United States History

United States History - Honors Chapter 1: The World by 1500 Chapter 2: Empires in the Americas Chapter 3: The English Colonies

Early Americans • The first Americans were the Paleo-Indians • Estimated to come to the Americas about 40,000 years ago • Crossed from Asia over a “land bridge” in what is now the Bering Strait, between Russia and Alaska • Tribes of people adapted to the lands in which they settled in order to survive • Hunter-gathers killed animals and gathered berries, roots, etc • Agricultural Revolution: about 7000 years ago, peoples began to grow food for survival • Gave way to several advanced civilizations throughout the Americas • Aztec and Mayas of Mexico and Central America • Inca of South America • Olmec of the southern United States • Anasazi of SW United States • Mound building tribes of the Northeast and Midwest

World Civilizations • Advanced civilizations throughout the world eventually led to the settlement of the Americas from easterners • China: traded extensively over land with Europe for hundreds of years • Arabia: crossroads of trade routes between Europe, Asia and Africa • Islam influential in trade • Eventually led to wars between Muslims and Christians over the holy lands (Crusades) • Africa: vast empires throughout the continent traded gold and slaves with the world • Europe: influence of former Roman Empire prominent, but the empire collapsed • Vikings were quickly becoming the dominant culture of Northern Europe • Sailed from Europe to Iceland, Greenland, and eventually present day Canada around 1000 AD • Led by Leif Eriksson, established the short lived colony of Vinland in Canada

Europe and the Middle Ages • Europe operated under a policy called feudalism • Nobles would pledge loyalty and military assistance for land called manors • Each manor was worked by peasants • The Catholic Church dictated most of life in the manors • Many major events led to the demise of feudalism • Crusades: war to drive Muslims from Europe and open trade • Magna Carta: English document that granted basic rights to people in 1215 • Renaissance: scientific and artistic awakening that rejected religious explanations • Nations began to form during this time as well • England, Portugal, France, Spain and Italy • Some formed as a result of war, some from marriage of royal families • Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain expelled all Jews and Muslims from the nation form an all Catholic Spain by 1492

Searching for an Empire • To gain the upper hand in world trade, nations began to look beyond their borders • New technology made sailing much easier, with inventions like the compass, astrolabe, and sails • Portugal led the way, establishing a sailing school in the 1400s • Opened up trade with Africa • Gold and slaves were the chief items of trade • Portugal became the first nation to actively search for a route directly to Asia, bypassing Arabia • Bartholomeu Dias: rounded the Cape of Good Hope (S. Africa) in 1488 • Vasco da Gama: sailed around Africa to India in 1498, opening up trade directly with Asia • Led to other nations sponsoring voyages around the world

Spain • Christopher Columbus is credited, inaccurately, with “discovering” America • Set sail from Spain in August 1492 • Landed in the Bahamas in October • Made four voyages throughout the Caribbean over the next few years, establishing Spain as a world power • The inspiration of the conquistadors to travel was God, gold and glory • Columbus inspired many others to explore further • Vasco Nunez de Balboa: crossed Panama, first European to see Pacific Ocean (1513) • Ferdinand Magellan: first to circumnavigate the world around South America (died before completing the voyage, 1519-1521) • Francisco Coronado: explored SW United States • Hernan Cortes: conquered the Aztecs in 1521 • Francisco Pizarro: conquered the Incas in 1532

Spain • Spain had great influence on mainland United States during their heyday • Juan Ponce de Leon: searched Florida for the “fountain of youth” • Attempted to convert all Native Americans to Catholicism, with most resisting • Pueblo Revolt (1680): hundreds of Spanish killed and driven from Santa Fe, NM • Colonized the United States from Florida to California, setting up numerous Catholic missions in the process • Colonization attempts intensified as the French and English began to exert their influence in the Americas

France • Rather than trying to find gold and destroy Native American populations, the French colonized in a different manner • Took advantage of the lucrative fur trade • Tried to befriend Native tribes, establishing trading posts • Settled mostly in Canada and the Northern United States • Established posts along the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes • Eventually led expeditions along the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico • Most prominent explorers were Jacques Cartier and Father Jacques Marquette

England • England wanted to take control of the world trade by finding the Northwest Passage • Waterway through the Americas to Asia • Not discovered until 1900, only accessible for a few months of the year after ice melts • Heavily influenced by the Protestant Reformation, led by Martin Luther • Wanted to limited Catholic influence in the world • Many notable people involved in exploration for the English • Sir Francis Drake: a privateer (“sea dog”) responsible for raiding Spanish ships and defeating the Spanish Armada in 1588 • Henry Hudson: sailed up Hudson River (NY) and discovered Hudson Bay (Canada) • Sir Walter Raleigh: established Roanoke colony in 1585 • Colony mysteriously failed, with only the word CROATOAN carved in a tree upon his return in 1590 after going to England for supplies

England • After the Roanoke failure, companies were created to search for gold and colonize areas of the eastern seaboard of the United States • Jamestown would be the first experiment in 1607 • Settled in present day Virginia • Disease, harsh conditions, and lazy colonists nearly doomed the colony from the start • Would not have survived without help from several • John Smith: chosen leader of Jamestown • Pocahontas: Native American girl that prevented a slaughter of the colonists • Gold was never found, but survival was ensured by tobacco • Slaves and indentured servants poured into Virginia to farm tobacco • Led to wars among the Natives and colonists, nearly destroying the colony in 1622

