UNIT ONE

AP US History

Land-Bridge Theory

The first people to enter North America are said to have entered the land bridge from present-day Siberia to Alaska which is now the Bering Strait.

Sustaining Life

Around 5000 BC corn was developed and harvested.

This spread across the Americas and changed the life of the Natives.

Many of the Native societies were “matrilineal”.

Strength in Numbers

The Natives of Central and South America were more urbanized than the spread out tribes of North America

Aztecs (Mexico)Incas (Peru)Mayans (Guatemala)Taino (Caribbean)

North American Natives

Many of these groups spread out throughout North America.

These societies did not compare to the organization and size of the South American empires.

This caused them to be easily taken over by the Europeans upon contact.

Meanwhile in Europe….

Many of the European powers were looking for short-cuts to the East Indies to attain goods and luxury items not available in Europe.

Drugs for medical use, silk for clothing, colorful draperies for castles, and spices…..especially sugar.

How can we get there?

Travel down the southern tip of Africa was impossible due to the trade winds.

Until the Portuguese invent the caravel.

This made the Portuguese very competitive in trading.

They set up trading posts along the coast of Africa.

In 1498 Vasco da Gama reaches India in 1498 for Portugal.

Plantation System

The Portuguese purchased slaves and gold along the coast.

They built a system of slave labor to work the sugar plantations.

The slave trade is now a big business in the fifteenth century (1400’s)

European Rivalry

Spain becomes unified through the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella

They want to outdo their neighbors to the west.

The Portuguese already controlled the coast of Africa

Their only way to the Indies was west…..enter Christopher Columbus

Dawning a new era in Europe

Political unity and the Renaissance in the 14th century brought on a feeling of ambition, optimism, and adventure.

The Printing Press in 1450 and spreading of scientific knowledge

Also the invention of the compass motivated exploration west.

Columbus in the “New World”

On October 12, 1492 Columbus and his crew land in the Bahamas.

This set the stage for an eventual global economy Europe provides the

market, capital, technology

Africa supplies the labor

New World offers its raw materials Metals, soil, sugar

World’s Colliding

With the introduction of Europeans to the New World we see our first global economy at work

This was given the name “Columbian Exchange”

Horses and weapons changed the culture of Native Americans forever.

The Number One Killer

Diseases such as smallpox, yellow fever, and malaria devastated the Native American population

The natives are said to have given the gift of disease back to the Europeans in the form of the STD syphilis.

The Spanish

The conquistadoresSpain takes over as

colonizing power in 1500’s

Their three main goals Gold God- convert natives to

Christianity Glory

Notable Conquistadors

Vasco Nunez Balboa Founder of Pacific

OceanFerdinand Magellan

1522 First circumnavigation of the world

Juan Ponce de Leon Explored Florida 1521

Francisco Coronado Explored AZ and NM

for “golden cities”

Hernando de SotoFrancisco Pizarro

Conquered the Inca Empire in Peru

Hernan Cortes Conquered the Aztec

Empire of Mexico

Main Voyages of European Discovery

Encomienda

This system of slave labor for the Spanish said that natives would be given to colonists if they promised to attempt to Christianize them.

This was their way of rationalizing the captivity of the natives.

Here come the English and French!

English send Giovanni Caboto to North America in 1498

French send Giovanni da Verrazano to explore eastern shores in 1524

French also send Jacques Cartier who journeyed on the St. Lawrence River of today Canada

Spanish dominate in the Southwest

Missions are established in San Antonio (the Alamo)

Missions also set up along coast of California in 1542

21 missions set up in San Diego in 1769

Eurocentric Textbook?

Direct quotation from our textbook:

“The Spanish paid the Native Americans the high compliment of fusing with them through marriage and incorporating indigenous culture into their own, rather than shunning the Indians as their English adversaries would do.”

Colonizing North America

First European settlements in North America Spanish in Santa Fe in 1610 French in Quebec in 1608 English at Jamestown in

1607

England couldn’t compete with Spain in the 1500’s in the race to colonize and explore the “New World”

At first, they were allies with Spain so to compete was of little interest.

English Colonies: North vs. South

Linked by common language and allegiance to England

Different according to patterns of settlement, economies, political systems, and sets of values.

Religious trouble in Europe

King Henry VIII broke ties with the Roman Catholic Church of England. The Pope refused to grant

him a divorce to his wife so he declared himself the power over the new church of England. (He had 6 wives)

In 1558 Queen Elizabeth I (loyal to Protestants) is crowned royalty in England.

This creates tension between England and Spain (loyal to the Catholic Church).

Martin Luther nails his protests of the Catholic Church in 1517. Started the Protestant Reformation.

Unity in England

Seizing and raiding Spanish ships and settlements became the goal of many English “sea dogs” such as Sir Francis Drake

His half-brother, Sir Walter Raleigh, convinced Elizabeth to fund a colonization effort in the New World.

He first landed on Roanoke Island in 1585.Three years later efforts to continue funding were halted

when Spain’s Philip II sent an Armada of Ships to invade England. (Spanish Armada) 1588

England’s victory against Spain ended Spain’s domination over seas.

