4TH GRADE CRCT PACKET
NATIVE AMERICAN GROUPS
Some tribes/native groups we talked about this year:
HOPI: Desert Southwest, pueblos/adobe, Death Valley, hot
INUIT: Cold north Arctic, Alaska/Canada, igloos, hunted whale/fish/polar bear
KWAKIUTL: Pacific Northwest, totem poles, rivers/dugout canoes, fished, harpooned whales
PAWNEE: Plains, tepees, moved a lot following the buffalo
SEMINOLE: Swamps of Florida, chickees, hot
IROQUOIS/CHEROKEE: Eastern woodlands, GA to NY, slash-and-burn farming, hunted deer, gathered berries
EUROPEAN EXPLORATION
Europe is one of the seven continents. It's also where most of our culture originated. It is across the Atlantic Ocean, and in 4th grade we learned the locations and names of five important countries:
· England (which later joined Scotland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain ) colonized areas along the coast of North America, including Newfoundland, Canada, Jamestown, Plymouth, and what became the 13 British colonies/first U.S. states
· Spain colonized Florida, Mexico, Guatemala, and most of South America (New Spain)
· France colonized Canada/Quebec and Louisiana (New France)
· Portugal colonized Brazil
· The Netherlands (sometimes called 'Holland') colonized New Netherland (New York/New Jersey along the Hudson River)
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We also learned about six major explorers, who sailed across the Atlantic and found a 'New World,' which ended up being North and South America. The explorers are:
· Christopher Columbus: The FIRST European to reach the New World. Sent by Spain to find riches.
· Juan Ponce de Leon: Columbus's friend, he discovered Florida and claimed it for Spain while searching for the Fountain of Youth.
· Vasco Nunez Balboa: First European to see the Pacific Ocean when he crossed the Isthmus of Panama. He was from Spain and was searching for wealth and fame.
· John Cabot: He worked for the king of England; landed on Newfoundland (Canada) while trying to get to Asia.
· Jacques Cartier: French explorer who was looking for gold; discovered the St. Lawrence River (on what is now the U.S./Canada border).
· Henry Hudson: Explored and named the Hudson River in New York; also discovered the Hudson Bay in Canada. Worked for the Netherlands and England, he was looking for a Northwest Passage to Asia.
England decided to start colonies of its own. The first try was at Roanoke, North Carolina. It failed, because all the people there disappeared!
The next try, at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, was a success, but it almost failed due to a harsh winter, starving time, and disease. John Smith taught the colonists how to work hard, and John Rolfe taught them how to grow what would become the colony's cash crop: tobacco.
The next English colony was founded at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620, by a group of separatists from the Church of England. They left England and later the Netherlands to have religious freedom. We often call them 'pilgrims', and our Thanksgiving celebration commemorates the pilgrims' feast with the Native Americans.
The 13 British Colonies
It is easier if you break them down into three regions:
· New England (North)
· Mid-Atlantic (Central)
· and the South.
New England=
Massashusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire (+ Maine, then part of Massachusetts). Also Vermont* is in this historic region.
Cold, harsh winters; fishing and shipbuilding were the main industries
Middle Atlantic=
New York (formerly New Netherlands when it was a Dutch colony), New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware
Also known as the 'breakbasket' region, because lots of bread and corn was grown here.
South=
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia(!)
Very hot/humid; slavery was legal here, and slaves were used to farm the cash crops such as tobacco in VA and NC, indigo and rice in SC, and cotton in GA
*Vermont was not a colony; at the time, it was an area claimed by New York and New Hampshire.
The American Revolution
definition of 'revolution': the overthrow of a government, with a new government taking its place.
Causes:
· Britain defeated France in French & Indian War; it needed to pay for costs of the war; so it taxed the 13 colonies
· British Imperial Policy was to keep strong control over the colonies by using the British Army/quartering.
· Stamp Act of 1765 placed a tax on newspapers, legal documents, and even playing cards
· Colonists began rising up against "taxation without representation", since the colonies had no representatives in British Parliament
· Sons of Liberty, a secret group, dressed as Indians, boarded ships in Boston Harbor, and tossedBritish tea overboard to protest the monopoly; this was the Boston Tea Party
· After the Boston Massacre, where British redcoats and Boston townspeople got into a bloody fight, King George III sent more redcoats to force the colonists to obey British laws.
