Note-taking guide to A People and a Nation, Volume I
This is a "note taking guide" for each chapter of the text. I have listed some major terms and concepts that I hope you will note as you read, and that you will be in touch with me (and/or your fellow students through the discussions area on D2L) if you don't understand these topics. In some ways, this will hopefully help you to "replace" what you would normally learn in a course lecture, but I know that reading information in a textbook is not always the best way to learn material. So let's work together to figure out this period of American history.
*A strong suggestion before you begin reading each chapter: Read the very last section of each chapter FIRST. This section is entitled "Summary" and will give you a good overview of what the chapter is going to cover.
CHAPTER 1: Three Old Worlds Create a New, 1492-1600
Big question of the chapter: What happened when people from different continents made contact with each other?
After reading this chapter, you should:
1. Have an understanding of the diverse Native American societies which existed in North America (where they lived, what kind of societies they lived in, etc.).
2. Understand why Europeans wanted to explore and began searching for colonies.
3. Note that slavery existed in West Africa, yet it was a very different type of slavery than what would later develop in North America.
4. Know the following terms: Cahokia, Aztecs, Pueblo, Christopher Columbus, Cortes, Columbian Exchange, mercantilism
CHAPTER 2: Europeans Colonize North America, 1600-1650
Big question of the chapter: How did European settlers and Native Americans experience the arrival of Europeans in North America?
After reading this chapter you should:
1. Understand where the earliest European settlements were, and how those settlements were achieved. What relationships did they have with Native Americans?
2. Describe the important role sugar played in the development of the Caribbean and the rise of slave labor.
3. Explain why the English grew interested in colonization (both for social and religious reasons).
4. Describe why the English first came to the Chesapeake region and what happened during their first years there.
5. Explain why the need for labor increased and what form of labor they began to rely upon. (indentured servitude.)
6. Explain why Puritans came to New
England and discuss how the region of New England was different from the Chesapeake. What was
life like in both places?
7. Know the following terms:
Jesuits, Puritans, Virginia Company, Jamestown, Algonquians, indentured servants, Plymouth, John Winthrop, Anne
Hutchinson
CHAPTER 3: North America in the Atlantic World, 1650-1720
Big questions of the chapter: How did the British empire grow and change during these years? How did North America change as it became increasingly under the control of the British? How did slavery contribute to the growth of this empire, and how did enslaved people themselves experience this?
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
1. Understand how the migrants to Pennsylvania differed from other regions.
2. Discuss how and why Europeans and Native Americans engaged in warfare during this period.
3. Describe the slave trade itself (note: middle passage) and how this slave trade was a critical part of the northern maritime economy. In what ways was slavery an incredibly profitable enterprise?
4. Describe slavery in the Chesapeake region and understand how slavery differed depending on region and task/job.
5. Explain how slaves resisted their enslavement.
6. Know the following terms: King Philip's War, Bacon's Rebellion, task system, mercantilism, Salem Witch crisis
CHAPTER 4: American Society Transformed, 1720-1770
Big questions of the chapter: How did the North American colonies change during
these years, and in what ways were various regions becoming more similar?
In what ways did they remain distinct?
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
1. Understand which portions of North America were under the control of the French. (note where present-day Minnesota is.)
2. Explain the composition of enslaved peoples (where were they from in Africa?) and note the expansion of the slave population.
3. Describe the growth in diversity among new European settlers.
4. Define and explain the significance of the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening (including Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield). Why did the Great Awakening cause people to challenge authority?
5. Understand how colonial culture developed and changed. How did the elites distance themselves from the other classes?
6. Understand why families were so important, and recognize that family structures differed significantly by region and race.
CHAPTER 5: Severing the Bonds of Empire, 1754-1774
Big questions of the chapter: How did the colonies move from loyalty to
rebellion in such a short time?
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
1. Describe the impact of the Great War for Empire and the Treaty of Paris in 1763 (same as the French and Indian War or Seven Years War).
2. Explain how the following acts/decisions brought the colonists closer to Revolution: The Stamp Act, The Stamp Act Congress, Townshend Act of 1767 and the response, Tea Act and Committees of Correspondence, Boston Tea Party, Sons of Liberty.
3. Describe how women participated in these political debates/crises.
4. Discuss why and how colonial opinion was divided (noting that some colonists remained loyal.)
CHAPTER 6: A Revolution, Indeed, 1774-1783
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
1. Explain why the First Continental Congress was an important step towards Revolution, followed by the Second Continental Congress, Common Sense, and the Declaration of Independence.
2. Discuss growing tensions in the "back country."
3. As discussed in Chapter 5, note that colonists were not wholly united (patriots vs. loyalists vs. neutrals.) How did African-Americans view this issue?
4. Understand why Lexington and Concord were significant.
5. Describe (in a general sense) the Revolutionary War in the both the north and the south, noting why Yorktown was significant. You will not be required to know specific battles or campaigns.
6. Understand what life was like for an average soldier in the army, and for average people on the home front.
CHAPTER 7: Forging a National Republic, 1776-1789
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
1. Describe the concept of "republicanism" and understand how women and African-Americans did (or did not) fit into it.
2. Understand the growth of a small population of free African-Americans; also discuss why racist theory arose when it did.
