American History 100 Facts



Social Studies STAAR Study Guide 2013-2014- Revised Edition

Important dates

1. Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement, was founded in 1607.

2. Arrival of the Pilgrims and signing of the Mayflower Compact in 1620.

3. The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776.

4. The Constitution of the United States was written in 1787.

5. President Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803.

6. The Civil War was fought from 1861-1865.

Important Places and Events

7. The first shots of the American Revolution were fired at Lexington, Massachusetts in April 1775.

8. Concord, Massachusetts was the site of the first battle of the American Revolution.

9. Bacon’s Rebellion is the earliest rebellion of colonists against English colonial control.

10. Valley Forge located in eastern Pennsylvania that served as quarters for the American army in one winter (1777–1778) of the Revolutionary War. George Washington, who was commanding the army, had been forced to leave Philadelphia, and his troops suffered from the cold and from lack of supplies. Though many deserted, Washington managed to maintain the morale of the rest. He was aided by Baron von Steuben, a German officer on his staff, who trained the men in the soldiering practices of Europe.

11. The Battle of Saratoga was the turning point of the American Revolution.

12. The British defeat at Yorktown, Virginia by George Washington’s troops signaled the end of the American Revolution.

13. Whiskey Rebellion allows the National government to prove that it has the power to enforce the law.

14. War of 1812 was between Britain and the United States, fought between 1812 and 1815. It has also been called the second American war for independence. It began over British violations of American shipping rights, such as the impressments of seamen. American soldiers attacked Canada unsuccessfully in the war, and the British retaliated by burning the White House and other buildings in Washington, D.C. The greatest victory for the Americans came in the Battle of New Orleans, in which Andrew Jackson was the commanding general — a battle fought, ironically, two weeks after the peace treaty ending the war had been signed, but before the armies could be informed.

15. U.S. – Mexican War 1846-1848) between the United States and Mexico, resulting in the cession by Mexico of lands now constituting all or most of the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado.

16. The first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter, in South Carolina.

17. The Battle of Antietam was the bloodiest day in Civil War and first battle in Union territory.

18. The Battle of Gettysburg was the turning point in the Civil War for the North. Confederate troops were forced to retreat and never invaded the North again.

19. The capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi by the North in 1863 effectively split the Confederacy in two and gave control of the Mississippi River to the Union.

20. Appomattox Court House is the small town in Virginia where Robert E. Lee surrendered the Confederate Army to Ulysses S. Grant ending the Civil War.

Important Vocabulary

21. Mercantilism is an economic theory that a country’s strength is measured by the amount of gold it has, that a country should sell more than it buys and that the colonies exist for the benefit of the Mother Country.

22. An abolitionist was a person who wanted to end slavery in the United States.

23. A tariff is a tax on goods brought into a country.

24. A protective tariff is a tax placed on goods from another country to protect the home industry.

25. Sectionalism is a strong sense of loyalty to a state or section instead of to the whole country.

26. Manifest Destiny is the belief that the United States should own all of the land between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

27. The Temperance Movement was a campaign against the sale or drinking of alcohol.

28. The Great Awakening was a series of religious revivals in the early 1700s in colonial America.

29. The Second Great Awakening, it was one of the most significant occurrences in the history of American religion. Countless people were converted and many churches were changed and revived. Not only affecting religion, the movement influenced many other aspects such as prison reform, the women's rights movement, abolishment of slavery, advancements in literature, and reform in education. Women's roles in the church were greatly affected and they deeply encouraged the religious revival, setting up many organizations and charities.

30. Representative Government is a system of government in which voters elect representatives to make laws for them.

31. A Republic is a nation in which voters choose representatives to govern them.

32. The House of Burgesses was the first representative assembly in the new world.

33. The Three Branches of Government are the Legislative Branch, the Judicial Branch, and the Executive branch.

34. Citizenship the character of an individual viewed as a member of society; behavior in terms of the duties, obligations, and functions

35. Electoral College is a group of voters chosen by each state to elect the President and Vice President.

36. Checks and Balances is a system set up by the Constitution in which each branch of the federal government has the power to check, or control, the actions of the other branches.

37. Free Enterprise is the freedom of private businesses to operate competitively for profit with minimal government regulation.

