US History Final Exam Study Guide

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1. ID Terms: write 4-5 sentences for 4 terms in a given list defining each term and  stating its significance. These are all examples and not what will explicitly be on  the exam

a. Petition of the Freedmen at Edisto Island

i. 28 October 1865, written by Bram, Moultrie and Sampson

ii. Written to President Andrew Johnson for the right to own land in  South Carolina

iii. The freed slaves felt they had a right to the land as they  

lived/worked on it their whole lives

1. Wanted their rights to be considered before those formerly  

in the Confederacy

2. Wanted provision so blacks can purchase and maintain his  

own land

iv. Significance

1. Showed the pressure placed on Johnson coming into office

2. Began the struggle for black equal rights

3. Threatened the social hierarchy of the south (elites,  

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merchants, small farmers, slaves/blacks) If you want to learn more check out geog 385 class notes

b. George Fitzhugh’s Sociology for the South

i. Pro-slavery speech given in Richmond, VA 1854

ii. Southern society had less riots/poverty

1. The hierarchy of status and inequality of races was good

iii. Northern society had mobs, unions, unhealthy market society iv. Significance:

1. Showed southerners’ justifications for slavery

2. Supported slavery growth and expansion to the West

c. The Middle Class Home

i. Transformed from the Productive 18th century home

1. Began to separate home and work

2. Shrinking family size as less labor was needed  

ii. Gendered work, women’s work became less financially significant iii. Became centered around appearance We also discuss several other topics like msu ads test

1. Refinement in furniture, decorating, landscaping, etc.

a. More democratic/accessible to people

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2. Not just a money status, but also attitude

d. The Second Great Awakening:

i. Religious revival/moral reform with rise of the middle class market  economy

ii. Rise of Evangelical Christianity and Protestant Millennialism iii. Perfectionism: sin/all sources of evil could be eliminated, which  would help bring Christ to Earth

1. No alcohol, prostitutes, swearing, etc.

iv. Significance:

1. Was a continuation of the rise of the middle class family a. Was essential to keeping up appearances

2. Led to the Temperance movement

e. The Temperance movement:

i. In 1825, people 15 and above drank an average of 7gallons  alcohol/year

1. Alcohol considered healthier than water, before municipal  waterworks

ii. Beecher and the American Temperance Society (Grassroots  political action)

iii. Teetotal pledge for complete abstinence (1830s)

iv. “Maine Law” prohibition in 1850s

1. Statewide laws prohibiting sale of alcohol, adopted by 13  US states

v. Significance:

1. Caused a class and ethnic divide, specifically in the north

2. Began controversy between regions

f. Walker’s Appeal:

i. September 1829 “Walker’s Appeal to Colored Citizens of the  World”

ii. 76 pages, called for violent uprising of slaves

iii. Led to the rise of radical abolition in the north If you want to learn more check out a firm's macroenvironment includes all of the following except

iv. Significance:

1. Circulated the idea of a violent overthrow of slavery

2. Was a culmination of a generation of black thinking

3. Denounced slavery as an immoral outrage

4. Demanded immediate emancipation without colonization 5. Showed that black men were not naturally inferior

g. City Democracy:  

i. Growth of laboring class, artisans, small merchants, etc. ii. Wage workers didn’t actually own property, were a renting class 1. Gave reason to remove the property requirement for voters iii. Significant because changed the nature of voting in the US 1. From 1790-1850, every state revised constitution, most  removing property requirement for voting We also discuss several other topics like biology midterm study guide

2. Market society transformed the idea of property

h. Paternalism:

i. The dominant model between the relationship of master and slave ii. White master was to be viewed as a father to the slaves iii. Slaves as extension of the white family

iv. Whites were to be considered “benevolent masters”

v. Significance:

1. Slaveholders’ major argument for slavery

2. Circulated the idea that slaves were better treated in the  south than if they were to be free

i. Race science:

i. Dr. Samuel Morton: published by late 1830s

1. Determined that blacks had smaller skull/brain size than  European whites, therefore were less intelligent

ii. Significance:

1. Ultimate goal was to prove black as naturally inferior

2. Major pro-slavery argument in the south

3. Led to George Fitzhugh to refute Jefferson and the  

constitution

a. “Men aren’t born entitled to equal rights”

j. The Missouri Compromise:

i. 1820, Henry Clay from Kentucky

ii. Three main provisions:

1. Missouri would be admitted as a slave state

2. Maine would break off of Massachusetts and be admitted  as a free state in 1820

3. The 36°30’ line would divide free north and slave south in  all territory gained from the Louisiana purchase (1803)

iii. Significance:

