Lexington and Concord

• The Battles of Lexington and Concord, fought on April 19, 1775, were the first military clashes of the American Revolutionary War.
• The Massachusetts militia routed the British Army forces and were soon joined by militias from Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. These militias would become the core of the Continental Army.

After Parliament had passed the Intolerable Acts —largely aimed at punishing Boston’s revolutionaries for the Boston Tea Party—the British government had tightened its grip on the government of Massachusetts.

Intolerable acts:

British taxation policies, such as the Stamp Act of 1765, had sparked a debate in the North American colonies over the constitutional meaning of representation.

Stamp Act: A method of taxing the North American Colonies to help reimburse London for the costs of the seven year war. All newspapers and documents—including official court documents—in the North American colonies be printed on stamped paper from London. (My definition)

This led radicals like Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and John Hancock argued that because the colonists weren’t represented in Parliament, that legislative body had no right to tax them.

The stationing of British troops in Boston had infuriated townspeople, setting the stage for the Boston Massacre in 1770.

Boston Massacre: In 1770 British soldiers were removing occupants of buildings so they could be stationed there. This led to confrontations. On March 5th soldiers shot into an angry crowd killing five and wounding more. Crispus Attucks, a free sailor of African and Native American descent, thus became the first casualty of the American Revolution. The matter was brought to trial to prevent British retaliation, Lawyer John Adams defended the Redcoats but later said the “foundation of American independence was laid” that fateful day of March 5, 1770.

In 1773 Boston radicals led by the Sons of Liberty boarded British ships filled with thousands of pounds of East India Company tea. They dumped nearly 350 crates into the harbor.

In the spring of 1774, Parliament passed the Coercive Acts, which were aimed solely at Boston and envisioned as punishment for its radical opposition to British policies. The Coercive Acts, which quickly became known in the colonies as the Intolerable Acts, consisted of four separate legislative measures:

1. The Boston Port Bill fined Boston for the tea destroyed in the Boston Tea Party and closed the harbor until the fines were paid.
2. The Government Bill rewrote the Massachusetts colony’s charter granting broadly expanded powers to the royal governor.
3. The Administration of Justice Act authorized the governor to send indicted government officials to other colonies or to London for trial.
4. The Quartering Act, which applied to all of the North American colonies, was designed to provide shelter for the British troops, allowing them to be housed in private buildings.

The American Revolution

After the Seven Years’ War [1754-1763] the British government attempted to increase control over its American colonies. The colonists rebelled against the change in policy, which eventually led to the Revolutionary War.

The Seven Years’ War [1754-1763] struggle between France and Britain for land in the US and more generally for land and power in the world. Fight for global dominance as the world's leading empire.

Salutary neglect The unofficial policy of the British crown where they avoided strict enforcement of parliamentary law in the colonies.

Second Continental Congress (1775) A meeting of representatives from the colonies, who approved the creation of a professional Continental Army to defend the American colonies. They appointed George Washington as the commander in chief of the army.

Olive Branch Petition (1775) Adopted by the Second Continental Congress in 1775, it was a final attempt to avoid war between Great Britain and the Thirteen Colonies. The petition asserted colonial rights, while still maintaining their loyalty to the British crown.

George Washington The first commander in chief of the Continental Army, who led the colonies to victory over the British army.

Lexington and Concord (1775) The first battles of the Revolutionary War, which took place outside of Boston, Massachusetts.

Minutemen Colonial militias which were prepared to fight the British “with a minute’s notice.”

Common Sense A pamphlet published by Thomas Paine in 1775, which advocated for independence from Great Britain.

Declaration of Independence Issued on On July 4, 1776, for the first time asserted the colonies’ intention to be fully independent of the mother country. A list of 27 grievances the colonists had with the British crown that the colonists used as justification to declare independence from Britain. More about explaining rather than declaring, trying to get assistance.

Articles of Confederation (ratified 1781) The first constitution of the United States, which created a weak central government and allowed for strong state governments.

