American History Lectures

• The first inhabitants arrived in North America around 35,000 years ago, travelling from Asia by foot as the two continents were still connected.
• It took the first people around 25,000 years to reach South America, where most of them settled, with only a few remaining in the north.
• The first native inhabitants scattered all over the area and had different languages and cultures
• As first people moved south, they developed three great civilisations: the Aztecs, the Mayans and the Incas (mex,cent,south)
• The next people to come to America were Vikings, circa 1000 AD, the only people who dared to go this far. A settlement was set up by Leif Ericsson, went back because they didn't get along with the natives.
• Around 1000 AD, Europeans were going on crusades because they were piss poor and underdeveloped so they wanted to steal and win others' riches. Only after that they understood the importance of trade and sought to find safer route to India
• Columbus lands on Bahamas in 1492
• 1607-1733: the first 13 colonies

  -Southern colonies: Georgia, South and North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland

  -The New England colonies: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode

  Island

  -The Middle Colonies: Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware
• Poor people got to America by signing indenture contracts: the earnings of their first few years went to the captain of their ship to pay off the journey. People on indentures would spend these few years working on plantations and then go do their own thing.
• 1619 - indentured servants arrived from Africa, but were never freed from indenture. Black people were easy to enslave for the whites:

  no common language, easy to spot after escaping, and they weren't Christians, so they were not protected by the law.
• 1765-the Quartering Act - the colonists should provide for the army (quarters, food, salary). Still no parliament representation.
• The Stamp Act- tax on all printed legal documents in America. Colonists were okay with paying taxes to their local governments, but not to Britain. They stopped paying the taxes and buying British goods. The two acts were withdrawn. More dumbshit taxes, anger in the colonies.
• March 5, 1770 - The Boston Massacre - 5 people were killed by soldiers collecting taxes. Most taxes except tea tax got withdrawn.
• Colonists started buying tea from smugglers and boycotted tea transports because of tea tax
• 1773 Boston Tea Party - colonists dressed as natives, dumped 342 chests of tea belonging to East India Company into the sea.
• 1770 Boston Massacre and 1773 Boston Tea Party were 2 sparks that led to the revolution. The colonists only wanted equal treatment at first
• The minutemen: ready to fight and govern within a minute. They were prepared to fight for equal treatment and were trained with guns
• 1774: The First Continental Congress: the colonists met to discuss the problems with Great Britain. No conlcusions made but colonies started to work together
• April 19th, 1775: battle of Lexington: British soldiers in Boston found out about supplies stored by the minutemen in Concord. They were attacked by the minutemen. The battle that started the revolution.
• In the beginning of revolution colonists were divided into 3 groups: loyalists (loyal to the crown), patriots (wanted independence) -the not interested (boring) people
• During the revolution, British soldiers were called redcoats because of their uniforms that made them easy to spot. The colonists learned from the Indians to hide and wear masking colours.
• Treaty of Paris, 1783

  The peace negotiations between colonists and brits were long, the peace treaty was signed 2 years after the final battle
• 1775: the second Continental Congress, in Philadelphia

  3 important announcements -it was now the official government of the 13 colonies. the army of minutemen and colonists was now the official American army, with George Washington as commander. Colonies started to print their own money
• Declaration of Independence 4th July 1776, first signed by John Hancock. It consisted of 3 parts: why the states need to break away, what the British have done wrong and cutting their connections.
• The Articles of Confederation: the first thing resembling a law system in America, including the Northwest Ordinance.
• Problems after the revolution:

  army,money, Brits in Canada, Natives, repaying money to the French
• September 17, 1787 the Constitution -country made from scratch.
• The problem of representation in the US government: equal representation or based on the state’s population?

  The Great Compromise: Congress consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate has 2 senators per state, the representation in the House of Representatives is proportional to the population
• Basic ideas of government in the constitution:

  limited power, leaders chosen by the people

  Federal government: power divided between the national and the state government into 3 main branches that keep one another in check

  Legislative: the Congress

  Executive: the President

  Judicial: the Supreme Court
• 1789, George Washington was elected. Washington's cabinet consisted of 4 departments: State, War, Treasury, and Foreign affairs.
• Washington DC was built in 1800 to be the capital, it was no longer a part of Virginia
• The first political parties formed, Washington wanted the cabinet to be full of people of different points of view, because they disagreed, creating more ideas.

  Thomas Jefferson - the Republicans. (poor people) rule of everyone

  Alexander Hamilton - the Federalists. (merchants etc) rule of the rich
• (john adams) Alien Act: people who came from other countries and weren’t citizens yet, The act would deprive newcomers from voting rights for republicans who would give them rights
• The Sedition Act: criticizing the president could be punished with fine or imprisonment - took away freedom of speech, it was against constitution. Led to federalists losing power
• Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions: a state doesn’t have to obey a law if it is unconstitutional.
• 1801: Thomas Jefferson becomes the president, embargo on american ships during french-spanish war
• Napoleon sold Louisiana for 15$ million to the US in 1803. It was a huge and resource rich plot of land. USA doubled in size. Expdeitions westwards to strengthen claims of Oregon
• 1810, Jefferson took florida by force saying that it was a part of the Louisiana Purchase. The rest of Florida was still Spanish so they sold it in 1819.
• the war of 1812 / Second War for Independence. 1812 to 1815

  No winner or loser. Americans proved capable of defending themselves against anyone
• Panic of 1819 - banks realised that they lent a lot of money to people and demanded it back in short notice.