This unified the state of England, brought on religious unity for Protestants, a sense of Nationalism, and made Elizabeth that much more popular among the people.

Broadening Horizons

Along with this sense of nationalism was a time of great interest in William Shakespeare’s dramas.

A new spirit was born in England

One of thirst for adventure, curiosity, patriotism, faith and finally peace with Spain in 1604.

Heading West!

Population growth, unemployment, religious freedom, prospect of riches, and rich joint-stock companies funding voyages urged many people to make the voyage to the New World.

The first voyage and attempt to colonize was funded by the Virginia Company.

Those taking the voyage would receive the same rights as English citizens in the colony upon arrival.

The Virginia Company’s three boats landed in the Chesapeake Bay on the banks of the James River.

Jamestown: 1607

Disease, malnutrition, starvation, “gentlemen” not ready to work (except to look for gold), and violence with natives (Powhatan Indians)

John Smith: “You don’t work, you don’t eat”….

Eating dogs, cats, rats, mice, even corpses of those already dead.

Only 60 survived the “starving time”: winter 1609-1610

Jamestown continued…

Lord De La Warr arrives in 1610

Carries out raids on Indian villages burning them to the ground

Causes the first Anglo-Powhatan War

Peace was found with the marriage of Pocahontas and John Rolfe in 1614

Downfall of the Powhatan

Three D’s Disease

Small pox, measles Disorganization Disposability

No longer needed for labor or food

Europeans Impacting Native Culture

Horses Caused migration to the

Great Plains Now mounted nomadic

herders/huntersDisease

Number one killer of nativesTrade

Firearms Forever alters hunting

Beaver fur Intensified intertribal fighting

over hunting grounds Over-killing of bison for trade

Southern Colonies

Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia

Economy based on plantation agriculture Tobacco, rice, sugar, indigo

Slavery found in all plantation colonies

Status in the south was based on land ownership (the ‘Gentry’ class)

These colonies wanted to resemble English society as much as possible.

Loyal to the Anglican Church (Church of England).

Life in the Chesapeake (Virginia Colony)

Men outnumbered women 6-1 in 1650Life expectancy: 50% made it into 20’s.Marriages only lasted on avg. 7 years due to

death.Causes weak family ties.Diseases ravaged populations.

Virginia’s Tobacco Economy

Perfected by John Rolfe 1612

European demand increases

Many settlers look for tracts of new land

Created first plantation system

Demand for labor increasesFirst slaves arrive in Va. In

1619 from a Dutch warshipThe North American slave

trade system had begun“Poor Man’s Crop”

Tobacco Labor

Many tobacco farmers of Virginia couldn’t afford slave labor.

Introduction of Indentured Servants.

Headright SystemIf you paid for

someone to come across from Europe you received 50 acres of land

Bacon’s Rebellion

Many impoverished free men looking for land to start a farm and women to marry.

1676Nathaniel BaconVirginia governor

William Berkeley chased out of Jamestown for not retaliating on Natives for attacking backwoods settlements.

House of Burgesses

With thriving economy of Virginia they begin to create a government of their own.

First legislative body in North America

1619: House of Burgesses

James I Not happy! Revokes Virginia Company

charter and places colony under his direct control.

Maryland: Refuge for Catholics

Founded 1634 By Lord Baltimore Those loyal to the Catholic

Church in England continued to be persecuted against.

Tobacco plantations labored by Indentured Servants mainly

Permitted freedom of worship (Act of Toleration 1649)

Death penalty to Jews and Atheist who denounced Jesus as the Messiah and Savior of Mankind.

From Barbados to S. Carolina

Slave codes of Barbados (1661) traveled up the coast of N. America to South Carolina where many of the English left the sugar plantations.

Slaves were denied even the most fundamental of rights as humans.

Their master was in complete control over their lives.

S. Carolina adopted the Barbados slave code in 1696.

Slave trade intensifies in N. America

Sugar plantations boom in the West Indies (Caribbean) early 1600’s

Rich man’s crop: only wealthy growers could cultivate sugar

Very labor intensiveImported thousands

of slaves from AfricaBy 1700, slaves

outnumbered whites 4-1

Middle Passage

Middle Passage described the journey slaves took from west coast of Africa to the auction blocks of ports such as Rhode Island and Charleston, South Carolina.

Difference between a slave and indentured servant becomes race

Slavery was worse in the deep south.

South Carolina

Settlers from Barbados bring the system of slavery with them to the Carolinas.

Rice and sugar become the principal export.

Rice was grown in Africa which made those slaves of high demand in Carolina.

Charles Town becomes the busiest port in the South of the slave trade.

North Carolina: The Rebel Colony

Poverty-stricken Virginians and “squatters”

Small-scale tobacco farms

Resisted authority to government

Seen as riff-raff and irreligious

Separated from South Carolina in 1712

North Carolina continued…

Most democratic of colonies

Most independent minded

Least aristocraticNorth Carolina

sandwiched between Aristocratic Virginia and South Carolina

Buffer Colony: Georgia

Founded in 1733 Last of the 13 colonies Strategically created to

protect the more valuable S. Carolina colony from the Spanish in Florida and French in Louisiana

Produced silk and wine Founded by James Oglethorpe Haven for debtors and

religious tolerance (except for Catholics)

John Wesley (founder of Methodist Church) was a missionary in Ga.

