US HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT
REGENTS STUDY PACKET
Geography
- Appalachian Mountains: colonial border of the US (Proclamation of 1763)
- Mississippi River: physical border of the US in 1783 (end of American Revolution, Treaty of Versailles)
- Rocky Mountains: physical border of the US in 1803 (Louisiana Purchase)
- Colonial Location: settlement influenced by rivers along the Atlantic Coast
- Development of farming among pre-Columbian Native Americans ensured a more stable food supply
Colonies
- Colonial Self-Government
- Mayflower Compact
- Virginia House of Burgesses (representative)
- New England town meetings (representative)
- New England
- Shipbuilding, lumbering, fishing (soil too rocky/growing season too short for farming)
- Middle
- Commerce: trade like NYC
- Southern
- Plantation economy: relies on slave labor; produces cotton
- Warm climate and fertile soil make it ideal for farming
- Economic development relied on the labor of slaves
- Mercantilism
- US sends raw materials to Britain
- US must buy finished products from Britain
- Limits the economic development of the colonies
- Enlightenment thinkers influenced the writings of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution
- John Locke: natural rights; gov’t needs to protect its people’s natural rights
- Baron de Montesquieu: separation of powers, 3 branches of gov’t (executive, legislative, judicial)
- Trial of John Peter Zenger: Bill of Rights protects freedom of the press (similar issues in 1970 with the Pentagon Papers)
- Thomas Paine’s Common Sense: Written to rally support for independence
- Declaration of Independence: outlines British wrongdoings and declares colonial independence
- Part I: Role of gov’t according to Enlightenment ideas
- Part II: List of colonial grievances against England (king)
- Proclamation of 1763, increased taxes (Stamp Act, Sugar Act, Tea Act, Intolerable Acts, etc.) caused colonists to demand independence
- Part III: Declares independence from GB
- Articles of Confederation: 1st gov’t of the United States
- Divides governing power between different levels of government (state and national)
- Weak central gov’t to protect the rights of the ppl (opposite of British rule); criticized for being too weak
- Success: established a way for new states to join the Union (Land Ordinance 1785, Northwest Ordinance 1787); slavery not allowed in Northwest Territory
- Failure: central gov’t was too weak to actually govern (Shays’ Rebellion)
Constitution
- Influenced by:
- Magna Carta: Limits on gov’t power (trial by jury, due process, private property)
- Petition of Right: no arrest/imprisonment without trial
- English Bill of Rights: Representative gov’t
- Great Compromise: establishes bicameral (2 house) legislature
- Balances the interest of small states (NJ Plan) with large states (VA Plan)
- Senate: equal representation
- House of Representatives: rep. based on population
- 3/5 Compromise:
- 5 slaves counts as 3 free people for population
- Slave trade cannot be outlawed until 1808
- Constitutional Principles
- Federalism: separation of power between national and state gov’ts
- Popular Sovereignty: power to rule comes from the people (We the people)
- Separation of powers: 3 branches of gov’t (legislative, executive, judicial)
- Answer choice will refer to at least 2 branches of gov’t
- Executive: executes laws
- President is chief executive, commander in chief of the army, chief diplomat
- Legislative: makes laws
- Congress approves treaties and executive appointments, can overturn president’s veto with 2/3 majority vote
- Bill becomes law when there is a majority vote in both houses; president must approve law
- Judicial: interprets law
- Sometimes acts in as legislative bc rulings affect how laws work
- Checks and balances: each branch of gov’t checks the power of the other 2
- Flexibility: Constitution allows for change over time (amendment process, elastic clause, judicial interpretation)
- There are few amendments because the Constitution had been broadly interpreted and applied
- First step in amendment process is passage by 2/3 majority in House and Senate
- Elastic Clause: Congress shall make all laws necessary and proper
- Federalist: supported original Constitution
- Federalist Papers: convince Americans to ratify
- Antifederalists: Constitution needs a Bill of Rights to protect individual liberties
- British Experiences:
- Writ of Habeas Corpus: you must know what you are being arrested for
- Freedom of the press: stems from trial of John Peter Zenger in 1935
- 4th amendment (protects against unreasonable search and seizure): response to British writs of assistance
Early Years of the US
- Unwritten Constitution: political traditions that are not part of the actual Constitution
- Presidential Cabinet (Washington)
- Political Parties: result of debates over key issues like states rights and loose/strict construction
- Nominating Conventions
- Washington’s Precedents
- Neutrality: Farewell Address (followed strictly by Adams and Jefferson, as well)
