Outline of USA History.pdf

OUTLINE OF

U.S. HISTORY

C O N T E N T S

CHAPTER 1 Early America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

CHAPTER 2 The Colonial Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

CHAPTER 3 The Road to Independence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

CHAPTER 4 The Formation of a National Government . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

CHAPTER 5 Westward Expansion and Regional Differences . . . . . . . 110

CHAPTER 6 Sectional Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

CHAPTER 7 The Civil War and Reconstruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

CHAPTER 8 Growth and Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

CHAPTER 9 Discontent and Reform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

CHAPTER 10 War, Prosperity, and Depression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

CHAPTER 11 The New Deal and World War I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

CHAPTER 12 Postwar America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

CHAPTER 13 Decades of Change: 1960-1980 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

CHAPTER 14 The New Conservatism and a New World Order . . . . . . 304

CHAPTER 15 Bridge to the 21st Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

PICTURE PROFILES

Becoming a Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Transforming a Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Monuments and Memorials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Turmoil and Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

21st Century Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

OUTLINE OF

EARLY

AMERICA

Mesa Verde settlement in

Colorado, 13th century.

CHAPTER

C HA PTER 1: EARLY AMERICA

OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY

“Heaven and Earth never

agreed better to frame a place

for man’s habitation.”

much of the Western Hemisphere by

some time prior to 10,000 B.C.

Around that time the mammoth

began to die out and the bison took

its place as a principal source of

food and hides for these early North

Americans. Over time, as more and

more species of large game vanished

— whether from overhunting or

natural causes — plants, berries,

and seeds became an increasingly

important part of the early Ameri-

can diet. Gradually, foraging and

the first attempts at primitive agri-

culture appeared. Native Americans

in what is now central Mexico led

the way, cultivating corn, squash,

and beans, perhaps as early as 8,000

B.C. Slowly, this knowledge spread

northward.

By 3,000 B.C., a primitive type of

corn was being grown in the river

valleys of New Mexico and Arizona.

Then the first signs of irrigation

began to appear, and, by 300 B.C.,

signs of early village life.

By the first centuries A.D., the

Hohokam were living in settlements

near what is now Phoenix, Arizona,

where they built ball courts and

pyramid-like mounds reminiscent

of those found in Mexico, as well as

a canal and irrigation system.

ing earthen burial sites and for-

tifications around 600 B.C. Some

mounds from that era are in the

shape of birds or serpents; they

probably served religious purposes

not yet fully understood.

The Adenans appear to have

been absorbed or displaced by vari-

ous groups collectively known as

Hopewellians. One of the most im-

portant centers of their culture was

found in southern Ohio, where the

remains of several thousand of these

mounds still can be seen. Believed

to be great traders, the Hopewel-

lians used and exchanged tools and

materials across a wide region of

hundreds of kilometers.

By around 500 A.D., the

Hopewellians disappeared, too,

gradually giving way to a broad

group of tribes generally known

as the Mississippians or Temple

Mound culture. One city, Cahokia,

near Collinsville, Illinois, is thought

to have had a population of about

20,000 at its peak in the early 12th

century. At the center of the city

stood a huge earthen mound, flat-

tened at the top, that was 30 meters

high and 37 hectares at the base.

Eighty other mounds have been

found nearby.

Cities such as Cahokia depended

on a combination of hunting, for-

aging, trading, and agriculture for

their food and supplies. Influenced

by the thriving societies to the

south, they evolved into complex hi-

erarchical societies that took slaves

and practiced human sacrifice.

Jamestown founder John Smith, 1607

THE FIRST AMERICANS

A t the height of the Ice Age, be-

tween 34,000 and 30,000 B.C., much

of the world’s water was locked up

in vast continental ice sheets. As a

result, the Bering Sea was hundreds

of meters below its current level, and

a land bridge, known as Beringia,

emerged between Asia and North

America. At its peak, Beringia is

thought to have been some 1,500 ki-

lometers wide. A moist and treeless

tundra, it was covered with grasses

and plant life, attracting the large

animals that early humans hunted

for their survival.

The first people to reach North

America almost certainly did so

without knowing they had crossed

into a new continent. They would

have been following game, as their

ancestors had for thousands of

years, along the Siberian coast and

then across the land bridge.

Once in Alaska, it would take

these first North Americans thou-

sands of years more to work their

way through the openings in great

glaciers south to what is now the

United States. Evidence of early life

in North America continues to be

found. Little of it, however, can be

reliably dated before 12,000 B.C.; a

recent discovery of a hunting look-

out in northern Alaska, for example,

may date from almost that time.

So too may the finely crafted spear

points and items found near Clovis,

New Mexico.