· First Continental Congress met in 1774 to discuss peaceful solutions to ending problems with Britain; Second Continental Congress met in 1775 and told Thomas Jefferson to draft the Declaration of Independence.
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Important People in the Revolution:
· George Washington- leader of the Continental Army; known for his honesty and good character; later became the first president of the US.
· Benjamin Franklin-inventor and publisher from Philadelphia, PA; invented the lightning rod, mobile library, and the first fire department in Philadelphia; helped Jefferson go over the Declaration of Independence, and helped review the US Constitution.
· George III- the king of Great Britain during the Revolutionary War.
· Patrick Henry- a leader from Virginia who said “give me liberty, or give me death!”
· Thomas Jefferson- the main writer of the Declaration of Independence; later became the third president of the US, and bought Louisiana from France.
· John Adams- a Massachusetts leader and Son of Liberty, he later became the second president of the US
· Benedict Arnold- originally a Continental Army general, he switched sides and fought for the British; most famous traitor in US history.
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Major battles:
· Lexington, Massachusetts (the first battle); the "shot heard 'round the world"; after being warned by Paul Revere that the British were coming, the Minutemen chased them out of Lexington. The Redcoats then went to Concord hoping to find the Minutemen's weapons, but when they got there the armory was empty. They were chased back to Boston, where they were met by Boston's Minutemen at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
· Trenton, New Jersey; where on Christmas Day, George Washington and his men sneaked up on the Hessian mercenaries, capturing them by surprise. After the battle of Trenton, Washington's army spent the cold, bitter winter at Valley Forge in Pennsylvania.
· Saratoga, NY (S: the turning point); changed the tide of the war; following the American win, the French joined their side against the British.
· Yorktown (Yay! The last major battle); with the help of the French Navy, George Washington defeated Lord Charles Cornwallis's British Army at Yorktown, Virginia.
After winning the war, the US was given not only their freedom, but also the land from the Appalachians to the Mississippi River.
The U.S. Constitution & ThE Bill of Rights
After the war, the US set up its government under the Articles of Confederation; but the Articles were weak, because the states had too much power, and the national government had very little…it couldn’t make an army, nor raise taxes, nor make the states have one common money. So the leaders got rid of it, and wrote the U.S. Constitution to replace it. It’s what we still use today, although it has been amended several times.
The first sentence of the Constitution is the Preamble, which begins with the words “We the People of the United States…” to show that our government gets its power from the people, not a king.
The Constitution divides the federal government into three branches:
LEGISLATIVE, EXECUTIVE, and JUDICIAL
writes laws enforces laws interprets laws
Hints: LEG writes law; EGG egg-ecutive enforces; and JUDGE JUDY
THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH is led by CONGRESS. It has two houses: the SENATE and the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
Each state gets TWO senators, no matter what. The number of representatives a state gets matters on that state’s population (so California gets a lot, but Vermont only gets one). For a bill to become a law, it has to pass BOTH CHAMBERS.
THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH is led by the PRESIDENT. He enforces the laws, through the FBI and military. He is also helped by his group of advisors, known as the CABINET. He can sign bills he likes, and VETO bills he doesn’t like that were passed by Congress. This is how the executive branch checks the power of the legislative branch. But Congress can also check the president, by overriding a veto with a 2/3 majority; this would be the legislative branch checking the executive branch.
THE JUDICIAL BRANCH is led by the SUPREME COURT. It also includes other federal courts. It interprets laws, which means it decides if they are constitutional (fair) or unconstitutional (unfair). If they declare a law is unconstitutional, it is an example of the judicial branch checking the legislative branch. Judges on the Supreme Court are called ‘justices’, and the head is the ‘chief justice.’
*States governments are also divided into three branches. Georgia has an executive, legislative, and judicial branch as well; but for a state, the executive is known as the GOVERNOR. Our state Congress is called the Georgia General Assembly, and it has two chambers, the Georgia State House of Representatives and the Georgia State Senate. Our judicial branch is led by the Georgia Supreme Court. The capital city of Georgia, where all these are located, is Atlanta.*
The Constitution has been amended, or changed, 27 times.
The first ten amendments are known as the Bill of Rights.
