American History:
A Course Outline for Mr. Lewis’ Class
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Class Rules:
- NO TALKING—at all! (If you’re talking, you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing.)
- No sleeping in class. (Don’t even have your head down.)
- No eating or drinking—anything, ever! (Don’t bring any food items opened or not in the room.)
- No commentary. (The teacher is the teacher. Discussion is one thing, but comments about a lesson or other people is not allowed.)
- The classroom equipment doesn’t belong to you & neither does the person next to you (If you didn’t bring it in with you, don’t touch it!)
- Stay in your assigned seat at all times. (If you’re not in it, you’re not here. The teacher will dismiss you, not the bell.)
Make sure you have the following materials—everyday. (No excuses for not having these at all times!)
- paper—lots of paper (don’t ask the teacher for some…it’s your responsibility to have enough at all times)
- ballpoint pens—only black or dark blue ink (no felt tip and no pencils are to be used)
- your outline
- a highlighter is optional, but you’ll probably need it often so go ahead and have one with you
All assignments must be complete, correct, turned in on time, and done in dark blue or black ink and include the following labeling in
order to receive a passing grade:
- Name (first and last)
- Date assignment is due (not the day it was assigned unless it’s due the same day—like a test, quiz, or class work)
- Period
- Title of assignment (homework, quiz, class work, or test)
Course Description:
The course is meant to expose students to content that is aligned with the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) appropriate for US History in order for those
students to not only pass this course, but also the state-mandated End-of-Course-Test (EOCT). The course is divided into ten (10) units that cover Colonial
America to the current War on Terror.
Course Delivery Method:
This class requires a lot (and I do mean A LOT) of studying. In order to properly study the material that will be tested both in class and on state-mandated
exams, the students will be required to spend at least ten (10) minutes every night reading their units—both notes and chapters. Notes will be taken on both
classroom discussion and a multimedia presentation. These notes will be taken down in this course outline provided by the teacher and maintained properly by
the student as per the teacher’s instructions. The student should be prepared for weekly tests to gauge their comprehension of the material.
Grading procedures:
How things are graded in here is simple—there are tests, there are daily grades, and there are exams. The EOCT is worth 20%. (Passing the EOCT is vital to
passing this course as well as graduating!) The AP Exam, for those taking it, is usually administered in May.
Presidents of the United States
1) George Washington
2) John Adams (Federalist)
3) Thomas Jefferson (Democrat)
4) James Madison (Democrat)
5) James Monroe (Democrat)
6) John Quincy Adams (Democrat)
7) Andrew Jackson (Democrat)
8) Martin Van Buren (Democrat)
9) William Henry Harrison (Whig)
10) John Tyler (Whig)
11) James K. Polk (Democrat)
12) Zachary Taylor (Whig)
13) Millard Fillmore (Whig)
14) Franklin Pierce (Democrat)
15) James Buchanan (Democrat)
16) Abraham Lincoln (Republican)
17) Andrew Johnson (Republican)
18) Ulysses S. Grant (Republican)
19) Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican)
20) James A. Garfield (Republican)
21) Chester A. Arthur (Republican)
22) Grover Cleveland (Democrat)
23) Benjamin Harrison (Republican)
24) Grover Cleveland (Democrat)
25) William McKinley (Republican)
26) Theodore Roosevelt (Republican)
27) William Howard Taft (Republican)
28) Woodrow Wilson (Democrat)
29) Warren G. Harding (Republican)
30) Calvin Coolidge (Republican)
31) Hebert Hoover (Republican)
32) Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Democrat)
33) Harry S. Truman (Democrat)
34) Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican)
35) John F. Kennedy (Democrat)
36) Lyndon B. Johnson (Democrat)
37) Richard M. Nixon (Republican)
38) Gerald Ford (Republican)
39) James (Jimmy) Earl Carter (Democrat)
40) Ronald Reagan (Republican)
41) George Bush (Republican)
42) William Jefferson Clinton (Democrat)
43) George W. Bush (Republican)
44) Barack Hussein Obama (Democrat)
Unit One: Colonial America
SSUSH1 The student will describe European settlement in North America during the 17th century.
a. Explain Virginia’s development; include the Virginia Company, tobacco cultivation, and relationships with Native
Americans such as Powhatan, development of the House of Burgesses, Bacon’s Rebellion, and the development of slavery.
b. Describe the settlement of New England: include religious reasons; relations with Native Americans (King Phillip’s War);
the establishment of town meetings and development of a legislature; religious tensions that led to the founding of Rhode
Island; the half-way covenant; Salem Witch Trials; and the loss of the Massachusetts charter and the transition to a royal
colony.
c. Explain the development of the mid-Atlantic colonies; include the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam and subsequent
English takeover, and the settlement of Pennsylvania.
d. Explain the reasons for French settlement of Quebec.
e. Analyze the impact of location and place on colonial settlement, transportation, and economic development; include
Jamestown and New York City.
SSUSH2 The student will trace the ways that the economy and society of British North America developed.
a. Explain the development of mercantilism and the trans-Atlantic trade.
b. Describe the Middle Passage, growth of the African population, and African-American culture.
c. Identify Benjamin Franklin as a symbol of social mobility and individualism.
d. Explain the significance of the Great Awakening.
SSUSH3 The student will explain the primary causes of the American Revolution.
a. Explain how the end of Anglo-French imperial competition as seen in the French and Indian War and the 1763 Treaty of
Paris laid the groundwork for the American Revolution.
Chapter One: English Settlement
Christopher Columbus, trying to find a westerly route to China, accidentally landed in what became known as the
"New World" on October 12, 1492. He claimed the land for his patron: Spain. Other explorers followed and soon the Spanish
(and Portugal) were settling colonies and harvesting resources for their home country. (The concept of starting a colony to
increase the profits for those who paid for the colony is called mercantilism.) The Indians provided new items that Europe was
unfamiliar with like corn, potatoes, and tobacco. Gold was also hauled back to the "Old World" making Spain a wealthy world
power. Many countries wanted access to the Americas as a way of extending their economic and military prowess, but Spain
guarded her discovery jealously with a large number of ships (called an armada) that patrolled the Atlantic preventing the
weaker nations (like England) from sailing to the New World with any frequency. In 1588, with their armada leading the way,
Spain tried to invade England. Much to the surprise of everyone, the Spanish were defeated. Now that they didn’t have to
worry about the Spanish Armanda sinking them on their way to the Americas, English ships began carrying would-be colonists
across the Atlantic. In 1607, the first permanent English colony of Jamestown, Virginia, was established. (Virginia was named
by Sir Walter Raleigh for Queen Elizabeth I who, because she never married, was called the “Virgin Queen”.) It was founded
by a joint stock company called the Virginia Company. The settlers’ main job was to make money for the company that paid
for the colony (by growing tobacco, for example). Things didn’t go too well for
Did you know...
Jamestown and the settlement might not have survived if it wasn’t for a “special
...the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth
relationship” between John Smith and Pocahontas, the daughter of the Chief
because they ran out of beer?
Powhatan (who was in charge of the local Indians). The English settlers thanked the
Indians for their help by taking even more of their land. The colonists and the
Indians had a love/hate relationship going on. It seemed that they mostly loved to hate each other because they fought
numerous wars over the next four hundred years. (For example, King Phillips’ War in Massachusetts saw the colonists there
fighting against the local Indians whose leader they called King Phillip--hence, the name.)
To help run their colony, Virginia established the House of Burgesses and this was the first representative government
in America. Things didn’t always run smoothly, though. In 1676, Nathaniel Bacon led a group of indentured servants
(basically, people working as slaves to pay off their debts) against the Virginia authorities. Bacon’s Rebellion, as it is known,
saw the burning of Jamestown and this uprising (which died rather quickly) would be very similar to another one in
Massachusetts in 1786. It was significant in that it was the first popular uprising in America. (Popular doesn't mean likeable, it
means it involved a large part of the population.)
Massachusetts Bay (later simply Massachusetts) was founded by Puritans who were Protestants that had a very strict
interpretation of scripture. These folks didn’t take too kindly to things like holidays, dancing, and witches. Their lack of social
liberties made them rather unlikable to the folks in Europe and they came over to the New World to start their own colony.
(Later on, the Puritans of the New England Colonies—those colonies above the Hudson River—would get a rather unsavory
reputation when Massachusetts tried and executed several colonists for supposedly being witches. These became known as the
Salem Witch Trials.)
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Thanksgiving has become synonymous with the Pilgrims who landed in Plymouth in 1620. Like the settlers of
Massachusetts Bay, the Pilgrims were Puritans. Before getting off their ship (the
Did you know...
Mayflower) to start their colony, the Pilgrims wrote out how they wanted to run it and
...we get Thanksgiving dinner
what the laws were going to be. The Mayflower Compact, as it was called, established
because Mary had a little lamb?
the notion of self government in America. (A compact—or pact, for short—is an
agreement.) It wasn’t too long after they got there that they had to rely on the local
Indians for help and guidance on how to survive. To give thanks for their survival they held a large dinner of thanksgiving and
we still celebrate the tradition today.
Chapter Two: Slavery in America
Slaves from Africa first reached the English colonies around 1620 (though the Spanish had them earlier than that) and
the institution was finally abolished here in 1863. The slave trade to the Americas begins with Europeans journeying down the
west coast of Africa and hiring people (usually rival chieftains or opportunistic businessmen) to fill their quota of slaves. They
would then pack them into ships and sail from Africa to the Americas (this journey was called the Middle Passage) along the
first leg of the Triangular Trade (which was part of the overall Columbian Exchange) that brought New World resources to the
Old World. (Goods that traveled to and from the old and New Worlds made up the Columbian Exchange.)
Once in the Americas, the slaves would be exchanged for raw materials which would later be turned into finished
goods in Europe. It was this Columbian Exchange that caused the spread of disease in among the Indians of the Americas.
Particularly devastating was smallpox. Because of the Europeans’ decimation of the Indian population with disease, they had to
find someone else to do the hard work and thus they turned to Africa.
Chapter Three: Reasons for English Colonization
In order to get a colony started in North America you needed two things: money and permission. Sometimes a wealthy
individual would pay for a colony himself (this is known as a proprietary colony). Usually, though, a group of investors would
pool their money and start a colony (called a joint-stock company). In all cases, however, England's government (Parliament)
had to give permission (in the form of a document) for the colony to be created (this is known as a charter colony-Massachusetts was one until they made Parliament so mad they took away their charter). If a colony was ruled directly by the
king then it was called a royal colony.
There were specific reasons why the English (i.e. the British) settled in the New World. Mercantilism was the main
reason but religious unrest in Europe was also a factor. With the Protestant Reformation rolling across Europe, those Catholics
who found themselves in Protestant countries and those Protestants who found themselves in Catholic countries found
themselves in a world of trouble. Arrests, trials, burnings, and other activities carried out by those who thought they were on
God’s side caused one religious group after another to flee to the relative safety of the New World. There, religious folks like
the Puritans would start a colony and live with the belief that they were worshipping the right way.
The colonies started for religious reasons include Pennsylvania (the only colony named for the man who founded it—
William Penn—as a home for Quakers who were pacifists, which meant they were peaceful and shunned violence);
Massachusetts Bay where they had a tradition of electing their own governor; Maryland (founded by Charles Calvert—aka
Lord Baltimore—as a haven for Catholics); Plymouth; and Rhode Island (which was co-founded by Roger Williams and a
woman named Anne Hutchinson who thought the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay weren’t pure enough in their Puritanism and
they were booted out for being pests). However, a unique feature of many of the colonies in America was that though they may
have been founded for their own religious reasons they were quite tolerant—to one extent or another—of other beliefs.
There were some colonies started for more economic reasons like Delaware, New Hampshire, and Virginia. And then
there was Connecticut which has the distinction of having the Fundamentals Orders of Connecticut—the first written
constitution in the colonies.
Still other colonies were founded for political (and/or strategic) reasons. The Dutch had a colony all to their own
called New Netherlands along the Hudson River (named for English explorer Henry Hudson). Things were going along nicely
for the Dutch until some British warships arrived at the main town of New Amsterdam, opened their gun ports, and took the
colony away. The fellow in charge of the expedition was the brother of the King of England, the Duke of York and he quickly
renamed New Netherlands and New Amsterdam after himself and that is why we call these places today New York and New
York City. Later he gave part of his land to another royal who formed the colony of New Jersey. Both New York and New
Jersey are examples of a “proprietary colony” in that it was the owned by an individual.
A long time ago, there was once a single colony called Carolina. Being different environmentally, agriculturally, and
economically the colonists in the northern and southern parts of Carolina began to think of themselves as separate places so
they split up. North and South Carolina became very important colonies not only because of their proximity to the English
colonies in the West Indies (i.e. Caribbean), but also because they were making money—a lot of money—for their English
administrators. Therefore, it was important that the Carolinas be protected.
The Spanish were down in Florida and the English were up in the Carolinas and everyone knew it was just a matter of
time before the two were going to rumble—England and Spain weren’t actually buddies due to the whole Catholic and
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Protestant thing. James Oglethorpe came up with an idea of emptying out the debtor prisons in England and sending them to a
new a colony between the Carolinas and Florida so they could work off their debts. In this way the colony (named Georgia)
could act like a buffer zone that could absorb an attack by the Spanish and give the Carolinas time to prepare their defenses.
(Georgia, the last of the British colonies in North America, would actually be a battleground in such conflicts like the War of
Jenkins’ Ear and Queen Anne’s War.)
Chapter Four: Board of Trade
Parliament—Britain’s government—created the Board of Trade to run the entire British Empire, including the
American colonies. One of their actions was to pass the Navigation Acts which said that English colonies could only trade with
England. That not only meant selling stuff but buying it as well. The colonies weren’t too happy about that since they were
making money on the side by trading with other countries on their own. They were even less thrilled about what came next.
All of the colonies were quite different and each had a royal charter (or some other permission) granting this person or
that group authority to set up a colony. It was a bit complicated trying to oversee all of them so Parliament decided to one big
colony out of some of them to make it easier to manage. They called it the Dominion of New England. It consisted of the
colonies of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. The colonists in those areas didn’t
like the idea of losing their autonomy and they began to chafe at being shackled to British authority.
Chapter Five: The French & Indian War
The French and Indian War was not a war between the French and the Indians. It was called that in the colonies
because the colonists were fighting the French and the Indians. In Europe they call this same war the Seven Years’ War
because it lasted seven years.
As the British were settling in North America, the French were exploring and settling areas along the Mississippi
River, Great Lakes, Ohio River Valley, and Canada. Samuel de Champlain set up the fortress city of Quebec as a fur trading
outpost. They were interested in making money and they had no time for those pesky Englishmen on the other side of the
Appalachian Mountains. As for the English, a lot of the colonies (like Virginia) claimed that their western borders did not stop
at the mountains but continued on to the Pacific Ocean! The French were fortifying the Ohio Valley in an area that is today
Pittsburgh. Virginia claimed that land as their own and sent a young George Washington with a group of soldiers and some
Indian allies to tell the French to quit trespassing. They were surprised to run into a group of French soldiers heading their way
on a similar mission. Next thing you know shooting commences and a world war has begun with England fighting off the
French and the colonists trying to fend off the French and their Indian friends.
During the French and Indian War a famous American proposed a radical idea. Benjamin Franklin was the ultimate
“enlightened” American. He worked his way up from being an apprentice printer to being world famous. He invented bifocal
lenses for glasses, discovered electricity, mapped the Gulf Stream, started America’s first magazine, and invented a smokeless
stove—all before he became involved in America’s independence. It was during the French and Indian War that he proposed
what became known as the Albany Plan of Union to unite the colonies under one central government for mutual defense. No
one took his proposal at the Albany Congress seriously and Franklin would have to wait another 33 years before he would see
his idea come to fruition with the drafting the Constitution.
The Treaty of Paris, 1763, brought an end to the French and Indian War. The French lost the war and Great Britain
became the dominate power in North America. But England found that winning wasn’t all it was cracked up to be since it was
left with an enormous debt from the war. In order to make sure the colonists didn’t start another war England couldn’t afford,
Parliament passed the Proclamation of 1763. That law said that no colonists could settle west of the Appalachian Mountains
(which was good for the Indians living over there but was not a popular idea with the colonists). Eventually, a lot of colonists
began to think that being part of the British Empire was no longer a good thing.
Unit One Outline: Colonial America
I) English Settlement
A) Spanish Armada
B) Jamestown, Virginia (tobacco)
1) Powhatan
2) House of Burgesses
3) Bacon’s Rebellion
C) Pilgrims settle in Plymouth
1) Mayflower Compact
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D) Europeans brought “civilization”, Christianity, & smallpox to the Indians, while the Indians provided survival
techniques and new products
II) Slavery in America
A) Middle Passage
B) Triangular Trade (part of the ____________________________________ that saw slaves taken to the New World
for raw materials later used for finished products in Europe)
III) Four Reasons for English Colonization
A) Mercantilism
B) Imperialism
C) Religious Unrest in Europe due to Martin Luther’s Protestant Reformation
D) Political/Strategic: Georgia
IV) Other Colonies
A) Massachusetts Bay
1) Puritans
2) Half-Way Covenant
3) Salem Witch Trials
B) Connecticut: Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
C) Rhode Island: formed by dissenters from Massachusetts Bay
D) Maryland: founded by Lord Baltimore as a haven for Catholics
E) New Netherland: founded by the Dutch after Englishman Henry Hudson explored the area (Britain’s Duke of York
took it & renamed it New York—the settlement of New Amsterdam became _________________________)
F) Pennsylvania: founded by William Penn as a home for Quakers
V) Board of Trade
A) Navigation Acts
B) Dominion of New England: Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, Plymouth, Connecticut, Rhode Island
VI) French & Indian War (Seven Years' War)
A) French fortifying the Ohio Valley
B) Benjamin Franklin's "Albany Plan of Union" (1754) _____________________________: 1st attempt to unite the
colonies for mutual protection during the French & Indian War
C) Treaty of Paris, 1763 (ended the French & Indian War & made Britain the dominant power in North America, but
it was left with a large ___________________)
D) Proclamation of 1763
VII) The Great Awakening (religious revival in the colonies that laid the groundwork for __________________________ with
its teachings that America was ordained by God
Unit One: Key Terms & Essential Questions
burgess
charter colonies
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
goods
House of Burgesses
indentured servant
Puritans
Massachusetts Bay Colony
mercantilism
Middle Passage
Parliament
Pilgrims
Proclamation of 1763
proprietary colonies
joint-stock company
royal colonies
Salem Witch Trials
triangular trade
Virginia Company
natural rights
Navigation Acts
Jamestown
representative government
Mayflower Compact
1) The main purpose for establishing colonies--especially those located above the Hudson River--was for what?
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2) Why did England want to control colonial trade and maintain the policy of mercantilism?
3) What three types of items were commonly transported with the Columbian Exchange (or Triangular Trade)?
4) What happened to New Amsterdam?
5) What was the reason for Samuel de Champlain's establishment of Quebec in Canada?
6) Who became the dominant power in North America with the signing of the Treaty of Paris 1763?
***
Unit Two: The American Revolution
SSUSH3 The student will explain the primary causes of the American Revolution.
b. Explain colonial response to such British actions as the Proclamation of 1763, the Stamp Act, and the Intolerable Acts as
seen in Sons and Daughters of Liberty and Committees of Correspondence.
c. Explain the importance of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense to the movement for independence.
SSUSH4 The student will identify the ideological, military, and diplomatic aspects of the American Revolution.
a. Explain the language, organization, and intellectual sources of the Declaration of Independence; include the writing of John
Locke [deleted text] and the role of Thomas Jefferson.
b. Explain the reason for and significance of the French alliance and foreign assistance and the roles of Benjamin Franklin and
the Marquis de Lafayette.
c. Analyze George Washington as a military leader; include the creation of a professional military and the life of a common
soldier, and describe the significance of the crossing of the Delaware River and Valley Forge.
d. Explain the role of geography at the Battle of Yorktown, the role of Lord Cornwallis, and the Treaty of Paris, 1783.
Chapter One: Roots of Conflict
The French and Indian War ended with an English victory. They got control of Canada and became the dominate
power in North America. Unfortunately the war also left them with a large debt that they needed to pay off. What Parliament
(England’s government) needed was some revenue—and fast. (Revenue is a fancy term for tax money.) It made sense to them
that since the colonies were responsible for starting the war, they should help pay for it. After all, they reasoned, the colonies
were there to make money for the homeland anyway. (It’s that whole mercantilism thing again.) One of the first ideas
Parliament came up with was the Stamp Act which said that all documents had to be printed on officially stamped paper. This
included everything from playing cards to marriage licenses and since the government sold the stamped paper, they got the
money. That’s why it’s called a tax.
The colonists were not happy with the Stamp Act. In the great scheme of things it wasn’t that big a deal, but the
colonists saw not just a tax but a “violation of their rights.” You see, ever since the colonies were founded they had pretty
much ruled themselves (with just a little oversight from England) and this included levying taxes. When Parliament starting
passing tax laws many in the colonies resented it—especially because no one in America had a vote in Parliament. In 1765, a
meeting called the Stamp Act Congress said only the colonies’ elected legislatures could tax them—not Parliament. Thus
began the cry “no taxation without representation!” Colonists formed themselves into groups and made a real loud ruckus when
the stamped paper arrived in America. In some places the paper was left to rot on the docks, in other places the paper was
destroyed. Stamp agents hired by the government to sell the paper were sometimes run out of town—many were attacked.
Samuel Adams (a Boston radical) set up the Committees of Correspondence to keep the colonies informed about what was
happening and he was also one of the leaders of the Sons of Liberty. This group of men (and women—called the Daughters of
Liberty) did all they could to resist the acts of Parliament.
It became clear that Parliament wasn’t making any money with the Stamp Act (in part due to the colonists’ refusal to
buy goods from England as a protest against the act—this is called a boycott) and it was repealed (i.e. taking something back)
Yet, England still needed money, so they passed a series of taxes known collectively as the Townshend Acts. These acts taxed
everyday items such as nails, paint, wagon wheels, tea, sugar, etc. (like today’s sales taxes). Again, the colonists were not
happy. Up went the cry again: “No taxation without representation!” And, they began another boycott.
Again Parliament found itself not making much money and the Townshend Acts were repealed—except for one tiny
little tax on tea. It would take someone drinking a whole of tea to find the tax burdensome, but that wasn’t the point said the
colonists. They were still not happy with being taxed at all and also with the fact that they were being forced to buy tea from
the East India Company—a business with a lot of influence in Parliament—and no one else. More shouts were heard from
America and in response Parliament passed the Declaratory Act stating firmly that Parliament had the right to rule the colonies
and America better cool it, or else. In fact, things were going to get more heated.
On a cold night in December of 1773, a group of men stormed onto British ships tied to the Boston docks and dumped
a boatload of tea into the harbor. The Sons of Liberty were pretty proud of themselves for the Boston Tea Party but Parliament
decided Boston was going to be made an example of. After all, this wasn’t the first time Boston did things that went against the
authority of the British crown. A few years earlier, a group of British soldiers opened fire on a raucous crowd in Boston—
killing five (including Crispus Attucks, an escaped slave who some said was one of the leaders of the mob). The colonists
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called it the Boston Massacre and the soldiers were put on trial for murder. Boston lawyer John Adams (Sam’s cousin)
defended them and they were eventually found not guilty because the colonists had instigated the event. As to the punishment
of Boston after the Tea Party Virginia patriot Patrick Henry (who once famously stated “give me liberty or give me death”)
said that Parliament was trying to swat a flea with a sledgehammer.
Chapter Two: Punishment
Not only did the Declaratory Act state who was boss, but after the Boston Tea Party, Parliament passed a series of
laws called the Coercive Acts to punish the colonies and in particular Massachusetts. (Coercive means to be forced to do
something.) America called them the Intolerable Acts. (If something is intolerable, it can’t be tolerated. Failing Mr. Lewis’
class, for example, is intolerable.) Among the things that the Intolerable Acts did was close the port of Boston until the
colonists paid for the tea they dumped. (Being almost completely dependent on sea trade, this meant Boston was being
strangled financially.) The Acts limited the authority of colonial governments in making decisions for themselves, installed a
non-elected military governor of Massachusetts (which erased a tradition going back over a hundred years), and saw the
deployment of hundreds of British soldiers to Boston to “keep the peace” and enforce the will of Parliament. (Another act
involved the Canadian city of Quebec and even though it didn’t really affect the colonies.) Another provision of the Intolerable
Acts was to make the colonists responsible for the quartering of soldiers. Quartering is when you’re forced to put soldiers in
your home. They just knock on the door one day and ask “when’s dinner?” You have no choice but to let them in and provide
for them. (Today the 3rd Amendment to the Constitution prevents that.) Of course, they didn’t even have to knock if they didn’t
want to. Years earlier, British authorities were given the right to issue "writs of assistance" which were basically blank search
warrants. They allowed government officials to enter any place they wanted, whenever they wanted, for whatever reason.
(Today, the 4th Amendment says that search warrants have to be specific.)
Chapter Three: Resistance
After Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts, a meeting of the colonies occurred in Philadelphia (the largest city in
America at that time). This meeting became known as the First Continental Congress. They wouldn’t do much except call for
more boycotts and say they would meet again and that second meeting would become the famous Second Continental
Congress.
The Sons of Liberty, Committees of Correspondence, and the Committees of Safety (set up to make sure people did
what the Sons of Liberty wanted them to do and to keep an eye on the British authorities) were all resisting the acts of
Parliament in their own way. Other groups formed themselves into militias and began to practice with their muskets. These
colonists were ready to fight—if called to do so—at a moments’ notice and were subsequently nicknamed the Minutemen. It
would be the Minutemen who would shed the first blood when fighting broke out in the spring of 1775.
Chapter Four: Revolution Begins
For months the British army marched out of Boston and roamed the countryside looking for weapons to confiscate.
You see, the British once thought it would be a good idea to give the colonists muskets to defend themselves against the
Indians. They did this for years, but now that the muskets might be in the hands of Minutemen, the British army wanted them
back. So frequent were these excursions by the British army into the country-side that the colonists set up “alarm riders” to see
which way the soldiers were heading so they could warn people in their path of the army’s approach. (Like people who flash
their headlights to let you know a police car is up ahead running radar.)
The morning of April 19, 1775, started off like any other. The British soldiers in Boston were preparing for their
march into the Massachusetts countryside to look for more weapons to confiscate or—if they were really lucky—to arrest
leaders of the Sons of Liberty who were stirring up trouble. The top prizes were rebel leaders such as John Hancock and
Samuel Adams—both of whom were reported to be about ten miles up the road in the town of Concord. Waiting that morning
along with other alarm riders outside Boston was Paul Revere. When he received the signal from those on the lookout inside
the city, Revere and his fellow riders rode off into the darkness to warn the Minutemen that the British soldiers were on their
way. (It is a myth that Paul Revere rode along shouting “the British are coming!” It would’ve been silly to do so since everyone
he was shouting that to was British as well. They were all British at that time!)
Even though Revere wasn’t the only alarm rider that morning, we remember him because his route happened to be the
same as the one the soldiers took that day. He rode through small villages while on his way to warn Hancock and Adams in
Concord. The road he took passed through the little town of Lexington and upon hearing Revere’s warning, the local
Minutemen formed up on the green (a sort of small park) next to the road. This was not the first time the men of Lexington had
done this. Many times the British soldiers marched by while the villagers stood there trying to look tough. What was different
about this day was that the British stopped. About 700 red-coated soldiers faced about 70 rather surprised Minutemen. The
British commanding officer ordered the colonists to turn over their muskets. Everything was quiet for a few moments when
suddenly a shot rang out. No one knows who fired the shot or where it came from. It might have been the British. It might have
been the Minutemen. It might have been someone firing from a nearby house, or even something as simple as a hunter out that
6
morning rounding up breakfast. It didn’t matter because the British soldiers heard the shot and opened fire on the colonists.
Eight Minutemen fell dead—the others ran. The shot fired at Lexington is referred to as the “shot heard ‘round the world.”
That means that the shot that rang out that April morning changed the course of world history because it started the American
Revolution which led to the creation of the United States.
The British soldiers continued down the road towards Concord. By the time they got there, word had spread
throughout the countryside about the “battle” at Lexington and the Minutemen and their leaders had high-tailed it out of town.
The British soldiers (known as redcoats because of the color of their uniforms) started rummaging around in search of weapons
when a rumor began circulating that they meant to burn the town to the ground. The Minutemen up in the hills above Concord
heard this rumor and headed back towards the town. About 300 of them met up with some soldiers at the Old North Bridge.
Shots were fired and this time some redcoats fell. More and more colonial militia showed up and the British beat a hasty retreat
back to Boston. All along the way they were fired upon from colonists who hid behind trees and fences. Hundreds of soldiers
were wounded or killed. By the time the soldiers made it back to Boston and the protection of the British warships anchored in
the harbor, hundreds more colonial militia had showed up and surrounded the city. In effect, those colonists had become
America’s de facto army as the first day of the American Revolution came to close. (“De facto” means something exists
whether it was planned or not.)
The British found themselves surrounded, but they were by no means trapped. They still had a large army and a
massive navy simply sitting there watching the Americans gather around Boston. A couple months after Lexington and
Concord, the British decided to attack a fortified American position across the bay. History calls it the Battle of Bunker Hill,
but sometimes history gets things wrong. The battle actually took place nearby at Breed’s Hill, but the outcome remains the
same. The American militiamen arrived at Bunker/Breed’s Hill with very little ammunition and muskets that were very
inaccurate. Needing to make every shot count, Colonel William Prescott told his men: “Don’t fire until you see the whites of
their eyes.” (You have to be pretty close to see the whites of someone’s eyes.) Much to the surprise of the British, the
Americans were able to force them back not once, but twice. It was only because the British came back a third time that the
Americans (having run out of ammunition) had to run for their lives. About 400 Americans were killed at Bunker/Breed’s Hill,
but nearly 1000 British soldiers were killed as well. Even though it was a British victory (the side that leaves the battlefield
first loses), their losses at Bunker Hill would haunt them for the rest of the war. Time and time again, the British would have
opportunities to wipe out the American army, but worries about another Bunker Hill—with its heavy casualties—would make
them hesitate, allowing the colonists to escape to fight another day.
Chapter Five: George Washington Takes Command
In Philadelphia, news of the fighting in Massachusetts was met with mixed emotions. Many in the Congress were
concerned, but some welcomed the news as a stepping stone to independence. The first order of business, though, was to adopt
the unregulated colonial militia outside Boston and make it the official Continental Army. Some in Congress feared that doing
such a thing might make England even madder at the colonies, but John Adams—a delegate from Massachusetts—convinced
the Congress to choose Virginia delegate George Washington as leader of the Continental Army. Adams did so because adding
Virginia—the largest and most powerful colony at the time—to the cause helped make the fight in Massachusetts a continental
conflict.
Washington served in the Virginia militia during the French and Indian War (which he started, if you recall) and later
“retired” to his home along the Potomac River called Mt. Vernon. He was chosen as a delegate to the Second Continental
Congress but didn’t do or say much. When fighting broke out in Massachusetts, he began showing up in Congress wearing his
uniform. When told he was to head the American army he agreed to do it but worried that he might not be up to the task.
Washington was an imposing figure. He stood over six feet tall in an age when the average height for a man was about 5’8”.
He had reddish-brown hair and bad teeth. (It’s a myth that he had wooden teeth. Later in life he had dentures made of ivory,
though.) He was quick to anger, would swear a lot, liked to play cards, had an eye for the ladies (but only an eye—he and his
wife Martha were devoted to each other), and he is the single most important person in American history. If it weren’t for
George Washington, America would not be as it is today—or even here at all. He was the only American who could have
become King if he wanted to.
When he arrived at Cambridge just outside Boston, he found that even though his “army” was surrounding the British,
they had no way of making driving the British out. Washington lacked heavy artillery, but he knew that Fort Ticonderoga in
upstate New York (which the Americans had earlier taken from the British) had lots of cannons and Washington sent Henry
Knox to retrieve the artillery. Henry Knox (a bookseller by trade) was Washington’s artillery commander and in the dead of
winter had the heavy cannons transported over the snow-covered mountains on ox-drawn sleds (no mountain roads back then).
Arriving back with the cannons, Washington placed them on Dorchester Heights overlooking Boston. The British could have
attacked Dorchester Heights and driven off Washington’s men, but the idea of another Bunker Hill made the British
commander decide to abandon the city instead. Shortly afterwards, the British army (and lots of Boston residents loyal to
England) loaded onto their warships and sailed away. No one knew where the British were going, and even though Washington
had driven them away, everyone knew they’d be back.
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Chapter Six: The Declaration of Independence
Years before the Revolution there was a religious movement in the colonies called the Great Awakening. This led to
the belief that since God chose America to be settled by His “chosen” people maybe listening to a king in Europe wasn’t such a
good idea. Some say this religious revival contributed to the path towards independence. Yet independence was not a forgone
conclusion in 1776.
The Continental Congress was not eager to declare independence. As fighting broke out in the northern colonies, they
voted to send a letter to King George III of England asking him to basically forgive and forget. Known as the Olive Branch
Petition, George III refused to read it and instead declared the colonies to be in rebellion and ordered the British army to stamp
it out. King George III did more to help Adams and Franklin than he knew with his edict.
It was about this time that a writer named Thomas Paine published a pamphlet called Common Sense which was the
first public call for independence and it helped influence many in the colonies, including some reluctant members of the
Continental Congress.
By 1776, only one third of the colonists in America wanted independence (they were called “Patriots”). One third of
the colonists wanted to remain loyal to the King (they were called “Loyalists” or “Tories’). And one third of the colonists just
wanted to be left alone. John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson, (along with Philip Livingston and Roger
Sherman) were on a “committee of five” to draft a Declaration of Independence that would sway not only that undecided one
third to come over to the Patriot side but convince other nations—like France and Spain—to support America’s efforts.
Thomas Jefferson was greatly influenced in his writing by the Enlightenment sentiments of the day. Also known as
the "Age of Reason," the Enlightenment was a philosophical movement popular in Europe at the time that proclaimed the use
of thoughtful reasoning to solve problems. English philosopher John Locke (who wrote in his Two Treatise on Government
that all men are born with the right to “life, liberty, and the ownership of property”) was a conspicuous source for Jefferson
who paraphrased him when he said all men had certain unalienable rights such as “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
(Jefferson, a southern slave owner who actually despised slavery worried that the term “property” would be applied to Black
Americans, so he changed it to “pursuit of happiness” since it could apply to all races.) For his part, Locke was influenced by
Rousseau’s Social Contract Theory which states that government gets its power from the people it governs. In the Declaration,
Jefferson not only proclaimed American independence but also spelled out in clear language that governments are created by
the people for the people (with the government’s power coming from the “consent of the governed”) and those same people
had the right to change their government if that government denies them their basic “unalienable” rights.
Jefferson’s first draft of the Declaration was mercilessly edited by both the members of the committee (Franklin, for
example, changed the truths we hold from being “sacred and undeniable” to simply being “self-evident”) and the Continental
Congress itself (who had a passage condemning the slave trade removed). In the end, the document not only declared America
independent of Great Britain, but also stated the reasons why it was necessary to do so. A list of 27 complaints (all laid at the
feet of George III) were included and at the end of the document those who signed it pledged to the country their “lives,
fortunes, and sacred honor.” The final draft of the Declaration was approved on July 2nd and they began signing it two days
later—July 4, 1776.
A total of 56 members of the Second Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence (not all at once,
some took months to get by to sign it as they breezed through town) and John Hancock—President of the Congress—signed
first. All of those who signed had no illusions as to the danger they were in for doing so. If America had lost the war (and in
July of 1776 that seemed likely) then the British would have a list of the traitors at the bottom of the very evidence of their
treason. (If a modern politician was told he or she would stand a good chance of dying for signing a document, do you think
ink would ever touch that paper?) Why did they do it then? It all goes back to that final line on the Declaration itself. The
signers pledged their lives to the cause of American liberty (and some would die before the end of the war—Philip Livingston
being one) and were willing to give all they had for it as well (some died broke). And they pledged never to go back on their
word to the nation they had created. To do so would be dishonorable. Honor is a term that is seldom used today, but the word
honor is where we get the word honest. We trust people who are honest and not trust those who aren’t (usually). Someone who
is dishonest has no honor—they are untrustworthy and shunned (usually)—because they don’t keep their word. The 56 men
who put their names on the Declaration of Independence held their honor, and their country’s liberty, sacred.
Chapter Seven: Trenton
As the delegates debated the Declaration in Philadelphia, George Washington was losing to the British in New York.
The British ships that sailed away from Boston a year earlier came back with the largest army Britain had ever sent anywhere
and they were spoiling for a fight. Washington’s forces fell back and continued to fall back until they were trapped against the
Hudson River. The British thought they’d wait until the next day to attack (they still remembered Bunker Hill, you see) but
Washington had his entire army (or, what was left of it anyway) sneak across the river in the middle of the night. In the
morning, the British found that their prey had escaped.
The danger was not over for the Americans because they had to retreat again and again, all the way through New
Jersey. By the time they crossed the Delaware River, winter had arrived and Washington’s army had dwindled down to just a
few thousand—to face the largest army on the planet. The British waited for both the Delaware River to freeze so they could
8
march across it and for Washington’s army to disintegrate because when the year ended in a few weeks a large chunk of
Washington’s army was simply going home. They had signed up for one year’s worth of service in the army and now they
were going back to their families. (Let’s face it, there wasn’t too much incentive for the American’s to stick with the army and
re-enlist. That’s why Washington decided to give them a reason.)
On the other side of the Delaware River was the small village of Trenton. Stationed there was a group of Hessians.
These were German mercenaries (someone who fights only for money) who were recruited by George III to help his army put
down the rebellion. Washington planned to row his army back across the Delaware on Christmas morning and attack the
Hessians while the Germans still had a hangover from the holiday festivities. His own men thought he was nuts for trying, but
they went anyway at it turned out to be a spectacular success. The Hessians were defeated at Trenton and then a few days later
Washington defeated a small British force at Princeton. These two little battles in New Jersey boosted American morale to such
an extent that most of Washington’s men re-enlisted and came back for more. (Besides being patriots, most of the army stayed
in the field throughout the war due to loyalty to George Washington.)
Chapter Eight: Saratoga
While George Washington continued to have a mostly losing record against the British, in upstate New York another
American army won a very important victory. The Americans were led by Horatio Gates (a vain little so and so who not only
tried to take Washington job, but would later become infamous for running away on a fast horse after losing the Battle of
Camden). Gates was enormously jealous of one of his own generals—a man named Benedict Arnold.
Arnold was an arrogant fellow, but he was also a good commander of men and when Gates spitefully told him he
couldn’t fight at the battle later known as Saratoga, Arnold ignored him and rode out to lead his men anyway—getting himself
severely wounded in the leg for his troubles. Gates, the understanding person that he was, wouldn’t let Arnold (who basically
won the battle) attend the surrender ceremony where British General John Burgoyne capitulated to Gates (who took credit for
the whole thing). Saratoga was an important victory because it finally convinced France that America could actually win (with
French help) and they came into the war as an ally of the United States.
For most of the war, when the colonists thought of the two heroes of the Revolution, they thought of George
Washington and Benedict Arnold. They both had forceful personalities and could command the loyalty of their soldiers.
However, whereas Washington seemed to get stronger when faced with personal attacks by those who were jealous of his
position and popularity, Arnold would weaken. With his wound gained at Saratoga, Arnold was put in charge of running the
military affairs of Philadelphia (the British took the city earlier in the war but later abandoned it). There he found life difficult
with all of the political intrigue and gossip that circulates in a town such as that. It was there that Arnold met and married a
young lady—Margaret “Peggy” Shippen—who was half his age and a devout Loyalist. Peggy began to turn Arnold away from
the American cause. The British, Peggy assured him, would give Arnold the benefits and glory he thought he deserved. Finding
little comfort with the Patriots, Arnold became seduced by the benefits of being a Tory.
Chapter Nine: France
America could not have won the Revolution without France’s help. If you recall, the Declaration of Independence was
written in part to convince countries like France and Spain to join us. (Spain would eventually fight England too.) Benjamin
Franklin had been in Paris for months getting money and supplies sent to America as well as slowly working on an alliance
with France. After the news of America’s victory at Saratoga became known, France’s King Louis XVI was convinced to come
in on our side of the war. One French nobleman, known as the Marquis de Lafayette, was so inspired by the American cause of
liberty he sailed over and joined the Continental Army. Washington treated him like a son and America liked him so much that
many towns and counties around the country are named for him. (Louis XVI’s popularity didn’t fare as well. Helping America
win its independence bankrupted France and that was one of the main causes of the French Revolution in 1789 in which the
king was executed.)
Chapter Ten: Monmouth
As Benjamin Franklin worked out deals in France, the Continental Army was hunkered down at Valley Forge,
Pennsylvania. It was traditional at that time for armies to go into “winter quarters” and not fight in the snowy months. (That’s
why Washington’s Christmas attack on Trenton was such a surprise to the Hessians.) To say it was cold at Valley Forge would
be an understatement. To say that the American army suffered a lot of hardships there would be a tragic understatement. Yet
through the winter of 1777, Washington and his men stayed in the field and emerged the following spring a much changed
army thanks to both the news of France's alliance and a little white lie by Benjamin Franklin.
People, like the Marquis de Lafayette, were coming over to join the American cause ever since fighting had broken
out so it was nothing special for Washington to be faced one day with a German-speaking officer wanting to serve. Baron Von
Steuben (a general in the Prussian Army) presented himself with a letter from Benjamin Franklin stating that the German was a
master drill instructor and suggested that Washington let him train his men in the ways of fighting like a “real army.”
Washington happily agreed and Von Steuben began his work.
9
The Baron was a plump fellow with a booming voice who loved to swear and laugh (sometimes at the same time).
The American soldiers loved the guy and training would often break into fits of laughter after Von Steuben would get mad at
some mistake and swear at them in German then call his translator over to swear at them in English. By the spring,
Washington’s men had a new sense of confidence that they would show the next time they faced the British. (The thing is,
though, Baron Von Steuben wasn’t a baron at all. He was a non-commissioned officer in the Prussian Army but Benjamin
Franklin “enhanced” his résumé in order for him to be more acceptable. That little white lie on Franklin’s part made a huge
impact on the American cause.)
Having heard the news that France was joining the fight on the American side, the British decided to consolidate their
forces around New York City and began withdrawing from Pennsylvania and New Jersey. A long train of men and supplies
worked their way up towards New York and it made a tempting target for Washington. He and his men attacked the British at
Monmouth, New Jersey, and this battle ended up being the largest of the war.
Washington rode between the lines, encouraging his men to stand and fight while the British took shots at him.
(Washington was never wounded in any battle. He had bullets rip through his coat or horses shot out from underneath him but
Washington was never touched.) The heat was so bad that day that men on both sides died of heat stroke and Washington
himself rode one horse to death and had to start another. Because of his strength and heroism, Monmouth is considered to be
Washington’s “finest hour as commander” as his army stood toe to toe with the British and fought them to a draw. (The British
left first at the end of the day and whoever leaves first loses, so the Americans could rightfully claim Monmouth as a victory.)
When we look back at the American Revolution we tend to think of it as just a “white man’s war,” but in truth not
everyone who fought was white, or a man. About 7-8% of Washington’s army was Black. In fact, Black Americans joined both
sides of the war because both sides promised freedom if they did so. (Most of the soldiers from the state of Rhode Island were
ex-slaves.) And not only were there Blacks in Washington’s army, sometimes women joined in the fighting. At Monmouth, for
example, Mary Ludwig Hayes carried buckets of water for the thirsty men and when help was needed loading and firing a
cannon she joined in the fight. Since she was carrying water, history nicknamed her “Molly Pitcher.”
Chapter Eleven: West Point
The British were in control of New York City since 1776. New York sits at the mouth of the Hudson River and at the
time of the Revolution the Hudson divided the colonies because half the population lived either one side or the other of that
river. If the British navy got control of the Hudson they could split the colonies in two and—among other things—prevent the
mobility of Washington’s army. That is why protecting the river was vital to the American war effort.
About 50 miles upriver from New York City, where the Hudson makes an “S-turn,” the Americans built a series of
defensive positions named West Point. (This was before it became the premiere military academy it is today.) To protect West
Point, they built defenses for it, and then defenses for those defenses. By the standards of the day, West Point was impregnable
(i.e. unable to be taken by force). Still, what could not be taken from without could be taken from within.
Benedict Arnold was treated harshly by jealous politicians while he served as military commander of Philadelphia (or
so he perceived). His pretty young wife Peggy (a Loyalist) kept telling him about how much he would be appreciated by the
British if he would only switch sides. She even had a “friend” in the British army he could
Did you know...
talk to that she had known for years. Finally, Arnold decided to make himself invaluable to
...the British surrendered to
the British by becoming the new commander of West Point. George Washington, a good
Lincoln, not Washington, at
(if gullible) friend of Arnold’s, agreed to give him the posting. Shortly thereafter Arnold
Yorktown?
began weakening the defenses of West Point.
In the fall of 1780, all through the night, Benedict Arnold was making his final
plans with Peggy’s “friend,” John Andre. As morning broke, Arnold—worried that someone might find it odd that a British
officer was sneaking around with an American officer—told Andre to change into civilian clothes before heading back to the
British lines. He did and it was a big mistake. A short time later, Andre was caught by Americans in the woods outside West
Point. They searched him and found the plans to the fortification in his boot. Realizing the importance of the documents,
Andre’s captors sent them to the commander of West Point: Benedict Arnold!
Arnold knew that he was in big trouble, told his wife she was on her own, and headed off to the British lines. About
that same time Arnold’s good friend, George Washington, arrived at West Point for breakfast. When he found out about the
situation, he was…well, he was very mad (to say the least). Peggy managed to fake her way out of trouble by pretending to be
crazy and Arnold was safe in the hands of the British (who would make him a general and he’d spend the rest of the war
attacking his own countrymen). That left young John Andre to take the fall for the whole treason thing. Andre was hanged on
October 2, 1780, for being a spy. Because he was caught behind enemy lines in civilian clothes, not in uniform, that made him
a spy under the rules of war and spies were hanged. (By the way, the word is hanged—not hung. A person is hanged, a picture
is hung.)
Chapter Twelve: Southern Campaign
With the French now in the war, the British had to protect their interests from France's inevitable attack. The sugar
plantations in the West Indies (i.e. Caribbean) were just as important to the British as the American colonies and they had to
defend both from the French navy. The best way to do that was to have their own fleet stationed in between so they decided to
10
establish a base of operations in the southern colonies where they could keep an eye on both locations and move accordingly
when needed. Charleston, South Carolina, seemed a logical choice with its large harbor and that's where American General
Benjamin Lincoln was forced into the Continental Army’s largest surrender of the war. So happy were the British with their
victory that they decided not to move their army further south and kept it in the Carolinas.
British General, Lord Charles Cornwallis, was a very good general. He knew what he was doing on the battlefield and
he won a lot of victories. For months he traipsed through the back country of the Carolinas
doing pretty much as he pleased while the southern American army (or what was left of it
Did you know...
after Horatio Gates’ fiasco at Camden) nipped at Cornwallis’ heels. Finally the Continental
...Washington save America
army got lucky and defeated the British at a place known as the Cowpens. That loss,
with a pair of eyeglasses?
combined with another one at Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina, caused Cornwallis to
find a place to rest and resupply. He chose the port city of Yorktown, Virginia. George Washington and his French allies saw a
golden opportunity and marched down to trap the British. The French fleet under Admiral DeGrasse sailed up from the West
Indies and kept General Cornwallis from escaping by sea. On October 19, 1781, the British surrendered at Yorktown which
turned out to be the last major battle of the Revolution.
Chapter Thirteen: Treaty of Paris, 1783
The war would drag on for another two years before a peace treaty was signed between the United States of America
and Great Britain. So mad were the British representatives at having to do this they refused to sit for the official portrait of the
signing. To this day the painting is still unfinished with only the Americans pictured. The Treaty of Paris, 1783, did more than
end the war. It won for America its independence with Britain officially recognizing our victory. The Declaration of
Independence didn’t make America an independent nation—the Treaty of Paris, 1783, did. It also changed the political map of
North America by giving the United States a new western border: the Mississippi River.
Unit Two Outline: American Revolution
I) Roots of Conflict
A) French & Indian War left England with a large debt
1) Stamp Act (1st ______________________________________ on the colonies that said all documents
had to be on officially stamped paper)
a) Stamp Act Congress (1765): only the colonial legislatures could tax the colonies
2) Townshend Acts
a) boycott
3) Tea Act
4) Boston Massacre (1770)
B) Sons of Liberty
C) Committees of Correspondence
D) Boston Tea Party (1773)
E) Minutemen (1774)
F) Punishing the Colonies
1) “writs of assistance”
2) Declaratory Act
3) Intolerable Acts: closed the port of Boston; restricted representative government; quartering; and installed
a non-elected military governor of Massachusetts (plus the Quebec Act)
II) Revolution Begins: Lexington & Concord
A) Paul Revere
B) Bunker (Breed’s) Hill: "don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes"
III) George Washington (commander of the Continental—_________________________—Army who drove the British out of
Boston with cannon from Ft. Ticonderoga—brought to him by his artillery commander, __________________________)
11
IV) Declaration of Independence
A) Second Continental Congress
1) Olive Branch Petition
a) Patriots
b) Loyalists (Tories)
B) Thomas Paine's “Common Sense”
C) Committee of Five
D) July 4, 1776
1) “…unalienable rights…”
a) “…life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…”
b) John Locke’s Two Treatise of Government
2) “…consent of the governed…”
a) Rousseau’s Social Contract Theory
V) Trenton (Washington crossed Delaware River to defeat the ______________—German mercenaries—Christmas, 1776)
VI) Saratoga
VII) Marquis de Lafayette
VIII) Valley Forge
A) Baron Von Steuben
IX) Monmouth
A) Blacks
B) Women: “Molly Pitcher”
X) West Point: Hudson River
A) Benedict Arnold's Treason
XI) Yorktown, VA (1781)
A) General Cornwallis
XII) Treaty of Paris, 1783
Unit Two: Key Terms & Essential Questions
Battles of Lexington & Concord
Boston Massacre
Committees of Correspondence
Enlightenment
Quartering Act
Sons of Liberty
Townshend Acts
Battle of Saratoga
Boston Massacre
Great Awakening
First Continental Congress
Second Continental Congress
Stamp Act
Treaty of Paris 1783
Battle of Yorktown
Coercive Acts
Declaration of Independence
Minutemen
Social Contract Theory
Tea Act
1) Who was Samuel Adams?
2) What were the main issues of contention the colonists had with England prior to the Revolution?
3) For what role was Thomas Jefferson's most remembered during the Revolution?
4) What effect did Thomas Paine's Common Sense have on the independence movement?
5) What effect did the Townshend Acts have on the colonists?
6) What did "no taxation without representation" mean?
7) What was the result of the Boston Tea Party?
8) What did the First Continental Congress do in response to the Coercive Acts?
9) In what ways were the American colonists divided by the concept of independence from Britain?
10) How did the Treaty of Paris 1783 change the political map of North America?
11) Of what importance were men such as the Marquis de Lafayette and Baron von Steuben to the American cause?
12
12) Why did the colonists participate in the Boston Tea Party?
13) The Declaration's contention that the people have a right to change their government when it denies them their rights is an
example of what enlightened idea?
14) In what ways is Benjamin Franklin an example of "social mobility"?
15) What can be accurately said about George Washington as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army?
***
Unit Three: The Constitution
SSUSH5 The student will explain specific events and key ideas that brought about the adoption and implementation of
the United States Constitution.
a. Explain how weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation and Daniel Shays’ Rebellion led to a call for a stronger central
government.
b. Evaluate the major arguments of the anti-Federalists and Federalists during the debate on ratification of the Constitution as
put forth in The Federalist concerning form of government, factions, checks and balances, and the power of the executive,
including the roles of Alexander Hamilton and James Madison.
c. Explain the key features of the Constitution, specifically the Great Compromise, separation of powers (the influence of
Montesquieu), limited government, and the issue of slavery.
d. Analyze how the Bill of Rights serves as a protector of individual and states’ rights.
Chapter One: Republic
America is not a democracy. We have never been a democracy. We are a republic, which is different. A democracy has
everyone vote—like ancient Athens. A republic is a representative democracy in that we elect leaders to represent us. They
vote in our name and if they don’t vote the way we like, we chose someone else who does. And to make sure they know how to
do their jobs as representatives of the people, rules for the government are spelled out on paper.
The first document to rule the newly created United States of America was the Articles of Confederation. Drafted even
while the Revolution was still going on by the Continental Congress, the Articles were a product of their time. Those who
wrote it were deathly worried about a strong central government trampling on the rights of the people as well as those of the
states. (The states at that time considered themselves to be thirteen individual countries that just happened to be united for
mutual benefit.) The government under the Articles had little power to do anything substantial though the Article Congress was
able to pass the Northwest Ordinance which organized the areas around the Great Lakes and led to settlement of what was then
called the Northwest Territory and how new states would be added to the Union.
One of the main problems was the inability of the central government to tax. Taxes are necessary for the government to
pay for essential services like raising an army to not only protect the country but also enforce the laws of the land. The
weakness of the government under the Articles became quite evident when an uprising of Massachusetts farmers occurred.
Chapter Two: Failure of the Articles
In 1786, Daniel Shays led a group of farmers in protest against state authorities and it grew into a full blown rebellion
(today we’d call it a riot). Massachusetts politicians begged the central government to help put down the rebellion but the
Article Congress reminded them that since they couldn’t tax they had no money for an army. Even though Shays’ Rebellion
was eventually put down, it proved that under the Articles of Confederation the central government could not enforce its own
laws. Afterwards, a call went out for a convention of delegates to meet in Philadelphia to “fix” the Articles so things like law
enforcement would be possible. What the government was worried about was society declining into anarchy (i.e. a total lack of
law and order). If there is a breakdown in society, people will become desperate for someone—anyone—to make them feel
safe again. That usually meant the rise of a tyrant (this happened a lot throughout history).
Chapter Three: Constitutional Convention
After Shays’ Rebellion, the states met at a convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to discuss the failures of the Articles.
Of course, the delegates at the convention weren’t supposed to write a new constitution, they were only supposed to “fix” the
Articles of Confederation so there wouldn’t be chaos in the country. The first thing the delegates did was toss out the Articles
and start from scratch. They wrote a whole new constitution for the country and those that did it are called the Framers.
George Washington was chosen president of the convention but he did little to intervene in the ongoing debates amongst
the delegates. Benjamin Franklin was there but Jefferson and Adams were now ambassadors in France and England so they
were absent. James Madison was there (all 5’ 4” of him) and he’s credited with being the “father of the Constitution” but
unlike the Declaration of Independence, no single person wrote the whole Constitution. It was created by committees and
13
compromises. Madison is considered to be the “father of the Constitution” not because he wrote it but because he worked so
hard to get it written at all. (Madison did write parts of the Constitution—like the Bill of Rights—and his journal of the
proceedings is one of the few records we have of how the Constitution came about.)
One of the debates the delegates engaged in involved how to represent the states in the new Congress. The Articles
Congress was unicameral (one chamber) and each state had one vote. Small states like New Jersey liked that idea because they
wouldn’t be dominated by larger states. Virginia, the largest state at that time, wanted representation to be based instead on a
state’s population. Neither side would budge so a compromise was reached. Called the Great Compromise, it combined aspects
of the New Jersey Plan and the Virginia Plan by creating a bicameral legislature (two chambers—or “houses”). The first
“house” of Congress would be the House of Representatives and members of that chamber would be chosen based on a state’s
population (the more people in the state, the more representatives they’d get). This made states like Virginia happy. The second
“house” would be the Senate and every state, no matter what the size, would get two Senators. This made states like New
Jersey happy.
The Constitution divides power between the states and the central government (this is called federalism). It also divides the
central government into three branches—each with its own powers separate from the other branches. (For example, the
Legislative Branch—Congress—can make the laws, but it is the Executive Branch—the President—who enforces them.) The
reason the federal government is divided up is to make sure that no branch becomes too powerful and takes over. This is based
on an idea by French philosopher Charles Montesquieu in that a series of checks and balances keeps each branch of the
government equal. (For example, a President can veto a bill passed by Congress, but Congress can override that veto. And the
Supreme Court can declare that law unconstitutional.) And to make certain that the states realized who was boss, a paragraph
was written into the Constitution stating that it was the “supreme law of the land.” Known as the Supremacy Clause, this part
of the Constitution makes it clear that there is no higher law than constitutional law. If the Constitution says you can’t do it,
then it can’t be done. However, just to cover themselves, the Framers put in what is known as the Elastic Clause to make it
easier for them to pass laws they feel are "necessary and proper."
Once it was decided that representation in the House of Representatives (or, more simply, the House) was to be based on
population another problem arose. The South was particularly concerned with representation in Congress since they had a
much lower population than the North and they were experiencing an inferiority complex. They wanted to count their slaves in
with their population to boost their totals and get more representation in the House. The North understandably said that you
can’t count slaves as citizens and keep them as slaves at the same time. The southern states were ready to chuck the whole
Constitution thing and go home when another compromise was reached. It was decided that they would allow the South to
count their slaves, but only as 3/5’s of a non-slave. In other words, for every five Blacks they would count them as three
Whites. The Three-Fifth’s Compromise made the South happy enough to stay at the Constitutional Convention (and for the
first time, Black Americans were actually counted as citizens—albeit provisionally). With the 13th Amendment and the end of
slavery, the Three-Fifth’s Compromise was, of course, no longer necessary.
Chapter Four: Ratification
When the new Constitution hit the streets people went nuts! Some folks (known as Federalists) thought it was the best
thing ever and that we needed a strong central government. Others (known as Antifederalists) wanted to keep the Articles of
Confederation just as they were—weak central government and all. To help sell the idea of the Constitution to the American
people, a series of newspaper articles were written by John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison called the Federalist
Papers (or, simply, The Federalist). These articles explained what the purpose of the Constitution was and how it would work.
(Think of it as an instruction manual for the Constitution.) Federalists were worried that there'd be chaos if the government
wasn't strengthened. However, whereas the Federalists were on the lookout for anarchy, the Antifederalists were wary of
monarchy.
The Antifederalists worried that the new central government would trample on the people’s unalienable rights. The
Federalists said that wouldn’t happen but they’d put a list of protections into the Constitution if the Antifederalists would just
lighten up. That did the trick and the Constitution was eventually ratified (approved) by all thirteen states (Rhode Island being
the last of the original thirteen). In 1789, the Federalists kept their promise and James Madison’s ten amendments to the
Constitution were included protecting Americans from possible abuses by their government. It is known collectively as the Bill
of Rights.
The 1st Amendment protects the rights of Americans in the areas of speech, religion, press, assembly, as well as the right
to complain about the government. At the other end of the Bill of Rights, the 9th and 10th Amendments protects both
individual and states' rights. You see, the government only works if the people who elect it know the limits to its power. That is
why every American should learn citizenship so that they're aware that the government answers to us, not the other way
around.
