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American History Lecture Three

2008-08-28T18:43:19Z

Pakhyongshin: /* The Presidency of John Adams */

More tips on answer multiple-choice history questions:

1. Look for the best fit. The question is like a lock or key hole, and you are looking for the answer (key) that is the best fit. Matching the verb or concept behind the question with the best fitting verb or concept in the answer can help. For example, when the question asked about “exploration”, the answer that said to “find the best route” was the best fit and the correct answer.

2. Disqualify as incorrect answers which contain language that is too sweeping, such as “everyone” or “only”. Question: Why was George Washington elected president? Potential answer: Because everyone wanted him. Nope, not “everyone”. Question: Why was slavery used? Answer: Only because of greed. Nope. Not “only” because of greed. Some common "sweeping" words are: everyone, always, never, only, all, every.

3. When a question completely baffles you, such as a question asking for the political motive behind the “Wizard of Oz” movie, look for an economic or money answer. Historical events and politics are motivated more by money than most students realize.

4. View multiple choice questions like a puzzle. Enjoy solving it. This class has more talent than any other class in our state, and maybe in the country. Don’t let any test or question intimidate you.

==Review==

Note about last week’s homework: Massachusetts did not have religious freedom. They came here for their personal religious freedom, but they did not give that freedom to others.

There has always been constant conflict between debtors (often farmers) and creditors (banks). Debtor’s prison: understand the financial motivation for it. <explain?> It’s wrong, but understand why it existed. See both sides of every dispute. <move this somewhere better>

To learn history well, you must put yourself back at that time. Think of what it might have been like. Imagine it. See both sides of the Boston Massacre, for example. What were British soldiers doing there? Maybe it was reasonable to object to their presence.

We discussed how England justified its direct taxation to pay for the [[French and Indian War]]. But how do we know the taxes were to pay for the war? Would that be all that the taxes would be paying for? Would the taxes cease when the war debt was paid? No, because that was a slippery slope. Those taxes would never end, even after the war was fully paid.

Learn to think in this way, and you will learn to understand history.

The American Revolution was a “conservative revolution.” <clarify?> We won the Revolution. What next?

==State Constitutions==

==The Articles of Confederation==

<this is review, clean it up!> Before we won, there were meetings of the [[Continental Congress]] (initiated by the [[Committees of Correspondence]]) to organize war efforts and address issues common to all the colonies. It adopted the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and proposed the Articles of Confederation in 1777. Eventually it was ratified by the 13 colonies (in 1781). It provided for a unicameral (one body) Congress to govern. No president and no courts. One vote for each state.

9 out of 13 states’ approval were needed to pass anything. All 13 states’ approval was needed to amend it. Those percentages are just too high for a collection of states that were very different from each other. Now that the focus was off gaining freedom and onto building a new nation, the states had much less common ground.

Powers given to Congress by the Articles of Confederation: declare war, raise and army and navy, make commercial treaties, borrow money, control currency and levy assessments against the states.

Powers Congress lacked under the Articles of Confederation: could not impose taxes on the people or enforce its will against states that refused to cooperate. It could ask the states for money, but could not force them to pay.

Bottom line: most power remained in each state under the Articles of Confederation. The national government could not raise money to pay its own obligations. Americans were very wary of centralized power after their bad experience with England, but they took this so far that the central government was essentially worthless, and each state did as it pleased.

==The Northwest Ordinance==

But the Articles of Confederation did succeed in its plan for the systematic admission of new states based on population: the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.

==Shays' Rebellion==

Shays' Rebellion in 1786-87 illustrated how inadequate the national government was under the Articles of Confederation. It was an armed uprising of Massachusetts farmers burdened with high debt. This was the first of many future clashes between Americans who owed money (debtors) and those who lent money (creditors). The farmers were angry that they had to pay back their loans in “specie” (gold or silver) rather than cheaper paper money, which was a common requirement of the time. They lost their farms when they could not pay their loans, and because of that they lost their right to vote, because at the time only property owners could vote. They violently took over the town courthouse to prevent any additional court-ordered seizures of their farms. The Massachusetts governor sent in the militia but there were more farmers in the rebellion then there were in the militia. Daniel Shays then led 1200 men to Springfield to capture the federal arsenal, but by then there were enough state militiamen to win. Shays fled to the Vermont area. Everyone was panicked by this uprising, and a newly elected Massachusetts legislature subsequently enacted some debt relief.

