Political Issues, Events & Concepts

POLITICAL ISSUES, EVENTS & CONCEPTS

Colonial Settlement & Founders

Roanoke (Lost Colony) (1585) – Sir Walter Raleigh

Jamestown (1607) – John Smith

Plymouth Colony (1620) – William Bradford (Pilgrims)

Massachusetts Bay Colony (1629) – John Winthrop (Puritans)

Rhode Island (1631/38) – Roger Williams & Ann Hutchinson

Maryland (1634) – Lord Baltimore (The Calverts) Catholic Refuge

Pennsylvania (1681) – William Penn (Quakers)

Georgia (1732) – James Oglethorpe (“debtors”, buffer against Spanish)

Regions

New England – MA, NH, CT, RI

Middle – NY, DE, PA, NJ

Southern – MD, VA, NC, SC, GA

*Chesapeake – MD, VA

Miscellaneous

Types of Colonies – Joint Stock Companies (charter/corporate), Royal, Proprietary

Restoration Colonies – Charles II (1660-168?

Dominion of New England – James II (1685); Sir Edmund Andros

Governments

Virginia House of Burgesses (1619) – first colonial representative government

Albany Congress/Plan (1754) – Ben Franklin – first effort at intercolonial unity (reaction to French & Indian War ) – failed!

Stamp Act Congress (1765) – unity against “taxation without representation” (virtual representation)

First Continental Congress (1774) – response to the Coercive/Intolerable Act (Tea Party)

Second Continental Congress (1775-1781) – Lexington & Concord; Declaration of Independence

Articles of Confederation (1781-1789) – loose Confederation, weak central government (Experimental Period)

Constitution (1789- present) – “a living document”; flexibility – amendment process; separation of powers, checks & balances – federalism

Confederate States of America (1861-1865) – Jefferson Davis

Documents

Mayflower Compact (1620) -- Pilgrims

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639)

Maryland Toleration Act (1649)

Charter of Liberties (1701) – Penn (Constitution guaranteeing freedom of religion)

Declaration of Rights and Grievances (1774) – First Continental Congress

Oliver Branch Petition (1775) – Second Continental Congress

Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776) – George Mason

Declaration of Independence (1776) – Jefferson

John Locke – “ natural rights” (social contract theory)

Thomas Paine -- Common Sense

Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom – Jefferson

Documents - continued ….

Constitution (1787 – 89) – James Madison (“father of”)

Philadelphia Convention (1787)

Great Compromise – Virginia Plan & New Jersey Plan (Connecticut Plan)

Three-fifths Compromise – slavery and representation & taxation

Ratification Debate (1789)

Federalists v. Antifederalists

Federalists Papers (Madison, Hamilton & Jay) – No. 10 (Factions)

Bill of Rights (1791) – first ten amendments

Amendments

First – five basic freedoms

Thirteen, Fourteen & Fifteen – Reconstruction

Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen (Twenty One) – Progressive Era

Twenty Six – 18 year-old vote

Declaration of Rights and Sentiments – Seneca Falls Convention (1848)

Emancipation Proclamation (1863)

Supreme Court Cases

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Fletcher v. Peck (1810)

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

Gibbons v. Ogden (1821)

Scott v. Sanford (1857)

Munn v. Illinois (1877)

Wabash v. Illinois (1886)

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Insular Cases (1901)

Muller v. Oregon (1908)

Schenck v. United States (1919)

Schecter v. United States (1935)

Korematsu v. United States (1943)

Brown v Board of Education (1954)

Baker v. Carr (1962)

Gideon v. Wainright (1963)

Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

Roe v. Wade (1973)

U.S. v. Nixon (1974)

Bakke v. Regents of the University of California (1978)

Supreme Court Chief Justices

John Marshall (1801-35) “midnight appointee”

Roger B. Taney (1836-64)

Earl Warren (1953-69)

Warren Burger (1969-86)

Supreme Court “Firsts”

Louis Brandeis (Jewish - 1916)

Thurgood Marshall (African American – 1967)

Sandra Day O’Conner (Woman – 1981)

Trials

John Zenger (1735)

Sacco & Vanzetti (1921*)

John T. Scopes (1925)

Scottsboro Boys (1932)

Leopold-Loeb (1922)

Chicago Seven (1969)