- 2 terms: became law with the 22nd amendment (FDR was the only president to serve more than 2 terms)
- Strict Construction: following the Constitution as it is written (Thomas Jefferson)
- Loose Construction: open to more interpretation of the Constitution (Alexander Hamilton [national bank])
- Alexander Hamilton’s Financial Plan:
- Assumption of State Debt: Federal gov’t will take on all state debt
- Federal Import Tax:
- Raises revenue (money) to pay debt
- Protects American manufacturing
- National Bank: loose/strict debate over whether Congress has the power to create a national bank
- John Marshall: 1st chief justice
- Strengthened power of judicial branch and therefore the federal gov’t
- Marbury v. Madison: established judicial review
- Courts decide on the constitutionality of laws
- Whiskey Rebellion:
- Washington sends in federal troops to squash rebellion
- Executive branch will enforce federal laws
- Louisiana Purchase
- Jefferson bought Louisiana from France
- Abandoned his strict construction to do so
- Give US control of Mississippi River and Port of New Orleans
- Erie Canal 1825:
- Connects NYC with Great Lakes
- Makes it easier for western farmers to ship their goods to eastern markets
- Connects Great Lakes to Atlantic Coast
- Monroe Doctrine 1825: limits European influence in the western hemisphere by preventing future colonization in Latin America
- Andrew Jackson: Age of Common Man
- Democracy expands when property ownership is removed as voting eligibility; more people can vote
- Closes national bank
- Indian Removal Act: Indians moved from ancestral lands
- Trail of Tears
- Worcester v. Georgia
Manifest Destiny and Westward Expansion
- Louisiana Purchase (1803): US gains territory between Mississippi River and Rocky Mountains
- Adams-Onis Treaty (1819): Florida annexed
- Convention of 1818: “54,40 or fight”; established 49th parallel to divide US and Canada
- Texas Annexation (1845)
- Mexican Cession (1848): US won this territory after the Mexican-American war (Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, California)
- Oregon Territory (1846)
- Gadsden Purchase (1853): purchased for the purpose of building RR
- Motivation to Move West:
- California Gold Rush
- Homestead Act 1862: Free land to people who would move west
- Pacific Railway Act 1867: free land to RR companies to help finance building of RR
Causes of the Civil War
- Extension of Slavery into the Territories
- Missouri Compromise 1821
- Missouri enters Union as slave state
- Maine enters Union as free state
- No slavery in Louisiana territory (36°30’ line)
- Compromise of 1850
- Texas enters Union as slave state
- California enters Union as free state
- Popular sovereignty (ppl vote) to decide status of slavery in the rest of the Mexican Cession
- Kansas-Nebraska Act
- Popular sovereignty to decide status of slavery in Kansas and Nebraska territory
- Bleeding Kansas: flood of people move to Kansas to vote on the status of slavery leading to violence
- Opposition to Morality of Slavery
- The Liberator: abolitionist newspaper written by William Lloyd Garrison
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin: highlights horrors of slavery; written by Harriet Beecher Stowe
- Republican Party
- Founded to stop the spread of slavery
- Dred Scott v. Sanford
- Missouri Compromise is unconstitutional because it violates property rights (5th amendment protects property; slaves are property; federal gov’t cannot deprive a citizen of property)
- Decision favors slavery
- Causes of Southern Secession
- Debates over states’ rights (Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions; South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification)
- John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry
- Election of Lincoln (no southern state voted for him)
- South had already seceded from the Union when Lincoln is inaugurated in March 1861
Civil War
- Lincoln’s Goal: Preserve the Union
- Wanted lenient treatment of the south in order to heal the nation’s wounds quickly
- Lincoln suspended habeas corpus (right to arrest warrant) during Civil War
- More power to central gov’t
Reconstruction
- Reconstruction Presidents: Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes
- Reconstruction Amendments (provide legal rights to African Americans)
- 13th: ends slavery
- 14th: citizenship and equal protection under the law for freedmen
- 15th: voting rights cannot be limited based on race
- Violations of Reconstruction Amendments:
- Jim Crow Laws: establish segregation
- Plessy v. Ferguson: upholds segregation on the basis of “separate but equal”; judicial interpretation of 14th amendment
- Ku Klux Klan: terrorize African Americans and white Republicans to discourage voting
- Literacy Tests
- Poll Taxes
- Grandfather Clause
- Compromise of 1877
- Hayes (Republican) becomes president
- Federal troops withdrawn from South
Westward Migration
- Homestead Act 1862: Gov’t provides free land to settlers who will set up farms on land west of the Mississippi River
