US History Questions and Solutions

Alexander Hamilton

B. SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS (10 Points each):

1.What made the English settlement of New England distinctive? How did it differ from English settlements in Virginia, or French settlements in Canada?

2.Compare and contrast American Indian societies and British colonial societies.  What were the biggest sources of conflict between them?

3.The Puritans came to the colonies to escape religious persecution, but they were extremely intolerant of other beliefs.  How did Puritans view other groups, such as Quakers, Indians, or French Catholics?

4.How did slavery take root in the New World? Where did it flourish, and how did it develop in the English colonies of North America?

5.How did the Glorious Revolution impact the colonies?  How did the colonists respond to these upheavals in England?  What were the political legacies of it?

6. What was the impact of the Seven Years’ War on English-American colonial relations?  How did it prompt the British to change its policies toward its American colonies?

7.What was the source of American resistance to British policies in the late 1760s and early 1770s?  On what basis did American feel resistance was justified?

8.What impact did the American Revolution have on the institution of slavery in the colonies?  Were slaves more supportive of the British Loyalists or the revolutionary Patriots?  Why?

9.What were the main factors that enabled the Americans to win the War of Independence?  Explain the two or three most important elements that led to America’s victory.

10. Which Americans believed a stronger central government was needed and why?  What were the compromises they made in writing the Constitution?

11.What were the first two political parties in the new republic in the 1790s?  Who led each, and how did the two parties differ?

 

My Solution to some of the problems

Boston massacre

It was a clash between the colonist and the British army in the streets of Boston in 1770 in which some revolutionary protestors provoked British soldiers to fire at them and they were killed. It was propaganda for discontent to gain support for the revolution against the Governor Bernard just after the liberty riot. Just five people were killed and eleven wounded during the clash but the angry colonists exaggerated it infuriate the locals and make the British look bad. Crispus Attucks, a 47-year old free black sailor was killed in the Boston massacre. The British Soldiers involved were later tried but the only two convicted were later pardoned. This led the British to withdraw their troops from Boston.

Thomas Paine

He was an English radical propagandist and the voice of

the common man who wrote “Common Sense” in 1776. He preached freedom and equality for all men and was totally anti-monarchy. He was the major factor in pushing America towards the revolution. He lived in Pennsylvania where he worked as a journalist for the Pennsylvania magazine where he contributed articles on many topics.  After America gained independence, he played no part in establishing the Republic.  He moved to Europe and spent most of his time between France and Britain in search of financial support for his personal projects. He later assumed his work as a propagandist in Britain but he was condemned as an outlaw and forced out of Britain. He later became a French citizen and elected to the National convention.

Quakerism

It is a sect of Christianity that evolved in the 1600s. It was the religious Society of Friends and they were largely settled in Pennsylvania. William Penn, an English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher and the founder of the province of Pennsylvania was one of the popular Quakers.  The ideas of Quakers about equality, human dignity were influential on the founding fathers of America.  Quakers played major roles in the establishment of banks and other financial services. They didn’t take part in many movements such as ant-slavery or prison reform movement and they do not have respect for authority. Quakers like to dress in plain dress.

Mercantilism

It was an economy theory that guided European nation-states and their colonies during the early European colonization of America. Its objective was to strengthen the nation-state by making the economy serve its interests. According to the theory, the world’s wealth, measure in gold and silver, could never be increased. As a result, each nation’s economic objective must be to secure as much of the world’s wealth as possible. One nation’s gain was necessarily another’s loss. Colonies were to provide raw materials and markets for manufactured goods for the mother country. National competition for colonies and markets was not only about economics but also about politics and diplomacy. The nation’s strength would depend on its ability to dominate international trade.

Bacon’s Rebellion

Bacon’s Rebellion was led by Nathaniel Bacon, a well educated elite and a wealthy young man who was a member of a prominent family invited by Governor Berkeley to join the colony’s Council of State in Virginia. The revolt was triggered in 1676 due to violence on the middle ground inhabited by Indians and Europeans. Berkeley was not willing to fight the Indians when they attacked the Europeans, Europeans revolted that Berkeley is misappropriating their taxes and failed to police the frontier. The people claimed Berkeley was more a friend of the Indians than to the English and Bacon used the advantage of the people’s discontent to wage war against the governor to pursue his personal ambition of becoming the new governor. Bacon said it was the will of the people for him to be the governor. Berkeley fled to the eastern shore and Bacon came into control but Bacon died before the arrival of a commission of British army sent to put order in place. Berkeley regained control but was later removed from office by the king.

First Amendment

The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.

Battle of Guilford Courthouse

It was a battle fought on 15 March 1781 in Greensboro between the American army led by General Nathanael Greene and the British soldiers led by Lord Cornwallis during the American revolutionary war.  The battle lasted for only 90 minutes and even thought British soldiers defeated the American army, they were lot of British soldiers lost in the fight. Cornwallis then decided to pull out of North Carolina and go back to Virginia. He ordered a withdraw after successfully winning over Charlottesville but it was too late for him to escape when the French attacked and defeated Cornwallis and the British fleet surrendered at Yorktown. 

Puritanism

Puritanism started in the sixteenth century as a movement to reform the Church of England. Puritans believe in free will and predestination, and other basic concepts. The Puritans saw God as the awesome Father-God of the Old Testament and emphasized His majesty, righteousness, and control of the universe to achieve His just ends. God’s maintaining and directing everything in the universe is God’s Providence.  Some Puritan “heresies”   include Arminiamis- the belief that practitioners of good works earn salvation and Antinomianism- the believe that God speaks directly to the saved.

Anti-Federalists

Anti-Federalism refers to a movement that opposed the creation of a stronger U.S. federal government and which later opposed the ratification of the Constitution of 1787. The previous constitution, called the Articles of Confederation, gave state governments more authority. Led by Patrick Henry of Virginia, Anti-Federalists worried, among other things, that the position of president, then a novelty, might evolve into a monarchy. The Anti-Federalists did not want to ratify the Constitution. Basically, they argue that:

• It gave too much power to the national government at the expense of the state governments.
• There was no bill of rights.
• The national government could maintain an army in peacetime.
• Congress, because of the `necessary and proper clause,’ wielded too much power.
• The executive branch held too much power.

Of these complaints, the lack of a bill of rights was the most effective. The American people had just fought a war to defend their rights, and they did not want an intimidating national government taking those rights away again. The lack of a bill of rights was the focus of the Anti-Federalist campaign against ratification.

Alexander Hamilton

He was a Founding Father, soldier, economist, political philosopher, one of America’s first constitutional lawyers and the first United States Secretary of the Treasury. As Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton was the primary author of the economic policies of the George Washington Administration, especially the funding of the state debts by the Federal government, the establishment of a national bank, a system of tariffs, and friendly trade relations with Britain. He is the founder of the Bank of New York. When Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr tied in the electoral college, Hamilton helped defeat his bitter personal enemy Burr and elect Jefferson as president. In 1804, as the next presidential election approached, Hamilton again opposed the candidacy of Burr. Taking offense at some of Hamilton’s comments, Burr challenged him to a duel and mortally wounded Hamilton, who died within days.

Articles of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation was an agreement among the 13 founding states that legally established the United States of America as a confederation of sovereign states and served as its first constitution. It was drafted by the Continental Congress  and was formally ratified by all 13 states in 1781. The Articles gave legitimacy to the Continental Congress to direct the American Revolutionary War, conduct diplomacy with Europe and deal with territorial issues and Indian relations. Nevertheless, the structural weaknesses became a matter of concern for leaders in every state and in 1789 it was replaced with the U.S. Constitution which allowed for a much stronger national government, with a president, courts, and taxing powers.

Enlightenment

The Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in Church and state. The effort to discover the natural laws which governed the universe led to scientific, political and social advances. Some Enlightenment thinkers are Benjamin Franklin, Isaac Newton, and John Locke.