Political Parties

Federalist Party – Hamilton, J. Adams (G. Washington) (1796 – 1816)

Democratic-Republican Party (Jeffersonian Republicans) – Jefferson, Madison, Monroe (1796 – 1828)

Democratic Party – Jackson, Cleveland, Wilson, FDR, Truman, JFK, LBJ (1828 – present)

Anti-Masons (1831) – first national nominating convention

Whig Party – Clay, Webster, Wm. Harrison, Taylor (1830s – 1850s)

Liberty Party (1840 & ’44) – James Birney

Free Soil Party (1848 – 1854) – “free soil, free labor, & free men”

Know-Nothing (American) Party (1840s & ‘50s)

Republican Party – Lincoln, TR, Hoover, Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan (1854 – present)

Populist Party – James B. Weaver (1892, Omaha Convention)

Progressive Party (Bull Moose) – TR (1912)

Socialist Party – Eugene Debs (1912)

Dixiecrats – Strom Thurmond (1948)

American Independent Party – George Wallace (1968)

Reform Party – Ross Perot (1992)

Political Conventions, Eras & Movements

Annapolis Convention (1786) – “To advance the interests of the Union.”

Philadelphia Convention (1787) – “To form a more perfect Union.”

Hartford Convention – War of 1812, demise of Federalists

Jacksonian Democracy – increased voting rights, democratic participation (Spoils System)

The Gilded Age – “the era of forgettable presidents” & the Spoilsmen & Robber Barons

The Populist Movement – agrarian protest; Omaha Convention (1892)

The Progressive Era – pragmatic reform; TR, Taft, & Wilson (Debs)

The New Left – Students for a Democratic Society (Tom Hayden - Port Huron Statement, 1962)

The Moral Majority – Jerry Falwell & the Religious Right

Elections

1800 – Revolution of 1800 – Jefferson v. Adams – “We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists”

1824 – Favorite Sons – Corrupt Bargain (House of Representatives) – JQA, Clay & Jackson

1844 – Manifest Destiny - “Fifty-Four Forty or Fight” – Polk

1858* – Lincoln-Douglas Debates – Freeport Doctrine

1860 – Republican victory – Secession of the South (Lincoln)

1876 – Compromise of 1877 – Hayes v. Tilden – end of Reconstruction

1896 – Cross of Gold speech – Bryan v. McKinley

1912 – Progressivism – Wilson, TR & Taft (Debs)

1932 – New Deal – FDR “…nothing to fear but fear itself”

1940 – unprecedented third term – FDR

1944 – unprecedented fourth term

1948 – “Dewey Defeats Truman” (Truman upset victory)

1960 – First Catholic – JFK (televised debates, narrow victory – 49.7 to 49.5)

1968 – Democratic Convention – Humphrey v. McCarthy (Vietnam); anti-war demonstrations

1972 – Watergate – Nixon v. McGovern

1980 – Conservative Revolution – Reagan v. Carter

1984 – First female on presidential ticket – Geraldine Ferraro (Dem. V.P.)

Presidents & their Programs

Theodore Roosevelt – Square Deal (1904)

New Nationalism (1912)

Woodrow Wilson – New Freedom (1912)

Franklin Roosevelt – New Deal (1932)

Harry Truman – Fair Deal (1948)

Eisenhower – Modern Republicanism (1952)

JFK – The New Frontier (1960)

LBJ – The Great Society (1964)

Nixon – New Federalism (1968)

Reagan – (1980)

Presidential Speeches

Washington – Farewell Address – “political parties & foreign entanglements”

Jefferson - First Inaugural Speech – “We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists.”

Lincoln – First Inaugural; Gettysburg Address; Second inaugural

McKinley – “…to educate the Filipinos, and to uplift and civilize and Christianize them….”

FDR – First inaugural, Four Freedoms

Eisenhower’s Farewell Address – Farewell Address – “military industrial complex”

JFK – Inaugural – “…ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

LBJ – 1968 primaries – “…I shall not seek, nor will accept my parties nomination….”

Nixon – Watergate – “… your president is not a crook….”

Reagan – first inaugural – “…government is not the solution, government is the problem….”

