EE 314: PRAXIS History Review

I. History: This is the written and recorded events of the past.

A. Understands the concepts of chronology. - the arrangement of events in the order in which
they occurred. It is the study of how time is organized and divided in relation to historical events.
1. Vocabulary related to time - Why are the 1800s called the 19th century? The 1800s are
called the 19th century because it is the 19th century after the first year of the
Gregorian Calendar, 1 CE. 1-100 is the 1st Century, and so on; 1801 to 1900 is the 19th
Century.
2. Create and interpret timelines
B. Understands how various sources provide information about the past and present.
1. Primary and secondary sources: Primary research gives you direct access to the subject
of your research. Secondary sources provide second-hand information and commentary
from other researchers.
2. Validity and credibility of sources: Common evaluation criteria include: purpose and
intended audience, authority and credibility, accuracy and reliability, currency and
timeliness, and objectivity or bias. Each of these criteria will be explained in more detail
below.
C. Understands the contributions of classical civilizations such as China, Egypt, Greece, and Rome.
1. Major characteristics and contributions of each: Most part of contributions made/
legacy by ancient civilizations – as writing system, ancient architecture, philosophy,
mathematics, astronomy and medicine, and others
2. Connections and comparisons between them: All of them popped up by a river and
agriculture is essential for civilizations.
D. Understands the characteristics of indigenous peoples in North America before European
exploration.
1. Numerous unique and well-developed Native American cultures in North America -
The first Indians in the Southeast, as elsewhere, were nomadic, hunting and defending
themselves with stone tools (knives and scrapers), clubs, and spears, which were at
times tipped with wellcrafted, fluted stone points.
2. Causes, purposes, and results of exploration and colonization of North America by
Spain, France, and England - Both Spain and France sent missionaries to North America
with the goal of converting the Indians to Catholic Christianity. Colonists from England
like the Puritans wanted to escape persecution they were experiencing in England.
3. Decisions made by the United States government in the nineteenth century concerning
Native Americans
i. Trail of Tears: the Trail of Tears (1837 to 1839) was the forced westward
migration of American Indian tribes from the South and Southeast.
ii. Indian Removal Act (1830): signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on
May 28, 1830, authorizing the president to grant unsettled lands west of the
Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders. A few
tribes went peacefully, but many resisted the relocation policy.
E. Understands the causes and effects of European exploration and the colonization of North
America.
1. Timeline, settlement patterns, and reasons for exploration and colonization
2. Major characteristics of the Thirteen Colonies:
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i. Northern colonies are mostly middle-class, educated, people who came for
religious freedom.
ii. Southern is mostly people who came over as indentured servants and were filled
with agriculture.
F. Understands how the conflict between the American colonies and Great Britain led to American
Independence.
1. Causes of the American Revolution: The First Continental Congress sent a letter to King
George III and asked him to stop taxing the colonists. It is unfair to tax without
representation in Parliament. The Taxation Acts, the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea
Party, and the Intolerable Acts were the four main causes that lead to the American
Revolution.
2. King George: He was the third Hanoverian monarch and the first one to be born in
England and to use English as his first language. George III is widely remembered for two
things: losing the American colonies and going mad.
3. John Adams: a remarkable political philosopher, served as the second President of the
United States (1797-1801), after serving as the first Vice President under President
George Washington. Learned and thoughtful, John Adams was more remarkable as a
political philosopher than as a politician.
4. George Washington: George Washington is often called the “Father of His Country.” He
not only served as the first president of the United States, but he also commanded the
Continental Army during the American Revolution (1775–83) and presided over the
convention that drafted the U.S. Constitution.
5. Thomas Jefferson: a spokesman for democracy, was an American Founding Father, the
principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and the third President of
the United States (1801–1809).
6. Benjamin Franklin: the only Founding Father who signed all three documents that freed
America from Britain. Franklin is credited with drafting the Declaration of Independence
and the American Constitution. He also negotiated the Treaty of Paris which ended the
Independence War against Britain.
G. Understands the development of the United States government.
1. Major ideas of the Declaration of Independence: Thomas Jefferson wrote the
Declaration of Independence.
2. Major ideas of the Articles of Confederation: Major flaws are that there is no president,
no supreme court, and to change rules there had to be unanimous agreement among
the 13 states. No national government or federal tax.
