Apush Sem. 1 Outline

1.  Americans Inhabitants Early On

1. There is strong archaeological and genetic evidence that suggests the earliest inhabitant of the Americas came over the current-day Bering Strait, which had been frozen over multiple times during multiple ice ages sometime between 16,000-12,000 B.C.E.
2. By about 3000 B.C.E., many Native Americans had learned to farm. They planted crops such as beans, squash, and maize (corn).

1. The Olmec, Mayas, and Aztecs

1. The Olmec civilization began around 700 B.C.E. and living along the Gulf of Mexico.
2. The Mayan civilization started to pick up steam around 300 C.E., by which time more then 20,000 people were living in their largest urban center, Tikal (tee-kill).

1. Had elaborate systems of water storage and irrigation
2. Were ruled by an elite class that claimed descent from the gods
3. Went into decline around 800 C.E.
4. The Aztec civilization began around 1325 C.E.
5. Built a new city, Tenochtitlan (ten-och-tit-lan), which is current day Mexico City, and, at its peak, had over 200,000 inhabitants.
6. Mastered a writing system, complex irrigation systems, and established a hierarchical social order.

1. The Indians of the North

1. The societies north of the Rio Grande River were much less complex then their counterparts to the south; most were small self-governing tribes. However, their government was based on a kinship system, in which the chief ruled with limited powers.
2. Most tribes did not seek to gain material possessions.
3. The Hopewell Indians, however, did seek to gain material possessions
4. These Native Americans lived in present-day Ohio.
5. They organized themselves into large villages, and set up a trading network that stretched from present-day Wisconsin to present-day Louisiana

1. The Southwestern peoples

1. There were three main tribes, the Hohokams, Mogollons, and Anasazis.
2. By 1000 C.E. they were living in multiroom stone structures named pueblos.
3. These smaller civilizations, however, went into decline because of extended periods of drought and overuse of the soil, causing soil exhaustion.

1. The Mississippian peoples

1. Developed around 800 C.E., when agricultural methods from Mesoamerica reached the Mississippi River Valley.
2. The natives here were especially successful in their agricultural ventures.

1. The Eastern Woodland peoples

1. The cultures of the peoples here were quite diverse.
2. The Natchez, the Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws had all once been organized into powerful chiefdoms.
3. However, the diseases that were brought over by the Columbian Exchange wreaked havoc on these chiefdoms, reducing them to smaller and less powerful agricultural communities.

1. Algonquian/Iroquoian

1. Included all people who spoke Algonquian
2. Men took care of the hunting and fishing, while farming was handled by the women
3. This society had a strong matrilineal system

1. European Agricultural Society

1. Most Europeans were peasants and they lived in small agricultural communities.
2. Community worked together to farm, also decided together which crops they would plant.

1. Hierarchy and Authority

1. Control came from above; the kings and princes that owned amounts on amounts of land.
2. Local nobles, however, also controlled large portions of land and used that land to leverage their positions in society.
3. The man was always the head of the household in European society.
4. The eldest son often inherited the majority of their fathers land, a process known as primogeniture.

1. The Power of Religion

1. Christian doctrine played a ginormous role in the everyday lives of peasants.
2. Originally, most Europeans were pagans, very similar in their religious beliefs as to the Indians of North America in that they were animists.
3. If prophets spread heresies, that is doctrines that didn’t line up with the teachings of the Pope and the centralized church, they were often killed.
4. This included Islam and the Crusades were an example of the Church attempting to eradicate some heresies.

1. The Renaissance Changes Europe, 1300-1500

1. Innovations occurred in economics, art, and politics. For example, civic humanism, republics, and the organization of guilds.
2. Prince Henry of Portugal led them through a time of expansion in which they established a complex trading route to, through, and around Africa to the Indian Ocean Trade networks.

1. West African Society and Slavery

1. Most West Africans lived in extended families in small villages and farmed small-sized plots of land.
2. Many Africans practiced Islam along with other animistic practices, while the rest practiced mostly animism.
3. European traders, at first, had a positive impact by introducing new plants and animals.
4. However, over time, European traders joined African states and Arab merchants in the slave trade.

1. The Catholic Church

1. Over time, the Catholic Church grew too powerful for its own good.
2. Corruption ensued, such as when Pope Leo X (r. 1513-1521) received half a million ducats (*about $20 million in 2006 dollars) a year from the sale of religious offices.
3. Economic and sexual favors also occurred during this corruption, and those who pointed this corruption out were either ignored or executed as heretics.

1. The Protestant Movement

1. Martin Luther was a very important figure in this movement.

1. His Ninety-five Theses condemned many catholic practices, including indulgences, certificates that allegedly pardoned sinners from punishment in the afterlife.
2. This movement was protected by the princes of northern Germany, who were resisting the emperor’s authority for political reasons.

1. John Calvin also played an important role.

1. His version of Protestantism stressed human weakness and god’s omnipotence.
2. He preached the doctrine of predestination, the idea that god chooses certain people for salvation before they are born and condemns the rest to eternal damnation.

1. This movement was also eventually supported by King Henry VIII of England.

1. He initially opposed it, however, after the pope refused to annul his marriage to the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon.
2. Henry then broke with Rome and placed himself at the head of nation church, the Church of England, which promptly granted the king an annulment. Angered the Catholics

1. The Dutch and English Challenge Spain

1. King Philip II (r. 1556-1598) was the most powerful ruler in Europe at this time because Spain had recently conquered the Aztec empire, and begun mass import of gold and silver.
2. Philip’s Wars; King Philip was an ardent catholic, and attempted to root out Islam in North Africa and Protestantism in the Netherlands and England.
3. However, once Philip had begun his war on Protestantism, the seven northern provinces declared their independence and became the Dutch Republic (or Holland).
4. Elizabeth I of England joined forces with the Dutch cause and dispatched six thousand troops to Holland to aide them against the Spanish.
5. However, the Queen also issued brutal massacres of thousands of Irish, calling them “wild savages”.
6. In response to this military move by the English, King Philip II sent the Spanish Armada – 130 ships and 30,000 troops – to attack England.
7. This was an attempt to restore Catholicism to England and Ireland and wipe out Calvinism in Holland.
8. However, this failed miserably when English ships and a fierce storm destroyed the Spanish fleet.

Chapter 2: American Experiment, 1521-1700