resulting from the degeneration of Roman power, political crises, and military decline.
• Middle Ages: Characterized by kings controlling territories, the Black Death, and the growing influence of the Church, which instigated the Crusades.
• The Church's power increased until the Reformation in the early 16th century.
• Great Schism (1054): Tensions led to Pope Leo IX excommunicating Patriarch Cerularius of Constantinople, who then excommunicated the Pope, thus splitting the Catholic Church into Western Catholic and Eastern Orthodox branches.
• Catholicism dominates Western Europe, while Orthodoxy prevails in Eastern Europe.
• The Renaissance (14th-15th Centuries): A philosophical and artistic movement with renewed interest in ancient Greece and Rome.
• Arts flourished due to increased wealth from the Crusades opening trade routes with the Arabic world.
• Exploration and Colonization (Early 15th-Early 17th Centuries): Exploration expanded from within Europe to Africa and India, and then to colonizing the Americas to increase the colonizing country's wealth through markets and resources.
• The Great Century ("Le Grand Siècle," 1638-1715): Rule of King Louis XIV, with the absolute monarchy peaking in Europe and France.
• Louis XIV, "the Sun King," focused on grandeur with the Palace of Versailles, extravagant culture, and a strengthened central government in France.
• The Enlightenment (Late 17th Century-Napoleonic Wars in 1815): Thinkers questioned beliefs, extending scientific inquiry to philosophy and politics, undermining the Church and monarchy.

Key Ancient History

• Ancient Egypt: Successful Bronze Age civilization due to natural protection by deserts and the Mediterranean, plus predictable Nile flooding.
• Notable contributions in mathematics, written language, and agricultural/military technology.
• Growth of Islam: Originated in the 7th century, with Muhammad as the last prophet of Allah (God).
• Followers adhere to the Quran, spreading Islam through caliphates, empires, and missionary work.
• Islam is the fastest-growing religion, with Muslims making up almost a quarter of the world's population.
• Ancient China: Included a farming civilization near the Yellow River and nomadic civilization in the west.
• Ruled by various dynasties, the Xia Dynasty was the oldest.
• Mongols from the north, led by Genghis Kahn, controlled China from 1279 until the Ming Dynasty.
• Ancient India (Harappan Civilization): Originated in the Indus River Valley around 6000 BCE.
• Hinduism developed around 1700 BCE, establishing the Caste System.
• Buddhism began in India but gained more popularity in Southeast Asia, Tibet, China, and Japan.
• Ancient Japan: Early inhabitants included Paleolithic people (30,000 BCE) and hunter-gatherers (14,000 BCE).
• Small kingdoms controlled farmland by 500 BCE with wet rice farming.
• Chinese influence shaped Japanese government and culture with Buddhist and Confucian philosophy.

Key American Timelines - Early History

• Early Exploration and Colonization: Spanish explorers arrived first, followed by the Dutch, French, and English.
• England sent more settlers and established the original 13 colonies along the eastern coast.
• The Spanish had success in the south, and the French in the north of America
• American Revolution: United States declared independence from Great Britain in 1776.
• France recognized America's independence after the colonists' victories near Saratoga in 1777 and supported them.
• The American War for Independence concluded with the Treaty of Paris in 1783.
• Declaration of Independence (1776): Outlined the values of the Founding Fathers and the purposes of the new American government.
• The Declaration reflected the attitude that had been building since the House of Burgesses with beliefs and causes of the Revolutionary War. It states that all men are created equal with unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and that governments derive power from the consent of the governed and that the people have the right to alter or abolish destructive government.
• Articles of Confederation (1777): The first binding agreements between the 13 colonies, it established a weak federal government that lacked power over the states and was replaced by the Constitution in 1787.
• Central government could not raise an army or collect taxes.
• US Constitution (1787): Established and empowered the United States government and influenced democratic governments worldwide.
• Implemented in 1789, after ratification by 11 of the 13 states..
• Bill of Rights (1791): The first ten amendments to the Constitution, which protect individual liberty and property rights.
• Served as a guard against government infringements on individual liberties, including suppression of speech/press, unreasonable search and seizure, and imprisonment without trial.