King Philip’s War

It was an armed conflict between Native Americans and English colonists and their Native American allies in 1675–76. The war is named after the main leader of the Native American side, Metacomet, known to the English as “King Philip”. Major Benjamin Church emerged as the Puritan hero of the war; it was his company of Puritan rangers and Native American allies that finally hunted down and killed King Philip. The war continued in northern New England after King Philip was killed, until a treaty was signed at Casco Bay to end the war. Proportionately, it was one of the bloodiest and costliest wars in the history of North America. King Philip’s War was the beginning of the development of a greater American identity, for the trials and tribulations suffered by the colonists gave them a group identity separate and distinct from subjects of the English Crown.

The Great Awakening

It was a transatlantic religious movement that held that all people were born sinners, that all could feel their depravity without the assistance of ministers, and that all were equal in the eyes of God. The great awakening criticized the established authority and valued the experience of the individual. It contributed to the humanitarianism that emerged at the end of the 18^th century and shaped American life and others.

John Peter Zenger was a German-American printer, publisher, editor, and journalist in New York City. Zenger published the comedy issue of The New York Weekly Journal.He printed another man’s document that criticized William Cosby, the Governor of New York. Cosby, angered by the criticism, first asked the Assembly’s permission to have a public burning of the New York Weekly Journal. When they refused, Cosby had Zenger arrested on a charge of seditious libel. Andrew Hamilton, his attorney was successful in convincing the jury that whether words are libelous depends on whether the reader considers them true. At the end of the trial, the jurors returned a verdict of “not guilty” on the charge of publishing “seditious libels”. His trial laid the foundation for American press freedom.

 

Patrick Henry

He was an orator and politician who led the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s.He served as  Governor of Virginia. Henry led the opposition to the Stamp Act of 1765 and he wrote “Give me Liberty, or give me Death!” speech. He is one of the   most influential exponents of Republicanism, promoters of the American Revolution and Independence, especially in his denunciations of corruption in government officials and his defense of historic rights. After the Revolution, Henry was a leader of the anti-federalists in Virginia who opposed the United States Constitution, fearing that it endangered the rights of the States, as well as the freedoms of individuals.

The Stamp Act of 1765

 It was a direct tax imposed by the British Parliament specifically on the colonies of British America. The act required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London, carrying an embossed revenue stamp. The purpose of the tax was to help pay for troops stationed in North America after the British victory in the Seven Years’ War.

The Stamp Act met great resistance in the colonies. Local protest groups, led by colonial merchants and landowners, demonstrated against the act which turned violent and destructive as the masses became involved. The tax distributors were intimidated and resigned and the tax was never effectively collected.  The Act was repealed on but Parliament affirmed its power to legislate for the colonies by passing the Declaratory Act. This incident increased the colonists’ concerns about the intent of the British Parliament that helped the growing movement that became the American Revolution.

Compare and Contrast American Indian Societies and British Societies.

American Indians were the original occupiers of the land of America before the arrival of Europeans. The two societies have many differences from language, trade to religion. The Indians have no written language whiles British colonies speak and write English. Some Indian societies are generally nomadic; moving from one area to another. The British societies rather lived in settlements and do not do much movement once settled. British societies have Christianity as their main religion while Indians have “spirit based” religions. Indians also differ in the way they dress from the British, animal skin was the main dress for Indians while British colonies dressed in woven clothes. While Indians believed in communalism; such as owning land together, British societies had private properties.

Which Americans believed a stronger central government was needed and why? What were the compromises they made in writing the constitution?

The Federalists believed a stronger central government was needed. They thought paying for the war debt, paying the soldiers, and improving commerce after the revolution would need a central government in charge that can collectively tax everyone in the union to get the money needed for the debts owned by the country. Without a central government, they realized most of the pressing decisions at the time could not be addressed by congress. They made compromise on a method for choosing the president. A president is to be chosen by electors chosen in each state and the length of his term was four years but eligible for re-election. The President has considerable power to propose legislation, veto bills of Congress, conduct diplomatic policy and command the armed forces. They also made compromise on the number of representatives and the number of senators for each state and the count of slaves as part of the population was  also compromised on.