==The Constitutional Convention==

The Constitutional Convention convened in the summer of 1787 in Philadelphia to strengthen the national government by modifying the Articles of Confederation. Every state sent representatives except Rhode Island. (Remember Rhode Island – some claim its “separation of church and state” laid the foundation for the Constitution. It didn’t even show up!). The deliberations were held in secret, without any news leaking to the newspapers. Everyone was ordered to destroy their notes afterwards, but James Madison kept his notes and they were released about fifty years later.

Did the attendees limit their actions to fixing the Articles of Confederation? No. This same debate rages today by calls for a constitutional convention to balance the budget (1980s) or protect traditional marriage. There is no way to limit what a constitutional convention does. The only protection for the people is that the document still must be ratified by the states. (This debate over whether a constitutional convention can be called for limited issue continues today, with many saying that there is never a way to limit a constitutional convention.)

What the delegates to the Constitutional Convention did was create a written Constitution that has lasted as the oldest written national instrument of government in the world today. Their product is probably the greatest single written document of a collection men ever created in the history of the world.<?>

Key participants in the Constitutional Convention: James Madison, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin. Missing: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson. Adams and Jefferson were overseas in diplomatic missions, Adams to England and Jefferson to France. Remember those alliances: Adams (and all of New England) was allied with England, while Jefferson (and much of Virginia) was allied with France.

The delegates to the Constitutional Convention were bright, dedicated, and spiritual men. This was a very special event.

The resulting Constitution breaks government into three separate branches that can check and balance each other. If one branch grabs too much power, then the other two can work together to stop it.

The three branches are these:

The Legislative Branch which makes the laws is Congress. Congress is established in Article I.
Executive branch carries out the laws President. Established in Article II.
Judicial branch interprets the laws, established in Article III.

Article IV of the Constitution outlines the relationship between the federal (national) government and the states. Article V outlines the procedures for amending the Constitution, contrary to the Articles of Confederation, unanimous consent of the states is NOT required for an amendment. Article VI declares the Constitution the supreme Law of the Land. Article VII provides for the procedure to ratify the Constitution.

Many small states ratified the Constitution quickly, because they liked the idea of having equal representation in the Senate. But bigger states, such as [[Virginia]] and [[New York]], were more reluctant to give up their power to a national government.

A huge debate followed in some of the states, particularly Virginia and New York. To persuade New Yorkers to ratify the Constitution, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay wrote the Federalist papers, which was a series of editorials that ran in a big New York newspaper. Most famous of these is Madison’s Federalist No. 10: “Among the numerous advantages promised by a well constructed Union, none deserves to be more accurately developed than its tendency to break and control the violence of faction.” Madison’s insight was that a new United States of America, with its large size and separation of powers, could protect freedom against the tyranny of a small group better than individual colonies could.

The debate over ratification pitted the Federalists (for example, Alexander Hamilton) against the Anti-Federalists (for example, Patrick Henry). <explain what each stood for.>

Once the ninth state ([[New Hampshire]]) ratified on June 21, 1788, the Constitution became law of the land. George Washington was elected a few months afterwards as our first president.

==Slavery==

Also, be aware that there many slaves in Virginia and other colonies long before Bacon’s Rebellion. <include info about how early the first slaves were brought from Africa>

==George Washington's Presidency==

[[George Washington]] was so popular and respected that he probably could have become king. He was in his fifties, about the age of our President Bush. Even if Washington did not become king, he could have ruled as president for the rest of his life. But his greatness was, like Jesus, in his declining power to rule. Washington was inaugurated as president in 1789.

