HST 121: History of the United States to 1877

Review for the 1st Exam

The 1st Exam will be available on Blackboard. You need to enroll on Blackboard for F. T. Miller, HST 121-8. Make sure you have enrolled in the right class. Do not enroll in HST 121-899. That is an online course.

You can take the exam on the internet at the time of class next Thursday, February 21. However, the 1st Exam will be available on the Blackboard course site from 5:00 PM Wednesday February 20 to 10:00 AM Friday February 22. You can take it anytime within that window.

On the Blackboard course site, go to Course Documents, then Exams, then 1st Exam

The exam will be all multiple choice. There will be 75 questions. You will have one hour and twenty minutes to take the exam. (The class is one hour and fifteen minutes long and if students need it I always give them five minutes to finish up an exam.)

Comparison of the Regions/The Early Colonial Regions Chart


About a dozen of the questions will be the following type.

The question will describe a colonial region. The 4 choices will be New England, Middle Colonies, Upper South, and Lower South.

Sample questions:

Tobacco was the main export product in which colonial region?

New England
Middle Colonies
Upper South
Lower South

Divorce began in which colonial region?

New England
Middle Colonies
Upper South
Lower South

To study for this part of the exam, study the Early Colonial Regions chart and the lecture notes given in conjunction with the Early Colonial Regions chart.

Some Things in Common

About 3 questions will be the following type.

The question will be about something that was or was not found in all of the colonial regions.

Sample Question:
 

Which was produced in all of the colonial regions?

Sugar
Eggs and milk
Tobacco
Rice

To study for this part of the exam, use the Some Things in Common list.

Terms

About 8-10 questions will be on individuals on the Terms list: John Rolfe, Roger Williams, William Penn, John Locke, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, Adam Smith, Patrick Henry, John Dickinson, and Samuel Adams

A description will be given for a person and four names will be given to choose from.

Sample Questions:

Who is generally recognized as the one who started the Great Awakening?

Roger Williams
William Penn
Jonathan Edwards
George Whitefield

Who is generally recognized as the founder of economics and capitalism?

Isaac Newton
John Locke
Adam Smith
John Dickinson

There will be a question each on the correct definition of Indentured Servant, Established Church, Common Law, Dower, Natural Rights, Mercantilism, and Capitalism

Sample Questions:

The Common Law was

A uniform law common to all of the English Empire
The law code used throughout the English empire
A customary unwritten law that differed among the colonies in the English empire
An unofficial law commonly used among squatters

Which of the following describes Capitalism?

Heavy involvement of the government in the economy
Use of tariffs
Provides economic protection for colonies
Competition in the market place 

There will also be at least one question on the trials, on the Trial of Anne Hutchinson and the Salem Witch Trials

Sample Question:

Which is not descriptive of both the Trial of Anne Hutchinson and the Salem Witch Trials?

Women heretics were burned at the stake
The trials mixed law and religion
They were official government trials
They showed the emphasis in New England on consensus and conformity

There will also be at least two questions on government acts such as the Navigation Acts, Proclamation Line,
Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Townshend Duties

Sample Question:

Act to collect a revenue from duties on foreign sugar and molasses to pay for troops fighting Indians to protect colonists

Proclamation Line
Sugar Act
Stamp Act
Townshend Duties

To study for this part of the exam, here is information about each of the Terms:

John Rolfe
When: Early Colonial
Where: Virginia
What: Agricultural experimenter, took West Indies tobacco and successfully grew it in Virginia; worked for good relations with Indians, married Pocahontas
Significance: Gave Virginia a major export crop, making Virginia an economic success; and this encouraged England to continue colonization.

Roger Williams
When: Early Colonial
Where: Rhode Island
What and Significance: Founder of Rhode Island; Separatist, an advocate of religious toleration and the separation of church and state; believed that the colonists and Indians could live together peacefully

Trial of Anne Hutchinson
When: Early Colonial
Where: Massachusetts
Who:
Anne Hutchinson. After the trial, she with her husband, children, and many of her supporters moved to Rhode Island where they were welcomed by Roger Williams and the Separatists.
What: Anne Hutchinson
was tried and found guilty for having "troubled the peace of the commonwealth and the churches here" and was banished "as being a woman not fit for our society."
Significance: the trial shows the connection of church and state or religion and the law in Puritan New England, it shows the emphasis on conformity, and also shows the Puritans' restricted role for women.

