Grade 8Glossary13th Amendment The 13th Amendment, one ofthree passed during the era of Reconstruction, freed all slaveswithout compensation to the slaveowners. President AbrahamLincoln first proposed compensated emancipation as anamendment in December 1862. His Emancipation Proclamationdeclared slaves free in the Confederate states in rebellion,but did not extend to border states. After Lincoln’sassassination, President Andrew Johnson declared his ownplan for Reconstruction which included the need for Confederatestates to approve the 13th Amendment. The amendment,adopted in 1865, eight months after the war ended,legally forbade slavery in the United States.14th Amendment The 14th Amendment is one ofthree to the U.S. Constitution passed during the era of Reconstructionto protect the rights and involvement of citizensin government. It declared that all persons born ornaturalized in the United States (except Indians) were citizens,that all citizens were entitled to equal rights regardlessof their race, and that their rights were protected at both thestate and national levels by due process of the law. Politicalpressure ensured ratification.In 1866, Congress passed the Civil Rights Bill which extendedcitizenship to blacks. President Andrew Johnson42opposed and vetoed the legislation but Congress overruledhis veto and then proposed the 14th Amendment. In 1866,ten of the eleven Confederate states refused to ratify, but theMilitary Reconstruction Act, passed by Congress on March2, 1867, required all seceded states to ratify the amendmentas a condition of their re-admission into the union. In 1868,the required number of states ratified the 14th Amendment .The amendment did not extend the right to vote to blackmen but it encouraged states to allow them to vote by limitingthe Congressional representation of any state that didnot extend the right. The amendment disappointed women’srights activists because it equated the right to vote as a maleright. Most significantly, the amendment incorporated the“due process clause” as outlined in the 5th Amendment andensured the protection of citizen’s rights, previously onlyguaranteed at the national level, at the state level.15th Amendment The 15th Amendment, one ofthree amendments to the U.S. Constitution passed during theera of Reconstruction, granted black men the right to vote.

The amendment derived from a requirement in the MilitaryReconstruction Act, passed by Congress on March 2, 1867,that Confederate states, as a condition for readmission intothe Union, extend the right to vote to former adult male slaves.Congress eventually sought more stringent means to safeguardthe vote for black men by proposing a constitutionalamendment in 1869. It was ratified in 1870. Women’s rightsactivists opposed the amendment because it defined the rightto vote as a male right. Thus, gender remained a determiningfactor in denying women the right to vote in national andstate elections until 1920 when the 19th Amendment wasratified. Between 1870 and 1920, a few states includingWyoming did extend the right to vote to women but womencould not vote in national elections until after passage of the19th Amendment.1607 Representatives of the Virginia Company of Londonestablished the first permanent English settlement inNorth America in 1607. The Virginia Company, a joint-stockcompany founded by investors in England, called itJamestown in honor of King James I of England. Severalfactors encouraged settlement including peace with Spain;willing settlers lured by adventure, markets and the prospectof religious freedom; financial support provided by the VirginiaCompany; and the company’s assurance that colonistscould remain subjects of England.1776 On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, the Virginiarepresentative to the Second Continental Congress, movedthat “These United Colonies are, and of right ought to be,free and independent states. . . “ Congress appointed a committeeto draft an inspirational document to explain to theworld the reasons the colonies were asserting their independencein the hopes of gaining broad colonial and internationalsupport. The committee included Thomas Jeffersonwho was charged with drafting the document. In it he askedfor protection of the “unalienable rights” of humankind, inaddition to British rights, and listed other British actionswhich prompted the quest for independence. Congressadopted Lee’s motion on July 2, and on July 4, fifty-six representativesfrom the thirteen original colonies unanimouslyapproved the Declaration of Independence.Six months prior to the official declaration, Thomas Painepublished his influential political pamphlet Common Sense.It presented a clear and persuasive argument for independence,and convinced many undecided colonists to supportthe movement for independence.1787 Between May 25 and September 17, 1787, delegatesgathered in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation.Instead they drafted, debated, compromised, and finallyapproved for ratification the Constitution of the United States.It was then sent to the states to adopt or reject based on thevotes of delegates to ratification conventions. The debateover ratification continued into 1788 as Federalists and Anti-

Federalists faced off over issues of states’ rights, human liberties,and governmental authority. Ratification of the newconstitution required acceptance by nine of the thirteen states.Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution and itwas followed by Pennsylvania and New Jersey in 1787.Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina,and New Hampshire ratified it in 1788. The ninth state(New Hampshire) guaranteed that the new United States hada government. Virginia and New York approved the documentlater in 1788, and North Carolina and Rhode Islandadopted it last, in 1789 and 1790, respectively.1803 The United States, under the leadership of PresidentThomas Jefferson, acquired the Louisiana Territory fromNapoleon Bonaparte, ruler of France, for $15 million dollarsin 1803. The purchase more than doubled the area of theUnited States. It gave the new nation access to 828,000square miles of fertile territory and navigable waterwaysbetween the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains ata cost of approximately three cents per acre. All or parts of13 states were carved out of the Louisiana Purchase (in orderof admission): Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa,Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, North Dakota,South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and Oklahoma.1861-1865 The American Civil War began on April12, 1861, with the firing on Fort Sumter and ended with theConfederate surrender at Appomattox Court House in earlyApril, 1865. South Carolina, the first state to leave the Union,seceded in 1860, prompted by the election of the Republicanpresidential candidate Abraham Lincoln. Six more followedin early 1861 (Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia,Louisiana and Texas). They formed the ConfederateStates of America.Grade 8431861: President Lincoln took the oath of office on March 4,1861 and sought to maintain ties with eight border stateswhich remained with the Union. The Civil War began onApril 12 with the firing on Fort Sumter by Confederate troopsoff the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. Four more statesseceded after war was declared: Virginia, Arkansas, NorthCarolina, and Tennessee. The first battle of the war at BullRun, near Manassas Junction, Virginia, ended in a Confederatevictory due to poor Union generalship.1862: The Confederacy started to draft soldiers to meet thedemand for troops and the Union followed suit in 1863. TheBattle of Antietam, the bloodiest single-day battle of the war,occurred in Maryland on September 17, 1862. Lincoln issuedhis Emancipation Proclamation on September 23, followingthe Union victory at Antietam.1863: From July 1 to 3, 1863, 92,000 Union troops fought76,000 Confederates at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The fateof the Confederacy was sealed on July 4 with Union victoriesat Gettysburg, turning a Confederate invasion of the