Battle of Yorktown (1781) Revolutionary War battle that ended in decisive victory for American colonial forces. The surrender of British General Cornwallis led the British government to negotiate peace.

Treaty of Paris (1783) Treaty that officially ended the Revolutionary War in 1783.

Aftermath:

New weak government couldn't collect taxes as individual states were too independent, this meant they couldn't pay soldiers that fought during the revolution.

Shay's Rebellion Veterans had returned home injured and found they had no pension and massive debts at home. The governors rejected proposals for tax relief. On January 25, 1787, Shays led a group of nearly 1,200 protesters on a march to the federal armory in Springfield. 4 died and 20 were injured.

General George Washington came out of retirement to promote a strong national government that would be capable of dealing effectively with popular discontent. Shays’s rebellion led Washington and other Nationalists— including Alexander Hamilton and James Madison—to proclaim the Articles of Confederation inadequate and urge support for the Constitution produced by the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

The constitution had 7 articles and would fit on just 4 pages. It created a federal government consisting of 3 separate branches to impose checks and balances on each and prevent abuses of power.

• The executive branch would be headed by a president, who would be elected.
• The legislative branch would be composed of an upper house, the Senate, and a lower house—the House of Representatives. Representation in the House would be based on population—including counting enslaved men and women at the proportion of three to five for the purposes of representation and taxation. Each state would elect two representatives to the Senate.
• The judicial branch would consist of a Supreme Court and lower courts to interpret and apply the law.

To prevent further abuses of power and protect individual rights, the Bill of rights was drawn up.

Bill of rights

• The First Amendment prevents the government from interfering with the freedoms of speech, press, peaceable assembly, and exercise of religion.
• The Second Amendment declares that properly constituted militias are a safeguard of liberty and that the right to bear arms will be protected.
• The Third Amendment restricts the quartering of soldiers in private homes—an extremely contentious issue that had led the colonists to war with Great Britain.
• The Fourth Amendment protects citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures of private property.
• The Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Amendments establish a variety of guarantees relating to legal proceedings and criminal justice, including the right to a trial by jury; protection against self-incrimination and double jeopardy, being tried twice for the same offense; the right to due process; prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment; and the right to face one’s accuser, obtain legal counsel, and be informed of all criminal charges.
• The Ninth Amendment acknowledges that the other eight amendments are not an exhaustive list of all of the rights and protections to which citizens are guaranteed, and
• The Tenth Amendment declares that any powers not explicitly delegated to the federal government in the Constitution are to be left to the states. This reinforced the principle of federalism, or separation of powers.

First President

Virginian and Revolutionary War General George Washington became the United States's first president in 1789

During Washington's presidency, factions began to emerge that would soon form the first two political parties in the United States: the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists.

The American Revolution sparked several other revolutions across the world, including the Haitian Revolution and the French Revolution.

Second President

John Adams was the second president. He had served as Vice President under George Washington. He belonged to a political party, the Federalists. Federalists wanted strong federal government, weak state governments and a loosely interpreted Constitution.

The Alien and Sedition Act

The Alien Act was created to allow the federal government to deport non-citizens who were a threat to national security. Sedition means to write or speak in a way as to get people to rebel against the authority of a government. (This technically violates freedom of speech [the first amendment]).

This act was used to punish dissidents, especially those against the Federalist Party.

C. Knows the major events and developments in United States history from founding to present (e.g., westward expansion, industrialization, Great Depression)

Third President

• Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the United States. He served two terms in office, from 1801 to 1809.
• Jefferson dealt with two major challenges to US authority: piracy along the Barbary Coast of North Africa, and British impressment, which resulted in Jefferson instating a mass embargo of European goods, the Embargo Act of 1807.
• Jefferson authorized the Louisiana Purchase, which effectively doubled the territory of the United States.

Napoleon, whose attention was consumed by war in Europe, began to view the territory as a needless burden. In 1803, he volunteered to sell all 828,000 square miles to the United States for the bargain price of $15 million.

