Study Guide
1st Semester Exam -American History

American History Honors Study Guide

1st Semester Exam
Mr. Peters

***Do not print this version. Use the printer friendly version instead***

  • Review Chapters 1-12 in your textbook
  • Know chronologically the following wars along with the appropriate causes & effects: Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican-American War, Civil War, and French and Indian War
  • French & Indian War - (cause) Conflicting claim over the Ohio River Valley (effect) British began to impose heavy tax burdens on the colonists
  • Revolutionary War - (cause) Taxation without representation (effect) the winning of U.S. independence
  • War of 1812 - (cause) Impressments of American seamen (effect) surge of nationalism in U.S. & U.S. gains worldwide recognition as a major power.
  • Mexican-American War - (cause) Annexation of the state of Texas (effect) added a great amount of land to the southwestern portion of the U.S.
  • Civil War - (cause) States' rights vs. federal supremacy (effect) created sectional wounds that have never healed/ended slavery

    Facts you should already know
  • The Vikings were the first Europeans to reach the Americas
  • Columbus reached the new world in 1492.
  • After his first voyage, Christopher Columbus believed he had sailed to the outskirts of the East Indies off the coast of Asia
  • European contact with Native Americans led to the Deaths of millions of Native Americans, who had little resistance to European diseases
  • The treatment of the Native Americans by the Spanish conquistadors can be described as at times harsh and brutal
  • Even though Columbus was Italian, he claimed the territory he discovered for Spain
  • Thousands of English settlers came to Virginia lured by the profits from tobacco & promise of free land
  • The Puritans who came to America came primarily to gain freedom to follow Puritan religious beliefs
  • The proportion of African Americans was higher in the Southern colonies because slave labor proved profitable on plantations
  • Unlike the Europeans' view of land ownership, Native Americans believed that land was shared with all members of the group.
  • The Indians fought MAINLY on the side of the French in the French & Indian War because the French were less of a threat to their way of life than the British.
  • After the French and Indian War, the British government felt justified in imposing additional revenue-making policies on the colonists because the colonists were protected by the British
  • The Proclamation of 1763 prohibited colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains
  • The Boston Massacre was made a bigger deal than it really was by the Sons of Liberty
  • The British response to the Boston Tea Party included the passage of the Coercive Acts (nicknamed Intolerable Acts)
  • The statement that "all men are created equal" is found in the part of the Declaration of Independence called the preamble
  • One purpose of the Declaration of Independence was to explain to the rest of the world why the colonies had revolted
  • Those Americans who opposed independence for the colonies were labeled Loyalists, and those in favor, Patriots.
  • The British attempted to enlist slaves in Virginia by promising to free any enslaved person who joined the British army
  • The government under the Articles of Confederation proved too weak to operate effectively partly because it could not raise any money through taxes.
  • According to the Great Compromise, state representation in the upper house of Congress would be based on equal representation
  • The dispute that nearly broke up the Constitutional Convention was over representation in Congress
  • The views of the Anti-Federalists included the argument that the central government had too much power
  • During the struggle for ratification of the Constitution, Thomas Jefferson was an Anti-Federalist
  • The Federalists promised that if the Constitution were ratified, amendments would be made to provide for individual rights
  • The first 10 amendments to the US Constitution are known as the Bill of Rights
  • According to the U.S. Constitution, the President must be at least 35 yrs old & a natural-born citizen
  • The Executive Branch is responsible for enforcing the laws, Legislative Branch for making the laws, Judicial Branch for interrupting the laws
  • The Senate has the sole right to try cases of impeachment
  • Congress can override a veto by the President by a 2/3 vote in both houses.
  • There are presently nine justices on the Supreme Court. They get their positions by presidential appointment and senate confirmation and remain in the position for life.
  • All 13 states were required for ratification of the Articles of Confederation but only 9 of the 13 states were required for ratification of the Constitution.
  • One precedent set by Presdient Washington was the creation of a cabinet
  • In his Farewell Address, Washington advised the U.S. to adhere to a foreign policy of isolationism & warned about the dangers of political parties.
  • President John Adams' difficulties in office were largely a result of his loose interpretation of the Constitution (Alien & Sedition Act)
  • Thomas Jefferson won the election of 1800 by one vote after numerous votes in the House of Representatives to break the tie in the Electoral College. Had he lost in the House his VP Aaron Burr would have been president. This defect in the Constitution was fixed by the 12th Amendment.