William Penn
When: Early Colonial
Where: Pennsylvania
What and Significance: Founder of Pennsylvania; Quaker, an advocate of religious toleration and the separation of church and state; believed that the colonists and Indians could live together peacefully; hired agents to go through Europe to interest people to come to Pennsylvania--many Germans responded

Navigation Acts
Who: Passed by Parliament
When: Early Colonial
Where: English empire
What: Acts to regulate trade, to keep Dutch traders out of the English empire, that English colonial goods could be carried only on English and English colonial ships
Significance: Built up English and English colonial ship building and shipping--very important for New England and the Middle Colonies

Salem Witch Trials
Who: initial accused were mostly single women, living alone
When: Early Colonial
Where: Salem, Mass. area and Mass.
What: Government trials of mostly women accused of being witches, accepting religious-oriented evidence as sufficient, punishment including confiscation of property and execution
Significance: Shows the potential negative results of mixing law and religion, and of a consensus-oriented conformist society; important aspect being the witch hunt including the government prosecution not pressing for execution if the accused confessed and accused others (Or, another way of going at the significance, it shows the separation between the rural inland, Puritan disciplined subsistence and semi-subsistence farmers and the more prosperous and commerce oriented people living in the bustling seaports.)

John Locke
When: Late Colonial and Enlightenment
Where: England
What: Enlightenment political writer, advocate of natural rights, that there is a contract between citizens and the government, that a government is, by natural law, supposed to uphold the rights of the citizens, particularly the rights to life, liberty, and property, and, when it fails to uphold these rights, the people have a right to revolt
Significance (for America): Used by Thomas Jefferson and the Continental Congress in the Declaration of Independence

Jonathan Edwards
When: Late Colonial and Enlightenment
Where: Mass., New England
What: Congregational minister; wrote and published sermons; held revivals
Significance: Beginning the Great Awakening and the "Fire and Brimstone" sermons

George Whitefield
When: Late Colonial and Enlightenment
Where: Throughout the empire and the colonies, from coastal towns to the backcountry
What: Evangelist, held revivals, great speaker
Significance: America's first mass evangelist. Spread the Great Awakening to many parts of the colonies

Adam Smith
When: Late Colonial and Enlightenment
Where: Scotland
What: Enlightenment economist and political scientist; opponent of mercantilism; seeing politics and economics in terms of interests, that the best government and economic system would see to the best interests and wealth of the most people
Significance: a founder of Capitalism and economics as a science; his ideas would be very influential on Americans during the Founding and Early Republic

Indentured Servant
Kind of labor, involves a master-servant relationship in America as follows: servant supplies labor; master provides passage over to America, food, housing, clothes, and teaches a skill; to last about 4-5 years, then servant is free; a contract, terms are on indentured paper
Significance for America: how most English men and women came to the American colonies

Established Church
The establishment of a church, its cost of the maintenance of buildings, salary of clergy, expense for what the church does (such as schools and hospitals), is mainly paid for by the government.
Significance for America: the rule in colonial America, the rule and practice in Mass., Conn., and N.H. where the established church was the Congregational Church (Or, another way of getting at the significance: This was opposed by people who advocated the separation of church and state, such as Roger Williams and the Separatists, William Penn and Quakers, and by many who were part of the Great Awakening)

Common Law
Law of England brought over to the colonies; customary unwritten law; principles and procedures worked out in the courts, such as due process, legal rights such as property rights, and the right to a trial by jury
Significance for America: the law in the colonies, differed between colonies and colonial regions; important protection for colonists--examples such as dower and the upholding of indentured servant contracts

Dower
A part of English law; a security for widows; the idea being that a third of the property from a marriage would be held by a widow for her lifetime; brought to America
Significance for America: this was a real security and property right in the Upper and Lower South, and N.Y.; preferred by widows over a half or full inheritance; property that could not be legally moved against for her lifetime

Natural Rights
Natural law theory, advocated by John Locke; that, by nature, all citizens have rights, the three most important being the right to life, liberty, and property; that a government in accord with natural law will uphold these rights; that people have a right to revolt if a government fails to uphold these rights
Significance for America: an argument used during the American Revolution against British policies, included by Thomas Jefferson and the Continental Congress in the Declaration of Independence

Mercantilism & Capitalism
Similarities:
Economic systems or models 
Both use private property, not government ownership of companies
Both work in a market, but, in mercantilism and unlike capitalism, the government tries--to what extent it can--to manipulate and regulate the market when it thinks to do so would benefit the country's economy
Differences:
Mercantilism
Economic practice where a government is heavily involved in the economy trying to develop it; supports monopolies; protects national interests in terms of world trade, trade wars; examples are tariffs and the Navigation Acts
Significance for America: the dominant economics of the 17th-18th centuries, important in motivating England to set up colonies and in economically protecting and developing the colonies
Capitalism
Economic theory developed by Adam Smith; for little government intervention in the economy; calls for competition in the market place; opposed to tariffs, for free trade in the world; sees free trade and competition benefiting all people and all nations
Significance for America: influential on America during the Founding and Early Republic, becomes part of U. S. government economic policy, becomes popular in America in terms of ideology, political rhetoric, and how Americans like to view themselves

Treaty of 1763
Who: Britain, France, and Spain
What: ended the 7 Year's War; awarded territory to reflect Britain's victory and France's defeat
Where: Britain got all land east of the Mississippi River including Florida; Spain got all land west of the Mississippi River; and France was off the North American continent
Significance: Britain now had a vast empire to regulate, including policing hostile Indians with troops, and had to pay for the troops, problems that would lead to policy changes that would cause problems with colonists

