Friday, November 30, 2012

Exam Friday 12-7-12 - Study Sheet



Use Chapters 7-9,your notes and research


Reasons and effects of Louisiana Purchase p. 109-111

Purpose of Homestead Act p. 185 (Government stated it would give 160 acres of land to anyone who would live on it for five years and improve it – designed to promote westward expansion)

Manifest Destiny reasons/justification/results (notes p.161-166)
Territorial expansion to the West p.161- 166
Tensions expansion generated (between North and South) Slavery p. 167-171
Second Great Awakening See Bottom of Page
Women’s Rights movement - Seneca Falls Convention (Declaration of Sentiments)– p.152-153
Missouri Compromise of 1820 p.170
Supreme Court ruling in Dred Scott case p. 173
Bleeding Kansas/Popular Sovereignty/Kansas Nebraska Act p.171-172
Importance of Mississippi River
Andrew Jackson Presidency – Spoils System, Indian Removal(Worcester vs. Georgia), Trail of Tears, Nullification Crisis, Bank War p.143-146
Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Abolition p.154 & 171
John Brown p.174
Texas fight for Independence – Annexation of Texas p.134-136
War with Mexico p.163
Fugitive Slave Law p. 171
Sectionalism and compromise p.169-172
Economic and geographic differences between North and South - Chapter 7
Bill of rights

Extended response Questions
1- Was Andrew Jackson a president who promoted democracy or was he undemocratic?  Be able to discuss at least three examples that prove your point of view. 
2- In the years leading up to the Civil War many events occurred that caused tension between the North and the South.  Be able to discuss at least three events that led to tension and Civil War.    



Thursday, November 29, 2012

Causes of the Civil War terms


Planter – These were the large-scale farmers who owned more than 20 slaves.  This group, though small, were political leaders and were very wealthy.  When northerners thought about the culture of the south they often had planters in mind. 
Yeomen – these were the small farm owners in the south.  Very few had slaves and most were working just to support their families. 
Abolition – Complete end to slavery
Emancipation – Free the slaves either immediately or over time (In NY it took almost 30 years from the time emancipation started until there were no more slaves 1799-1827)
William Lloyd Garrison – A radical abolitionist who demanded the immediate emancipation of all slaves.  Published The Liberator – Abolitionist newspaper started by Garrison in 1831.

American Anti-Slavery Society – In Garrison helped start this group that worked to end slavery and bring racial equality.  They sent petitions to representatives in Washington, spread anti-slavery literature across the country, traveled around giving speeches and started thousands of small abolitionist groups.  The group divided over two issues, how fast emancipation should take place and how much women should be involved in the movement.    

Frederick Douglas – A former slave who became an important abolitionist after he was inspired by the Liberator.  He traveled the country speaking about the evils of slavery and wrote a book explaining the hypocrisy of slavery in a democratic society.
Underground Railroad – Networks of people who helped slaves escape to the free north.  It was called an underground railroad because it was done secretly at night.  During the day the escaping slaves hid in an abolitionist’s (conductor) home or barn (station) or in the woods.  It is estimated that 40,000 slaves escaped this way. 
Harriet Tubman – A famous escaped slave she became a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad who made at least 19 trips to the South to help more than 300 slaves escape to freedom. 
Nat Turner – In Virginia the same year the Liberator was first published Nat Turner led a violent revolt against slaveholders.  Believing that God had called him to end slavery he and his fellow slaves killed 60 whites before they were stopped.  This terrified many in the South.
Manifest Destiny – The belief that it was Americas mission to spread all the way to the Pacific because our democratic, religious and economic values were good for everyone.  This was probably not what American Indians and Spanish settlers living in these areas felt.
Sectionalism – When people worry about the interests of their own region more than the interests of the entire country 
Wilmot Proviso – During the Mexican war representative Wilmot proposed that in any new land gained by the U.S. slavery should not be permitted.  This is what he said, “neither slaver nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of the territory”.  This angered many in the south who wanted the opportunity to move west with their slaves.    
Popular Sovereignty – Voters in a state or territory would decide if they would allow slavery.  The representatives of these states would act on the will of the majority.
Compromise of 1850 - As a result of the Mexican War the U.S. took control of another large piece of the continent reaching all the way to the Pacific Ocean.  California was declared a free state and the rest of the Mexican Cession was to decide the slavery issue by popular sovereignty.      
Fugitive Slave Act – This was one part of the compromise of 1850.  It stated that helping a runaway slave was a federal crime even in the free northern states.  Those who helped runaways could spend six months in jail and get a fine of $1,000.  The people in charge of carrying out the law were paid more money if they returned a suspected slave than if they proved the suspected slave was actually a free person.  This pleased southern slave owners but angered many in the north. 
Uncle Tom’s Cabin – An antislavery novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe.  She wrote the book to show northerners how cruel slavery was.  In the 10 years before the Civil more than 2 million copies were sold.  People in the South hated the book because it attacked their way of life as evil.  A northerner said that Stowe had, “created two millions of abolitionists” with her novel.  It has been called “the most influential novel ever published in the United States” because it turned so many people against slavery.  
Bleeding Kansas – In 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act declared that popular sovereignty would decide if Kansas would be slave or free.  Violence broke out across the state in 1856 when during an election season proslavery and antislavery people rushed to the state with weapons and lots of anger.  The state had its own civil war and over 200 people died.  This violence showed what could happen to the whole country if the question of slavery was not solved.
John Brown – a fanatical white abolitionist who said the only way to end slavery was to use violence against slave owners.  He killed 5 pro-slavery people in Kansas in 1856 this helped spark the civil war there. In Virginia at the town of Harper’s Ferry in 1859 he tried to start a slave revolt.  The plan did not work and he was captured hanged.  His actions scared southerners and were supported by some northerners who were getting tired of waiting for slavery to end.    
Dred Scott decision – This 1857 Supreme Court decision said that blacks had “no rights” that whites and the government had to respect.  Slaves were to be considered property and not citizens.  This decision in effect cancelled any previous compromises over slavery because it meant that any law against slavery was unconstitutional.  As a result all the new territories would be open to slavery and maybe even the Northern states would be forced to permit slavery.          

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

War with Mexico - Reading and HW


HW - Please answer question 8(Aim) using proof from reading Monday and Tuesday (Please type) This will be a classwork/assesment grade

 THE MEXICAN AMERICAN WAR (1846)
Aim: Was War with Mexico justified?
Task:
1) Read all questions
2) Highlight proof in every paragraph
3) Answer questions completely using specific proof from the reading
4) Answer Aim question
President Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase had doubled the territory of the United States, extending it to the Rocky Mountains. To the southwest was Mexico, which had won its independence in a revolutionary war against Spain in 1821—a large country that included Texas and what are now New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, California, and part of Colorado. After agitation, and aid from the United States, Texas broke off from Mexico in 1836 and declared itself the "Lone Star Republic." In 1845, the U.S. Congress brought it into the Union as a state.

In the White House now was James Polk, a Democrat, an expansionist, who, on the night of his inauguration, confided to his Secretary of the Navy that one of his main objectives was the acquisition of California. His order to General Taylor to move troops to the Rio Grande was a challenge to the Mexicans. It was not at all clear that the Rio Grande was the southern boundary of Texas, although Texas had forced the defeated Mexican general Santa Anna to say so when he was a prisoner.

The traditional border between Texas and Mexico had been the Nueces River, about 150 miles to the north, and both Mexico and the United States had recognized that as the border. However, Polk, encouraging the Texans to accept annexation, had assured them he would uphold their claims to the Rio Grande.
1) What was the position of Polk regarding California and Mexico? Explain
Taylor moved his troops to Corpus Christi, Texas, just across the Nueces River, and waited further instructions. They came in February 1846—to go down the Gulf Coast to the Rio Grande.