• The War of 1812, which lasted from June 18, 1812 to February 18, 1815, was fought over issues that continued to plague relations between the United States and Britain after the Revolutionary War, like the impressment of American sailors (taking of men into a military or naval force by compulsion) and trade restrictions on American shipping.
• Though many American grievances were resolved during the course of the war, the Treaty of Ghent, which formally ended the War of 1812, involved no significant change in pre-war borders or boundaries.
• In 1823 US president James Monroe said, in his state of union address, that Europe should not interfere in affairs within the United States or in the development of other countries in the Western Hemisphere. He was effectively telling Europe to stay out of America and stop trying to colonize or interfere. This is known as the Monroe Doctrine.
• John Quincy Adams (Son of John Adams) won the 1824 presidential election. Adams’s popularity declined as a result of his lenient approach toward Native Americans.
• Adams’s successor, Andrew Jackson, would go on to implement a policy of Indian removal, which involved relocating eastern tribes to lands west of the Mississippi River.

Manifest Destiny:

Belief that it was the US' right to expand from coast to coast. Built on white racial superiority and American cultural superiority, major debates of the time period.

The Market Revolution / Industrial Revolution

from about 1790 to 1850

Samuel Slater (Slater the traitor) memorized how the textile looms worked and came to Rhode Island to set up a textile mill (it was illegal to export the plans).

Lowell's Mills hired young women to work in textile mills.

Elias Howe makes an improved sewing machine. Further refined by Isaac Singer.

In 1793 Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. If it weren't for the cotton gin, slavery might have died out sooner, but cotton gin kept it profitable and caused an increase in slavery in the south. Cotton farming was too labor intensive before and it wasn't profitable. This invention made it profitable.

The United States imported the railroad technology from England and Germany in the 1800s.

In 1807, inventor Robert Fulton came up with the steamship. Allows cargo barges to move across what otherwise would be really hard to navigate territory and allows people to go against the tide of a river so commerce can go in both directions. Allows people to do business and sell goods further and faster.

Telegraph was invented by Samuel Morse first patented in 1844. Allows people to do business and sell goods further and faster.

Working for wages is less stable than being your own boss, less control over your daily life. Could get fired. Can't set the pace of your own life.

People became more specialized as part of the assembly system. People less able to take pride in their work and led to deskilling of work, giving employees less power.

Irish Immigration

From the 1820s to the 1840s, approximately 90 percent of immigrants to the United States came from Ireland, England, or Germany.

The Irish were by far the largest. In the 1820s, nearly 60,000 Irish immigrated to the United States. In the 1830s, the number grew to 235,000, and in the 1840s—due to a potato famine in Ireland—the number of immigrants skyrocketed to 845,000 .

By the mid-20th century, the Irish had become one of the most successful, prosperous, and well-educated immigrant groups in the country .

Germans were the second largest group of immigrants to the United States after the Irish. They came to the United States seeking political and religious freedom and greater economic opportunities than could be found in Europe. In 1848, when revolutions erupted in the German states of Europe, Germans became the largest immigrant group to the United States. Today, over 50 million Americans have full or partial German ancestry, making German-Americans the largest white ethnic group in the United States.

Jacksonian Democracy

Expansion of democracy allowed all white me to vote - removed the right of women and black property owners to vote.

1824 - corrupt bargain - speaker of the house, Henry Clay, awarded presidency to John Quincy Adams. Adams then gave Clay a position as Secretary of State. Andrew Jackson suggests this is undemocratic and corrupt. Helped Andrew Jackson win the next election in 1828.

Jackson was the first Democrat president. Expanded power of executive branch. Killed the national bank, caused the economic depression called the Panic of 1837. Served two terms.

Panic 1837

Jackson oversaw the Indian Removal Act (1830), which forcibly relocated tens of thousands of Native Americans and had a devastating effect on the Native population. These involuntary relocations became known as the “Trail of Tears.”

Trial of Tears - American Indians were forced out of Georgia even though the Supreme Court ruled in their favor. Jackson disregarded the law.