Pontiac
When: 1763-1776
Where: Detroit area and frontier
What: Ottawa chief, led Indians against Ft. Detroit; leader in a Indian military resistance to the British movement west, refusing to accept the terms of the Treaty of 1763; Indian resistance included attacks on the frontier against colonists
Significance: Britain responded with troops, to be posted on a long-term basis, which cost money causing a need for new revenue which resulted in policy changes that caused problems with colonists

Proclamation Line
When: 1763-76
Who: British government 
Where: line at the continental divide of the Appalachian Mountains
What and significance: government regulation; colonists are not to go west of the line; in response to Indians fighting colonists on the frontier; to slow colonists from moving into Indian area to lessen the friction between Indians and colonists to lessen the need for troops to police the area; compromised the value of land owned west of the line for colonists who hoped to sell or lease the land to new settlers 

Sugar Act
Who: Act of Parliament
When: 1763-76
Where: British empire
What: acts to regulate trade and gain a revenue: 1) extends Navigation Acts vs. French prohibiting foreign rum, to help British (mostly colonial) rum production, 2) duties on foreign sugar & molasses to pay for British troops fighting Indians.
Significance: results in colonial smuggling

Stamp Act
Who: Act of Parliament
When: 1763-76
Where: a tax in colonies
What: revenue measure: a tax in colonies on most paper products and legal paper, to pay for British troops fighting Indians; unprecedented direct, internal tax in colonies.
Significance: opposed by colonists as unconstitutional; note Henry or Stamp Act Congress; note protest through non-importation (boycotts) or Sons of Liberty dumping the stamps into the sea; act repealed

Samuel Adams
When: 1763-76, 1776-89
Where: Boston, Mass. and Continental Congress in Philadelphia
What: A leader of the radical Patriots in Mass. and in Congress; later an Anti-Federalist
What and significance: main founder and leader of the Sons of Liberty, an organization of men along the waterfront; connected to smuggling activity; anti-British terrorists; he led them in dumping the Stamp Act stamps into the sea and dumping the Tea Act tea into the sea, the "tea parties;" later opposed the ratification of the Constitution without a bill of rights

Sons of Liberty
When: 1763-76
Where: HQ in Boston, Mass., chapters in most other North American port towns
Who: Founded and led by Samuel Adams
Also known as the "Liberty Boys"
What and significance: an organization of men along the waterfront; connected to smuggling activity; anti-British, terrorists; dumped the Stamp Act stamps into the sea and dumped the Tea Act tea into the sea, the "tea parties"

Patrick Henry
When: 1763-76, 1776-89
Where: Virginia
What: great speaker, "Orator of the Revolution," a leader of the radical Patriots in Virginia; later an Anti-Federalist
What and significance: author of resolutions against the Stamp Act; in his "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech, called for all colonies to be ready to fight a war for liberty; later opposed the ratification of the Constitution believing it would be a threat to rights and liberty 

Townshend Duties
Who: Act of Parliament
When: 1763-76
Where: duties on items entering the colonies
What: duties on paper and glass products, paint colors, lead, and tea from England entering the colonies; to pay for British troops fighting Indians
What and significance: opposed in John Dickinson's Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania; opposition through non-importation (boycotts) of British goods; all repealed except duty on tea


Readings

There will be a question on each of the readings we referred to in the class lectures: Roger Williams, A Plea for Religious Liberty, Trial of Anne Hutchinson, Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, James Alexander, A Brief Narrative of the Case and Trial of John Peter Zenger, and Dickinson, "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania"  

Sample question:

Which best describes Dickinson’s Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania?

Farmer’s almanac or “how to” book
A Quaker farmer advocating the end of slavery
Opposition to the Townshend Duties calling for a boycott on English goods
A call for colonists to rise up and declare independence from England

To study for this part of the exam, look over the five readings documents and the notes you took when we talked about them in class.

Lectures/Outlines

Most of the questions will be of this type.

The question will ask about information provided in the lecture notes connected to the three outlines: Origins of the Colonies, Great Awakening, and Enlightenment

Sample questions:

Which best describes what England gained from colonization in North America?
 

Gold and silver
English companies exploiting cheap colonial labor
Indian slaves
Market for English finished goods

Which best describes the kind of worship in the Great Awakening?

Long boring church services and sermons
Highly ceremonial and formal style of worship
Rural families reading the Bible together in their homes
Revivals with emphasis on personal conversions and becoming born again

Which was not part of the Enlightenment’s new curriculum?

Greek and Latin
History
Math and science
Medicine

To study for this part of the exam, use the outlines for Origins of the Colonies, Great Awakening, and Enlightenment, and the notes you took when we went over those outlines.


Please email me if you have any questions about the review and the first exam.