North, and Vicksburg, ceding control of the Mississippi Riverto the Union. The war continued for two more years as theSouth sought independence and Lincoln demanded union.1864: Ulysses S. Grant, appointed commander of the Unionarmy following Vicksburg, crafted a more aggressive militaryoffensive than previous generals. It included a march ofdestruction into the heart of the South by General WilliamTecumseh Sherman, and Grant’s own assault on Lee in Virginia.Sherman’s men captured and burned Atlanta in September1864. Grant’s engagements with Lee involved destructivebattles including the Wilderness Campaign and theassault on Cold Harbor.1865: Union troops captured Richmond and surrounded Leein April. On Palm Sunday, April 9, 1865, General Robert E.Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at AppomattoxCourt House in Virginia. On April 15, 1865, President Lincolndied from an assassin’s bullet and Vice-President AndrewJohnson assumed office.Abolitionist Movement The abolitionist movementbegan in the Revolutionary era, partially in response tothe inhumane treatment of slaves and partially in an effort toremove blacks from white society. The movement in the late1700s concentrated on freeing the slaves as a humane act.Quakers in Pennsylvania established the first anti-slaverysociety in the world in 1775. Interest in returning slaves toAfrica resulted in the formation of the American ColonizationSociety in 1817. The Republic of Liberia, established in1822 on the west coast of Africa, served as a destination forapproximately 15,000 slaves freed and returned. However,most slaves considered Africa a foreign culture and soughtfreedom and a home in America. In the 1830s American abolitionistssought to follow the example set in the West Indiesby the British who freed the slaves in 1833. The religiousrevivals of the Second Great Awakening also inspired abolitioniststo speak out against the sin of slavery. Abolitionistspublished anti-slavery publications including pamphlets andnewspapers. Supporters of William Lloyd Garrison, a vocalabolitionist and publisher of the newspaper The Liberator,formed the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833. AfricanAmericans played a key role in the abolitionist movement,most notably Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth. Realizingthey needed a political voice, abolitionists supportedthe Liberty Party in 1840, the Free Soil party in 1848, andthe Republican party in the 1850s. Abolitionists realize theirgoal with the passage of the 13th Amendment.Absolute and Relative Chronology Absolutechronology depends on knowing the precise date includingthe day, month and/or year of an event. To sequence eventsin absolute chronology means to organize them in an order—that is, from oldest to most recent. Relative chronology dependsless on specific dates and more on relationships ofevents. To sequence events, individuals, and time periods,

students must understand past, present, and future time. Studentsmust also be able to identify the beginning, middle,and end of an event or story. Students are expected to structurea story, creating their own sequence by developing atopic from its beginning to its conclusion. Students are expectedto create and interpret timelines, identify intervals oftime, and order events in the sequence of occurrence and inrelation to other events.Articles of Confederation The Articles of Confederation,the nation’s first constitution, was adopted by theSecond Continental Congress in 1781 during the Revolution.It provided guidance to government for seven years andgave Congress limited authority to make laws and to drawup treaties with other nations. The Articles were limited inproviding solutions to many challenges facing the new Republicbecause the states held most of the power, and Congresslacked the power to tax, regulate trade, or control coinage.In 1787 the Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphiato revise the Articles, but instead the delegates constructeda new constitution.Bessemer Steel Process The Bessemer steel processis the process of removing impurities from iron to makesteel. Steel is less brittle and stronger than iron. Industryneeded steel but was limited by the small quantity that couldbe manufactured using traditional methods to remove impurities.In the 1850s, British inventor Henry Bessemer discoveredthat a blast of hot air directly on melted iron reducedthe impurities in iron. As a result, steel manufacturingincreased nearly 20 fold during the era of the Industrial Revolutionin America. Steel bridges, steel rails for railroads, andthe production of automobiles were major technologicalachievements. Steel reinforcements in skyscrapers aided ur-Grade 844banization, and increased production of household appliancesbrought steel into the home.Bill of Rights The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendmentsto the Constitution, ratified in 1791. The 1st Amendmentprotects several fundamental rights of U.S. citizens:freedom of religion, of speech, and of the press, and the rightsto assemble and to petition. The next seven amendmentsguarantee other freedoms including the right to a fair trialand the right to bear arms. Homes are protected from searchwithout just cause, citizens are protected from the impositionof housing troops during peacetime, and those accusedof crimes are entitled to fair treatment before the law. The9th Amendment guarantees that people retain rights not enumeratedin the Constitution and the 10th amendment limitsfederal power by granting to the states all powers not specificallyassigned by the Constitution to the national government.Checks and Balances The U.S. Constitution

authorizes each branch of government to share its powerswith the other branches and thereby check their activitiesand power. The President can veto legislation passed byCongress, but Congress can override the veto. The Senateconfirms major appointments made by the President, andthe courts may declare acts passed by Congress as unconstitutional.Civic Virtue The term “civic” relates to involvement ina community. Citizens of a neighborhood, town, state, ornation have an obligation to be active, peaceful, loyal, andsupportive members of that community. Those with civicvirtue go a step beyond their obligations by taking an activerole in improving the community and the experiences of othermembers of the community.Civil Disobedience Civil disobedience is the processof defying codes of conduct within a community or ignoringthe policies and government of a state or nation when thecivil laws are considered unjust. Henry David Thoreau includedthe essay “Civil Disobedience” in Walden, a collectionof his writings. He did not want people to break the lawindiscriminately but he urged people to challenge laws theyconsidered unjust by refusing to obey them. This is calledpassive resistance. World leaders such as Martin Luther King,Jr. and Mohandas K. Gandhi followed Thoreau’s advice.Blacks boycotted buses in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1956until the Supreme Court ruled that segregation on buses wasillegal. Non-violent protest led to the signing of the CivilRights Act of 1964, which banned discrimination.Declaration of Independence The Declarationof Independence is a document adopted by the SecondContinental Congress on July 4, 1776. It established the 13colonies as independent states, free from rule by Great Britain.The committee appointed to write the Declaration ofIndependence included Benjamin Franklin, John Adams,Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson.Thomas Jefferson wrote the majority of the declaration. Inthe Preamble, Jefferson explained that it was necessary tolist the reasons why the colonies sought their own government.In three sections Jefferson outlined the reasons: peoplehave the right to control their own government; the Britishgovernment and King used their power unjustly to controlthe colonies; and the colonies had tried to avoid separatingfrom Britain, but Britain refused to cooperate. The most famouspassage concerns the right to govern:“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men arecreated equal, that they are endowed by their Creator withcertain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Libertyand the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights,Governments are instituted among men, deriving their justpower from the consent of the governed. That whenever anyForm of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it isthe Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institutenew Government. . . “Dred Scott v. Sandford Dred Scott v. Sandfordwas a landmark Supreme Court case in 1857 which confirmed