Whigs - new party, marketed their candidate as having a lowly upbringing who became a war hero (similar to Jackson). It was a lie but they won. Whigs favored an active national government and promoted the “American System” to benefit American commerce: a national bank, a protective tariff, and internal improvements like canals and railroads.

The tariff of 1828 (Tariff of Abominations) raised taxes on imported manufactures so as to reduce foreign competition with American manufacturing. Andrew Jackson’s vice president and a native of South Carolina, proposed the theory of nullification, which declared the tariff unconstitutional and therefore unenforceable. 1833, Andrew Jackson signed the Force Bill. It empowered the federal government to enforce federal laws in the states, sending a signal that that threats of nullification and secession would not be tolerated.

Manifest Destiny

Columnist John O'Sullivan coined the term 'manifest destiny' to describe the belief that God intended for the United States to occupy North America from Atlantic to Pacific.

• Manifest Destiny was the idea that white Americans were divinely ordained to settle the entire continent of North America.
• The ideology of Manifest Destiny inspired a variety of measures designed to remove or destroy the native population.
• US President James K. Polk (1845-1849) is the leader most associated with Manifest Destiny.
• Manifest Destiny inflamed sectional tensions over slavery, which ultimately led to the Civil War.
• Texas was annexed by the United States in 1845 and became the 28th state.
• Until 1836, Texas had been part of Mexico, but in that year a group of settlers from the United States who lived in Mexican Texas declared independence. They called their new country the Republic of Texas, which was an independent country for nine years.
• Politics in the United States fractured over the issue of whether Texas should be admitted as a slave or free state. In the end, Texas was admitted to the United States a slave state.
• The annexation of Texas contributed to the coming of the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). The conflict started, in part, over a disagreement about which river was Mexico’s true northern border: the Nueces or the Rio Grande.
• he Mexican-American War (1846-1848) started, in part, over a border dispute between the two countries. Mexico claimed the Nueces River to be Texas’s southern border, but the United States insisted the border lay further south at the Rio Grande River. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo established The current border between the United States and Mexico in favor of the US.
• The United States also acquired California, New Mexico, and Arizona, as well as parts of Nevada, Utah, Colorado and Wyoming.
• The philosophy of transcendentalism arose in the 1830s in the eastern United States as a reaction to intellectualism. Its adherents yearned for intense spiritual experiences and sought to transcend the purely material world of reason and rationality.
• Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau (Walden, published in 1854) were two of the most famous and influential transcendentalists.
• Some influential transcendentalists, such as Margaret Fuller, were early pioneers of feminism.
• With the invention of the cotton gin, cotton became the cash crop of the Deep South, stimulating increased demand for enslaved people from the Upper South to toil the land.
• As the disparity between plantation owners and poor white people widened in the Deep South, deeply entrenched racism blurred perceived class divides.
• The slave economy of the South had international economic reach since the majority of cotton was sold abroad; it connected the United States to the international marketplace.
• Abolitionism was a social reform effort to abolish slavery in the United States. It started in the mid-eighteenth century and lasted until 1865, when slavery was officially outlawed after the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
• The Compromise of 1850 acted as a temporary truce on the issue of slavery, primarily addressing the status of newly acquired territory after the Mexican-American War.
• Under the Compromise, California was admitted to the Union as a free state; the slave trade was outlawed in Washington, D.C., a strict new Fugitive Slave Act compelled citizens of free states to assist in capturing enslaved people; and the new territories of Utah and New Mexico would permit white residents to decide whether to allow slavery.
• Ultimately, the Compromise did not resolve the issue of slavery’s expansion; instead, the fiery rhetoric surrounding the Compromise further polarized the North and the South.
• The Kansas-Nebraska Act organized two new territories in the land acquired through the Louisiana Purchase, Kansas and Nebraska. The act established that in these territories, the principle of popular sovereignty would apply, meaning that the white residents of each territory would vote on whether to permit slavery when applying for statehood.
• The Act repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which drew the horizontal line of slavery across the West along the 36° 30' parallel, as both Kansas and Nebraska were north of this line. This reopened the question of slavery’s western expansion.
• The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act induced party realignment and violence, furthering the sectional divide that ultimately erupted in the Civil War.
• After the Kansas-Nebraska Act reopened the possibility of slavery extending into new territories, tensions between pro- and anti-slavery advocates erupted into violence.
• Radical abolitionists, like John Brown, attacked and murdered white southerners in protest. A pro-slavery US Senator, Preston Brooks, viciously beat abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner on the floor of the Senate.
• Bleeding Kansas foreshadowed the violence that would ensue over the future of slavery during the Civil War.
• n 1857, the Supreme Court ruled that black people could never be citizens of the United States, in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case.
• The Dred Scott decision further heightened tensions between the North and the South, and became a central issue within Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas’s contest for an Illinois Senate seat.
• Although Douglas ultimately won the Senate race, the Lincoln-Douglas debates put Abraham Lincoln in the national spotlight, leading to his nomination for president in the election of 1860.

