The state of Virginia also gives us a list of the information that you will be tested on. They call it the essential knowledge. You will find the essential knowledge for this unit below:

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Characteristics of early exploration and settlements in North America

• New England was settled by Puritans seeking freedom from religious persecution in Europe. They formed a “covenant community” based on the principles of the Mayflower Compact and Puritan religious beliefs and were often intolerant of those not sharing their religion. They also sought economic opportunity and practiced a form of direct democracy through town meetings.

• The Middle Atlantic region was settled chiefly by English, Dutch, and German-speaking immigrants seeking religious freedom and economic opportunity.

• Virginia and the other Southern colonies were settled by people seeking economic opportunities. Some of the early Virginia settlers were “cavaliers” (i.e., English nobility who received large land grants in eastern Virginia from the King of England). Poor English immigrants also came seeking better lives as small farmers or artisans and settling in the Shenandoah Valley or western Virginia, or as indentured servants who agreed to work on tobacco plantations for a period of time to pay for passage to North America.

• Jamestown, established in 1607 by the Virginia Company of London as a business venture, was the first permanent English settlement in North America. The Virginia House of Burgesses, established by the 1640s, was the first elected assembly in the New World. It has operated continuously and is known today as the General Assembly of Virginia.

 

Interactions among American Indians, Europeans, and Africans

• The explorations and settlements of the English in the American colonies and of the Spanish in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America often led to violent conflicts with the American Indians. The Indians lost their traditional territories and fell victim to diseases carried from Europe. By contrast, French exploration of Canada did not lead to large-scale immigration from France, and relations with native peoples were generally more cooperative.

• The first Africans were brought against their will to Jamestown in 1619 to work on tobacco plantations. The growth of an agricultural and mercantile economy based on large landholdings in the Southern colonies and in the Caribbean, and trade in the New England colonies, led to an enslaved labor force. This system eventually led to the introduction of African slavery in British North America.

 

Economic characteristics of the colonial period

• The New England colonies developed an economy based on shipbuilding, fishing, lumbering, small-scale subsistence farming, and eventually, manufacturing. The colonies prospered, reflecting the Puritans’ strong belief in the values of hard work and thrift.

• The middle colonies of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware developed economies based on shipbuilding, small-scale farming, and trading. Cities such as New York and Philadelphia began to grow as seaports and/or commercial centers.

• Southern colonies developed economies in the eastern coastal lowlands based on large plantations that grew cash crops such as tobacco, rice, and indigo for export to Europe. Farther inland, however, in the mountains and valleys of the Appalachian foothills, the economy was based on small-scale subsistence farming, hunting, and trading.

• A strong belief in private ownership of property and free enterprise characterized colonial life everywhere.

• The economic system of mercantilism used by imperial nations created a system of interdependence between the mother country and its colonies.

 

Social characteristics of the colonies

• New England’s colonial society was based on religious standing. The Puritans grew increasingly intolerant of dissenters who challenged their belief in the connection between religion and government. Rhode Island was founded by dissenters fleeing persecution by Puritans in Massachusetts.

• The middle colonies were home to multiple religious groups who generally believed in religious tolerance, including Quakers in Pennsylvania, Huguenots and Jews in New York, and Presbyterians in New Jersey. These colonies had more flexible social structures and began to develop a middle class of skilled artisans, entrepreneurs (business owners), and small farmers.

• Virginia and the other Southern colonies had a social structure based on family status and the ownership of land. Large landowners in the eastern lowlands dominated colonial government and society and maintained an allegiance to the Church of England and closer social ties to Britain than did those in the other colonies. In the mountains and valleys further inland, however, society was characterized by small subsistence farmers, hunters, and traders of Scots-Irish, German, and English descent. Maryland was established with the intent of being a haven for Catholics.

• While the cultural foundations in the North American colonies were British, American Indian and African cultures influenced every aspect of colonial society.

• The Great Awakening was a religious movement that swept through Europe and the colonies during the mid-1700s. It led to the rapid growth of evangelical denominations, such as the Methodist and Baptist denominations, and challenged the established religious and governmental orders. It laid one of the social foundations for the American Revolution.