14
Unit Three Outline: The Constitution
I) Republic
A) Articles of Confederation
1) Northwest Ordinance (provided an orderly plan for statehood for the _____________________________)
B) Failure of Articles: Shays’ Rebellion (1786)
II) Constitutional Convention
A) James Madison ("Father of the Constitution")
B) Checks & Balances (Montesquieu) divide government into branches; each branch would have something only they
could do (___________________________________________); each had a chance to keep another from doing
something (________________________________________)
1) Three Branches
2) Virginia Plan: representation based on population
3) New Jersey Plan: representation the same for each state
4) "The Great Compromise"
a) House of Representatives
b) Senate
5) Three-Fifths Compromise
6) Supremacy Clause
7) Federalism (power shared by both the central government & the _________________)
III) Ratification
A) Federalists vs. Antifederalists
1) The Federalist Papers
B) Bill of Rights
IV) Writ of Habeas Corpus
V) Electoral College (each state’s electoral vote = number of members of ________________________ from that state,
& they choose the President)
VI) Impeachment
Unit Three: Key Terms & Essential Questions
Articles of Confederation
Congress
delegate
Framers
impeachment
limited government
Northwest Territory
Senate
Virginia Plan
bicameral
constitution
Executive Branch
Great Compromise
Judicial Branch
New Jersey Plan
ratify
Supreme Court
Three-Fifths Compromise
1) What effect did the Northwest Ordinance have on westward expansion?
15
Bill of Rights
Constitutional Convention
federalism
House of Representatives
Legislative Branch
Northwest Ordinance
republic
unicameral
2) The President vetoes a law passed by Congress but then both Houses override that veto. Later, the Supreme Court declares
the law unconstitutional. What is this an example of?
3) From which part of the Constitution does the following quote come from: "Congress shall make law respecting to the
establishment of religion...or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press..."
4) Though the Constitution is the supreme law of the land, the federal government can not act without answering to whom?
5) What part of the Constitution helped balance the power between large and small states?
6) What contributed to the demise of the Articles of Confederation?
7) Why did the Framers believe freedom of the press to be an essential right?
8) What was added to the Constitution in order to ensure its ratification?
9) Why is teaching citizenship a valuable part of American education?
***
Unit Four: The Early Republic
SSUSH5 The student will explain specific events and key ideas that brought about the adoption and implementation of
the United States Constitution.
e. Explain the importance of the Presidencies of George Washington and John Adams; include the Whiskey Rebellion, nonintervention in Europe, and the development of political parties (Alexander Hamilton).
SSUSH6 The student will analyze the impact of territorial expansion and population growth in the early decades of the
new nation.
a. Explain the Northwest Ordinance’s importance in the westward migration of Americans, and on slavery, public education,
and the addition of new states.
b. Describe Jefferson’s diplomacy in obtaining the Louisiana Purchase from France and the territory’s exploration by Lewis
and Clark.
c. Explain major reasons for the War of 1812 and the war’s significance on the development of a national identity.
d. Describe the construction of the Erie Canal, the rise of New York City, and the development of the nation’s infrastructure.
e. Describe the reasons for and importance of the Monroe Doctrine.
SSUSH7 Students will explain the process of economic growth, its regional and national impact in the first half of the
19th century, and the different responses to it.
a. Explain the impact of the Industrial Revolution as seen in Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin and his development of
interchangeable parts for muskets.
b. Describe the westward growth of the United States; include the emerging concept of Manifest Destiny.
c. Describe reform movements, specifically temperance, abolitionism, and public school.
d. Explain women’s efforts to gain suffrage; include Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Seneca Falls Conference.
e. Explain Jacksonian Democracy, expanding suffrage, the rise of popular political culture, and the development of American
nationalism.
SSUSH8 The student will explain the relationship between growing north-south divisions and westward expansion.
a. Explain how slavery became a significant issue in American politics; include the slave rebellion of Nat Turner and the rise of
abolitionism (William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and the Grimke sisters).
b. Explain the Missouri Compromise and the issue of slavery in western states and territories.
c. Describe the Nullification Crisis and the emergence of states’ rights ideology; include the role of John C. Calhoun and
development of sectionalism.
Chapter One: Nation Takes Shape
The Constitution used to say, before it was changed by the 12th Amendment, that the person who got the most
electoral votes became President and whoever was runner-up became Vice President. George Washington (the only person to
ever get elected unanimously—twice) became the first President of the United States on April 30, 1789, and John Adams
became Vice President—a job Adams said was completely worthless since the only role a Vice President has is to break ties in
the Senate and take over if the President dies. For his Cabinet, Washington chose some pretty significant names. Henry Knox
was the first Secretary of War (Secretary of Defense today—it sounds nicer); Edmond Randolph was the first Attorney
General; Alexander Hamilton was the first Treasury Secretary (he’s the reason our economy isn’t based solely on crop prices
today); and Thomas Jefferson as the first Secretary of State.
If you recall, one of the main problems under the Articles of Confederation was that the government couldn’t enforce
its own laws. The Constitution changed that. In 1791, Congress passed a law taxing whiskey. Farmers in western Pennsylvania
didn’t take too kindly to this excise tax and rioting broke out in 1794. Washington ordered out the militia (we didn’t have a
standing army at that time), and led the army as Commander-in-Chief against the rioters who essentially wet their pants and
went home. This so-called Whiskey Rebellion proved that the government could now enforce its own laws.
16
Chapter Two: Rise of Political Parties
After serving two terms, George Washington left the Presidency. Before he left office, however, Washington warned
against such divisive issues as political parties and sectionalism. He said that the party system would divide people and the
belief that a person’s state is more important than the nation as a whole would divide the country—he was right. Washington
also said to be wary of “foreign entanglements.” In his Farewell Address Washington urged a policy of neutrality (i.e. not
taking sides). John Adams (our 2nd President) tried to keep that policy but with war raging in Europe between our closest
economic allies (France and England) that became increasingly difficult to do.
Adams’ Vice President ended up being Thomas Jefferson (who came in second in the electoral vote count) and that
did not making things easy for Adams since they belonged to two different political parties with differing views on what
America should be. Jefferson wanted America to remain rural and agrarian (i.e. farm-based) while Adams—like Alexander
Hamilton—wanted a country full of businesses and people making money by doing commerce.
The election of 1796 was the first time that there were political parties involved (Washington was the only President
not to belong to a political party—officially). The first two political parties were the Federalist Party (led by John Adams—
and, by extension, Alexander Hamilton) and the Democratic-Republican Party (led by Thomas Jefferson). The DemocraticRepublicans have been called numerous things over the years. Sometimes they are called simply Republican (but they aren’t
the same as today’s Republicans); sometimes they are known as Jeffersonian Democrats, Jeffersonian Republicans, Jacksonian
Democrats, or—as they are called today—Democrats.
In addition to economics, the two parties also differed on foreign policy. The Federalists wanted to be friendly with
England (i.e. pro-English, which by definition made them anti-French) while the Democratic-Republicans wanted to be
friendly with France (i.e. pro-French, which by definition made them anti-English). The Federalists and Adams won the
election of 1796 due not only to lingering loyalty to Washington (who wanted Adams to win) but resentment towards our old
ally France who meddled in the election. The French publically backed Jefferson and Americans didn’t take too kindly to
foreigners telling them who to vote for. The French were also taking American sailors off American ships and forcing them to
fight the English (France and England were at war again after the 1789 French Revolution). This process is called impressment
and was another reason for Americans turning (for a time) against the pro-French Democrats.
Chapter Three: The XYZ Affair
The Presidency of John Adams was difficult to say the least. He served only one term before being defeated by his
own Vice President (Jefferson), had to live in the shadow of George Washington (who could measure up to that?), and
struggled against people in his own party who were more loyal to Alexander Hamilton (who pulled strings from his home in
New York City) than to him. (He was, however, the first President to live in the White House, so that's something.)
The main goal of Adams’ time in office was to prevent a war with France. He sent representatives to try to mediate
tensions, but when they got there the French representatives refused to talk to them until a little money was slipped their way—
under the table, if you get the gist. The American diplomats were shocked that they were being asked to pay a bribe just to talk
to the French government. They sent details of the meeting and the French demand for a bribe to President Adams using a code
to describe the French diplomats. The message referred to them as Mr. X, Mr. Y, and Mr. Z. When they found out about this
“XYZ Affair”, the American people were mad—to put it mildly. Though he still hoped to prevent it, even Adams began to
accept that war with France was coming. The Congress—reluctant until now to provide for a standing army—began to build up
America’s military, created a navy, and called George Washington out of retirement to lead the army.
The United States’ navy was brand new when it started to go head to head with the French navy in the Atlantic. This
was an unofficial and undeclared war with France and historians have labeled it a “Quasi War”—quasi meaning “sort of” or
“not quite.” John Adams worked hard to keep from having to openly declare war. He was ultimately successful because right
before the election of 1800 an agreement was reached with France. Unfortunately for Adams, the news came too late to get him
re-elected.
While preparations for war were going on, the Democrats worked to undermine everything Adams did. With the help
of friends in the media, they made daily assaults on his character, his motives, and his Presidency. (Even Thomas Jefferson, a
former friend of Adams and his Vice President, joined in the fray by leading the opposition from his home in Monticello,
Virginia.) Naturally, all of these assaults can become too much so it’s no surprise that Adams signed two bills that were meant
to silence the opposition to his administration.
John Adams signed into law the Alien and Sedition Acts and modern historians (who tend to lean to the left
politically) have never forgiven him for it. The Alien Act made it harder for immigrants to become citizens. Just as it is today,
most of those newly arrived to this country vote for the Democrat Party and the Federalists were trying to curtail the ranks of
the opposition. The Sedition Act (sedition being when you help the nation’s enemies) made it illegal to criticize the
government. Clearly the Sedition Act violated the First Amendment (and the courts would rule as such later), but the Alien and
Sedition Acts also led to some other far-reaching issues.
After the Alien and Sedition Acts were signed into law the states of Kentucky and Virginia each passed resolutions
stating that based on the 10th Amendment a state had the right to ignore (or, nullify) federal law. By establishing this notion of
17
“states’ rights” the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions would lead directly to the Nullification Crisis in 1832 when South
Carolina tried to leave the Union over a disputed tariff and the Civil War in 1861.
Chapter Four: Election of 1800
John Adams was defeated by Thomas Jefferson for re-election in 1800. Adams was understandably bitter towards
Jefferson and left Washington DC without attending Jefferson’s inauguration. They would eventually make up. Ironically, they
both died within hours of each other on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration on July 4, 1826. Jefferson’s final
words were “Is it the fourth?” and Adams’ final words were “Jefferson survives.” (Adams had no way of knowing that his
friend had died earlier in the day.)
Chapter Five: Marbury v. Madison
The day before he left office John Adams was busy filling open positions on the federal bench with Federalists—
staying up late into the night in some cases. (The Bench is the nickname for being a judge.) There was nothing illegal about
what Adams did, but when the Democratic-Republicans took over the next day they weren’t happy. (You see, they wanted to
fill the positions with Democrats and were mad because Adams had done it first with Federalists.) The Constitution states that
you can’t fire a federal judge once he’s been approved by the Senate (you can impeach him for a crime, but that’s it) but the
Democrats passed the Judiciary Act anyway which basically undid everything that Adams had done with those so-called
“Midnight Judges.”
William Marbury had been promised a job as a judge but the paperwork got lost in the shuffle as the Jefferson
Administration took over and since Marbury was a Federalist the new Democrat Secretary of State, James Madison, refused to
let him take his position. Marbury sued and the Supreme Court—led by Chief Justice John Marshall—ruled that the Judiciary
Act was unconstitutional. This was the first ever law to be declared as such in a process called Judicial Review. The Supreme
Court is always striking down laws with Judicial Review today, but Marbury v. Madison established the idea.
Chapter Six: Louisiana Purchase
In 1803 the western border of the United States was the Mississippi River. For centuries that river was under the
control of the French who discovered it and they weren’t too keen on letting American farmers use their river to ship goods.
America wanted control of the Mississippi and offered to buy the town of New Orleans (by which everything in and out of the
river flowed). France in 1803 was at war with England (again) and the French leader,
Did you know...
Napoleon Bonaparte, was in need of money so he offered to sell the entire Louisiana
...we know where the Corps
Territory (which included the Mississippi) for about $15 million. That sounds like a lot of
of Discovery camped
money—and it is—but it worked out in the end to be a mere few cents an acre. The
because
of "hand holding"?
Louisiana Purchase literally doubled the size of the United States overnight and was the
largest territorial increase in American history.
In order to find out just what was in the new territory they had purchased, Thomas Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis
and William Clark to explore it. Lewis and Clark’s expedition (called the Corps of Discovery) traveled all the way to the
Pacific Ocean in what is today Oregon. They were helped on their travels by an Indian guide named Sacagawea. With her
assistance, the Lewis and Clark Expedition led to increased settlement west of the Mississippi River.
Chapter Seven: War of 1812
The war in Europe between England and France had an impact on America as well. Thomas Jefferson spent his two
terms as President trying to maintain a policy of neutrality and Congress passed Embargo Acts to prevent our merchant ships
from running into combat zones. Unfortunately all this did was hurt our economy. (An embargo is when you refuse to sell
something to someone. This is the opposite of a boycott, which is not to buy something from someone.)
James Madison became President next and he also tried the neutrality route—at first. During his first term he was
under pressure to do something about the British habit of impressing our sailors. If you recall from the Adams’ administration,
impressment is when you take sailors off of a ship and make them fight for another country’s navy. We were mad at the French
for doing this before, now we’re mad at the English. A lot of the pressure Madison was under came from the growing influence
of the western states. Of course, the West back then was made up of places like Kentucky and Tennessee. Those who were
clamoring for war were called Hawks.
Madison was no fool and he could read the temper of the nation so he ran for re-election with the promise he’d declare
war if he won. He did and…he did. In 1812 America went to war with England
again (hence the clever name: War of 1812). We should never have done it. This
Did you know...
country was picking a fight with the strongest empire on the planet and we didn’t
... a reporter stole the President's
even have an army and barely a navy. It was only by pure luck that England was
clothes in order to get an interview?
distracted by Napoleon’s resurgence in Europe otherwise they would have stomped
18
all over us. As it was, we were just barely able to hold our own even though Washington DC fell to British forces that had a
good time setting fire to everything.
Their next target was a little ways up the Chesapeake at Fort McHenry (just outside Baltimore, Maryland). The
bombardment by the British navy lasted all night and an American lawyer on one of those ships was so moved by the fact that
the American flag was still flying above the fort the next day that he jotted down a poem about the battle. Once back on land,
the lawyer’s poem was published and became very popular. Eventually, someone put the poem to music (based on an old
British drinking song). The lawyer’s name was Francis Scott Key. His poem was called “The Defense of Fort McHenry.” We
know it today as the Star-Spangled Banner—our national anthem.
Fighting went on for two years. Finally, in 1814, the Treaty of Ghent (pronounced “gent”—the “h” is silent) was
signed but word of the end of the war didn’t reach America for weeks—and even longer for it to reach the British and
American forces down in Louisiana. In early 1815 the largest and last battle of the War of 1812 took place. The Battle of New
Orleans should never have happened since the war was already over, but neither side knew it. The American general who won
the battle, Andrew Jackson, became a national hero.
Did you know...
The War of 1812 was a fight of pride on the part of America. We felt that we
...Washington DC was saved
weren’t getting the respect we thought we deserved from our parent country and just like
by a tornado?
an angry teenager we lashed out. The country may have felt itself vindicated by the war,
but in reality we only managed to survive it.
Chapter Eight: The Monroe Doctrine
After Madison finished his two terms, James Monroe became President. He did lots of things while in office but it was
his Monroe Doctrine that is best remembered. In his doctrine, Monroe warned the nations of Europe to stay out of the western
hemisphere (i.e. the Americas). We would take care of this part of the world and no one else could interfere, he said. The
Monroe Doctrine would be used throughout the rest of American history whenever Presidents need to do something in Central
or South America. (The Roosevelt Corollary—see Unit Six—and the Cuban Missile Crisis—see Unit Ten—are prime
examples of putting the Monroe Doctrine to use.)
Chapter Nine: The Era of Good Feelings
The Presidency of James Monroe is synonymous with the period of American history in which we felt pretty good
about ourselves. Americans felt we had won the War of 1812 and a sense of strong patriotic feeling—called nationalism—
washed over the country. This so-called Era of Good Feelings was helped by a good economy, new territorial expansion,
building projects, and little political strife (for a time) after the demise of the Federalists left only the Democrats in charge.
One of the building projects during that time was the completion of the Erie Canal which opened up the mid-west to
commerce and settlement by connecting the Great Lakes with the Hudson River. This marvel of engineering would have the
effect of making New York City an economic center since the Hudson flows right passed it. Another project was the National
Road which finally allowed quicker passage over the Appalachian Mountains through the Cumberland Gap. The flow of
westward settlement was greatly increased due to these building projects. The coming of the railroad during this time
accelerated the process.
Way back when Alexander Hamilton was Treasury Secretary, the government had chartered the Bank of the United
States to basically be the government’s banker (like the Federal Reserve is today). Some people hated it because they feared it
would control the nation’s economy, but during the Era of Good Feelings, the bank’s charter was renewed and the Second
Bank of the United States continued to be a lightning rod of controversy.
Henry Clay, a famous member of Congress who was heavily involved in numerous aspects of the early republic, was a
strong proponent of what he called the American System. With this, America would build up its infrastructure physically—
with new roads and canals—and financially—with the Bank of the United States.
Chapter Ten: Cotton Gin
By the late 1700s and early 1800s, slavery was a dying institution. There had always been abolitionist movements
trying to end slavery (and Nat Turner’s slave uprising in Virginia that resulted in the murder of sixty people is a violent
example of how much slavery was resented), but what was causing some people to stop using slaves was more economic than
philanthropic. It was very expensive to own slaves. Only one in four farmers in the South even owned one because it cost so
much. A major cash crop for the South was cotton but it was difficult to cultivate and produce. It took a lot of slaves to produce
cotton and it was time consuming, which drove up production costs and reduced profits.
Then along came a fellow named Eli Whitney. He was known for developing the concept of interchangeable parts (an
idea that began as a way of making muskets for the army that helped spark America’s own Industrial Revolution) and while
visiting a friend outside Savannah, Georgia, he came up with the Cotton Gin. This hand-cranked machine removed the sticky
seeds from the cotton thereby cutting production time and increasing the about of cotton that could be sold. By increasing the
profits of cotton farmers, Whitney’s Cotton Gin (which is short for “engine”) had the unintended effect of making slavery more
19
economical and therefore more slaves were bought—causing it to make a comeback. And as people began to move westward,
they could now afford to bring their slaves with them and this spread of slavery would be a key factor in not only bringing
about the end of the Era of Good Feelings, but starting the Civil War as well.
Chapter Eleven: End of the Era of Good Feelings
The slavery issue was just one of the factors in bringing on the end of the Era of Good Feelings. The economy started
to slip, squabbling began amongst the Democrats, and as new states were added to the Union it posed a threat to the delicate
balance of power in Washington DC between slave states (those that allowed slavery) and free states (those that didn’t). For
years representation in Congress was pretty much even between the two, but each side was wary of the other gaining too much
influence. Things came to a head in 1820 when Missouri wanted to come into the Union as a slave state.
The Missouri Compromise allowed Missouri to come in as a slave state and Maine to come in as a free state (keeping
the balance of power). The compromise also prohibited slavery from spreading above the 36º 30’ line on the map. It also made
people who found escaped slaves return them--or else--under the Fugitive Slave Law. (The Missouri Compromise worked out
fine for about thirty years until California wanted to come in as a free state.)
In the election of 1824, four Democrats were after the Presidency. When the electoral votes were tallied, the top two
winners were John Quincy Adams (son of the former President) and Andrew Jackson (hero of the Battle of New Orleans), but
neither had enough votes to become President. The third candidate died of a stroke and the other was Speaker of the House
Henry Clay. The Constitution allows the House of Representatives to chose the President if no one wins enough electoral votes
and Jackson thought he had this whole thing sewed up. He was bitterly surprised when the votes were counted in the House
and John Quincy Adams was declared President. It turned out that Henry Clay had thrown his support behind Adams and
Clay’s supporters voted accordingly. (I’m sure it was just a coincidence that Adams then picked Clay to be his Secretary of
State.) Naturally, Jackson was more than a little angry. He felt cheated out of the Presidency and called this a “corrupt
bargain.” He vowed to beat Adams in the next election and in 1828 he did just that—issuing in what historians call the
Jacksonian Democracy.
Chapter Twelve: Age of Jackson
Andrew Jackson’s election is sometimes called a "victory for the common man" because suffrage (right to vote) was
extended in the late 1820s to more men than ever before (not women—just men). Jackson’s two terms as President were full of
turmoil. A dispute over a tariff led John C. Calhoun of South Carolina (Jackson’s VP) to threaten secession from the Union in
1832 during the Nullification Crisis. Despite the state citing the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions as justification for their
actions, Jackson sent troops and South Carolina backed down—this time. (You see, the North liked tariffs because it protected
domestic manufacturing, but the South didn’t like them because it hurt their crop exports and raised prices on their imports.) In
1836, Jackson effectively destroyed the Bank of the United States by removing government assets. He did it mainly because
the bank was supported by Henry Clay who Jackson hadn’t forgiven for the “corrupt bargain” back in 1824.
The old expression is “to the victor go the spoils.” In other words, the one who
Did you know...
wins gets all the goodies. This is true in politics as well. All Presidents from Washington to
...President Jackson tried
Arthur engaged in the Spoils System in which the President got to fill government positions
to kill his own assassin?
pretty much as he saw fit, but Jackson was particularly adept at it. (The Spoils System would
eventually cause the assassination of a President and that would lead to the civil service
reform we still have today.)
For years, Georgia wanted to remove the Cherokee Indians from the state and have them settle somewhere else. The
Indians didn’t want to go and sued. They won. The Supreme Court told Georgia that they had no right to remove the Cherokee
but Andrew Jackson (a former Indian fighter) refused to enforce the ruling. In 1838, under the Indian Removal Act, the
Cherokee were forced out of the southeast and sent to live in what is today Oklahoma. Hundreds died along the way on what
became known as the Trail of Tears.
Chapter Thirteen: Seneca Falls Convention
In 1848 a couple hundred women (and a few men) showed up to a meeting to discuss women’s rights and especially
women’s suffrage (i.e. right to vote) at a church in Seneca Falls, New York. Called Suffragettes, women such as Elizabeth
Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott and the Grimké Sisters (who said there were similarities between the plight of women and that of
slaves) fought to secure the right to vote for women but it would take until 1920 before that would happen with the passage of
the 19th Amendment.
A woman’s right to vote wasn’t the only social concern during the mid-1800s. Many of the same women who fought
for suffrage also fought for the abolition of slavery and the outlawing of alcohol. Slavery would be abolished with the Civil
War, but the issue of booze was a bit more complicated. The Temperance Movement to ban drinking had to wait until the
passage of the 18th Amendment but even that was overturned a few years later.
20
Other social issues during this time included Dorothea Dix‘s efforts to reform institutions set up to house criminals
and the insane. Horace Mann’s attempts to make education public and universal coincided with his following of the 19th
century philosophy of transcendentalism. Led both such people as authors Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson,
followers of transcendentalism tried to create utopian societies where "nonconformity" and harmony with the world were the
goals. (Thoreau, with his peaceful protest of slavery and the Mexican War, would later inspire Martin Luther King Jr.)
Chapter Fourteen: Texas
Texas belonged to Mexico in the 1820s, but not much was being done there. Some Spanish settlers lived in Texas
along with a few Catholic priests huddled nervously behind their walled missions and Indians who just wanted to be left alone.
That was about it until someone got the bright idea of allowing Americans to settle in Texas. The Mexican government allowed
these settlers in as long as they followed three rules: 1) become a Mexican citizen; 2) become Catholic; and 3) bring no slaves.
Americans flooded into Texas (led by Stephen Austin) and promptly ignored all three rules. The Mexican government
eventually tried to cut off the influx of Americans into Texas, but they came anyway. Fighting between the Texas settlers and
the Mexican government led by Santa Anna broke out in 1835.
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was the president/dictator of Mexico and he considered himself to be the “Napoleon of
the West” (an ironic title considering Napoleon’s fate at the hands of the English). He was determined to put down the
rebellion in Texas and marched thousands of his men northward. Their first stop was at the little town of San Antonio where
about 181 Texas rebels were defending a small Spanish mission called the Alamo. For thirteen days Santa Anna laid siege to
the Alamo. When he finally broke into the fort on March 6, 1836, they took no prisoners.
Even though the Texans lost at the Alamo, it gave time for Texan General Sam Houston to gather his forces and look
for an opportunity to attack the Mexican army. That opportunity came on the afternoon of April 21, 1836, while Santa Anna’s
men rested near the San Jacinto River. Houston led his much smaller force against the surprised Mexicans and won a
resounding victory in a battle that lasted only twenty minutes. Their battle cry was “Remember the Alamo!” Santa Anna was
forced to sign a peace treaty granting Texas its independence from Mexico.
Texas wanted to become part of the United States. They didn’t want to be an
Did you know...
independent republic, but they were—for ten years (known as the Lone Star Republic).
...Santa Anna lost Texas
The problem was that Texas had slaves and bringing them into the union would upset that
because of a "yellow rose"?
balance of power thing again. Finally, in 1846, Texas became a state. The annexation of
Texas (that is, the act of adding territory to the country) was due mainly to the belief in something called Manifest Destiny.
Chapter Fifteen: Mexican War
In 1844 James K. Polk became President and he was a firm believer in Manifest Destiny. This was a by-product of the
Second Great Awakening (an evangelical movement that held that America was ordained by God). Polk and the believers in
Manifest Destiny said it was God’s will for America to inhabit the entire continent (from sea to sea) and anyone who stood in
the way of that goal whether they be Indian or Mexican…well, it was just their bad luck. Sometimes Manifest Destiny would
be worked out with a treaty (like with the Spanish when we bought Florida from them in 1819 with the Adams-Onís Treaty or
when we worked out an agreement with the British to settle the Oregon territory), but the Indians were somewhat reluctant to
be pushed aside and they chose to fight. America tried to purchase the territory that today makes up the southwestern United
States from Mexico but the Mexican government wouldn’t sell. So, under the auspices of Manifest Destiny, we decided to take
it. In 1846, Texas’ southern border was in dispute. Mexican troops attacked (with some provocation) American troops along
that border and we declared war. After less than two years, the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was signed ending the Mexican
War and forcing Mexico to sell the territory that today makes up Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, and
California. This region is called the Mexican Cession. (The southwestern border of the United States was finalized in 1853
with the Gadsden Purchase after Mexico sold a narrow strip of land along the southern border of Arizona and New Mexico to
facilitate the construction of a railroad.)
Chapter Sixteen: Gold Rush
California turned out to be the big prize of the Mexican Cession. In 1848 at Sutter’s Mill just outside San Francisco,
gold was discovered. Word spread to the East that there was gold to be found in California. Thousands rushed there in 1849—
giving them the nickname Forty-Niners. So many people rushed into the area that it wasn’t long before California had enough
population to petition Congress for statehood. The problem was that they wanted to come into the Union as a free state and
since their state would be both above and below the Missouri Compromise’s 36º 30’ line, another compromise would have to
be worked out.
21
Unit Four Outline: The Early Republic
I) George Washington’s Administration
A) Whiskey Rebellion
B) Farewell Address (warned against political parties, wanted no “entangling alliances”, and was worried about
_________________________ —the belief that your part of the country is more important than the country itself)
II) Rise of Political Parties: The Election of 1796
A) Federalist Party (Pro-English): John Adams vs. Democratic-Republican (Pro-French): Thomas Jefferson
III) XYZ Affair
IV) Alien & Sedition Acts
A) Kentucky & Virginia Resolutions (established the notion of states’ ________________ in that it said a state had
the right to ignore (nullify) federal law—led to the Nullification Crisis in 1832 & the Civil War in ________)
V) Undeclared War with France
VI) Election of 1800: Jefferson vs. Adams (again)
VII) Marbury v. Madison establishes Judicial Review
A) John Marshall
VIII) Louisiana Purchase (1803) wanted New Orleans to get _______________________________________ bought from
France—doubling the size of the US overnight
A) Lewis & Clark
IX) War of 1812
A) Embargo Acts
B) Causes: Impressments & National Pride, re-election of James Madison, & War Hawks
C) Washington burned
D) Ft. McHenry, Baltimore
E) Treaty of Ghent (1814)
1) Battle of New Orleans (1815) largest & last battle of the ___________________________—shouldn't
have happened
a) Andrew Jackson
X) Monroe Doctrine
XI) Era of Good Feelings (a period of strong patriotic feelings (called __________________________); economic &
territorial expansion with the building of the Erie Canal & the National __________________; and with only one political
party in power (______________________________) after the demise of the Federalist Party
XII) Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin made cotton cheaper to produce: led to a resurgence of slavery
A) Abolitionism
1) Nat Turner
XIII) End of the Era of Good Feelings
A) Missouri Compromise: Missouri = slave state; Maine = free state; & slavery prohibited above the 36º 30'
B) Election of 1824: John Quincy Adams vs. Andrew Jackson (Adams won in 1824, but Jackson felt he was
“cheated” out the Presidency due to a “______________________________________________” between Adams &
Henry Clay & he vowed to win in the 1828 election four years later—which he did)
XIV) Age of Jackson
A) Nullification Crisis (VP ________________________________________ of South Carolina said his state
could nullify (ignore) federal tariff--tax on imports)
22
B) spoils system
C) Bank of the United States (government’s _______—created by Alexander Hamilton & “destroyed” by Jackson)
D) "Trail of Tears"
XV) Seneca Falls Convention (meeting of women (called “___________________________________”) who demanded that
women be granted the right to vote)
A) Grimké Sisters, Lucretia Mott, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
1) Temperance Movement (national movement led by abolitionist women, like ________________________,
who were against alcohol)
XVI) Other Social Issues
A) “Transcendentalism” (stressed _______________________________--leaders included writers Ralph Waldo
Emerson & Henry David Thoreau)
B) Henry Clay’s “American System” (build up America with a protective tariff in support of US businesses, a
strong national bank, and federal road & ____________________projects)
C) Dorothea Dix
D) Horace Mann
XVII) Texas
A) Settlers
B) Alamo: Santa Anna
C) San Jacinto: Sam Houston
XVIII) Mexican War (1846)
A) Manifest Destiny
1) Second Great Awakening (an evangelical revival of Christianity that helped spread the notion that
America was ordained and it was God’s plan for America to expand & inhabit the entire continent—led to
the belief in _____________________________)
B) Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)
1) Mexican Cession (Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, & ______________________—the
southwestern border of the US was finalized in 1853 with the _______________________________)
XIX) Gold Rush (1849): Forty-Niners (those who rushed to California in search of ____________ in 1849—led to increase in
population)
Unit Four: Key Terms & Essential Questions
Adams-Onis Treaty
Corps of Discovery
Federalist Party
Fugitive Slave Law
judicial review
Manifest Destiny
Monroe Doctrine
Republicans (Democratic-Republicans)
states' rights
Trail of Tears
annexed
cotton gin
Force Bill of 1833
Indian Removal Act
Lewis & Clark Expedition
Mexican War
nationalism
sectionalism
tariff
Whiskey Rebellion
abolitionist
dictator
foreign policy
industrialization
Louisiana Purchase
Missouri Compromise
Nullification Crisis
spoils system
temperance
1) What restriction was placed on the extension of slavery by the Missouri Compromise?
