Civics Outline

Civics Homework Outline 1

I. Jamestown – The House of Burgesses

A. The first permanent English settlement, Jamestown, was founded in 1607 near the Chesapeake Bay and James River. It was founded because the Virginia Company of London financed an expedition to the Chesapeake Bay. The colonists needed to find a place to settle, so they sailed up the James River and found a spot to settle.

B. The colonists made a decision to grow tobacco. This changed Jamestown Jamestown because the Virginia Company thought of the colonists as employees, as the colonists wanted a share of the profits.

C. The House of Burgesses was the first representative assembly in the American colonies. It was formed because the colonists became annoyed at the strict rules of the governor. The colonists wanted to have more local control.

D. Bacon’s Rebellion was caused by Governor Berkley’s refusal of Nathaniel Nathaniel Bacon’s command.

II. New England – The Mayflower Compact & Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

A. The purpose of the Mayflower compact was that it helped establish the idea of self-government and majority rule.

B. A commonwealth is a community in which people work together for the good of the whole.

C. The New England Way was a term used by the Puritans to describe both their beliefs and their society. It emphasized duty, godliness, hard work, honesty, and education.

D. The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut was written by Thomas Hooker and his congregation in 1636. It extended voting rights to non-church members and limited the power of the governor.

E. The three groups that had to create new settlements were the Pilgrims, the Puritans, and the Quakers. They had to move because of how they had been treated in their old settlements. For example, the Pilgrims and the Puritans had gotten bad treatment from King James, so they moved. The Quakers were whipped, imprisoned, and hanged by other colonists, so they moved.

III. The Great Awakenings and Enlightenment

A. The Great Awakening was a religious movement in the 1730s and 1740s. It changed colonial cultures because Congregations argued and split apart, left their churches and joined other Protestant groups, and some groups welcomed women, African Americans, and Native Americans. The Great Awakening made colonists think about helping others.

B. The Enlightenment stressed the reason and science as paths to knowledge. It affected the colonies because they got more knowledge about the universe, gravity, and natural rights.

C. The Great Awakening and the Enlightenment were different because the Great Awakening was about religious emotion, while the Enlightenment was about knowledge.

IV. The Albany Plan of Union

A. The Albany Plan of Union was the first formal proposal to unite the colonies. Benjamin Franklin was the person to suggest the Albany Plan of Union. The point of it was to get all the colonies to come together as a defense against the French.

B. The Albany Plan of Union relates to the eventual form of our country. Everyone in our country is getting together to defend themselves from the Iraqis as the colonists got together to defend themselves from the French.

V. The Causes of the Revolutionary War

A. The proclamation of 1763 stated that colonists could not settle west of the Appalachian Mountains. This angered the colonists because some had hoped to move to the fertile Ohio valley. Many of these colonists had no land of their own. The proclamation also upset colonists who had bought land as an investment.

B. Two examples of unfair taxing placed on the colonists by the British were the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act. The Sugar Act was a law that placed a tax on sugar, molasses, and other products shipped to the colonies. The Stamp Act was a law that required all legal and commercial documents to carry an official stamp showing that a tax has been paid.

C. The First Continental Congress was made up of delegates from all the colonies except Georgia who met in Philadelphia. The results were that the delegates voted to ban all trade with Britain until the Intolerable Acts were repealed. They also called on each colony to start training troops.

D. The significant event that took place at Lexington and Concord was the first battle of the Revolutionary War.

E. The results of the Second Continental Congress was that they agreed to form the Continental Army. Washington was chosen as its commanding general. They were now starting to act like a government.

F. Common Sense was a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine. It convinced Americans that a complete break with Britain was necessary. It was a call for independence.

VI. The Results of War

A. There were four key factors that led the Americans to win the Revolutionary War. The Americans had better leadership because the British were overconfident. Unlike the British, Americans had foreign aid. Britain’s enemies helped America win the war. The Americans also had knowledge of the land and motivation. The British didn’t have any reason to fight the Americans, but the Americans did.

B. The Treaty of Paris helped American in many ways. The United States became independent, they would get to fish off Canada’s Atlantic coast, and the British would return any enslaved people they had captured.

C. The war left Americans with financial problems. The soldiers who survived the war left the army with no money. Also, the Congress and the states had borrowed money, which left them with a debt of $27 million.

D. America changed a lot after the war. They changed many of their ideas such as the idea of republicanism. America also decided to go against the laws they made about discriminating against certain religions. The Americans even began to see a conflict between slavery and liberty. With the new government, America has changed a lot.