Similar artifacts have been found

at sites throughout North and South

America, indicating that life was

probably already well established in

MOUND BUILDERS AND

PUEBLOS

T he first Native-American group

to build mounds in what is now the

United States often are called the

Adenans. They began construct-

C HA PTER 1: EARLY AMERICA

OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY

In what is now the southwest

United States, the Anasazi, ancestors

of the modern Hopi Indians, began

building stone and adobe pueblos

around the year 900. These unique

and amazing apartment-like struc-

tures were often built along cliff

faces; the most famous, the “cliff

palace” of Mesa Verde, Colorado,

had more than 200 rooms. Another

site, the Pueblo Bonito ruins along

New Mexico’s Chaco River, once

contained more than 800 rooms.

Perhaps the most affluent of the

pre-Columbian Native Americans

lived in the Pacific Northwest, where

the natural abundance of fish and

raw materials made food supplies

plentiful and permanent villages pos-

sible as early as 1,000 B.C. The opu-

lence of their “potlatch” gatherings

remains a standard for extravagance

and festivity probably unmatched in

early American history.

had on the indigenous population

practically from the time of initial

contact. Smallpox, in particular,

ravaged whole communities and is

thought to have been a much more

direct cause of the precipitous de-

cline in the Indian population in the

1600s than the numerous wars and

skirmishes with European settlers.

Indian customs and culture at the

time were extraordinarily diverse, as

could be expected, given the ex-

panse of the land and the many dif-

ferent environments to which they

had dapted. Some generalizations,

however, are possible. Most tribes,

particularly in the wooded eastern

region and the Midwest, combined

aspects of hunting, gathering, and

the cultivation of maize and other

products for their food supplies.

In many cases, the women were

responsible for farming and the

distribution of food, while the men

hunted and participated in war.

By all accounts, Native-American

society in North America was closely

tied to the land. Identification with

nature and the elements was integral

to religious beliefs. Their life was

essentially clan-oriented and com-

munal, with children allowed more

freedom and tolerance than was the

European custom of the day.

Although some North American

tribes developed a type of hiero-

glyphics to preserve certain texts,

Native-American culture was pri-

marily oral, with a high value placed

on the recounting of tales and

dreams. Clearly, there was a good

deal of trade among various groups

and strong evidence exists that

neighboring tribes maintained ex-

tensive and formal relations — both

friendly and hostile.

Columbus never saw the main-

land of the future United States,

but the first explorations of it were

launched from the Spanish posses-

sions that he helped establish. The

first of these took place in 1513

when a group of men under Juan

Ponce de León landed on the Florida

coast near the present city of St. Au-

gustine.

With the conquest of Mexico in

1522, the Spanish further solidi-

fied their position in the Western

Hemisphere. The ensuing discover-

ies added to Europe’s knowledge of

what was now named America —

after the Italian Amerigo Vespucci,

who wrote a widely popular account

of his voyages to a “New World.” By

1529 reliable maps of the Atlantic

coastline from Labrador to Tierra

del Fuego had been drawn up, al-

though it would take more than an-

other century before hope of discov-

ering a “Northwest Passage” to Asia

would be completely abandoned.

Among the most significant early

Spanish explorations was that of

Hernando De Soto, a veteran con-

quistador who had accompanied

Francisco Pizarro in the conquest

of Peru. Leaving Havana in 1539, De

Soto’s expedition landed in Florida

and ranged through the southeast-

ern United States as far as the Mis-

sissippi River in search of riches.

Another Spaniard, Francisco

Vázquez de Coronado, set out from

Mexico in 1540 in search of the

mythical Seven Cities of Cibola.

Coronado’s travels took him to the

Grand Canyon and Kansas, but

THE FIRST EUROPEANS

T he first Europeans to arrive in

North America — at least the first

for whom there is solid evidence

— were Norse, traveling west from

Greenland, where Erik the Red had

founded a settlement around the

year 985. In 1001 his son Leif is

thought to have explored the north-

east coast of what is now Canada and

spent at least one winter there.

While Norse sagas suggest that

Viking sailors explored the Atlan-

tic coast of North America down

as far as the Bahamas, such claims

remain unproven. In 1963, however,

the ruins of some Norse houses dat-

ing from that era were discovered at

L’Anse-aux-Meadows in northern

Newfoundland, thus supporting at

least some of the saga claims.

In 1497, just five years after

Christopher Columbus landed in

the Caribbean looking for a west-

ern route to Asia, a Venetian sailor

named John Cabot arrived in

Newfoundland on a mission for

the British king. Although quickly

forgotten, Cabot’s journey was later

to provide the basis for British claims

to North America. It also opened

the way to the rich fishing grounds

off George’s Banks, to which Eu-

ropean fishermen, particularly the

Portuguese, were soon making

regular visits.

NATIVE-AMERICAN

CULTURES

T he America that greeted the first

Europeans was, thus, far from an

empty wilderness. It is now thought

that as many people lived in the

Western Hemisphere as in Western

Europe at that time — about 40

million. Estimates of the number

of Native Americans living in what

is now the United States at the on-

set of European colonization range

from two to 18 million, with most

historians tending toward the lower

figure. What is certain is the devas-

tating effect that European disease

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: