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TEKS and TAKS
TEKS Glossary - Grade 8
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The 13th
Amendment, one of three passed during the era of Reconstruction,
freed all slaves without compensation to the slaveowners. President
Abraham Lincoln first proposed compensated emancipation as an
amendment in December 1862. His Emancipation Proclamation declared
slaves free in the Confederate states in rebellion, but did not
extend to border states. After Lincoln's assassination, President
Andrew Johnson declared his own plan for Reconstruction which
included the need for Confederate states to approve the 13th
Amendment. The amendment, adopted in 1865, eight months after the
war ended, legally forbade slavery in the United
States.
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The 14th Amendment is one of three to the U.S.
Constitution passed during the era of Reconstruction to protect the
rights and involvement of citizens in government. It declared that
all persons born or naturalized in the United States (except
Indians) were citizens, that all citizens were entitled to equal
rights regardless of their race, and that their rights were
protected at both the state and national levels by due process of
the law. Political pressure ensured ratification. In 1866, Congress
passed the Civil Rights Bill which extended citizenship to blacks.
President Andrew Johnson opposed and vetoed the legislation but
Congress overruled his veto and then proposed the 14th Amendment. In
1866, ten of the eleven Confederate states refused to ratify, but
the Military Reconstruction Act, passed by Congress on March 2,
1867, required all seceded states to ratify the amendment as a
condition of their re-admission into the union. In 1868, the
required number of states ratified the 14th Amendment . The
amendment did not extend the right to vote to black men but it
encouraged states to allow them to vote by limiting the
Congressional representation of any state that did not extend the
right. The amendment disappointed women's rights activists because
it equated the right to vote as a male right. Most significantly,
the amendment incorporated the "due process clause" as outlined in
the 5th Amendment and ensured the protection of citizen's rights,
previously only guaranteed at the national level, at the state
level.
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The 15th Amendment, one of three amendments to the
U.S. Constitution passed during the era of Reconstruction, granted
black men the right to vote. The amendment derived from a
requirement in the Military Reconstruction Act, passed by Congress
on March 2, 1867, that Confederate states, as a condition for
readmission into the Union, extend the right to vote to former adult
male slaves. Congress eventually sought more stringent means to
safeguard the vote for black men by proposing a constitutional
amendment in 1869. It was ratified in 1870. Women's rights activists
opposed the amendment because it defined the right to vote as a male
right. Thus, gender remained a determining factor in denying women
the right to vote in national and state elections until 1920 when
the 19th Amendment was ratified. Between 1870 and 1920, a few states
including Wyoming did extend the right to vote to women but women
could not vote in national elections until after passage of the 19th
Amendment.
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In 1607, representatives of the Virginia Company of
London established the first permanent English settlement in North
America. The Virginia Company, a joint-stock company founded by
investors in England, called it Jamestown in honor of King James I
of England. Several factors encouraged settlement including peace
with Spain; willing settlers lured by adventure, markets and the
prospect of religious freedom; financial support provided by the
Virginia Company; and the company's assurance that colonists could
remain subjects of England.
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On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee, the Virginia
representative to the Second Continental Congress, moved that "These
United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent
states. . . " Congress appointed a committee to draft an
inspirational document to explain to the world the reasons the
colonies were asserting their independence in the hopes of gaining
broad colonial and international support. The committee included
Thomas Jefferson who was charged with drafting the document. In it
he asked for protection of the "unalienable rights" of humankind, in
addition to British rights, and listed other British actions which
prompted the quest for independence. Congress adopted Lee's motion
on July 2, and on July 4, fifty-six representatives from the
thirteen original colonies unanimously approved the Declaration of
Independence. Six months prior to the official declaration, Thomas
Paine published his influential political pamphlet Common Sense. It
presented a clear and persuasive argument for independence, and
convinced many undecided colonists to support the movement for
independence.
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Between May 25 and September 17, 1787, delegates
gathered in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation.
Instead they drafted, debated, compromised, and finally approved for
ratification the Constitution of the United States. It was then sent
to the states to adopt or reject based on the votes of delegates to
ratification conventions. The debate over ratification continued
into 1788 as Federalists and Anti-Federalists faced off over issues
of states' rights, human liberties, and governmental authority.
Ratification of the new constitution required acceptance by nine of
the thirteen states. Delaware was the first state to ratify the
Constitution and it was followed by Pennsylvania and New Jersey in
1787. Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina,
and New Hampshire ratified it in 1788. The ninth state (New
Hampshire) guaranteed that the new United States had a government.
Virginia and New York approved the document later in 1788, and North
Carolina and Rhode Island adopted it last, in 1789 and 1790,
respectively.
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In 1803, the United States acquired, under the
leadership of President Thomas Jefferson, the Louisiana Territory
from Napoleon Bonaparte, ruler of France, for $15 million dollars.
The purchase more than doubled the area of the United States. It
gave the new nation access to 828,000 square miles of fertile
territory and navigable waterways between the Mississippi River and
the Rocky Mountains at a cost of approximately three cents per acre.
All or parts of 13 states were carved out of the Louisiana Purchase
(in order of admission): Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa,
Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota,
Montana, Wyoming, and Oklahoma.
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The American Civil War began on April 12, 1861, with
the firing on Fort Sumter and ended with the Confederate surrender
at Appomattox Court House in early April 1865. South Carolina, the
first state to leave the Union, seceded in 1860, prompted by the
election of the Republican presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln.