3. Discuss the role of State Constitutions and the Articles of Confederation in governance. Also note the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.
4. Explain how and why the U.S. Constitution came to be drafted; discuss how slavery is included in the Constitution.
5. Describe the federalists and anti-federalists, and describe the Bill of Rights.
CHAPTER 8: The Early Republic: Conflicts at Home and Abroad, 1789-1800
[Not Assigned]
CHAPTER 9: Defining the Nation, 1801-1823
[assigned p. 235-239; 244-251; 255-259]
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
1. Understand why white settlers moved westward and the types of Native American resistance they faced.
2. Understand why Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa resisted white settlers.
3. Explain why the United States got involved in the War of 1812, how it ended, and what its impact was.
4. Describe what happened during the "Missouri Crisis" and how it was resolved through the Missouri Compromise.
Define the following terms: Louisiana Purchase,
sectionalism
CHAPTER 10: The Rise of the South,
1815-1860
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
1. Describe the ways in which the North and South were similar and different from each other.
2. Discuss what the "proslavery argument" was and why it developed when it did.
3. Explain how Southerners sought to expand westward, and how this expansion impacted Native Americans (particularly note the Cherokees and the Trail of Tears).
4. Understand that most white southerners did not own slaves, and describe other groups of whites in the south (including small yeoman farmers and tenant farmers).
5. Explain who were the planter elite and how they justified slavery.
6. Explain how African-American slaves forged their own culture, including their own religion/churches and family structures. Be sure to note how enslaved people resisted in small and large ways (Nat Turner.)
CHAPTER 11: The Restless North, 1815-1860
[assigned pp. 298-310; 321-327]
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
1. Define the different types of labor that existed at this time, including artisans and outworkers
2. Understand the Transportation Revolution and why the Erie Canal was significant
3. Explain how industrial/factory labor was different than earlier forms of labor; explain how women began to seek work in factories and how they organized to protest their working conditions.
4. Describe the "new" groups of immigrants, and why their arrival caused tension.
5. Describe what it was like to live in the urban north.
CHAPTER 12: Reform and Politics,
1824-1845
[assigned pp. 328-344]
After reading this chapter, you should be able
to:
1. Understand the connection between religious revival (The Second Great
Awakening) and the rise of reform movements.
2. Describe the wide variety of 19th Century reform and utopian movements, such as prison reform, temperance, school reform, the Mormons, the Shakers, Fourierism, and the Oneidans.
3. Explain the rise of the abolitionist movement and what motivated these reformers, including William Lloyd Garrison and Theodore Weld. Also note the growing opposition to abolition.
4. Explain the rise of the Women's Right's Movement and also the role of women within the abolitionist movement
CHAPTER 13: The Contested West,
1815-1860
[assigned pp. 372-377]
After reading this chapter, you should be able to: [place all of these issues within the context of the causes of the Civil War]
1. Explain how and why the United States annexed Texas in 1845 ; understand the multi-cultural world which emerged in the Southwest
CHAPTER 14: Slavery and America's Future: The Road to War, 1845-1861
After reading this chapter, you should be able to: [place all of these issues within the context of the causes of the Civil War]
1. Describe why the United States fought a war with Mexico and why that territory was also problematic in terms of the slavery issue. (the Wilmot Proviso issue will also be covered in our Readings for Discussion).
2. Explain how the Compromise of 1850 was reached, and which issues it solved or did not solve.
3. Describe how "Bleeding Kansas" happened.
4. Explain who Abraham Lincoln was and
what his election meant for the nation.
5. Understand how and why states chose to secede, and how the Civil War
officially started.
Define the following terms: free-soil movement, Fugitive Slave Act, Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Underground Railroad, John Brown's Raid, Dred Scott
CHAPTER 15: Transforming Fire: The Civil War, 1861-1865
[Skim the sections devoted
to battles and military strategy
Assigned pages: p. 425 -- the "Grand Strategy"
pp. 431-435, 440-448, p. 456 "Draft Riots," 460-464]
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
1. Understand war strategies on both sides; gain this information via skimming.
2. Describe how civilians on the "home front" participated in the war effort (including women).
3. Discuss the complicated and controversial decision to emancipate the slaves.
4. Describe the average life of a soldier and his concerns about the draft.
Define the following terms: secession, Fort Sumter, Emancipation Proclamation, Sherman's march
CHAPTER 16: Reconstruction: An Unfinished
Revolution, 1865-1877
[Not required; Skim if you need more information or background about Reconstruction]
1. Understand what Reconstruction was (how to put the nation back together again and re-admit states to the Union) and the variety of approaches that were suggested: Lincoln, Johnson, and Congress (Radical).
2. Describe how the freed slaves themselves reacted and why they were reluctant to be wage laborers (which consequently meant they became trapped in sharecropping).
3. Understand why Reconstruction came to an end after the Crisis of 1877.
Define the following terms: black codes, Freedman's Bureau, sharecropping