An example of Washington’s greatness was his handling of “Citizen” Edmond Genet (pronounced zhe – nay), who was sent by France to the United States just after the French Revolution. France felt that the United States owed it assistance after all France did to help us win the Revolutionary War. But in 1793 Washington issued his Proclamation of Neutrality to keep us neutral in the enormous turmoil in Europe.<make clearer> But Genet went around our new country stirring up pro-French sentiment with impassioned speeches. He sent out private American citizens to attack British shipping (called “privateers,” but acting like pirates). Washington told Genet to stop this, but he refused. Washington told France to recall him. But the French Revolution got out of hand, with senseless violence and executions. “Citizen Genet,” as he was known, reasonably feared the guillotine if he returned to France. He begged Washington to grant him asylum in this country. Washington did. Genet later married the daughter of the governor of New York, and became a normal farmer.

Another example of George Washington’s greatness was his handling of the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794. Farmers in western Pennsylvania protested a 7-cent per gallon tax on corn whiskey. These farmers refused to pay the tax, retaliated against farmers who did pay it, and attacked U.S. marshals and revenue agents. Washington told the Pennsylvania governor to end the rebellion, but he refused. Washington himself then raised an army from neighboring states and personally rode out as their leader to quell the rebellion. The farmers gave up without bloodshed. Several were caught, tried and convicted for their rebellion. What did Washington do? He pardoned them.

In 1796, Washington was up for reelection. He then did something that no leader of a revolution has ever done: he gave up his power for the good of others. He left by publishing one of the greatest documents in all of American history: Washington’s farewell address. Written by [[Alexander Hamilton]], this [[Farewell Address]] urged Americans to stay out of conflicts in Europe. It also reminded Americans that morality is the foundation is our society. <an the problems with divisive parties>

Several other important things happened during the presidency (the Administration) of George Washington. The Bill of Rights passed in 1791 to limit the federal government. A rivalry developed between [[Alexander Hamilton]], who favored a strong national government, and [[Thomas Jefferson]], who favored states’ rights.

[[Alexander Hamilton]]: federal government has whatever powers are not denied to it (e.g., power to establish a national bank, by virtue of the “elastic” or “necessary and proper” clause of the Constitution).
Jefferson: federal government only has the powers expressly given it.

==The Presidency of John Adams==

[[John Adams]], born to a prosperous farmer in Massachusetts, became president after Washington, and served just one term (four years). His presidency was a failure. Symbolic of his failure was his signing of the Alien & Sedition Acts, which made it a crime to criticize him! Jefferson and Madison responded with strong state resolutions (Kentucky and Virginia) to “nullify” or declare the Acts unconstitutional, viewing the act primarily as an attack on their Democratic-Republican party by Adams' Federalists.

Debate: Can a State nullify an act of Congress? Can a State secede (withdraw) from the United States?

[[Category:United States History]]

American History Lecture Two

2008-08-28T18:39:37Z

Pakhyongshin: /* 1730-1740: The Great Awakening */

Before we start our second lecture for American history, let's review some test-taking tips for multiple-choice history exams. Treat a multiple-choice exam like a contest or a game. Your performance on the exam is a function of two elements: how well you prepared prior to the exam, and how well you tried on the exam itself. Many students do not perform as well on a multiple-choice exam as they could have. These tips will help you improve on multiple-choice exam you take, whether in history, grammar, or even your driving test.

On history exams, many of the correct answers can be figured out during the test, '''if you do not give up too easily on a question'''. The person in the class who knows the most history probably won't be the person who does the best on the exam. Instead, the highest score usually goes to the person who tried the hardest during the test itself. Multiple choice exams can be difficult, but some simple rules can make your test-taking skills much more effective.

== Test-taking tips ==

'''Tip Number One''': Understand the question before you try to answer it. Read the question twice if you have doubts. 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. You will see other students miss questions because they misread them.

