Units 1 and 2 Review

Unit 1 - Colonization Before colonization, there were over 500 different Indian nations living in the Americas. On a sponsored voyage by Spain, Christopher Columbus (who was seeking short route to Asia) sailed west and accidently discovered the Americas. His discovery would spark the “Age of Exploration” with many European countries competing to claim land in the Americas. The first interactions between Native Americans and the European explorers/settlers were initially friendly. However, many Europeans would succumb to greed and try to take more and more of Native American lands.

Unit 1 - Colonization Many Native Americans were either killed or enslaved by the European colonizers. Those who were not, died from the many diseases brought from the Old World that they lacked immunity to. In addition to people and diseases, there was a worldwide back and forth trade of ideas, goods, animals and vegetation between the two hemispheres. This would become known as the “Columbian Exchange.” With the Columbian Exchange, you also get the onset of slavery in the Americas. Slavery began because Europeans needed a large, cheap labor force to work the vast amount of land in the Americas. They traded manufactured goods for captured slaves from Africa. Many slaves died on the journey to the Americas. Once they arrived, they were mistreated and abused.

Unit 1 - Colonization England’s first permanent colony was located in Virginia; it was called Jamestown. The colony was founded by 105 men whose goal was to look for gold. The colony suffered from many problems: diseases, laziness (colonists didn’t want to work) starvation and unfriendly Native American tribes. John Smith institutes a “Don’t Work, Don’t Eat” policy and literally whips the colony into shape. John Rolfe introduces a milder form of tobacco that makes the colony profitable. Other colonies in the South soon follow. The colonies of Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia form the southern colonies. These colonies would focus and using slave labor to grow large cash crops.

Unit 1 - Colonization Religious separatists like the Puritans would settle the New England region. The Puritans, who formed the Massachusetts Bay colony, were Christian fundamentalists who very religious and superstitious. Fun was frowned upon, all you need to do was work, go to school and go to church. Their superstitious beliefs and fundamentalism would lead to the Salem With Trials.

Unit 1 - Colonization Many people, like Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams, who were tired of the strict lifestyle would leave Massachusetts and start their own colonies that were more religiously tolerant. The colonies of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island would make up New England. These colonies were focused on lumber, fishing and shipbuilding.

Unit 1 - Colonization The Middle Colonies were taken from the Netherlands by England. The Middle colonies were New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. These colonies had mixed economies which focused on manufacturing, lumbering and agriculture (grains). William Penn established the colony of Pennsylvania as a place for religious freedom for Quakers. Quakers were pacifists who believed in equality and were religiously tolerant. Their beliefs contributed to the Middle Colonies being the most diverse.

Unit 1 - Colonization England kept strict control over their colonies through the economic system known as “mercantilism.” This system involved keeping the colonies economically dependent on the mother country and enforced laws that benefitted England over the colonies (like the Navigation Acts). The trade that took place between the colonies, England and African were part of a system known as “Triangular Trade”. Raw materials would be sent to Europe to turned into manufactured goods which would then be sent to Africa in exchange for slaves. Those slaves would be shipped to the Americas to gather raw materials.

Unit 2 - Revolution Competing claims over land in North America would lead to conflict between England and France with their Indian allies. This conflict is known as the “French and Indian War.” England took out loans to pay for the war. Once they won, the crown was in a lot of debt. To pay off the debt, England started taxing the colonies more. New laws like the Stamp Act, the Quartering Act, the Tea Act and the Sugar Act all infuriated the colonists who were used to a system of salutary neglect. The colonists demanded “no taxation without representation.”

Unit 2 - Revolution Tensions were high between the colonists and their British overlords due to all the new law enacted and the British taking more direct control over their colonies. Acts of defiance like the Boston Tea Party and the Boston Massacre by colonists enflamed the bitterness felt between to two. Colonists expected war, they hid weapons in countryside and towns west of Boston April 1775, British troops marched out of Boston to find weapons British troops confronted colonial militiamen in Lexington Shots rang out; the American Revolution began

Unit 2 - Revolution Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, which listed the reasons for independence and grievances against Britain. The Founding Fathers who signed this document were influenced by the Great Awakening (man taking control over his destiny) and the Enlightenment (natural human rights and consent of the governed). The colonies were divided between Patriots and Loyalists. George Washington was commander of the Continental Army.

Unit 2 - Revolution The Continental Army (Patriots fighting for independence) used guerrilla warfare to fight the British and the Loyalists (colonists who remained loyal to England). After a colonial victory at the Battle of Saratoga, France decided to help the American colonists win their independence. With the surrender of General Cornwallis at the Battle of Yorktown, the war was effectively over. The British and Americans would sign the Treaty of Paris 1783, which secured American independence. The thirteen colonies and all British-controlled land east of the Mississippi River would become the United States of America.