the status of slaves as property rather than citizens.Chief Justice Roger Taney wrote that a slave could not beheard in federal courts because he was not a citizen and hadno protection under the Constitution. Also, Congress had noauthority over slavery in the territories, and upon statehood,each territory would determine whether it would be a slavestate or a free state.Emancipation Proclamation Abraham Lincolnissued the Emancipation Proclamation on September22, 1862, to go into effect on January 1, 1863. It declaredthat all slaves in the rebellious Confederate states would befree. These included slaves in Virginia, North Carolina, SouthCarolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas,Louisiana, and Texas. Following the proclamation, manyslaves in these states walked away from plantations andsought protection from Union forces. The proclamation didnot apply to slaves living in border states or to areas in theSouth occupied by federal troops. As Union troops movedinto new areas of the Confederacy, slaves in those areas wouldbe freed. All slaves were not freed until the ratification ofthe 13th Amendment in 1865.English Bill of Rights In 1689, King Williamand Queen Mary accepted the English Bill of Rights whichguaranteed certain rights to English citizens and declaredthat elections for Parliament would happen frequently. Thedocument followed the Glorious Revolution in which theEnglish people forced absolute monarch James II to leavethe country. William and Mary then assumed rule. By agree-Grade 845ing to the English Bill of Rights, they supported a limitedmonarchy, a system in which they shared their power withParliament and the people, and did not have absolute power,as James II had sought. The influence of the English Bill ofRights can be seen in the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution.Federalism Federalism is the distribution of power betweena federal government and the states within a union.Federalist Papers After the delegates to the PhiladelphiaConvention finished writing the U.S. Constitution,each state elected delegates to a ratification convention. Ratificationwas required by nine of the 13 states in order for theconstitution to take effect. People were divided over issuesof the extent of power of the Constitution, the degree to whichthe rights of states were protected, and the degree to whichthe rights of citizens were protected. Those favoring the newform of government, which divided power between a strongcentral government and the states, were called Federalists.Those seeking greater power for states were called Anti-Federalists.In an effort to sway opinion and get the Constitutionapproved, three leading Federalists wrote a series of 85 essayswhich explained the new government and the divisionof power. Published as The Federalist, the series was writtenby James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay.

For instance, The Federalist, No. 10 (1787) defines the republicanform of government which Federalists envisionedand the process of electing representatives to Congress.Federalists and Anti-Federalists The adoptionof the U.S. Constitution was not an easy process. Citizensdisagreed over the way the document divided power betweenthe states and the national government, the degree to whichthe rights of states were protected, and the degree to whichthe rights of citizens were protected.Those favoring ratification of the Constitution and adoptionof the federalist form of government were called Federalists.Those opposed to the Constitution because they fearedthe power of the national government in the new federal systemwere called Anti-Federalists. Anti-Federalists were alsoconcerned that if the national government could overrule statedecisions, the protection of the liberty of individuals wouldbe at risk. Patrick Henry and George Mason were leadingAnti-Federalists. Henry was so opposed to the process thathe did not even attend the convention which drafted the Constitution.Thomas Jefferson favored some aspects of the Constitutionbut was concerned about the lack of protection forthe rights of states and the absence of support for individualrights. He supported the inclusion of a Bill of Rights. In aneffort to sway opinion and get the Constitution ratified, threeleading Federalists — James Madison, Alexander Hamilton,and John Jay — published their views in The Federalist , aseries of 85 newspaper essays which have become a classicof American political thought.First and Second Great Awakenings T h eGreat Awakening occurred in the 1730s and 1740s in responseto inflexible Puritan doctrine. A lay ministry developed whichpreached personal salvation by good works in contrast topredestination as preached by Puritans. Others, led byJonathan Edwards, urged believers to develop a personalrelationship with God to gain their personal salvation. Ministersspread the word through revival meetings. Hundredswere “saved” and declared their trust in God without needingthe clergy to channel their prayers. The Great Awakeningrevitalized American religion by adding emotion.Missionary work developed in an effort to spread salvationto Indians and slaves. In the early 1800s, the second GreatAwakening erupted as those favoring the personal and emotionalapproach associated with evangelical faiths conflictedwith those seeking more rational beliefs. The second GreatAwakening reinvigorated church membership and furtheredhumanitarian efforts including abolitionism, prison reform,the temperance movement, and women’s suffrage. Morepeople participated in it than in the first Great Awakening,meeting outdoors under open tents to hear emotional preacherswho “rode the circuit” promoting personal conversion.These camp meetings contributed to numerous conversionsand vows to change wayward behavior. Membership in Baptist

and Methodist churches increased most significantly.Founding Fathers The term “founding fathers” appliesto those individuals who played a major role in declaringU.S. independence, fighting the Revolutionary War, orwriting and adopting the U.S. Constitution. Founding fathersinclude Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, andJames Madison.Free Blacks Although they were free, African Americansin the North were victims of discrimination. They weredenied the right to vote, to serve on juries, to be educated, toworship freely, and to have access to public lands. In theSouth, most free African Americans were descendants ofslaves freed during and after the American Revolution. Otherspurchased their freedom, but all were denied basic rights.Despite discrimination in both the North and the South, manyfree blacks distinguished themselves in various areas of endeavor.Many of those who gained success risked their livesand income to combat slavery.Free Enterprise System A free enterprise systemis an economic system in which individuals depend on supplyand demand and the profit margin to determine the answersto the four basic economic questions of “what to produce,”“how to produce,” “how many to produce,” and “forwhom to produce.” Profit is an improved situation, usuallyGrade 846measured in dollars. The quest for improvement financiallyand materially motivates producers and consumers in the freeenterprise system. Government regulation is kept to a minimum.Competition between companies makes it more difficultto answer the questions of what and how much to produceand for whom, but it does make it harder for one companyto monopolize the market.French and Indian War The French and IndianWar was a struggle between the British and the French in thecolonies of North America. It was part of a worldwide warknown as the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763). In the colonies,the British sought control of territory to the west of theestablished colonies, particularly the Ohio River Valley. Thefirst battle was fought at Fort Necessity in July 1754, a stockadeconstructed by George Washington and his troops nearthe headwaters of the Ohio River near present day Pittsburgh.The French held several advantages including control of morewestern territory, a single colonial government, a professionalarmy well provisioned in place in their territory, and an alliancewith the Huron and Algonquin Indians.The British also had several advantages. More British livedin the colonies, the British territory had a better strategicposition and was easier to defend, and most of the colonistswere willing to fight to preserve their independence fromFrance. The British pushed France into Canada and defeatedthem at Quebec and Montreal. The Seven Years’ War officiallyended with the Treaty of Paris which gave the Britishall lands east of the Mississippi River except New Orleans,