American Civil War 1861 until 1865

• The First Battle of Bull Run 1861 - confederate victory
• The Second Battle of Bull Run 1962 - confederate victory
• Battle of Antietam 1862, ended with the Confederates being driven out of Maryland. Lincoln felt comfortable enough with this to issue the Proclamation five days after the battle.
• The Emancipation Proclamation (1862 ) (effective 1963) made a promise: it promised that the United States was committed to ending slavery once and for all. It promised African Americans in the South that under no circumstances would they be returned to slavery if the United States won the war. Finally, it promised the Confederacy that there was no turning back the clock to before the war.
• Lincoln delivered The Gettysburg Address, on November 19th, 1863. " Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal..."
• The 13th Amendment (1865) ended slavery, and slavery’s end meant newfound freedom for African Americans.
• The 14th Amendment Intended to end the black codes, this amendment gave citizenship to former slaves and declared that all states must give all citizens equal protection under the law.
• The 15th Amendment Guaranteed that state and federal governments could not deny the right to vote to any male citizen because of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
• During the period of Reconstruction, some 2000 African Americans held government jobs.
• The black family, the black church, and education were central elements in the lives of post-emancipation African Americans.
• Many African Americans lived in desperate rural poverty across the South in the decades following the Civil War.
• When slavery was abolished at the end of the Civil War, southern states created black codes, laws which aimed to keep white supremacy in place.
• Black codes attempted to economically disable freed slaves, forcing African Americans to continue to work on plantations and to remain subject to racial hierarchy within the southern society.
• Black codes gave rise to a new wave of radical Republicanism in Congress, and the eventual move towards enshrining racial equality into the Constitution. However, black codes also set precedent for Jim Crow laws.
• The Ku Klux Klan was a white supremacist terrorist group that emerged during Reconstruction. It took egregious, violent steps to undermine the Republican party, hoping to maintain black economic instability and ensure white racial and economic superiority in the antebellum South.
• Congress countered the KKK with the Force Acts and the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, which made Klan violence and political intimidation illegal under federal law.
• Republicans lost hold within the South largely due to Klan violence, allowing the South to maintain a ruling racial order that morphed into Jim Crow.
• The Freedmen’s Bureau was established in March of 1865 to help freed people achieve economic stability and secure political freedoms.

CIVIL RIGHTS

Passed by Congress June 4, 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920, the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote.

Jim Crow laws were laws created by white southerners to enforce racial segregation across the South from the 1870s through the 1960s. Under the Jim Crow system, “whites only” and “colored” signs proliferated. In 1896, the Supreme Court declared Jim Crow segregation legal in the Plessy v. Ferguson decision.

The civil rights movement in the United States - A struggle to end legalized discrimination of African Americans.

The Civil Rights Movement is an umbrella term for the many varieties of activism that sought to secure full political, social, and economic rights for African Americans in the period from 1946 to 1968.

In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) a unanimous Supreme Court declared that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for refusing to give up her bus seat so that white passengers could sit in it.

Rosa Parks’s arrest sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, during which the black citizens of Montgomery refused to ride the city’s buses.