Pilgrims and the Plymouth Colony • After Jamestown, the next colony to be settled by the English in America would be Plymouth • Settled in 1620 by a religious group known as the Pilgrims • The Pilgrims were a group of Separatists, a religious sect that wished to break away from the Church of England • Most radical of the Puritans, Separatists wanting to “purify” the church of all Catholic rituals • Landed in present day Massachusetts after sailing across the Atlantic aboard the Mayflower • Originally bound for New York harbor, but blown off course • Devised a form of government aboard ship before going ashore (Mayflower Compact) • Survived with help from the local Wampanoag Indians and Squanto, who taught the Pilgrims to farm the poor soil • Celebrated the harvest in the fall of 1621, marked as the first Thanksgiving

New England Colonies • Led to a Great Migration of people searching for religious freedom in a new land • Besides Plymouth, several other colonies were formed in present day New England • Massachusetts Bay Colony: formed in 1630, church guided daily life and government, including beliefs of predestination, education and moral codes • Women were subservient to men • Families were large, negating need for widespread slavery or indentured servitude • Relied heavily on trade with other nations and colonies • Connecticut: founded in 1639 after many looked for land after differences with the Puritan Church • Fundamental Orders of Connecticut: considered first constitution of colonies • Rhode Island: founded in 1636, chartered in 1644by Roger Williams, established separation of church and state • Accepted Anne Hutchinson into the colony after she was banished from Mass. • Religious led to numerous conflicts, such as the Salem Witch Trials in 1692 • Dozens tried, 19 executed for being “witches”

Southern Colonies • The Southern Colonies were formed for many reasons • Maryland: formed as a haven for Catholics, but the Toleration Act of 1649 granted freedom to all in the colony • Relied heavily on tobacco, like Virginia, possibly by slavery and indentured servants • Bacon’s Rebellion • More and more people in Virginia were landless and unable to make a living • Whites began moving onto Indian lands, causing tensions • Natives were attacked by colonists, led by Nathaniel Bacon, in 1676, ending in his death • Slave trade • Brutal living conditions for slaves, from the Middle Passage to America, to the farms and plantations in which they worked • Many unsuccessful rebellions ensued, notably the Stono Rebellion in 1739, where 30 whites were killed before the rebellion quelled

Southern Colonies • Other colonies were formed as grants to proprietors, or as royal colonies • Carolinas: attracted many different settlers, relying on rice production, formed in 1660s, taken over by crown in 1720 • New York: originally a Dutch colony, taking over bloodlessly in 1664 by the English • New Jersey: formed after English takeover of NY, granted to friends of the Duke of York • Pennsylvania: haven for Quakers, formed by William Penn; also formed Delaware after Swedish settlers abandoned the colony • Georgia: haven for criminals and debtors from England in 1733, tried to outlaw slavery and liquor, but failed, becoming a royal colony in 1752 • Colonies were run on the policy of mercantilism • Mother country only strong if they could export more than import • Navigation Acts dictated rules on shipping and trade

Colonial Tensions • To control the colonies more, King James II stiffened the rules over colonies in 1684 • Colonists and English alike hated the King • In 1688, a bloodless revolution, the Glorious Revolution, overthrew James and placed William and Mary at the throne, establishing parliamentary power in England and colonies • Enlightenment: movement of the late 1600s and 1700s that emphasized human reason • Great Awakening: religious revivals of the mid-1700s, sparking formations of several new denominations of Christianity, including Methodists and Baptists • Also opened up greater religious participation to the poor and enslaved, often ignored before

Colonial Struggle • While settlement continued, fights over lands between the English, French and Native Americans ensued • The French established forts and trading posts for the fur trade while the English wanted to farm the lands • Wars were fought between Natives and English • Pequot War: 1637, wiped out Pequot Indians • Metacom (King Philip’s) War: 1675, killed thousands of Natives, taking more land for colonial use • Iroquois League: formed in the 1500s as a protection for tribes of New York state, tried to work peacefully between the French, English and other tribes • Benjamin Franklin proposed a league for the colonies to protect from the growing Iroquois influence • Albany Plan of Union (1754) • Failed to gain approval, used later as a model for the first US government

French and Indian War • Broke out in 1754 in North American, spread to Europe in 1756 • Also known as the Seven Years’ War • Fight over land claimed by England and France, with the Native Americans helping the French • English lost many battles in the beginning, but finance minister William Pitt poured money into troops and supplies to turn the tide • Eventually claimed Fort Duquesne (Fort Pitt, modern day Pittsburgh), which convinced the Iroquois to switch sides • War ended with British takeover of French held Quebec in 1759, with sporadic fighting the next 4 years • Treaty of Paris signed in 1763 • France surrendered all North American claims except New Orleans • Spain surrendered Florida, but gained all land west of Mississippi River • Set the stage for the colonial rebellion that led to American independence

United States History - Honors