including the St. Lawrence Valley, the Great Lakes, and theOhio River Valley. Thus the British secured the major waterroutes into the interior North American continent.Fundamental Orders of Connecticut T h eFundamental Orders of Connecticut was the first written constitutionin the American colonies, prepared as the covenantfor the new Puritan community in Connecticut, establishedin the 1630s. It established a precedent for written constitutionsin the colonies. To the Puritans, a covenant was an agreementwith God to build a holy society. Those who moved toConnecticut from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts carriedwith them the tradition of the commonwealth, a communityof people who worked together for the good of thewhole. The Fundamental Orders described a system of governmentfor the new community, in writing.Generalizations Generalizations are statementsabout relationships between and among concepts. They organizeand summarize information obtained from the analysisof facts. A generalization is usually a broad assertion thatsomething is always true. A fact, on the other hand, is a truthonly about a particular incident or case. Here is a generalization:The nature of democracy in the United States continuallyevolves as society grows and changes. Here is a factwhich supports it: Women received the right to vote in 1924.Geographic Distributions and Patterns G e -ographers are interested in the location of things on Earth,that is, where things are located, how they are distributed,and what relationships exist between things separated bydistance. Sometimes things are distributed randomly acrossthe surface of Earth. Other times a pattern is apparent in thedistribution. That helps us to understand the forces that affectdistribution. Consider the location of key industries, cities,types of agriculture—all of these things are distributed(located) somewhere, and show a pattern. Industries are locatednear resources or near markets. Cities are often locatedat vital transportation crossroads. The types of crops growndepend upon physical conditions as well as access to marketsand transportation. Noting distribution and pattern helpsus to understand why things are where they are.Gettysburg Address During the Civil War, on November19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln traveled toGettysburg, Pennsylvania, to dedicate a national cemeteryat the site of the Battle of Gettysburg. Three sentences excerptedfrom his short speech capture the spirit of libertyand morality ideally held by citizens of a democracy. Thatideal was threatened by the Civil War.Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth onthis continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicatedto the proposition that all men are created equal.Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whetherthat nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated,can long endure. . .. . . . It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task

remaining before us—that from these honored dead we takeincreased devotion to that cause for which they gave the lastfull measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve thatthese dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, underGod, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that governmentof the people, by the people, for the people, shallnot perish from the earth.Gibbons v. Ogden In Gibbons v. Ogden (1824),Chief Justice John Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court ruledthat the Constitution gave control of interstate commerce tothe U.S. Congress, not the individual states through which aroute passed. The ruling responded to an effort by the stateof New York to accept a monopoly to operate steam boattraffic between New York and New Jersey.Individual Rights Many opposed the Constitutionin 1787 because they believed it did not offer adequate protectionof individual rights. The Bill of Rights, ratified in1791, were created to correct this. The individual rights protectedin the Bill of Rights include economic rights relatedGrade 847to property, political rights related to freedom of speech andpress, and personal rights related to bearing arms and maintainingprivate residences.The structure of the U.S. Constitution allows for adaptationbased on changing public opinion and the need to protectindividual rights. For instance, debates over the institutionof slavery raised concerns about property and property protectionafforded by the U.S. Constitution. In the decisionDred Scott v. Sandford, the Supreme Court ruled that slaveswere property and that the Missouri Compromise, whichprohibited slavery in certain parts of the United States, wasunconstitutional in that it deprived people of property, theirslaves. As public opinion changed, voters amended the Constitutionto free slaves, to protect their rights, and to extendtheir right to vote.Industrial Revolution New sources of powerincluding the steam engine freed manufacturers to experimentwith new ways to make products. Steam power wasmore reliable than water power and allowed expansion ofmachine production. A period of rapid industrial growth resulted,starting in Britain in the 1700s and then spreadingaround the world as more countries adopted mass production.Handmade goods were quickly replaced by less expensivemachine-made goods. The production of cloth by machinesrevolutionized the textile industry. It also changed thenature of supply because more goods were produced fasterand cheaper, the nature of demand because the product wasmore affordable, and the nature of work. Factory laborers

replaced craftsmen and home production. The expansion ofmechanized production in the United States began after theCivil War and peaked in the 1920s just before the Great Depression.This is considered a second Industrial Revolution.The demand for raw materials and labor to maintain productionled to exploitation of the natural environment and ofworkers.Judicial Review The three branches of government— legislative, executive and judicial —were establishedto balance power, but the U.S. Constitution is the supremelaw. The judicial branch is responsible for interpreting andapplying laws and ensuring that they are constitutional. Inthe early 1800s the Supreme Court established the principleof judicial review. Acting within the powers of Article III,the judicial branch strengthened federal authority over stateand private authority when the issue threatened rights establishedin the Constitution. Chief Justice John Marshall ruledin Marbury v. Madison (1803) that a law passed by Congressin 1789 was unconstitutional. Marshall stressed that“the Constitution is superior to any ordinary act of legislature.. . and must govern.”Limited Government In a limited governmenteveryone, including all authority figures, must obey the laws.Constitutions, statements of rights, or other laws define thelimits of those in power so they cannot take advantage oftheir elected, appointed, or inherited positions. In an unlimitedgovernment, control is placed solely with the ruler andhis/her appointees, and there are no limits imposed on his/her authority.Magna Carta The Magna Carta is the cornerstoneof English justice and law. King John, who ruled between1199 and 1216 AD, angered the English nobility andcommoners alike by his lack of military prowess and hisheavy taxation to pay a large national debt. Members of thenobility, the archbishop of Canterbury, and the Earl of Pembrokeforced King John to sign the Magna Carta in 1215. Itdeclared that the king and government were bound by thesame law as other citizens of England. It contained the antecedentsof the ideas of due process of law and the right to afair and speedy trial that are included in the protection offeredby the U.S. Bill of Rights. The English viewed it as aguarantee of law and justice.Manifest Destiny “Manifest destiny” was a popularexpression in the 1840s. Many believed that the UnitedStates was destined to secure territory from “sea to sea,” fromthe Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. This rationale drove theacquisition of territory in the 1840s as President James K.Polk attempted to declare the parallel of 5440' as the northernboundary of the United States. Britain initially refused,but the nations compromised in 1846 and the United Statesacquired the Oregon territory. The United States also secured

a vast territory in the southwest following the MexicanWar in 1848. Mexico ceded all claims north of the RioGrande which included present-day states of California,Nevada, Utah, and parts of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico,and Wyoming.Marbury v. Madison Marbury v. Madison was the firstjudgment by the Supreme Court which supported the federalsystem of government. In 1803, Chief Justice JohnMarshall, a Federalist, upheld and strengthened the authorityof the federal judiciary. He established the principle ofjudicial review, the power of the judiciary to determine thata law can be declared unconstitutional.Mayflower Compact The Mayflower Compactwas drafted in 1620 prior to settlement by the Pilgrimsat Plymouth Bay in Massachusetts. It declared that the 41males who signed it agreed to accept majority rule and participatein a government in the best interest of all membersof the colony. While not a constitution, the agreement set theprecedent for later documents outlining commonwealth rule.Settlers quickly established town meetings as a forum todevelop their own laws, a positive step toward self-rule.Grade 848McCulloch v. Maryland In 1819, Chief JusticeJohn Marshall continued to define the limits of the U. S.Constitution and of the authority of the federal and state governments.Maryland was opposed to the establishment of anational bank and challenged the authority of the federal governmentto establish one. The Supreme Court ruled that thepower of the federal government was supreme over that ofthe states and that the states could not interfere. This decisionsupported the concept that the Constitution was the supremelaw of the land.Mercantilism Mercantilism is an economictheory which states that a nation’s wealth is based on theamount of gold and silver bullion in its treasury. The theorydrove economic exchange throughout Europe between the16th and 18th centuries. Nations accumulated wealth in severalways. Explorers sought gold and silver deposits whichthey could mine.Trade offered another method to accumulate the bullion (goldor silver formed into bars, ingots, or plates). Generating revenuethrough trade depended on maintaining a favorablebalance, that is, exporting more than a nation imported. In amercantilist system, government played a central role in regulatingtrade by imposing restrictions on trade. As the productionof goods for exchange increased, governments tooka more active role in industrial development. New crafts andtrades provided work for the idle and lined the pockets ofmercantilists who made money by importing raw productsand exporting finished goods at significantly higher costs.