- Pacific Railway Act 1862: Gov’t provided land to RR companies to build transcontinental RR (finished in 1867)
- California Gold Rush 1848: Discovery of gold in CA causes mass movement of Americans and immigrants to the west
- Effect: Native Americans are displaced from their land through a series of broken treaties
- Dawes Act: effort by US gov’t to assimilate Native Americans to ‘white’ lifestyle (private ownership of land, farming, Christianity)
Industrialization, Immigration, Progressivism
- Industrialization = immigration = urbanization
- Consolidated industry: one company has control over an entire industry
- Supported by Social Darwinism (survival of the fittest)
- Laissez-faire: gov’t should not be involved in economy; justifies growth of unregulated business; benefits big business owners
- Monopolies, Trusts, Pools, holding companies
- Eliminate competition
- Sherman Anti-Trust/Clayton Anti-Trust: try to control monopolies by making them illegal
- Unions: Improve working conditions; better wages
- American Federation of Labor
- Union for skilled laborers
- Major Leaders: Eugene V. Debs, Terrence Powderly, Samuel Gompers
- Early strikes were unsuccessful bc they ended in violence; gov’t usually supported business
- Farmers: mechanization of farms causes overproduction/demand remains the same (underconsumption)
- Populist Party
- Free Coinage of Silver: more money in circulation means that farmers can pay their debts more easily
- Gov’t Regulation of Railroads: regulate shipping prices
- Immigration went relatively unchecked bc industrialists needed the unskilled laborers for factories
- Waves of Immigration
- 1st Wave 1800s-1860s: Irish and German
- 2ns Wave 1880s-1920s: Italian, Eastern European
- Nativism: Immigration ruins America
- “No Irish Need Apply”
- “America is for Americans”
- Calls for limits to immigration
- Chinese Exclusion Act 1882: limits Chinese immigration
- Gentlemen’s Agreement 1907: limits Japanese immigration
- Sacco and Vanzetti Trial: Italian immigrants executed based on poor evidence
- Red Scare: fear of communism leads to FBI and Palmer raids
- Russian immigrants deported
- Quota Acts: limits immigration from select areas
- Muckrakers: investigative journalists who exposed ills/abuses of society caused by industrialization
- Upton Sinclair The Jungle
- Jacob Riis How the Other Half Lives
- Other Books: The Octopus, The Shame of the Cities
- Other Muckrakers: Ida Tarbell, Frank Norris
- Federal Reserve System: regulates the money supply
- Graduated Income Tax: low taxes for low earners; high taxes for high earners; attempt to reduce the gap between rich and poor
- Progressive Gov’t Reforms: (stem from gov’t corruption through political machines) direct election of senators, direct primaries, referendum, initiative, recall; people have a greater voice in the government
- Theodore Roosevelt:
- Trustbuster: destroy bad trusts, regulate good trusts
- Conservationist: gov’t must conserve and protect nature for future generations
- Consumer Protection: stems from The Jungle; Meat Inspection Act, Pure Food and Drug Act
- Pro-Union: Roosevelt helps union during Anthracite Coal Strike
Imperialism
- Purpose: find new markets for goods, naval bases
- Areas of Imperialism: Hawaii, Philippines, Latin America
- Japan: Commodore Matthew Perry visited Japan in 1854 to request that they open to US for trade; Japan modernized too quickly for the US to establish imperial control
- Open Door Policy 1898/Boxer Rebellion 1900: US tries to create economic access to China
- Roosevelt Corollary:
- Action that results from the Monroe Doctrine (by controlling Latin America, US prevents Europe from trying to re-colonize in the Western Hemisphere)
- US becomes the policeman of the Western Hemisphere
- Spanish American War
- Sparked by yellow journalism
- US comes out as a major world power
- Big Stick Policy: threat of US involvement in Latin American affairs helps US have greater influence over Latin America
- Dollar Diplomacy: make FP decisions based on US economic interest
- Pro-Imperialism:
- New markets for surplus American goods
- Spread democracy
- Anti-Imperialism:
- No gov’t without the consent of the governed
- Defending territories is expensive
- Violates neutrality
WWI
- US entered WWI to maintain freedom of the seas
- German unrestricted submarine warfare
- Zimmerman telegram
- Arming the defenders of democracy
- Homefront
- Schenck v. US: constitutional liberties are limited when national security is at risk; constitutional liberties are not absolute
- War Bonds: helps finance war
- Wilson’s 14 Points
- Serve as a guideline for WWI peace talks
- Just and lasting peace; peace with justice; morality
- Treaty of Versailles 1919
- Senate refused to ratify b/c they feared it would lead to future involvement in conflict (League of Nations)
- Great Migration: AA moved North for better economic opportunities
1920s, Great Depression
- Teapot Dome Scandal: Coolidge cabinet member implicated in giving private company access to gov’t oil reserves
- Citizens distrust gov’t
