Essay (min: 250 words)
Chapter 4 discusses the significant changes that occurred in the early 19thcentury as a result of the creative energies of inventors and business leaders. As you think about the inventions and changes that occurred during this time, choose the invention and/or technological development that you think was the most influential and impactful. Write an essay (250 words) in which you use the information in the readings and videos to discuss your choice. Make sure you clearly identify your choice, discuss the historical facts (Who? When? Where? What?) and explain its impact on people’s lives. Make sure you defend your choice as the most impactful by using historical information from the textbook and videos. Verify use of the textbook by providing citations (in-text and works cited).Plagiarism will be penalized.
A History of the United States A History of the United States John Mack, editor. 2020, PDF A History of the United States by John Mack CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Derivative of US History by P. Scott Corbett, et. al. CC BY 4.0. The original textbook is available at https://openstax.org/details/books/us-history https://openstax.org/details/books/us-history TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: The Beginnings: Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans to 1650 Chapter 2: Creating New Social Orders: Colonial Societies, 1500-1750 Chapter 3: Imperial Reforms: Colonial Protests and the War that Created a Nation Chapter 4: Creating a Nation, 1783-1820 Chapter 5: Jacksonian Democracy and Westward Settlement, 1820-1850 Chapter 6: Antebellum America: Reform Movements, the Debate over Slavery and the Coming of War Chapter 7: The Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Settlement of the West, 1860-1880 Chapter 8: Industrialization, the Rise of Big Business, and the American Empire, 1870-1899 Chapter 9: Politics in the Gilded Age: Populists and Progressives, 1870- 1919 Chapter 10: The Jazz Age and the Great Depression, 1919-1932 Chapter 11: Franklin Roosevelt, the New Deal, and the Second World War, 1932-1945 Chapter 12: Post-War Prosperity, Cold War Fears, and the Struggle for Equality, 1945-1968 Chapter 13: Political Storms: Vietnam, Watergate, and the Reagan Revolution, 1968-1992 Chapter 14: The US in Modern Times: Culture Wars and the Challenges of the Twenty-First Century, 1992-2018 CHAPTER 1 The Beginnings: Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans to 1650 Figure 1.1 In Europe supported by Africa and America (1796), artist William Blake, who was an abolitionist, depicts the interdependence of the three continents in the Atlantic World; however, he places gold armbands on the Indian and African women, symbolizing their subjugation. The strand binding the three women may represent tobacco. Chapter 1 Outline Introduction, Watch and Learn, Questions to Guide your Reading 1.1 The First Americans 1.2 Portuguese Exploration and Spanish Conquest 1.3 Challenges to Spain’s Supremacy 1.4 Enforced Labor, Commerce, and the Columbian Exchange Key Terms, Section Summaries, Summary Timelines, Virtual Explorations in Learning Introduction Globalization, the ever-increasing interconnectedness of the world, is not a new phenomenon, but it accelerated when western Europeans discovered the riches of the East. During the Crusades (1095–1291), Europeans developed an appetite for spices, silk, porcelain, sugar, and other luxury items from the East, for which they traded fur, timber, and Slavic people they captured and sold (hence the word slave). But when the Silk Road, the long overland trading route from China to the Mediterranean, became costlier and more dangerous to travel, Europeans searched for a more efficient and inexpensive trade route over water, initiating the development of what we now call the Atlantic World. In pursuit of commerce in Asia, fifteenth-century traders unexpectedly encountered the “Americas” populated by millions and home to sophisticated and numerous peoples. Mistakenly believing they had reached the East Indies, these early explorers called its inhabitants Indians. West Africa, a diverse and culturally rich area, soon entered the stage as other nations exploited its slave trade and brought its peoples to the Americas in chains. Although Europeans would come to dominate the John Mack A History of the United States Page 1 Americas, they could not have done so without Africans and native peoples. The story of the Atlantic World is thus the story of global migration, a migration driven in large part by the actions and aspirations of the ruling heads of Europe. Christopher Columbus’ journey in 1492 sparked new rivalries among European powers as they scrambled to create American colonies, fueled by the quest for wealth and power as well as by religious passions. Almost continuous war resulted. Spain achieved early preeminence, creating a far-flung empire and growing rich with treasures from the Americas. Native Americans who confronted the newcomers from Europe suffered unprecedented losses of life, however, as previously unknown diseases sliced through their populations. They also were victims of the arrogance of the Europeans, who viewed themselves as uncontested masters of the Americas, sent by God to bring Christianity to the “Indians.” Watch and Learn (Crash Course in History videos for chapter 1) • The Black Legend, Native Americans, and Spaniards • The Columbian Exchange (part 1) • The Columbian Exchange (part 2) Questions to Guide Your Reading 1. The Inca were able to control an empire that stretched from modern Colombia to southern Chile. Which of their various means for achieving such control do you think were most effective, and why? 2. How did the Olmec, Aztec, Inca, Maya, and North American Indians differ in their ways of life and cultural achievements? How did their particular circumstances—geography, history, or the accomplishments of the societies that had preceded them, for example—serve to shape their particular traditions and cultures? John Mack A History of the United States Page 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E9WU9TGrec&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtMwmepBjTSG593eG7ObzO7s https://youtu.be/HQPA5oNpfM4 https://youtu.be/UC5km6-o2oM 3. What types of labor systems were used in the Americas? Did systems of unfree labor serve more than an economic function? 