Those who sought to participate in trade and industry neededgovernment ing to succeed, especially in the oceanic trade.The East India Company was founded in 1600 by the Englishgovernment and merchants intent on trading with theEast.The American colonies contributed to the English, French,and Spanish mercantilist systems by providing raw productsand markets for manufactured goods. The Spanish sought tocontrol the gold and silver supplies held by Native Americancivilizations in Mexico and Peru; the fur trade in NorthAmerica resulted in significant revenue for French mercantilists;and settlement benefited English manufacturers whosold finished products to colonists. Buying from a colonyenabled the mother country to keep bullion within the empire.Mercantilism was attacked by Adam Smith and others whosupported laissez faire (“let them do as they see fit”) exchange.This new economic theory opposed regulation bythe “visible hand” of government and instead viewed commerceas driven by the invisible hand of personal initiative.Monroe Doctrine The Monroe Doctrine was astatement of foreign policy which proclaimed that Europeshould not interfere in affairs within the United States or inthe development of other countries in the Western Hemisphere,and that the United States would not interfere in Europeanaffairs. These ideas, formulated by Secretary of StateJohn Quincy Adams and President James Monroe, were presentedin 1823 in response to problems facing the nation:Russian claims to the northwest coast and threats to the independenceof Spanish-American republics in Latin America.The doctrine reflected growing American nationalism andincreased emphasis on internal improvements which reducedthe interest in participating in international affairs. PresidentJames K. Polk revived the doctrine in 1845, and it continuedas an important part of national ideology into the 20thcentury.Naturalized Citizen A naturalized citizen is a personof foreign birth who is granted full citizenship.Northwest Ordinance Enacted in 1787, theNorthwest Ordinance is considered one of the most significantachievements of the Articles of Confederation. It establisheda system for setting up governments in the westernterritories so they could eventually join the Union on an equalfooting with the original 13 states. This ordinance referredto the Northwest Territory, an area bounded by the Ohio River,the Mississippi River, and the Great Lakes and includedpresent-day Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, andparts of Minnesota. When the territory opened, a governorand three judges were appointed by Congress. After 5,000adult males moved to the area, they could elect an assemblyand send a nonvoting delegate to Congress, although the governorretained veto power over the assembly. When 60,000persons moved into one of the political subdivisions, that

area could draft a constitution, submit it to Congress for approval,and become a state. Its constitution had to providefor a representative government, and it had to prohibit slavery.Nullification Crisis In 1828, Congress approved ahigh tariff to protect U.S. interests from competition fromforeign trade. This angered southerners who dealt directlywith merchants in Britain. The planters favored freedom oftrade and believed in the authority of their states over thefederal government. In 1832 Congress passed a lower butstill protective tariff. Angered South Carolinians, led bySenator John C. Calhoun, declared the federal tariff null andvoid within its borders. Delegates to a special conventionurged the state legislature to take military action and to secedefrom the union if the federal government demanded thecustoms duties. To prevent a civil war, Henry Clay, senatorfrom Kentucky, proposed the compromise Tariff of 1833which gradually reduced the protective tariff over ten years.Southerners accepted the measure but northerners counteredwith the Force Bill which authorized the president to use thearmy and navy to collect the duties. The nullifiers repealedGrade 849the ordinance of nullification but accomplished their goal ofreducing the tariff.Philadelphia Convention of 1787 The PhiladelphiaConvention of 1787 met “for the sole and express purposeof revising the Articles of Confederation.” Fifty-fivedelegates representing all states except Rhode Island workedto reorganize the government in the new republic. The Conventionmet in secret in the Pennsylvania State House, nowIndependence Hall, from May 25 through September 17. Oneof their first decisions was to scrap the Articles of Confederationand create a new plan of government. Of the 55delegates, 39 signed the document they created, the U.S.Constitution.Physical and Human CharacteristicsPhysical characteristics of places include landforms and soils,bodies and sources of water, vegetation, climate and weatherpatterns, and animal life. Human characteristics of placesinclude the language, religion, political systems, economicsystems, population distribution, ethnicity, age, and standardsof living.Physical and Human Characteristics of PlacesPhysical characteristics of places describe natural phenomenasuch as climate, soil, plants, animals, and topography(landforms). Human characteristics of places include itemssuch as language, religion, ethnicity, architecture, forms ofrecreation, daily schedule, food, how people earn a living,how they govern themselves, family structure, and standardof living.Physical and Human Factors Several factorsmay influence ongoing development and events in history.Physical factors relate to the physical characteristics of

a place such as climate, weather, and landforms. These leadto events, such as tornadoes, hurricanes, or droughts, whichinfluence the chain of events constituting Texas history.Physical factors also influence development. Most earlysettlement in Texas concentrated in the eastern portion ofthe state because the soils, climate, and vegetation comparedfavorably to other parts of the South from which most settlersmigrated. Transportation routes developed to link settlementswhich evolved into cities. Human factors relate to thehuman characteristics of a place. These also play a role inTexas history. As population pressures in the eastern portionof the state increased, settlement moved west. As technologyimproved, settlers in the western plains began to irrigatetheir crop land and the area’s economy developed aroundcotton-based agriculture. This is one way human factors influencedevelopment by modifying the environment.Plantation System The plantation system is a systemof agricultural production based on large-scale landownership and the exploitation of labor and the environment.Production is usually concentrated on a cash crop which issought by a national or international market. For instance,the plantation system of agriculture developed in the southernUnited States as landowners concentrated their capitalin slaves and produced tobacco, rice, sugar and cotton forthe world market. Plantation agriculture continues today intropical areas around the world with the following cash crops:tea, rubber, coffee, sugar cane, and cocoa.Points of View of Political Parties Several factorscontributed to the division of political activity in theUnited States into a party system. Parties reflect differentpoints of view regarding structures of governance, economicsand national finance, political representation, and rightsand responsibilities of individuals, states, and the nation.Politically active people with competing interests, opinions,and attitudes united under party names to argue their causes.In the 1830s published party platforms and public debatesdeveloped to inform voters of the goals and objectives proposedby each party. The Anti-Masonic party held the firstnational convention in 1831.Republicanism and constitutional democracy require representationof different points of view and involvement of differentinterest groups. The Constitution resulted from rigorousdebate between those favoring a strong central governmentand those favoring a union of sovereign states. Thosefavoring a centralized government also believed in classicalrepublicanism, with power vested in representatives whowere fit to lead due to their wealth and education. This contrastedto opinions held by states’ rights advocates who believedin popular or mass participation in government. Tensioncontinued between these factions and resulted in threatsto nullify national laws or to secede from the union. Theauthority of the federal government was re-enforced during

