US History concept chart major concepts & themes across US History

US History concept chart major concepts & themes across US History

Objective:

  • overview of core ideas for understanding historical times, persons, places, and events in U.S. History

Index

U.S. History course pages:


US History periods timeline & major concepts & themes

PERIOD / TIMELINE Major Events, Concepts & Themes Notes & connections: details of issues, concepts, themes & events
  • 1607 pre-Colonial in North America
  • 1607-1765 Early colonial period
    • 1730s-40s First Great Awakening<< confirm dates
  • 1754-1760 French Indian War (in America)
    • 1754-1763 Seven Years War (Europe)
  • 1765-1783 Revolutionary Era
  • 1783-1789 Articles of Confederation period (post-Revolution)
  • 1789-1815 Early Republic
  • 1815-1827 Era of Good Feelings
  • 1827-1833 Jacksonian period
  • 1830s-40s Second Great Awakening
  • 1833-1850s Antebellum period
  • 1861-1865 Civil War
  • 1865-1876 Reconstruction
  • 1876-1898 Industrialization
  • 1898-1917 Progressive Era
  • 1917-1919 World War I
    • 1914-1918 in Europe
  • 1920s Roaring Twenties, Prohibition
  • 1929-1941 Great Depression
  • 1941-1945 World War II
    • 1937-1945 in Asia
    • 1939-1945 in Europe
  • 1946-1989 Cold War
  • 1950-1953 Korean War
  • 1959-1974 Vietnam War
    • 1966-68 U.S. escalation
  • 1950s-60s Popular Culture, Youth Movements
  • 1970s Stagflation
  • 1980s Wall Street Culture
  • 2000s War on Terror
  • see

BIG IDEAS What does it MEAN?

  • every issue, dispute, event, represents someone’s perspective, ideal or outlook



connections

  • how are events related?
  • what common themes occur across American history



causality

  • >>



Constitutionalism

"The American Experience"

  • religious, economic & political freedom
  • “land of opportunity”
  • "The American Promise”
  • slavery, segregation, discrimination
  • land ownership
  • self-governance & political participation
  • >> get into modern experience

colonialism & push-pull factors

  • opportunity
  • primogeniture

>> build out

American colonial perceptions viz Britain

  • citizens or subjects?
  • duty & responsibilities as British
  • direct v. indirect representation

Enlightenment ideas

Declaration of Independence

self-governance/ self-government

  • extents and limits of self-government
  • to consider:
    • what does it mean and how do different people & times interpret it?
    • what is democracy? How can it work? What are its limits? How does it empower people?

faction & disagreement

  • sectionalism
  • political parties
  • compromise
  • conflict
  • radicalism
  • dissent
  • to consider:
    • How do Americans resolve disputes?
    • Why do some Americans feel isolated and start radical movements?
    • How do the big political parties adapt to those movements?

Constitution

  • forms the structure of the federal government
  • what does "to form a more perfect union" mean?
  • Bill of Rights
  • Constitutional principles
  • judicial review
  • change over time in interpretations,

Bill of Rights

  • = strong expression of what is important to Americans:
  • 1st amendment as expression of American ideals: freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, petition of government

Electoral College

Two-party system

slavery

  • Northwest Ordinance, 178>> << banned slavery in NW Territory
  • expansion of slavery
  • experience of slaves
  • consequences of slavery
    • upon slaves and former slaves
    • upon slave-owners
    • upon white non-slave owners
  • 1791 Vermont state constitution forbade slavery

"frontier" western expansion

  • >>details

religious awakenings

  • >>details

politics & democracy

  • Tocqueville
  • cultural expression
  • news and journalism, “pamphleteering”
  • radio/ tv
  • political participation

dissent

reform movements

  • public and private
  • religious awakenings
  • agitation for reform
  • reform (public/ private)
  • fear, crisis, opportunism

economics

  • banks/ debt
  • hard money v. soft money
  • tariff
  • business / commerce
  • prosperity

panics, recessions, depressions

  • usually the result of over-production, speculation (in land or businesses), money supply, war
  • >> to do: chart of panics causes & effects
  • Panic of 1837 ><?
  • Panic of 1893
  • Panic of 1907
  • Recession of 1920

private v public lives of Americans

to do/ sort

  • push /pull

distance and time

  • railroad
  • telegraph
  • growth
  • markets
  • US idealism
  • isolationism
  • expansionism
    • business/ trade/ power
    • idealism