Other Speeches

“Give me liberty, or give me death!” (1775) – Patrick Henry

“A house divided against itself cannot stand…all one thing or all the other.” (1858) – Lincoln

Presidential Deaths (Tecumseh’s Curse)

William Henry Harrison (April, 1841)

Zachary Taylor (1850)

Abraham Lincoln (April 15, 1861)

James Garfield (1881)

William McKinley (Sept. 1901)

Warren G. Harding (1923)

FDR (April 1945)

JFK (November 22, 1963)

Presidential Scandals

Credit Mobilier (Grant)

Ballinger-Pinchot (Taft)

Teapot Dome (Harding)

Watergate (Nixon)

Iran-Contra (Reagan)

Clinton (Monica Lewinsky)

Legislation, Proclamations & Resolutions

Navigation Acts* (1651 – 1733)

Proclamation Act* (1763)

Stamp Act* (1765)

Coercive/Intolerable Acts* (1774)

Ordinance of 1785

Land Ordinance of 1787

Judiciary Act of 1789

Proclamation of Neutrality (1793)

Alien & Sedition (Naturalization) Acts (1798)

Virginia & Kentucky Resolutions (1799)

Judiciary Act of 1801

Embargo Act (1807)

Nonintercourse Act (1809)

Macon’s Bill No. 2 (1810)

Missouri Compromise (1820)

Tariff of Abominations (1828)

Indian Removal Act (1830)

Force Bill (1833)

Specie Circular (1836)

Wilmot Proviso (1846)

Compromise of 1850

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

Homestead Act (1862)

Morrill Act (1862)

Emancipation Proclamation (1863)

Reconstruction Act (1867)

Tenure of Office Act (1868)

Pendleton Act (1883)

Dawes Act (1887)

Interstate Commerce Act (1887)

Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)

Teller Amendment (1896)

Platt Amendment (1901)

Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)

Hepburn Act (1906)

Mann Act (1910)

Federal Reserve Act (1913)

Clayton Antitrust Act (1914)

Espionage & Sedition Acts (1916)

Selective Service Act (1916)

Volstead Act (1919)

NIRA (NRA) (1933)

AAA (1933)

TVA (1933)

Social Security Act (1935)

Wagner Labor Relations Act (1935)

Selective Service Act (1940)

Smith Act (1940)

Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (GI Bill) (1944)

Employment Act of 1946

Taft-Hartley Act (1947)

McCarran Internal Security Act (1950)

Interstate Highway Act (1956)

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964)

Civil Rights Act (1964)

Economic Opportunity Act (1964)

Voting Rights Act (1965)

War Powers Act (1973)

Boland Amendment (1985)

Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)

Rebellion’s, Uprisings, Marches & Protests

Bacon’s Rebellion (1676) – Virginia

Shays’ Rebellion (1786) – W. MA

Whiskey Rebellion (1793) – W. PA

Draft Riots (1863) – NY City

Coxey’s Army (1894) – Washington DC

Bonus Army (1932) – Washington DC

March on Washington (1963)

Anti war - Vietnam - 1967 - 1971*

Foreign Policy Doctrines

Proclamation of Neutrality (1793) – GW vis-à-vis Britain & France

Monroe Doctrine (1823) – Western Hemisphere closed to European colonization (JQA)

Open Door Notes (1899) – territorial integrity of China (equal trading access)

Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine (1902) (“big stick policy”)

Dollar Diplomacy – Taft vis-à-vis Latin America

Good Neighbor Policy – Hoover & FDR vis-à-vis Latin America

Stimson Doctrine (1931) – “non-recognition”

Truman Doctrine (1947) - “containment” (Greece & Turkey)

Marshall Plan* (1947) – economic aid to rebuild Europe

Eisenhower Doctrine (1957) – Middle East “containment”

Nixon Doctrine (1969) – limits to U.S. power/intervention (Asia)

Carter Doctrine (1979*) – Persian Gulf

Bush (1991) – New World Order (fall of the Soviet Union)

Isolationism – Washington’s Farewell Address, Monroe Doctrine, Interwar years (1920s & ‘30s)

Containment – George Kennan

“Roll-back, liberation, brinkmanship”; “massive retaliation” – John Foster Dulles

Domino Theory – Indochina

Flexible Response – JFK

MAD – “mutual assured destruction” (Cold War) – McNamara

Secretary of States

Thomas Jefferson (Washington) – “neutrality”