Key American Timelines - Land Acquisitions

• The creation of the United States' physical borders was a long process involving wars and treaties.
• Most land was acquired in the 1800s due to Manifest Destiny.
• US foreign policy was dictated by securing new lands and protecting settlers.
• Ohio River Valley: Land between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River.
• The British claimed the land from the French after the French and Indian War (1756-1763) and the claim was transferred to the United States after the Revolutionary War.
• Settlers began crossing over the Appalachians to claim farmland.
• Louisiana Purchase: The United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon in 1803, who sold the land to finance his European wars.
• The Louisiana Territory included the land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains and north of the Red River.
• Meriwether Lewis and William Clark explored the land in the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806).
• The Adams-Onís Treaty: The US purchased the region of Florida from Spain in the 1819 treaty amidst rising tensions and military skirmishes
• Spain exchanged Florida to the US for $5 million and a firm boundary between the US and New Spain.
• Treaty of 1818 and Treaty of Oregon (1846): Agreements between the US and Great Britain over the northern boundary of the United States.
• The Treaty of 1818 established the 49th parallel as the boundary between the US and Canada.
• The Treaty of Oregon finalized the agreement after a dispute over control of the Oregon Territory.
• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: Ended the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) with the US acquiring the land between modern-day Texas and California.
• The Mexican-American War and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo were influenced by Manifest Destiny.

Key American Timelines - Progressive Era

• The Progressive Era was a period of political reform and social activism that sought to use government to better society, stretching from the late 1890s into the Great Depression.
• Influenced by the Reconstruction Era aimed at combating racial prejudice and injustice.
• Citizens began to empower the government to create a better society.
• Sherman Anti-Trust Act: Passed in 1890 to create a more competitive economy.
• Prohibited means by which large companies protected themselves against competitors and also broke up large companies.
• Addressed concerns about unfair competitive advantages and exploitation by large companies, which discouraged competition and hurt consumers.
• Served as the foundation for most antitrust legislation in the United States and represented government intervention in economic matters.
• Theodore Roosevelt: 26th President of the United States (1901-1909), known for leadership of the Progressive movement, his military career, and his masculine persona.
• Believed the government should protect consumers from unethical business practices.
• Notable legislative achievements included the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act of 1906.
• He felt that the US should continue in its acquisition of overseas lands and that the exportation of American ideals was a benefit to non-US countries
• Vilified trusts and earned a reputation as a "trust buster."
• Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal: The 32nd President of the United States (1933-1945), presiding over the New Deal legislation, created government jobs, programs, and social safety nets.
• Legislation transformed the relationship between the United States government and its citizens by redefining the role of government.

Key American Timelines - Abolition Movement

• Missouri Compromise (1820): Established rules for legalizing slavery in future states.
• Maine would enter the Union as a free state, Missouri would enter as a slave state, and future states above the 36°30′ north parallel would be free states.
• Uncle Tom's Cabin: Published in 1852 by Harriet Beecher Stowe, the book detailed the evils of slavery and thrust the abolitionist movement into the worldwide spotlight.
• Historians believe it helped lay the foundations for the Civil War.
• Kansas-Nebraska Act: 1854 act that voided the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and allowed each state to decide on slavery, resulting in "Bleeding Kansas" with violent clashes between supporters and opponents.
• Created Kansas and Nebraska
• Dred Scott Decision: Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) decreed slaves were not citizens, had no rights, and were legally deemed property.
• Inflamed abolitionists and further fueled the conflict over slavery.
• The American Civil War (1861-1865): The climax of conflict between slavery supporters and opponents, decimating the economy of the Southern states.
• Reconstruction Era: The time period from 1865 to 1877 in the United States when the Southern states tried to rebuild their economy following the Civil War and the end of slavery.
• Marked by restoration of civil rights to former slaves and federal influence.
• Jim Crow Laws (1876-1965): Laws aimed at discriminating against black Americans and created a "separate but equal" classification.
• Upheld by Supreme Court rulings until the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.
• Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s: A nonviolent social movement that promoted the outlawing of racial discrimination and was largely responsible for the Civil Rights Acts of 1964, which outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin.
• Led by influential members of the black community, most notably Martin Luther King, Jr.

Key World Timelines - World War I, the Depression, World War II

• Causes of WWI: Increased nationalism, imperialism, military alliances, and militarism.
• Triggering event: assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife on June 28, 1914.
• Effects of WWI: The monarchies of Germany, Turkey, Austria-Hungary, and Russia fell.
• Led to the creation of the League of Nations and a shift in the economic balance of power.
• Lingering mistrust led to World War II.
• Causes and Effects of the Great Depression: The Great Depression began in 1929 with the US stock market crash.
• It cuased declines in output, severe unemployment, and deflation worldwide
• The US economy recovered with production for WWII.
• Causes of WWII: Rise of aggressive nationalists, appeasement policy by the League of Nations.
• Adolf Hitler invaded Poland on September 1st, 1939, beginning WWII, but the United States did not enter the war until the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7th, 1941.
• Effects of WWII: Caused over 60 million fatalities, the Allied forces formed the United Nations.
• Western Europe and Japan were rebuilt through the American Marshall Plan.
• The Soviet Union (USSR) and the United States emerged as the two world superpowers and struggled for domination over the course of the Cold War.