2) What factors led to the growth of New York City?
3) What was the central issue in the dispute between South Carolina and the federal government over tariffs during the
Nullification Crisis?
4) What did the Whiskey Rebellion show about George Washington?
5) Why was the Erie Canal considered an engineering marvel at the time it was built?
6) What was the effect of the Lewis and Clark Expedition?
23
7) What event led to the largest amount of land gained in the history of the United States?
8) Of what significance were railroads and canals in the 1830s?
9) Who led the effort to reform America's public school system in the early 1800s?
10) What period of time is notable for the widespread use of the spoils system and an expansion of the powers of the
presidency?
11) Disagreement over which political policy fueled the Nullification Crisis?
12) What was the result of the slave rebellion of Nat Turner?
13) The 1848 Declaration of Sentiments written at the Seneca Falls Conference by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott
prompted what movement?
14) What did the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the later Compromise of 1850 maintain?
15) What effect did the opening of the Erie Canal and the National Road have on American Expansion?
16) What was one philosophical difference between Federalists and Republicans (Democratic-Republicans)?
17) What was the foremost reason for the War of 1812?
18) What was the outcome of the Mexican War?
19) Why would John C. Calhoun not be considered an abolitionist?
20) What was the importance of interchangeable parts during the Industrial Revolution of the early 19th century?
***
Unit Five: The Civil War & Reconstruction
SSUSH8 The student will explain the relationship between growing north-south divisions and westward expansion.
d. Describe the war with Mexico and the Wilmot Proviso.
e. Explain how the Compromise of 1850 arose out of territorial expansion and population growth.
SSUSH9 The student will identify key events, issues, and individuals relating to the causes, course, and consequences of
the Civil War.
a. Explain the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the failure of popular sovereignty, Dred Scott case, & John Brown’s Raid.
b. Describe President Lincoln’s efforts to preserve the Union as seen in his second inaugural address and the Gettysburg speech
and in his use of emergency powers, such as his decision to suspend habeas corpus.
c. Describe the roles of Ulysses Grant, Robert E. Lee, “Stonewall” Jackson, William T. Sherman, and Jefferson Davis.
d. Explain the importance of Fort Sumter, Antietam, Vicksburg, Gettysburg, and the Battle for Atlanta and the impact of
geography on these battles.
e. Describe the significance of the Emancipation Proclamation.
f. Explain the importance of the growing economic disparity between the North and the South through an examination of
population, functioning railroads, and industrial output.
SSUSH10 The student will identify legal, political, and social dimensions of Reconstruction.
a. Compare and contrast Presidential Reconstruction with Radical Republican Reconstruction.
b. Explain efforts to redistribute land in the South among the former slaves and provide advanced education (Morehouse
College) and describe the role of the Freedmen’s Bureau.
c. Describe the significance of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments.
d. Explain Black Codes, the Ku Klux Klan, & other forms of resistance to racial equality during Reconstruction.
e. Explain the impeachment of Andrew Johnson in relationship to Reconstruction.
f. Analyze how the presidential election of 1876 and the subsequent compromise of 1877 marked the end of Reconstruction.
Chapter One: Roots of Conflict
California’s desire to come into the Union as a free state led to the drafting of the Compromise of 1850 which tried to
make everyone happy and succeeded in pleasing almost no one. In the 1850 agreement, California would be allowed to come
in as a free state but to make the pro-slavery folks happy the Fugitive Slave Law was toughened up (making the work of the
Underground Railroad even more important). As for the rest of the Mexican Cession, the issue of slavery would be put on hold
for the time being. (In 1846 Congress debated the Wilmot Proviso, which tried to keep slavery out of the Mexican Cession.
They killed the proposal and went on to issue the "Gag Rule" which prevented slavery from even being discussed in Congress.)
In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and it became an international bestseller. It told the
story of a slave named Uncle Tom who simply wanted to live and let live, but cruel events and cruel people kept doing cruel
things to him until he eventually died—cruelly. Britain’s Queen Victoria wept when she read the book and people in the North
wondered how the South could be so mean. People in the South wondered why people in the North could be so easily brought
to tears. Though the book didn’t start the Civil War, it did strain relations between the North and the South.
Two years after Stowe’s book hit the stands, Stephen Douglas (Senator from Illinois) proposed the Kansas-Nebraska
Act. It did away with the Missouri Compromise by letting the states decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery.
This is called popular sovereignty and all kinds of trouble resulted from it. Not only was a new antislavery political party
24
formed during this time (called the Republican Party) but so many pro-slavery and anti-slavery men flooded into Kansas (the
first to vote on the issue) that fighting broke out. For nearly ten years, hundreds of people were killed giving the state the
dubious nickname of “Bleeding Kansas.”
In 1857 a slave—Dred Scott—found himself alone in a free state when his owner died. Under the law, he was to be
shipped southward to be resold. Scott sued for his freedom and it went all the way up to the Supreme Court. The Supreme
Court ruled that Blacks were property and therefore had no rights. It further ruled that the whole notion of free states and slave
states created by the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. The Dred Scott Decision was like throwing gasoline on an
already raging fire. Tensions between the North and South grew.
Stephen Douglas ran for re-election in 1858 and was opposed by a little-known lawyer from the new Republican Party
named Abraham Lincoln. He and Douglas travelled around Illinois debating the issues of the day—mostly slavery. Even
though he lost, the Lincoln-Douglas Debates made the unknown Lincoln a national figure as the newspapers reported on the
campaign. The South added Lincoln to their list of worries about the growing abolitionist movement in the North.
There were countless people who worked to end slavery, including William Lloyd Garrison who ran an antislavery
newspaper called The Liberator and Frederick Douglass who traveled around speaking eloquently about how he escaped
slavery. Then there was Harriet Tubman who was called “Moses” by the slaves she led to freedom along the Underground
Railroad (which was a series of safe-houses and escape routes leading to free states). Yet there were other abolitionists who
had more radical and violent ideas on how to end slavery. One of them was John Brown.
John Brown considered himself to be God’s agent on Earth and he decided that the only way to cleanse the country of
the “original sin of slavery” was with bloodshed. In 1859, Brown led a group of followers into Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. His
plan was to seize the guns stored there at the federal arsenal and arm the slaves he just knew would rally to him so they could
all destroy slavery forever. The army arrived and those who survived out of Brown’s group were put on trial for treason
including John Brown himself—who was subsequently hanged. Those who thought he was right on the issue sang his praises
and people who thought he was nuts said good riddance. One person called him the “meteor of the war” because back then
comets and shooting stars were considered signs of bad things to come and if there is one thing that may have finally pushed
America into Civil War it was John Brown’s Raid because the South started forming militia groups to protect themselves from
people like Brown and that formed the basis of the Confederate Army.
In the 1860 Presidential election the Democrat Party was split between three sectional candidates. The Republican
Party saw their chance and nominated Abraham Lincoln. He was considered a moderate in the North because he only called for
the restriction of slavery, not its abolition. Lincoln wanted slavery to be kept out of the territories to prevent its spread, but he
vowed not to interfere with it where it existed. However, he did feel that the current situation couldn’t last forever. He said that
“a house divided against itself cannot stand.” In other words, Lincoln felt that eventually the country must become all one
thing, or all another—slave or free. To the people in the South, he was much too radical and when Lincoln won the election in
November, South Carolina voted to secede from the Union the following month. By the time Lincoln took office in March of
1861, seven states had left the Union. By June four more were gone, including Virginia where the newly elected President of
the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis, had his capital in Richmond. (Maryland was going to vote on secession,
but Lincoln had those in favor of it locked up so they couldn’t do it. Otherwise, Washington would’ve been in enemy territory.
This was an example of how Lincoln suspended habeas corpus during the crisis.) The “border states” of Missouri, Kentucky,
and later West Virginia still had slaves but didn’t join the Confederacy.
Chapter Two: The Civil War Begins
In the middle of Charleston Harbor sat Fort Sumter. Union forces held the fort and South Carolina told the soldiers
within to get out. They refused and in the pre-dawn darkness of April 12, 1861, at exactly 4:30am, the South opened fire on
Fort Sumter and the Civil War began. After over thirty hours of bombardment, and with no help coming, the Union soldiers in
Fort Sumter surrendered. The South won its first victory and, ironically, no one was killed. It was a bloodless opening to the
bloodiest war in American history. One of the reasons why the Civil War cost so many lives was because the tactics both sides
used were way behind the times. Technology was far in advance of what the generals were planning. They still lined up their
men like the British did at Bunker Hill and marched into the guns—which were now much more accurate and could be
reloaded a whole lot faster. Disease was another factor. In fact more people died of illness than on the battlefield during the
Civil War because they didn’t even know that it was a good idea to wash your hands before cutting off a limb or digging into a
wound in search of a bullet. (Germs weren’t discovered until the Civil War was almost over.)
The South had few advantages at the outbreak of the war and had they taken stock of their situation they might not
have opened fire on Ft. Sumter. The North had factories—the South didn’t. The North had a navy—the South didn’t. The
North had more railroads and more people than the South, yet the Confederacy had home field advantage for most of the war
and (at the beginning, at least) a batch of better generals.
Chapter Three: Robert E. Lee
The “best soldier” Abraham Lincoln had in 1861 was Robert E. Lee of Virginia. Lincoln offered command of the
Union army to Lee but the offer was refused. He believed himself to be a Virginian first and everything else second. Lee
25
thought the break-up of the Union a bad idea and he said he’d “sacrifice everything but honor” for its preservation. However,
he said he couldn’t fight against his state (or, as he called it, his “country”) and left the Union army. (Whenever a person
believes that they are a citizen of an area—like a state—rather than a citizen of a country, it is called sectionalism.) A couple
years later, the army confiscated Lee’s home across the Potomac River from Washington and turned it into Arlington National
Cemetery—this nation’s most hallowed ground. (Hallowed means something’s sacred.)
Chapter Four: Stonewall Jackson
Thomas J. Jackson was a strange man who was both very religious and a warrior. He was a teacher at the Virginia
Military Institute when the Civil War broke out and he soon became Robert E. Lee’s right hand man. During the first major
battle of the war at Manassas, Virginia, his men held their ground while others retreated. One person shouted to his retreating
men that Jackson was “standing like a stone wall” and the name Stonewall Jackson became a part of history. (The Battle of
Manassas is also known as the Battle of Bull Run. A lot of Civil War battles have two names. Southerners named their battles
for nearby towns while the North named theirs for nearby bodies of water—rivers and such. Manassas was the town next to
Bull Run Creek.)
At the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1862, Lee gained his “most brilliant victory” by defeating the much larger Union
Army there. Stonewall Jackson was planning a night attack to finish off the Union forces so he and some of his men went
riding out between the lines to scout for places to attack. When they turned back, nervous Confederates fired on the group.
Jackson was wounded twice in the left arm and had to have it amputated. He died of pneumonia a few days later. Had he not
been killed by his own men, it’s possible that Stonewall Jackson might have won some of the battles that the South would lose
in the last few years of the war and change American history.
Chapter Five: George McClellan
General George McClellan was only thirty-five years old when he was given command of the entire Union Army.
Unfortunately, once he got his forces trained and disciplined enough to fight he was reluctant to do any fighting. He arrogantly
refused to obey Lincoln’s orders and once made a comment that the President was nothing more than a “baboon”. Finally, after
much prodding, McClellan moved his thousands of troops against the outnumbered Confederates in Virginia. McClellan
complained that he didn’t have enough men and moved cautiously. (Some of McClellan’s own men started calling him “the
Virginia Creeper” because he was slow to attack.) When he finally reached the outskirts of Richmond (the Confederate
capital), Robert E. Lee attacked and McClellan backed away. Refusing to put up much of a fight, McClellan retreated back to
where he started. His whole campaign was a waste of time, men, and resources. Some of his own commanders stated that
McClellan was motivated by “cowardice or treason.” (After the Battle of Antietam in 1862, he was removed from command.
He then ran for President as a Democrat in 1864 against Lincoln.)
Chapter Six: Shiloh
Union forces were pushing their way through Tennessee when they slammed into a large Confederate force at
Pittsburg Landing near a meetinghouse called Shiloh. For two days both sides slugged it out until the southern army withdrew
(whoever leaves first loses). People were horrified by the reports of 20,000 dead and wounded, but it was only the beginning—
there were bigger battles to come. Before Shiloh many felt the war would be wrapped up quickly. Union General Ulysses S.
Grant thought the South was ready to give up, but after his victory at Shiloh he realized in order to win the war they’d have
conquer the South itself. Shiloh—a Hebrew word for “place of peace”—changed people’s perception of the war and made
them realize that it was going to be very bloody affair.
Chapter Seven: Antietam
The North was losing the Civil War. By the summer of 1862 Union generals found themselves generally outgeneraled
by Confederate generals. It also seemed more and more likely that Britain (who liked cotton a lot) was going to side with the
South. Lincoln needed to change the focus of the war from one of simply preserving the Union to something “more noble” by
making it not about restoring the Union as it was, but making it as it should be. He told his Cabinet that he had decided to
emancipate the slaves. This would not only give the Northern army a “higher cause” to fight for, but also prevent European
countries from siding with the South since doing so would make them look like they
Did you know...
supported slavery. (England freed their slaves in 1825.) Lincoln’s Cabinet was surprised by
...Secretary of State William
his decision and Secretary of State William Seward worried about the timing. Since they
Seward's life was saved by
were losing more battles than they won, claiming that the North was now freeing the slaves
almost dying?
would seem like a desperate move. They’d look foolish if they couldn’t back up what they
said with a victory. Lincoln agreed to wait.
A few months later Robert E. Lee invaded Union territory and was met by a larger army led by George McClellan at
Sharpsburg, Maryland, along Antietam Creek. (McClellan knew what Lee was planning to do because battle plans were
26
accidentally left behind and captured by Union soldiers. Yet, true to his nature, McClellan did nothing about it.) When the
battle was over there was 27,000 dead and wounded on the field. The Battle of Antietam was the “bloodiest day in American
history” but Lincoln could claim it as a victory since Lee retreated back into Virginia.
The “victory” at Antietam allowed Abraham Lincoln to issue his Emancipation Proclamation which many people
think freed the slaves. It actually didn’t free anyone. The document stated that only those slaves in areas under control of the
Confederacy were free. And since Lincoln had no power over those areas, no one was actually freed. It wasn’t until the 13th
Amendment was ratified that slavery was officially outlawed in this country.
Chapter Eight: Gettysburg
The largest battle of the Civil War started over shoes. (It was rumored that there was a supply of shoes in the town of
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and the Confederates went there to get them.) For three days (July 1-3, 1863) thousands of
Americans killed each other in droves. By the end of the first day the North held the high ground including two hills on their
left flank—the Big and Little Round Tops. (A flank is a side.)
On the second day of the battle the Confederates tried to get around the Union left flank by attacking a small force
stationed on Little Round Top. Union Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (a college professor by trade and not a
professional soldier) was ordered to hold his ground at all costs. (If the Confederates had gotten around Chamberlain’s position
then the whole Union Army might have been routed and they were the only ones between Lee’s men and Washington DC.) All
day Chamberlain held his ground but then he ran low on men and ammunition. To the surprise of everyone (including his own
men) he ordered them to charge down the hill at the attacking Confederates—who quickly ran for their lives. By holding his
ground at Little Round Top, Chamberlain had effectively saved the Union.
On the third and final day of the battle, Robert E. Lee ordered an all out assault on the Union center. Confederate
General George Pickett sent his men on what became a suicide march across open ground into the guns of the enemy. Pickett’s
Charge, as it became known, was a failure. It was also (along with the fall of Vicksburg) the turning point of the war. From that
time the South began to lose the Civil War. Unfortunately, it would take another two years of fighting before it was over.
Later in the year, the residents of Gettysburg created a large cemetery to handle all the dead. Lincoln was invited to
the dedication service and asked to say “a few appropriate words.” His speech—known as the Gettysburg Address—began
“Four score and seven years ago” (87 years) and told the nation why they were fighting the war and what was still left to do.
He said they had to finish the job the soldiers had sacrificed so much to obtain.
Chapter Nine: Vicksburg
The town of Vicksburg, Mississippi, was called the “key to the Confederacy” because as long as the South held it the
Mississippi River couldn’t be completely open to Union forces. For months, Union General Ulysses S. Grant laid siege to the
city. The civilians inside dug caves in the hillsides to escape the shelling (some had multiple rooms with furniture and slaves).
Union soldiers started calling Vicksburg “prairie dog town.” Eventually the Confederates defending the city surrendered.
(Those inside were running out of everything and were forced to eat dogs and horses.) Grant marched into the city on July 4,
1863, the same day that Robert E. Lee retreated from Gettysburg. (The reason Lee marched into Pennsylvania in the first place
was to try to draw Grant away from Vicksburg to defend Washington.) Vicksburg was the “nail that held the two sides of the
Confederacy together” and when it fell the South was divided. The Mississippi River had become a Union highway and
Ulysses S. Grant had become a Northern hero.
Chapter Ten: Grant Takes Command
After his victories in the West, Abraham Lincoln gave Grant command of the entire Union Army. The new
commander’s strategy was simple: destroy the South’s ability to make war. He sent William T. Sherman through Georgia and
Grant himself went after Lee’s army.
One of the things that made Grant different from the Union commanders who came before him was that even though
he might lose a battle, he kept moving southward. Before Grant came along Union generals would retreat after a loss (or, in
McClellan’s case, after a victory too). Grant knew that even though the South could have won the war at first with their
superior generals (Lee, Jackson, etc.), they could never have won with superior numbers. The North had more people than the
South (as well as a strong manufacturing base) and the cruel fact was that Grant could afford to lose more soldiers than Lee
could. So, using his numeric superiority to his advantage, Grant wore Lee down by being constantly on the attack. (Historian
Shelby Foote said Grant won the war with his “superior numbers and doggedness.”)
Chapter Eleven: Election of 1864
The debate about the modern conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan during the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack
Obama were the same things that were being said by the Democrat Party about the Civil War over a century ago. Known as
“Copperheads” (because some wore copper pennies on their lapels), Northern “Peace Democrats” called for an end to the war
27
“with or without victory.” They thought winning was “impossible” and that invading the South was “illegal.” The Democrats
favored negotiating a peace treaty with the Confederacy (which would presumably leave the slaves in bondage) and nominated
a young guy with no political experience who looked good and spoke well to be their candidate: George McClellan.
Things did not look promising for the Republicans that year. The summer of 1864 was the “North’s darkest hour”
with Sherman stuck outside Atlanta and Grant’s army stopped at Petersburg, just short of Richmond. Lincoln was sure he was
going to be beaten in the fall election and some Republican leaders wanted to kick him off the ballot and pick someone else.
Something needed to happen to turn things around. That “something” occurred right before the election when William T.
Sherman was able to break the stalemate and take Atlanta. (A stalemate is when neither side is strong enough to defeat the
other.) The fall of Atlanta, a key railroad hub, was a main factor in Lincoln being re-elected.
Chapter Twelve: Sherman’s March to the Sea
William T. Sherman had an idea. He planned to cut all ties with the rest of the Union Army and march his men all the
way from Atlanta to Savannah. Some thought he was crazy but Sherman assured Grant and Lincoln that he could do it and
“make Georgia howl.” So, in November of 1864, Sherman left Atlanta burning (some say he deliberately torched the city but
Confederate looters helped) and marched his 62,000 men towards the sea. They were divided into two columns and left a sixty
mile-wide path of destruction in their wake. They burned supplies, tore up railroad lines, and basically took Georgia out of the
war. In December, Sherman’s men took Savannah but didn’t destroy it (which is why it’s one of the few southern cities with
pre-Civil War structures still intact today). On the 25th, Sherman sent a telegram to Lincoln giving him the city as a Christmas
gift. He then took his troops up into South Carolina. That state got it even worse than Georgia did. “This is where secession
began,” a Union soldier exclaimed, “and this is where it will end.”
Chapter Thirteen: End of the War
As Union troops tore through the Confederacy, Abraham Lincoln made plans for the end of the war. He knew that the
nation needed time to heal and he didn’t want to increase resentment in the South by treating them like a conquered enemy. In
his first inaugural address in 1861, he said that the North and the South shouldn't fight each other. In his 1863 Gettysburg
Address he said that we needed to finish the war. His second inaugural address in 1865 was all about the nation needing to
come together and heal itself. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t get a chance to implement his plans.
In March of 1865, Grant was able to finally take Richmond. What was left of the Confederate army fled westward
while Jefferson Davis attempted to get away by heading southward through Georgia. (He hoped to make his way to Texas or
Mexico, but was captured on May 10th in Irwinville, Georgia. Afterwards, Jefferson was blamed—North and South—as the
“villain of the war.”)
Lee found himself without hope of resupply or re-enforcement and surrounded on all sides by two Union armies as he
approached Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia. He surrendered to Grant on April 9th. This surrender did not officially end the
Civil War (like Yorktown did not officially end the American Revolution), but for all intents and purposes it was over. One by
one, what was left of the Confederate military surrendered to Union forces.
Chapter Fourteen: Assassination
On April 14th, Abraham Lincoln decided to celebrate the end of the fighting by going with Ulysses S. Grant and his
wife to see the popular stage show Our American Cousin playing just down the street from
the White House at Ford’s Theater. When actor John Wilkes Booth (a southern
Did you know...
sympathizer who couldn’t bring himself to actually fight for the South and blamed Lincoln
...Lincoln and his assassin
for his own cowardice) heard about Lincoln’s plans, he made some of his own.
shared the same bed?
Grant didn’t go to the theater with Lincoln that night so Lincoln was Booth’s only
target when he snuck up behind the President and shot him in the back of the head with a small pistol. Booth then leaped from
the President’s box (about a ten foot drop) to the stage below. He caught his spur in the draped flag that adorned the box and
landed oddly—breaking his left leg. Booth shouted something as he limped away though no one is certain what. Some in the
audience thought he said “The South is avenged!” while others heard him call out “Sic Semper Tyrannis” (Virginia’s state
motto which basically means “thus be it ever to tyrants”). Union troops would catch and kill him a couple weeks later. Lincoln
never regained consciousness and died the next morning. Secretary of War Stanton said that “now he belongs to the ages”—
meaning that Lincoln had become a part of the fabric of American history.
Chapter Fifteen: Aftermath
As 1865 came to a close, the remnants of the Confederacy faded away. When it was all said and done 620,000
Americans were dead. That’s more than all the other wars this country has fought—combined. There wasn’t a single family by
1865 who wasn’t in some way touched by the Civil War. The destruction was unimaginable, but it made America what it is
28
today. That’s what historian Shelby Foote meant when he said that the Civil War was the “crossroads of our being.” Before the
Civil War, people used to say “the United States are…” Now we say “the United States is…” That’s was the Civil War did. It
made us an “is.”
Unfortunately for the freed slaves, life did not improve for very long. The government’s Reconstruction programs and
civil rights laws tried to help, but as time passed and people became more interested in other things, those ideals were
forgotten. The Democrats who ruled before the Civil War came back into power
throughout the old Confederacy and did their best to undo every reform. It would take
Did you know...
another
hundred years before Blacks won back the rights so many had died for during
...Booth saved Lincoln's life?
those four years of war.
Chapter Sixteen: Reconstruction
As the Civil War came to an end, Abraham Lincoln planned on how to bring the South back into the Union. His
ideas—known as Presidential Reconstruction—were continued for a while by Andrew Johnson. This form of Reconstruction
was easy on the South (the thinking being that Southerners would be less likely to resent losing the war if they weren’t treated
as a conquered people). The Freedman’s Bureau was set up to help ex-slaves with employment, education (like Morehouse
College), and new state constitutions were written accepting the 13th Amendment.
After radical Republicans in Congress (determined to punish the South for the Civil War) took control, Congressional
Reconstruction (or, Radical Reconstruction) began. Again, new state constitutions were written—this time accepting the 14th
and 15th Amendments as well—and effectively kicking out ex-Confederates from state offices (this is called
disenfranchisement). Under the First Reconstruction Act, any state not doing as it was told was to be under martial law and
occupied by the military until they learned to behave and follow the new rules. All the states of the Confederacy, except
Tennessee, went through Radical Reconstruction. The last southern state to go through Reconstruction was South Carolina.
However, federal laws are still in effect today that has the federal government keeping a close eye on the South to make sure it
isn’t being naughty again.
As Reconstruction began, a new social order started in the South. Those southerners who “collaborated” with the
North during this time were labeled as “scalawags.” Those northerners who traveled to the South for the purpose of exploiting
the chaotic situation were called “carpetbaggers”—named for the fabric their luggage was made out of. (This term is still used
today whenever a politician moves to an area just to get elected.)
Chapter Seventeen: Johnson’s Impeachment
Andrew Johnson was a southerner and therefore not trusted by the radical Republicans in Congress. Lincoln put him
on the ticket in 1864 to show unity, and like Lincoln, Johnson was not in favor of punishing the South. He kept vetoing
Congress’ efforts to do so only to have Congress then override his vetoes. Finally, the radicals had enough and passed a law
they knew Johnson would not obey. It was called the Tenure of Office Act and it basically said that the President couldn’t fire
anybody unless Congress approved. Obviously, this was unconstitutional (and the courts would strike it down later) and
Johnson vetoed it. Congress overrode his veto. Johnson, proving a point, fired his Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton (a radical
who proceeded to barricade himself in his office and refused to leave). Congress now had their excuse and impeached him. In
the trial that followed, Johnson was acquitted by only one vote. (He remained in office for the rest of Lincoln’s term but he got
the message and Congress did as it pleased. Johnson’s administration is perhaps best remembered for buying Alaska from
Russia. People laughed at Secretary of State William Seward’s deal and called it “Seward’s Folly.”)
Chapter Eighteen: End of Reconstruction
Reconstruction finally came to an end after the disputed election of 1876. When the electoral votes were tallied on
election night, Democrat Samuel Tilden appeared to have won the election. However, there were about twenty disputed
electoral votes in the South. A committee was set up to determine who got those votes. After much debate and controversy, the
committee gave most of the electoral votes to Republican Rutherford B. Hayes (pronounced “ruh-ther-furd”) which meant that
Tilden lost by just one vote. Hayes made a promise to the disappointed and bitter Democrats who controlled the South to end
Reconstruction, and he did just that in 1877.
Chapter Nineteen: Setbacks for Blacks
Almost all of the hard work to bring civil rights to ex-slaves was pretty much forgotten in the rush for a new
prosperity after the Civil War. As Reconstruction governments were voted out and Confederate-leaning Democrats took over,
Blacks were finding themselves forced back into a second-class status. At first, the South passed Black Codes to keep Blacks,
as they put it, “in their place.” Under these rules, for example, Blacks couldn’t quit their job for a better one and any ex-slave
without a job would be arrested and fined for loitering and forced to work (without salary) to pay off their fine. These new
rules were brutally enforced at times by a new organization called the Ku Klux Klan (who dressed up in bed sheets to represent
29
the ghosts of Confederate soldiers). The Klan made sure new discriminatory laws were enforced. For example, in order to
make it harder for former slaves to vote, many former Confederate states instituted poll taxes (a fee you paid to vote) and
literacy tests (where you had to prove you could read and write in order to vote).
Black Codes were the forerunner of what were collectively known as Jim Crow Laws. There wasn’t a person named
Jim Crow and no law actually used the name. In the late 1800s there was a popular stage show character named Jim Crow and
the name became synonymous with segregation laws. Jim Crow Laws were meant to keep Blacks and Whites apart (this is
what segregation does) with such rules as having separate schools, drinking fountains, entrances to theaters, etc. Eventually the
Supreme Court ruled in the Plessy v. Ferguson case of 1896 that segregation was legal as long as everything was equal. In 1909
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was created with W.E.B. Dubois as its leader. He
believed that Blacks should be more confrontational in their struggle to obtain civil rights. This ran counter to Booker T.