1- Freedoms of Expression: Religion, speech, the press, assembly, petition
· Really Special Presents Are Pets!
2- Right to bear arms (own guns)
· You have two arms!
3- The government can’t force you to quarter soldiers
· Think of a general and his two bodyguards coming to stay at your house
4- Police can’t search/seize your property without a warrant
§ searching the 4 corners of your house
5- No self-incrimination
§ Hold up your hand with 5 fingers and say ‘Stop!’
6- Right to a speedy trial
§ Can’t sit in jail for 6 years, it’s a long time without a trial
7- Right to a jury trial in lawsuits
§ Seven, Civil, Suit (alliteration!)
8- No cruel or unusual punishment
§ beating up an octopus is cruel/unusual
9- You have rights not listed here
§ Nine Not Necessarily listed
10- Powers not given to the federal government are reserved to the states
§ Reserve ten steaks for me!
War of 1812
· Fought between US and Britain, 1812-1815
· Britain didn’t like US trading with France; Britain also impressed/kidnapped American sailors and forced them into British Navy
· Manifest Destiny: War Hawks in US wanted US to take Canada away from Britain, and let all of North America be part of US
· Britain was giving guns to Indians, and the Indians used them against Americans
· Our national anthem, the Star-Spangled Banner, was written by Francis Scott Key during the Battle of Ft. McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland
· The British burned down the White House, Capitol, and other buildings in Washington, DC
· The war ended in 1815, but the Battle of New Orleans took place afterwards because the news didn’t get there soon enough; made a hero of Andrew Jackson, who became the 7th president. (he is also the one who, as president, ran the Indians out to Oklahoma on the Trail of Tears).
WESTWARD EXPANSION / MANIFEST DESTINY
· In 1803, Thomas Jefferson bought Louisiana from France. It doubled the size of the US, and gave us the port of New Orleans, which controlled the Mississippi River.
· He sent Lewis & Clark out west to see what America’s new land was like. They were helped by Sacagawea, a Shoshone Indian woman. They were the first Americans to see the Pacific.
· In 1836, Texas fought for independence from Mexico. The Mexicans slaughtered the Texas Army at the Alamo, but the rest of the Texans defeated Santa Anna and won their independence. For nine years, Texas was its own country. In 1845, it joined the U.S. as a state.
· Mexico and the US fought a war against each other in 1848 due to border disputes about Texas. Mexico lost, and the US paid Mexico $15 million for tons of land in the Southwest, in what is now California, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada. In 1849, gold was discovered in California, and thousands of people moved west to look for it.
· Oregon was a territory shared between the US and Britain. It was finally divided, and the northern part is still called British Colombia, Canada. The lower part became the Oregon Territory of the US, and thousands of families moved west along the Oregon Trail.
SLAVERY AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS
· Slavery was legal in the south, but illegal in northern states. This created many problems, especially when new states wanted to be added. Missouri became a slave state, and Maine was allowed to become a free state to keep the balance under the Missouri Compromise.
· Several years later, Kansas and Nebraska wanted to become states. This time, Congress decided to let the people in that territory vote on whether they wanted to be slave states or free states. Many people on both sides moved in, and it became a bloody conflict known as “bleeding Kansas.” Eventually, the Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed them to choose, and both joined as free states. The concept of states’ rights and the issue of slavery led the US to split apart in 1860, in what became known as the American Civil War.
· People who were against slavery wanted to abolish it, which means they wanted to end it. They were called abolitionists. Harriet Tubman, a former slave, helped other runaway slaves escape the south and make it to freedom on the Underground Railroad.
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· Elizabeth Cady Stanton not only was an abolitionist, but she also wanted rights for all women. She held a national women’s meeting and started the National Woman Suffrage (voting rights) Association.
This completes your history and civics lesson. Stay tuned to the website for more. Also, for geography, look on the next page for a map of the United States…review the locations of the Appalachians, Atlantic Coastal Plain, Rockies (and the Continental Divide in the Rockies that determines where our rivers flow), Gulf of Mexico, Mississippi River, St. Lawrence River, Great Plains, Great Basin, Death Valley, the Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior) and the Erie Canal.
Also, know find Boston, MA, New York City, NY, Philadelphia, PA, Washington, DC (the U.S. capital), and Atlanta, GA (our state capital). Good luck!