38. Federalism is the sharing of power between the states and the national government.

39. Separation of Powers is a system in which each branch of government has its own powers.

40. Popular Sovereignty is the practice of allowing each territory to decide for itself whether or not to allow slavery.

41. Limited Government is a system in which everyone, even elected officials must obey the laws.

42. Amend means to change.

43. Unalienable rights are rights that cannot be given up, taken away or transferred. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are some of those rights.

44. Tyranny is a cruel and unjust government.

45. A Democracy is a form of government that is run for and by the people, giving people the supreme power.

46. Ratify means to approve by vote.

47. Judicial Review is the rights of the Supreme Court to judge laws passed by Congress and determine whether they are constitutional or not.

48. Civil Disobedience is the refusal to obey a government law or laws as a means of passive resistance because of one’s moral conviction or belief.

49. Federalists were supporters of the Constitution who favored a strong national government.

50. Anti-federalists were people opposed to the Constitution, preferring more power be given to the state governments than to the national government.

51. Primary Sources are the original records of an event. They include eyewitness reports, records created at the time of an event, speeches, and letters by people involved in the event, photographs and artifacts.

52. Secondary Sources are the later writings and interpretations of historians and writers. Often secondary sources, like textbooks and articles, provide summaries of information found in primary sources.

53. Republicanism was an attitude toward society in the late 1700s based on the belief that the good virtue and morality of the people was essential to sustain the republican form of government.

54. Nullification Crisis was a Constitutional struggle between some states and President Andrew Jackson. The states didn't want to pay the protective tariff that Jackson wanted, and the states claimed the right to "nullify," or declare void the tariff. This would have meant that the states didn't have to pay the tariff.

55. Industrial Revolution was the era in which a change from household industries to factory production using powered machinery took place.

56. State’s Rights is the idea that the power of the states should not be trampled on by the national government.

57. American System plan to make the US economically self sufficient.

58. Gadsden Purchase gave the US more land that had been northern Mexico and completed the acquisition of land that makes up the present day borders of the US

59. Hudson River School A group of American landscape painters active from about 1825 to 1875 whose works, influenced by European Romanticism, depict the beauty and grandeur of areas such as the Hudson River Valley, the Catskill Mountains, and Niagara Falls

60. Transcontinental Railroad is a continuous rail line connecting a location on the U.S. Pacific coast with one or more of the railroads of the nation's eastern trunk line rail systems operating between the Missouri or Mississippi Rivers and the U.S. Atlantic coast.

Important Documents and Policies

61. The Magna Carta, signed in 1215 by King John, was the first document that limited power of the ruler.

62. The English Bill of Rights protected the rights of English citizens and became the basis for the American Bill of Rights.

63. The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut was a Puritan plan of government adopted in 1639 and was the first constitution in North America drafted by Thomas Hooker

64. The Declaration of Independence was a document written by Thomas Jefferson, declaring the colonies independence from England.

65. The Articles of Confederation was the first American constitution. It was a very weak document that limited the power of the Congress by giving states the final authority over all decisions.

66. The Constitution of the United States sets out the laws and principles of the government of the United States.

67. George Washington’s Farewell Address advised the United States to stay “neutral in its relations with other nations” and to avoid “entangling alliances”.

68. The Monroe Doctrine was a foreign policy statement by President James Monroe stating that 1) the U.S. would not interfere in European affairs, and 2) that the western hemisphere was closed to colonization and/ or interference by European nations.

69. The Treaty of Paris of 1763 ended the French and Indian War and effectively kicked the French out of North America.

70. The Treaty of Paris of 1783 ended the American Revolution and forced Britain to recognize the United States as an independent nation.

71. The Northwest Ordinance established a government for the Northwest Territory and describes rules that a territory would follow in order to become a state.

72. The Mayflower Compact was the agreement signed in 1620 by the Pilgrims in Plymouth, to consult each other about laws for the colony and a promise to work together to make it succeed.

73. The Federalist Papers were a series of essays written by James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton, defending the Constitution and the principles on which the government of the United States was founded.

74. Common Sense was a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine to convince colonists that it was time to become independent from Britain.

75. Declaration of Independence the public act by which the Second Continental Congress, on July 4, 1776, declared the Colonies to be free and independent of England.

76. U.S. Constitution the document written at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 and subsequently ratified by the original thirteen states that established the set up our government and laws.

77. The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments to the Constitution and detail the protection of individual liberties.

