exam one notes

HISTORY EXAM ONE The Seven Central Themes of American Life What defines a nation? -ancient history that recedes into myth -ethnicity -religion -language -What binds America is our ideas -Central themes of American life are the ideas that have defined our civilization The Central Themes Equality Freedom Individualism Social Mobility The melting pot Democracy Mission Equality -Jefferson in the declaration ?All men created equal? -What kinds of equality do we believe in? -Who is entitled to equality? ?All men?? women? Races? Who is entitled to the equality? Freedom -How did we come to believe in freedom? -How do we define freedom? ? Freedom from something, freedom to do something -does freedom require less government or more? Large government can make us freer Circumstances leading to freedom -natural selection of immigrants -openness and availability of land -distance from old world authority -new and weak institutional authority -reality of rough kind of authority Harder to control one another Individualism -Traditional idea of man in society- individual is basic of society -an asocial social idea -what are the problems of individualism? Must be able to achieve ?good life? on your own, not depending on someone else The Self Made Man -does social mobility require inequality? Hierchy, get ahead of people -Is anyone really self made? - People get help The Melting Pot -Israel Zangwill?s play- 1908 -Melting pot -Tossed salad- you still know who everyone (multiculturalism) is -cultural domination Who came first? Some say English, expected others to adapt Democracy -the people are sovereign0 each is entitled to their shaping of society -who are the people? -a national purpose? Example of democracy and spreading it Mission -John Winthrop (1630) ?city upon a hill? -Alexander Hamilton (1787) ? governed by reason -Manifest Destiny (1840?s) -Abraham Lincoln (1860?s) - we can?t do it, not one can -America imperialism- (1890?s) -Woodrow Wilson (WW1) -FDR (1930?s) -Cold war -World policeman THE UNAMERICAN ORGINS OF AMERICAN LIFE (PART ONE) -Primary settlements- New England and Chesapeake area?s General Characteristics of Colonial Society -essentially medieval (pre- industrial) Lot of energy went into surviving -small -personal ?face to face society? You knew everyone totally -Local- concerns revolved around your family, neighbors and towns -conservative Re-create society in England Three Central Ideas -stability They didn?t want constant change -order Society without conflict Each person knew his place and kept his place -Unity Saw society as integrated whole Functioned with a definite purpose and each person was subordinate to the whole Five Fundamental Elements of Colonial Society -Hierchy -Household -Government -economy -church Hierchy -absolutely essential to maintaining order in society -God made unequal -Chaos will reign if you have equality -Not a class system -Deference- do what someone else does or what they ask you to do because they are better than you -Sumptuary laws- laws passed in New England that regulated how people could dress -Marriage Patterns- marry at appropriate station. Not above, not below -Harvard Freshman were ranked by their social standings -Church seating?s- divided by gender, your status in community decided where you sat in church Household -Nuclear Family Parents and children -Apprentices Young boys learning a trade with the head of the house (father) -Servants -Laborers -?Help? Children of other people living with a family besides their own- education, discipline -Father- head of house- discipline and educate everyone in the house Women were under him, just like servants and children -Family was responsible for the actions in society Father could be punished for any transgressions -Punishment for being disobedient child was death -adultery= death -education was given at home 85% of men could read About 50% of women could read Colonial New England was most literate place on earth -Religion- father made sure everyone had salvation Government -neither liberal or democratic -very little concerns of rights of man or protection of the individual -welfare of whole, community -didn?t believe in democracy If they people are governors, who shall be governed? -refused to tolerate differences Policy called ?warning out? -only church members could vote -didn?t believe in majority rule -Believed in consensus- manipulate and encourage until everyone agreed, then they would vote -Government- was an institution of leadership, discipline and coercion -There to reinforce every other element in society -Hierchy- government realized people were superior Land allotments- gave more to the rich than the poor to maintain status Sumptuary laws- who could wear certain things -Family- maintain integrity Adultery Fortification- sex before marriage Bastardy- outcome of sex before marriage -Church Non-conformity- not believing what the church tells you Sabbath breaking Profanity Drunkenness Economy -Society?s Purpose Stable and harmonious social order Christian salvation of souls Equilibrium model Basic amount of wealth in world was fixed Guy can?t get rich without making someone else poor -?Just wages and prices? Buying cheap, selling it for a profit (didn?t want social mobility) -?Forestalling? -?Engrossing? -Reject Mobility? Religion -Who were the Puritans? Protestant Reformation in England (1530?s) Anglican Church Nature of Puritan Faith- predestination, went by scripture Puritan Persecution and migration (1629-1640) -Separation of church and state- no one believed in it, but the Puritans were different -Toleration -Puritan Mission- believe they had a covenant with God- Be an example and God would reward them Southern Differences -Hierchy- same way as New England, but in Virginia, it was more extreme -Household- Virginia was not settled by families, was settled by men, families were fragile because life was fragile -Government- focused on county, wasn?t clustered -Economy- some beliefs, Virginia had tobacco -Religion- united with sate, Anglican THE TRANSFORMING OF COLONIAL SOCIETY Major forces for change -open land -population increase Grew at 3% a year -Weak Authority Chief sources were in England Authority in the colonies were brand new -decline of Utopian Christian spirit -selective nature of immigration Younger Hierchy -Origins of Americans Ranks in English Society Royalty Gentry- land owners Yeomen- works his own land Husbandmen- rents land Laborers -Free land and lack of laborers -Geographic mobility -outside authority Household -parental control Undermined by land availability -parental duties decline -education moves to formal institutions Schools -land itself new Community -population increase Towns expanded -spread out on land Some live far from central church -division of towns Create new churches and towns -later pressure on land (Southern colonies different) Government (becomes more democratic) -need to attract settlers Had to create incentives (land) -need to form consensus without coercive authority -need to unify on a racial basis VA- black slaves, white poor Economy -scarcity of labor Have more to offer than the ?set wage? -increasing involvement in overseas markets -weak colonial authority and enforcement -decline of utopian Christian spirit Church -loss of unity (population growth and distance) People began to move away from the church -Decline of utopian Christian spirit Had to prove that they were one of the ?elect? but their children were not doing it ? weren?t doing church members Said if parents were members and you were in good standing, you were a ?half way member? -rationalism of 18th century Age of enlightenment People begin to test what they really know Growth of the unchurched Not under the control of the church Fear of Decline -God?s punishment (Jeremiads) Sermons that said they had fallen away -Fear of provincialism Southern colonies though they were inferior to New England colonies 18th century change -Growth (colonies and population) - natural increase Expanded- new colonies -Immigration (diversity) Germans (100,000) Scotch-Irish (200,000) African Slaves -Settlements of the back country Cut off, distant from authority Great Awakening- Revival of the spirit of religion -1735-1745 Greater toleration Ministers had gone to college Religion of heart, spirit, and passion -Jonathan Edwards Had revivals, began it -George Whitfield British minister, converted people -Gilbert Tennat ?Native American?- wandered around -James Davenport Weird, brought it to an end -Consequences Churches split into ?new light? and ?old light? new=more spiritual, old=went along with what they were doing before Intensifies religious consciousness Reduces status of clergy Made toleration and religious freedom more likely- churches were already fragmented Fragments social and political life Promotes anti-intellectualism= going to Harvard or Yale did not make you a better preacher Promotes anti-authoritarism Encourages laymen to make choice of allegiance Americanization -increasing opportunity and choice -diversity and choice -toward equality -toward freedom -toward individualism Colonists did not see these things as good things ENGLAND AND THE COLONIES The colonies -From private to royal control Did not try to control colonies Were grants of land to English men Over time, they feel under control of English Government -interests were subordinate to England Not the same as the mother country Mercantilism -the nature of mercantilism Economic prosperity came from proper control of foreign trade Favorable trade- export more than import Colonies provide things so you don?t have to purchase them for enemies and could buy from mother country The Navigation Acts -series of laws passed by Parliament that regulated and controlled trade Designed to make sure colonies were a benefit to the mother country English Ships with 2/3 Englishmen Enumerated goods go to England Colonial imports had to come thru England first -Wars- military and economic English rival: Dutch (early 17th) English rival: France (middle 17th) Salutary neglect Good neglect British government did not pay much attention to colonies After the Seven Years War -great War debt -decision to have British troops remain -Conflict during war Hard feelings between British and colonies Colonies were trading with the enemy -War to protect colonies British thought since it started in colonies, it was to protect the colonies Colonies now owed Britain -end of salutary neglect THE COMING OF THE REVOLUTION Triggering events -Proclamation of 1763 Banned settlement beyond a certain point (proclamation line) Don?t want another war if they move further -sugar act 1764 End of salutary neglect Raised duties Tax on molasses -Stamp act of 1765 Tax laid by Parliament on legal things Direct internal tax by parliament for revenue Collected in colonies -Declaratory act of 1766 Take stamp act back Declared Parliament had the right to tax -Townshend Duties- 1767 Taxes on glass, paint, paper, tea and lead Take the money from these taxes to pay salaries of royal people in America Colonist boycotted -in 1768, British authorizes troops to come into city to maintain order in colonies Colonists believed that this was the plan all along -Boston Massacre- 1770 Colonists hit troops with snowballs and rocks- troops shoot, killing 5 colonists -Tea Act of 1763 Give British East India Company a monopoly on tea in the colonies Cheap tea, cheaper than smuggled tea from the Dutch Sons of liberty- threw all tea in water when it came (Boston Tea Party) -Coercive Acts 1174 Series of acts for different places Continental Congress- colonies sent representatives for one meeting How were these events perceived? -Real oppression- the ay the colonists received economic oppression after years of neglect -unnecessary revolt -Parent child analogy- colonies wanted to be independent -Fear of conspiracy- idea that colonist and British had- what was on the surface was not really real Why the need for an intellectual explanation? -Lack of oppression- colonies were richest in the world; all taxes were rescinded by 1776 -Fears appear real- believed the king was tyrannizing them Power v. Liberty -power was the possession of government, liberty was in possession of people -power=aggressive liberty=passive -power trying to destroy liberty -Standing armies- army that existed in time of peace -liberty in trouble everywhere -Britain begins to succumb No longer the same as they were before -They (the colonies) came to believe that they were not just British, but a ?purer, freer? England Origins of Colonial Thought -English revolution -English opposition though of the early 18th century -fully formed and pervasive in America in 1730 Most colonists though this Colonists were set to believe these by 1760?s Why Powerful in America but not England? -No stability- politics in America, unstable- Governors and Assemblies- conflict -Swollen Claims and shrunken powers -Government more important in America- American government had lots to do with life (everyday) -ideas and experience consistent What were the consequences of this world view? -American situation seen in a new light -reformulated ideas about America -New shape of society and Government