- Cultural conflicts: Traditional fundamentalists against new modern ideas
- Scopes trial: conflict over the teaching of evolution; science/religion
- Prohibition: many people ignored the law; personal values/laws
- Social values cannot be regulated by laws
- Flappers: moving away from traditional female expectations
- Nativism:
- Red Scare: Palmer raids violate constitutional protection against unreasonable search and seizure; Russian immigrant deported; fear of communism after Bolshevik Revolution in Russia (1917)
- Sacco and Vanzetti
- Quota Acts
- Harlem Renaissance: promoted African American art and culture
- Unusual during a time of extreme nativist sentiment
- Langston Hughes, Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong
- Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois believed African Americans should use education to gain opportunities
- Prohibition: bans the sale, manufacture, transportation of alcohol
- 18th amendment
- Many people ignored the law
- Hard to enforce a law that no one supports
- Leads to organized crime
- Result of the temperance movement
- Repealed in 1933
- Prosperity: stock market doing well; more people buying stock on margin
- Consumerism: sharp increase in consumer spending
- Stocks on Margin: pay a small percent of stock value up front, borrow the rest, pay loan when you sell stock
- Credit: buy now, pay later
- Installment Buying: pay for an item in increments (infomercials)
- Farmers did not experience the overall prosperity of the 1920s.
- Overproduction/underconsumption of farm goods
- Dust Bowl: drought in the 1930s on the Great Plains
- Caused many small family farmers to migrate west
- California gold rush had the same effect
- Great Depression: Officially begins with the stock market crash of 1929
- Uneven distribution of wealth
- Too much buying on credit
- Slow down of consumption
- Herbert Hoover: president at the start of the Great Depression
- Refused to help the poor (it will destroy their individual initiative)
- Hoovervilles: term used to describe the shantytowns that poor people lived in as a result of the depression
- Example of people’s dislike for his and Republicans’ policies
- New Deal: Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- Purpose: help Americans who were suffering during the Great Depression
- Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC): gov’t provided jobs
- Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA): overall gov’t improvement in a specific region
- Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA): paid farmers not to grow certain crops
- Public Works Administration (PWA): gov’t funded large scale public works
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)/Securities Exchange Commission (SEC): restored confidence in financial institutions (banks, stock market)
- Works Progress Administration (WPA): gov’t provided jobs
- Social Security Act: gov’t money to support elderly
- National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act): legalizes collective bargaining
- Fair Labor Standards Act (Wages and Hours Act): minimum wage, maximum hours
- Court-packing: FDR wanted to add more justices to the Supreme Court to win more judicial support for New Deal legislation (some programs had been ruled unconstitutional)
- Critics: Huey Long, Francis Townsend, Charles Coughlin
- New Deal tended toward socialism OR
- New Deal didn’t do enough to help the poor
- Evaluation:
- Expanded role of federal gov’t
- Federal gov’t takes more responsibility for the welfare of the people
- Did not tackle high unemployment
- Depression ended with US entry into WWII
WWII
- Neutrality Acts 1935-1937: Keep US out of WWII; avoid mistakes that led them into WWI
- US as “Arsenal of Democracy” 1939-1941: US supplied Allies with military equipment for several years before technical entry into the war
- Lend-Lease Act
- Destroyers for Naval Bases
- Cash and Carry
- US entry into WWII was a direct response to Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor (12/7/1941 a day that will live in infamy)
- Japanese citizens forced into interment camps
- Example of racial discrimination
- US feared they might be spies; threat to national security
- Civil liberties ignored in the face of national interest
- Korematsu v. US: upholds internment camps
- Korematsu v. US and Schenck v. US: civil liberties are less important than national security
- Gov’t issued official apology with reparations in 1988
- Homefront
- Consumer rationing: ensures enough supplies for troops
- Women worked in factories to produce wartime materials
- War Bonds sold to raise money
- Greater economic opportunities for women and minorities will later spark civil rights movement
- Manhattan Project: Build atomic bomb
- Yalta Conference: Allied leaders make post-war plans for Europe and Asia
- Nuremberg Trials: first time individuals were held accountable for actions during war
- United Nations: find peaceful solutions to world problems
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Eleanor Roosevelt
Cold War