American History
Class Notes Textbook
2014-2015 Academic Year


American Government Class Notes

These notes were prepared by Tom Beard for American History & Pre-AP American History classes in Orange County Florida. The information in these notes are NOT original to Mr. Beard but are his summaries of classroom textbooks, workshops, web-sites, readings, television and other forms of research that include but are not limited to Magruder’s American Government by William A. McClenaghan, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to American History by Alan Axelrod, History of a Free Nation by Bragdon, McCutchen & Richie, Lies Across America & Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen, and History in the Making by Kyle Ward

These notes are not set in stone but are instead Mr. Beard’s interpretations of information he has gathered and continues to gather in his instruction of the subject area.

Review

1750 – 1850

Review

I.  Colonization

a.  Spanish:

i.  Conquistadors – Spanish conquerors in Central and South America

  1. Established St. Augustine
  2. Named Florida

b.  Dutch:

i.  Took the spice trade from the Portuguese

ii.  Establish New Amsterdam, later became New York.

c.  English:

i.  Established Jamestown & Plymouth

ii.  Colonies:

1.  New England – Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire

2.  Middle Colonies – Delaware, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania

3.  Southern Colonies – Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia

  1. New England & Middle Colonies – Utilized industry & shipping
  2. Middle & Southern Colonies – Utilized agriculture
  3. Colony Creation:
  4. Economic Opportunity
  5. Religious Freedom
  6. Killed countless Native Americans due to want of new lands & disease

d.  French:

  1. Established New Orleans & Quebec

II.  Revolution

a.  Causes:

i.  British taxation, British troops, self-determination, French-Indian War

b.  Battles in the North

i.  Concorde, Lexington, Princeton, Ticonderoga, Philadelphia, Saratoga

c.  Battles in the South

i.  Charleston, Cowpens, Yorktown

d.  End of war

i.  Brits at home wanted to end the war, Colonial Victories, Too expensive

ii.  Treaty of Paris in 1783 … official end of hostilities

e.  Events:

i.  Boston Tea Party

ii.  Boston Massacre

III.  Documents of Self-Determination

a.  Declaration of Independence – Official separation from Great Britain, not the birthday of the United States!!!

b.  Articles of Confederation – First attempted federal government of the former colonies.

i.  Not successful, no power to tax

c.  Constitution – Oldest, active government in the world today. Established divided and balanced power through three branches of government in a federal system.

i.  Federalist – Supported strong national government

ii.  Anti-Federalist – Supported strong state government

d.  Bill of Rights – 1st ten Amendment to the Constitution, included to gain support of the Anti-federalists

IV.  Washington & Adams

  1. Washington - Was a member of no political party, set the precedent of two terms, established a cabinet
  2. Adams – Was a Federalist (gone by 1810), good man not good politician

V.  Jefferson

a.  Election of 1800 – First time in modern history that a government was replaced with no violence.

  1. Congress voted 36 times to select Jefferson over Burr as President

b.  Louisiana Purchase – Napoleon needed money for war and wanted to punish the British so he sold the French claim to America.

i.  Lewis & Clark – Sent to explore the new lands of the west

c.  Judicial Review – Power of the court to declare an act unconstitutional

i.  John Marshall was chief justice that established this rule

VI.  War of 1812

a.  The Great Lakes –The attempted conquest of Canada,

b.  Baltimore/D.C.- British invasion, burned D.C.,

i.  Francis Scott Key – Wrote National Anthem

c.  New Orleans – Final Battle of the war, took place two weeks after peace treaty was signed

  1. Andrew Jackson and mix of pirates, freed men and militia defeated British

VII.  Age of Jackson

a.  Jacksonian Democracy – Jackson seized power from the states and Congress to become the true power of the United States government.

  1. Established the Spoils System

b.  Trail of Tears –Jackson forced all Native Americans east of the Mississippi to move to the Indian Territory.

  1. Cherokees sued and the Supreme Court agreed that they didn’t have to move.
  2. Jackson still forced the move.

c.  Political Crisis – South Carolina tried to nullify a federal tax, Jackson was willing to send in troops to stop this … S.C. backed down.

d.  War on the Banks – The national bank was new and not trusted, Jackson wanted to end it despite Congressional approval.

i.  Jackson ended the national bank and sent the money to several state banks.

VIII.  Reform

a.  Equality of Rights-1st Industrial Revolution brings prosperity to the North; first unions were formed, technology saw the creation of the Cotton Gin,

b.  Social Change

c.  Whig Party – In reaction to the Democrats but led nation for some time

Unit I

Civil War & Reconstruction

Civil War

I.  Slavery

a.  North:

  1. 1800 – 50k slaves … 1860 – 8 slaves in New Jersey
  2. Most northerners viewed blacks as inferior
  3. Laws limited the rights of free blacks & discouraged migration
  4. Many merchant, bank & mill owners earned a lot of money on southern cotton and didn’t want slavery to end
  5. Low skilled workers were in fear of free blacks tasking their jobs
  6. Others wanted to end slavery and send all blacks to Africa

b.  South:

  1. Many felt God intended that blacks should be slaves to whites
  2. Slaves were provided everything from food and shelter to clothes and jobs
  3. Slavery was an economic must for the agrarian South
  4. As slavery moved west, Whigs & Democrats promoted Popular Sovereignty

c.  Compromise:

  1. Missouri Compromise
  2. Maine enters as a free state
  3. Missouri enters as a slave state
  4. Slavery prohibited in Louisiana Territory north of 36th parallel except Missouri
  5. Compromise of 1850
  6. California becomes a free state
  7. New Mexico & Utah would have popular sovereignty
  8. Slave trade, but not slavery, would end in D.C.
  9. Congress would pass a strict Fugitive Slave Act
  10. Texas would give up it’s claims to New Mexico for $10 million
  11. Kansas-Nebraska Act
  12. Ended Missouri Compromise
  13. Allowed for popular sovereignty in Kansas & Nebraska
  14. Led to creation of Republican Party & Bleeding Kansas
  15. Violence led to US Senate
  16. Scott v Sanford
  17. Slave sued for his freedom
  18. Said he was free because he was moved to free territory
  19. SCOTUS said no because slaves were not citizens by the Constitution and therefore do not have the same rights as citizens

II.  Anti-Slavery

  1. Abolitionist lived in both the north & South
  2. More than 200 slave revolts took place in the first half of the 19th century
  3. Nat Turner’s revolt killed more than 60 people
  4. Many slaves were taught to read and write, which was against the law
  5. Frederick Douglass went on to be an eloquent speaker against slavery
  6. The Underground Railroad was used to free slaves
  7. Harriet Tubman made 2 dozen trips into the south to free hundreds of slaves
  8. They published newspapers speaking against slavery
  9. William Lloyd Garrison published The Liberator and called for emancipation
  10. Northern states passed laws to end slavery or protect free blacks
  11. Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin giving slavery a face

III.  Causes of the Civil War

a.  Sectionalism

  1. Native Americans, taxes, banking, religion & slavery

b.  States Rights

  1. AOC v Constitution
  2. Nullification
  3. Secession

c.  Slavery

  1. Slaves states v non-slave states

d.  Growth of Abolitionism

  1. Use of media pushing Congress to end slavery

e.  Election of Lincoln

  1. South Carolina felt Lincoln was Anti-slavery and seceded
  2. Before Lincoln was sworn in as president 6 other states seceded
  3. Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas & Florida

IV.  Civil War in the East

a.  The Start

  1. Election of 1860 – LINCOLN WINS!
  2. February, 1861 – 7 states from CSA, create a Constitution & election of Jefferson Davis
  3. March, 1861 – Lincoln takes office
  4. April, 1861 – Lincoln sends supplies to one of the last coastal forts in the south controlled by the Union … Ft. Sumter
  5. The Confederacy fired on the fort and eventually seized it
  6. The Union see this as the first shots of the war and declared an insurrection
  7. Lincoln called for 75k volunteer troops

b.  Resources

  1. North had 22 million people to 9 million in South
  2. North had industry, south had agriculture
  3. North had a small but well-organized Navy
  4. Government of the North was organized & experienced
  5. The South was fighting for it’s life as many in the North were willing to let the South go
  6. The South has a strong military tradition and better military leaders
  7. The South did not need to invade but instead just defend

c.  Strategy

  1. South
  2. Politically – needed the alliances of France & England
  3. Militarily – defend the border
  1. North
  2. Politically – Re-unite the Union
  3. Militarily – Anaconda Plan
  4. Blockade the South with ships
  5. Divide the South in two along the Mississippi River – creating two theaters of operation … the East & the West

d.  The Eastern Theater

  1. First Battle of Bull Run – 1st real battle of the Southern War
  2. Southern Victory
  3. Monitor v the Virginia – 1st battle of iron-clad ships
  4. No victor
  5. Battle of Antietam – September, 1862 – 1st Union victory
  6. Bloodiest battle day of the Civil War – 22k causalities
  7. Lincoln used this to read the Emancipation Proclamation
  8. Battle of Gettysburg – Turning point of the war in the East
  9. Richmond – Grant marches in