Washington’s belief that Blacks should “uplift themselves” through educational and economic advancement. To achieve social
advancement, the NAACP worked to get obstacles such as legalized segregation out of people’s way. Plessy v. Ferguson’s
“separate but equal” ruling would eventually be overturned in 1954 with the Brown v. Board of Education case after the
obvious finally became apparent that things cannot be both separate and equal.
Unit Five Outline: The Civil War & Reconstruction
I) Roots of Conflict
A) Wilmot Proviso (failed proposal to keep slavery out of the Mexican Cession—led to the “________________”)
B) Compromise of 1850 (California would come in to the Union as a _________ state; New Mexico & Utah
Territories formed with no mention of slavery;__________ trade ended in Washington DC; & the fugitive
___________ law toughened)
C) Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852)
D) Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
1) "popular sovereignty" (having a state decide ____________________ whether or not to allow slavery—
repealed the Missouri Compromise)
2) Republican Party formed as an antislavery party (made up of abolitionists, “Free Soilers”, &“conscience
_____________________”)
3) "Bleeding Kansas"
E) Dred Scott Supreme Court Decision (1857): Blacks had no rights & Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional
F) Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858) (series of debates between Illinois Senator ___________________________ and
Abraham Lincoln that made Lincoln a national figure on the issue of slavery)
G) John Brown's Raid on Harper’s Ferry, VA (1859)
H) Abolitionists
1) William Lloyd Garrison's The Liberator
2) Frederick Douglass
3) Harriet Tubman (called “Moses” by the slaves that she led north to___________________ along the
Underground Railroad—a series of safe house mainly leading to “free states” in the _______________)
I) Lincoln wins 1860 Presidential election (1st Republican President) calling for a restriction of slavery’s westward
spread—not abolition
1) "…a house divided against itself cannot stand..." (the country cannot remain half-slave and half-free—it
must become all one thing, or all _________________________________________________)
J) South Carolina secedes from the Union
K) Jefferson Davis elected President of the Confederacy
II) The Civil War Begins: 4:30am, April 12, 1861 (Ft. Sumter, Charleston Harbor, SC)
A) Lincoln suspends habeas corpus
30
III) Robert E. Lee: "...sacrifice everything but honor..."
A) Arlington National Cemetery
IV) Stonewall Jackson (Confederate general who held his ground at Manassas, VA and helped win the battle—was
accidentally killed ___________________________________ at the Battle of Chancellorsville)
V) George McClellan takes command but is unwilling to fight
VI) Shiloh, TN: changed people's perception of the war (made people realize that ______________________ was going to be
longer & bloodier than expected)
VII) Antietam, MD: “bloodiest day in American history” (In 1862, Lincoln told his cabinet that he had decided to free the
slaves, but they worried that doing so without a victory on the battlefield would look _________________________—so he
decided to wait for a victory.)
A) Emancipation Proclamation (1863)
VIII) Gettysburg, PA: largest battle of the war
A) 2nd Day: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (Little Round Top)
B) 3rd Day: Pickett’s Charge (turning point of the war)
IX) Vicksburg, MS: the “key” to the Confederacy
X) Grant Takes Command: "...superior numbers & doggedness..." (even though the South had superior generals—at first—the
North had more ___________________________________________ which Grant took advantage of as he kept on the attack
and wore down Lee's forces)
XI) "Copperheads" (Northern "Peace Democrats who ran against Lincoln in 1864 promising an _____________________
"with or without victory"--led by George McClellan)
A) Sherman Takes Atlanta—Lincoln wins re-election
XII) Sherman's March to the Sea—from Atlanta to Savannah
XIII) Lincoln's Reconstruction Plan (Presidential Reconstruction) 1st inaugural (1861): __________________________;
Gettysburg Address (1863):_____________________________; 2nd inaugural (1865): __________________________
A) easy on the South
XIV) Appomattox Courthouse, VA. (1865)
XV) Assassination: John Wilkes Booth
A) Ford's Theater, Washington, DC.
B) Lincoln dies the next morning: "...now he belongs to the ages..."
XVI) Congressional (Radical) Reconstruction (punish the south—military occupation & new state constitutions ratifying
_____________________________ amendments)
A) scalawags
B) carpetbaggers
C) Freedman's Bureau (1st government relief agency set up to help former slaves find food, shelter, employment, &
an education--____________________________________)
D) Johnson's Impeachment (Tenure of Office Act)
XVII) End of Reconstruction: Rutherford B. Hayes (1876) (Samuel Tilden won the election but there were ____________
disputed electoral votes in the South. A committee, set up to determine who got the votes, gave them to Hayes after he promised
to end ___________________. He became President by one electoral vote.)
XVIII) Aftermath: Blacks lose freedoms gained during the war which set stage for Civil Rights movement of the 1960s
A) Democrats regain control of the South
B) Ku Klux Klan
C) Black Codes
31
D) Jim Crow Laws
E) Plessy v. Ferguson (1896 Supreme Court decision that legalized segregation as long as it was
“_____________________________________”—overturned with 1954’s Brown v. Board of Education)
1) NAACP (1909)
a) W.E.B. Dubois vs. Booker T. Washington (Dubois wanted to fight for _______________
rights, while Washington wanted them to lift themselves up and not rely on _____________)
F) Sharecropping (a landowner allows a ____________________ to use the land in return for a share of his crop)
Unit Five: Key Terms & Essential Questions
Appomattox Courthouse
Brown v. Board of Education
Emancipation Proclamation
Ft. Sumter
Gettysburg Address
Kansas-Nebraska Act
poll taxes
secede
black codes
Compromise of 1850
15th Amendment
14th Amendment
Jim Crow Laws
Ku Klux Klan
Radical Republicans
13th Amendment
border states
Confederate States of America
First Reconstruction Act
Freedman's Bureau
Plessy v. Ferguson
literacy tests
Reconstruction
1) From where does the following quote come: "...I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated
States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free."
2) What repealed the Missouri Comprise?
3) What did Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse signify?
4) During Reconstruction, what were passed to resist federal attempts at racial equality?
5) How did the Freedman's Bureau lead to the creation of Morehouse College?
6) What did the Tenure of Office Act and the impeachment of Andrew Johnson represent?
7) What did Abraham Lincoln mean when he said "A house divided against itself cannot stand" in 1858?
8) Southern states believed they had the right to secede in order to protect what?
9) In what way did the Compromise of 1850 conflict with the Missouri Compromise?
10) What advantages did the North have over the South during the Civil War?
11) In what way was the Emancipation Proclamation limited in its scope?
12) How did the Civil War affect the economy of the South?
13) What was the end result of the Civil War, which was Lincoln's goal from the outset?
14) What did Rutherford B. Hayes want to have happen to previously disenfranchised ex-Confederate leaders?
15) According to the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, what would determine whether or not a state would allow slavery?
16) Why was the division of the South into military districts by the First Reconstruction Act resented by Southerners?
17) What conclusion can be made about the effect of the Supreme Court ruling in the Dred Scott Case?
18) Who was president of the Confederate States of America?
19) What was the purpose of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address?
***
Unit Six: Expansionism to Progressivism
SSUSH11 The student will describe the economic, social, and geographic impact of the growth of big business and
technological innovations after Reconstruction.
a. Explain the impact of the railroads on other industries, such as steel, and on the organization of big business.
b. Describe the impact of the railroads on the development of the West; include the transcontinental railroad, and the use of
Chinese labor.
c. Identify John D. Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Company and the rise of trusts and monopolies.
d. Describe the inventions of Thomas Edison; include the electric light bulb, motion pictures, and the phonograph, and their
impact on American life.
SSUSH12 The student will analyze important consequences of American industrial growth.
a. Describe Ellis Island, the change in immigrants’ origins to southern and eastern Europe and the impact of this change on
urban America.
b. Identify the American Federation of Labor and Samuel Gompers.
c. Describe the growth of the western population and its impact on Native Americans with reference to Sitting Bull and
Wounded Knee.
32
d. Describe the 1894 Pullman strike as an example of industrial unrest.
SSUSH13 The student will identify major efforts to reform American society and politics in the Progressive Era.
a. Explain Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and federal oversight of the meatpacking industry.
b. Identify Jane Addams and Hull House and describe the role of women in reform movements.
c. Describe the rise of Jim Crow, Plessy v. Ferguson, and the emergence of the NAACP.
d. Explain Ida Tarbell’s role as a muckraker.
e. Describe the significance of progressive reforms such as the initiative, recall, and referendum; direct election of senators;
reform of labor laws; and efforts to improve living conditions for the poor in cities.
f. Describe the conservation movement and the development of national parks and forests; include the role of Theodore
Roosevelt.
SSUSH14 The student will explain America’s evolving relationship with the world at the turn of the twentieth century.
a. Explain the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and anti-Asian immigration sentiment on the west coast.
b. Describe the Spanish-American War, the war in the Philippines, and the debate over American expansionism.
c. Explain U.S. involvement in Latin America, as reflected by the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine and the creation
of the Panama Canal.
Chapter One: Growth of Industries
The first big business in America was the railroads. Locomotives had been around since 1829, but after the
Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869 at Promontory Point, Utah, the railroad industry took off like a rocket. The
railroads changed America in many ways. Not only could people move rapidly from place to place, but goods could now be
shipped further and faster. Farmers could sell more crops because their products could now get to market before they spoiled.
(Refrigerated railroad cars made this easier too.) The railroads even gave us time zones so that people could know throughout
the country when trains were leaving and arriving. When the government began to regulate businesses that crossed state lines
with the Interstate Commerce Act, they were going after the railroads. (Now they use that act to regulate almost everything
because today there is virtually nothing that doesn’t in some way cross state lines.)
A monopoly is when someone has complete control over a good or service. In the late 1800s monopolies were
everywhere. Standard Oil (America’s first “trust”), run by John D. Rockefeller, controlled almost the whole oil industry. If you
wanted to buy steel during this time then you most likely bought it from Andrew Carnegie’s US Steel. These are just two
examples of monopolies and the federal government did little to change things. For a long time they had a pro-business,
laissez-faire (which means “hands off” or “leave alone”) attitude. In fact, to help businesses train workers, Washington passed
the Morrill Act which created A&M Colleges—which were kind of like an early form of technical school. (A&M stands for
Agricultural and Mechanical—or Agricultural and Manufacturing.) Eventually the attitude of the government changed to one
of reform and regulation (called progressivism), and Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act to break up monopolies. (A
trust is a form of monopoly.) This act is still in use today.
Chapter Two: Indian Wars
Whites have been battling American Indians since the first days of European exploration. No matter how much
political correctness historians put on the subject it basically all boils down to the fact that the Indians were in the way. We
wanted their land and we bought, bartered, or took it. It’s no more complicated than that. From 1492 (the year Columbus got
here) all the way up to 1868 there were sporadic attacks on both sides until a peace agreement was made that lasted for a whole
eight years. In 1876, gold was discovered on Indian land in the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory. Whites prospectors flooded
into the area (which was the Sioux Indian equivalent of Arlington National Cemetery) and the Indians weren’t happy. When
some prospectors were killed the government claimed it was the Indians who broke the treaty and ordered the army to deal
with them once and for all.
Colonel George Armstrong Custer led a couple hundred of his 7th Calvary into the Black Hills to attack what he
thought was a small encampment of Sioux along the Little Big Horn River. It turned out that Custer found himself facing
thousands of Sioux and he and his men were quickly cut down. The Battle of Little Big Horn (aka “Custer’s Last Stand”) was
the most famous (or, infamous) engagement of the Indian Wars and it made Sioux leaders Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull
nationally known figures.
The Indians didn’t have much time to savor their victory because the army spent the next 14 years rounding up or
killing off the tribes of the Great Plains. Many Indians simply gave into the pressure and marched off to areas of poor land set
aside for them called reservations. To manage these areas the government created the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In 1887 the
Dawes Act tried to get the Indians on these reservations to assimilate (to absorb) White culture by dividing their lands into
farm tracts and sending their kids to schools that taught them to be American instead of Indian. (By the 1920s, it became
obvious that the Dawes Act had failed—due in part to the land they were using was unsuitable for farming—and now many
reservations pretty much run themselves.) In 1890 a group of Sioux found themselves surrounded by soldiers at Wounded
Knee, South Dakota. A couple hundred Indians were killed and this “battle” effectively ended the Indian Wars.
33
Chapter Three: The West
Indian conflicts aside, the area between Missouri and California (including the Great Plains) known collectively as the
West became the destination of thousands of Americans in the decades following the Civil War. When gold was discovered in
1848 and people rushed to California, the wide expanse of prairies, mountains, and deserts were looked upon as just obstacles
to get through. Now people went there to stay. The government encouraged settlement of the West by giving railroads huge
tracts of land and passing laws that gave away free land to settlers. The Homestead Act and the Timber Culture Act each gave
away hundreds of acres and all you had to do was go there and get it. One group that traveled to the West in search of a new
life was made up of ex-slaves calling themselves Exodusters. (The Exodus tells the story of the Jews leaving Egypt for the
“promise land.”) They settled in Nebraska and elsewhere in the 1870s and found themselves struggling like everyone else to
make it in an unforgiving environment.
The Great Plains is not known for its forests. Lumber to build homes was not plentiful so early settlers used “sod”
(grassy clumps of soil) to build houses. They didn’t look pretty (and smelled musty), but it was better than a tent. They also
found the soil on the plains much tougher to plow than the fields in the East. The old iron implements they brought with them
just wasn’t cutting it (literally), so a resourceful inventor by the name of John Deere (yes, the John Deere) made a fortune
selling his steel plow which did just fine on the rough ground. Later, the invention of barbed wire and the combine harvester
(an improvement on the old McCormick reaper) helped make the West viable.
John Deere is an example of something Frederick Jackson Turner was talking about in his thesis on the American
West. The Turner Thesis said that the American the frontier acted like a safety valve by easing the pressure on society (like a
whistle on a tea kettle). People could pack up and move west to start over in times of trouble just like John Deere did (he
moved several times due to bad luck in business before making it big with his steel plow). When the Dust Bowl of the 1930s
caused farmers to lose everything they packed up and moved west just like their parents and grandparents had done.
Unfortunately for them, by the 1930s there was no frontier left to go to.
The whole reason why we still remember people and events from the Wild West—
Did you know...
like Wyatt Earp, Billy the Kid, Jesse James, and the gunfight at the OK Corral—is because
...Buffalo Bill's Wild West
even while the West was being wild, people around the world already knew about it.
Show could have prevented
Popular during this time were dime novels which were like the National Enquirer in book
WWI?
form. They would take real people and real events and (if needed) make up stories to go
with them. Folks who read them were hooked on tales of the Wild West (they didn’t call it
the Old West until later) and many of them wanted to see it for themselves. (Future President Theodore Roosevelt went to
Montana to become a cattle rancher, for example.) And if they couldn’t go west, then the West sometimes came to them.
William Cody was a buffalo hunter. So good was Cody at shooting these beasts that he earned the nickname Buffalo
Bill. Cody started a Wild West Show and travelled around the world with it. This show was a huge extravaganza that staged
full-scale Indian raids on wagon trains (with real Indians), stagecoach robberies, and all the other things you’d think of when
you think of cowboys and Indians. He even hired Sitting Bull for a while which lent some
Did you know...
authenticity to their recreation of Custer’s Last Stand. All over the east coast and
...Yellowstone Park is really
throughout Europe, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show was a hit.
a giant volcano?
Wild West Shows and dime novels may be gone, but by helping spread the myth
of the West their legacy continues in movies and television shows. No one, it seems, wants
the Wild West to fade away. Even back then Americans wanted to preserve the land for future generations. This is called
conservation and the National Park Service was set up to manage…well, national parks. The first one was Yellowstone
National Park on the Montana border.
Chapter Four: The Gilded Age
Mark Twain (aka Samuel Clemens) was not only the most popular author of the late 1800s, but he was also a
commentator on society itself. He wrote a book called The Gilded Age to sum up what he saw happening in America at that
time. Something that is gilded looks really nice on the surface because it’s covered with a valuable metal. Underneath that
metal, however, is something cheap. This was the comment Twain was making about the period of time after the Civil War
known as the Gilded Age: America looked good on the outside (rich & prosperous), but underneath it had many social
problems. The Gilded Age began sometime after the Civil War as large-scale industrialization took hold in the United States
and during this period there were the super rich (who relished showing off their wealth—this is called conspicuous
consumption) and there were the super poor—not much of a middle class back then.
One thing that’s become synonymous with the Gilded Age is the concept of Social Darwinism. The term was coined
by Herbert Spencer when he applied to society Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection (in which the strong survive and
the weak die), as written in Darwin's Origin of Species. Social Darwinism’s main tenet is that those who were strong will
become rich and successful and those who weren’t “fit” enough to succeed in life would fail. In other words, Social Darwinism
is the “survival of the fittest” applied to society.
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Chapter Five: Immigration
This country is a nation of immigrants. We all came from somewhere else. (Even the Indians aren’t really native.) The
original settlers during the colonial period all the way up to the mid-1800s are considered to be “Old Immigrants.” Unlike Old
Immigrants, who were mostly from northern and western Europe, the “New Immigrants” of the late 1800s and early 1900s
were mostly from eastern and southern Europe. Old Immigrants were mostly Protestant, while the new ones were mainly
Jewish and Catholic. (A lot of the new Catholics came from Ireland because of the mass starvation going on there in the late
1800s. The Great Irish Potato Famine, as it was called, killed thousands and thousands and those who could afford it escaped to
the United States to begin new lives.)
A lot of these newer immigrants came into this country through a government processing facility located on Ellis
Island in New York Harbor. Those who were cleared to pass through found themselves in a big country full of opportunities—
but success requires hard work. Many of those who got here did so on their last dime and couldn’t afford to move west to get
those acres of free land and instead had to settle in the cities. Overcrowding became a problem (with its accompanying
increases in crime and disease—a factor not helped by the tenements the poor found housing in). Some Americans began to
resent these newcomers and nativism (discrimination against anyone not born here) was on the rise. The United States
government got into the act by passing laws to limit immigration. The Chinese Exclusion Act and the Gentlemen’s Agreement
are examples of this when Asian immigration was severely limited. (This is made all the more poignant because Asian workers
were responsible for building a large part of the Transcontinental Railroad.)
To make a living, a lot of the poor ended up working very long hours for very little pay in places aptly named
sweatshops. (Even children worked since there were no child labor laws yet.) Others worked in mines, farms, and factories.
Small towns full of factory workers dotted the country. One such place was Johnstown, Pennsylvania. It was located in a valley
downstream from the South Fork Dam (which was used to make a country club for the area’s wealthy). On the night of May
31, 1889, after a large storm, the dam burst and a wall of water 75 feet high and half a mile wide slammed into Johnstown
killing over 2,000 people. Newspapers and social reformers put the blame on the rich for building the dam in the first place.
The Johnstown Flood gave the impression of the rich’s indifference to the poor.
Chapter Six: Political Corruption
When we think of political corruption we tend to think of the Gilded Age. For example, New York City politics was
run out by Tammany Hall with William Tweed (people called him Boss) and his nefarious Tweed Ring. If you wanted to be
elected to anything in New York in the late 1800s, Boss Tweed was the man who made it happen. Of course, you had to owe
him a few favors after that. When reform-minded officials tried to convict Tweed of various crimes he commented that “as
long as I count the votes, what are you going to do about it?” (Meaning: I got the judge, sheriff, police chief, and district
attorney elected and all of them owe me a favor.) Thanks in part to the public’s change in attitude about him brought on by
political cartoonist Thomas Nast’s scathing commentaries, Tweed and his cronies were eventually packed off to prison, but
other scandals continued. (Thomas Nast not only created the concept of Santa Claus as a jolly fat man in a red suit, he also
drew cartoons depicting the Democrat Party as a “donkey” and the Republican Party as an “elephant.”)
President Ulysses S. Grant was not corrupt, but the friends he put into government positions sometimes were. One of
the most infamous scandals of his administration was the Credit Mobilier (pronounced “mo-bill-ay”) scandal in which many
politicians in Washington were caught taking bribes from railroad companies.
Chapter Seven: Reform
In 1882 Civil War hero James A. Garfield was elected President. Shortly thereafter he was shot in the back at a train
station by a man who thought he was owed a government job. When he didn’t get it, the man blamed Garfield (this was still the
time of the spoils system) and shot him. Vice President Chester A. Arthur then took over as President and he would sign into
law the Civil Service Act of 1883 (also known as the Pendleton Act) which reformed the way government jobs are awarded.
This wasn’t the only reform to come out of the latter half of the Gilded Age. As time went on, the belief in Social Darwinism
spawned a counter weight to its tenet that people succeed or fail and there’s no in between. Using Christianity’s teachings of
helping others, the Social Gospel was the opposite of Social Darwinism. (The Salvation Army is an example of the Social
Gospel that's still around today.) In many cities Settlement Houses sprung up—the most famous being Hull House in Chicago
run by Jane Addams. Settlement Houses were sort of like small-scale tech schools. At these places the poor learned to take care
of themselves. Men could learn a trade to get a job while women could get skilled in the art of homemaking. The laissez-faire
attitude of the federal government would also change over time as the Gilded Age came to an end and the Progressive
Movement took over.
In 1884 Grover Cleveland was elected President. He is considered to be one of our most honest Presidents, but he lost
re-election in 1888 to Benjamin Harrison (grandson of the first Whig President, William Henry Harrison). In 1892, however,
Grover Cleveland was elected (again) becoming the only President to serve two nonconsecutive terms (i.e. not in a row). That’s
why Cleveland is both President #22 and #24.
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Chapter Eight: Growth of Unions
As industry grew so too did the workforce that ran it. Owners of these companies, naturally, tried to maximize their
profits by trying to keep wages low. Eventually, groups of workers began to form labor unions to help influence the decisions
of company owners. For decades, attempts to unionize were met with violence by ownership and workers alike. The nation’s
first large-scale union, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and was founded by Samuel Gompers. He was a big
proponent of collective bargaining (when a union negotiates with business about workers demands) but few industries in the
latter half of the 19th century were accepting of such an idea. For example, the AFL wanted to unionize the Pullman Palace Car
Company in 1894, but they were kept out. In response, the union told its members who worked on the railroads not to move a
single train with a Pullman car attached to it. Since almost every train in the country had at least one on it, the trains didn’t run
and the nation came to a screeching halt. President Cleveland ended the Pullman Strike by ordering mail cars to be attached to
Pullman cars that way any union worker who refused to move the train could be arrested for interfering with the delivery of the
US mail (which is a federal offense). The trains moved after that.
Chapter Nine: Elections of 1896 and 1900
The Presidential elections of 1896 and 1900 are lumped together because of their similarities. The same two
candidates ran against each other (William Jennings Bryan for the Democrats and William McKinley for the Republicans) over
virtually the same issues with the same outcome each time (Bryan lost).
Ever since the federal government started printing paper money (called greenbacks) they had been backed up by gold.
The theory being that a dollar of paper money is worth a dollar of gold. Under this Gold Standard, the government could only
print as much money as they had gold on hand. For example, if they had a million dollars worth of gold, then they could only
print a million dollars. Unfortunately, this meant that some people (particularly those far away from big cities) had no access to
“hard currency” due to the limited supply. Farmers in the mid-west had trouble getting their hands on cash and thus wanted to
get away from the Gold Standard. The farmers formed the Greenback Party and the Grange Movement to advance their
political views. Later they formed the Populist Party and chose Bryan as their candidate after they heard him give a rousing
anti-Gold Standard speech called the “Cross of Gold Speech.”
The Populist Party wanted the Silver Standard to be enacted. The Silver Standard was the same as the Gold Standard
but since there was more silver than gold around more money could be printed and more people (like the farmers) could have
access to it. Critics of this plan said that since silver is more plentiful it’s worth less and that would make money worth less and
cause (among other things) inflation. Some people wanted “bimetallism” which is a combination of the Gold and Silver
Standards and the country did try that for a while but when the Great Depression hit in 1929 we left both standards behind.
(Nowadays, the only thing backing up our currency is the faith that someone is willing to take it in exchange for goods or
services.) In the end, the Democrats and the Populists lost to William McKinley, who ran his campaign from his front porch in
Ohio while Bryan crisscrossed the country campaigning for the Presidency—the first candidate to do that himself.
Chapter Ten: Spanish-American War
Every large country in the world (and even some small ones) in the late 1800s had colonies. America wanted to play
with the big boys and this period of time saw the country dabble with imperialism, this is when one country takes over another
(a blatant example of Social Darwinism). China, for example, was carved up by Europeans into Spheres of Influence where
they could rule as they pleased and America wanted part of that too with what we called an Open Door Policy. We wanted
markets for our goods but before America could become a “real” empire, we had to find someone who had stuff we wanted and
take it. We managed to annex the Hawaiian Islands, now Spain, a fading empire in the late 1800s, became our target.
Cuba is an island about 90 miles south of Florida. For a long time Cuban rebels were fighting the Spanish in a bid for
independence. America likes rebels (we were ones ourselves at one time) and newspaper reporters swarmed into Cuba to tell
the story of the “noble cause” the rebels were fighting against the evil empire. Many of the stories these reporters were telling
simply weren’t true since this was the time of “yellow journalism.” We’d call it tabloid journalism today but the concept is the
same. Reporters would take a little bit of information and sensationalize it to sell more papers. Added to this was the new
invention of the motion picture camera and Thomas Edition (the light bulb guy) would film “Spanish atrocities” in a park in
New York and the American people didn’t know the difference. (The Spanish-American War would be the very first one
filmed even though some of the footage was faked.) Newspaper owner William Randolph Hearst is said to have stated when
one of his reporters asked him if he thought they’d be a war with Spain: “You provide the pictures, and I’ll supply the war.”
Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt, like many others, was just aching to go to war with Spain and
made speeches for it. He also made speeches against President McKinley. He said the President—who he worked for—had the
“backbone of a chocolate éclair.” Roosevelt’s character and rhetoric made him a national celebrity.
The final straw on the way to war with Spain came in 1898 when the USS Maine was sent to Cuba. The battleship
sailed into Havana Harbor (Cuba’s capital) as a warning to the Spanish not to mess with the Americans on the island—even
though they were making up nasty stories about them. One night the USS Maine blew up and the Spanish got the blame. (Later
36
it was discovered to have been an accident, but by then it was too late.) America declared war and soon troops were on their
way to Cuba to “liberate” it.
Theodore Roosevelt (who later had the teddy bear name for him) left the government and formed a military group
called the Rough Riders made up of such diverse men as cowboys from the West and polo players from the East. Ironically,
this cavalry troop ended up without their horses (there was a shortage of ships) so the Rough Riders didn’t ride anywhere—
they walked. The most famous battle of the Spanish-American War took place on San Juan Hill and it made Theodore
Roosevelt a national hero for leading his Rough Riders up it. The thing is, he didn’t exactly do that. Just like with Bunker Hill,
history gets it a bit wrong. The Rough Riders went up the hill next to San Juan and then went across to help out after they’d
finished their objective. The folks who went up San Juan first were Buffalo Soldiers. These were Black cavalry troops who
were really good at fighting Indians on the Great Plains (the Indians gave them their nickname).
After the Spanish-American War, Congress tried to annex Cuba with the Platt Amendment. It failed. Yet our desire to
be an imperialist power lingered for many years in the Philippines. These South Pacific islands were taken from the Spanish in
the opening battle of the war in 1898. America fought a jungle war with some of the local population (who obviously didn’t
want us there).
Chapter Eleven: Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt
In 1900 Roosevelt was chosen to be on the ticket with McKinley. In 1901, McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist
(one who wants chaos) and Theodore Roosevelt became President at age of forty-two. (This would make him our youngest
President to take office, but John F. Kennedy was our youngest President ever elected at age forty-three.) He was the first of
what historians call “Progressive Presidents.” Progressives want change and reform through the use of government rules and
regulations.
One of the things that Theodore Roosevelt was fond of saying was “speak softly and carry a big stick.” Though he
was initially talking about the building of a powerful navy, this phrase has come to encompass his social policies. Roosevelt’s
economic and social program was called the Square Deal. He meant that businesses should be curtailed through regulation to
make things “fair” for society. From out of the Square Deal came the so-called “Big Stick Policies.” Roosevelt would wield
this policy throughout his time in office. For example, monopolies—which had run free during the Gilded Age—were targeted
by progressives and trust-busting became a favorite past-time. This breaking up of monopolies using the Sherman Antitrust Act
has become synonymous with Roosevelt and his “Big Stick” policies.
The Progressive Era is known for its “muckrakers.” These were investigative journalists who would rake through the
muck as it were to expose what they considered to be unsafe or dishonest business practices. One such person was Ida Tarbell
who went after Standard Oil, and another was Upton Sinclair who wrote a book called The Jungle that exposed the rather gross
things that were happening in the meat-packing industry. He went undercover and later wrote of meat being swept off the floor
and repackaged and workers’ fingers being cut off by the machinery and ground into the meat for sale. When people heard
about this, they weren’t too happy. The Pure Food and Drug Act was then passed to make certain all medicines and food
products are inspected to make sure the food you eat or the medicines you take won’t kill you.