Martin Luther King, Jr., a Baptist minister who endorsed nonviolent civil disobedience, emerged as leader of the Boycott.

Following a November 1956 ruling by the Supreme Court that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional, the bus boycott ended successfully.

The March on Washington, which took place on August 28, 1963, was one of the largest civil rights rallies in US history. At the march, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his inspirational “I Have a Dream” speech, which envisioned a world where people were judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the most comprehensive civil rights legislation ever enacted by Congress. It contained extensive measures to dismantle Jim Crow segregation and combat racial discrimination.
• The Voting Rights Act of 1965 removed barriers to black enfranchisement in the South, banning poll taxes, literacy tests, and other measures that effectively prevented African Americans from voting.
• “Black Power” refers to a militant ideology that aimed not at integration and accommodation with white America, but rather preached black self-reliance, self-defense, and racial pride.
• Malcolm X was the most influential thinker of what became known as the Black Power movement.
• The Nation of Islam advocated black self-empowerment and self-reliance, as well as cultural and racial pride. The most famous Black Muslim was undoubtedly the heavyweight boxer Cassius Clay, who changed his name to Muhammad Ali after converting.

D. Knows about twentieth-century developments and transformations in the United States (e.g., assembly line, space age)

Bolshevik Revolution 1917

The events of the Russian Revolution that brought the Soviet Union about had a deep impact on the entire world. It generated a new way of thinking about economy, society and the government. The Bolsheviks set out to cure Russia of all its injustices that arouse from social class differences. Russian monarchy being overthrown. Founded the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR).

Cold War

(1945-1991) The period after the Second World War marked by rivalry and tension between the two nuclear superpowers, the United States and the communist government of the Soviet Union. The Cold War ended when the Soviet government collapsed in 1991.

The Cuban Missile Crisis (1961)

(JFK) An international crisis in October 1962, the closest approach to nuclear war at any time. When the U.S. discovered Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuba, President John F. Kennedy demanded their removal and announced a naval blockade of the island; the Soviet leader Khrushchev acceded to the U.S. demands a week later, on condition that US doesn't invade Cuba.

Assassination of President Kennedy (1963)

Democratic presidential who ran for president in 1961 promoting civil rights and other equality based ideals. In Dallas Texas, shot by Lee Harvey Oswald in the book depository, leaving Nixon to take the presidency but instilling hope in many Americans.

Vietnam War (1964 - 1973)

58,000 Americans would lose their lives in the first TV war. The United States wanted to prevent communism from spreading to South Vietnam. Although America inflicted extremely heavy casualties on the enemy, public opinion turned against the war. More bombs were dropped here than on Germany, Japan, and Korea combined.

Nixon Doctrine

During the Vietnam War, the Nixon Doctrine was created. It stated that the United States would honor its existing defense commitments, but in the future other countries would have to fight their own wars without support of American troops.

E. Understands connections between causes and effects of events

F. Understands the nature, purpose, and forms (e.g., federal, state, local) of government

Federal Government

A form of government in which power is divided between one central and several regional authorities. In the US, only the federal government can coin money, regulate the mail, declare war, or conduct foreign affairs.

State Government

States conduct all elections, even presidential elections, and must ratify constitutional amendments. So long as their laws do not contradict national laws, state governments can prescribe policies on commerce, taxation, healthcare, education, and many other issues within their state.

Both state and federal government

Both the states and the federal government have the power to tax, make and enforce laws, charter banks, and borrow money.

Local Government

Federalism

Political system that organizes government into two or more levels with independent powers; in the United States this consists of local, state, and national governments

mandate

A requirement that states or local governments meet a specific condition in order to receive federal aid

Classical Republic

Limited individuals rights to privacy, belief, expression, opportunities to read, think and earn money. If people had freedom to do such things, they might stop being reliable and fully dedicated to the common good.

Authoritarianism

A political system in which a small group of individuals exercises power over the state without being constitutionally responsible to the public.

Dictatorship

A form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.)

Oligarchy

A form of government in which the power to rule is held by a small, usually self-appointed elite.

