Conservapedia:American History Lecture Two

Students have entered enough terms in Lecture One to enable us to move on to Lecture Two. But before we start our second lecture for American history, we review some test-taking tips for multiple-choice history exams. View a history exam like a contest or a game. Part of your score is how much you know going into the exam, but a big part is how much you try on the test itself.

MANY OF THE ANSWERS TO A HISTORY EXAM CAN BE FIGURED OUT DURING THE TEST. The key is not to give up on questions that you don’t think you know the answer to. You can get many of them right. The person in the class who knows the most history probably won’t be the person who gets the highest score. The highest score will usually go to the person who tries the hardest during the test.

Tip Number One: Understand the question. Read it twice if necessary. Pause after reading it to make sure you understand its point. Never, ever try to answer a question you do not understand. You can improve your score by 10% on each exam by making sure you understand each and every question before attempting to answer it.

Tip Number Two: Pay particular attention to qualifiers in questions, such as “EXCEPT”. Every exam there are many students who miss questions because they overlook “EXCEPT”. For example, consider this question: “The Articles of Confederation contained all the following EXCEPT:”  If you ignore the “EXCEPT” then you will answer the question incorrectly.

Tip Number Three: Eliminate the wrong answers before picking the right one. Draw a line through the wrong choices. Examples of wrong answers that can be immediately eliminated: Wrong dates or time period Answer doesn’t match the question – e.g., answer is generally true, but not limited to time period of question. Two answers are too similar to each other. The answer violates common sense. The answer is familiar for reasons unrelated to the question E.g., “Magna Carta” (not in American history) The answer is too general. The answer is too broad, or too sweeping, or too strong. The answer is too awkward The answer is something you never heard of. Don’t pick it based on hope.

Cross out wrong answers. Try to cross out 3 answers to narrow the choice to 2 answers. If you guess at that point, you have a 50% chance of getting it right.

Tip Number Four: Stay on track. Expect to miss a few, but move on to answer the questions you can. This is like a round of golf: expect to miss some shots. Skip a question that confuses you. Move on and then return to the question later. But make sure you leave space on your answer sheet for any question you skip.

Tip Number Five: There are many ways to find the correct answer for a question. Try several different approaches until you get the right answer. For example, put the event in the context of other events. Use all the information that is given you. Ask yourself if you could answer the question without ever taking U.S. History (sometimes you can.) Be clever. You will maximize your score by being as clever as possible.

Tip Number Six: Don’t outsmart yourself. There are no trick questions. There are traps to avoid falling into, but nothing too clever. Your first impression about which answer is correct is usually your best choice. Don’t second-guess yourself into a wrong answer.

1730-1740: The Great Awakening:

Next came the Stamp Act of 1765: it required that printed materials, like newspapers, bear stamp showing that coin tax had been paid. The public, and especially the media, was outraged. This sparked the colonies to meet with each other in the Stamp Act Congress, which was attended by 9 colonies. Riots broke out, and colonists boycott tax and British goods. Britain repealed the law, but passed the Declaratory Act asserting right to legislate for colonies in future.

The colonists developed a strong argument: taxation without representation. Britain said colonists had “virtual” representation. Colonists said adequate representation was impossible because England is so far away.

1767: Townshend Act imposes more taxes. It taxed paper, lead, paint and tea in colonies to pay salaries of royal judges and governors. Singled out New York and Massachusetts to suspend their assemblies for failing to levy taxes to house and feed British troops in their colonies. The Act tried to avoid inciting the wrath of all colonies. But the colonists boycotted British goods again, and once again the boycott was very effective.

Debate: should England have been able to impose direct taxes on the colonies?

Boston Massacre in 1770, when troops shot and killed a mob for throwing snowballs (some having rocks) at it.

Green Mountain Boys: Ethan Allen wanted to protect his land holdings in the disputed area that became Vermont; they captured Fort Ticonderoga in 1775 (first American act of aggression).

There was relative calm in 1770-73. But Rhode Island smugglers burned the British ship Gaspee in 1772.