Six more followed in early 1861 (Mississippi, Alabama, Florida,
Georgia, Louisiana and Texas). They formed the Confederate States of
America. 1861: President Lincoln took the oath of office on March 4,
1861 and sought to maintain ties with eight border states which
remained with the Union. The Civil War began on April 12 with the
firing on Fort Sumter by Confederate troops off the coast of
Charleston, South Carolina. Four more states seceded after war was
declared: Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The
first battle of the war at Bull Run, near Manassas Junction,
Virginia, ended in a Confederate victory due to poor Union
generalship. 1862: The Confederacy started to draft soldiers to meet
the demand for troops and the Union followed suit in 1863. The
Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single-day battle of the war,
occurred in Maryland on September 17, 1862. Lincoln issued his
Emancipation Proclamation on September 23, following the Union
victory at Antietam. 1863: From July 1 to 3, 1863, 92,000 Union
troops fought 76,000 Confederates at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The
fate of the Confederacy was sealed on July 4 with Union victories at
Gettysburg, turning back a Confederate invasion of the North, and
Vicksburg, ceding control of the Mississippi River to the Union. The
war continued for two more years as the South sought independence
and Lincoln demanded union. 1864: Ulysses S. Grant, appointed
commander of the Union army following Vicksburg, crafted a more
aggressive military offensive than previous generals. It included a
march of destruction into the heart of the South by General William
Tecumseh Sherman, and Grant's own assault on Lee in Virginia.
Sherman's men captured and burned Atlanta in September 1864. Grant's
engagements with Lee involved destructive battles including the
Wilderness Campaign and the assault on Cold Harbor. 1865: Union
troops captured Richmond and surrounded Lee in April. On Palm
Sunday, April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General
Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia. On April 15,
1865, President Lincoln died from an assassin's bullet and
Vice-President Andrew Johnson assumed office.
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The abolitionist movement began in the Revolutionary
era, partially in response to the inhumane treatment of slaves and
partially in an effort to remove blacks from white society. The
movement in the late 1700s concentrated on freeing the slaves as a
humane act. Quakers in Pennsylvania established the first
anti-slavery society in the world in 1775. Interest in returning
slaves to Africa resulted in the formation of the American
Colonization Society in 1817. The Republic of Liberia, established
in 1822 on the west coast of Africa, served as a destination for
approximately 15,000 slaves freed and returned. However, most slaves
considered Africa a foreign culture and sought freedom and a home in
America. In the 1830s American abolitionists sought to follow the
example set in the West Indies by the British who freed the slaves
in 1833. The religious revivals of the Second Great Awakening also
inspired abolitionists to speak out against the sin of slavery.
Abolitionists published anti-slavery publications including
pamphlets and newspapers. Supporters of William Lloyd Garrison, a
vocal abolitionist and publisher of the newspaper The Liberator,
formed the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833. African Americans
played a key role in the abolitionist movement, most notably
Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth. Realizing they needed a
political voice, abolitionists supported the Liberty Party in 1840,
the Free Soil party in 1848, and the Republican party in the 1850s.
Abolitionists realize their goal with the passage of the 13th
Amendment.
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Absolute chronology depends on knowing the precise
date including the day, month and/or year of an event. To sequence
events in absolute chronology means to organize them in an
order--that is, from oldest to most recent. Relative chronology
depends less on specific dates and more on relationships of events.
To sequence events, individuals, and time periods, students must
understand past, present, and future time. Students must also be
able to identify the beginning, middle, and end of an event or
story. Students are expected to structure a story, creating their
own sequence by developing a topic from its beginning to its
conclusion. Students are expected to create and interpret timelines,
identify intervals of time, and order events in the sequence of
occurrence and in relation to other events.
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The Articles of Confederation, the nation's first
constitution, was adopted by the Second Continental Congress in 1781
during the Revolution. It provided guidance to government for seven
years and gave Congress limited authority to make laws and to draw
up treaties with other nations. The Articles were limited in
providing solutions to many challenges facing the new Republic
because the states held most of the power, and Congress lacked the
power to tax, regulate trade, or control coinage. In 1787 the
Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia to revise the
Articles, but instead the delegates constructed a new
constitution.
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The Bessemer steel process is the process of removing
impurities from iron to make steel. Steel is less brittle and
stronger than iron. Industry needed steel but was limited by the
small quantity that could be manufactured using traditional methods
to remove impurities. In the 1850s, British inventor Henry Bessemer
discovered that a blast of hot air directly on melted iron reduced
the impurities in iron. As a result, steel manufacturing increased
nearly 20 fold during the era of the Industrial Revolution in
America. Steel bridges, steel rails for railroads, and the
production of automobiles were major technological achievements.
Steel reinforcements in skyscrapers aided urbanization, and
increased production of household appliances brought steel into the
home.
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The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments to the
Constitution, ratified in 1791. The 1st Amendment protects several
fundamental rights of U.S. citizens: freedom of religion, of speech,
and of the press, and the rights to assemble and to petition. The
next seven amendments guarantee other freedoms including the right
to a fair trial and the right to bear arms. Homes are protected from
search without just cause, citizens are protected from the
imposition of housing troops during peacetime, and those accused of
crimes are entitled to fair treatment before the law. The 9th
Amendment guarantees that people retain rights not enumerated in the
Constitution and the 10th amendment limits federal power by granting
to the states all powers not specifically assigned by the
Constitution to the national government.
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The U.S. Constitution authorizes each branch of
government to share its powers with the other branches and thereby
check their activities and power. The President can veto legislation
passed by Congress, but Congress can override the veto. The Senate
confirms major appointments made by the President, and the courts
may declare acts passed by Congress as
unconstitutional.
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The term "civic" relates to involvement in a
community. Citizens of a neighborhood, town, state, or nation have
an obligation to be active, peaceful, loyal, and supportive members
of that community. Those with civic virtue go a step beyond their
obligations by taking an active role in improving the community and
the experiences of other members of the
community.