The ultimate “Big Stick Policy” was the building of the Panama Canal. Since the days of Magellan, man wanted to
find an easier way to get from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Some early explorers went sailing up into the rivers and lakes of
Canada and the Arctic circle in search of the so-called “Northwest Passage.” (They didn’t find it because it’s not there.) In the
mid-1800s, the French decided to dig a canal through Central America in what is today Nicaragua. Unfortunately, construction
ended after hundreds died of malaria and yellow fever (no one knew at that time what caused it). Theodore Roosevelt was
determined to succeed where the French had failed. (Roosevelt’s dealings with Latin America are controversial. Sometimes
we’d use our wealth in Dollar Diplomacy to influence other countries, but sometimes we’d use stronger means. The Roosevelt
Corollary was an amendment to the Monroe Doctrine that said America would intervene in any Latin American country that
wouldn’t do things we thought were in our interest.)
A new location for a canal was chosen across a narrow strip of land (called an isthmus) just north of Colombia. It
wasn’t flat like Nicaragua but it was the shortest distance to travel. Unfortunately, Colombia, who owned that area, wouldn’t
let America build a canal. So, in 1904, Roosevelt encouraged rebels in Panama to rise up. He sent an American fleet off the
coast as an unspoken threat to the Columbians to butt out and within 24 hours of the Panamanians declaring their independence
America had a treaty to build a canal. (Doctor Charles Bass later discovered that mosquitoes spread the diseases that had killed
off the French years earlier. His efforts to eliminate the insects helped America build the canal.) By 1914 the 40 mile-long
canal was finished. The Panama Canal cut the journey from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast (and vice versa) from weeks
to days and it made it possible for the United States to have an effective two-ocean navy. (President Jimmy Carter gave away
the canal to Panama in 1977.)
Chapter Twelve: Election of 1912
Theodore Roosevelt was still in the prime of his life in 1908, but he bowed to tradition and served only two terms. He
told the American people that voting for his friend William Howard Taft was just like voting for him and then left for a trip
around the world to give Taft the spotlight. When Roosevelt returned from his trip he found that Taft had done a little
37
backsliding on Square Deal policies because the new President wasn’t big on regulation. Roosevelt was angry and hurt—Taft
was a friend, after all. 1912, Roosevelt tried to get the Republican nomination at their national convention but the Republicans
re-nominated Taft. Roosevelt stormed out of the convention and took his followers with him—splitting the party. He formed
the Progressive Party which was better known as the Bull Moose Party after a reporter asked Roosevelt how he felt and he
shouted that he was as “strong as a bull moose!” (The Bull Moose Party is an example of a Third Party. Any political party that
is not one of the top two is known as a Third Party no matter who they are.) The split in the Republican Party allowed
Democrat Woodrow Wilson to win the Presidency in the election of 1912.
Chapter Thirteen: Presidency of Wilson
Woodrow Wilson was the last of the Progressive Presidents. (Others may have been progressive, but they weren’t
labeled as such.) His “New Freedom” economic and social programs included the creation of the Federal Reserve System
(which still controls the nation’s monetary policy), the Federal Trade Commission (which makes sure corporate dealings are
legal), and the passage of new labor laws. For the first time the government put restrictions on child labor and created the 40hour work week. It was during this time that the so-called “Progressive Amendments” were either passed or proposed. The 16th
Amendment allowed the federal government to tax income; the 17th allowed for the direct election of Senators (before that the
states picked their own); the 18th outlawed booze; and the 19th guaranteed a woman’s right to vote. Other progressive reforms
involving voting include the recall (when the people can "undo" an election), and the initiative and referendum (when the
people can get items placed on the ballot).
Yet with all of this reforming going on at home, Wilson was becoming more and more concerned about the drums of
war beating in Europe. The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw the United States start to play a role in world affairs, but soon
things would become more dramatic. Wilson would be re-elected in 1916 with the slogan “He Kept Us Out of War” but shortly
thereafter America would step onto the world’s stage as never before.
Unit Six Outline: Expansionism to Progressivism
I) Growth of Industries
A) railroads
1) Transcontinental Railroad (1869)
B) Standard Oil: John D. Rockefeller
C) US Steel: Andrew Carnegie
D) Thomas Edison
II) Pro-Business Government (laissez faire)
A) Morrill Act
B) Interstate Commerce Act
C) Sherman Antitrust Act
III) Indian Wars (1492-1868 (then) 1876-1890)
A) Little Big Horn (1876)
B) Wounded Knee (1890)
C) Bureau of Indian Affairs (government management of the ___________________________—areas of poor land
set aside for the ___________________)
1) Dawes Act of 1887 (assimilation)
IV) The West
A) Cattle Ranching (Big Business of the West)
B) Settlement
1) Exodusters
2) Homestead Act & Timber Culture Act
3) barbed wire, McCormick reaper, & steel plow
38
C) Frederick Jackson Turner's "Turner Thesis" (said that the American the frontier acted like a safety valve and
people could pack up and move ___________ to start over in times of trouble. It eased the pressure on society.)
D) dime novels & wild west shows
E) conservation
V) The Gilded Age (a term coined by ____________________________ in which America looked good on the outside (rich &
prosperous), but underneath it had many social problems)
A) Social Darwinism (applied Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection, as written in his Origin of Species, to
__________________________ in that those who were strong enough to do well would do so and all the others
would fail—in other words, it’s the “_________________________________________” in everyday life.)
B) conspicuous consumption
C) Political Corruption
1) Tweed Ring
2) Grant Administration (1868-1876): Credit Mobilier
3) Assassination of James A. Garfield
4) Grover Cleveland
VI) “New” Immigrants (“_________” = those who came to the US after the Civil War --“_________” = those who came
before; “_________” = Catholic & Jewish from S. & E. Europe--“_________” = Protestant from N. & W. Europe)
A) Ellis Island
B) tenements
C) nativism
1) Chinese Exclusion Act & the Gentlemen's Agreement
D) sweatshops
VII) Elections of 1896 and 1900: William Jennings Bryan (D) vs. William McKinley (R)
A) Gold Standard vs. Silver Standard (Gold Standard: the government could only print money that equaled the
amount of gold they had. With more silver available than gold, they could print more money & more people could
have access to it. Supporters of this “bimetallism” included Midwest __________________ who were part of the
Grange Movement, the Populist Party, & the former Greenback Party.)
VIII) Spanish-American War (1898)
A) Imperialism (taking over someone else's _____________--imperialism is _____________________________
in practice because the stronger country is taking over the weaker one)
1) Open Door Policy (America's answer to the Spheres of Influence in ____________ where anyone could
trade their instead of specific areas of foreign economic control)
B) Yellow Journalism
1) William Randolph Hearst: "you furnish the pictures, and I'll supply the war"
C) USS Maine
D) Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders: San Juan Hill (Cuba)
IX) Reform
A) Social Gospel
B) Settlement Houses: Hull House (Jane Addams)
C) Civil Service Act of 1883 (reformed government hiring practices)
D) American Federation of Labor (1st large-scale union)
1) Samuel Gompers
2) collective bargaining
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3) Pullman Strike
E) Muckrakers
1) Ida Tarbell (Standard Oil)
2) Upton Sinclair (The Jungle) exposed unsanitary conditions in the meatpacking ____________
a) Pure Food & Drug Act
X) Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt: The Square Deal (____________________________ = those who want social change
through government regulation)
A) "Big Stick" policies
1) trust-busting
2) Dollar Diplomacy
3) Roosevelt Corollary (the United States would intervene in the affairs of Latin American countries as
per the _________________________________________)
4) Panama Canal
B) Election of 1912: Bull Moose
XI) Presidency of Woodrow Wilson: The New Freedom
A) Federal Reserve Act (the Federal Reserve is the government’s banker & handles America’s _________ policy)
B) “Progressive” Amendments
1) 16th
2) 17th
3) 18th
4) 19th
Unit Six: Key Terms & Essential Questions
anarchist
Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine
discrimination
Hull House
Interstate Commerce Act
laissez-faire
19th Amendment
People's Party
progressivism
referendum
Spanish-American War
trust
anarchy
corporation
Gilded Age
imperialism
Irish Potato Famine
middle class
Pacific Railway Act
Platt Amendment
Pure Food & Drug Act
reservation
standard of living
working class
Chinese Exclusion Act
Dawes Act
Homestead Act
initiative
labor unions
muckraker
Panama Canal
populism
recall
17th Amendment
Treaty of Fort Laramie
Sherman Antitrust Act
1) What did muckrakers, like Ida Tarbell, hope to accomplish?
2) What effect did Edison's light bulb and Westinghouse's alternating current system have on American industry?
3) What was one effect of the growth of railroads after the Civil War?
4) What was the Pullman Strike an example of?
5) What were examples of reform in the first half of the 19th century?
6) In what era did child labor reform occur?
7) America's annexation of Hawaii in 1898 is an example of what type of late 19th century foreign policy?
8) What effect did the 1887 Dawes Act have on American Indians?
9) The growth of railroad and steel industries in the 1870s led to the development what business practice?
10) What was the purpose behind the formation of Samuel Gompers' American Federation of Labor?
11) What was the result of muckraker Upton Sinclair's book The Jungle?
12) What was the result of the Pacific Railway Act that allowed for the construction of a transcontinental railroad?
13) What effect did industrialization have on workers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries?
14) What effect did the discovery of gold in the Black Hill have on the Sioux?
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15) What did "speak softly and carry a big stick" refer to?
16) What was the stated purpose of the Spanish-American War in 1898?
17) Roosevelt believed American military, economic, and political interests were served by building what in Latin America?
18) What event sparked the Spanish-American War?
19) From where did most of the immigrants who came through Ellis Island come?
***
Unit Seven: World War I
SSUSH15 The student will analyze the origins and impact of U.S. involvement in World War I.
a. Describe the movement from U.S. neutrality to engagement in World War I, with reference to unrestricted submarine
warfare.
b. Explain the domestic impact of World War I, as reflected by the origins of the Great Migration, the Espionage Act, and
socialist Eugene Debs.
c. Explain Wilson’s Fourteen Points and the proposed League of Nations.
d. Describe passage of the Eighteenth Amendment, establishing Prohibition, and the Nineteenth Amendment, establishing
woman suffrage.
Chapter One: America Enters the War
World War I wasn’t called that at the time. They called it the Great War, the “war to end all wars,” or the “war to
make the world safe for democracy.” Only after World War II came along did they change the name. America tried to stay out
of the war in Europe for three years, but by 1917 the situation had reached a point where President Woodrow Wilson felt he
had to jump in. We almost did so in 1915 when a German submarine (called a U-Boat) sank the British passenger liner
Lusitania, killing hundreds—some of them Americans. Wilson was able to calm the country down and get a promise from the
Germans not to do such a thing again. However, in 1917 Germany announced that they were resuming unrestricted U-Boat
warfare on any ship they wanted to (including American vessels in the warzone) and this really caused a ruckus. The final
straw came shortly thereafter when a telegram sent by Germany to Mexico was made public. Called the Zimmerman Note, it
was a message to the Mexican government encouraging them to declare war on America. Germany wanted to keep America
distracted and out of the war in Europe. They promised Mexico would get back the land it had lost with the Mexican Cession
and Texas independence if it did as instructed.
In 1917, America declared war on Germany. Millions of American “doughboys” (as our soldiers were called) were
sent “over there” to fight in France as America mobilized for war. The country instituted a draft—called the Selective Service
Act—for the first time since the Civil War. Throughout America, women and other
Did you know...
minorities filled the jobs vacated by enlisting men. Many southern Blacks, escaping the
...WWI started because of a
land of Jim Crow, went to northern cities during the war in search of jobs and stayed there.
car took a wrong turn?
This was known as the Great Migration (they would also do this during World War II).
Being patriotic wasn’t just a duty it became law with the passage of the Espionage
Act that (like the Sedition Act John Adams signed in 1798) made it a crime to help the enemy even if by only making antiAmerican comments. (Socialist Eugene Debs went to jail because of this act for expressing his leftist views.)
American soldiers weren’t in the trenches long before Germany surrendered on November 11, 1918. The shooting
stopped at exactly 11am. (In other words, World War I ended on the 11th hour, of the 11th day, in the 11th month, of 1918.) To
commemorate this, America created a holiday called Armistice Day (an armistice being when fighting stops). Eventually, the
name changed but we still celebrate it in November: Veteran’s Day.
Chapter Two: Treaty of Versailles
A short time after the fighting stopped all the major players in the war (except Russia—they’d quit the war in 1917)
met at Versailles (pronounced “ver-sigh”) just outside Paris to draw up a treaty. Woodrow Wilson became the first President to
visit Europe while still in office when he went to Versailles with his plan for peace called the 14 Points. Wilson wanted “peace
without victory” in that no one would be blamed or punished for the war. He failed in his goal because the British and the
French were interested in revenge against Germany and gaining from its subsequent humiliation.
Under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany had to take the blame for the war (which they hadn’t started) and pay
reparations (which America refused to take but the others were happy to). The treaty broke up the Austro-Hungarian Empire
and the Ottoman Empire, formalized the existence of countries such as Poland and Belgium, and created entirely new countries
like Czechoslovakia (pronounced “check-oh-slow-vocki-yuh”), Yugoslavia, Turkey, and Iraq. The colonies England and
France made out of these areas was called the mandate system.
41
The one thing that Woodrow Wilson got out of his 14 Points was an agreement to form a League of Nations. This was
a place where the nations of the world could go and talk about their problems instead of fighting. (It was the forerunner for
today’s United Nations which came about at the end of World War II.) In the end, the League didn’t work since it had no
ability to enforce its rulings and America never joined it. The Senate refused to be a part of it since they were worried about
being dragged into more foreign wars. In 1925 a conference was held in Washington in which all the countries with big navies
agreed to limit themselves militarily. They even signed the Kellogg-Briand that basically tried to outlaw war.
The country wanted to return to its isolationist roots. A wave of anti-immigrant sentiments swept through the country
during the 1920s as people began to worry about the troubles of Eastern Europe spilling over here. They called this period the
Red Scare because the main group people were concerned about were the Bolsheviks (Russian communists). During the war
the communists seized control of Russia and we worried that they might try it here. Communists and their sympathizers were
rounded up and deported (kicked out). Nativism became commonplace and anti-immigration leagues sprung up. The KKK saw
a political resurgence as they added immigrants to the list of people they harassed.
The Treaty of Versailles did nothing but make the sacrifices of the millions who died during World War I meaningless
because its punitive provisions laid the foundation for Second World War twenty years later in which the same countries would
fight each other over precisely the same ground. (A lot of future problems can be traced back to the Treaty of Versailles. The
Great Depression can be partially blamed on it and that led to the rise of fascist Germany; which led to World War II; which
led to the Cold War; which led to the rise of Islamic radicalism; which led to today's War on Terror.)
For ten years after the end of World War I, America went through what was essentially a celebration of life after so
much death and destruction overseas. This was known as the Roaring 20s and all the fun would come to an end in 1929 with
the start of the Great Depression.
Unit Seven Outline: World War I
I) America Enters the War (1917)
A) Sinking of the Lusitania (1915)
B) unrestricted submarine warfare
C) Zimmerman Note (Germany tried to get ________________________ to declare war on America)
D) "doughboys"
E) Great Migration (Southern Blacks moved for war-time _________________ in Northern factories)
F) Espionage Act (made it a crime to help the enemy with words as well as deeds (____________________ Act))
1) Eugene V. Debs (socialist who went to prison for violating the ____________________ Act of 1917)
G) Selective Service Act
II) Treaty of Versailles (1919) ended ________ (“War to End All Wars” or “War to Make the World Safe for Democracy”)
A) Wilson's 14 Points
1) League of Nations (place where countries could ______ instead of fighting—forerunner of today’s United
Nations. __________ refused to ratify because they feared being dragged into more foreign wars)
B) Mandate System (League members divided ____________ & _______________ Empires amongst themselves)
III) Isolationism
A) Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928 treaty that—along with the 1921 Washington Naval Treaty—tried to outlaw _____)
B) The Red Scare (1920s _______________________________ movement over fear of communists & anarchists)
Unit Seven: Key Terms & Essential Questions
armistice
Espionage Act
League of Nations
Selective Service Act
Central Powers
Fourteen Points
neutrality
socialists
communism
Great Migration
Red Scare
Treaty of Versailles
1) The restriction of immigration during the 1920s with the National Origins Act was a reaction to what?
2) War-time employment opportunities and the 19th Amendment both represent gains for whom?
3) Why was the US Senate "slow to abandon neutrality" after WWI?
4) What part of Wilson's 14 Points was included in the Treaty of Versailles?
5) What event sparked WWI?
42
6) What did the Treaty of Versailles create?
7) What led to America's entry into WWI?
***
Unit Eight: The Roaring 20s & the Great Depression
SSUSH16 The student will identify key developments in the aftermath of WWI.
a. Explain how rising communism and socialism in the United States led to the Red Scare and immigrant restriction.
b. Identify Henry Ford, mass production, and the automobile.
c. Describe the impact of radio and the movies.
d. Describe modern forms of cultural expression; include Louis Armstrong and the origins of jazz, Langston Hughes and the
Harlem Renaissance, Irving Berlin, and Tin Pan Alley.
SSUSH17 The student will analyze the causes and consequences of the Great Depression.
a. Describe the causes, including overproduction, underconsumption, and stock market speculation that led to the stock market
crash of 1929 and the Great Depression.
b. Explain factors (include over-farming and climate) that led to the Dust Bowl and the resulting movement and migration
west.
c. Explain the social and political impact of widespread unemployment that resulted in developments such as Hoovervilles.
SSUSH18 The student will describe Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal as a response to the depression and compare the
ways governmental programs aided those in need.
a. Describe the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority as a works program and as an effort to control the environment.
b. Explain the Wagner Act and the rise of industrial unionism.
c. Explain the passage of the Social Security Act as a part of the second New Deal.
d. Identify Eleanor Roosevelt as a symbol of social progress and women’s activism.
e. Identify the political challenges to Roosevelt’s domestic and international leadership; include the role of Huey Long, the
“court packing bill,” and the Neutrality Act.
Chapter One: The Roaring 20s
The things we take for granted today such as radios, cars, movies, fast music, and women’s equality all came into their
own in the 1920s. As the late Peter Jennings put it, the roar in the Roaring 20s was the birth scream of the new. Cities became
cultural centers as urban life was seen as glamorous on the flickering screen of the movie houses from which, along with radio,
Americans began to have a set of shared values.
There are some things that are synonymous with the Roaring 20s. This was the time of Prohibition when the 18th
Amendment (and the enforcement of the Volstead Act) made the sale and consumption of alcohol illegal. This led to many
people meeting in secret bars called speak-easies to drink illegal booze. The people selling alcohol to these places were outlaws
and the 1920s saw the rise of organized crime led by such notorious gangsters as Chicago’s Al Capone. A federal taskforce
called the Untouchables (called that because they wouldn’t be bribed like most of Chicago) led by Elliott Ness was sent to take
Capone down. They got him for tax evasion. That’s right, the government sent him to prison for not paying taxes on the
millions he earned from his illegal activities. None of this mattered, though, to the patrons of speak-easies.
In a speak-easy, amidst all the drinking, people were dancing to a new form of music called jazz. Starting in the deep
South and becoming popular in New York’s Harlem, jazz is the only truly original American musical art form. At places like
the Cotton Club, White patrons would mingle with Black artists like Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong and listen to music
that helped usher in the Harlem Renaissance. This was when aspects of Black culture (like the works of author Langston
Hughes) began to be accepted by “mainstream society.” (The music industry of today got its start in New York’s “Tin Pan
Alley” where artists like jazz composer George Gershwin made some of the first million-selling songs.) The whole Jazz Age
was reflected on the movie screen as people who had never been to the big cities to experience the Roaring 20s firsthand could
do so vicariously. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby and its tale of the “Lost Generation” from World War I seemed
to sum up this whole era. It described a culture with relaxed social mores (pronounced “mor-rays”) and Fitzgerald and his book
has become synonymous with the Jazz Age.
Women were finally guaranteed the right to vote in 1920 with the ratification of the 19th Amendment and many were
eager to show off their independence. Speak-easies were prime locations for spotting women doing just that. They were called
flappers (because of the way their shoes flapped as they danced) and they delighted in pushing society’s boundaries. (Their
activities would lead to today’s feminism.)
During World War I the army bought lots of airplanes. After the war they sold them off. For a few hundred dollars
former army pilots and newcomers bought themselves an airplane and tried to earn a living with them. Some used their planes
to deliver the mail (the first time anything like that had been done) while others flew into small towns to give rides and perform
tricks. These people who were making money with their airplanes were called “barnstormers.” One such pilot was Charles
43
Lindbergh. In 1927, at just 25 years of age, he became the first person to fly nonstop across the Atlantic. He had investors out
of St. Louis provide the funding for the building of a lightweight, single-engine airplane that Lindbergh named The Spirit of St.
Louis. Thirty-three and a half hours after takeoff from New York, Lindbergh touched down in Paris.
Airplanes were becoming the norm in the 1920s and so too were automobiles. Cars had been around since the late
1800s but it wasn’t until Henry Ford perfected the assembly-line process for cars that people could afford them. The first massproduced automobile was the Model T. The “Tin Lizzy” (as it was sometimes called) came out during World War I, but in the
post-war years sales took off. The Ford Motor Company had thousands of workers based in Detroit and could produce
hundreds of Model Ts each week and sell them for about $295. The low price of the Model T put the automobile in the hands
of more and more people and American society changed because of it. Not only were roads paved and highways built, but
people could get jobs and meet (and marry) people from far away thereby diversifying the economy as well as the gene pool.
Chapter Two: Scopes Monkey Trial
In 1925, many states had laws on the books making it a crime to teach the still relatively new concept put forth by
Charles Darwin in his Theory of Evolution (in which man is said to have evolved from lesser creatures). Banning this theory
from the classroom really irked the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and New York intellectuals to no end. They
wanted to get these laws overturned by the courts (because whenever a liberal can’t win at the ballot box, they turn to the
courts) and they needed a test case to get the ball rolling.
Dayton, Tennessee, wanted to drum up publicity for their town to promote tourism and local leaders agreed to help the
ACLU. A substitute teacher named John T. Scopes agreed to be the patsy and he was dutifully accused of violating
Tennessee’s Butler Act which forbade the teaching of evolution. The ACLU sent Clarence Darrow to defend Scopes and
William Jennings Bryan agreed to prosecute the case. Darrow didn’t actually defend Scopes. He conceded that Scopes had
broken the law, but then went on to attack the law itself.
The case became a worldwide event as Dayton got more than it bargained for when a circus-like atmosphere
descended on the town. The press dubbed it the Scopes Monkey Trial and it was broadcast live on the radio for everyone to
hear. So many people jammed into the sweltering courtroom that the floor began to buckle and they moved the trial outside. In
the end, Scopes was found guilty and fined $100 (which was overturned later on appeal), but the real goal was to get
creationism (the Biblical theory of how man came to be) discredited and in that the ACLU was successful.
Chapter Three: The Bubble Bursts
Warren G. Harding was elected President in 1920. Upon taking office, Harding transferred control of the federal oil
reserve at Teapot Dome, Utah, to the Department of the Interior. Albert Falls, the Secretary of the Interior, then began leasing
the reserve to oil companies. The Teapot Dome Scandal became public in October of 1923 about two months after Harding had
died suddenly on a trip to the west coast. Harding’s post-death scandals have greatly tarnished his presidential legacy even
though he and his successor—Calvin Coolidge—did improve the economy by lowering taxes.
Everyone in the 1920s it seemed was playing the stock market. Wall Street, they said, was “paved with gold.” Buying
stock became an obsession not only for the rich, but for cab drivers, maids, cooks, and the like. The stock market is like playing
the lottery—you only make money if you get lucky. Let’s say you buy a stock for $5. If the stock’s value goes up then you
made a profit when you sell it. If the stock price goes down, you’ve lost money. If the stock becomes worthless, you’ve lost all
your money—and that’s what happened to a lot of people when the economic bubble burst in 1929.
Chapter Four: The Great Depression
If the Roaring 20s was the party, then the Great Depression was the hangover. Many people think that the stock
market crash on October 29, 1929 (called Black Tuesday) was the cause of the Great Depression. It wasn’t, but it was one of
the reasons America’s economy slipped into its worst-ever economic situation. A depression is a major downturn in the
economy (they used to be called “Panics” in the 1800s).
Along with the stock market crash of 1929, another cause of the Great Depression can be laid at the feet of the Treaty
of Versailles. When Germany had to pay war reparations to England and France it devastated the German economy. Since they
didn’t have the money to pay their debts, they borrowed from American banks to pay England and France what they owed.
Those two countries, for their part, owed the United States money for the loans they got during World War I. They took the
war reparations from Germany and paid back their debts. When the banks in America began to shut down (if too many people
made a “run” on a bank it ran out of money and had to close) no money was going to Germany who couldn’t pay England and
France, who then couldn’t pay back America. In other words, the war reparations left over from the First World War helped
make the Great Depression a worldwide depression.
A third factor that helped bring on the Great Depression was the overproduction of farmland in the plains states.
During World War I, America literally fed the world (we still do). To capitalize on this, many American farmers took out bank
loans to expand their lands or buy new equipment. When the war ended and Europe began to recover, the farmers here had to
plant even more crops just to keep up their lifestyle and make the payments on their loans. If you plant the same crops over and
44
over you strip the soil of nutrients, which is what happened. Add to this a drought and the depleted farmlands literally become
a desert. When the wind blew, the depleted top soil was picked up and you got what became known as the Dust Bowl.
Spreading from Texas up through Nebraska and beyond, farmers found themselves without the ability to grow crops. Banks
foreclosed on the farms because they couldn’t pay back their loans. Those farmers who packed up and moved west during the
Dust Bowl were called Okies since a large percentage of them were from Oklahoma. (The reason they moved west to start over
was because that’s what their parents and grandparents had done during the days of the Turner Thesis. Unfortunately for them,
there was no frontier left to go to in the 1930s. If you’ve ever read John Steinbeck’s novel about the Dust Bowl called The
Grapes of Wrath then you know what I’m talking about.)
Chapter Five: Herbert Hoover
There is a sad fact in politics: whoever is in the White House during good economic times gets the credit and whoever
is in office during bad economic times gets the blame. It happens over and over again. Unfortunately for Herbert Hoover, he
was sworn in as the nation’s 31st President just seven months before the stock market crashed. Hoover had nothing to do with
causing the Great Depression but most Americans blamed him for it anyway. In fact, when homeless and jobless (during the
Great Depression the unemployment rate got as high as 25%) began to congregate in makeshift shanty towns around the
country, they named them Hoovervilles because they blamed Hoover for their predicament.
Herbert Hoover was a firm believer in something called rugged individualism. To put it simply, it means that people
need to rely on themselves to fix their own lives. Doing things for yourself, after all, is what made this country great and
Hoover felt it wasn’t the job of the federal government to interfere in people’s personal lives. (In reality, the Constitutional role
of the federal government is to administer the laws of the land, not tell people how to live.) He did, though, approve the SmootHawley Tariff to try to help ease the Depression, but it only made matters worse.
The Smoot-Hawley Tariff (a tariff being a tax on imports) was not only the largest one in American history (up to that
point) but it also had some unintended consequences. The idea was to help American businesses by making foreign more
expensive. Unfortunately, in passing Smoot-Hawley, all the government did was make the Great Depression worse because
now both foreign and domestic products became too expensive to buy.
Because of the economic crisis, Herbert Hoover most likely would not have been re-elected in 1932, but his reaction
to the Bonus Army right before the election sealed his fate. After World War I, Congress agreed to pay veterans a “bonus” for
their service. The veterans were to get their money in 1945 (when they were supposedly in their old age and retired) but
thousands of them were out of work and they wanted their money early. About 4000 of them (many with their families along
side) marched on Washington to ask Congress for their bonuses. The newspapers cleverly named them the Bonus Army even
though they weren’t causing any real trouble. Congress didn’t have any money to give them even if they wanted to and the
crowd was told to go home. Some did, but most had nowhere else to go and began to camp out in empty buildings and city
parks. This made the military and politicians increasingly nervous. Memories of the 1917 communist revolution in Russia were
still fresh in people’s minds and they convinced President Hoover that the Bonus Army was being led by nefarious people. The
army asked permission to disperse the crowds and he agreed. The military promptly rolled tanks down Pennsylvania Avenue
and went after the Bonus Army with bayonets and tear gas—all the while the press (and newsreel cameras) covered the event.
It seemed like overkill to many people and they blamed Hoover for being insensitive. No one was really surprised when
Hoover was resoundingly defeated in the election a few weeks later.
Chapter Six: Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Franklin Delano (pronounced “del-an-oh”) Roosevelt’s plan to end the Great Depression was called the New Deal. It
wasn’t a set strategy but rather a series of ideas to try to fix the nation’s problems. For the first time the federal government
took a direct role in people’s lives creating what would eventually become the welfare state (i.e. living off the government—
the opposite of rugged individualism). Government programs flew out of Washington, most of them known by their initials.
For example, the Works Progress Administration (which put people to work building schools, buildings, airports, pools, parks,
and even Hoover Dam—without which Las Vegas wouldn’t exist) was known as the WPA. So many programs were known by
their initials that even Roosevelt himself was being referred to as simply FDR. (Only one in ten Americans knew at the time
Roosevelt took office that he was paralyzed from the waist down from polio. Since he couldn’t walk, First Lady Eleanor
Roosevelt traveled for him acting as her husband’s eyes and ears—becoming a symbol of the changing role of women in
American politics and society.)
The New Deal was divided into three parts: relief, recovery, and reform. If someone was starving, then relief
programs would provide immediate help with food and shelter. Recovery programs would put folks back to work to earn a
salary to provide for themselves. And reform programs would fix things so the other two parts wouldn’t be needed again.