 

What were the first two political parties in the new republic in the 1790s?  Who led each, and how did the two parties differ?

The two political parties in the new republic in the 1790’s were the Federalists and the Democratic Republicans. The leaders of the Democratic Republicans were James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. The Federalist Party was founded by Alexander Hamilton. The Federalists believed in nationalistic government, national bank, tariffs and good relation with Britain. Democratic Republicans opposed the policies of the federalists and argued that a strong national government threatened liberty and equality. The Democratic Republicans also opposed the Jay Treaty as a sellout of the republican values to the British monarchy. The only President from the federalists’ party was John Adams but federalists won most of the legislative battles in the 1790s. The Democratic Republicans won the presidential elections in a hard-fought election of 1800 and the federalists never returned to power despite the intense opposition of the war in 1812 during Madison’s Presidency.

How did slavery take root in the New World? Where did it flourish, and how did it develop in the English colonies of North America?

Slavery was first introduced into the New World by a private Dutch company called the Dutch West India Company. The company wanted to profit from its newly expanded settlements of the colony of New Netherlands in the New World but was not successful in persuading other merchants and Netherlanders in immigrating to the colony and engaging in agriculture, as they wished. Upon offering greater rights of self-government and 200 acres to anyone who brought over five adults immigrants to the colony, New Netherland started to grow and became a magnet for peoples from many cultures and nations. The desire to make wealth through commerce by the colony, the Company and the nation led to the introduction of African slaves, when colonists tended to abandon agriculture for trade. The Company decided to make New Netherland the source of supply of food to its other lucrative plantation colonies of Brazil and the Caribbean. The Company already had a sugar-plantation slave economy in northern Brazil on a colony they’ve seized from Portugal. At that time, a Dutch warship had already dropped off 20 African slaves in the English colony of Jamestown in 1619 in return for food, and with the need for more labor on its plantation colonies, the Dutch turned to slave trade in which they even transported African slaves to colonies of other nations as well. English colonies started slavery in the Chesapeake. Despite the arrival of the 20 African slaves dropped by the Dutch, British colonies were using the labor of servants or indentured whites on their fields but as the demand for plantation labors became intensive and with African slaves available at good price, they began to import Africans into the British colonies.

 

What made the English settlement of New England distinctive? How did it differ from English settlements in Virginia, or French settlements in Canada?

The English settlement of New England was occupied by puritans and merchants who engaged in very lucrative trade and relation with the Indians. The puritans wanted to build a society based on the word of God in which everybody is cohesively related to the other. The society was egalitarian with only a slight gap between the rich and poor. The rich and powerful were supposed to take care for those who could not care for themselves. While New England was stable and healthier, Virginia faced rebellions such as the Bacon’s Rebellion. The settlers in Virginia do not also have strong family connections as compared to those in New England. Virginia settlers were mostly poor people brought to serve their indentured service but the settlers in New England were mostly Puritan families who left England to avoid persecution.

What were the main factors that enabled the Americans to win the War of Independence?  Explain the two or three most important elements that led to America’s victory.

Several factors enabled Americans to win the war of independence. One is that the colonists knew the terrain of the land better. Another is the war tactics used by the American. An important factor is the alliance of the colonists with France. Also the cost for England to send troops and supplies to America for its army during the war enabled Americans to win the war.

The colonists were familiar with the terrain of the land where they fought. They lived there, so they knew the best places to hide, where to shoot, and what the more strategic locations were. The English troops didn’t have this advantage so they could be attacked unexpectedly at any location.

The tactics used by the colonists and English were of importance. The English marched in formation as trained soldiers but the colonists, on the other hand, weren’t trained soldiers and didn’t march in any proper formation. They stung the British, ran away, and then stung the British again without the British know which direction is the safest to chase them or hide. The British in their formations made easy targets, while scattered colonists behind trees and walls did not. The colonists were random shooters and killed the British from different directions.

The alliance of the colonists with France helped them win the war. At the Battle of Saratoga, France sent troops and supplies to help the colonists when France realized the colonists could be helpful.