Territorial & commercial expansion

PERIOD / TIMELINE Major Events, Concepts & Themes Notes & connections: details of issues, concepts, themes & events

1763 Treaty of Paris

  • settled the French-Indian War, expanding British holdings in North America

1783 Treaty of Paris

  • ended American Revolution

1791 Vermont Republic

  • Vermont was an independent republic 1777-1791

1802 Louisiana Purchase

  • from Mississippi River to the north & west, those borders undefined

1815 Treaty of Ghent

  • settled War of 1812

1818 Treaty of 1818

  • created 49th parallel agreement

1819 Adams-Onis Treaty

  • acquisition of Florida from Spain

1842 Webster–Ashburton Treaty

1845 Texas annexation

  • Republic of Texas entered Union

1846 Oregon Treaty

  • Britain recognized US ownership of "Oregon Lands"

1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

  • settled Mexican-American War, "Mexican cession" of modern Southwest US, UT, NV & CA

1853 Gadsden Purchase

  • US acquired additional lands south of NM and AZ from Mexico

1867 Alaska Purchase

  • purchased from Russia

1898 Treaty of Paris

  • settled Spanish-American War (Puerto Rico & Philippines)

1898 Annexation of Hawaii

  • the Newlands Resolution annexed the Republic of Hawaii

BIG IDEAS What does it MEAN?

  • Understanding American history and experience through territorial expansion
  • motives, outcomes
  • conflicts, impact
  • land claims, economic opportunities



Push & pull factors

  • land ownership & use
  • economic opportunity
  • business expansion, especially railroads
  • gold & silver rushes
  • trade, especially in Pacific Ocean expansion



Colonial expansion

  • English settlers pushing westward from coastal settlements
    • created conflict with Native Americans
    • created conflict between Native Americans tribes and confederations
    • created conflict with French and its fur trade with Native Americans
    • led directly to French-Indian War
    • Proclamation of 1763 forbade American colonists from settling west of the Appalachians
      • = British attempt to control colonials westward push

  • Spanish/French settlement in current US areas was limited
    • their colonial impulse was for trade (French) and religious conversion of Native Americans (Spanish)
    • English colonials sought settlement and populations grew rapidly

Exploration, fur trade, land

    • Daniel Boone (1734-1820) and trailblazers, frontiersmen
    • frontier culture and folk heroes



Northwest Ordinance of 1787

  • the new nation recognized need to organize territorial expansion
  • drove further claims westward



Manifest Destiny

  • Republic of Texas declared after
  • westward extension of railroads drove western settlement
  • resulted in political disagreement/ sectionalism over expansion of free and slave territories and states
  • Mexican-American War of 1846
  • California Gold Rush of 1849



Civil War impact

  • Transcontinental railroad
  • Homestead Act of 1862
    • Homesteaders and pioneers
    • "land grants" of up to 160 acres

Impact of technologies

  • steam power
    • first used on boats in late 17th century
    • railroads (starting 1820s)
  • telegraph (1830s) & telephone (1870s)
  • electricity
  • automobiles & airplanes (starting early 20th century)
  • American commercial and technological dominance (transistor, space race, etc.)



Overseas expansion & acquisitions

  • transoceanic trade
    • especially with introduction of steam boats
      • = created need for coaling stations for refueling across Pacific Ocean
  • Panama Canal as outgrowth of Spanish-American War
  • industrialization

Expansion via acquisition from European powers

  • Eastern Louisiana Territory, Ohio Valley & Northwest Territory from Britain
  • Louisiana Territory and Florida acquisitions
  • Mexican-American War
  • Spanish-American War

Expansion via acquisition or war with Native Americans

  • >>to do

Twentieth Century US overseas interventions

  • foreign loans and direct investment (1910s Gunboat diplomacy & later 20th century US business dominance)
  • petroleum & mining investments
  • WWII
    • US bases around world following the War
    • American commercial & cultural dominance
      • IBM, GM, Ford
      • Hollywood & music industry (popular culture)
      • internet, Microsoft, Google









Map of the United States and territories after the Treaty of Paris
=== British colonial expansion ===
  • 1667 Treaty of Breda
    • Netherlands ceded "New Netherland" which the British renamed "New York"
    • Within New Netherland, the Dutch (Netherlands) had claimed coastal areas of modern RI, CT, NY, NJ and DE
  • 1715 Peace of Utrecht
    • settled European conflict
    • Britain seized control of the Asiento de Negros Spanish grants of right to engage in the African slave trade
    • France ceded Newfoundland (eastern coast of Canada) to the British
  • 1763 Treaty of Paris
    • settled the French-Indian War
    • Britain took all French territories in modern Canada
    • France also ceded the eastern portion of the Louisiana Territory, which included lands from the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River
    • Spain ceded "Eastern Florida" (the "Panhandle" region)