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Civil disobedience is the process of defying codes of
conduct within a community or ignoring the policies and government
of a state or nation when the civil laws are considered unjust.
Henry David Thoreau included the essay "Civil Disobedience" in
Walden, a collection of his writings. He did not want people to
break the law indiscriminately but he urged people to challenge laws
they considered unjust by refusing to obey them. This is called
passive resistance. World leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr.
and Mohandas K. Gandhi followed Thoreau's advice. Blacks boycotted
buses in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1956 until the Supreme Court ruled
that segregation on buses was illegal. Non-violent protest led to
the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned
discrimination.
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The Declaration of Independence is a document adopted
by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. It established
the 13 colonies as independent states, free from rule by Great
Britain. The committee appointed to write the Declaration of
Independence included Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman,
Robert Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson wrote the
majority of the declaration. In the Preamble, Jefferson explained
that it was necessary to list the reasons why the colonies sought
their own government. In three sections Jefferson outlined the
reasons: people have the right to control their own government; the
British government and King used their power unjustly to control the
colonies; and the colonies had tried to avoid separating from
Britain, but Britain refused to cooperate. The most famous passage
concerns the right to govern: "We hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed
by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these
are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these
rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just
power from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of
Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the
People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government. .
. "
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Dred Scott v. Sandford was a landmark Supreme Court
case in 1857 which confirmed the status of slaves as property rather
than citizens. Chief Justice Roger Taney wrote that a slave could
not be heard in federal courts because he was not a citizen and had
no protection under the Constitution. Also, Congress had no
authority over slavery in the territories, and upon statehood, each
territory would determine whether it would be a slave state or a
free state.
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Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation
on September 22, 1862, to go into effect on January 1, 1863. It
declared that all slaves in the rebellious Confederate states would
be free. These included slaves in Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas,
Louisiana, and Texas. Following the proclamation, many slaves in
these states walked away from plantations and sought protection from
Union forces. The proclamation did not apply to slaves living in
border states or to areas in the South occupied by federal troops.
As Union troops moved into new areas of the Confederacy, slaves in
those areas would be freed. All slaves were not freed until the
ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865.
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In 1689, King William and Queen Mary accepted the
English Bill of Rights which guaranteed certain rights to English
citizens and declared that elections for Parliament would happen
frequently. The document followed the Glorious Revolution in which
the English people forced absolute monarch James II to leave the
country. William and Mary then assumed rule. By agreeing to the
English Bill of Rights, they supported a limited monarchy, a system
in which they shared their power with Parliament and the people, and
did not have absolute power, as James II had sought. The influence
of the English Bill of Rights can be seen in the Bill of Rights to
the U.S. Constitution.
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Federalism is the distribution of power between a
federal government and the states within a
union.
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After the delegates to the Philadelphia Convention
finished writing the U.S. Constitution, each state elected delegates
to a ratification convention. Ratification was required by nine of
the 13 states in order for the constitution to take effect. People
were divided over issues of the extent of power of the Constitution,
the degree to which the rights of states were protected, and the
degree to which the rights of citizens were protected. Those
favoring the new form of government, which divided power between a
strong central government and the states, were called Federalists.
Those seeking greater power for states were called Anti-Federalists.
In an effort to sway opinion and get the Constitution approved,
three leading Federalists wrote a series of 85 essays which
explained the new government and the division of power. Published as
The Federalist, the series was written by James Madison, Alexander
Hamilton, and John Jay. For instance, The Federalist, No. 10 (1787)
defines the republican form of government which Federalists
envisioned and the process of electing representatives to
Congress.
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The adoption of the U.S. Constitution was not an easy
process. Citizens disagreed over the way the document divided power
between the states and the national government, the degree to which
the rights of states were protected, and the degree to which the
rights of citizens were protected. Those favoring ratification of
the Constitution and adoption of the federalist form of government
were called Federalists. Those opposed to the Constitution because
they feared the power of the national government in the new federal
system were called Anti-Federalists. Anti-Federalists were also
concerned that if the national government could overrule state
decisions, the protection of the liberty of individuals would be at
risk. Patrick Henry and George Mason were leading Anti-Federalists.
Henry was so opposed to the process that he did not even attend the
convention which drafted the Constitution. Thomas Jefferson favored
some aspects of the Constitution but was concerned about the lack of
protection for the rights of states and the absence of support for
individual rights. He supported the inclusion of a Bill of Rights.
In an effort to sway opinion and get the Constitution ratified,
three leading Federalists -- James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and
John Jay -- published their views in The Federalist , a series of 85
newspaper essays which have become a classic of American political
thought.
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The Great Awakening occurred in the 1730s and 1740s
in response to inflexible Puritan doctrine. A lay ministry developed
which preached personal salvation by good works in contrast to
predestination as preached by Puritans. Others, led by Jonathan
Edwards, urged believers to develop a personal relationship with God
to gain their personal salvation. Ministers spread the word through
revival meetings. Hundreds were "saved" and declared their trust in
God without needing the clergy to channel their prayers. The Great
Awakening revitalized American religion by adding emotion.
Missionary work developed in an effort to spread salvation to
Indians and slaves. In the early 1800s, the second Great Awakening
erupted as those favoring the personal and emotional approach
associated with evangelical faiths conflicted with those seeking
more rational beliefs. The second Great Awakening reinvigorated
church membership and furthered humanitarian efforts including
abolitionism, prison reform, the temperance movement, and women's
suffrage. More people participated in it than in the first Great
Awakening, meeting outdoors under open tents to hear emotional
preachers who "rode the circuit" promoting personal conversion.
These camp meetings contributed to numerous conversions and vows to
change wayward behavior. Membership in Baptist and Methodist
churches increased most significantly.
