Background Information on the Research Task Topics

Topic #1: Jamestown O Founded in 1607 in Virginia O First British settlement in the colonies O Started by a group of merchants in order to make money O The settlers were supposed to send valuables like fur and timber back to Britain O Tobacco helps Jamestown survive – they could raise it in Virginia and sell it for good prices in Britain

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Topic #2: Boston Tea Party Background: in the 1750s, Britain and the colonies fight a war against the French and their Native American allies. The French and Indian War left Britain with huge debts and a vast new empire to protect. To solve its problems, the British government passed new laws that tightened its control of the colonies and places new taxes on them.

Boston Tea Party Americans were stunned. They had always had the right to make their own laws and taxes and the British were changing this. It wasn’t fair!

1773: The Tea Act The British East India Company controlled all of the tea trade to the colonies. The colonists were boycotting this tea and smuggling in Dutch tea, and it really hurt the British financially. They were in danger of going broke unless they could sell off the 17 million pounds of tea sitting in London. They decided to lower the cost so that it was even cheaper than the smuggled Dutch tea.

Tea Act O The British also said that colonial merchants could only sell tea from the British East India Company. They thought that they could get Americans to buy this tea because it was less expensive. O Americans saw this as another attempt to make them pay taxes, even though they didn’t have a say in Parliament’s laws. They also worried that, if the British controlled their tea now, what would be next?

The Boston Tea Party O On December 16, 1773, tea ships arrive in Boston and are met with angry colonists who keep them from unloading the tea. O That night, about 50 men dressed up as Mohawk Native Americans boarded three ships and dumped about 90,000 pounds of tea into Boston Harbor.

The Sons of Liberty and the Boston Tea Party O liberty-and-the-boston-tea-party#the-sons-of- liberty-and-the-boston-tea-party liberty-and-the-boston-tea-party#the-sons-of- liberty-and-the-boston-tea-party

Topic #3: Manifest Destiny

What is Manifest Destiny?  Manifest = Obvious  Destiny = Fate  Manifest Destiny is a term for the attitude prevalent during the 1800s that the United States not only could, but was destined to, stretch from coast to coast.  This attitude helped fuel western settlement, Native American removal and war with Mexico.

Major U.S. Expansion O 1783: The Treaty of Paris ends the Revolutionary War (land from Britain) O 1803: The Louisiana Purchase (land from France) O 1848: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican-American War (land from Mexico)

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The Monroe Doctrine O Says that North America is off limits to European Colonization.

Other Related Topics O The Indian Removal Act O The Trail of Tears O Lewis and Clark Exploration O The Gold Rush O Transcontinental Railroad O President Andrew Jackson O Pioneers Lewis and Clark: destiny/videos#lewis--clark-expedition-charts-new- territory

Topic #4: Women’s Rights O Many different options for areas of focus:  Voting rights  Job opportunities/equal pay  Legal advances (the right to get divorced, own property, get an education, etc.)  Women in elected offices  Your own idea

Major Women’s Rights Milestones (Just a sample!) O Seneca Falls Convention (In the first women’s rights convention in the U.S. O National Association of Colored Women (started in 1896 for the black women’s movement) O National Women’s Trade Union League (started in 1903 to get more job opportunities and better wages for women) O The 19 th Amendment – Granted the right to vote to women O The Equal Pay Act (1963 – it is illegal to pay women less than men for the same job) O Title IX (1972 – Bans sex discrimination in schools and opens up many more athletics and activities opportunities for girls)

Women in Politics O amendment/videos#women-in-politicshttp:// amendment/videos#women-in-politics