4. What is meant by the Columbian Exchange? Who was affected the most by the exchange? 5. What were the various goals of the colonial European powers in the expansion of their empires? To what extent were they able to achieve these goals? Where did they fail? 6. On the whole, what was the impact of early European explorations on the Americas? What was the impact of the Americas on Europeans? 1.1 The First Americans By the end of this section, you will be able to: • Locate on a map the major American civilizations before the arrival of the Spanish • Discuss the cultural achievements of these civilizations • Discuss the differences and similarities between lifestyles, religious practices, and customs among the native peoples of the Americas Between nine and fifteen thousand years ago, a land bridge existed between Asia and North America that we now call Beringia. The first inhabitants of what would be named the Americas migrated across this bridge in search of food. When the glaciers melted, water engulfed Beringia, and the Bering Strait was formed. Later settlers came by boat across the narrow strait. Continually moving southward, the settlers eventually populated both North and South America, creating unique cultures that ranged from the highly complex and urban Aztec civilization in what is now Mexico City to the woodland tribes of eastern North America. About ten thousand years ago, humans also began the domestication of plants and animals, adding agriculture as a means of sustenance to hunting and gathering techniques. With this agricultural revolution, and the more abundant and reliable food supplies it brought, populations grew, and John Mack A History of the United States Page 3 people were able to develop a more settled way of life, building permanent settlements. Figure 1.2 This map shows the extent of the major civilizations of the Western Hemisphere. THE “MOTHER” CIVILIZATION: THE OLMEC Mesoamerica is the geographic area stretching from north of Panama up to the desert of central Mexico. Although marked by great topographic, linguistic, and cultural diversity, this region cradled a number of civilizations with similar characteristics. Mesoamericans developed a mathematical system, built huge edifices, and devised a calendar that John Mack A History of the United States Page 4 accurately predicted eclipses and solstices and that priest-astronomers used to direct the planting and harvesting of crops. Most important for our knowledge of these peoples, they created the only known written language in the Western Hemisphere. Though the area had no overarching political structure, trade over long distances helped diffuse culture. Weapons made of obsidian, jewelry crafted from jade, feathers woven into clothing and ornaments, and cacao beans that were whipped into a chocolate drink formed the basis of commerce. The mother of Mesoamerican cultures was the Olmec civilization. Flourishing along the hot Gulf Coast of Mexico from about 1200 to about 400 BCE, the Olmec produced a number of major works of art, architecture, pottery, and sculpture. Most recognizable are their giant head sculptures and the pyramid in La Venta. The Olmec built aqueducts to transport water into their cities and irrigate their fields. They grew maize, squash, beans, and tomatoes. They also bred small domesticated dogs which, along with fish, provided their protein. Although no one knows what happened to the Olmec after about 400 BCE, in part because the jungle reclaimed many of their cities, their culture was the base upon which the Maya and the Aztec built. It was the Olmec who worshipped a rain god, a maize god, and the feathered serpent so important in the future pantheons of the Aztecs (who called him Quetzalcoatl) and the Maya (to whom he was Kukulkan). The Olmec also developed a system of trade throughout Mesoamerica, giving rise to an elite class. John Mack A History of the United States Page 5 Figure 1.3 The Olmec carved heads from giant boulders that ranged from four to eleven feet in height and could weigh up to fifty tons. THE MAYA After the decline of the Olmec, a city rose in the fertile central highlands of Mesoamerica. One of the largest population centers in pre-Columbian America and home to more than 100,000 people at its height in about 500 CE, Teotihuacan was located about thirty miles northeast of modern Mexico City. Large-scale agriculture and the resultant abundance of food allowed time for people to develop special trades and skills other than farming. Builders constructed over twenty-two hundred apartment compounds for multiple families, as well as more than a hundred temples. Among these were the Pyramid of the Sun (which is two hundred feet high) and the Pyramid of the Moon (one hundred and fifty feet high). The city was also the center for trade, which extended to settlements on Mesoamerica’s Gulf Coast. John Mack A History of the United States Page 6 Figure 1.4 El Castillo, located at Chichen Itza in the eastern Yucatán peninsula, served as a temple for the god Kukulkan. Each side contains ninety-one steps