: Example: Pay particular attention to qualifiers in questions, such as "EXCEPT". Every exam there are many students who miss questions because they overlook "EXCEPT". Question: "George Washington was popular for all of the reasons EXCEPT" .... You will miss this question if you overlook the "EXCEPT".

'''Tip Number Two''': 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
*The answer doesn't match the question – e.g., the answer is generally true, but not limited to the time period in question.
*The answer violates common sense.
*The answer is familiar for reasons unrelated to the question, such as an answer choice of "[[Magna Carta]]," which is not part of American history.
*The answer is too general, too broad, too sweeping, or too strong, such as an answer that ''everyone'' liked [[George Washington]].
*The answer is too awkward.
*The answer is something you never heard of. Don't pick it based on hope that it might be right.
*Two answers are too similar to each other.

:When you eliminate wrong answers, cross out their corresponding letter on the exam. 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. Every time you eliminate an answer choice, your chance of answering correctly increases greatly.

'''Tip Number Three''': Go with your first impression unless you have a good reason to change it. More often than not, your first impression is right. Don't outsmart yourself. There are no trick questions on these exams. There are traps to avoid falling into, but not tricks. Don't second-guess yourself into changing a correct answer into an incorrect one.

'''Tip Number Four''': Stay on track. Expect to miss a few, and do not waste too much time on a difficult question. This is like a round of golf or a game of tennis or baseball: expect to miss some shots or swings. Skip a question that confuses you. Move on and then return to the question later. But when you have a separate answer page with a grid of dots, always make sure that you leave space on your answer sheet for any question you skip.

'''Tip Number Five''': Try different approaches to a difficult question until you figure out the right answer. There are many ways to find the correct answer for a question. For example, think of the event in the question in the context of other events. Use all the information that is given you. There will always be a few questions that you can answer without knowing anything about U.S. History, if you are clever and use common sense.

'''Tip Number Six''': On College Board exams, expect bias. The bias is greatest in the selection and presentation of the questions. For example, there will likely be more questions about [[liberal]] artists and writers than about [[George Washington]] or [[Christopher Columbus]]. College Boards will ask more about the decline of the [[Puritans]] than about their [[Christian]] success. Rarely does bias affect the answer choice itself, but having a sensitivity for the political views of the test-writer can be helpful in considering answer choices. For example, a College Board question will never have as a correct answer that men have some skills that are better than women's, but will often have as a correct answer that men have been prejudiced against women.

Remember and apply the above tips and it will raise your score by 10-30% on test day. Here they are again: Understand, Eliminate, First Impression, Stay on Track and Try Different Approaches. On College Board exams: Expect Bias.

One of my former students took my test-taking advice to heart, and while in college he was once required to take a multiple-choice exam without being able to study or prepare for it. (He had been told he would not have to take the exam, but then the teacher surprised him on exam day.) Using the above techniques, he scored the highest in the class on the exam, beating other students who had spent hours in preparation.

----

== Colonial History ==

During the colonial period, each colony had its own separate government, and they were like different countries. There were no restrictions on travel, but if someone said the wrong thing in another colony they might end up in jail, as many non-[[Puritans]] did in [[Massachusetts]].

The only union before the [[American Revolution]] was the [[United Colonies of New England]], which existed from 1643 to 1684 in the northeast. It consisted of a union of Massachusetts, Plymouth, [[Connecticut]] and New Haven in order to fight war and address interstate disputes. Other than that, "disunity" existed among the colonies.