3. The Constitution: the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the
Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising
seven articles, it delineates the national frame and constraints of government.
4. Bill of Rights: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
5. Origin of political parties in the US: Political factions or parties began to form during the
struggle over ratification of the federal Constitution of 1787. Friction between them
increased as attention shifted from the creation of a new federal government to the
question of how powerful that federal government would be.
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H. Understands the political, economic, and social changes that occurred in the United States
during the nineteenth century.
1. Westward Expansion: Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark expedition, acquisition of
Florida, Texas, Oregon, and California
i. A significant push toward the west coast of North America began in the 1810s. It
was intensified by the belief in manifest destiny, federally issued Indian removal
acts, and economic promise. Pioneers traveled to Oregon and California using a
network of trails leading west.
2. Slavery: origins, how it is addressed in the US Constitution, effects of slavery (political,
social, religious, economic, and cultural)
i. European settlers brought a system of slavery with them to the western
hemisphere in the 1500s. Unable to find cheap labor from other sources, white
settlers increasingly turned to slaves imported from Africa. By the early 1700s in
British North America, slavery meant African slavery.
3. Industrial Revolution (before American Civil War): cotton gin, reaper, steamboat, steam
locomotive
i. a significant number of inventions and innovations appeared, transforming
American life. A telegraph system allowed information to flow from place to
place more quickly than the speed of a horse.
4. Immigration: reasons and consequences
i. Some people move in search of work or economic opportunities, to join family,
or to study. Others move to escape conflict, persecution, terrorism, or human
rights violations. Still others move in response to the adverse effects of climate
change, natural disasters, or other environmental factors.
5. Civil War:
i. Economic and cultural differences between the North and South - The Union's
industrial and economic capacity soared during the war as the North continued
its rapid industrialization to suppress the rebellion. In the South, a smaller
industrial base, fewer rail lines, and an agricultural economy based upon slave
labor made mobilization of resources more difficult.
ii. Movements:The abolitionist movement is the organized uprising against slavery.
Fugitive Slave Act required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they
were in a free state. Dred Scott case was the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on
March 6, 1857, that having lived in a free state and territory did not entitle an
enslaved person, Dred Scott, to his freedom.
iii. People: Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd
Garrison, Harriet Tubman, Harriet Beecher Stowe, John Brown
iv. Events leading to secession and war: South Carolina, however, feared a trick;
the commander of the fort, Robert Anderson, was asked to surrender
immediately. Anderson offered to surrender, but only after he had exhausted his
supplies. His offer was rejected, and on April 12, the Civil War began with shots
fired on the fort.
v. Major Points: Gettysburg Address, Emancipation Proclamation, 13th
Amendment, 14th Amendment, 15th Amendment
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6. Reconstruction:
i. Impact of Reconstruction politics on the South then and now: Reconstruction
governments established the South's first state-funded public school systems,
sought to strengthen the bargaining power of plantation labourers, made
taxation more equitable, and outlawed racial discrimination in public
transportation and accommodations.
ii. Segregation: the practice of requiring separate housing, education and other
services for people of color. Segregation was made law several times in 18th-
and 19th-century America as some believed that Black and white people were
incapable of coexisting.
iii. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the
Court ruled that racial segregation laws did not violate the U.S. Constitution as
long as the facilities for each race were equal in quality, a doctrine that came to
be known as "separate but equal".
7. Gilded Age:
i. Industrialization: In the decades following the Civil War, the United States
emerged as an industrial giant. Old industries expanded and many new ones,
including petroleum refining, steel manufacturing, and electrical power,
emerged.
ii. Urbanization: The country became increasingly urban, and cities grew not only
in terms of population but also in size, with skyscrapers pushing cities upward
and new transportation systems extending them outward.
iii. Immigration after the American Civil War: European immigration to the United
States greatly increased after the Civil War, reaching 5.2 million in the 1880s
then surging to 8.2 million in the first decade of the 20th century. Between 1882
and 1914, approximately 20 million immigrants came to the United States. In
1907 alone, 1.285 million arrived.
