HISTORY - Study Guide

U.S. HISTORY 1
FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE
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Chronology
- Be able to place all topics on this Study Guide in correct Chronological order!

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Early Presidencies
[IMPORTANT DATES ~ Washington: 1789–1797. Adams was President: 1797-1801. Jefferson: 1801-1809 etc… (look up others on your own)]
- Know why Americans were afraid of having a President…
AND why they easily elected Washington in spite of that fear.
- Know how Washington felt about being President.
- Know why Washington chose to have a cabinet…
AND what a President’s cabinet is for.
- Be able to name the following 3 members of Washington’s cabinet:
Vice President, Secretary of Treasury, and Secretary of State
- Be able to compare and contrast Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton
- Know the origins of America’s first 2 political parties (i.e. why they came to exist and what beliefs they represented)
- Know the names of America’s first 2 political parties
- Know what 2 things Washington warned America against in his famous “farewell address”
- Know America’s first 5 Presidents, its 7th, 16th, and 18th
- Be able to identify these Presidents based on facts about them or about their Presidency.
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War of 1812
[IMPORTANT DATE ~ The War of 1812 lasted from 1812-1814]
- Know what England was doing in the early 19th century to upset Americans.
- Know what Americans wanted in the war’s 1st phase
- Know what the “French Revolution” was and why it led England to fight the Napoleonic Wars.
- Know that the British were fighting the Napoleonic Wars in Europe when the War of 1812 began.
- Know what happened in Washington D.C. and Baltimore, MD in the war’s 2nd phase.
- Know which battle was fought after the war officially ended AND why a battle was fought after the end of the war.

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Nationalism
- Know the definition of the term “Nationalism”
- Know the definition of the term “Manifest Destiny”
- Be able to explain the “Monroe Doctrine”
- Be able to explain how both Manifest Destiny and the Monroe Doctrine reflect Nationalism

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Westward Expansion (Material from the Map Activity!)
[IMPORTANT DATES ~ Louisiana Purchase: 1804 Mexican War: 1846-1848 etc.]
- Be able to identify the original 13 states
- Be able to identify the Northwest Territory, Kentucky Territory, and Mississippi Territory.
- Be able to identify the area purchased as the Louisiana Territory
- Know which President made the Louisiana Purchase and who it was purchased from
- Know what we gained in the Adams-Onís Treaty, who we gained it from, AND why they gave it to us
- Know why America fought the Mexican War.
- Be able to identify the land gained in the Mexican Cession
- Be able to identify the 3 states in the Oregon territory.
- Know what the Oregon Trail was, the dangers of the Oregon trail, and why it fell out of use.

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American Indians
- Know who Tecumseh is and why he went to war with American troops in the early 19th century.
- Know how white Americans generally felt about American Indians.
- Know which President passed the “Indian Removal Act” that led to the Trail of Tears
- Know what happened to the Cherokee Nation based upon the documentary on the Trail of Tears.
- Know what happened to the Indians of the Great Plains (Mid-west) as demonstrated by the movie Dances with Wolves.

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Sectionalism & Civil War
[IMPORTANT DATE ~ Lincoln elected in 1860, Civil War: 1861-1865]
- Understand the major differences between life in the North and South leading up to and at the time of the Civil War!
- Know about slave life and culture in the American South.
- Be able to define the terms “abolitionist” and “fire-eater”
- Know the major conflicts in the US government that led to “Secession” (including the Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850, Kansas-Nebraska Act, Dread Scott Decision, John Brown’s Raid & The election of 1860)
- Be able to define the terms “Sectionalism”, “Union”, “Confederacy” and “Secession”
- Be able to compare and contrast the advantages and strategies of the North and South during the Civil War!
- Know which side won!
- Be able to define the term “Reconstruction” AND have an idea of what happened to African Americans in the South after the Civil War.