Now let's review the colonies and keep them in order:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|'''Colony'''
|'''Year Established'''
|'''Who Founded It'''
|'''Why It Was Founded'''
|'''Year it Became a Royal Colony'''
|-
|Virginia
|1607
|London Company
|To Make Money
|1624, King James took back ownership
|-
|Massachusetts
|1620
|Puritans
|To Establish a Religious Society
|1691
|-
|New Hampshire
|1623
|John Wheelwright
|Banished by the Puritans from Massachusetts
|1679
|-
|Maryland (Land of Mary)
|1634
|Lord Baltimore
|To Establish freedom for Catholics; many died from Chesapeake Bay moisture
|Never
|-
|Connecticut
|1635
|Thomas Hooker
|Hooker wanted voting rights for all men who owned property, not just church members as in Massachusetts
|Never. Obtained Charter from King in 1662
|-
|Rhode Island
|1636
|Roger Williams
|Expelled by the Puritans
|Never. Obtained Charter from King in 1663
|-
|Delaware
|1631
|founded by Dutch
|In 1704, Quakers bought it to protect the water route to Pennsylvania
|Never.
|-
|North Carolina
|1653
|8 English noblemen (granted by Charles II)
|colonized all of Carolina to grow silk and failed; split in 1729 into N(farms) and S(rice and indigo)
|1729
|-
|South Carolina
|1663
|8 English noblemen (granted by Charles II)
|colonized all of Carolina to grow silk and failed; split in 1729 into N(farms) and S(rice and indigo)
|1729
|-
|New Jersey
|1664
|Lord Berkeley & Sir George Carteret
|It had two parts: the west was acquired by Penn and Quakers, and the east was dominated by the Duke of York
|1702
|-
|New York (after defeat of Dutch)
|1664
|Duke of York
|great port of Manhattan, supposedly purchased from the Indians in 1626 for $24 worth of trinkets<ref>http://www.kb.nl/coop/geheugen/extra/tentoonstellingen/atlanticworldEN/tentoon5.html</ref>
|1685
|-
|Pennsylvania
|1682
|William Penn
|Religious Freedom for Quakers; King Charles II gave land to Penn
|Never
|-
|Georgia
|1732
|James Edward Oglethorpe
|refuge for debtors jailed in England; buffer against Spanish Florida; initially banned slavery
|1752
|}

Learn and remember the above chart. Notice how many colonies were "taken back" by the King of England. Such is the power of kings, and a good reason to dislike that form of government.
 
Let's continue now with the Colonies around the turn of the century (from 1600 to 1700). Keep the periods separate in your mind: 1600s and 1700s. In the 1600s most of colonies were just getting started (except for [[Georgia]], which was the only colony founded in the 1700s rather than the 1600s). In the 1700s, the colonies were established and were just growing stronger.

I should be able to mention an event and you should be able to tell me if it happened in the 1600s or 1700s. Learn to quiz yourself: Jamestown settlement, 1600s or 1700s? [[Bacon's Rebellion]], 1600s or 1700s? Founding of [[Pennsylvania]], 1600s or 1700s? If you don't know the answers in all three cases, then please go back and read the first lecture.

Several key events occurred leading up to the "turn of the century" from the 1600s into the 1700s. In 1688, there was upheaval in England. The people there overthrew [[King James II]], who was Catholic. His daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange took the throne and reinstated Protestantism, and adopted the [[English Bill of Rights]]. A century later this would inspire the American Bill of Rights.

In 1692, the [[Salem Witch Trials]] began. There was a panic that some teenage girls were practicing witchcraft. Girls were prosecuted for this. Some were convicted and then executed. The authorities thought that these criminal prosecutions would help expose the ways of the devil for the benefit of everyone. Then someone observed that killing all these people may itself the work of the devil. Finally one of the accused said that the wife of the governor was also a witch. Then the authorities put a stop to the prosecutions and freed everyone who was still alive. The whole episode was an embarrassment to the [[Puritan]]s in charge, and has been cited ever since as an excess of religious authority in civil life. But this episode did not directly weaken [[Puritan]] authority. Instead, it was success and prosperity, and books like The Scarlet Letter (published in 1850 to criticize morality in Puritan Boston in the 1600s), that caused people to turn away from the strict Puritan life. Today Boston and Massachusetts are the most liberal areas in the nation, directly opposite to what it was in the 1600s.

'''Debate''': What, if anything, is precisely wrong about having witch trials?