The Washington Union, a newspaper expressing the position of President Polk and the Democratic Party, had spoken early in 1845 on the meaning of Texas annexation:

Let the great measure of annexation be accomplished, and with it the questions of boundary and claims. For who can arrest the torrent that will pour onward to the West? The road to California will be open to us. Who will stay the march of our western people?

It was shortly after that, in the summer of 1845, that John O'Sullivan, editor of the Democratic Review, used the phrase that became famous, saying it was “Our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions."
2) How did Polk and O’Sullivan justify the annexation of Texas?  Explain

All that was needed in the spring of 1846 was a military incident to begin the war that Polk wanted. It came in April, 25 when a patrol of Taylor's soldiers was surrounded and attacked by Mexicans, and wiped out: sixteen dead, others wounded, the rest captured.

When the dispatches arrived from General Taylor telling of casualties from the Mexican attack, Polk summoned the cabinet to hear the news, and they unanimously agreed he should ask for a declaration of war. Polk's message to Congress was indignant:

The cup of forbearance had been exhausted even before the recent information from the frontier of the Del Norte [the Rio Grande]. But now, after reiterated menaces, Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon the American soil. . . .
As war exists, notwithstanding all our efforts to avoid it, exists by the act of Mexico herself, we are called upon by every consideration of duty and patriotism to vindicate with decision the honor, the rights, and the interests of our country.
3) What was Polk’s argument to go to war with Mexico?  Explain

Congress then rushed to approve the war resolution giving the president what he wanted – the right to take Mexican lands.

The Mexicans had fired the first shot. But they had done what the American government wanted, according to Colonel Hitchcock, who wrote in his diary, even before those first incidents:

I have said from the first that the United States are the aggressors. . . . We have not one particle of right to be here.. . . It looks as if the government sent a small force on purpose to bring on a war, so as to have a pretext for taking California and as much of this country as it chooses, for, whatever becomes of this army, there is no doubt of a war between the United States and Mexico. . . . My heart is not in this business . . . but, as a military man, I am bound to execute orders.
4) Why wasn’t Colonel Hichcock’s heart in the military action against Mexico?

Frederick Douglass, former slave, extraordinary speaker and writer, wrote in his Rochester newspaper the North Star, January 21, 1848, of "the present disgraceful, cruel, and iniquitous war with our sister republic. Mexico seems a doomed victim to Anglo Saxon cupidity and love of dominion." Douglass was scornful of the unwillingness of opponents of the war to take real action (even the abolitionists kept paying their taxes):

The determination of our slaveholding President to prosecute the war, and the probability of his success in wringing from the people men and money to carry it on, is made evident, rather than doubtful, by the puny opposition arrayed against him. No politician of any considerable distinction or eminence seems willing to hazard his popularity with his party . . . by an open and unqualified disapprobation of the war. None seem willing to take their stand for peace at all risks; and all seem willing that the war should be carried on, in some form or other.
5) Why was Douglas so angry about the war? Explain
Some newspapers, at the very start of the war, protested. Horace Greeley wrote in the New York Tribune, May 12, 1846:

We can easily defeat the armies of Mexico, slaughter them by thousands, and pursue them perhaps to their capital; we can conquer and "annex" their territory; but what then? Have the histories of the ruin of Greek and Roman liberty consequent on such extensions of empire by the sword no lesson for us? Who believes that a score of victories over Mexico, the "annexation" of half her provinces, will give us more Liberty, a purer Morality, a more prosperous Industry, than we now have? . . . Is not Life miserable enough, comes not Death soon enough, without resort to the hideous enginery of War?
6) Explain why Greeley saw the war with Mexico as hypocritical?