Key World Timelines - The Cold War

• Causes of The Cold War: Conflicting ideas between the US and the Soviet Union about organizing the postwar world.
• This conflict resulted in German division.
• The first major crisis of the Cold War arose when the Soviet Union blockaded West Berlin.
• During the Cold War, both countries threatened the use of nuclear weapons.
• Effects of The Cold War: The testing of nuclear weapons increased tensions and led to the arms race.
• The Cold War ended when the Soviet Union disbanded in 1989.

European Exploration and Colonization

• The fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453 disrupted trade routes, prompting European nations to find alternative trade routes and partners.
• This collapse led to the Age of Exploration.
• The Spanish, French, English, and Dutch were among the groups of Europeans that came to the Americans during the Age of Exploration.
• Spanish Exploration
• Originally, Spain was looking for a way to reach the East Indies.
• Columbus convinced the Spanish crown to support his search for a westward route to India by crossing the Atlantic, but landed in the modern-day Caribbean in 1492.
• Spanish colonization led to domination and subjugation in Central and South America.
• The goals for colonizing the New World were God, gold, and glory.
• Ferdinand Magellan's ship later completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth, funded by Spanish King Charles I.
• French Exploration
• The purpose was to find the Northwest Passage for trade with Asia, so French explorers, led by Jacques Cartier, began in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to explore the waterways
• The French settled in North and East Canada and along the Mississippi river, trading furs and fish
• They founded Quebec, Louisiana, and the French West Indies, and attempted to establish Fort Caroline in Florida.
• English Exploration
• They found great success colonizing the eastern seaboard despite beginning later than other European powers.
• Push factors included overpopulation, religious unrest in Britain.
• Dutch Exploration
• Founded New Amsterdam in Manhattan, NY, and other colonies in the Carribean.
• Colonized for trade, a strong naval presence to protect trade, and open borders.
• Quickly developed a massive trading empire, with a powerful navy and diverse colonies.

Effect of Europeans - Trade

• Columbian Exchange was the swap of goods and cultural practices between Europe and the Americas.
• It contributed to the expansion of slavery, shifted the economic paradigm in Europe, and expanded slavery.
• Economy of the colonies was made profitable through slavery and forced labor of trafficked African and Native peoples, created a race-based social hierarchy.
• The exchange created economic opportunities, the European subjugation of native peoples, and the destruction of indigenous people (smallpox).
• Deadly European diseases such as smallpox decimated the Native American population.
• Mercantilism was the economic belief that a country's wealth is measured by its gold reserves and that countries should export more than they import to build the wealth of the nation
• Governments and citizens of Europe intended for the colonies to serve them.
• Triagular Trade -Each world power developed its colonies, a global system of trade emerged between the Americas, Europe, and Africa
• Europeans traveled to Africa where they traded their manufactured goods and rum for enslaved African people.
• Those enslaved Africans were then sent to the Americas to work in the plantations, growing cash crops of sugar, tobacco, and (later) cotton.
• These cash crops would then be sold to Europe, where they were turned into manufactured and processed goods to then sell in Africa and the Americas.

Key Illinois Geography

• Illinois is located in the Midwest of the United States.
• The majority of the state is flat.
• The western border is the Mississippi River.
• Chicago sits on Lake Michigan in the northeast of the state.
• The majority of the population of Illinois is in and around Chicago.
• The capital is Springfield, which is centrally located.

Native Americans in Illinois

• Native Americans lived throughout Illinois thousands of years before European exploration.
• Tribes ranged from nomadic to settled communities.
• Cahokia Mounds: Remnants of a large, ancient Native American city that covered six square miles and had 120 man-made mounds.
• Served as a cultural and trade center for Southern Illinois Native Americans.
• It is a World Heritage Site, and Monks Mound is the largest prehistoric earthen structure north of Mexico.
• Illinois Confederation (Illini): A political alliance among several tribes; they lived in semi-permanent villages, were hunter-gatherers, and supported the colonists' cause during the Revolutionary War.
• The state now has their name.