== Salutary Neglect and the Zenger Trial ==

The period of "salutary neglect" was from 1700-1750, during which [[England]] let the colonies do what they want in the hope that lax enforcement of rules and little taxation would stimulate much commerce. Laws were enforced then by England in the colonies as little as laws against jaywalking are enforced today, which is very rarely.

During this time period the colonies during this time were very different from each other. Freedoms in the colonies varied widely.

In the colony of New York, for example, [[John Peter Zenger]] got in big trouble for publishing something critical of the governor. The New York governor demanded that Zenger be prosecuted and thrown in jail for criticizing him. Zenger was then put on trial in 1735. On the first day of the trial, a good defense attorney from Philadelphia appeared to defend Zenger for free. The defense attorney argued to the jury that it should not be a crime to say something that is true, even though it may embarrass the governor. The judge told the jury that the law says that can be a crime called “libel”. But the jury ignored the law and held in favor of Zenger: “not guilty.” This case established the very important right unique to America: the right of freedom of the press. To this day we have that right in America, but those in England do not have this right.<ref>"Known as the 'libel capital of the world' because of its plaintiff-friendly rules on defamation, Britain has nothing remotely comparable to the First Amendment's protections for freedom of the press."[http://writ.news.findlaw.com/mariner/20030317.html]</ref>

The case helped convince Americans of the importance of the right to a jury trial, which was later written into our Constitution.

The trial also established an important power of the jury to ignore the law and hold in favor of a defendant even though the law says he is guilty. This is known as “jury nullification”.

'''Debate''': Do you think a jury should be able to ignore the law in order to find a defendant “not guilty”?
 

== 1730-1740: The Great Awakening ==

In the 1700s, the colonies grew in size. The colonies grew to 2 million in population, much more than the French settlements of only 100,000.

The colonies were not just the English. Germans came here, African slaves came here involuntarily, and Scotch-Irish immigrated to the back country of the Middle Colonies and settled in Appalachia. The Middle Colonies were New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware, and consisted of many diverse ethnic groups and religions; prejudice existed between the groups but they were peaceful towards each other. William Penn even ''advertised'' for immigrants to come to Pennsylvania.

In the 1730s and 1740s, there was a spiritual revival known as the "Great Awakening." A glorious [[Christian]] fervor spread throughout the colonies, helping to bring them closer together in terms of beliefs, customs and practices. Led Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield, this was called "New Light" revivalism to distinguish it from the spiritualism of the 1600s.

Jonathan Edwards was brilliant man who graduated valedictorian at age 17 from [[Yale University]]. (Harvard was founded in 1636; the College of William & Mary in 1693; and Yale in 1701). Edwards developed a sermon entitled "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." It was so powerful that it moved listeners to tearfully repent simply upon hearing it, and remains the most prominently-cited example of "fire-and-brimstone" preaching.

George Whitefield was an even better preacher, perhaps the best ever in the English-speaking world. Known as the "Great Itinerant," he drew enormous crowds for his sermons as he did seven tours on the continent from 1740 to 1770. He would simply arrive at a public place, like the Boston Commons, and many thousands would show to hear his sermon. They did not leave disappointed.

But not all was well for everyone in all the colonies during the Great Awakening. [[South Carolina]] had grown heavily dependent on slavery to pick its crops and sustain its economy. By the late 1730s South Carolina had twice as many slaves as white people. In 1739 tensions between the slaves and their masters reached a boiling point in the Stono Rebellion in Charleston. The insurgency by the slaves was brutally suppressed, and then South Carolina passed harsh laws (codes) to exercise even more control over the slaves. More so than any other colony (and later, more than any other state), South Carolina was the state most determined to keep and use slavery.

== Migration and Conflict ==

The 1740s were filled with conflict between the British and the French. There were four wars between 1689 and 1763. Collectively they are known as the French and Indian Wars.