 

Political life in the colonies

• The first meeting of a representative government in Virginia occurred at Jamestown in 1619.

• New England colonies used town meetings (an Athenian direct democracy model) in the operation of government.

• Middle colonies incorporated a number of democratic principles that reflected the basic rights of Englishmen.

• Southern colonies maintained stronger ties with Britain, with planters playing leading roles in representative colonial legislatures.

 

The development of indentured servitude and slavery

• Although all American colonies adopted African slavery as their primary non-free labor system, the growth of a plantation-based agricultural economy in the hot, humid coastal lowlands of the Middle and Southern colonies required a cheap labor source on a large scale.

• Some of the labor needs, especially in Virginia, were met by indentured servants, who were often poor persons from England, Scotland, or Ireland who agreed to work on plantations for a period of time in return for their passage from Europe or relief from debts.

• Most plantation labor needs eventually came to be satisfied by the forcible importation of Africans. Although some Africans worked as indentured servants, earned their freedom, and lived as free citizens during the colonial era, over time larger and larger numbers of enslaved Africans were forcibly brought to the American colonies via the Middle Passage.

• The development of a slavery-based agricultural economy in the Southern colonies eventually led to conflict between the North and South in the American Civil War.

 

The French and Indian War

• Caused by conflict between Britain and France over territory and resources

• Was the first step on the road to the American Revolution

• Colonials, including military leader George Washington, participated in the British war effort

 

Results of the French and Indian War

• Terms of the Treaty of Paris, 1763

• British war debt

• Increased tension between Britain and its colonies resulted as Britain shifted from its policy of salutary neglect to a more active role in colonial affairs beginning with the Proclamation of 1763

 

Key political ideas of the Enlightenment

• Natural rights

• Consent of the governed

• Social Contract

• Ordered liberty

• Separation of church and state

• Separation of powers

 

The road to revolution: Changes in British policy led to the American Revolution

• Taxation policy: Parliament enacted several revenue-raising taxes to pay for the costs incurred from the French and Indian War and for British troops to protect the colonists throughout the 1760s and 1770s, including the Sugar Act, Stamp Act, and the Townshend Acts. These acts were protested by some colonists through boycotts, intimidation, and violence.

• Civil liberties: Some American colonists believed their civil liberties as Englishmen were violated by the British government through its use of writs of assistance and the Quartering Act.

• Military maneuvers: Some American colonists believed the employment of the Quartering Act, martial law, and the closing of Boston Harbor were clear violations of their rights.

 

The beginning of the American Revolution 

Resistance to British rule in the colonies mounted, leading to war:

• The Boston Massacre took place when British troops fired on anti-British demonstrators.

• The Boston Tea Party, led by the Sons of Liberty, occurred.

• The First Continental Congress was called, to which all of the colonies except Georgia sent representatives—the first time most of the colonies had acted together.

• War began when the Minutemen in Massachusetts fought a brief skirmish with British troops at Lexington and Concord.

• The Second Continental Congress was called, to which all colonies eventually sent representatives.

• Members of the Continental Congress selected George Washington as commander in chief of the Continental Army and debated the issue of independence.

 

Differences among the colonists

The colonists were divided into three main groups during the Revolution:

• Patriots

• Believed in complete independence from Britain

• Inspired by the ideas of Locke and Paine and the words of Virginian Patrick Henry (“Give me liberty, or give me death!”)

• Provided the troops for the American Army, led by Virginian George Washington

• Loyalists (Tories)

• Remained loyal to Britain because of cultural and economic ties

• Believed that taxation of the colonies was justified to pay for British troops to protect European settlers from American Indian attacks

• Neutrals

• The many colonists who tried to stay as uninvolved in the war as possible

 

Competing advantages of the opposing forces

• Britain had a more powerful military, as its army was well-trained and well-equipped, along with a superior navy; however, the war continued to lose popular support in Britain.

• American colonists had the advantages of fighting a defensive war and having a committed political leadership.

 

Developments leading to colonial victory in the Revolutionary War

• American victory at the Battle of Saratoga led to the Treaty of Alliance negotiated by Ben Franklin with France

• American victory at the Battle of Yorktown under the command of George Washington with the assistance of the French army and navy

 

The Declaration of Independence

• The Declaration of Independence was inspired by ideas concerning natural rights and political authority that laid the institutional foundations for the system of government that ultimately unified the American people.