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The term "founding fathers" applies to those
individuals who played a major role in declaring U.S. independence,
fighting the Revolutionary War, or writing and adopting the U.S.
Constitution. Founding fathers include Thomas Jefferson, George
Washington, and James Madison.
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Although they were free, African Americans in the
North were victims of discrimination. They were denied the right to
vote, to serve on juries, to be educated, to worship freely, and to
have access to public lands. In the South, most free African
Americans were descendants of slaves freed during and after the
American Revolution. Others purchased their freedom, but all were
denied basic rights. Despite discrimination in both the North and
the South, many free blacks distinguished themselves in various
areas of endeavor. Many of those who gained success risked their
lives and income to combat slavery.
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A free enterprise system is an economic system in
which individuals depend on supply and demand and the profit margin
to determine the answers to the four basic economic questions of
"what to produce," "how to produce," "how many to produce," and "for
whom to produce." Profit is an improved situation, usually measured
in dollars. The quest for improvement financially and materially
motivates producers and consumers in the free enterprise system.
Government regulation is kept to a minimum. Competition between
companies makes it more difficult to answer the questions of what
and how much to produce and for whom, but it does make it harder for
one company to monopolize the market.
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The French and Indian War was a struggle between the
British and the French in the colonies of North America. It was part
of a worldwide war known as the Seven Years' War (1756-1763). In the
colonies, the British sought control of territory to the west of the
established colonies, particularly the Ohio River Valley. The first
battle was fought at Fort Necessity in July 1754, a stockade
constructed by George Washington and his troops near the headwaters
of the Ohio River near present day Pittsburgh. The French held
several advantages including control of more western territory, a
single colonial government, a professional army well provisioned in
place in their territory, and an alliance with the Huron and
Algonquin Indians. The British also had several advantages. More
British lived in the colonies, the British territory had a better
strategic position and was easier to defend, and most of the
colonists were willing to fight to preserve their independence from
France. The British pushed France into Canada and defeated them at
Quebec and Montreal. The Seven Years' War officially ended with the
Treaty of Paris which gave the British all lands east of the
Mississippi River except New Orleans, including the St. Lawrence
Valley, the Great Lakes, and the Ohio River Valley. Thus the British
secured the major water routes into the interior North American
continent.
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The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut was the first
written constitution in the American colonies, prepared as the
covenant for the new Puritan community in Connecticut, established
in the 1630s. It established a precedent for written constitutions
in the colonies. To the Puritans, a covenant was an agreement with
God to build a holy society. Those who moved to Connecticut from the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts carried with them the tradition of the
commonwealth, a community of people who worked together for the good
of the whole. The Fundamental Orders described a system of
government for the new community, in writing.
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Generalizations are statements about relationships
between and among concepts. They organize and summarize information
obtained from the analysis of facts. A generalization is usually a
broad assertion that something is always true. A fact, on the other
hand, is a truth only about a particular incident or case. Here is a
generalization: The nature of democracy in the United States
continually evolves as society grows and changes. Here is a fact
which supports it: Women received the right to vote in
1924.
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Geographers are interested in the location of things
on Earth, that is, where things are located, how they are
distributed, and what relationships exist between things separated
by distance. Sometimes things are distributed randomly across the
surface of Earth. Other times a pattern is apparent in the
distribution. That helps us to understand the forces that affect
distribution. Consider the location of key industries, cities, types
of agriculture--all of these things are distributed (located)
somewhere, and show a pattern. Industries are located near resources
or near markets. Cities are often located at vital transportation
crossroads. The types of crops grown depend upon physical conditions
as well as access to markets and transportation. Noting distribution
and pattern helps us to understand why things are where they
are.
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During the Civil War, on November 19, 1863, President
Abraham Lincoln traveled to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to dedicate a
national cemetery at the site of the Battle of Gettysburg. Three
sentences excerpted from his short speech capture the spirit of
liberty and morality ideally held by citizens of a democracy. That
ideal was threatened by the Civil War. Four score and seven years
ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation,
conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men
are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing
whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can
long endure. . . . . . . It is rather for us to be here dedicated to
the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we
take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last
full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these
dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall
have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by
the people, for the people, shall not perish from the
earth.
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In Gibbons v. Ogden (1824), Chief Justice John
Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution gave
control of interstate commerce to the U.S. Congress, not the
individual states through which a route passed. The ruling responded
to an effort by the state of New York to accept a monopoly to
operate steam boat traffic between New York and New
Jersey.
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Many opposed the Constitution in 1787 because they
believed it did not offer adequate protection of individual rights.
The Bill of Rights, ratified in 1791, were created to correct this.
The individual rights protected in the Bill of Rights include
economic rights related to property, political rights related to
freedom of speech and press, and personal rights related to bearing
arms and maintaining private residences. The structure of the U.S.
Constitution allows for adaptation based on changing public opinion
and the need to protect individual rights. For instance, debates
over the institution of slavery raised concerns about property and
property protection afforded by the U.S. Constitution. In the
decision Dred Scott v. Sandford, the Supreme Court ruled that slaves
were property and that the Missouri Compromise, which prohibited
slavery in certain parts of the United States, was unconstitutional
in that it deprived people of property, their slaves. As public
opinion changed, voters amended the Constitution to free slaves, to
protect their rights, and to extend their right to
vote.
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New sources of power including the steam engine freed
manufacturers to experiment with new ways to make products. Steam
power was more reliable than water power and allowed expansion of
machine production. A period of rapid industrial growth resulted,
starting in Britain in the 1700s and then spreading around the world
as more countries adopted mass production. Handmade goods were
quickly replaced by less expensive machine-made goods. The
production of cloth by machines revolutionized the textile industry.
