U.S. History “American Top

40”What every student should know to pass the U.S. History

Midterm.Goal 1

Goal 1: The New Nation (1789-1820)

• The learner will identify, investigate, and assess the effectiveness of the institutions of the emerging republic.

Suffrage during the Federalist Era

• Who could vote?• White males who

owned property.

• Who could not vote?

• White males who did not own property

• Women• African-Americans• Native Americans

Whiskey Rebellion, 1794• Farmers in

Pennsylvania rebelled against Hamilton's excise tax on whiskey. The army put down the rebellion.

• The incident showed that the power of the new government

Washington’s Farewell Address, 1796

• Would not seek a third term• Warned against competing political

parties• Warned against complicated

alliances with other countries• Warned against debt

Development of the two-party system

• Democratic Republicans

• Led by Thomas Jefferson

• Thought states should have more power

• Wanted to base economy on farming

• Were pro-French• Supported a strict

interpretation of the Constitution

• Federalists • Led by Alexander

Hamilton• Favored a strong

central government• Wanted to base

economy on industry and trade

• Were pro-British• Supported a loose

interpretation of the Constitution

XYZ Affair, 1797• Delegates were sent to France to

meet with French foreign minister Talleyrand.

• The American delegates were told they could meet with Talleyrand only in exchange for a large bribe. They did not pay the bribe.

• Increased tension between US and France

Alien & Sedition Acts, 1798• Laws designed by Federalists to limit the power

of the Democrat-Republicans• Make it harder for Immigrants to become

citizens• The Sedition Act made it illegal to publish

defamatory statements about the federal government. It was an attempt to silence opposition.

• The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which established the concept of "nullification" of federal laws were written in response to the Acts.

Marbury v. Madison, 1803• The case arose out of

Jefferson's refusal to deliver the commissions to the judges appointed by Adams' Midnight Appointments.

• This case established the Supreme Court's right to judicial review.

Louisiana Purchase, 1803• The U.S. purchased the land from the

Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains from France for $15 million.

• Jefferson was interested in the territory because it was valuable for trade and shipping and provided room to expand.

• The Constitution did not give the federal government the power to buy land, so Jefferson used loose interpretation to justify the purchase.

Goal 2: Expansion and Reform (1801-1850)

• The learner will assess the competing forces of expansionism, nationalism, and sectionalism.

Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin

• 1798 - The cotton gin was a machine which could separate cotton from its seeds. Whitney’s invention made cotton a profitable crop. It also reinforced slavery in the economy of the South.

Missouri Compromise, 1820• Admitted Missouri

as a slave state and Maine as a free state.

• Declared that all territory north of 36°30" would become free states, and all territory south of that latitude would become slave states.

Monroe Doctrine, 1823• Declared that Europe should not

interfere in the Western Hemisphere and any interference by a European power would be seen as a threat to the U.S.

• Mostly just a show of nationalism, the doctrine had no major impact until the late 1800s.

Tariff of Abominations• Tariff of 1828 raised the tariff on

imported manufactured goods. It protected the North but harmed the South; South said that the tariff was unconstitutional because it violated state's rights.

Indian Removal, 1838-1839• During the winter, troops evicted

the Cherokee tribe from their homes in Georgia and moved them to Oklahoma. Many died on the trail. The journey became known as the "Trail of Tears".

Hudson River School of Art• In the 1820s, a group of American

painters, painted landscapes. Showed nationalism.

Nativism• An anti-foreign feeling that arose

in the 1840's and 1850's in response to the influx of Irish and German Catholics.

Henry Clay• Clay helped heal the

North/South rift by aiding passage of the Compromise of 1850, which served to delay the Civil War.

• Also proposed American System, to unite the nation

Goal 3: Crisis, Civil War and Reconstruction (1848-1877)

• The learner will analyze the issues that led to the Civil War, the effects of the war, and the impact of Reconstruction on the nation.

Compromise of 1850• Admitted California as a free state• Organized Utah and N.M. without restrictions on

slavery • Adjusted the Texas/N.M. border• Abolished slave trade in D.C. • Established tougher fugitive slave laws. • Its passage was hailed as a solution to the threat

of national division.

Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854• This act repealed the Missouri

Compromise. Popular sovereignty (vote of the people) would determine whether Kansas and Nebraska would be slave or free states.

Dred Scott v. Sanford, 1857

• A Missouri slave sued for his freedom, claiming that his four year stay in free land had made him a free man.

• The U.S. Supreme Court decided he could not sue in federal court because he was property, not a citizen.

Causes of Secession, 1860• After Lincoln was elected, seven

Southern states seceded. They cited as their reason for seceding the election of a President “whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery.”

Emancipation Proclamation, 1862

• Lincoln freed all slaves in states that had seceded.

• Lincoln had no power to enforce the law.