• The eventual draft of the Declaration of Independence, authored by Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, reflected the ideas of John Locke and Thomas Paine.

• Locke’s writings on “natural rights,” “social contract,” “ordered liberty,” and “consent of the governed” were incorporated when Jefferson wrote:

• “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 powers 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 abolish it, and to institute new Government…”

• Paine’s Common Sense challenged the rule of the American colonies by the King of England. It was read by many American colonists and contributed to the growing sentiment for independence from Great Britain. Jefferson incorporated into the Declaration of Independence many of the grievances against the King of England that Paine had outlined in Common Sense.

 

The Articles of Confederation

American political leaders, fearful of a powerful central government like Britain’s, created a weak national system of government. Significant powers given to the states ultimately made the national government ineffective. The Articles of Confederation

• provided for a weak national government

• gave Congress no power to tax or regulate commerce among the states

• provided for no common currency

• gave each state one vote regardless of size or population

• provided for no executive or judicial branch

• ultimately was replaced with a stronger central government through the formation of the Constitution of the United States.

 

Virginia Declaration of Rights (George Mason)

• Stated that governments should not violate the people’s natural rights

 

Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (Thomas Jefferson)

• Supported freedom of religious exercise and separation of church and state

 

The United States Constitution’s Bill of Rights

• James Madison consulted the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom when drafting the amendments that eventually became the United States Bill of Rights.

 

Key issues and their resolutions

• Made federal law the supreme law of the land when constitutional, but otherwise gave the states considerable leeway to govern themselves

• Balanced power between large and small states by creating a Senate, where each state has two senators, and a House of Representatives, where membership is based on population as stated in the Great Compromise

• Appeased the Southern states by counting slaves as three-fifths of the population when determining representation in the United States House of Representatives

• Avoided a too-powerful central government by establishing three co-equal branches (legislative, executive, judicial) with numerous checks and balances among them providing for separation of powers

• Limited the powers of the federal government to those identified in the Constitution

 

Key leaders

• George Washington, president of the Convention

• Washington presided at the Convention and, although seldom participating in the debates, lent his enormous prestige to the proceedings.

• James Madison, “Father of the Constitution”

• Madison, a Virginian and a brilliant political philosopher, often led the debate and kept copious notes of the proceedings—the best record historians have of what transpired at the Constitutional Convention.

• At the Convention, he authored the Virginia Plan, which proposed a federal government of three separate branches (legislative, executive, judicial) and became the foundation for the structure of the new government.

• He later authored much of the Bill of Rights.

 

Debates over the ratification of the U.S. Constitution

• The Federalists supported ratification because they advocated the importance of a strong central government, especially to promote economic development and public improvements.

• Anti-Federalists were opposed to the ratification of the Constitution because they feared an overly powerful central government destructive of the rights of individuals and states, leading to their demand for the incorporation of the United States Bill of Rights.

 

Issues leading to the formation of political parties

• Controversy over the Federalists’ support for Hamilton’s financial plan, especially the Bank of the United States; Washington’s Proclamation of Neutrality including the Jay Treaty; and the undeclared war on France during the John Adams administration contributed to the emergence of an organized opposition party, the Democratic-Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

 

Formation of political parties

• The Federalists typically believed in a strong national government and commercial economy. They were supported by bankers and business interests in the Northeast.

• The Democratic-Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson, believed in a weak national government and an agricultural economy. They were supported by farmers, artisans, and frontier settlers in the South.

• The presidential election of 1800, won by Thomas Jefferson, was the first American presidential election in which power was peacefully transferred from one political party to another.

 

The doctrine of judicial review set forth in Marbury v. Madison, the doctrine of implied powers set forth in McCulloch v. Maryland, and a broadly national view of economic affairs set forth in Gibbons v. Ogden are the foundation blocks of the Supreme Court’s authority to mediate disagreements between branches of governments, levels of government, and competing business interests, as decided during John Marshall’s tenure as the chief justice of the Supreme Court.