Mexico surrendered. There were calls among Americans to take all of Mexico. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed February 1848, just took half. The Texas boundary was set at the Rio Grande; New Mexico and California were ceded. The United States paid Mexico $15 million, which led the Whig Intelligencer to conclude that "we take nothing by conquest. . . . Thank God."
7) Do you agree with the quote from the Whig Intelligencer?  Explain why!
8) According to the evidence was war with Mexico justified? (Aim) Use all the documents and quotes to complete this answer!    



Texas Independence (classwork grade)










Friday, November 16, 2012

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Andrew Jackson Classwork Assignment

Jackson Introduction Video  click on other sections to watch entire video

How Democratic was Jackson?
Please click on link below for background and documents we used in class

For those who are in danger of failing because of low test/quiz grades This is your chance for some Extra Credit Last Chance for points DUE by 11-21-12

This must be handed in by 11-21-12 to recieve credit!

- 13 is the maximum extra points to be applied to quizes and tests from this assignment if it is done correctly and completely.   It may require extended answers!  Do all work or no credit!

This assignment must be typed and handed in completed.

Textbook DBQ questions  (You must understand each document!)
p. 59-60 Documents 1-4
p. 83-84 Documents 1-4
p. 95-97 Documents 1-5

ALL OTHER missing assignments should be taken from blog posts going back to September! Please do the assignments in point value order.  If an assignment is worth less than one point please do not complete it!  Concentrate on point heavy assignments!


Tuesday, November 13, 2012

EXTRA Review for ESSAY 11-14-12 (scroll down for older posts to review all material and outline)


Can you answer these two questions in essay form?

1- What principles and ideas found in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were inspired by the enlightenment thinkers?  Explain in detail!
2- How did these ideas change the way society and government were run? (Compare to the past)  How is our idea of government different from previously held political views?  Explain in detail!


Enlightenment ideas helped open people’s minds to a new way of thinking and not to except the ways of the past. 

1. Challenged old ways of thinking.
2. Questioned divine-right of rule.
3. Taught that people should be able to gain material well-being, social justice, and happiness in this life, not just the next.

Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence which reflected the ideas of John Locke’s and other Enlightened thinkers. These were:

1. Unalienable or natural rights
2. Government set to protect personal rights.
3. Government gaining power from consent of those it governs.
4. The people had the right to abolish an unjust government.

The Declaration of Independence, adopted on July 4 1776 stated that:

1. Britain had taken away the American colonists natural rights.
2. The people had the right to abolish an unjust government
3. They had the right to set up a new government that would protect them.

The Impact of Enlightenment Ideas on the Constitution

The writers of our Constitution looked at the ideas of Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau. 

The founders used the Enlightenment ideas of "social contract" to set up the government, to be governed by the people to preserve their natural rights and for the good of the whole.

[A social contract is an agreement among the members of an organized society or between the governed and the government defining and limiting the rights and duties of each.]

Federal government was separated into three branches which according to Montesquieu would provide checks and balances to govern them.

The Bill of Rights contained the first 10 amendments to the US Constitution recognized that people had basic rights that government must protect. 

It stated the rights of all men to freedom of religion, speech, the press, trial by jury, to hold private property to bear arms [early America relied on citizen militias that were called to arms when needed and were responsible for being equipped to defend -- this was before the existence of a military branch of the government], right to a speedy trial, and etc.

The US Constitution set up a representative government with elected legislature to do the will of the people.

Since our Constitution and the Bill of Rights hold many of the ideas of Enlightenment, it is safe to say that the founding fathers of those documents were influenced by those who thought that way. 

It is also safe to say that without those ideas so prevalent at the time, that the American colonies would still have felt it their duty to do whatever Britain said even though they did not like it. 

Without the age of Enlightenment the Revolution may never have taken place.




Jefferson’s Ideas in the Declaration (Debt to Enlightenment)
         In the second paragraph of the declaration, Jefferson stated his key ideas. He wrote that “all men are created equal.” And they have “unalienable rights.” These rights are “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  He wrote that governments are set up to protect these rights. And that governments get “their just powers from the consent of the governed.” In other words, the people run the government. The goal of government should be to guard everyone’s freedom.  These ideas broke from the past.  According to Jefferson, the purpose of government was not to serve the rulers. It was to serve the people and uphold their rights.