78. Missouri Compromise preserved the balance between free and slave states.

79. The Gettysburg Address was a short speech given by Abraham Lincoln to dedicate a cemetery for soldiers who died at the Battle of Gettysburg. It is considered to be a profound statement of American ideals.

80. Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, setting all slaves in the Confederate states free.

81. Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address was written in a spirit of reconciliation toward the seceded states, Lincoln's inaugural address touched on several topics: first, his pledge to "hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the government” second, his argument that the Union was undissolvable, and thus that secession was impossible; and third, a promise that while he would never be the first to attack, any use of arms against the United States would be regarded as rebellion, and met with force. Lincoln denounced secession as anarchy, and explained that majority rule had to be balanced by constitutional restraints in the American system of republicanism. Desperately wishing to avoid this terrible conflict, Lincoln closed the address with an impassioned plea.

82. Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address was meant to help heal and restore the country after four years of Civil War.

83. Jefferson Davis Inaugural Address he argued that separation from the Union was a "necessity, not a choice." The Southerners were not given the "inalienable rights" promised to all American people and sought to fix that, just as the colonists had before them. His "most earnest desire" was for a peaceful succession. He believed that independence must be pursued, but "appeal to arms" must be the last solution. He wanted "little rivalry", which would call for "good-will and kind offices on both parts." He knew that the Confederacy, an agricultural society, needed the Union, a manufacturing society, to succeed, and vice versa.

84. The Great Compromise created two houses of Congress. One based on population, the other gave equal representation to each state.

85. The Three fifths Compromise an agreement reached at the constitutional convention that allowed slaves to be counted as 3/5 of a white person for population purposes.

86. Alien and Sedition Acts placed restrictions on the immigrants in the country and restricted the freedom of speech and the press.

87. Adams Onis Treaty Spain gave Florida to the US for $5 million.

88. Indian Removal Act required the Indians east of the Mississippi River to be moved to new lands in the west.

89. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the war with Mexico and the US acquired the Mexican Cession.

90. Emancipation Proclamation was the executive order given by Lincoln that freed slaves in the Confederacy.

91. Radical Reconstruction was a strict plan formed by the Radical Republicans. They wanted to have a very strict plan for reconstruction in the south.

92. Civil Rights Act of 1866 declared that everyone born in the US was a citizen and entitled to equal rights regardless of race.

93. Reconstruction Acts imposed military control over southern states and stated that they had to ratify the 14th amendment and allow all former slaves to vote.

94. Wealth of Nations a book written by Adam Smith discussing government and democracy.

95. Tariff of Abominations was the name given to the Tariff of 1828 by outraged southerners who felt the tax on imports was excessive and unfairly targeted their region of the country.

96. Kansas Nebraska Act allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. The Act served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30´. The Act infuriated many in the North and the pro-slavery South it was strongly supported.

97. Homestead Act a special act of Congress (1862) that made public lands in the West available to settlers without payment, usually in lots of 160 acres, to be used as farms.

98. Dawes Act allowed for the President to break up reservation land, which was held in common by the members of a tribe, into small allotments to be parceled out to individuals. Thus, Native Americans registering on a tribal "roll" were granted allotments of reservation land.

99. Morrill Act this act made it possible for new western states to establish colleges for their citizens. The new land-grant institutions, which emphasized agriculture and mechanic arts, opened opportunities to thousands of farmers and working people previously excluded from higher education

Important People

100. Anne Hutchinson was banished from the Massachusetts colony she become the first Puritan woman minister and co-founder of Rhode Island.

101. William Penn Quaker leader and founder of Pennsylvania.

102. Samuel Adams was a member of the Sons of Liberty who started the Committee of Correspondence to stir public support for American independence.

103. Benjamin Franklin was an inventor, statesman, diplomat, signer of the Declaration of Independence and delegate to Constitutional Convention, Albany Plan of Union.

104. King George III was the King of England who disbanded the colonial legislatures, taxed the colonies, and refused the Olive Branch Petition leading to the final break with the colonies.

105. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence; became the 3rd President of the United States and purchased the Louisiana territory, doubling the size of the United States.

106. Thomas Paine wrote pamphlets like Common Sense and The Crisis to encourage American independence and resolve.

107. George Washington was the leader of the Continental Army who became the first President of the United States.

108. Mercy Otis Warren wrote plays with anti-British sentiment.

109. Crispus Attucks African American killed at the Boston Massacre

110. George Mason insisted on the protection of individual rights in the Constitution leading to the creation of the Bill of Rights.