John Quincy Adams (Monroe) – Monroe Doctrine

William H. Seward (Lincoln/Johnson) - Alaska

John Hay (McKinley/TR) – Spanish American War; Open Door Policy

Henry Stimson (Hoover) – Stimson Doctrine (non-diplomatic recognition)

George Marshall (Truman) – Marshall Plan

John Foster Dulles (Eisenhower) – “rollback, liberation, brinkmanship, massive retaliation”

Dean Rusk (JFK/LBJ) – Vietnam

Henry Kissinger (Nixon/Ford) – “realpolitik”; shuttle diplomacy

Treaties Ending Wars/Conflicts

Treaty of Paris of 1763 – French and Indian War

Treaty of Paris of 1783 – Revolutionary War

Treaty of Ghent – War of 1812

Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo – Mexican War (1848)

Treaty of Paris of 1898 – Spanish-American War

Treaty of Versailles – First World War

Treaty of 1945 – World War II (V-E Day; V-J Day)

Korean Armistice – 1953

Paris Peace Accords – 1973 – Vietnam

Treaties

Franco-American Treaty* (1778) – Revolutionary War

Jay Treaty (1794) – British forts in Northwest Territory

Pinckney Treaty (1795) – navigation of Mississippi R., “right of deposit” at New Orleans

Rush-Bagot Treaty (1817) – Great Lakes

Treaty of 1818 – Canadian border, 49th parallel

Adams-Onis Treaty (1819) -- Florida

Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1842) – Maine-Canada border

Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (1850) – Canal through Central America

Hay-Pauncefote Treaty (1901) – Panama Canal

Four, Five and Nine Power Treaties (1921-22) (Washington Naval Conference)

Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928) – “outlaw” war except for defense

NATO (1949) – collective security for Western Europe

U.S.-Japanese Security Treaty (1951)

SEATO (1954) – collective security for Southeast Asia

CENTO (1955) – Iran, Iraq, Turkey & Pakistan

Test Ban Treaty (1963) – US-Soviet agreement prohibiting atmospheric, underwater, and space testing of

nuclear weapons

SALT I (1972) – Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty

ABM (1972) – Antiballistic Missile Treaty

Panama Canal Treaty (1978) – return of Canal to Panamanian control

SALT II (1979) – never ratified (Afghanistan)

INF (1988) – Intermediate Nuclear Force Treaty (Reagan and Gorbachav)

START (1991) – Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Bush and Gorbachav)

Wars & Conflicts

French and Indian War (1754 – 1763)

Revolution/War for Independence (1775 – 1781) – John Hancock (George Washington)

War of 1812 (1812 – 1814) – Madison

Texas War for Independence (1835 – 1836) – Jackson (Sam Houston)

Mexican War (1846 – 1848) – Polk

Civil War (1861 – 1865) – Lincoln (Jefferson Davis)

Spanish-American War (1898) – McKinley

First World War (1914/16 – 1918) (The Great War) – Wilson; Pershing & the AEF

Second World War (1939/41 – 1945) – FDR

Korean War (1950 – 1953) -- Truman

Vietnam War (1961* – 1973) – JFK, LBJ, Nixon

Gulf War (1990 – 1991) – George H. Bush

Undeclared Wars & Foreign Policy Crisis

Quasi-War with France – (1798 – 1800)

Barbary Pirates (1801-05)

Filipino Insurrection (1898 -- 1902) Emilio Aguinaldo

Boxer Rebellion (1900) – China

Mexico (1915-16) – Pancho Villa

Berlin Airlift (1948)

Soviets Develop Atomic Bomb/China Falls to Communists (1949)

Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) – JFK

Pueblo incident (1968) – LBJ

Mayquez incidient (1975) – Ford

Iran Hostage Crisis (1979-81) – Carter, the Shah & the Ayatollah

Iran-Contra Affair (1986) – Reagan, Oliver North

Battles

Lexington & Concord (1775)

Bunker (Breed’s)Hill (1775)

Saratoga (1777)

Yorktown (1781)

New Orleans (1815)

Fort Sumter* (1861)

Bull Run (1861)

Antietam (1862)

Vicksburg (1863)

Gettysburg (1863)

San Juan Hill (1898)

Manila Bay (1898)

Pearl Harbor (1941)

Midway (1942)