European Exploration in Illinois

• The first Europeans to explore Illinois were French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet.
• The French established trade posts and missions between Quebec and New Orleans along the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers.
• These posts traded European goods for Native American goods
• Resulted in relatively good relations and the settlers wanted to trade with the local Native Americans and not take their land.

The French and Indian War and Illinois

• In 1717, the land of modern-day Illinois became a part of France's Louisiana Territory and remained a part until the end of the French and Indian War (1756-1763) when the Treaty of Paris required the French to cede all lands east of the Mississippi River to Britain.
• Britain forbade the colonists from settling the Ohio River Valley with the Proclamation of 1763.
• Taxes coupled with the requirement that colonists could not settle the Ohio River Valley, resulted in the colonists revolting against the British.

The Revolutionary War and Illinois

• During the Revolutionary War, skirmishes occurred between the colonists and British troops in Illinois.
• George Rogers Clark defeated the British at Kaskaskia and secured the Illinois territory for the United States in 1778.
• Virginia held the territory until 1784, and in 1787, the land became a part of the Northwest Territory.

Illinois Early Statehood

• In 1800, the Indiana Territory was created, which included Illinois.
• In 1818, the Illinois territory became the 21st state with Kaskaskia as the state capitol
• In 1832, Native American and Illinois citizens clashed in the Black Hawk War.
• Chicago began to flourish as a result of the states access to Lake Michigan
• 1830s Illinois winters were brutal so northern Illinois had to rely on the food provision from the southern part, resulting in southern Illinois being referred to as "Little Egypt".
• Joseph Smith founded Nauvoo in 1839 as a utopian city in Hancock County and was later mudered.

Slavery in Illinois

• Illinois was labeled a "free territory" by the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, but the slavery clause was not enforced.
• After Illinois became a state in 1818, the Northwest Ordinance no longer applied.
• Slavery was most common in the southern regions of the state and the state never officially endorsed slavery.

The Civil War and Illinois

• Illinois played an important role in the Civil War with over 250,000 men enlisting to fight.
• Training grounds near Chicago and Camp Butler served as Prisoners of War camps.
• Many leaders in the Civil War were either born in Illinois or lived in Illinois at the time of the war, including Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, John Buford, John Pope, and John Logan.

Labor Movements in Illinois

• Illinois has a long history of labor and activism.
• The Chicago Board of Trade was founded in Chicago to help farmers and merchants minimize agricultural risks.
• Illinois invested in railroads and Chicago became a transportation center due to its waterways.
• Because of the heavy reliance on manufacturing, Chicago became a focal point in many labor battles for better working conditions.
• The Haymarket affair occurred on May 4, 1886, in Haymarket Square in Chicago.
• In 1894, the Pullman Strikes began in Chicago over low wages and high rent for railroad workers.
• The publication of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair in 1906 brought attention to poor working conditions and unsanitary meatpacking practices in Chicago.

Prohibition and Illinois

• Temperance groups formed with the intent of significantly reducing or completely eliminating the consumption of alcohol in America.
• The 18th Amendment which forbade the manufacturing and sale of alcohol in the United States was passed on January 16, 1919.
• Chicago became a natural center for alcohol importation, manufacturing, and transportation.
• Alphonse Capone became the symbol for organized crime and the federal government convicted Al Capone on the charge of tax evasion.
• The 21st Amendment was ratified on January 23, 1933, repealed Prohibition.

Illinois: World War II – Present

• Illinois played a prominent role in nuclear research during World War II.
• Illinois has the largest amount of nuclear power generated in the United States today with eleven active nuclear power plants.
• Demand by the US government for manufactured goods gave Chicago a significant economic boost during WWII.

Other Key Dates in Illinois History

• 1825 - Opening of the Erie Canal in New York, which made the Great Lakes more useful for trade.
• 1858 - The Lincoln-Douglas Debates occur.
• 1871 - The Great Chicago Fire destroyed over 18,000 buildings.
• 1900 - The canal construction is completed, reversing the order of the Chicago River.
• 1908 - A race riot in Springfield, Illinois spurred the creation of the NAACP.
• 1968 - The democratic convention occurs in Chicago. Anti-war protestors are met with police forces and riots break out.
• 1974 - The Sears Tower, the tallest building at the time, is completed in downtown Chicago.
• 2008 - Illinois Senator Barack Obama elected president