the Civil War when President Abraham Lincoln, a Republican,accepted nothing less than full compliance with nationalcauses on the part of the largely Democratic south.Special interest groups often function within the two-partysystem. This increased during the Progressive movement onthe local and state levels in the 1890s to 1900s, and on thenational and international levels in the 1910s and 1920s.Differing points of view also result in the formation of thirdparties,the Anti-Masons, the Populists, the Socialists, andthe Liberal Party to name a few.Points of View, Frames of Reference, and HistoricalContext Historians and social scientistsstrive to understand what happened in the past but are oftenlimited by incomplete evidence. To analyze available sourcesthey identify the different interests, opinions, and attitudesGrade 850reflected in the evidence (points of view) and understand thevantage point of those who created the evidence (frames ofreference). Then they place the people and events in historicalcontext, relating them to other events and ideas whichoccurred at the same time. By doing so, students gain a greaterunderstanding of what happened and how it relates to currentevents.For instance, the Constitution reflects conflicting agendasof special interest groups. Described by many as a documentwhich furthered democracy, others argued that it hinderedit. The first ten amendments, the Bill of Rights, wereadded later to satisfy those interested in protecting the peoplefrom the powers of a strong central government. The Federalistand Anti-Federalist debates at ratification provide furtherevidence of conflicting points of view which contributedto the U.S. Constitution as it exists today. Any explanationof the significance of the Constitution and its heritageremains incomplete if the points of view which cause differencesof opinion are not understood and acknowledged.The farmer in Massachusetts had an opinion about the Constitutionas did the planter of Virginia and the merchant inCharleston, South Carolina. The information each acquireddiffered based on their participation in the drafting and ratificationof the Constitution. Just as the perception of a footballplayer on the line of scrimmage differs from that of thereferee and of the fan sitting in the bleachers, the frame ofreference of James Madison and other pro-Constitution delegatesdiffered from those of the Anti-Federalists who foughtit.Historians and other social scientists also have a frame ofreference, one based in the present, and informed by newapproaches and methods. They analyze the available evidence

by sorting through it, prioritizing it, distinguishing importantinformation from the less important, and interpreting it.Thus, interpretations of one event change over time, partiallydue to new ways to look at old sources. New sources alsocontribute to new understandings.Popular Sovereignty Popular sovereignty is the conceptthat political power rests with the people who can create,alter, and abolish government. People express themselvesthrough voting and free participation in government.Popular sovereignty is an important characteristic of democraticgovernment.Primary Sources Primary sources are evidenceproduced by someone who participated in an event or livedduring the time being studied. Letters written to a friend ormaps to a friend’s house are both primary sources. Researcherscollect primary sources through conducting surveys, fieldwork, personal interviews, and research in archives.Protective Tariff A protective tariff is a tax on animported product instituted to protect local industries. Thetax increases the price of the import which makes it less appealingto consumers. Tariffs ultimately protect domesticproducts from competition from other countries.Radical Reconstruction Congress After theCivil War Radical Republicans favored harsh treatment ofthe South and quick incorporation of the freemen into citizenshipwith full privileges including voting rights for allAfrican Americans, government seizure of land from plantersfor redistribution to freedmen, and funding of schoolsfor African Americans. They also agreed that ex-Confederateswere traitors and should not be readily accepted intothe union.Even though Radical Republicans were a minority in theCongress, their arguments gained a following. They questionedwhy the Civil War had been fought if the South wasgoing to be allowed to return to its antebellum ways. In 1866and 1867 the radical approach to Reconstruction gained supportand Congress was able to pass the Reconstruction Actof 1867. This marked the beginning of Reconstruction.If southern states hoped to rejoin the Union they had to acceptthe 14th Amendment (the Civil Rights Act of 1866) andthey had to rewrite their constitutions so all adult men wereable to vote. Beginning in 1867 the Freedmen’s Bureauworked to register African-American voters and start schoolsfor African-American children. The southerners were notunited in their opposition to Radical Republican rule. Becausepoorer white farmers were eager to gain some powertraditionally held by the planters, they accepted some of theReconstruction measures. Planters were opposed to mostRadical measures because it limited their ability to controlsociety as they had done for generations. The poorer whitesand planters were united, however, in their opposition tosocial equality and that was a major threat the Radical Reconstruction

posed.The Ku Klux Klan gained support in 1868 from planters andex-Confederates. The KKK initially sought to destroy theRepublican party in the South. Since the recently franchisedAfrican Americans voted Republican, KKK efforts were directedat them. Regardless, throughout the ten years of RadicalReconstruction, African-American legislatures wereelected to Congress and sought southern economic and politicalreform. The Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction.Once federal troops were removed, the enforcementmechanism was gone and southern Democrats returned togovernmental control, displacing the Radical Republicans.Reconstruction (1867-1877) In the post-Civil War period, from 1865 to 1877, the United States confrontedthe problems of re-admitting the southern states toGrade 851the Union and integrating the freed slaves into society. Atthe end of the Civil War northern business was prosperingdue to the increased production required for the war effortand the fact that few battles were fought in that area. In contrastthe south was in ruins. To rebuild national strength, thefederal government supported the reformation of governmentsin the former Confederate states which supported theUnion. Some congressmen believed the South should be furtherpunished for seceding and that Reconstruction shouldrequire the following: voting rights for all African Americans,no voting rights for ex-Confederates, government seizureof land from planters for redistribution to freedmen,and funding of schools for African Americans. Others, includingPresident Abraham Lincoln, believed in a quick healing.When Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, President AndrewJohnson tried to implement similar Reconstruction policies.Yet, many sought the more radical approach. When Congresspassed a Civil Rights Act in 1866 which advocated theradical approach, Johnson vetoed it but Congress overrode.Radical Reconstruction gained support and Congress wasable to pass the Reconstruction Act of 1867. This markedthe beginning of Reconstruction. If southern states hoped torejoin the federal government they had to accept the 14thAmendment (the Civil Rights Act of 1866) and they had torewrite their constitutions so all adult men were able to vote.The emancipation of the slaves left thousands of people withoutwork or income. One of the biggest challenges was creatinga system to give land to freedmen so they could farmand make a living. This system was never developed. Instead,due to disagreements among northern politicians anda lack of interest on the part of southerners, a solution wasnever found.Reconstruction ended when President Rutherford B. Hayespassed the Compromise of 1877 which removed the last ofthe federal troops from the South. When they left, the Reconstruction