Some New Deal reform programs are still around today in one form or another. The Tennessee Valley Authority
(TVA) was a reform program of FDR’s Second New Deal that not only prevented flooding in the southeast by damming up
rivers, but those dams provided electricity to a region that was still feeling the lingering affects of the Civil War. To protect
people from bank closings, another program, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), guarantees your money in the
45
bank if it goes out of business. Social Security is reform program that came about in 1935 as part of the “Second New Deal”
and it was to provide people 65 or older money for their old age.
The Wagner Act of 1935 (also known as the National Labor Relations Act) federally protected unions in their
attempts to get workers to unionize and is also something still in use today. Over the years unions had gained more and more
political clout and with FDR they found someone willing to help them even more. Over time, unions have become more
powerful until in some states you have to join a union if you want a job at all. A business that only hires union workers is
called a closed shop—the movie industry in Hollywood is like that. (“Right to work” states like Georgia, however, don’t allow
closed shops. A business not requiring union membership for employment is known as an open shop.)
Not everyone liked the role the government was playing in people’s lives. Some thought the New Deal didn’t go far
enough. One of the most colorful of the New Deal critics was Louisiana Senator Huey Long. He controlled Louisiana like Boss
William Tweed used to control New York City. Long came up with the Share-Our-Wealth program as an alternative to the
New Deal. In his plan, the government would make sure that no one had more than anyone else—that way we’d all be equal.
(If that sounds like communism—you’re right, it is.) Some called it a “redistribution of wealth” but Long never got the chance
to implement it because he was “assassinated” (sort of) in 1935.
Chapter Seven: Roosevelt’s Court-Packing Scheme
Federal judges are appointed for life. You can’t fire them once they get the job (you can impeach and remove them,
but only for serious things) and they can be on the bench for decades. New Presidents sometimes find themselves having to
deal with judges appointed by predecessors who were political rivals. That’s what FDR was going through during his first term
when the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional one of the jewels in the New Deal’s crown: the National Recovery
Administration (NRA). This program eased antitrust regulations and allowed such
Did you know...
things as price fixing (which is normally an illegal practice in which business get
...Martians invaded New Jersey
together to set prices to prevent competition). Roosevelt was mad—to put it mildly—
in 1938?
and wanted revenge. After his re-election in 1936 FDR attempted his “court-packing
scheme” in which he asked Congress to give him the authority to appoint additional
Justices to the Supreme Court. Everyone knew he was trying to outnumber his opponents on the court so they’d stop striking
down his legislation. Congress said “no” and in the eyes of the American people FDR lost a significant amount of power and
prestige because they realized he was trying to play games with the Constitution. (It didn’t stop them from electing him two
more times, though.)
Chapter Eight: Lifestyles During the Great Depression
The Great Depression left people feeling…well, depressed. They wanted to forget their troubles and the movies let
them do that for a time. (They also loved going to baseball games where they’d watch Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth play, but
movies were something special.) We take going to the movies for granted today but when they first came out in the early 1900s
they were a phenomenon. The first movie houses were small affairs that only cost you a nickel to get in (they were called
nickelodeons) but eventually grand movie theaters were built. People not only went to the movies to see films, but also to see
the news. Newsreel footage of events were updated weekly and people went to see moving pictures of news they heard about
on radio or in the paper. At first movies were silent—as in, they had no sound. The first “talking” motion picture was Al
Jolson’s The Jazz Singer and it ushered in movies with sound. By the 1930s, the number one box office star of the Great
Depression: a little girl with blond curls named Shirley Temple. The movies were an escape from the Great Depression but an
even more important bit of technology entertained people in their homes.
The only source of immediate news for most people in the country in the 1920s and 30s came from the radio.
Just like people turn on the TV today to get the news and to watch their favorite shows, people would gather around the radio
for the same thing. (Radio would remain dominant until the explosion of TV in the 1950s.) FDR used the radio to explain New
Deal programs with what were called his “fire-side chats.” Not only were news and sports popular on the radio, there were also
entertainment programs. Just like there are various programs on TV today, so too were there programs on the radio.
Chapter Nine: Legacy of the New Deal
We still live in the aftermath of the New Deal. Not only are some programs from it still around today, but the concept
of the federal government being directly involved in the lives of American citizens began during the 1930s and hasn’t stopped
yet. In order to pay for all of these programs the government engaged in a lot of deficit spending—which is spending more
money than you have (another thing that hasn't stopped yet). In 1940 Franklin Delano Roosevelt would do something no one
else has ever done—he got elected to a third term as President. (He would get elected to a fourth term in 1944 but would die a
few months after being sworn in. The 22nd Amendment in 1951 now limits the President to two terms.) The New Deal may
have eased the effects of the Great Depression but it didn’t end it. America pulled itself out of its economic struggles when it
became involved in the Second World War
46
Unit Eight Outline: The Roaring 20s & the Great Depression
I) Roaring 20s (1919-1929)
A) Prohibition (Volstead Act)
1)speak-easy
2) flappers
3) jazz
a) Harlem Renaissance
4) Rise of Gangsters (Al Capone)
B) airplanes: barnstorming
1) Charles Lindbergh
C) Model T (Henry Ford)
D) Scopes Monkey Trial
E) Stock Market
II) Causes of the Great Depression
A) stock market crash
B) war reparations
C) Dust Bowl
1) Okies
III) Herbert Hoover
A) Rugged Individualism
B) Smoot-Hawley Tariff
C) Bonus Army
D) Hoovervilles
IV) Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal
A) Relief, Recovery, & Reform
1) “Fire-side Chats”
B) Huey Long’s Share-Our-Wealth Program
C) Wagner Act
D) Works Progress Administration (WPA)
V) National Recovery Administration (NRA) Declared Unconstitutional by Supreme Court
A) Roosevelt's “court-packing scheme”: appoint additional Justices to outnumber his opponents
VI) Lifestyles During Great Depression
A) movies
B) radio
VII) Legacy of the New Deal: the Welfare State
A) deficit spending
B) TVA
C) Social Security
D) FDIC
47
Unit Eight: Key Terms & Essential Questions
CCC
Harlem Renaissance
Jazz Age
Social Security
TVA
Dust Bowl
Hoovervilles
Roaring 20s
stock
WPA
Great Depression
Indian Reorganization Act of 1934
rural
Stock Market Crash of 1929
Wagner Act
1) What does the growth of the movie industry indicate about the Roaring 20s?
2) Protection of depositors in member banks was what economic reform program of the New Deal?
3) Langston Hughes and other Black poets gained prominence in the 1920s during what literary movement?
4) Who became a role model of social progress and women's activism during the Great Depression and WWII?
5) What is an arrangement of workers and machines where each performs a repetitive task that helps mass production?
6) What natural disaster because of over-farming and drought caused a large internal migration in the 1930s?
7) Market speculation, buying on credit, and post-WWI consumerism are listed as causes for what?
8) Why did Franklin Delano Roosevelt want to "pack the court"?
***
Unit Nine: World War II
SSUSH19 The student will identify the origins, major developments, and the domestic impact of World War II,
especially the growth of the federal government.
a. Explain A. Philip Randolph’s proposed march on Washington, D.C., and President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s response.
b. Explain the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the internment of Japanese-Americans, German-Americans, and ItalianAmericans.
c. Explain major events; include the lend-lease program, the Battle of Midway, D-Day, and the fall of Berlin.
d. Describe war mobilization, as indicated by rationing, war-time conversion, and the role of women in war industries.
e. Describe the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, include the scientific, economic, and military implications of developing the
atomic bomb.
f. Compare the geographic locations of the European Theater and the Pacific Theater and the difficulties the U.S. faced in
delivering weapons, food, and medical supplies to troops.
Chapter One: American Isolationism
In the years leading up to the war, fascist dictators gained power in Europe. Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, and
became very aggressive when it came to foreign policy. He wanted to build a German empire in Europe and began by
demanding that Europe’s German-populated areas be united with Germany. This led to the occupation of Austria, and the
German annexation of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland. The Munich Agreement was a pact between Germany, France, Britain,
and Italy to permit this annexation in 1938. Great Britain promised Czechoslovakia that Germany would not occupy any other
part of the country, but Hitler invaded and occupied the rest of it the next year.
In 1935, Italy’s Benito Mussolini took his first action in gaining an empire when he invaded Ethiopia. With Hitler’s
support, Mussolini declared war on the Allies in 1940. Italy’s forces were not strong enough to occupy Greece however, and
the army fell to the British.
After World War I, the Soviet Union had a policy of friendship with Germany. In August of 1939, Joseph Stalin
conceded to help Hitler by signing the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact. This enabled Hitler to invade Poland without
opposition from Russia, pushing Britain to declare war on Germany. Other countries followed suit.
In the East, Japan and China were involved in a conflict known as the Second Sino-Japanese War, which began in
1937, after Japan first occupied Manchuria, China’s northeast region, in 1931. This conflict eventually extended World War II
into the Pacific region, when China declared war on Japan, Germany, and Italy.
World War II began on September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland. In the years leading up to this, the United
States Congress passed the Neutrality Acts to keep us from getting involved. Yet, FDR wanted to help England fight the Nazis
because he knew Adolf Hitler had eyes on more than just Europe. By 1940, England really needed America’s help. The
problem for FDR was that a large portion of the nation wanted America to remain neutral (such people were called
isolationists) and those neutrality laws prevented Roosevelt from selling war materials to England. So, he decided to give them
the stuff instead.
It was called the Lend-Lease Act and it simply allowed the British to “borrow” the things they needed for the war as
long as they promised to “give it back when the war was over.” Of course, this was all patent nonsense. What were the British
going to do? Give us back the ships that were sunk, the planes that were shot down, or the bullets that were fired? FDR knew it
was all just a trick to get needed supplies to England and he sold idea of the Lend-Lease Act to the American people by
48
comparing it to letting your neighbor borrow your garden hose when his house is on fire. You don’t charge him money for the
hose, you let him borrow it and when the fire’s out he’d return the hose. It was not only the neighborly thing to do, but it keeps
the fire from spreading to your house next.
Naturally, America wanted to make sure our shipments made it to England so the US Navy escorted the convoys of
cargo vessels on their journey across the North Atlantic. Sometimes German U-Boats would shoot at our ships and we’d shoot
at theirs. It was essentially an undeclared war in the North Atlantic (like the Quasi War in the 1790s). Most people in America
knew that war with Germany was coming. Unfortunately, while our attention was focused on Europe, war would first come
from the skies above the Pacific.
Chapter Two: Relations with Japan
American and Japanese relations were not good by the winter of 1941. America had imposed an embargo on goods to
Japan in protest to the latter’s invasion of China. This embargo helped set into motion a series of events that led to war. In
order to implement their Southern Plan (which entailed an invasion of the South Pacific to not only conquer territory but get
vital supplies for their military), the Japanese had to first take out the US Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor to protect their flank. On
Sunday, December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese planes bombed the US fleet into virtual oblivion. All the US battleships at
anchor there that morning were either damaged or sunk; including the USS Arizona (which blew up causing nearly half of the
3,000 deaths that day) and the USS Oklahoma (which cap-sized trapping hundreds of sailors below deck to slowly die over the
days ahead). The main goal of the Japanese attack that morning was the American aircraft carriers. Luckily for the United
States, the carriers were out to sea (ferrying planes to Midway Island). The Japanese
would soon find that missing their main target would come back to haunt them over
Did you know...
the coming months. The day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor Franklin Delano
...Pearl Harbor was a sneak attack
Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war. He called December 7, 1941, a “date which
because of a slow typist?
will live in infamy” (something that is famous for a bad thing is infamous).
The man who was ordered to plan the attack on Pearl Harbor was Admiral Yamamoto who had actually attended
college in America. He knew the American people weren’t the weaklings that the Japanese military thought. He told them if
they attacked Pearl Harbor without taking the fight to American shores, then they would have maybe six months before Japan
would be in trouble. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Yamamoto said “I fear all we have done is awakened a sleeping giant
and filled him with a terrible resolve.” (He was right.) One of the things that made America so mad at the Japanese was that the
attack on Pearl Harbor was a “sneak attack”—that is, without warning. And since we couldn’t take out our anger on Japan
itself (yet), we took it out on Americans who looked Japanese.
Chapter Three: On the Home Front
All along the west coast (where the fear of invasion and sabotage was rampant) the army rounded up Americans of
Japanese decent and sent them to internment (i.e. prison) camps. These Japanese-Americans were held without trial in places
far from strategic locations. At that time we felt we couldn’t trust them. (It was an irrational fear brought on by uncertainty and
anger. Later in the war, recruits from these camps would show their valor and patriotism in Europe fighting the Nazis.)
America mobilized for war and brought itself out of the Great Depression. As millions of men joined the armed
forces, women filled vacancies in the workforce (the term “Rosie the Riveter” became synonymous with this). Black
Americans also made new inroads with the FDR’s Fair Employment Practices Committee. This was supposed to make sure
that federal jobs went to everyone and was an attempt by Roosevelt to take the political wind from the sails of A. Philip
Randolph—an activist who threatened to march on Washington if FDR hadn’t made some concessions. Another example of
minorities helping with the war effort would be the famous Black pilots known as the Tuskegee Airmen who helped escort
Allied bombers over Europe.
As the country mobilized, businesses went through a war-time conversion process to change from the products they
made during peace-time. Car companies began to make tanks. Washing machine companies began to make machine guns.
Americans began planting “victory gardens” and donate to scrap drives to deal with the new rules on rationing. For years,
everything from sugar to gasoline was limited but for most Americans it was just a case of “doing their part” for victory.
Chapter Four: War in Europe
The first big American offensive of World War II was the invasion of North Africa. It was called Operation Torch and
it showed just how unprepared we were for war. Later, an American was named the Allied Supreme Commander in Europe.
His name was Dwight D. Eisenhower and he would eventually become our 34th President. It would be Eisenhower who would
give the order to launch the largest military operation of all time known to history as D-Day.
For years the Allies were planning a cross-channel invasion of France. On the morning of June 6, 1944, thousands of
ships (the largest armada the world has ever seen) appeared off the coast of Normandy (a province of France). Thousands of
American, British, Canadian, and “Free French” soldiers stormed the beaches for what was officially named Operation
Overlord and the success of that invasion led to the liberation of France and the eventual surrender of Germany. (The code
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names for the five beaches at Normandy were Sword, Gold, Juno, Utah, and Omaha. The last two were American beaches and
Omaha saw the most casualties that day with 4000 dead or wounded—in just the first few hours of the invasion.)
Chapter Five: War in the Pacific
The Japanese stomped all over the American military in the first few months of the war. The attack on Pearl Harbor
was not an isolated incident. At the same time that was happening, the Japanese were striking throughout the South Pacific
including the Philippines. There was a large American army on those islands (they’d been there since the Spanish-American
War of 1898) and they were forced to retreat under the heavy Japanese onslaught until all they had left was the island fortress
of Corregidor located in Manila Bay (the Philippine capital).
President Roosevelt didn’t want the American commander in the Philippines to be captured by the Japanese (everyone
knew it was a matter of time before Corregidor fell) so he ordered General Douglas MacArthur to leave before that happened.
MacArthur didn’t want to leave his men, but he obeyed orders. In secret, he sailed away on a small patrol boat and made his
way down to Australia where he vowed “I shall return.” Those three words became a rallying cry for the soldiers in the Pacific
(like “Remember the Alamo”) though it would take over two years of heavy fighting before MacArthur (who was named the
Allied Supreme Commander in the Pacific) kept his promise to return to the Philippines and liberate it from the Japanese.
The American army held out for as long as it could on Corregidor but they eventually surrendered. The exhausted and
sick soldiers (who were reduced to eating horses and other critters before the end) were lined up by the Japanese and marched
along to Bataan (pronounced “buh-tan”) Peninsula to prison camps. Hundreds of Americans died along the way on what
became known as the Bataan Death March.
Eventually America recovered from the initial shock of the Japanese attacks and began to turn things around. The first
sign of this came in April of 1942 when a flight of bombers led by Jimmy Doolittle took off from aircraft carriers deep inside
Japanese-held waters and bombed Tokyo (the Japanese capital). Tactically, Doolittle’s Raid did little structural damage but it
was important psychologically because it boosted America’s morale to no end. (It felt good to strike back for a change after
months of nothing but defeat in the newspapers.) It also convinced the Japanese that they had to destroy the US aircraft carriers
(that were missed at Pearl Harbor) once and for all.
The Japanese navy set a trap for the American carriers by planning an attack on the small island of Midway (in the
middle of the Pacific a couple hundred miles northwest of Hawaii). The Japanese hoped to lure the carriers out of Pearl Harbor
and destroy them with a surprise attack (which they were getting really good at by now). What the Japanese didn’t know was
that the US navy had broken their coded transmissions and knew their plans. So, Admiral Chester Nimitz sent the American
fleet to Midway ahead of time to surprise them. It worked. In a three-day air battle over the central Pacific, the US navy pretty
much wiped out the Japanese navy. This was the turning point for America in World War II. (By the way, the Battle of
Midway took placed in June of 1942—six months after Pearl Harbor. Just as Admiral Yamamoto had predicted, the Japanese
were beginning to lose the war.)
In order to reclaim the islands in the Pacific that were now under Japanese control, MacArthur and his forces began
“hopping” from island to island. They would attack one Japanese-held island (like at Iwo Jima—pronounced “e-woh-geemuh”—where the famous flag raising by US Marines took place) and once the island was secure, they’d move on to the next
target. This Island-Hopping Campaign was taking a long time and costing a lot of American lives so MacArthur came up with
a new variation of the plan. His idea was to skip the larger Japanese-held islands and attack the surrounding islands. Those
smaller targets would be take less time to secure and it would save lives. The Japanese forces on the larger islands would find
themselves cut off and had the choice of surrendering or starving. (Some chose neither option. As late as 1980 old Japanese
soldiers were found on islands in the Pacific still thinking the war was on.) The American soldiers dubbed this version of island
hopping as “hit ‘em where they ain’t.”
The final island-hopping battle occurred on Okinawa (pronounced “oh-kin-ah-wuh”) and this would be the closest
America would come to Japan itself before the end of the war. The resistance put up by the Japanese (both military and
civilian) proved to the US commanders that to invade Japan directly was going to be extremely costly. The Japanese were
fighting to the death (few were captured alive) and the army estimated that upwards of a million casualties could be expected
on the American side alone if they were to go into Japan. (The skies over the Japanese home islands were filled with American
bombers already and their constant fire-bombing of Tokyo and other cities was laying waste to the country—but still the
Japanese refused to surrender.) President Roosevelt’s successor just couldn’t stand the idea of more American soldiers dying so
another alternative to invasion was considered.
Chapter Six: War Ends in Europe
World War II was fought between two main groups: the Axis Powers (Italy, Germany, and Japan), and the “Big
Three” Allies (America, Britain, and Russia). Throughout the war, there were meetings between the allied leaders. Before Pearl
Harbor brought the US into the war, FDR and Winston Churchill (British Prime Minister), met at sea and signed the Atlantic
Charter that said America would support England’s war efforts. Once the US was in the war, Roosevelt, Churchill and Joseph
Stalin (communist leader of Russia) met several times to discuss the fighting and how to handle things after the war. The first
meeting of all three leaders was at Tehran (pronounced “tay-ran”) in 1943 where D-Day was planned, and another at Yalta led
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to the creation of the United Nations. The last meeting (at which new President Harry S. Truman attended) was at Potsdam.
There the allies discussed what to do about post-war Europe.
That post-war in Europe began when the war ended there in 1945. Unfortunately for Franklin Delano Roosevelt he
didn’t live to see the end of the war in Europe. He was sworn in for the fourth time on January 20, 1945 (the only President to
have been elected more than twice) but on April 12th, he suffered a stroke while visiting his “Little White House” in Warm
Springs, Georgia. Vice President Harry S. Truman took over. On May 7th Germany surrendered. We call this V-E Day (which
stands for “Victory in Europe”) and it was heralded with celebrations around the world.
After the fighting stopped, the Allies decided to prevent Germany from coming back for a third try after they’d been
involved in two world wars already. Germany was divided in half as was the capital of Berlin. The west side of both Germany
and Berlin was placed under the control of America, England, and France. Russia got the eastern half of both (they were there
already). The problem was that Berlin was actually located on the Russian side of Germany and the struggle for complete
control over that city would be the opening rounds of the Cold War.
Chapter Seven: War Ends in the Pacific
The Japanese kept fighting. The battle on Okinawa convinced America it had to find another way of ending the war
without invading Japan directly. Truman was told about the development of the atomic bomb (called the Manhattan Project) by
the research facility at Los Alamos, New Mexico, and many people (of those who knew about it) didn’t want him use it. They
worried about the moral implications, but Truman was more worried about saving American lives. (There are people today
who think Truman’s decision to use the bomb was wrong, but in 1945, after six years of
Did you know...
war—four with America in it—people had more than their fill of death and if one bomb
...WWII
ended by accident?
could end things, then it would be used.) Truman warned the Japanese that if they kept
fighting then they were going to really get it (he wasn’t specific in what way). The
Japanese military ignored his warning. So, on a bright clear August day above the city of Hiroshima (pronounced “he-row-shemuh”) a lone American bomber (named the Enola Gay) appeared high in the sky. In an instant the city burst into flames as four
square miles was suddenly destroyed by a single bomb (nicknamed “Littleboy” due to its shape). Thousands died instantly and
many more would die of radiation sickness (a concept few knew much about when the bomb was developed). When no
surrender came, the city of Nagasaki (pronounced “nah-gah-sockee”) suffered the same fate as a second atomic bomb was
used. On August 14, 1945, Japan surrendered—this was called V-J Day (“Victory over Japan”)—and was the day World War
II finally ended. A surrender ceremony was held on September 2nd on board the USS Missouri. That battleship now sits as a
museum in Pearl Harbor just a short distance from the remains of the USS Arizona. These two memorials serve as a reminder
of where (for America) the war began and where it ended.
Unit Nine Outline: World War II
I) American Isolationism
A) Neutrality Act
B) Lend-Lease Act (Roosevelt compared it to lending your neighbor a garden ____________ when his house is
on______________. Once the fire was out, your neighbor would return the ____________)
1) Undeclared War in the North Atlantic
C) Relations with Japan
1) embargo
2) Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941)
a) USS Arizona & USS Oklahoma
3) Japanese-Americans put into internment camps
D) Mobilization
1) Rosie the Riveter
2) war-time conversion
3) rationing
4) Fair Employment Practices Committee
a) A. Phillip Randolph
II) War in Europe
A) Dwight D. Eisenhower: Allied Supreme Commander
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B) Invasion of Normandy [France]: D-Day (June 6, 1944) "Operation Overlord"
1) Utah, Omaha, Sword, Gold, Juno
III) War in the Pacific
A) Early America Setbacks
1) General Douglas MacArthur ordered to leave the Philippines before it fell: "I shall return"
a) Allied Supreme Commander
2) "Bataan Death March"
B) Japanese Setbacks
1) Doolittle Raid on Tokyo
2) Island Hopping Campaign: "hit 'em where they ain't"
a) Iwo Jima (flag raising on Mt. Suribachi)
b) Okinawa (closest US got to Japan)
3) Turning Point for America: Battle of Midway
IV) War Ends (1945)
A) Franklin Delano Roosevelt dies at Warm Springs, GA: Harry S. Truman took over
1) Los Alamos, NM (Manhattan Project)
B) V-E Day
1) Germany surrendered after Hitler committed suicide
2) Germany & Berlin divided
C) V-J Day
1) Japan wouldn't quit: invasion planned
2) atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki: Japan surrendered
Unit Nine: Key Terms & Essential Questions
Allies
homefront
Lend-Lease Act
Potsdam Conference
Axis Powers
isolationism
Manhattan Project
Yalta Conference
GI Bill
Japanese Relocation Order
Operation Overlord
Los Alamos
1) How could America's isolationist policies have been dangerous for the country?
2) How did the nation at home show support for the war effort?
3) Why did civil rights activist A. Phillip Randolph call off his march on Washington in 1941?
4) What ended America's policy of isolationism that had been in place since the end of WWI?
5) Why did the federal government encourage American citizens to buy bonds?
6) Why were some Americans locked away during WWII even though they'd done nothing wrong?
7) Why did Truman drop atomic bombs on Japan?
***
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Unit Ten: The Cold War
SSUSH20 The student will analyze the impact of the Cold War on the United States.
a. Describe the creation of the Marshall Plan, U.S. commitment to Europe, the Truman Doctrine, and the origins and
implications of the containment policy.
b. Explain the impact of the new communist regime in China and the outbreak of the Korean War and how these events
contributed to the rise of Senator Joseph McCarthy.
c. Describe the Cuban Revolution, the Bay of Pigs, and the Cuban missile crisis.
d. Describe the Vietnam War, the Tet Offensive, and growing opposition to the war.
e. Explain the role of geography on the US containment policy, the Korean War, the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and
the Vietnam War.
SSUSH21 The student will explain the impact of technological development and economic growth on the United States,
1945-1975.
a. Describe the baby boom and its impact as shown by Levittown and the Interstate Highway Act.
b. Describe the impact television has had on American culture; include the presidential debates (Kennedy/Nixon, 1960) and
news coverage of the Civil Rights Movement.
c. Analyze the impact of technology on American life; include the development of the personal computer, the cellular
telephone and the expanded use of air conditioning.
d. Describe the impact of competition with the USSR as evidenced by the launch of Sputnik I and President Eisenhower’s
actions.
SSUSH22 The student will identify dimensions of the Civil Rights Movement, 1945-1970.
a. Explain the importance of President Truman’s order to integrate the U.S. military and the federal government.
b. Identify Jackie Robinson and the integration of baseball.
c. Explain Brown v. Board of Education and efforts to resist the decision.
d. Describe the significance of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail and his I have a dream speech.
e. Describe the causes and consequences of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
SSUSH23 The student will describe and assess the impact of political developments between 1945 and 1970.
a. Describe the Warren Court and the expansion of individual rights as seen in the Miranda decision.
b. Describe the political impact of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; include the impact on civil rights legislation.
c. Explain Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society; include the establishment of Medicare.
d. Describe the social and political turmoil of 1968; include the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F.
Kennedy, and the events surrounding the Democratic National Convention.
SSUSH24 The student will analyze the impact of social change movements and organizations of the 1960s.
a. Compare and contrast the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC) tactics; include sit-ins, freedom rides, and changing composition.
b. Describe the National Organization of Women and the origins and goals of the modern women’s movement.
c. Analyze the anti-Vietnam War movement.
d. Analyze Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers’ movement.
e. Explain the importance of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and the resulting developments; include Earth Day, the creation of
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the modern environmentalist movement.
f. Describe the rise of the conservative movement as seen in the presidential candidacy of Barry Goldwater (1964) and the
election of Richard M. Nixon (1968).
SSUSH25 The student will describe changes in national politics since 1968.
a. Describe President Richard M. Nixon’s opening of China, his resignation due to the Watergate scandal, changing attitudes
toward government, and the Presidency of Gerald Ford.
b. Explain the impact of Supreme Court decisions on ideas about civil liberties and civil rights; include such decisions as Roe
v. Wade (1973) and the Bakke decision on affirmative action.
c. Explain the Carter administration’s efforts in the Middle East; include the Camp David Accords, his response to the 1979
Iranian Revolution, and the Iranian hostage crisis.
d. Describe domestic and international events of Ronald Reagan’s presidency; include Reaganomics, the Iran-contra scandal,
and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
e. Explain the relationship between Congress and President Bill Clinton; include the North American Free Trade Agreement
and his impeachment and acquittal.
f. Analyze the 2000 presidential election and its outcome, emphasizing the role of the electoral college.
g. Analyze the response of President George W. Bush to the attacks of September 11, 2001, on the United States, the war
against terrorism, and the subsequent American
interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq.
53
Chapter One: Containment
The Cold War is not a war in the usual sense of the word. It was a political war between communist countries (led by
the Soviet Union) and western democracies (led by the United States). It began as World War II was ending since the need for
America and the Soviets to remain friends was no longer required. The Cold War is called the Cold War because of the attitude
the two sides had towards each other—being unfriendly means to be “cold” to someone.
The Cold War began in 1945 while Harry S. Truman was President. He was concerned that the communists might be
able to make inroads into Western Europe (and elsewhere) after the devastation of World War II. To put it mildly, the people of
Europe were desperate and desperate people do desperate things. The US initiated the Marshall Plan to rebuild Western Europe
so the communists wouldn’t take over. Truman also issued his Truman Doctrine which stated that America would help other
countries resist communist expansion. (We were worried about the “Domino Effect”—a theory that if one country falls to the
communists, others will follow.) The policy of keeping communism from spreading was called containment.
A number of countries (with America taking the lead) joined into a military alliance called NATO to protect each
other from communist aggression. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is still around today even though the Soviet Union
fell apart in 1991. (The Soviet Union is actually short for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics—USSR—of which Russia
was the main component.) The communist version of NATO called the Warsaw Pact (named after the capital of Poland—
which ended up in communist hands after World War II and later became the first country to leave the USSR).
America became increasing paranoid about possible communist spies working to undermine the country and the
federal government began to search for them. (This is not the first time this has happened. Remember the 1920s Red Scare?)
The House of Representatives had an investigative agency called the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) but
the Senate gets most of the historical spotlight because of the man credited with starting the so-called “communist witch-hunts”
(so named because to some people it reminded them of the Salem Witch Trials where simply being accused meant you were
guilty).
