American Beginnings to 1783
Indigenous Peoples (see separate handout)
Colonialism and Imperialism
Spanish - gold, God, glory; conquistadors
Christopher Columbus
Hernando Cortes, 1519
Francsico Pizarro, 1533
Cabeza de Vaca, 1528
Juan de Onate; Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1598
St. Augustine, Florida, 1565
Coronado
Seven Cities of Cibola
Quivira
French - Preach and Trade
Jacques Cartier, St. Lawrence River, 1535
Samuel de Champlain, Quebec, 1608
La Salle, Marquette and Joliet; New Orleans and Louisiana (Louis XIV)
Jesuit missionaries
Dutch - Trade
Henry Hudson, 1609
Peter Minuit, 1629, bought Manhattan Island from natives
New Amsterdam (in New Netherland)
Dutch West India Company
“functional diversity”
Peter Stuyvesant
1664 - New Amsterdam -> New York
English - settlement, “religious freedom”
John Cabot, Newfoundland
Sir Walter Raleigh, Roanoake Island, 1585
Joint-stock companies, charters
Jamestown, 1607
Captain John Smith, Pocahontas
Tobacco
Massachusetts
Puritans (separatists), 1620
Mayflower Compact
Squanto, Massasoit, Thanksgiving
Massachusetts Bay Company, 1630
John Winthrop, “City on a Hill”
Rhode Island - Roger Williams, 1636
Anne Hutchinson
Maryland - Sir George Calvert; Lord Baltimore, 1633
Carolina - Charlestown, 1670
Pennsylvania - William Penn
Quaker, Purchased land from Indians
Philadelphia, “City of Brotherly Love”
Georgia - James Oglethorpe
Indentured servitude
Slave trade (involuntary immigration)
1619
Why not use Indians?
Slavery in Africa - not plantation slavery, not because of skin color
Middle passage
overseer
Triangle trade: Africa, West Indies, American colonies
Influence of Africa and Afr-Am culture upon colonial cultures
Comparing the Colonies
New England Colonies (MA,RI,CT,NH,ME)
Religious freedom, religious intolerance, variety of crops, trade with West
Indies
Middle Colonies (NY,NJ,PA,DE)
Trade/commerce, functional diversity, variety of crops
Southern Colonies (MD,VA,NC,SC,GA)
Agriculture, large farms, plantation slavery; rich owners, poor whites, black
slaves
Mercantilism
Colonial life and American Identity
Contradiction between slavery and emerging ideals of freedom and liberty
Freedom of the press: John Peter Zenger
Diversity of peoples
Economic opportunity
The Road to Revolution
Historical Foundations
Purpose of government:
The Enlightenment: nature, reason, progress
Scientific Revolution: Newton, Copernicus, Galileo - natural laws
Intellectuals:
John Locke - life, liberty and property; the right to alter/abolish govt.
Rousseau - social contract
Documents/Events:
Magna Carta, 1215; English Bill of Rights; Glorious Revolution, 1688
Great Awakening
religious revival; weakening of Puritan theology, growth of American
identity - Jonathan Edwards, George Whitfield
American colleges
Harvard, 1636; College of William and Mary, 1693; Yale, 1701
Princeton, Columbia, Pennsylvania, Brown, Rutgers.
Publishing and the written word
Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack “A penny saved is a penny
earned.”
newspapers
Rights of English Citizens
salutary neglect
The French and Indian War, 1754-1763
English vs. French and Indians
George Washington
End of French power in America, English debt for supporting war
Treaty of Paris of 1763
Proclamation of 1763
British Troops and Taxes
Stamp Act, 1765
Declaratory Act, 1766
Boston Massacre, 1770 Crispus Attucks
Boston Tea Party, 1773
Lexington and Concord, 1775
Declaration of Independence
Revolutionary Leaders and Groups
Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Samuel Adams
Patrick Henry, “No taxation without representation.”
Thomas Paine, “Common Sense,” 1776
Sons of Liberty, Committees of Correspondence, First Continental Congress
Minutemen, Olive Branch Petition
The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
Thomas Jefferson
“all men are created equal”, “inalienable rights”, “life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness”
Abigail Adams, “Remember the ladies…”
The American Revolution (The War for Independence)
The Revolution as a Civil War
Patriots vs. Tories/Loyalists
Key Events and People
Lexington and Concord, 1775
British commanders Howe and Clinton try to split New York, then
Chesapeake
Saratoga, 1777 - turning point, Horatio Gates
Valley Forge, Pennsylvania; George Washington, Friedrich Von Steuben
Kings Mountain, South Carolina
Mel Gibson
Marquis de Lafayette joins Americans to defeat Cornwallis at Yorktown, VA.
Treaty of Paris, 1783
British Strengths British Weaknesses
American Strengths American Weaknesses
- Support of French
