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Summary Edexcel A Level Politics notes on US history
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Revision notes on the history of the US for Edexcel Politics Paper 3 comparative politics
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US historical events1) Columbus + the founding of the New World
- Columbus was commissioned by the Spanish monarchy + aimed to find a more direct sailing
route to Asia; he landed in the West Indies (in the Caribbean) in 1492
- Spain/France/the Netherlands/England all sent their own explorers
- The French settled in Canada + the valleys of the St. Lawrence/Ohio/Mississippi/Alabama
rivers, French Guiana (northeast coast of South America), some Caribbean islands
- The Spanish settled in Mexico, most of Central/South America, several Caribbean islands,
what are now known as Florida, California, + the Southwest
- The British settled on the east coast: the 13 colonies developed into the 13 states
2) Mayflower and the Pilgrim Fathers
- Pilgrims/Pilgrim Fathers = English settlers who travelled on the Mayflower ship to America +
created the Plymouth Colony (in Plymouth, Massachusetts)
- They were Brownists (= Protestants who separated from the CofE in the 17th/18th
C.)/Separatist Puritans who left England in the 17th C. due to religious persecution +
had been living in Holland
- While travelling the pilgrims signed the ‘Mayflower Compact’: agreement that
established a loose government where every member of the group would contribute
to maintaining the settlement
3) Road to revolution
- The 13 colonies wanted independence from British rule because they weren’t able to govern
themselves (so couldn’t make their own laws) + weren’t represented in the British government
(“no taxation without representation”), had to pay high taxes imposed on them by the King
(which didn’t apply to Britain) e.g. 1773 Tea Act (removed tax on tea entering Britain but left a
similar tax on tea entering the colonies), were forced to shelter British soldiers in their homes
4) The American Revolution and Founding Fathers
- War started April 1775; the colonies fought + defeated the British army in order to declare
independence from British rule
- Founding Fathers = the men who led the Revolutionary War + produced the US Constitution:
most famous were John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Thomas
Jefferson, James Madison, George Washington
5) Creation of the USA
- The 13 colonies won the Revolutionary War then signed the Declaration of Independence on
4th July 1776 (recognised the colonies as independent, sovereign states)
- Colonies created the Articles of Confederation (1st constitution: recognised the Continental
Congress + gave it power to lead the war against Britain/conduct diplomacy/manage territorial
issues) in 1781; the colonies became the states when they had each ratified the Constitution
- Shay’s Rebellion (1787): men attempted to capture weapons at an armoury in Springfield
Massachusetts (in opposition to high taxes imposed by the state to pay off war debts);
defeated but caused many to question the Articles of Confederation (i.e whether a stronger
federal govt was needed) + led to Philadelphia Convention in 1787 (55 delegates/“Founding
Fathers” met to produce a new constitution for the states
- Peace talks started between the Americans + the British in 1782: John Adams, Benjamin
Franklin, + John Jay represented America
6) Early Federalism
= collection of 85 articles/essays written to promote the ratification of the Constitution
- Written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, + John Jay (using a collective pseudonym
‘Publius’)
- Contained discussions of how a republican government would operate according to the
Constitution which had been drafted in 1787 + arguments against including a Bill of Rights in
, this Constitution (b/c Hamilton argued it could lead to American citizens being denied any
rights except the ones explicitly included in the Bill)
7) Manifest Destiny
= belief in the 1800s that American settlers were destined to expand across North America + remake
the West of America in the image of the East (which had already been colonised)
- Louisiana Purchase in 1803 (US paid $15 million to France for control of the territory of
Louisiana) doubled the size of its land; the US also made treaties with Spain + Britain in order
to take control of their territories as well
- Congress must pass a law to create a new state
8) Road to US Civil War
- Clear geographical divide had developed between the states: northern states had become
more industrialised/urbanised + were no longer dependent on slavery for economic prosperity
so gradually phased it out, southern states remained more agriculture-based so had large
plantations reliant upon slave labour
- Divide in opinion caused issues when new states began to be admitted: should they be free
states or slave states (concerned both sides because more states meant more votes in
Congress, so slave states could end up with greater power as slaves were counted as ⅗ of a
person when allocating seats by population in the House of Representatives)
- 1820 Missouri Compromise: there were 11 slave states + 11 free states, but Missouri was
about to become a slave state (would have tipped the balance in Congress); as a
compromise slavery was banned from territory north of the 36th parallel + Maine was also
admitted as a free state
- States’ rights: southern states wanted to maintain authority over the federal government so
they could abolish federal laws that they didn't support (especially laws interfering with their
right to own slaves)
- Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854): created the territories of Kansas + Nebraska, introduced
‘popular sovereignty’ to these states (they were able to decide whether their state
constitutions outlawed or permitted slavery), + repealed the Missouri Compromise; led to
‘Bleeding Kansas’ (violent uprising by both sides in response to the Act)
- 1860 Presidential Election: northern states supported Abraham Lincoln (Republican - party
had repeatedly stood against slavery so didn’t receive any southern electoral college vote),
support from southern states split between John C. Breckinridge (Southern Democrat)/John
Bell (Constitutional Union)/Stephen A. Douglas (Democrat); Lincoln won (w/o any southern
support) which concerned southern states
9) Events in the Civil War
- 7 states (South Carolina/Mississippi/Florida/Alabama/Georgia/Louisiana//Texas) seceded
(removed themselves) from the union to create the ‘Confederate States of America’
- 8th February 1861: Confederacy attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina; Pres. Lincoln sent
troops in response; Virginia/North Carolina/Tennessee/Arkansas seceded from the union;
Civil War began (1861-1865)
- 1st January 1863: Pres. Lincoln issued the ‘Emancipation Proclamation’: states that “all
persons held as slaves” within the states that had seceded “are, and henceforth shall be free”
+ that black man can serve in the Union army
- 9th April 1865: Commander of the Confederate Army surrendered
- 14th April 1865: Pres. Lincoln shot (died the next day)
- 26th May 1865: military convention which surrendered Confederate forces was signed;
usually considered to be the end of the Civil War
10) Post Civil War
- Reconstruction era (1865-1877): aimed to rebuild the US after the Civil War (incl. reintegrating
the Confederacy + removing economic dependency on slavery: slavery was abolished, the
‘Reconstruction Amendments’ (13th, 14th, 15th Amendments) added to the Constitution
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