U.S. History I

Thinking about government: Exercises designed to get the students to start thinking about questions of government. Students will be told they are going to a faraway island, with enough food and water to sustain life. They make choose twenty persons (or twenty types of person) to go with them. But they are never going to return to their homes. They will have to decide, upon landing, how decisions will be made. Who will have the power to make whatever decisions need to be made? Who will enforce those decisions? How will the work be divvied up? How will disputes be settled?
The First Americans: Knowledge and speculation about Ice Age migrations of people across the Bering Strait into the Americas
Early "discoveries" and explorations of America: Vikings explore "Vinland"; European desire for spices, silk, jewels and tea from the Far East; Voyages of Columbus; Genocide of Arawak Indians
Further Exploration of the Americas: Spanish exploration – De Leon, Cortes, Pizarro,Coronado, Alarcon, Cabrillo De Soto; Results for Native Americans – enslavement, disease, murder, forced religious conversion; Magellan’s circumnavigation of the world; French explorations – the search for a Northwest Passage – Verrazano, Cartier, de Champlain, Marquette, Joliet, LaSalle; French interests: fur trading, fishing, lumber. Ability to get along with Native Americans.; English explorations and early attempts at settlement: Cabot, Drake, Raleigh, Hudson
Settlement of Virginia: Way of life of the Powhatan Indians; Capitalism, colonialism – economic situation in England; Tobacco – arrival of first African slaves; Representative government – House of Burgesses
Settlement of New England: Economic, political and religious issues in England that caused people to emigrate to America. Calvinists, Separatists, Puritans; Pilgrims and the Voyage of the Mayflower – the Mayflower Compact – Relations with Native Americans – Massasoit, Squanto; Puritans arrival in Massachusetts – Gloucester, Salem, Massachusetts bay Colony - John Winthrop and the “ city upon a hill” – the ideas of covenants and limited government; Puritans’ religious intolerance – Roger Williams and Providence , its "deomocratical" government and freedom of religion – Thomas Hooker and Hartford, the Fundamental Orders, separation of church and state; The Salem Witch Trials; War with Native Americans - King Philips War; Legacy of the Puritans re American political ideas and values
Brief Study of Other European Settlements in North America: Brief look at development of other colonies in America and brief review of colonial way of life
Conflicts between European Countries for Control of North America: New France and their businesses and territories in North America; France and England’s conflicting claims of land between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River, especially the Ohio Valley; The various alliances of Native Americans with French and English; George Washington starts the French and Indian War; Braddock’s defeat – conventional European warfare vs "guerrilla" warfare-William Johnson and the Battle of Lake George – Militia men can beat regulars; The capture of Quebec – Montcalm and Wolfe; The Treaty of Paris and effects of the French and Indian War on American attitudes; Viewing of the film: The Last of the Mohicans
Lead up to the American Revolution: A review of rights won by English citizens since Magna Carta, including the right of no taxation without consent of parliament. Also the right of habeas corpus, the right to a trail by a jury of one’s peers and the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.; England’s conviction that Americans should help pay its war debts, and its decision to tax Americans directly, without colonial assembly’s having a say in the matter. American outrage about taxation without representation.; The Stamp Tax. The development of the Committees of Correspondence. Formation and deployment of the Sons of Liberty by Sam Adams, riots and harassment of stamp distributors. The Stamp Tax Congress and the subsequent boycott. Repeal of the Stamp Tax.; The Townshend Acts. Boycotts and Repeal of all except the tea tax. Boston Tea Party. The closing of Boston Harbor.; A look at firebrands Sam Adams, Thomas Paine and Patrick Henry.; The Boston Massacre.; The Meeting of the First Continental Congress in 1774.; Outbreak of hostilities in Lexington and Concord.; Viewing of film April Morning.
The American Revolution: John Locke’s ideas about natural rights and government for the people; Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys capture cannon at Fort Ticonderoga (and haul them over the mountains to Boston.); Second Continental Congress. Appointment of George Washington as commander of the Continental Army.; Battle of Bunker Hill.; Declaration of Independence.; American and British advantages and disadvantages.; Tories and Patriots, speculation on number and location of each. Attitudes and actions of blacks and Indians.; New York and New jersey Campaign. Battle of Long Island. Retreat to Pennsylvania. Crossing of the Delaware, Victories at Trenton and Princeton. Losses at Brandywine and Germantown, winter at Valley Forge.; British plan to win New England fails. Burgoyne defeated at Saratoga, and French come into war on side of Americans.; By 1780, British switch focus to South. Under general Cornwallis, they win control of South Carolina and Georgia and move to take North Carolina. Defeated by Americans in several battles, British go back and settle in at Yorktown, Virginia.; French fleet cuts off supplies to British in Yorktown, and British surrender.
The Making of a New Government: The first constitution, the Articles of Confederation. Weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.; The Northwest Ordinance.; Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in summer o 1787. James Madison and the Virginia Plan. The Great Compromise over representation in the legislature. The Three-Fifths Compromise.; The three branches of government. Checks and Balances. The Constitution as Supreme law of the Land.; The issue of slavery. Decision not to outlaw slavery in order to win approval of southern states for Constitution. Allowance for slave trade to continue for another twenty years.; Provision for amendments.; Addition of a Bill of Rights. Review of those rights.