Senator Joseph McCarthy hated communists but he took that animosity to the next level by setting out to expose
Soviet spies in our midst. Some of his Senate hearings were even televised as Americans began to worry more and more about
those “godless communists” infiltrating our culture. (It even effected the movie industry—which was ironic since it was a main
target for these investigations—in that some movies began to reflect the anti-communist mood of the country.) America felt
about communists then as we feel about terrorists today. It freaked us out to think there were Soviet agents here and McCarthy
capitalized on that. He said that there were communist spies in our government—even in the White House. Eventually, people
began to tire of the daily worrying and McCarthy—who wasn’t exactly subtle in his anti-communist approach—fell from
grace. Today, the term McCarthyism is used to denote political persecution.
Sometimes the Soviet Union and the United States would get together and try to work out their differences. These
meetings were called superpower summits and were mainly used for discussing how to limit the arms race (a contest to see
who could build the most weapons the fastest). There were times, though, when the two sides clashed over more than a
conference table.
Chapter Two: The Cold War Heats Up
The first contest of the Cold War happened in Berlin. If you recall, the German capital (and the country itself) was
divided up into eastern and western zones and Berlin was on the Soviet side. In 1948, in an effort to drive the Allies out of
West Berlin, the Soviet Union cut off all land access to the city. This could have led to another war if the Allies decided to
press the issue but they didn’t have the manpower in the area to fight it out, so they used their airpower to fly in supplies.
America and England kept West Berlin alive with a flight landing every three minutes. The Berlin Airlift lasted for a year
before the Soviets removed their blockade. In 1961, the Soviet Union would put up a wall between the two sides of Berlin in
order to keep their own people in (because so many East Germans wanted to leave for the West and not be communist
anymore). The Berlin Wall would become a symbol of the Cold War itself and when the wall came down in 1989 it would
symbolize the end of it.
In 1950 North Korean communists invaded South Korea across the 38th Parallel (the boundary between the two
countries). General Douglas MacArthur (who had been reconstructing Japan since the end of World War II) was sent to lead
the United Nations (UN) forces to remove the communists from South Korea. (The United Nations was created in the last
months of World War II as a successor to the old League of Nations.) After landing at a place called Inchon, the UN troops
drove the communists back across the 38th Parallel and MacArthur chased them clear up into China. China (which had turned
communist in 1949 and was backed by the Soviet Union) then attacked, pushing the UN forces back to the 38th Parallel where a
stalemate ensued. MacArthur wanted to expand the war by attacking China itself (even using atomic bombs if necessary) but
President Harry S. Truman was worried about starting World War III and ordered MacArthur to cool his rhetoric. When
MacArthur wouldn’t shut up about it, Truman fired him. In 1953 a cease-fire agreement was signed but there has never been a
formal peace treaty. To this day the Korean War is not “officially” over.
In 1959, Cuba (90 miles south of Florida) turned communist when Fidel Castro took over. Not all Cubans wanted to
be communist and some fled to America where the CIA trained them, armed them, and in 1961 sent them back to retake their
homeland. The site chosen for their landing was a supposedly deserted beach called the Bay of Pigs. Unfortunately, it was also
54
the site of a Cuban military base. The whole situation became an embarrassment and a political failure for the new Kennedy
administration as the news reports came in that those rebels that weren’t killed were captured and imprisoned. A year later, in
October of 1962, the Soviet Union put nuclear missiles into Cuba because they were worried about another Bay of Pigs
incident. President John F. Kennedy imposed a blockade around Cuba (which is an island) and threatened war if the missiles
were not removed. After thirteen days the Soviets backed down and removed their missiles while America promised not to
invade Cuba. (This was the closest the world has come to World War III...so far.)
The Vietnam War was very similar to the Korean War. American troops were sent (by Eisenhower) to keep
communism from spreading after North Vietnamese communists invaded South Vietnam. Also like in Korea, the politicians in
Washington ran the war instead of the military in the field (literally making war plans based on opinion polls). And like the
Korean War, there was no victory. The Vietnam War was the first televised war and the folks back home didn’t like seeing
color images of soldiers dying and it was the TV that made the war so unpopular. The “final straw” that convinced the
American people that the Vietnam War could not be won was the 1968 Tet Offensive in which the communists attacked
throughout the South during Vietnam’s Tet holiday (their version of New Year’s Day). The American people had been told the
North Vietnamese were on their last legs, but the Tet Offensive looked on TV like they were still strong. (In truth, the Tet
Offensive was a military failure, but it was a public relations success. One communist commander said that the press and the
peace protesters were their most important allies during the war.) With public opinion against the war in Vietnam, President
Richard Nixon ended the fighting with a cease-fire agreement. In 1975, with our troops gone and funding for their defense cut
off by Congress, South Vietnam fell to the communists and is still under their control today.
Chapter Four: Space Race
In 1957 the Space Race began when the Soviet Union launched into orbit the world’s first man-made satellite:
Sputnik. They then sent the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin (pronounced “guh-gar-in”), beating the first American in space
(Alan Shepard) by just a few weeks. In the end, though, the Space Race was all about
who would get to the moon first and in that regard the United States won. The
Did you know...
American moon landing happened on July 20, 1969, when astronaut Neil Armstrong
...the Space Race gave us Velcro?
stepped out of his Apollo 11 lunar lander (called Eagle) and said: “That’s one small
step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Armstrong would be the first of twelve human beings to walk on the moon. (There
were several benefits to come out of the Space Race such as the miniaturization of computers and communications satellites).
Chapter Five: Presidents of the Cold War
There were nine Presidents of the Cold War. The first was Harry S. Truman and, as we have already mentioned, was
in office during the Berlin Airlift and the start of the Korean War. He was also there when China turned communist in 1949
under Mao Zedong. Truman also issued Executive Order 9981 which desegregated the military allowing Black and White
soldiers to serve in the same units. (This happened about the same time as the integration of baseball when the Brooklyn
Dodgers hired Jackie Robinson.)
After Truman left office, Dwight D. Eisenhower became the next Cold War President and he was the one who was in
office when the Korean War ceasefire occurred and Cuba turned communist when Fidel Castro took over. He also sent the first
troops to Vietnam. In 1954 the Supreme Court (headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren—a civil liberties reformer) ruled in the
Brown v. Board of Education case that segregation was no longer legal (overturning the Plessy v. Ferguson ruling of “separate
but equal” because separate can never be truly equal). This led to a confrontation in the town of Little Rock, Arkansas, when in
1957 nine Black students were sent to attend all-white Central High School. So vicious were the protests that Eisenhower sent
troops to protect the “Little Rock Nine” (as they were called). This incident was just one of several during his Presidency as the
modern Civil Rights Movement began when Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for violating a Jim Crow Law
that said Blacks had to make way for Whites on public transportation. Her arrest led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott and
brought Martin Luther King Jr. (head of the Southern Christian Leadership Council) to the forefront as leader of the Civil
Rights Movement. The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee—SNCC—carried out peaceful protests throughout the
1950s and 60s. A favorite tactic was the sit-in where Blacks would sit in all-white businesses and wait to be served. This is
called civil disobedience and it was a technique used by Gandhi in India.)
If you like travel on the Interstate Highway System instead of using two-lane back roads, you can thank Eisenhower
for that too. He had it built, he said, for military reasons should the country be invaded but in truth he saw the success of the
German Autobahn during World War II and knew it would boost the American economy. It did (and still does) and it made the
concept of the suburbs—of which Levittown, New York was the first—possible. This was really helpful in accommodating the
new “Baby Boom” generation born in the years after World War II.
President John F. Kennedy (who performed well during his televised debates with Richard Nixon) came into office
just in time for the Bay of Pigs Incident and he would also be there when the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred and the Berlin
Wall went up. The Kennedy administration is also known for watching over the growing changes in civil rights. After the
Supreme Court ruled that segregation on interstate bus travel was illegal, a group of Black and White "freedom riders" tested
the enforcement of that ruling by riding on buses through the South. At times they were met with violence. However, not all
55
demonstrations for civil rights were met with hostility and such was the case when Martin Luther King Jr. led a “March on
Washington” (on August 28, 1963) during which he made his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. (King was a believer in a
nonviolent solution to the civil rights problems of America—something that later activists like Malcolm X would challenge.
Malcolm X believed in gaining rights “by any means necessary” but he later modified his views. King, on the other hand,
wanted his followers to be disorderly in a more peaceful manner—with marches and sit-ins—and he reiterated this in his
famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.”) Kennedy, who promoted the moon landing and civil rights legislation, would not
live to see either because he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963 while traveling in a motorcade.
After Kennedy’s assassination, Lyndon B. Johnson took over. It was during his Presidency that the Vietnam War
heated up and became a full-fledged war when Congress passed the “Gulf of Tonkin Resolution” allowing Johnson to send
thousands of combat troops to that country. (Subsequently the 60s Peace movement—complete with flower children and other
“hippy” groups—sprung up during this time.) Because of Kennedy’s assassination, Johnson would see passage of the Civil
Rights Act and Voting Rights Act which essentially gained back the rights Blacks had been denied after Reconstruction ended
nearly a century earlier. (The ratification of the 24th Amendment outlawing poll taxes and literacy tests as obstacles to voting
would reinforce these laws.) The Warren Court (called such because of Chief Justice Earl Warren) would also expand civil
rights by ruling in the 1966 Miranda v. Arizona case that people who are arrested must be notified of their rights before they
can be questioned.
Johnson would also be the President who took the New Deal to the next level with his plan to end poverty. Called the
Great Society, this was a massive increase in federal funding for education, public housing, and welfare benefits. (Medicare
and food stamps were also byproducts of the Great Society’s “war on poverty.”) However, despite Johnson’s social efforts it
was the war in Vietnam that caused his popularity to drop so far that he withdrew from the Presidential race of 1968. That year
was one of the most contentious in American history. In April Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while attending a strike
of sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee. Democrat Presidential candidate Robert Kennedy (brother of the former
President) urged calm but riots broke out in numerous cities around the country because of King’s death. Kennedy was himself
assassinated in June and this was followed by a rather raucous Democratic National Convention in Chicago later that year.
Hundreds of war protesters clashed with police as the television news reported it to the country.
Richard M. Nixon (who some consider to be the first conservative President) came into office during a troubled time
in American history. The Vietnam War was going on and the country was divided because of it. Much has been made of Nixon
and his final downfall, but he did end the Vietnam War and he opened relations with communist China—the first time America
had done so since 1949. Nixon’s first Vice President, Spiro Agnew, resigned in 1973 for tax evasion and (as the Constitution
allows) the Senate approved Nixon’s choice of Gerald Ford to be his new VP.
Nixon was the first President to implement affirmative action polices that were designed to give minorities a “leg up”
after years of being “held back.” (In 1978, the Supreme Court ruled in its Bakke Decision that giving minorities preferential
treatment was okay, but recent rulings have curbed such things as setting aside quotas at the expense of non-minorities.) A lot
of other social issues rose to the surface during Nixon’s time in office. For example, the National Organization for Women
(NOW) finally got two of its biggest issues to the forefront in 1973 with the Supreme Court’s legalization of abortion with its
Roe v. Wade ruling and Congress passing the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)—which would ultimately fail to win
ratification. Environmentalism got a boost with the creation of the federal government’s Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) and Earth Day—which came about because of the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. That novel—which
warned of damage to the environment—led to the banning of the pesticide DDT which was used to kill bugs on crops.
(Unfortunately, DDT was also used to kill mosquitoes and since its ban the deaths caused by yellow fever and malaria has risen
substantially in the Third World—which are countries with limited industry.) And the efforts of Cesar Chavez to organize
migrant workers into the United Farm Workers union finally paid off in 1970 after a lengthy boycott of grapes around the
country.
Nixon is most remembered for being the President who resigned over the Watergate scandal. The story for this began
in 1972 when several White House staffers were caught trying to plant listening devices in the offices of the Democratic
National Committee headquarters located at the Watergate Hotel in Washington. It turned out that some folks on Nixon’s staff
planned the break-in and even though the President himself wasn’t involved in that he did try to cover up for his staff—and
that’s what got him in trouble. (If Nixon had simply let those who were guilty of the break-in get punished for it, nothing
would have happened to him. Some Presidents would learn this lesson and some wouldn’t.)
Gerald Ford was our only President never to be elected (in some way) to the White House. All other Presidents either
came into office by being elected or by taking over when the President died. Ford was appointed Vice President and not chosen
for that role by the Electoral College. When Nixon resigned, Ford assumed the Presidency as a Vice President is supposed to
do, but that meant he wasn’t elected to that office either. Still, no matter how he got there, Ford restored the trust in the
Presidency and was quite popular—for a while. Ford was in office when America celebrated its two hundredth birthday (called
the Bicentennial) on July 4, 1976. With all the pageantry of the occasion many felt Ford would be easily re-elected.
Unfortunately, he belonged to the Republican Party and in 1976 that party was out of favor with the American people (due to
Nixon) and Ford lost a close race to a former peanut farmer from Georgia.
James Earl Carter came to office in the late 1970s as a fresh face who some people felt was needed after the political
turmoil of the past few administrations. Most historians agree that Carter went to Washington with the best of intentions but
was unable to handle the job—especially in light of the really bad economic times the country was going through. Inflation,
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interest rates, unemployment, and gas shortages all reached heights not seen since the Great Depression and instead of finding
ways of fixing the problem, Carter put the fault on the shoulders of the American people by saying the country was going
through a "malaise" of depressed feelings about themselves and the country. (Economists had even coined a term called
“stagflation” to describe that period’s stagnant economy and high inflation.)
In international relations things were a mixed bag for Carter. He signed a second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty
(SALT II) with the Soviets and brokered a deal between Egypt (a Muslim country) and Israel (a Jewish country) with the Camp
David Accords. The biggest crisis of the Carter years occurred in 1979 when radical Muslim extremists took over the country
of Iran and with it took fifty-two American hostages. The Iranian Hostage Crisis would consume the rest of Carter’s Presidency
and would not be resolved until he left office. (The hostages were held for 444 days and were not released until after Ronald
Reagan took office.)
Ronald Reagan was an actor in the 1930s and 40s before being elected governor of California in the late 1960s.
Reagan was the culmination of a conservative movement in politics that began when Barry Goldwater unsuccessfully ran
against Johnson in 1964. Reagan’s pro-America, anti-tax agenda would see him easily beat Carter in 1980 and then win a 49state victory against Walter Mondale in 1984. (Mondale made the mistake of actually telling people he was going to raise their
taxes.) Reagan was a believer in the fiscal philosophy called Supply-Side Economics (which critics call “trickle-down”
economics or “Reaganomics”). On the surface, supply-side economics looks cruel. Under this policy the government gives
more help to businesses than to individuals—which is the opposite of the New Deal and Great Society’s Keynesian-based form
of economics. The idea behind supply-side economics is that if you help people grow businesses then they will not only expand
the economy but hire people so they can earn a salary and not rely on the government. (It’s basically putting into action the old
saying: give a man a fish he eats for a day, but teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime.) Coupled with lowering taxes and
cutting government spending, Reagan’s pro-business policies made him a target for liberal critics even to this day. Of course,
the main thing Reagan is remembered for is winning the Cold War.
If you recall, ever since Truman was President, the policy of the United States towards communism was one of
containment. Reagan came into office not wanting to contain communism, but destroy it. He did so by building up the nation’s
military in such a way that the Soviet Union could not keep up. The USSR’s economy was in a shambles (it’s hard to get
people to work when they don’t get to keep the money they earn) and Reagan outspent them on weapons until their economy
imploded. One of the things Reagan proposed to build was a defense system to protect the country from incoming Soviet
missiles. He reasoned that if we could destroy missiles before they hit the ground then it would save American lives. The plan
was called the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), but critics called it a fantasy and labeled it “Star Wars.” (We still don’t have a
true missile defense shield today.) Critics of Reagan’s anti-communist policies were determined to obstruct his plans. When it
became known that the Reagan administration was selling arms to Iran (in exchange for the release of American hostages in
Lebanon) and using that money to fund anti-communist rebels (called the Contras) in Nicaragua, Democrat critics in Congress
went ballistic. They began a series of investigations trying to nail Reagan like they did Nixon, but he had learned a lesson from
Watergate. Reagan did not try to cover-up the actions of those who had come up with the plan and even offered to take the
blame for it in a speech to the American people. Unlike Watergate, the “Iran-Contra Scandal” did not damage Reagan’s
Presidency and he left office more popular than he went in (a rare feat). However, even though he won the Cold War, he was
not the last Cold War President.
George Bush (Reagan’s Vice President and father of the 43rd President) was elected President after Reagan served his
two terms (the first serving VP to win a term of his own since Martin Van Buren in 1836). Bush took office in 1989 and later
that year the USSR's economy finally collapsed and the Berlin Wall came down. The fall of the Berlin Wall symbolized the
end of the Cold War and it was officially over when the Soviet Union broke up in 1991.
Everyone was convinced George Bush would win re-election due to his high approval ratings. Bush became popular
due to winning the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq. A year earlier, Saddam Hussein had invaded nearby Kuwait—an ally of the
United States—and Bush assembled a large coalition of nations to kick the Iraqi army out. The war lasted only a few months
(the ground war lasted just 100 hours) and Bush felt confident of re-election. Unfortunately for Bush, the nation’s economy
slipped into a brief recession (due in part to the end of the Cold War and subsequent cutbacks on military purchases). If you
recall, whoever is in office during bad economic times gets the blame, and Bush was defeated by Democrat William Jefferson
Clinton in 1992.
Chapter Six: Legacy of the Cold War
In 1993 William Jefferson Clinton signed into law what was up to that time the largest tax increase in American
history (after running for President with the promise to lower taxes). He then put his wife—Hillary—in charge of making
health insurance a government problem. Clinton’s tax increase and health care plan led to a decline in approval and in 1994
Republicans took control of Congress for the first time since the 1950s. The economy was good, however, (thanks in part to the
passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement—NAFTA—which lowered trade barriers between the US, Canada, and
Mexico) and Clinton won re-election in 1996 (the first two-term Democrat since FDR). In 1998 Clinton was impeached
(though not removed) by Congress for lying under oath (which is called perjury) during a federal investigation. He became
only the second President to be impeached.
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Clinton’s troubles were a drag on Albert Gore Jr. (Clinton’s Vice President) during his election campaign in 2000.
The race was very close against Texas Governor George W. Bush (son of the former President). On election night the outcome
rested on the electoral votes from Florida. Earlier that evening, news reporters were saying Gore had won the state’s 25
electoral votes, but they forgot that Florida is in two different time zones and people were still voting, so they retracted their
call. After the polls closed, Bush had won the state and that gave him enough electoral votes to become President. Then, phone
calls started to come in from voters in four Democrat-controlled counties saying that they had voted “incorrectly” and wanted a
recount. Thus began a saga that would last for weeks in which lawyers for Gore had the courts order recounts—but only in
those four counties. Bush’s lawyers took his case all the way to the Supreme Court and they ruled that under the equal
protection clause of the 14th Amendment in the Constitution, Florida could not pick and chose in which counties to have a
recount. If they wanted a recount, that was fine, but they had to do it throughout the whole state. Since the Constitution
demands that all electoral ballots be in to the Electoral College by a certain date, Florida said it couldn’t do it in the time
remaining so the recounting had to stop. George W. Bush would be in office less than a year before America found itself under
attack.
The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington on September 11, 2001,
by Islamic extremists are a result of Cold War policies and perceived weakness. (On that day there was a fourth plane hijacked
by the terrorists. Flight 93’s target was Washington DC but the passengers—who had learned the fate of the three previous
planes—tried to retake the aircraft causing it to crash in a field in Pennsylvania. Their actions saved countless lives and “let’s
roll”—the final words of passenger Todd Beamer—became a rallying cry during the War on Terror.)
In October of 2001, Operation Enduring Freedom sent American and allied forces into Afghanistan to weed out alQaeda terrorists who were responsible for the September 11th attacks. The terrorists were under the protection of the Taliban
(the Islamic fundamentalists who ruled the country) and Afghanistan became the first theater of the War on Terror.
In 2003, American and allied forces invaded Iraq. Operation Iraqi Freedom’s goal was to prevent Saddam Hussein
from giving terrorists access to biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons. (We knew he had the first two items because he had
used them before on his own people.) It turned out those weapons were not there (well, some were, but not on the large scale
we had believed). Once Hussein was removed, Allied forces remained in Iraq to stabilize the country so it would not become a
haven for terrorists (like Afghanistan had become after the Soviets pulled out in the 1980s).
In 2004, Bush won re-election on his anti-terrorism record (helped by the passage of the Patriot Act which allowed for
increased government monitoring of possible terrorist activities). However, in 2006, the Democrats took control of Congress
on an anti-war platform. In 2008, the Democrats regained control of the White House due to fatigue over the policies of George
W. Bush and the historic chance for voters to elect the first Black President (Barack Hussein Obama).
We are still dealing with the aftermath of the Cold War today. Desperate for money after the breakup of the USSR,
Russia and other former Soviet countries have sold weapons to anyone who had the cash. In recent years Pakistan, India,
China, Iran, and North Korea have made nuclear threats to either the United States or to others. The policies of both the Soviet
Union and the United States led to alliances with rather unsavory people in the Middle East (like Saddam Hussein in Iraq) and
when Islamic fundamentalism spread throughout the region (who saw America as weak after Jimmy Carter’s failure during the
hostage crisis in 1979 and Bill Clinton's troop withdrawal from Somalia in 1994) the radicals blamed America for all their
troubles. Because of this and other unresolved issues ranging from natural resources to race relations, the future is uncertain.
Yet the United States has endured many trials in the past and each time its people have emerged stronger than before.
Unit Ten Outline: The Cold War
I) Politics (the Cold War was a ___________________ between western democracies—led by the United States—and
communist countries—led by the Soviet Union)
A) United Nations (1945)
1) Tehran Conference (1943)
2) Security Council: US, Britain, France, Russia, China
B) Truman Doctrine: help others resist communist expansion
1) Containment
2) Domino Theory
C) Marshall Plan: rebuild Western Europe to prevent communist takeover
D) NATO
E) “Iron Curtain”
F) McCarthyism (1947-1954) investigations of suspected communists (started by Senator Joseph McCarthy) that has
become a term for political “persecution” (also called the ________________________________________)
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II) Cold War Heats Up
A) Berlin Airlift (In 1948, in an effort to drive the ____________ out of West Berlin, the Soviet Union cut off all land
access to the city. America and England __________ in supplies with a flight landing every _______ minutes for a
year. In the end the Soviets removed their blockade.)
B) Korean War (In 1950 North Korean communists invaded South Korea across the _____ Parallel.
General Douglas MacArthur was sent to lead the United Nations forces and after landing at ___________ the
communists were forced back across the _____ Parallel and up into China. China then attacked pushing the UN
forces back to the 38th Parallel. MacArthur wanted to expand the war but President Harry S. Truman was worried
about starting _____ & he fired him. In 1953 a __________________ agreement was signed but the Korean War is
not officially over.)
C) Bay of Pigs (In 1959 Cuba turned communist when _____________________________ took over. Not all Cubans
wanted to be communist and some fled to America where they were trained armed and in 1961 sent to retake their
homeland. The site chosen for their landing was a supposedly deserted beach called the Bay of Pigs. Unfortunately, it
was also the site of a Cuban military _____ and those rebels that weren’t killed, were captured.)
D) Berlin Wall (1961): Soviet Union walled off East Berlin from the West
E) Cuban Missile Crisis (In October of 1962 the _________________ put nuclear missiles into Cuba because they
were worried about another ______________________. President John F. Kennedy imposed a blockade around
Cuba and threatened war if the missiles were not removed. After ____ days the Soviets backed down and removed
their missiles while America promised not to invade Cuba. This was the closest the world has come to WWIII.
F) Vietnam War (1954-1975)
1) N. Vietnamese communists invaded S. Vietnam & US sent troops to keep communism from spreading
a) Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
2) televised war: led to an increased unpopularity at home
3) Tet Offensive (January 1968)
4) 60s Peace Movement
a) Robert Kennedy
b) 1968 Democratic National Convention (Chicago)
c) Kent State
d) Counter-culture
5) stalemate until withdrawal in 1975
III) Space Race
A) Soviets took the lead with Sputnik 1 (1957) and Yuri Gagarin, but America won the Space Race when Neil
Armstrong became the 1st man to walk on the moon (July 20, 1969)
B) Lasting Benefits: satellites, miniaturization, personal computers
IV) Societal Changes
A) TV: Kennedy / Nixon Debates (1960)
B) Dwight D. Eisenhower Interstate Highway System
1) suburbs (Levittown)
a) Baby Boom
C) Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society Program
D) Environmentalism
1) Silent Spring
2) Earth Day
3) EPA
E) “Malaise” & “Stagflation”
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F) Conservatism
1) Supply-Side Economics (Reaganomics)
V) Civil Rights
A) Jackie Robinson
B) Executive Order 9981
C) Warren Court
1) Brown v. Board of Education
a) integration
b) Little Rock Nine
c) “Ole Miss” (James Meredith)
2) Roe v. Wade
3) Bakke Decision
4) Warren Commission
5) Miranda v. Arizona
D) Rosa Parks: Montgomery Bus Boycott
E) Martin Luther King
1) SNCC / SCLC
a) sit-ins (civil disobedience)
2) March on Washington (1963)
F) Freedom Riders
G) Civil Rights Act of 1964 & Voting Rights Act of 1965
1) Kennedy Assassination (November 22, 1963)
H) Cesar Chavez: United Farm Workers
I) Malcolm X
J) ERA
1) NOW
VI) Détente
A) Superpower Summits: meetings between the US & USSR (Soviet Union) to discuss limiting the arms race
1) SALT II
B) Camp David Accords
C) “Shuttle Diplomacy” (China)
VII) Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)
A) won the Cold War by outspending Soviets on weapons (SDI)
B) Berlin Wall (1989) (After serving two terms Reagan left office and George Bush became President. Later that year
the _____________________________ came down symbolizing the end of the Cold War).
C) Soviet Union breaks up after economy collapses (1991)
VIII) Political Missteps
A) “Checkers Speech” (1952)
B) U-2 Incident (1960)
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C) Spiro Agnew (1973)
C) Watergate (1974)
D) Iranian Hostage Crisis (1979)
E) Iran-Contra Scandal (1987)
F) Bill Clinton’s Impeachment (1998)
IX) Legacy of the Cold War
A) George Bush is VERY popular after Gulf War against Iraq to liberate Kuwait (1991) but economic troubles in
1992 led to the election of William Jefferson Clinton (D) as former Soviet weapons were sold abroad (Pakistan, India,
China, Iran, & North Korea have become nuclear powers). In 1993, Clinton's massive tax increase & health care plan
led to a decline in approval which allowed Republicans in 1994 to take control of Congress for the 1st time since the
1950s.
B) 2000—Albert Gore Jr. lost very close race to George W. Bush (R)
1) Electoral College
2) Bush v. Gore
C) War on Terror: September 11, 2001
1) Patriot Act
Unit Ten: Key Terms & Essential Questions
affirmative action
Berlin Airlift
civil rights movement
decriminalization
feminism
landmark case
NOW
policy of containment
suburb
Truman Doctrine
Vietnam War
women's liberation movement
al-Qaeda
civil disobedience
Cold War
detente
Great Society
Marshall Plan
NAFTA
Space Race
terrorism
26th Amendment
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Bay of Pigs
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Cuban Missile Crisis
Electoral College
iron curtain
McCarthyism
NATO
Sputnik
Tet Offensive
United Nations
Warsaw Pact
1) In what way did television affect the civil rights movement?
2) What did the efforts of Cesar Chavez's UFW lead to?
3) What was significant about Truman's Executive Order 9981?
4) What event was significant to the reunification of Germany in 1990?
5) What technology gave rise to the information age?
6) The 1963 march on Washington led to what legislation the following year?
7) What 1978 Supreme Court decision addressed affirmative action?
8) What political shift did the election of Richard Nixon indicate?
9) What determined the 2000 presidential election?
10) What was the turning point in the anti-Vietnam movement?
11) What single word could sum up Martin Luther King's 1963 "I Have A Dream Speech"?
12) In the long run, why was the Space Race of such great importance to the US?
13) Currently, what is the goal of the women's movement?
14) Post-WWII prosperity and the interstate highway system resulted in the growth of what?
15) What event prompted Richard Nixon's resignation from office in 1974?
16) What was the arms race?
17) What was the significance of Jackie Robinson's entry into professional baseball?
18) Al-Qaeda was responsible for what 2001 event?
19) What did Medicaid and other programs of the Lyndon Johnson's Great Society initiative hope to provide?
20) What does the Miranda Warning represent?
21) Why was the Bay of Pigs and embarrassment to the Kennedy Administration?
22) What were the tactics employed by Senator Joseph McCarthy during the early 1950s in response to?
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23) What sparked the environmentalist movement?
24) Why were the Camp David Accords such an important international event?
25) Which foreign policy directed the Vietnam War?
26) The assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, as well as the riots outside the Democratic National
Convention in Chicago, too place during what tumultuous year?
27) What had a major impact on the outcome of the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon Debates?
28) Why is Rosa Parks referred to as the "mother of the civil rights movement"?
29) What did the case of Brown v. Board of Education have the most immediate effect on?
30) What civil right was upheld in the Gideon v. Wainwright decision?
31) What did the 24th Amendment prevent?
32) What would be an example of detente during the Cold War?
33) Why is terrorism difficult to fight with conventional warfare?
34) What was the main tactic of the SNCC?
35) In what way did the Truman Doctrine direct the policy of containment?
36) What were the aspects of "Reaganomics" that ended up improving the American economy?
37) What is the legacy of the Warren Court?
38) What prompted the Cuban Missile Crisis?
39) What factor was instrumental in prolonging the Cold War?
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