111. Bernardo de Galvez sealed off the port of New Orleans so that British ships could not utilize the Mississippi River and sent supplies to aid the Patriots.

112. Haym Saloman a Jewish banker who loaned money to the American Revolution without being repaid.

113. Marquis de Lafayette a French nobleman who aided Washington during the Revolutionary war.

114. Andrew Jackson was the leader of the original Democratic Party and a “President of the people”. He was also responsible for the Trail of Tears, which forced Native Americans west of the Mississippi River.

115. John Paul Jones led the Continental Navy during the American Revolution.

116. Charles de Montesquieu was one of the great political philosophers of the Enlightenment his theory of the separation of powers had an enormous impact on liberal political theory, and on the framers of the constitution of the United States of America.

117. William Blackstone published Commentaries on the Laws of England, a work that would dominate the common law legal system. His words would shape the Declaration of Independence and Constitution.

118. Henry Thoreau displayed civil disobedience by not paying taxes. Transcendentalist.

119. James Armistead an African American who spied on the British during the American Revolution.

120. John C. Calhoun was a South Carolina Congressman and Senator who spoke for the South before and during the Civil War.

121. Henry Clay was a powerful Kentucky Congressman and Senator who proposed the American System and the Compromise of 1850.

122. Daniel Webster was a lawyer who won major constitutional cases before the Supreme Court such as, Gibbons v. Ogden and McCulloch v. Maryland. Elected to the House of Representatives due to his opposition to the War of 1812.

123. Jefferson Davis was the President of the Confederacy during the Civil War.

124. Ulysses S. Grant was the General of the Union Army and was responsible for winning the Civil War for the North.

125. Robert E. Lee was the General of the Confederate Army.

126. Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States who successfully put the Union back together only to be assassinated 5 days after the Civil War ended.

127. Alexander Hamilton was a leader of the Federalists, first Treasurer of the United States, creator of the Bank of the U.S., and killed in a duel by the Vice President of the United States, Aaron Burr.

128. Patrick Henry was a passionate patriot who became famous for his fiery speeches in favor of American independence. His most famous quote included the words, “Give me liberty or give me death!”

129. James Madison is considered to be the “Father of the Constitution”.

130. Frederick Douglass was a former slave who became the best-known black abolitionist in the country. Owner of the publication, The North Star

131. Sojourner Truth was a former slave, abolitionist, first black women to speak out for women’s rights. “Ain’t I a woman!”

132. James Monroe was the author of the Monroe Doctrine, which shut down the western hemisphere to European expansion or interference.

133. Harriet Tubman was an escaped slave who became a Conductor on the Underground Railroad and helped over 300 slaves to freedom in the North.

134. Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the Seneca Falls Convention creating the Women’s Rights Movement in the United States.

135. John Audubon notable for his expansive studies to document all types of American birds and for his detailed illustrations that depicted the birds in their natural habitats.

136. Phillip Bazaar was on board the U.S.S. Santiago de Cuba during the assault on Fort Fisher on 15 January 1865. Ordinary Seaman Bazaar bravely entered the fort in the assault and accompanied his party in carrying dispatches at the height of the battle. He was 1 of 6 men who entered the fort in the assault from the fleet.

137. William Carney was an African American soldier during the American Civil War who received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Fort Wagner.

138. Edgar Alan Poe a famous writer of short stories and poems-the father of the American detective novel.

139. John Marshall was the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court who handed down the decision of Marbury v. Madison.

140. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was the most popular American poet of the 19th century with works like Song of Hiawatha and Paul Revere’s Ride.

141. John Hancock an American revolutionary patriot who was president of the Continental Congress; was the first signer of the Declaration of Independence (1737-1793)

142. John Adams a political leader of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries; one of the Founding Fathers. Adams was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was the second president, from 1797 to 1801, after George Washington. Washington and Adams were the only presidents from the Federalist Party. Adams's presidency was marked by diplomatic challenges, in which he avoided war with France. The Alien and Sedition Acts were passed while he was president.