New England Colonies

Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire

Mainly settled for religious purposes Purification,

persecution, refugeEconomy based on

lumber, shipbuilding, small farming, fishing, trading (Boston Harbor)

Calvinism

John Calvin of GenevaFollower of Martin

Luther and Protestant movement

Idea of Predestination Where people would spend

eternity after death.People sought signs of

conversion that they had received God’s gift of salvation.

Heavily influenced Puritans

Puritans: Purifying the Church

The group of Puritans that wanted to break away from the Church of England were known as the Separatists

These “Pilgrims” (group of Separatists from Holland) crowded the Mayflower to start a new life in the New World.

Each signed the Mayflower Compact which said that each would submit to the authority of the majority. Self-government apart from the crown.

They landed off the coast of New England in 1620

Only 44/102 survived the first winter

Merging the Massachusetts Bay

The Separatists of Plymouth, low in population, merged with the Massachusetts Bay colony with other non-Separatist Puritans in 1691.

First governor was John Winthrop

He proclaimed they would be a “city upon a hill”.

New Hampshire was purchased by the Bay colony in 1641 followed by Maine in 1677.

Life in the Bay Colony

Focus was religion Those not in the

church could not vote in the Town Meetings.

The purpose of government was to enforce God’s laws

People paid taxes to government-supported Church

Very strict lifestyle

Those who were not Puritans or those who didn’t follow the Puritan Ethic were outcasts such as the Quakers (fled to Pennsylvania).

These people were punished severely with fines, floggings, and banishment.

Among them Anne Hutchison and Roger Williams. Williams and others left the

colony. Williams founded Rhode

Island.

The Good Life

Clean water, cool temperatures

Life expectancy similar to that of today

Migrated with families

Avg. married woman had 10 children

Family values and stability

Women not given property rights to maintain roles in marriage.

Divorce very rare in New England society

Organization of towns

Meeting house for town meetings of government

Place of worshipTown HallVillage Green for

military drillSmall area for crops

and animalsFirst college ever in

New World: Harvard 1636

Congregational Church government

Ideas of democracyVery diversified

economy of agriculture and industry (shipbuilding)

Raising of livestockNatural harbors for

commerce and shipping

Rhode Island Colony

Established by Roger Williams (outcast of Puritan society)

Freedom of Religion Even to Jews and

CatholicsMost liberal English

colony: similar to North Carolina

Refuge for dissenters of government and exiles

Strong individualistic and stubborn society

Colony of Connecticut

Founded in 1638 in New Haven by Puritans who wanted even more government regulation by the church.

Led by Reverend Thomas Hooker

Governed by the Fundamental Orders

A modern constitution in which the citizens democratically governed the colony.

Royal Influence in the Colonies

During the first half of the 1600’s the royal crown of England was only involved to an extent.

The second half of the century the crown began to pay much closer attention to her colonies.

1686Dominion of New

England

Colonies began trading with rival nations (Spain, France, and the Dutch)

Sir Edmund Andros (English military leader)

No more town meetingsRestrictions on freedom of

press, courts, and schools.Taxed people w/o their

consent.With dethroning of James II

in England, Dominion of England collapses. (Glorious Revolution 1688-1689)

Middle Colonies

New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania

Most ethnically and economically diverse region of English colonies.

Religious toleration and democratic control characterized the Middle Colonies.

“Bread Colonies” Wheat farming

Fur trade on major riversLumberingShip buildingCommerce on natural

harbors and sea portsMedium sized

landholdingsMajor trading areas

(crossroads between the Northern and Southern colonies)

New Netherland = New York

1623-1624 Established by Dutch West

India Company Created for fur trade along

the Hudson River Company town Investors not interested in

religious freedom, speech, or democracy

Dutch “buy” Manhattan island from Indians who didn’t actually own it.

Indian retaliation on the Dutch cause them to erect a wall-fort (Wall Street).

Dutch Intruders

The English regarded the Dutch as intruders.

1664Charles II granted area

to his brother Duke of York

Area renamed New YorkDutch culture still there:

Harlem, Brooklyn, Easter eggs, Santa Claus, waffles, sauerkraut, bowling, sleighing, skating, golf

Pennsylvania

1681William PennQuakers

“Quaked” when under deep religious emotion

Religious Society of Friends

Refused military service in England (pacifists)

Bought land from Indians

Friendly relations with Natives

Pennsylvania Life

Representative Assembly elected by landowners

Freedom of worship to all citizens. Very liberal colony.

Death penalty only for treason and murder

Held no slaves“Blue Laws”

No plays, playing cards, dice, games, excessive joking/laughing.

Immediate economic success.

Other Quaker settlements New Jersey 1664 Delaware 1703

By the Swedish Named after Lord de la

Warr