1. How different from the earlier wave?: "Old" immigrants came for
economic reasons, while "new" immigrants came looking for religious
freedom.
iv. Robber Barons / Tycoons: Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan
I. Understands important developments in the United States during the twentieth and
twenty-first centuries.
1. World War I: WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. It was fought
between two coalitions, the Allies and the Central Powers. Fighting occurred throughout
Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Pacific, and parts of Asia.
i. America’s Role: The United States later declared war on German ally
Austria-Hungary on December 7, 1917. Germany's resumption of submarine
attacks on passenger and merchant ships in 1917 became the primary
motivation behind Wilson's decision to lead the United States into World War I.
ii. Postwar isolationism: During the 1930s, the combination of the Great
Depression and the memory of tragic losses in World War I contributed to
pushing American public opinion and policy toward isolationism. Isolationists
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advocated non-involvement in European and Asian conflicts and

non-entanglement in international politics.
2. Women’s suffrage: the right of women by law to vote in national or local elections.
i. 19th Amendment: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be
denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
3. Great Depression: It began after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent
Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors. Over the next several years,
consumer spending and investment dropped, causing steep declines in industrial output
and employment as failing companies laid off workers.
i. Franklin D. Roosevelt: promoting programs to combat the Great Depression
besetting the United States at the time. In the 1932 presidential election,
Roosevelt defeated Republican incumbent president Herbert Hoover in a
landslide.
ii. New Deal:The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial
reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the
United States between 1933 and 1939.
1. Works Progress Administration:created millions of jobs on public-works
projects. Workers built highways and public buildings, dredged rivers
and harbors, and promoted soil and water conservation. Artists were
hired to enhance public spaces. The Social Security Act created a
pension system for retirees.
2. Social Security: The Social Security Act was signed by FDR on 8/14/35.
Taxes were collected for the first time in January 1937 and the first
one-time, lump-sum payments were made that same month. Regular
ongoing monthly benefits started in January 1940.
3. National Labor Relations Board: an independent federal agency that
protects the rights of private sector employees to join together, with or
without a union, to improve their wages and working conditions.
4. World War II: a global conflict that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the
world's countries, including all of the great powers, fought as part of two opposing
military alliances: the Allies and the Axis.
i. America’s Role: Over the course of the war, the United States contracted
Lend-Lease agreements with more than 30 countries, dispensing some $50
billion in assistance.
ii. Consequences abroad: much of Europe and Asia, and parts of Africa, lay in
ruins. Combat and bombing had flattened cities and towns, destroyed bridges
and railroads, and scorched the countryside. The war had also taken a staggering
toll in both military and civilian lives.
iii. Consequences at home: Americans faced shortages that required them to deal
with the hassle of rationing. They had to provide the necessary coupons—issued
by the Office of Price Administration—to be able to purchase items in short
supply like sugar, or meat, or gasoline.
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5. Civil Rights Movement: The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social movement
and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized racial
segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the United States.
6. Women’s Movement: diverse social movement, largely based in the United States, that
in the 1960s and '70s sought equal rights and opportunities and greater personal
freedom for women. It coincided with and is recognized as part of the “second wave” of
feminism.
7. Peace Movement: a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending
of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or
situation.
8. Development of Computers and information systems: The computer was invented in
order to automate mathematical calculations that were previously completed by people.
Charles Babbage is considered to be the “father” of the computer.

● Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 and was commissioned to do so by Queen Isabella to
look for resources to build a nation and army and gold. Columbus claims all of the Americas for
Spain.
● In 992 Erikson discovered the Americas first but is not credited with it because he stayed and
assimilated into the people there. Columbus came there to bring back resources to Spain.
● in 1607 Jamestown was the first permeant British colony in the Americas, it is in present-day
Virginia.
○ Jamestown is a joint-stock company, so the earliest British colony is a business venture.
○ John Rolf brings tobacco seeds to plant in Jamestown and it turns a profit.
● 1754-63 the French-Indian war happened and the debt it caused made taxes rise for the colonist
and started the American Revolution.
● 1776-83 American Revolution happens because the colonists had “taxation without
representation”. July 4th, 1776 was when the declaration of independence was made.
● 1781-87 is when the first constitution, The Articles of Confederation was created and
implemented.
● The new constitution is written in 1789 but ratified in 1789 and George Washington is elected as
the first President.