143. Abigail Adams was the wife to President John Adams and mother to John Quincy Adams. She is known for giving advice regarding women’s rights….Remember the Ladies

144. John Quincy Adams was Secretary of State under Monroe and assisted in writing the Monroe Doctrine and negotiated with Great Britain after the War of 1812, he was essential in the signing of the Treaty of Ghent. Adams’ victory in the Election of 1824 was known as the 'Corrupt Bargain'.

145. Paul Revere an American silversmith remembered for his midnight ride (celebrated in a poem by Longfellow) to warn the colonists in Lexington and Concord that British troops were coming.

146. John Locke a seventeenth-century English philosopher. Locke argued against the belief that human beings are born with certain ideas already in their minds. They are life, liberty and property. In his political writings, Locke attacked the doctrine of the divine right of kings and argued that governments depend on the consent of the governed.

147. Wentworth Cheswell was an African-American teacher, American Revolutionary War veteran, assessor, auditor, selectman and Justice of the Peace in Newmarket, New Hampshire. He was of mixed race, one-quarter African and three-quarters European, and listed in the census as white. Elected as town constable in 1768, he was elected to other positions, serving in local government every year but one until his death.

148. William Lloyd Garrison was the publisher of the anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator and founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society, was one of the most fiery and outspoken abolitionists of the Civil War period.

149. Dorothea Dix a social reformer who pioneered in the reform of prisons and in the treatment of the mentally ill; superintended women army nurses during the American Civil War

150. Hiram Rhodes Revel was a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), and a politician. He was the first person of color to serve in the United States Senate, and in the U.S. Congress overall. He represented Mississippi in 1870 and 1871 during Reconstruction.

151. Clara Barton was a

pioneer nurse who founded the American Red Cross.

152. Stephen Douglas the sponsor of the Kansas-Nebraska Act as well as the most vocal supporter of popular sovereignty and ran against Lincoln to become Senator of Illinois.

153. Thomas Stonewall Jackson was a general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War whose troops at the first Battle of Bull Run stood like a stone wall (1824-1863).

154. Julia Ward Howe writer of uplifting “Battle Hymn of the Republic” that was sung by Union troops during the Civil War.

Amendments to the Constitution

155. The First Amendment states that “Congress shall make no law” restricting freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition.

156. The Second Amendment guarantees the right of states to organize militias, or armies, and the right of individuals to bear arms.

157. The Third Amendment forbids the government to order private citizens to allow soldiers to live in their homes.

158. The Fourth Amendment requires that warrants be issued if property is to be searched or seized (taken) by the government.

159. The Fifth Amendment protects an accused person from having to testify against him or herself (self-incrimination); bans double jeopardy, and guarantees that no person will suffer the loss of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

160. The Sixth Amendment guarantees the right to a speedy public trial by an impartial jury; the right to a lawyer; the right to cross examine witnesses; and the right to force witnesses at a trial to testify.

161. The Seventh Amendment guarantees the right to a jury trial in civil suits.

162. The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment and excessive bail or fines.

163. The Ninth Amendment states that the people have rights other than those specifically mentioned in the Constitution.

164. The Tenth Amendment states that powers not given to the federal government belong to the states.

165. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery.

166. The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees citizenship and rights to all people born or naturalized in the United States.

167. The Fifteenth Amendment guarantees the right to vote to all citizens regardless of race.

Supreme Court Cases

168. Marbury v. Madison was the 1803 Court decision that gave the Supreme Court the right to determine whether a law violates the Constitution. It set up the principle of judicial review.

169. Dred Scott v. Sanford was the Supreme Court decision that said slaves were property and not citizens.

170. Gibbons v. Ogden a landmark decision of the Supreme Court that held the power to regulate interstate commerce was granted to Congress by the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution

171. Maryland v. McCullough established the principles that the federal government possesses broad powers to pass a number of types of laws, and that the states cannot interfere with any federal agency by imposing a direct tax upon it.

172. Plessy v. Ferguson upheld the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation in public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equal."

173. Brown v. Board of Education declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional.

174. Wocester v. Georgia the U.S. Supreme Court held in 1832 that the Cherokee Indians constituted a nation holding distinct sovereign powers.

Inventions

175. The Cotton Gin was an invention by Eli Whitney that speeded the cleaning of cotton fibers and in effect, increased the need for slaves.

176. The successful use of the steamboat (Clermont) by Robert Fulton revolutionized transportation and trade in the United States.

177. John Deere

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