Texes Ec-4 Social Studies Prep

Front 1

In the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries, European nations explored and settled large parts of the New World. The Spaniards explored Florida and founded what settlement in 1565?

Back 1

St. Augustine.

Their (Spaniards) motives were the search for gold, the desire for territory, and the wish to convert native populations to Roman Catholicism

Front 2

The English settled along the eastern coast, founding their first permanent colony in 1607. Where was this colony founded?

Back 2

Jamestown, Virgina.

During the early years the majority of settlers died of starvation, various disease, or hostile action by Native Americans. The strong leadership of John Smith helped to keep the colony from collapsing.

Front 3

What is an indentured servant?

Back 3

An indentured servant was a person who agreed to work several years for a person or company in return for passage to America.

Front 4

What was the first cash crop in the New World?

Back 4

A new type of Tobacco, discovered by John Rolfe in 1612.

Front 5

What colonists came to the New World seeking the right to worship without government interference?

Back 5

Puritans, Catholics, Quakers, and Pilgrims

Front 6

Who came to American on the Mayflower?

Back 6

The Pilgrims, in 1620, which was a small group of religious separatists led by William Bradford.

Front 7

What was the first form of democracy in America?

Back 7

The Mayflower Compact, which committed the settlers of the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts to self-government and majority rule.

Front 8

Who formed a joint-stock company called the Massachusetts Bay Company and what is a joint-stock company?

Back 8

In 1629 the Puritans, a larger group than the Pilgrams, led by John Winthrop formed the Massachusetts Bay Company. A joint-stock company raises capital by the sale of stocks.

Front 9

Where and what happened during the Witch Trials of Salem?

Back 9

The Witch Trials happened in 1692 by the Puritans in Massachusetts, there was 20 executed.

Front 10

What is individualism?

Back 10

The belief in dignity and worth of each person, had a firm religious and political base in the British colonies by the eighteenth century.

Front 11

What were the three distinctive groups of colonies in the New World and what characteristics were distinctive of each one?

Back 11

New England Colonies: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, which had poor soil, generally developed fishing, trading, and shipbuilding industries.

Middle colonies: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware grew large quantities of grain on family-sized farms.

Southern colonies: Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia had a climate and soil that favored the development of large plantations on which tobacco, indigo, and rice were grown.

Front 12

What was the Stamp Act of 1763?

Back 12

The Stamp Act of 1763 placed a tax on newspapers and legal documents. Following colonial protests, this tax was repealed.

Front 13

What was the Townsend Acts?

Back 13

In 1767, England imposed the Townsend Acts, which required new taxes on tea, glass, paint and paper. Most colonial legislatures sent protests to the British Parliament.

Front 14

What was the Boston Massacre?

Back 14

Due to the protests brought on by the Townsend Acts the British increased the number of troops stationed in America. By 1770, tensions between colonists and soldiers ran high. In Boston, the friction between the two groups led to an incident in which five colonists were killed. Samuel Adams labeled the incident the Boston Massacre.

Front 15

What was the Boston Tea Party?

Back 15

In 1770, after the Boston Massacre, Parliament, under a new prime minister, repealed all the taxes except the one on tea. Angry colonists threw all the tea from English cargo ships into Boston Harbor. In response to the Boston Tea Party, England closed the port of Boston and severely limited self-government in Massachusetts.

Front 16

What is the Intolerable Acts?

Back 16

The Intolerable Acts was four acts passed by the British government in response to the dumping of the tea in the Boston Tea Party because of the Townsend Acts.

The four acts included:
The port of Boston was closed until the tea was paid for; the Massachusetts royal governor was given greater authority over the colonial legislature; royal officials accused of a crime could be tried elsewhere; and the Quartering Act required American colonists to house British troops.

Front 17

What was the First Continental Congress?

Back 17

In 1774, Americans formed the First Continental Congress in response to the Intolerable Acts. They met in Philadelphia and their first act was to draft a petition to the British Parliament to protest the Intolerable Acts. The colonists protested to England and began to organize a militia to protect themselves.

Front 18

Who was General Gage?

Back 18

General Gage was sent by the British government after the First Continental Congress was formed in America to arrest the leaders of the rebellion in 1775.

He led 700 British soldiers to Concord on a mission to search for and destroy a reported stockpile of colonial arms and ammunition. The Americans tracked the British troop movements and sent two riders, Paul Revere and William Dawes, to alert the countryside.

Front 19

What marked the beginning of the Revolutionary War?

Back 19

The shot heard 'round the world, which was a shot that was fired when the American Minutemen at Lexington began to leave the green when the British ordered the men to drop their weapons and disperse. The American Minutemen drove the British from Concord and Lexington.

Front 20

What was the significance of the book Common Sense?

Back 20

Common Sense was published by Thomas Paine in 1776 and gave reasons why it was foolish to believe that Americans could reconcile with England.

Front 21

Who led the American Army during the Revolutionary War?

Back 21

George Washington

Washington led a surprise attack on the British by sneaking the army across the Delaware River in the middle of winter, showing the British their resolve.

Front 22

What was the significance of the Battle of Yorktown?

Back 22

The Battle of Yorktown in October 1781 was the last major battle of the revolution

Front 23

What was the significance of the Treaty of Paris?

Back 23

In 1783, the signing of the Treaty of Paris meant that the colonies of America had won their freedom from England.

Front 24

What is the Articles of Confederation?

Back 24

The Articles of Confederation, ratified in 1781, was the joining of American colonies in an association after the Revolutionary War.

Front 25

What did the Articles of Confederation establish?

Back 25

The Articles of Confederation established a weak central government with a Congress that could declare war but was not allowed to recruit an army. There was no central courts. States taxed each others goods and used different currencies.

Front 26

What was Shays' Rebellion?

Back 26

Shays' Rebellion was an uprising of debtor farmers in Massachusetts that showed the states how inadequate the Articles of Confederation were. The central government did not have the authority to put down the rebellion.

Front 27

What was the Constitution?

Back 27

The Constitution was drafted by the Founding Fathers, 55 delegates, from the various states that met in Philadelphia after recognizing the Articles of Confederation's many weaknesses. The Constitution was adopted in 1790.

The Constitution was a result of a series of compromises. Among the most important was those concerning representation in the legislature and the method of electing the president, the debate over ratification divided the nation into Federalists, who supported the Constitution, and anti-Federalists who feared a strong central government might abuse its power and the liberties of the people and the states.

Front 28

What was the significance of the Bill of Rights?

Back 28

The promise of the Bill of Rights led the anti-Federalists to accept the new government. These are the first ten amendments to the Constitution. Anti-Federalists wanted to guarantee that citizens would be protected from the new government so they wanted many rights specified: freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and government petition; to bear arms; against unreasonable search and seizure; speedy and public trial; and no self-incrimination, excessive bail, or cruel and unusual punishment.