It also changed the nature of supply because more goods were
produced faster and cheaper, the nature of demand because the
product was more affordable, and the nature of work. Factory
laborers replaced craftsmen and home production. The expansion of
mechanized production in the United States began after the Civil War
and peaked in the 1920s just before the Great Depression. This is
considered a second Industrial Revolution. The demand for raw
materials and labor to maintain production led to exploitation of
the natural environment and of workers.
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The three branches of government -- legislative,
executive and judicial --were established to balance power, but the
U.S. Constitution is the supreme law. The judicial branch is
responsible for interpreting and applying laws and ensuring that
they are constitutional. In the early 1800s the Supreme Court
established the principle of judicial review. Acting within the
powers of Article III, the judicial branch strengthened federal
authority over state and private authority when the issue threatened
rights established in the Constitution. Chief Justice John Marshall
ruled in Marbury v. Madison (1803) that a law passed by Congress in
1789 was unconstitutional. Marshall stressed that "the Constitution
is superior to any ordinary act of legislature. . . and must
govern."
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In a limited government everyone, including all
authority figures, must obey the laws. Constitutions, statements of
rights, or other laws define the limits of those in power so they
cannot take advantage of their elected, appointed, or inherited
positions. In an unlimited government, control is placed solely with
the ruler and his/her appointees, and there are no limits imposed on
his/her authority.
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The Magna Carta is the cornerstone of English justice
and law. King John, who ruled between 1199 and 1216 AD, angered the
English nobility and commoners alike by his lack of military prowess
and his heavy taxation to pay a large national debt. Members of the
nobility, the archbishop of Canterbury, and the Earl of Pembroke
forced King John to sign the Magna Carta in 1215. It declared that
the king and government were bound by the same law as other citizens
of England. It contained the antecedents of the ideas of due process
of law and the right to a fair and speedy trial that are included in
the protection offered by the U.S. Bill of Rights. The English
viewed it as a guarantee of law and justice.
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"Manifest destiny" was a popular expression in the
1840s. Many believed that the United States was destined to secure
territory from "sea to sea," from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.
This rationale drove the acquisition of territory in the 1840s as
President James K. Polk attempted to declare the parallel of 54¡40'
as the northern boundary of the United States. Britain initially
refused, but the nations compromised in 1846 and the United States
acquired the Oregon territory. The United States also secured a vast
territory in the southwest following the Mexican War in 1848. Mexico
ceded all claims north of the Rio Grande which included present-day
states of California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Arizona, Colorado,
New Mexico, and Wyoming.
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(See judicial review) Marbury v. Madison was the
first judgment by the Supreme Court which supported the federal
system of government. In 1803, Chief Justice John Marshall, a
Federalist, upheld and strengthened the authority of the federal
judiciary. He established the principle of judicial review, the
power of the judiciary to determine that a law can be declared
unconstitutional.
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The Mayflower Compact was drafted in 1620 prior to
settlement by the Pilgrims at Plymouth Bay in Massachusetts. It
declared that the 41 males who signed it agreed to accept majority
rule and participate in a government in the best interest of all
members of the colony. While not a constitution, the agreement set
the precedent for later documents outlining commonwealth rule.
Settlers quickly established town meetings as a forum to develop
their own laws, a positive step toward
self-rule.
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In 1819, Chief Justice John Marshall continued to
define the limits of the U. S. Constitution and of the authority of
the federal and state governments. Maryland was opposed to the
establishment of a national bank and challenged the authority of the
federal government to establish one. The Supreme Court ruled that
the power of the federal government was supreme over that of the
states and that the states could not interfere. This decision
supported the concept that the Constitution was the supreme law of
the land.
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Mercantilism is an economic theory which states that
a nation's wealth is based on the amount of gold and silver bullion
in its treasury. The theory drove economic exchange throughout
Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. Nations accumulated
wealth in several ways. Explorers sought gold and silver deposits
which they could mine. Trade offered another method to accumulate
the bullion (gold or silver formed into bars, ingots, or plates).
Generating revenue through trade depended on maintaining a favorable
balance, that is, exporting more than a nation imported. In a
mercantilist system, government played a central role in regulating
trade by imposing restrictions on trade. As the production of goods
for exchange increased, governments took a more active role in
industrial development. New crafts and trades provided work for the
idle and lined the pockets of mercantilists who made money by
importing raw products and exporting finished goods at significantly
higher costs. Those who sought to participate in trade and industry
needed government backing to succeed, especially in the oceanic
trade. The East India Company was founded in 1600 by the English
government and merchants intent on trading with the East. The
American colonies contributed to the English, French, and Spanish
mercantilist systems by providing raw products and markets for
manufactured goods. The Spanish sought to control the gold and
silver supplies held by Native American civilizations in Mexico and
Peru; the fur trade in North America resulted in significant revenue
for French mercantilists; and settlement benefited English
manufacturers who sold finished products to colonists. Buying from a
colony enabled the mother country to keep bullion within the empire.
Mercantilism was attacked by Adam Smith and others who supported
laissez faire ("let them do as they see fit") exchange. This new
economic theory opposed regulation by the "visible hand" of
government and instead viewed commerce as driven by the invisible
hand of personal initiative.
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The Monroe Doctrine was a statement of foreign policy
which proclaimed that Europe should not interfere in affairs within
the United States or in the development of other countries in the
Western Hemisphere, and that the United States would not interfere
in European affairs. These ideas, formulated by Secretary of State
John Quincy Adams and President James Monroe, were presented in 1823
in response to problems facing the nation: Russian claims to the
northwest coast and threats to the independence of Spanish-American
republics in Latin America. The doctrine reflected growing American
nationalism and increased emphasis on internal improvements which
reduced the interest in participating in international affairs.
President James K. Polk revived the doctrine in 1845, and it
continued as an important part of national ideology into the 20th
century.
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A naturalized citizen is a person of foreign birth
who is granted full citizenship.
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Enacted in 1787, the Northwest Ordinance is
considered one of the most significant achievements of the Articles
of Confederation. It established a system for setting up governments
in the western territories so they could eventually join the Union
on an equal footing with the original 13 states. This ordinance
referred to the Northwest Territory, an area bounded by the Ohio
River, the Mississippi River, and the Great Lakes and included
present-day Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and parts
of Minnesota. When the territory opened, a governor and three judges
were appointed by Congress. After 5,000 adult males moved to the
area, they could elect an assembly and send a nonvoting delegate to
Congress, although the governor retained veto power over the
assembly. When 60,000 persons moved into one of the political
subdivisions, that area could draft a constitution, submit it to
Congress for approval, and become a state. Its constitution had to
provide for a representative government, and it had to prohibit
slavery.
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In 1828, Congress approved a high tariff to protect
U.S. interests from competition from foreign trade. This angered
southerners who dealt directly with merchants in Britain. The
planters favored freedom of trade and believed in the authority of
their states over the federal government. In 1832 Congress passed a
lower but still protective tariff. Angered South Carolinians, led by
Senator John C. Calhoun, declared the federal tariff null and void
within its borders. Delegates to a special convention urged the
state legislature to take military action and to secede from the
union if the federal government demanded the customs duties. To
prevent a civil war, Henry Clay, senator from Kentucky, proposed the
compromise Tariff of 1833 which gradually reduced the protective
tariff over ten years. Southerners accepted the measure but
northerners countered with the Force Bill which authorized the
president to use the army and navy to collect the duties. The
nullifiers repealed the ordinance of nullification but accomplished
their goal of reducing the tariff.
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The Philadelphia Convention of 1787 met "for the sole
and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation."
Fifty-five delegates representing all states except Rhode Island
worked to reorganize the government in the new republic. The
Convention met in secret in the Pennsylvania State House, now
Independence Hall, from May 25 through September 17. One of their
first decisions was to scrap the Articles of Confederation and
create a new plan of government. Of the 55 delegates, 39 signed the
document they created, the U.S. Constitution.
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Physical characteristics of places describe natural
phenomena such as climate, soil, plants, animals, and topography
(landforms). Human characteristics of places include items such as
language, religion, ethnicity, architecture, forms of recreation,
daily schedule, food, how people earn a living, how they govern
themselves, family structure, and standard of
living.
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Several factors may influence ongoing development and
events in history. Physical factors relate to the physical
characteristics of a place such as climate, weather, and landforms.
These lead to events, such as tornadoes, hurricanes, or droughts,
which influence the chain of events constituting Texas history.
Physical factors also influence development. Most early settlement
in Texas concentrated in the eastern portion of the state because
the soils, climate, and vegetation compared favorably to other parts
of the South from which most settlers migrated. Transportation
routes developed to link settlements which evolved into cities.
Human factors relate to the human characteristics of a place. These
also play a role in Texas history. As population pressures in the
eastern portion of the state increased, settlement moved west. As
technology improved, settlers in the western plains began to
irrigate their crop land and the area's economy developed around
cotton-based agriculture. This is one way human factors influence
development by modifying the environment.
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The plantation system is a system of agricultural
production based on large-scale land ownership and the exploitation
of labor and the environment. Production is usually concentrated on
a cash crop which is sought by a national or international market.
For instance, the plantation system of agriculture developed in the
southern United States as landowners concentrated their capital in
slaves and produced tobacco, rice, sugar and cotton for the world
market. Plantation agriculture continues today in tropical areas
around the world with the following cash crops: tea, rubber, coffee,
sugar cane, and cocoa.
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Several factors contributed to the division of
political activity in the United States into a party system. Parties
reflect different points of view regarding structures of governance,
economics and national finance, political representation, and rights
and responsibilities of individuals, states, and the nation.
Politically active people with competing interests, opinions, and
attitudes united under party names to argue their causes. In the
1830s published party platforms and public debates developed to
inform voters of the goals and objectives proposed by each party.
The Anti-Masonic party held the first national convention in 1831.
Republicanism and constitutional democracy require representation of
different points of view and involvement of different interest
groups. The Constitution resulted from rigorous debate between those
favoring a strong central government and those favoring a union of
sovereign states. Those favoring a centralized government also
believed in classical republicanism, with power vested in
representatives who were fit to lead due to their wealth and
education. This contrasted to opinions held by states' rights
advocates who believed in popular or mass participation in
government. Tension continued between these factions and resulted in
threats to nullify national laws or to secede from the union. The
authority of the federal government was re-enforced during the Civil
War when President Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, accepted nothing
less than full compliance with national causes on the part of the
largely Democratic south. Special interest groups often function
within the two-party system. This increased during the Progressive
movement on the local and state levels in the 1890s to 1900s, and on
the national and international levels in the 1910s and 1920s.
Differing points of view also result in the formation of
third-parties, the Anti-Masons, the Populists, the Socialists, and
the Liberal Party to name a few.
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Historians and social scientists strive to understand
what happened in the past but are often limited by incomplete
evidence. To analyze available sources they identify the different
interests, opinions, and attitudes reflected in the evidence (points
of view) and understand the vantage point of those who created the
evidence (frames of reference). Then they place the people and
events in historical context, relating them to other events and
ideas which occurred at the same time. By doing so, students gain a
greater understanding of what happened and how it relates to current
events. For instance, the Constitution reflects conflicting agendas
of special interest groups. Described by many as a document which
furthered democracy, others argued that it hindered it. The first
ten amendments, the Bill of Rights, were added later to satisfy
those interested in protecting the people from the powers of a
strong central government. The Federalist and Anti-Federalist
debates at ratification provide further evidence of conflicting
points of view which contributed to the U.S. Constitution as it
exists today. Any explanation of the significance of the
Constitution and its heritage remains incomplete if the points of
view which cause differences of opinion are not understood and
acknowledged. The farmer in Massachusetts had an opinion about the
Constitution as did the planter of Virginia and the merchant in
Charleston, South Carolina. The information each acquired differed
based on their participation in the drafting and ratification of the
Constitution. Just as the perception of a football player on the
line of scrimmage differs from that of the referee and of the fan
sitting in the bleachers, the frame of reference of James Madison
and other pro-Constitution delegates differed from those of the
Anti-Federalists who fought it. Historians and other social
scientists also have a frame of reference, one based in the present,
and informed by new approaches and methods. They analyze thea
available evidence by sorting through it, prioritizing it,
distinguishing important information from the less important, and
interpreting it. Thus, interpretations of one event change over
time, partially due to new ways to look at old sources. New sources
also contribute to new understandings.
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Popular sovereignty is the concept that political
power rests with the people who can create, alter, and abolish
government. People express themselves through voting and free
participation in government. Popular sovereignty is an important
characteristic of democratic government.
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Primary sources are evidence produced by someone who
participated in an event or lived during the time being studied.
Letters written to a friend or maps to a friend's house are both
primary sources. Researchers collect primary sources through
conducting surveys, field work, personal interviews, and research in
archives.
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A protective tariff is a tax on an imported product
instituted to protect local industries. The tax increases the price
of the import which makes it less appealing to consumers. Tariffs
ultimately protect domestic products from competition from other
countries.
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After the Civil War Radical Republicans favored harsh
treatment of the South and quick incorporation of the freemen into
citizenship with full privileges including voting rights for all
African Americans, government seizure of land from planters for
redistribution to freedmen, and funding of schools for African
Americans. They also agreed that ex-Confederates were traitors and
should not be readily accepted back into the union. Even though
Radical Republicans were a minority in the Congress, their arguments
gained a following. They questioned why the Civil War had been
fought if the South was going to be allowed to return to its
antebellum ways. In 1866 and 1867 the radical approach to
Reconstruction gained support and Congress was able to pass the
Reconstruction Act of 1867. This marked the beginning of
Reconstruction. If southern states hoped to rejoin the Union they
had to accept the 14th Amendment (the Civil Rights Act of 1866) and
they had to rewrite their constitutions so all adult men were able
to vote. Beginning in 1867 the Freedmen's Bureau worked to register
African-American voters and start schools for African-American
children. The southerners were not united in their opposition to
Radical Republican rule. Because poorer white farmers were eager to
gain some power traditionally held by the planters, they accepted
some of the Reconstruction measures. Planters were opposed to most
Radical measures because it limited their ability to control society
as they had done for generations. The poorer whites and planters
were united, however, in their opposition to social equality and
that was a major threat the Radical Reconstruction posed. The Ku
Klux Klan gained support in 1868 from planters and ex-Confederates.
The KKK initially sought to destroy the Republican party in the
South. Since the recently franchised African Americans voted
Republican, KKK efforts were directed at them. Regardless,
throughout the ten years of Radical Reconstruction, African-American
legislatures were elected to Congress and sought southern economic
and political reform. The Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction.
Once federal troops were removed, the enforcement mechanism was gone
and southern Democrats returned to governmental control, displacing
the Radical Republicans.
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In the post-Civil War period, from 1865 to 1877, the
United States confronted the problems of re-admitting the southern
states to the Union and integrating the freed slaves into society.
At the end of the Civil War northern business was prospering due to
the increased production required for the war effort and the fact
that few battles were fought in that area. In contrast the south was
in ruins. To rebuild national strength, the federal government
supported the reformation of governments in the former Confederate
states which supported the Union. Some congressmen believed the
South should be further punished for seceding and that
Reconstruction should require the following: voting rights for all
African Americans, no voting rights for ex-Confederates, government
seizure of land from planters for redistribution to freedmen, and
funding of schools for African Americans. Others, including
President Abraham Lincoln, believed in a quick healing. When Lincoln
was assassinated in 1865, President Andrew Johnson tried to
implement similar Reconstruction policies. Yet, many sought the more
radical approach. When Congress passed a Civil Rights Act in 1866
which advocated the radical approach, Johnson vetoed it but Congress
overrode. Radical Reconstruction gained support and Congress was
able to pass the Reconstruction Act of 1867. This marked the
beginning of Reconstruction. If southern states hoped to rejoin the
federal government they had to accept the 14th Amendment (the Civil
Rights Act of 1866) and they had to rewrite their constitutions so
all adult men were able to vote. The emancipation of the slaves left
thousands of people without work or income. One of the biggest
challenges was creating a system to give land to freedmen so they
could farm and make a living. This system was never developed.
Instead, due to disagreements among northern politicians and a lack
of interest on the part of southerners, a solution was never found.
Reconstruction ended when President Rutherford B. Hayes passed the
Compromise of 1877 which removed the last of the federal troops from
the South. When they left, the Reconstruction governments stopped
and southerners regained political control. These southerners were
known as Redeemers. They favored a return to the ways of the
antebellum South including a society based on the superiority of
white people. Challenges to the unequal treatment of blacks and
women became more united during the civil rights movements and
peaked when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was
passed.