1. Showed sectionalism based on slavery, could become a  source of divisive feelings

2. Put the West and slavery out of national politics until mid 1840s

k. Manifest Destiny:

i. Coined by John L O’Sullivan in the 1840s

1. Essays about gaining Texas from Mexico, Oregon from  Britain

ii. Original idea was expansion without military force If you want to learn more check out mcgill biol 111

iii. Racialized: expansion was natural only for whites

iv. Significance:

1. Opened up trans-Mississippi River West

2. Brought education/technological advancement to  

Mexicans/Native Americans in the West

3. Native peoples/animals started fleeing towards the west 4. Returned the issue of slavery to national and political  

spotlight

l. Wilmot Proviso:

i. Authored by David Wilmot in 1846

ii. Suggested that all territory gained from Mexico after the war  would ban slavery (free soil in the West)

iii. Passes House of Representatives but fails to pass Senate iv. Significance:

1. Failure brought about the Free Soil party (1848)

2. Drives sectionalization of national politics

3. Democratic/WHIG parties struggle to remain unified

m. Lincoln’s Assassination

i. Lincoln was assassinated 14 April 1865 at Ford’s Theatre 1. 5 days after General Lee surrendered to General Grant

ii. Part of a conspiracy led by John Wilkes Booth

1. Goal was to revive the confederate cause

iii. His death became the emblem of all civil war losses

iv. Significance:

1. Left many unanswered, open questions without plan for  reconstruction

2. Left Andrew Johnson (Vice President at the time) in charge a. Unskilled politician, unabashed racist

n. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877

i. The four largest railroads in US simultaneously cut wages ii. Railroad workers walked off the job, followed by dock workers  and iron workers

iii. Shut down transportation of people, goods, and capital in US

iv. Railroad officials relied on military support from state/federal  governments

1. Used force to end the strike

v. Significance:

1. 1st national labor uprising of the era

2. Put labor questions at the forefront of politics

a. Replaced the southern question

3. Solidified class identities

4. Local, state, and federal governments bolster military and  

police

a. Birth of the National Guard  

2. Frederick Douglass IDs: 5-6 sentences for 2 of the following events (chosen by  professor Volk) describing the event, its significance to the goals of the radical  abolitionist movement, and the values of the emerging northern middle class a. Douglass’s fight with Covey

i. While he was supposed to be being “broken” into slavery

ii. Successfully escaped a whipping and many whippings to come iii. Goals of radical abolitionists

1. Showed the evil of slavery, brutality of the south

iv. Middle class values

1. Against Christian morals

b. Douglass’s participation in the valuation of Captain Anthony’s estate i. Was valued with the other property (cows, pigs, etc.) as if he were  inhuman  

ii. Families broken up and split between Anthony’s two children iii. Goals of radical abolitionists

1. Plays to the breaking apart of families

2. Commodification of human beings

iv. Middle class values

1. Family life, or the lack thereof

c. Douglass’s pursuit of work in New Bedford

i. After he became a free man, he took on many odd jobs

ii. Often could not be hired due to his race

1. Whites refused to work with a black man

iii. Goals of radical abolitionists

1. Breaking stereotypes of blacks not wanting to work

iv. Middle class values

1. Race guidelines (segregation)

2. Wage earning in a market society

3. Hard work

d. Douglass’s learning to read and write

i. Began to be taught a a young age by Mrs. Auld, boys in the street,  old school books, and the Columbian order book

ii. Was scolded by Master Auld to not read or learn to read, as it  would ruin his value as an ignorant slave

iii. Goals of radical abolitionists

1. Combats stereotypes (ability and will to work)

2. Perseverance (Douglass taught himself mostly)

iv. Middle Class Values

1. Hard work

2. Emphasis on education  

3. Essay: thesis driven with well supported evidence and clear analysis: “At what  point did secession and the American Civil War become inevitable?” a. Choose a single event in US history, why did it cause secession? Some  events to think about:

b. The issue of slavery’s part in Westward expansion

i. Missouri Compromise

ii. Crisis of 1850

iii. Bleeding Kansas and the Free Soil movement

iv. Manifest Destiny

v. Sectionalization

c. Abraham Lincoln becoming president

i. Identifies slavery at the root of sectional controversy ii. Promises to protect federal property located in any seceding states iii. Promises not to touch slavery in the south

1. Secession necessary to protect slavery from “republican  regime”