Chapter One: Alien Encounters

  1. Identify three common misunderstandings/falsities commonly believed aboutColumbus’ voyages and discoveries.
  1. Indians and Europeans: We are all very familiar with European exploitation and mistreatment of Native Americans. Take note of THREE specific examples mentioned here.
  1. Compare the cultural values of Europeans and Natives under these headings: Religion, Land and Possessions, Leadership, and Warfare.
  1. Do you agree with Historians who accuse Columbus and other explorers of genocide? Explain.
  1. Why may the Protestant Reformation have been significant for the merchant and commercial classes of the time?
  1. Brainstorm as many ideas as you can under these headings:
  • Motivation for Exploration
  • Motivation for Settlement
  1. Finish reading this chapter (pages 28-45). We will be referring to his background information about early settlements in America over the next few days.

Textbook Summary Notes

The American Nation

For each of the headings listed below please provide a brief summary. Textbook reading is an essential part of this course. Much of the material covered in your readings will not be covered in class and yet it may be featured on an IB paper. As senior history students it is essential that you keep up with the readings and that you make clear and concise notes that can be used for exam preparation. The expectation is that you do the necessary preparatory readings to ensure that you are prepared for lectures, classroom discussions, and evaluations. In short, if it’s in the readings it’s fair game for the test.

Chapter Two (American Society in the Making—Topic 1)

What is an American?

Spanish Settlement

The Chesapeake Colonies

The Lure of Land

“Solving” the Labour Shortage – Slavery

Prosperity in a Pipe: Tobacco

Bacon’s Rebellion

The Carolinas

Home and Family in the South

Georgia and the Back Country

Puritan New England

The Puritan Family

Salem Bewitched

Higher Education in New England

Prosperity Undermines Puritanism

The Middle Colonies: Economic Basis

Chapter Three (America in the Empire—Topic 1)

The British Colonial System

Mercantilism

The Navigation Acts

The Effects of Mercantilism

The Great Awakening

Colonial Scientific Achievements

Repercussions of Distant Wars

The Great War for the Empire

The Peace of Paris

Putting the Empire Right

Tightening the Imperial Controls

Chapter Four (The American Revolution—Topic 1)

“The Shot Heard Round the World”

The Battle of Bunker Hill

1776: The Battle of Forces

Loyalists

Early British Victories

Saratoga and the French Alliance

The War Moves South

Victory at Yorktown

The Peace of Paris

Forming a National Government

Financing the War

Social Reform

Effects of the Revolution on Women

Growth of a National Spirit

The Great Land Ordinances

Chapter 5 (The Federalist Era—Topic 2)

Border Problems

Foreign Trade

To Philadelphia and the Constitution

The Great Convention

The Compromise that Produced the Constitution

Washington as President

Revolution in France

Federalists and Republicans: The Rise of Political Parties

Chapter 6 (Jeffersonian Democracy—Topic 2)

The Federalist Contribution

Thomas Jefferson: Political Theorist

Jefferson as President

Jefferson’s Attack on the Judiciary

The Louisiana Purchase

Jeffersonian Democracy

Chapter 7 (National Growing Pains—Background for Topic 2)

Tecumseh and the Indian Resistance

Depression and Land Hunger

Opponents of War

The War of 1812

The treaty of Ghent

The Monroe Doctrine

Chapter 12 (Western Expansion –Background for Topic 2)

The Texas Question

Manifest Destiny

War with Mexico

The Fruits of Victory: Further Enlargement of the United States

Slavery: The Fire Bell in the Night Rings Again

The Gold Rush

Chapter 13 (The Civil War—Topic 3)

The South

The Economics of Slavery

The Sociology of Slavery

Manufacturing in the South

The Northern Industrial Juggernaut

A Nation of Immigrants

Progress and Poverty

The Economy on the Eve of Civil War

Chapter 14 (The Civil War—Topic 3)

The Slave Power Comes North

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Know-Nothings, Republicans, and the Demise of the Two Party System

“Bleeding Kansas”

The Dred Scott Decision

The Emergence of Lincoln

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

John Brown’s Raid

The Election of 1860

The Secession Crisis

Chapter 15 (The Civil War—Topic 3)

Lincoln’s Cabinet

Fort Sumter: The First Shot

The Blue and the Grey

The Test of Battle: Bull Run

Paying for the War

Politics as Usual

Behind Confederate Lines

War in the West: Shiloh

The Emancipation Proclamation

The Draft Riots

The Emancipated People

African American Soldiers

Economic and Social Effects, North and South

Women in Wartime

Winners, Losers, and the Future

Chapter 16 (Reconstruction—Topic 3)

Presidential Reconstruction

Republican Radicals

Congress Rejects Johnsonian Reconstruction

The Fourteenth Amendment

The Reconstruction Acts

Congress Supreme

The Fifteenth Amendment

“Black Republican” Reconstruction: Scalawags and Carpetbaggers

The Ravaged Land

The White Backlash

Grant as President

The Disputed Election of 1876

The compromise of 1877

Chapter 17 (Reconstruction—Topic 3)

The Political Aftermath of War

Blacks After Reconstruction

Booker T. Washington: A “Reasonable” Champion for Blacks

White Violence and Vengeance

The West after the Civil War

The Plains Indians

Indian Wars

The Destruction of Tribal Life

Chapter 23 (From Isolation to Empire –Background to Topic 10, Sem. 2)

Isolation or Imperialism?

Origins of the Large Policy: Coveting Colonies

Toward an Empire in the Pacific

Toward an Empire in Latin America

The Cuban Revolution

The “Splendid Little” Spanish-American War

Developing a Colonial Policy

The United States in the Caribbean and Central America

The Open Dorr Policy

The Panama Canal

Imperialism Without colonies

Chapter 28 (Review and Topic 10—Sem. 2)

Building the Atom Bomb

Diplomacy

Allied Suspicion of Stalin

Yalta and Potsdam

Chapter 29 (The American Century—Topic 10—Sem. 2)

The Containment Policy

The Atom Bomb: A “Winning” Weapon?

A Turning Point in Greece

The Marshall Plan and the Lesson of History

Dealing with Japan and China

Containing Communism Abroad

Hot War in Korea

McCarthyism

The Eisenhower-Dulles Foreign Policy

Asian Policy After Korea

Israel and the Middle East

Eisenhower and Khrushchev

Latin America Aroused

The Politics of Civil Rights

The Election of 1960

Chapter 30 (Camelot to Watergate—Topic 10—Sem. 2)

The Cuban Crisis

The Vietnam War

“We shall overcome”: the Civil Rights Movement

The Great Society

Opposition to the War

The Election of 1968

Nixon as President: “Vietnamizing” the War

Détente with Communism

Domestic Policy Under Nixon

The Meaning of Watergate

Chapter 31 (p. 824-851) (Civil Rights—Topic 11—Sem. 1)

The Perils of Progress

The Costs of Prosperity

New Racial Turmoil

Native-Born Ethics

Students in Revolt

The counterculture

The Sexual Revolution

Women’s Liberation

Chapter 32 (p. 852-862) (Ford, Carter—Topic 10—Sem. 2)

The Oil Crisis

Ford as President

The Fall of South Vietnam

Ford Versus Carter

The Carter Presidency

A National Malaise

Stagflation

Families Under Stress

Cold war or Détente?

The Iran Crisis: Origins

The Iran Crisis: Carter’s Dilemma

The Election of 1980