V.  Civil War in the West & End of War

a.  The Start

  1. February, 1862 – Attack on Shiloh in Tennessee
  2. 25k causalities in two days
  3. April, 1862 – Union captures New Orleans

b.  American Southwest – Controlled by Union

  1. Mexican American Militia supported Unions
  2. Cheyenne supported Union
  3. Choctaw & Creeks supported Confederacy

c.  Battle of Vicksburg – March to July, 1863 – Turning point of the war in the West

d.  Sherman’s March to the Sea – May 1864

i.  60 mile wide swath through Georgia

VI.  Civil War and the People

a.  African-Americans

  1. Massachusetts 54th
  2. Slaves aided the north with food and information

b.  Home Front in the North

  1. Tax increases to pay for war
  2. Income tax & Tariffs
  3. Transcontinental Railroad – railroad across the United States
  4. Homestead Act – cheap land to the west for farming
  5. Draft Riots
  6. Rich could pay to avoid draft
  7. African Americans were not up for the draft
  8. Copperheads – Northern Democrats who were against the Civil War

c.  Home Front in the South

  1. Blockade created serious hardships
  2. Lack of food & supplies
  3. War was difficult to pay for
  4. Resistance to paying taxes
  5. Difficult to collect tariffs
  6. Prices rose quickly
  7. Draft
  8. South had the draft as well but some state wouldn’t allow their troops to fight outside of home state

d.  How Soldiers Died

  1. Battlefield
  2. Rifled Gun
  3. Cannon Shot
  4. Surgery
  5. Camp
  6. Poor drinking water
  7. Everyone killed in battle two died from disease
  8. Prisons
  9. African American soldiers were killed
  10. Camps ran out of food, had no shelter

e.  Women in War

  1. Many took over family businesses and farms
  2. Some followed their husbands in battle
  3. Staying behind the lines but cooking and cleaning for them when possible
  4. A few masqueraded as women and fought in the war
  5. Many became nurses

Reconstruction

I.  Reconstruction – Period of time between 1865-1877 where the federal government carried out a program to repair the damage of the south and restore the southern states into the union.

  1. Often soldiers arrived home to destroyed homes and devastated cities.
  2. More than 500,000 people were killed
  3. 4 million freed slaves, many homeless, jobless and hungry.
  4. $3 billion of lost slave labor plus the federal government seizing $100 million worth of property and cotton.
  5. Poor white families moving west to find jobs.
  6. What to do with the southern army and resisters.

II.  Lincoln’s Plan:

  1. Offer a pardon to any confederate who pledges their allegiance to the U.S.
  2. Denied pardon to confederate military who killed African American prisoners
  3. Each state could hold a convention to create a new state constitution only after 10% of the state’s population have sworn allegiance

III.  Johnson’s Plan:

  1. Offer a pardon to confederate soldiers who pledge allegiance to the U.S.
  2. Allowed state to hold conventions
  3. Southern state were required to void succession, abolish slavery and repudiate the confederate debt
  4. State elections

IV.  Radical Republican’s Plan:

  1. Full citizenship including right to vote for former slaves
  2. Majority of pre-war voters of CSA member states have to swear loyalty to Union
  3. This was vetoed by President Lincoln
  4. Creation of Freedmen’s Bureau
  5. Provide food, shelter, education and health care to former slaves
  6. Helped families find each other
  7. Was signed into law by President Lincoln

V.  The South’s Plan

  1. Limit the right to vote to white men
  2. Implement Black Codes – Laws to keep former slaves from voting or owning land
  3. Share croppers
  4. Sun Down Towns

VI.  What was freedom like for former slaves:

  1. Free to move wherever they liked
  2. Free to own and work land
  3. Free to worship
  4. Free to learn

VII.  Southern Response – Southern states responded to Reconstruction with the Black Codes or laws to limit the rights of former slaves.

  1. Curfews
  2. Vagrancy Laws
  3. Labor contracts
  4. Land Restrictions

VIII.  Radical Republicans – felt Reconstruction was not doing enough to protect the rights of former slaves or to punish the south for succession.

  1. These guys were small but very powerful and effective.
  2. They had the Reconstruction Act of 1867 passed. It included:
  3. Put south under military rule
  4. Demanded new elections and new state constitutions
  5. Required all male voters to be allowed to vote
  6. Took away the right to vote from any supporter of the confederacy
  7. Required states to ratify the 14th amendment
  8. Required state to guarantee equal protection for all its citizens

IX.  President Johnson Impeached!!!!