Excerpt from the Declaration of
Independence
We hold these truths to be selfevident, 
that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are Life,
Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
—That to secure these rights,
Governments are instituted among
Men, deriving their just powers from
the consent of the governed, —That
whenever any Form of Government
becomes destructive of these ends, it
is the Right of the People to alter or
to abolish it, and to institute new
Government, laying its foundation
on such principles and organizing its
powers in such form, as to them shall
seem most likely to effect their Safety
and Happiness. . . .


         Where did Jefferson get these ideas?  Jefferson was a man of the Enlightenment. This was a period during the 17th and 18th centuries. Thinkers turned to reason and science to explain the world. They thought that people could improve their lives by learning about the “laws of nature.”  Jefferson did not invent the ideas that he used in the declaration. He said that he had adopted the views of the day. These ideas were, so to speak, “in the air.”  Jefferson knew British history and political thought. He also had read the statements of independence by other colonies. He knew well the writings of fellow Americans like Tom Paine and George Mason.
         In writing the declaration, Jefferson used the format of the English Declaration of Rights. This was written after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, which had driven King James II off the throne.
         Jefferson modeled the most famous ideas in the Declaration of Independence on those of the English writer John Locke. Locke wrote his book Second Treatise of Government in 1689, right after England’s Glorious Revolution. Locke’s book gave reasons why overthrowing a king could be the right thing to do.
         Locke believed that long ago, before there were any governments, people lived in a state of nature. Even in the state of nature, people had rights. Locke wrote that all men are equal. They are born with “unalienable” natural rights. In other words, they have God-given rights that should never be taken away. Among these natural rights, Locke said, are “life, liberty, and property.”
According to Locke, the state of nature could be dangerous. People might kill one another and steal from each other. So people formed governments to protect their natural rights.
         Locke wrote that a contract exists between the government and the people. The government must guard people’s natural rights. In turn, the people must obey the law. But, Locke said, if a government wrongs its people with “a long train of abuses,” the people have the right to resist that government. They can change it or even get rid of it and create a new one.
Locke believed that life itself is a natural right. He said that people have both a right and a duty to save their own lives. Killers, however, lose their right to life since they don’t respect the life of others.
Liberty was another natural right. Locke said that people should be free to decide how to live. But they must not hinder the liberty of others. Locke strongly believed in freedom.  By “property,” another natural right, Locke meant more than owning things. He also meant owning oneself. This included a right to personal well- being. In place of “property,” Jefferson used another phrase from Locke— “pursuit of happiness.” Locke and others had used this phrase to mean the freedom of opportunity and the duty to help those in need.
Jefferson adopted Locke’s ideas. In the declaration, he spoke first about everyone’s natural rights. He then went on to explain why the revolution was necessary in 1776. He next listed how King George had abused the colonists’ rights.

Friday, November 9, 2012

Essay Wednesday! See older post (Oct. 26) for study materials




Can you answer these two questions in essay form?

1- What principles and ideas found in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were inspired by the enlightenment thinkers?  Explain in detail!
2- How did these ideas change the way society and government were run? (Compare to the past)  How is our idea of government different from previously held political views?  Explain in detail!







Key Ideas of the Declaration of Independence:


• All men are created equal.

• Men have inalienable rights such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
• Governments are instituted to protect these rights.
• Governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed.
• If a government takes away people’s natural rights, the people have a right to abolish it.
• People have a right to establish a new government that will protect their natural

Outline
Introduction
          Possible Hooks:  -"We the People" US Constitution
                                        -"All men are created equal" Declaration of Independence
                                         - "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"Declaration of Independence 
                                                       - "all power corrupts, absolute power curropts absolutely" Lord Acton

Possible hook and Historical Context


(ex. "We the people" are the first words of our Constitution.  In these words we see a dramatic change in the understanding of government that ccured as America became its own country.  The idea that the common people could define the purpose and power of government was extremly radical.  This idea sprang from the movement called the enlightenment.  The enlightenment started with the scientific revolution and expanded to question all forms of authorityin society in the hope that society could be improved or possibly perfected.)