Plutocracy

A society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income.

Limited Government

A principle of constitutional government; a government whose powers are defined and limited by a constitution.

Separation of Powers

Constitutional division of powers among the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches, with the Legislative branch making laws, the Executive applying and enforcing the law, and the Judiciary interpreting the law.

Checks and Balances

A system that allows each branch of government to limit the powers of the other branches in order to prevent abuse of power.

Judicial Review

Allows the court to determine the constitutionality of laws.

Feudalism

A political system in which nobles are granted the use of lands that legally belong to their king, in exchange for their loyalty, military service, and protection of the people who live on the land.

Absolute Monarchy

A system of government in which the head of state is a hereditary position and the king or queen has almost complete power.

Autocracy

A system of government in which the power to rule is in the hands of a single individual.

Liberal Democracy

A political system that promotes participation, competition, and liberty and emphasizes individual freedom and civil rights.

Totalitarism

A political system in which the state holds total authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life wherever possible.

G. Knows key documents and speeches in the history of the United States (e.g., United States Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Gettysburg Address)

Declaration of Independence

Drafted in 1776 by Thomas Jefferson declaring America's separation from Great Britain (3 parts-New theory of government, reasons for separation, formal declaration of war and independence).

Articles of Confederation

Adopted in 1777 during the Revolutionary War, the Articles established the United States of America. The Articles granted limited powers to the central government, reserving most powers for the states. The result was a poorly defined national state that couldn't govern the country's finances or maintain stability.

Constitution 1787

Replaced the Articles of Confederation.It was a series of compromises (Great, 3/5, Slave Trade), provided limits on federal power (separation of powers). Was the founding structure of the nation.

Bill of Rights

Although the Anti-Federalists failed to block the ratification of the Constitution, they did ensure that the Bill of Rights would be created to protect individuals from government interference and possible tyranny. The Bill of Rights, drafted by a group led by James Madison, consisted of the first ten amendments to the Constitution, which guaranteed the civil rights of American citizens.

Bill of rights (1789)

• The First Amendment prevents the government from interfering with the freedoms of speech, peaceable assembly, and exercise of religion.
• The Second Amendment declares that properly constituted militias are a safeguard of liberty and that the right to bear arms will be protected.
• The Third Amendment restricts the quartering of soldiers in private homes—an extremely contentious issue that had led the colonists to war with Great Britain.
• The Fourth Amendment protects citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures of private property.
• The Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Amendments establish a variety of guarantees relating to legal proceedings and criminal justice, including the right to a trial by jury; protection against self-incrimination and double jeopardy, being tried twice for the same offense; the right to due process; prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment; and the right to face one’s accuser, obtain legal counsel, and be informed of all criminal charges.
• The Ninth Amendment acknowledges that the other eight amendments are not an exhaustive list of all of the rights and protections to which citizens are guaranteed, and
• The Tenth Amendment declares that any powers not explicitly delegated to the federal government in the Constitution are to be left to the states. This reinforced the principle of federalism, or separation of powers.

87 years later...

• The 13th Amendment (1865) ended slavery, and slavery’s end meant newfound freedom for African Americans.
• The 14th Amendment Intended to end the black codes, this amendment gave citizenship to former slaves and declared that all states must give all citizens equal protection under the law.
• The 15th Amendment Guaranteed that state and federal governments could not deny the right to vote to any male citizen because of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

• The 16th amendment is an important amendment that allows the federal (United States) government to levy (collect) an income tax from all Americans.
• the 17th Amendment gives voters the power to directly elect their senators.
• 18th Amendment Prohibited the manufacture, sale, and distribution of alcoholic beverages.

• 19th Amendment (1920) Granted women the right to vote.

Treaty of Ghent

Signed on December 24, 1814 in the city of Ghent, was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain.

Federalist Papers

A collection of 85 articles written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison under the name "Publius" to defend the Constitution in detail.

H. Knows the rights and responsibilities of citizenship in a democracy

responsibilities of citizens in democracy

use your right to vote

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