US territorial expansion

UnitedStatesExpansion.png
UnitedStatesExpansion
  • 1777 Vermont Republic
  • 1783 Treaty of Paris
    • Britain ceded the original 13 colonies and corresponding territories west to the Mississippi River
    • the cessation included the Northwestern Territory, including the Ohio Valley, and the upper-midwest below the Great Lakes
  • 1791 Vermont Republic
    • Vermont had declared itself an independent state in 1777
    • was admitted to the Union in 1791
    • the admission settled claims by New York on Vermont lands
  • 1818 Treaty of 1818
    • Britain ceded land northwest of the Northwest Territory (western modern MN and north & east ND)
    • US ceded lands north of the 49th parallel above modern MT
    • established the 49th parallel as the border of US and Canada from MN to the Rocky Mountains (leaving Oregon Country in joint-control)
    • called for "joint occupation" by British and Americans of Oregon Country (northwest corner of present US, including OR, WA, ID)
  • 1819 Adams-Onis Treaty
    • Spain ceded Florida to the US
  • 1842 Webster–Ashburton Treaty
    • settled border disputes along modern US-Canadian border, including in the modern states of ME, MN, MT, ID & WA (reaffirming the 49th parallel)
  • 1846 Oregon Treaty
    • Britain ceded claims to "Oregon Country," setting the 49th parallel across to the Pacific Ocean as the northern border
    • Oregon Country included modern OR, WA, ID and parts of WY and MT
  • 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
    • settled Mexican-American War
    • "Mexican cession" of southwestern territory, called "Alta California
      • included modern NM, AZ, UT, NV and CA and parts of modern CO and TX
  • 1853 Gadsden Purchase
    • negotiated after the Mexican-American war to purchase Mexican territory in the south of modern AZ and southwest area of NM
    • includes modern AZ cities of Yuma & Tucson
    • cost was $10 million and motive for Mexico to sell it was likely to get the money before the Americans fully populated and/or seized it
    • US was motivated by railroad route through the region
Census Bureau map depicting territorial acquisitions and dates of statehood, probably created in the 1970s
  • 1867 Alaska Purchase from Russia for $7.2 million
    • Russian motives:
      • Russia had originally exploited the region for its fur trade and never populated it
      • by 1850s sea otters were hunted to near extinction
      • the Russians understood Alaska would be difficult to defend against US or British attack
      • they preferred to sell it to the US as a buffer against the British
    • US opponents called it "Seward's Folly" after Secretary of State Seward who negotiated the purchase
    • US proponents thought it would help promote trade with Asia
    • Alaska's extensive mineral deposits were not yet discovered (starting with Klondike Gold Rush in 1896)
    • Alaska became a state in 1948
  • 1898 Treaty of Paris
    • settled Spanish-American War
    • Spain recognized an independent Cuba and ceded Puerto Rico, Philippines and Guam to the US
    • US compensated Spain for the cessations $20 million
    • US set up Cuba as an independent country
    • US kept Puerto Rico, Philippines and Guam (as part of the Marianas Islands) as territories
    • Puerto Ricans were granted US citizenship in 1917
    • Philippines:
      • Philippine-American War, or "Tagalog Insurgency" ensued from 1986-1902
        • Philippine nationalists sought full independence
        • pockets of resistance continued until 1913
      • Philippines remained an American territory until 1946
  • 1898 Annexation of Hawaii

Acquisition or takeover of Native American lands

  • Northwestern Territory
  • Georgia
  • Oklahoma
  • Dakotas

Pacific Island and other acquisitions

  • 1856 Guano Islands Act
    • Congress declared that US citizens could take possession of any unclaimed "guano" islands and would receive US government protection
    • were islands that held "guano" deposits (used as fertilizer and saltpeter, an ingredient in gunpowder)
    • about 100 claims were made in Atlantic, Caribbean and Pacific waters
  • 1867 Midway Atoll
    • originally claimed under the Guano Islands Act, Midway islands were officially annexed by the US in 1867
    • Midway served as important US Naval base
  • 1903 Panama Canal Zone
    • US seized the "Canal Zone" from Columbia in 1903 by supporting Panamanian independence from Columbia with support of US warships
      • the Canal Zone was receded to Panama in 1999