Battle of Gettysburg, 1863

• 90,000 soldiers under Meade vs. 76,000 under Lee, lasted three days and the North won.

• Considered a turning point of the Civil War.

Civil War Amendments• 13th - Freed all slaves, abolished slavery. • 14th - It granted full citizenship to all

native-born or naturalized Americans, including former slaves and immigrants. No state shall deny a person life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

• 15th - No one could be denied the right to vote on account of race, color or having been a slave. It was to prevent states from amending their constitutions to deny black suffrage.

Reconstruction Plans• Presidential

Plans• Lincoln offered the

“Ten Percent Plan.”

• Johnson’s plan was similar to Lincoln’s, but required wealthy planters to request pardons and did not support voting rights for African-Americans.

• Congressional Plan

• “Radical Republicans” passed the Wade-Davis Bill. Lincoln pocket vetoed the bill.– Thaddeus

Stevens• Established

Freedmen’s Bureau and passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866.

Civil Rights Act of 1866• Prohibited abridgement of rights of

blacks or any other citizens.

Compromise of 1877• Hayes (becomes president)

promised to show concern for Southern interests and end Reconstruction in exchange for the Democrats accepting the fraudulent election results. He took Union troops out of the South.

Goal 4: The Great West and the Rise of the Debtor (1860-1896)

• The learner will evaluate the great westward movement and assess the impact of the agricultural revolution on the nation.

Motivation for Westward Movement

• Government Incentives

• Pacific Railway Acts• Morrill Land-

Grant Act• Homestead Act

• Private Property• Miners• Cattle ranchers• Farmers

Challenges of Westward Movement

• Lack of resources; wood and water• Severe weather, bugs, floods, prairie

fires, dust storms, drought• Conflicts with Native Americans

Improvements in Agriculture• Mechanized reaper – reduced labor

force• Steel plow – cut through dense sod• Barbed wire – kept cattle off crops• Windmills – powers irrigation systems• Hybridization – allowed greater yields

Transcontinental Railroad, 1869

• Union Pacific began in Omaha in 1865 and went west. Central Pacific went east from Sacramento and met the Union Pacific Railroad at Promontory Point, Utah.

• Chinese immigrants

Dawes Act, 1887• It tried to dissolve

Indian tribes by redistributing the land. Designed to forestall growing Indian poverty, it resulted in many Indians losing their lands to speculators.

• Forced assimilation – loss of culture

Helen Hunt Jackson• A muckraker whose

book exposed the unjust manner in which the U.S. government had treated the Indians. Protested the Dawes Severalty Act.

Cross of Gold Speech, 1896

• Given by William Jennings Bryan, he said people must not be "crucified on a cross of gold", referring to the Republican proposal to eliminate silver coinage and adopt a strict gold standard.

• Bimetallism

Goal 5: Becoming an Industrial Society (1877-1900)

• The learner will describe innovations in technology and business practices and assess their impact on economic, political, and social life in America.

Influence of Big Business• Larger pools of capital• Wider geographic span• Broader range of

operations• Revised role of ownership• New methods of management

Laissez-faire• A theory that the economy does

better without government intervention in business.

Credit Mobilier Scandal, 1872

• Union Pacific received a government contract to build the transcontinental railroad

• It "hired" Credit Mobilier to do the actual construction, charging nearly twice the actual cost of the project.

• The scheme was discovered and the company tried to bribe Congress with gifts of stock to stop the investigation.

• This was the biggest bribery scandal in U.S. history, and led to greater public awareness of government corruption.

Jane Addams’ Hull House, 1889

• Social reformer who worked to improve the lives of the working class (immigrants).

• founded Hull House in Chicago, the first private social welfare agency in the U.S.

Social Darwinism• Applied Darwin's

theory of natural selection and "survival of the fittest" to human society -- the poor are poor because they are not as fit to survive. Used as an argument against social reforms to help the poor.

Gospel of Wealth, 1889• Andrew Carnegie

was an American millionaire and philanthropist who donated large sums of money for public works.

• His book argued that the wealthy have an obligation to give back to society.

Labor Practices• Collective Bargaining - Discussions

held between workers and their employers over wages, hours, and conditions.

• Labor Unions – organization of workers

• Strikes – refusal to perform work until demands are met.

Labor Unions• Knights of Labor• An American labor

union originally established as a secret fraternal order and noted as the first union of all workers. It was founded in 1869.

• American Federation of Labor

• Began in 1886 with about 140,000 members; by 1917 it had 2.5 million members. It is a federation of different unions.

• Skilled workers only

Thomas Nast• Newspaper cartoonist

who produced satirical cartoons, he invented "Uncle Sam" and came up with the elephant and the donkey for the political parties. He nearly brought down Boss Tweed.

Jacob Riis• Early 1900's writer who exposed

social and political evils in the U.S. Muckraker novel.