  • Adherence to a strict interpretation of the Constitution would have prevented President Thomas Jefferson from making the Louisiana Purchase
  • President Thomas Jefferson used the implied powers of the Constitution when he purchased the Louisiana Territory
  • The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the nation.
  • President Jefferson commissioned the Lewis & Clark expedition in order to explore the new American lands west of the Mississippi River
  • France was primarily motivated to sell the Louisiana Territory to the US because they needed money for Napoleon's armies
  • The primary reason for the US entry into the War of 1812 was British impressments of American sailors.
  • During the War of 1812, the British expedition against Washington, D.C. succeeded in the destruction of most public buildings in that city.
  • General Andrew Jackson's victory at the Battle of New Orleans occurred after the War of 1812 was already over.
  • One of the results of the War of 1812 was an increase in nationalism in the United States
  • The Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812, resulted in a cease-fire between the British and the Americans
  • President James Monroe was a Virginian, Democratic-Republican, two term president who helped establish vast transportation improvement
  • The Monroe Doctrine declared that the United States would view European interference in the Americas as a threat to the national interest of the United States.
  • From 1800 to 1865, the issues of States rights, the tariff, and slavery led most directly to the growth of sectionalism.
  • In early 19th century America, the plantation system was an important feature in the South
  • One reason the plantation system developed in the southeastern section of the United States was that the climate and topography supported crops that required a large labor supply.
  • The Missouri Compromise of 1820, the Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act attempted to solve was the extension of slavery into the western territories
  • Slave labor was made more profitable throughout the South with the invention of the cotton gin.
  • The greatest attraction for the settlement of the Northwest was the large number of factory jobs
  • Andrew Jackson was the first: Democrat elected president, "common man" elected president, elected from the West.
  • Jacksonian democracy may be described as an effort to make government more directly responsible to popular will
  • The Whig Party was formed in opposition to Andrew Jackson and his policies.
  • Jackson's Native American removal policies were condemned by congress and the Supreme Court.
  • Jackson's practice of rewarding friends and faithful supporters with government jobs was known as the spoils system
  • In the Oregon treaty with Great Britain in 1846, the northern boundary of the U.S. was established on the 49th parallel, despite earlier calls for "54'40 for fight"
  • Manifest Destiny refers to the idea that God had ordained the westward expansion of the U. S. across the continent
  • The principal points of the Dred Scott decision included slaves could not be considered citizens
  • Popular sovereignty was that the people in a territory should determine whether slavery was to be allowed in that territory
  • California's desire for admission to the Union as a free state created a crisis because it would give the free states a majority in the Senate
  • The years of United States' acquisition of the following areas: Louisiana (1803), Texas (1845), California (1850)
  • There were MANY causes for the Civil War
  • The purpose of John Brown's raid was to arm the slaves in the area so they could revolt against their owners.
  • Popular sovereignty caused an outbreak of hostilities between pro and anti-slavery forces in "bleeding Kansas"
  • An important part of the Union strategy during the Civil War was to seize Richmond
  • The military turning point for the Union came in the summer of 1863 with victory at Antietam
  • In order to convince the border states to remain in the Union, President Lincoln relied solely on moral appeals
  • The main event that caused the Deep South to secede was the successful attack and capture of Ft. Sumter
  • Lincoln did not issue the Emancipation Proclamation until General Lee's defeat at Antietam
  • The Union's military strategy changed under Generals Grant and Sherman with their belief in "total war.
  • Capturing Vicksburg was an important objective for the North because it was the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River and its capture would cut the South in two.
  • The Battle of Gettysburg is considered the turning point of the Civil War
  • Sherman's March is best known for deliberately turning warfare against civilian homes and property in the South.
  • General Robert E Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, VA
  • Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves in the rebellious southern states only
  • The Compromise of 1877 resulted in the end of the Reconstruction period
  • Tenant farmers worked an owner's land and received a portion of the crops in return while sharecroppers rented land and grew crops for their own profit.
  • Frederick Douglas, leading abolitionist during the Civil War, focused on organizing black protests for suffrage.
  • White southern Union sympathizers were known as scalawags and Northerners who moved south after the Civil War were called carpetbaggers.

 

.