Tea Act of 1773. Large British tea company lobbied for and obtained monopoly rights from the England. EXPLAIN MONOPOLY. Had a huge inventory of tea. Received an exception from the tea tax and proceeded to import this huge inventory to Boston Harbor, where it would undersell the colonial merchants. The Puritans up there in Massachusetts were outraged. They tried to have the tea turned back to England, but the royally appointed governor refused. Led by Samuel Adams, a group of roughnecks dressed up as Indians and went on board the ship, and dumped all of its tea into Boston Harbor. It had the entire night to do it.

The British responded by revoking Massachusetts’ charter, closing Boston Harbor, installing a British general as governor, and repealing liberties like the right to hold town meetings.

The British also passed the Quebec Act, which gave the Canadians part of the Ohio Valley, which infuriated colonists. It also gave the French more freedoms, such as freedom of religion for the Catholic Church there. Colonists were angered because (1) they felt people in Quebec were getting more freedoms than they had and (2) they feared establishment of an Anglican Church in America.

The was held in 1774. 12 colonies (not Georgia) agreed to disobey Coercive Acts, withhold taxes, cut trade, and arm the people.

The was held in 1775: made written money and named George Washington head of, who governed during the Revolution.

The boycott hurt England. The British commander in charge of America, General, decided to march by surprise from Boston to Concord to seize a storehouse of rebel guns and ammo, and maybe arrest some leaders.

Paul Revere then went on his midnight horseback ride to alert the colonists, and they were ready. War broke out.

Jan. 1776: {{r|Thomas Paine}’s pamphlet argued against divine rule and economic reasons to stay w/ Britain, in plain language. Often written books or pamphlets were a bigger force than military battles.

July 4, 1776: Declaration of Independence. All men are created equal. Natural inalienable rights. Listed grievances against crown (by then we no longer recognized Parliament). Frequent invocation of God. Used philosophy of John Locke: government is a social compact, and rebellion is justified when the government breaks its end of the bargain. John Locke actually wrote the original constitution for the Carolinas in the 1669, but it proved unworkable.

Causes of American Revolution: (1) accustomed to much independence and self-determination, Tory effort to regulate and tax was bitterly opposed by Colonies (and by Whigs in England); (2) British burdens hurt nearly all Colonists in all walks of life; (3) taxes hit at a bad time: postwar depression; (4) legally, colonies disagreed with “virtual representation”; (5) religious reason: many colonists disliked Anglicans (and Catholics), and feared England would install an Anglican bishop; (6) colonists disliked English class distinctions; (7) 1/3 of colonists were not even English, and broad geographic separation; (8) accepted John Locke’s philosophy of natural rights and social contract; (9) bright prospect for future by colonists. Independence was inevitable, as with other British colonies, but came quicker than for most.

1/3rd of the colonists were loyal to Britain. Washington’s army was only 18,000, less than a third the size of attendance at Giants Stadium. The British won early battles at in Boston, in Canada, and in New York. We started winning on Christmas Eve in Trenton in 1776, then later at Princeton. Big win was at Saratoga in upstate NY in October 1777, when 6,000 British soldiers surrendered. led our army brilliantly then, before he became a traitor and went over to the British side. That was the turning point because the French then entered on our side.

The British were beating the Patriots badly in the South. The British captured Charleston in 1780, taking 5,500 soldiers and huge amounts of weapons. Finally, we installed General, one of our best generals. He started inflicting heavy casualties on the British, and they retreated from the Carolinas to Yorktown, VA.

In May 1781, French arrived with two fleets, and we trapped the British at Yorktown, Virginia. They had to surrender their entire army of 8000. But the British still held New York, and didn’t finally sign a peace treaty until February 1783. They gave up east of the Mississippi, from Canada to Florida. We promised to treat the Loyalists and English creditors (people owed money by colonists) fairly. We didn’t.

Assignment: Enter or improve at least 10 topics relating to this lecture, which are highlighted below (or you can highlight terms that have not yet been highlighted). Example topics are "William Pitt" or "Benedict Arnold." Simply input one of those or another historical term in the upper-left hand box and click "Go". If the term does not yet exist, then click the link to enter a description. If the term is already described, then improve the description or enter another historical term.

The instructor will be evaluate your work based the number and quality of the entries, with feedback provided on your "Talk" page here. At the end of this course there will be recognition and ranking of the top students. Examinations will only be provided to students who complete these assignments. The next lecture will be posted when sufficient terms are filled in for this lecture.