governments stopped and southerners regainedpolitical control. These southerners were known as Redeemers.They favored a return to the ways of the antebellum Southincluding a society based on the superiority of white people.Challenges to the unequal treatment of blacks and womenbecame more united during the civil rights movements andpeaked when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed.Reform Movements The second GreatAwakening was a revival of religious faith. As a result, Baptists,Methodists, and Presbyterians realized an increasedsense of confidence in themselves and in the United States.By the 1830s and 1840s women were taking a more activerole in churches and missionary societies in an attempt toshare their good fortune.This work to reform society, orchange it for the better, expanded beyond sharing religionand education with the less fortunate. Reformers sought tochange unfair labor practices, increase nutrition, and improveconditions for the poor, the enslaved, the imprisoned, women,alcoholics, and the disabled. The efforts were often led byupper class men and women from the Northeast.Often unable to effect change, reformers sought refuge intheir own utopian societies, ideal communities where theycould live by their own standards of conduct. The most powerfulreform movements were led by abolitionists and bysuffragists. Abolitionists in the United States sought freedomfor African-American slaves while suffragists soughtequal rights for women, particularly the right to vote. Theseefforts to attain civil rights culminated in the Civil RightsAct of 1964.Removal and Settlement of Native AmericansLand was a valuable commodity in the early 1800s whencotton planters and farmers sought to extend their settlementswest and south. The Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Chickasaw,and Choctaw of the south, and the Sauk and Fox, Chippewas,Ottawa, Potawatomi, Wyandot, Shawnee, and Miami of thenorth were all removed from their native lands and sent toIndian Territory, much of which is in present-day Oklahoma.The removal was not peaceful.The Indians, particularly the Cherokee, attempted to adoptaspects of U.S. society and government. Sequoya, a Cherokee,developed an alphabet. The tribe wrote a constitution,had newspapers and even the Bible in Cherokee. Regardlessof the attempts of Indians to assimilate, President AndrewJackson insisted on the removal of the Indians from the southwest.In 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act whichdesignated public lands in the west for Indian resettlement.In 1832, in response to an appeal by the Cherokee, ChiefJustice John Marshall of the Supreme Court declared that itwas unconstitutional for the state of Georgia to remove thetribe from their land. The ruling was ignored. Many Indiansdid not leave peacefully nor was the going easy once theywere removed. The Cherokee endured the Trail of Tears, travelingduring a harsh winter as refugees.

Representative Government In a representativegovernment, power is held by the people and exercisedthrough the efforts of representatives elected by thosepeople.Republicanism Republicanism is a philosophy oflimited government with elected representatives serving atthe will of the people. Republicanism says that the only legitimategovernment is one based on the consent of the governed.Secondary Sources Secondary sources are descriptionsor interpretations prepared by people who were not involvedin the events described. Researchers often use pri-Grade 852mary sources to understand past events but they produce secondarysources. Secondary sources provide useful groundmaterial and context for information gained from primarysources.Separation of Powers Baron de Montesquieufirst outlined the concept of separating the powers of governmentbetween the executive, legislative, and judicialbranches in The Spirit of the Laws (1748). His ideas influencedthose who proposed the Virginia Plan in the openingdiscussion of the Philadelphia Convention, held in 1787 torevise the Articles of Confederation. Delegates to the conventionmodified the Virginia Plan, merged it with the NewJersey Plan proposed later, defined the three branches, andoutlined their responsibilities and limitations of power in theU.S. Constitution. The branches included the legislativebranch know as “Congress” made up of a “House of Representatives”and a “Senate,” the executive branch known asthe “President,” and the judicial branch known as the “SupremeCourt.”The convention agreed that Congress, which made laws,would consist of an equal number of senators from each stateand a variable number of representatives from each statebased on population. The powers of the legislative branchare outlined in Article I of the U.S. Constitution. The Presidentwould lead the executive branch, which carried out thelaws and ensured their just application. These powers areoutlined in Article II of the U.S. Constitution. The judicialbranch, consisting of all courts of the United States includingthe highest court, the Supreme Court, would interpretand apply the laws, ensuring that they are just. Its powersare outlined in Article III. The delegates to the PhiladelphiaConvention felt this afforded protection to U.S. citizens.In addition this new form of government distributed the powerbetween a central government and the states. The systemwas called federalism.Slave Trade Millions of Africans came to America onslave ships from the 1490s to the 1790s. Of these, about

400,000 were sold into slavery in North America, most arrivingin the 1760s. The Revolutionary War and the subsequentinterest in natural rights decreased support for the trade.Most slaves brought into North America came from the westcoast of Africa, between Senegal in the north and Angola inthe south. Most were captured by other Africans and sold todealers on the coast. Slave markets in Charleston, SouthCarolina, and Newport, Rhode Island, and other port citiesprospered during the 1700s. In 1774 the Continental Congressurged states to abolish the slave trade and most supportedthe request. Several northern states either abolishedslavery completely or emancipated slaves over a period oftime. Some planters in the south even freed slaves. By 1790all states except South Carolina and Georgia outlawed thetrade. In 1787 during the Constitutional Convention, delegatesagreed that the slave trade would not end for 20 moreyears. On January 1, 1808, Congress officially ended the internationalslave trade. Internal trade continued and increasedfrom 1830 to 1860 as slaves from upper southern states weresold south and west to satisfy the need of planters movingwest. Efforts to stop the trade within the south arose from afear of slave insurrection and less from humanitarian purposes.Tariff Policies Governments raise operatingfunds by levying tariffs or taxes on imported goods. Tariffsplace foreign merchants at a disadvantage, making their goodsmore expensive than domestic (American-made) products.Generally, northern businessmen favored tariffs because thetaxes offered some protection from foreign competition.Southern agriculturists opposed tariffs because they weremore dependent on foreign goods. Because they sold mostof their cotton to foreign merchants, southern cotton growershad foreign credit which they had to use to purchase higherpriced foreign goods.Tariffs imposed on certain domestic goods also caused unrest.In 1794 Alexander Hamilton favored taxing whiskey togenerate needed revenue. Farmers in western Pennsylvaniawho distilled their corn into whiskey were angered by thetax because they considered it unfair. They refused to paythe tax. In a show of force, federal troops marched to westernPennsylvania to overthrow the Whiskey Rebellion. Bythe time they arrived, the angry farmers had disbanded, butthe incident proved that the government would enforce laws.Thematic Maps A thematic map is a map whichdemonstrates a particular feature or a single item of interest.For instance, thematic maps can show spatial distributionsof population, religion, or cattle production. Four types ofthematic maps are:Dot mapsChoropleth mapsProportional symbol mapsIsoline mapsU.S. Constitution A constitution is a document thatoutlines the powers of government. One of the foundationsof the American system of government is the use of a written