         Historical Context:  Define the Enlightenment (ex. Questioning all authority to improve society)
           Thesis Statement: Take this from the task (ex: The principles and ideas of our D of I and Constitution flow directly from the ideas of the Enlightenment thinkers.  These ideas were a radical break from the ideas about government and society that came before.)  
Body Paragraph 1
          Topic sentence: We can see the words of the enlightenment philosphers in our founding documents.
                Proofs - ideas of the Enlightenment that have shaped the declaration of In dependence and the Constitution 
                           (Example: John Locke - people can remove governments that do not protect              their natural rights.  This is the whole premise of our right to declare independence from England...)   
Body Paragraph 2
          Topic sentence: The ideas of the enlightenment where a dramatic break from what came before.  Government looked radically different when our democracy was created.
                Proofs - How the ideas if the enlightenment are different from what came before 
                           (Example: Monarchy vs Democracy slide in the review PPT)
Conclusion

Quickly Restate the Thesis and your proof
Your opinion
Quote (you can use one of the hooks)
Wrap up




Monday, November 5, 2012

Review sheet, Power Point and Vocabulary for quartely Exam - STUDY!




Please use the power point and study materials below!

Click Here - Review PPT     Pause each slide after all parts appear to read and take notes!



United States History First Quarterly Assessment Review Sheet

• Mayflower Compact: pg. 29

• House of Burgesses: pg. 28

• French and Indian War- results: pgs: 64-65

• Stamp Act: pg: 66

• Boston Massacre- points of view: pg 67
• Quartering Act: pg: 65-66
• Proclamation of 1763: pg: 65
• Thomas Paine’s Common Sense: pg. 73
• “No taxation without representation”- its meaning: pg. 66
• Mercantilism: pgs: 26 and 64
• Democracy (know its meaning and what is needed to have a democracy)
• Monarchy v. democracy( know how they were different)
• Enlightenment philosophers and how their ideas were used by the writers of the Declaration of                                    Independence and Constitution: (refer to the Enlightenment Philosophers handout)
            Locke                                            
            Montesquieu
            Rousseau
            Hobbes
            Voltaire
• Declaration of Independence- its text and its purpose: pgs. 73, 108 and 153
• Articles of Confederation- and its weaknesses: pgs: 85-87 and 125
• The Compromises: pgs: 87-89
            Three-fifths
            Great
            Slavery
            Federalism
• Ratification: pg. 92
Federalist Papers: pg. 93
• Checks and balances: pgs: 90-91
• Washington’s foreign policy(neutrality proclamation and Farewell Address)
• Hamilton’s financial ideas: pgs. 100-101
Marbury v. Madison: pg. 109
• Jefferson’s presidency: The Louisiana Purchase: 109-111
• Monroe Doctrine: pg.117



Vocabulary
Limit – border
Proclamation – official announcement
Doctrine – government foreign policy
Policy – action taken by the government
Pleads – begs
Slain – killed
Dissolve – break up
Abolish – end, stop
Alter - change
Supremacy – controlling rule
Institute – started
Derive – take
Justification – reason for
Anarchy – no law or government
Despotism – tyranny, dictatorship
Laissez-faire – free market capitalism, the government does not control the economy, it keeps its “hands off”
Levy taxes – put a tax on
Grievances – complaints
Bi-Cameral Legislature – two houses – Senate and House (law making divisions)
Mercantilism – British trade policy
Ratify – accept, sign, approve
Establishment – build-up, create
Stake a claim – claim ownership
Ranking political party  – ruling, majority
Universal Suffrage – all people can vote
Interdependence – rely, depend on each other