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Efforts to reform society, or change it for the
better, took on renewed purpose in the early 19th century as
reformers gained confidence in themselves and worked to share their
good fortune with others. Factors which increased reform activity
included a new surge of religious revivals during the second Great
Awakening and the growing abolitionist movement. Reformers believed
they could improve society by sharing religion and education with
the less fortunate. Upper class men and women in the northeast led
the effort. The most powerful reform movements were led by
abolitionists and by suffragists. The abolitionist movement gained
support during the 1830s and 1840s. At the same time, women realized
their position in society needed reforming. The suffrage movement
emerged as a result. Abolitionists in the United States sought
freedom for African-American slaves while suffragists sought equal
rights for women, particularly the right to vote. These efforts to
attain civil rights culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Reformers also strove to correct unfair labor practices; improve
living conditions for the poor, the imprisoned, alcoholics, and the
disabled; and ensure that education was widely available. Reformers
who became frustrated with their attempts to effect change sought
refuge in their own utopian societies, ideal communities where they
could live by their own standards of conduct.
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Land was a valuable commodity in the early 1800s when
cotton planters and farmers sought to extend their settlements west
and south. The Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw of
the south, and the Sauk and Fox, Chippewa, Ottawa, Potawatomi,
Wyandot, Shawnee, and Miami of the north were all removed from their
native lands and sent to Indian Territory, much of which is in
present-day Oklahoma. The removal was not peaceful. The Indians,
particularly the Cherokee, attempted to adopt aspects of U.S.
society and government. Sequoya, a Cherokee, developed an alphabet.
The tribe wrote a constitution, had newspapers and even the Bible in
Cherokee. Regardless of the attempts of Indians to assimilate,
President Andrew Jackson insisted on the removal of the Indians from
the southwest. In 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act which
designated public lands in the west for Indian resettlement. In
1832, in response to an appeal by the Cherokee, Chief Justice John
Marshall of the Supreme Court declared that it was unconstitutional
for the state of Georgia to remove the tribe from their land. The
ruling was ignored. Many Indians did not leave peacefully nor was
the going easy once they were removed. The Cherokee endured the
Trail of Tears, traveling during a harsh winter as
refugees.
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In a representative government, power is held by the
people and exercised through the efforts of representatives elected
by those people.
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Republicanism is a philosophy of limited government
with elected representatives serving at the will of the people.
Republicanism says that the only legitimate government is one based
on the consent of the governed.
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Secondary sources are descriptions or interpretations
prepared by people who were not involved in the events described.
Researchers often use primary sources to understand past events but
they produce secondary sources. Secondary sources provide useful
background material and context for information gained from primary
sources.
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Baron de Montesquieu first outlined the concept of
separating the powers of government between the executive,
legislative, and judicial branches in The Spirit of the Laws (1748).
His ideas influenced those who proposed the Virginia Plan in the
opening discussion of the Philadelphia Convention, held in 1787 to
revise the Articles of Confederation. Delegates to the convention
modified the Virginia Plan, merged it with the New Jersey Plan
proposed later, defined the three branches, and outlined their
responsibilities and limitations of power in the U.S. Constitution.
The branches included the legislative branch know as "Congress" made
up of a "House of Representatives" and a "Senate," the executive
branch known as the "President," and the judicial branch known as
the "Supreme Court." The convention agreed that Congress, which made
laws, would consist of an equal number of senators from each state
and a variable number of representatives from each state based on
population. The powers of the legislative branch are outlined in
Article I of the U.S. Constitution. The President would lead the
executive branch, which carried out the laws and ensured their just
application. These powers are outlined in Article II of the U.S.
Constitution. The judicial branch, consisting of all courts of the
United States including the highest court, the Supreme Court, would
interpret and apply the laws, ensuring that they are just. Its
powers are outlined in Article III. The delegates to the
Philadelphia Convention felt this afforded protection to U.S.
citizens. In addition this new form of government distributed the
power between a central government and the states. The system was
called federalism.
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Millions of Africans came to America on slave ships
from the 1490s to the 1790s. Of these, about 400,000 were sold into
slavery in North America, most arriving in the 1760s. The
Revolutionary War and the subsequent interest in natural rights
decreased support for the trade. Most slaves brought into North
America came from the west coast of Africa, between Senegal in the
north and Angola in the south. Most were captured by other Africans
and sold to dealers on the coast. Slave markets in Charleston, South
Carolina, and Newport, Rhode Island, and other port cities prospered
during the 1700s. In 1774 the Continental Congress urged states to
abolish the slave trade and most supported the request. Several
northern states either abolished slavery completely or emancipated
slaves over a period of time. Some planters in the south even freed
slaves. By 1790 all states except South Carolina and Georgia
outlawed the trade. In 1787 during the Constitutional Convention,
delegates agreed that the slave trade would not end for 20 more
years. On January 1, 1808, Congress officially ended the
international slave trade. Internal trade continued and increased
from 1830 to 1860 as slaves from upper southern states were sold
south and west to satisfy the need of planters moving west. Efforts
to stop the trade within the south arose from a fear of slave
insurrection and less from humanitarian
purposes.
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Governments raise operating funds by levying tariffs
or taxes on imported goods. Tariffs place foreign merchants at a
disadvantage, making their goods more expensive than domestic
(American-made) products. Generally, northern businessmen favored
tariffs because the taxes offered some protection from foreign
competition. Southern agriculturists opposed tariffs because they
were more dependent on foreign goods. Because they sold most of
their cotton to foreign merchants, southern cotton growers had
foreign credit which they had to use to purchase higher priced
foreign goods. Tariffs imposed on certain domestic goods also caused
unrest. In 1794 Alexander Hamilton favored taxing whiskey to
generate needed revenue. Farmers in western Pennsylvania who
distilled their corn into whiskey were angered by the tax because
they considered it unfair. They refused to pay the tax. In a show of
force, federal troops marched to western Pennsylvania to overthrow
the Whiskey Rebellion. By the time they arrived, the angry farmers
had disbanded, but the incident proved that the government would
enforce laws.
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