constitution defining the values and principles of governmentand establishing the limits of power. The U.S. Constitutionevolved from the Articles of Confederation, adoptedin 1781. The Articles established a national congress with alimited number of powers including the authority to makelaws and enter into treaties with other nations. By 1787 anew system was needed as states were acting independently,and Congress lacked the power to tax, regulate trade, or controlcoinage, issues critical for the survival of a new nationof united states.Grade 853Congress announced a call for delegates to a convention “forthe sole and express purpose of revising” the Articles ofConfederation. The Philadelphia Convention began in thePennsylvania State House, now called Independence Hall,on May 25, 1787. Fifty-five delegates from 12 of the 13 statesparticipated. The more daring quickly overstepped the intendedgoal of the convention by proposing plans to replacethe old Articles.James Madison formulated many of the ideas included inthe Constitution and is known as the “Father of the Constitution.”He proposed that the U.S. government be organizedin three branches: a legislative branch (Congress), an executivebranch (the President) and a judicial branch (SupremeCourt). The “Great Compromise” related to representationof states in the federal government. Delegates engaged inheated debate but finally agreed that legislative power shouldrest in a two-house Congress, the House of Representativesincluding delegates from each state based on population, andthe Senate including an equal number of elected delegatesfrom each state. Article II outlined the executive departmentand the powers of the President within that branch. This newform of government distributed the power between a centralgovernment and the states, a system called federalism.Other compromises made during the drafting process includedthe establishment of an Electoral College to elect thepresident indirectly instead of by direct election, and the“three-fifths compromise” which counted slaves as threefifthsof a person when apportioning direct taxes or countingrepresentation in the House of Representatives. Another compromiserelated to the slave trade which the convention agreedto end in 1807.Article VII, Ratification of the Constitution, outlined the processwhich required nine states to approve the U.S. Constitution.The process fostered one of the great debates of Americanhistory. The Federalists, who favored a strong centralgovernment, supported the Constitution while the Anti-Federalistsfavored states’ rights and the protection of individualrights through a Bill of Rights. They opposed ratification.Madison worked with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay towrite The Federalist calling for ratification. Delegates electedto state conventions determined the outcome. The first nine

states approved the constitution between December 1787 andJune 1788. The last four states ratified out of fear of exclusion,believing they could not exist separate from the union.Rhode Island was the last to ratify in May 1790.The Framers of the Constitution understood that societywould change over time, and made provisions for amendmentsto be formally proposed and ratified by both the stateand federal governments. In the last 200 years, there havebeen 27 amendments to the Constitution, including the Billof Rights. Informal amendments to the Constitution keepthe government up-to-date without formal modifications tothe document, such as Court decisions (Roe v. Wade), legislation(commerce laws), executive actions (the President’scabinet), and customs (Democrat/Republican parties).Article V, The Process of Amendment, outlines the ways tokeep the Constitution current. The first Congress proposedthe Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments, which protectedbasic human rights and freedoms. This pleased Anti-Federalistswho felt the original document did not extend adequateprotection. The power of judicial review, first assumed bythe U.S. Supreme Court in Marbury v. Madison, allows thefederal judicial branch to rule on issues of constitutional lawincluding civil liberties, suspect’s rights, equality, women’srights, minority rights, foreign policy, and constitutionalchange. Through the process of amendment and judicial review,the Constitution is adapted to the needs of each generationof Americans.Unalienable (Inalienable) Rights Unalienablerights are fundamental rights or natural rights guaranteed topeople naturally instead of by the law. The Declaration ofIndependence equated natural rights with several truths, “thatall men are created equal, that they are endowed by theirCreator with certain unalienable rights; that among these arelife, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The phrase “unalienablerights” was also used in the Virginia Declarationof Rights. Other rights are guaranteed in the Bill of Rights,the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution.Virginia House of Burgesses Created in1619, the House of Burgesses was an assembly of electedrepresentatives from the Virginia colony. It was the first representativeassembly in the colonies, and it was used as amodel by other colonies. The House of Burgesses met inWilliamsburg, Virginia, throughout the colonial period.War of 1812 Often described as the Second War for Independence,the War of 1812 resulted from the need to protectand further the republican experiment in the United Statesthrough an effort to make European powers respect U.S.policies. The United States was drawn into the War of 1812because of economic ties to the warring nations of GreatBritain and France. These two nations paid little attention tothe rights of the United States to trade and the rights of its

citizens to remain neutral in the war. As the British foughtthe French in the Napoleonic Wars, both committed maritimeoffenses against the U.S., slowing trade, indiscriminatelyseizing U.S. ships, and impressing Americans to serve in theirforces. The economy of the United States suffered due toself-imposed restrictions on trade with Great Britain andFrance, enacted by President Thomas Jefferson in the Embargoof 1807 and by President James Madison in the Non-Intercourse Act of 1809. In the western territories, settlersGrade 854blamed the British for the problems with the Native Americans.President James Madison asked the U.S. Congress to declarewar on Great Britain and it did so on June 18, 1812.The three main reasons for war included: the impressmentof U.S. sailors, violations of U.S. rights at sea, and Britishsupport of Native American opposition to colonial settlement.In 1812 and 1813, the United States attempted to seize Canadaas part of the strategy to reduce the dominance of Great Britainand force the nation to recognize the United States andabide by its foreign policies.After the defeat of Napoleon in mid-1814, the British becamemore aggressive toward the United States. The Britishinvaded several ports and set fire to government buildings,including the White House in Washington, D.C., in reprisalfor the raids in Canada. The Treaty of Ghent, signed in lateDecember 1814, ended the war. The famous Battle of NewOrleans occurred two weeks later on January 8, 1815. AndrewJackson won public recognition for defending the cityfrom the superior forces of the British. He was elected andserved two terms as President of the United States from 1829to 1837.Washington’s Farewell Address In 1796George Washington decided not to pursue a third term aspresident of the United States, thereby allowing the electionof a successor. His farewell address to his cabinet, deliveredon September 17, was published in a Philadelphia newspaperon September 19. In it, he stressed three dangers facingthe nation. The first related to the rise of political partieswhich he believed could divide Americans and destroy thecooperation needed in government. The second was sectionalism,or political divisions based on geographic loyalties.The third was the involvement in European rivalriesthat repeatedly drove those nations to war. The last served asa cornerstone of American foreign policy until this country’sinvolvement in World War I. He also supported the preservationof religion and morality as “the great pillars of humanhappiness” and educational institutions for the “general diffusionof knowledge.”