West of the Appalachian Mountains is the Ohio Valley. This area was rich in animals necessary for the lucrative fur trade, and covered vast amounts of unsettled land. The Ohio valley was occupied by Native American tribes, primarily those of the Iroquois League of Nations. Both the British and the French traded with the Indians in this region. As the population and confidence grew in the mid-1700s, colonists began to migrate to Ohio. There they conflicted with French fur trade with Indians. Because of this, conflict began to increase around 1740.

In 1754, 7 colonies met to confront these problems at the Albany Congress. They adopted Ben Ben Franklin’s Albany Plan of Union based on the Iroquois League of Nations. The Albany Plan of Union attempted to unite the colonies sufficiently to defend themselves against the French.

The Albany Congress sent sent a 21-year-old named George Washington to stop the French from building a fort in modern day Pennsylvania, and to protest French attacks. In Western Pennsylvania, at Fort Necessity, French defeated and captured him and his troops. They made him sign a statement in French (which George Washington did not understand) that his men had assassinated some Frenchmen. Then they released George Washington. He remembered that lesson and in the Revolutionary War made sure he had an aide who could understand French. That aide would be Alexander Hamilton.

Seeing this weakness on the colonies' part, a few Native American tribes decided to fight with the French. Nevertheless, Washington was treated as a hero when he returned to the colonies.

George Washington is the most honored person in all of American history. Why was he so great? Was he so great? He was not a brilliant man. He was not a great military general. In terms of military strategy, he was not particularly good. He was inept during the French and Indian War, for example. He did not write anything of value.

'''Debate''': [[George Washington]]. Was he great, and if so, why?

== French and Indian War ==

In 1755, the British sent General [[Edward Braddock]] to confront French, but they ambushed and beat him badly nearly Fort Duquesne (pronounced DOO CANE). In 1756, war broke out between the French and English in Europe and things got very serious.

Eventually a smart fellow named [[William Pitt]] was elected as Prime Minister in England. The city of Pittsburgh is named after him. Pitt believed in appointing generals based on merit, not seniority or friendship. Pitt recognized the importance of the colonies and began investing significant money and resources. He started beating the French. Under Pitt’s leadership, he captured [[Fort Duquesne]] in 1758, then Quebec in 1759, and then Montreal in 1760. He started winning other places in world also, including India. In 1763 the Treaty of Paris was signed, eliminating France and her Indian allies as a threat to colonists. France agreed to give England as much of North America as it claimed East of the Mississippi, keeping only two islands off the coast of Newfoundland.

England also returned Cuba and the Philippines to Spain in exchange for Florida during this time.

But there was a change in the King of England even before 1763: When [[King George III]] assumed the throne in 1760, he wanted to end the war quickly. But William Pitt wanted more war by England and resigned in 1761. Pressure from George III also played a part in his decision to resign. George wanted Pitt to do his will, but Pitt had a strong will of his own.

George III openly controlled Parliament, bribing men to do anything he wanted by placing them in good positions. This significantly altered the face of Parliament, and the majority became much less sympathetic to the colonies. The ruling sentiment was that the colonies should be obliged to pay for their own expenses, rather than depending on the mother county.

Around the same time, the Spanish gained the Louisiana territory through a treaty with the French. The French forts remained in the territory, running along the Mississippi as far north as Michigan. Later, in 1800, Spain sold this land to France, which then sold it to America a few years later.

In America, the end of the French and Indian Wars left British with a great deal of territory west of the Appalachians, but the Indians did not give up their land easily. From 1763 to 1766, The Ottawa Indians destroyed every British post west of Niagara.

This conflict left Britain deeply in debt, and very tired of war. A new prime minister, George Grenville, came into power in 1763. England was in debt after the wars in the colonies, and her citizens were already heavily taxed. So Grenville turned to the colonies as the means to raise enough revenue to free England from debt. England felt that the colonists hadn’t paid their fair share of the war expenses. To keep from spending any more money, England was eager to make peace with the Indians and stop fighting. It passed the Proclamation Act of 1763, forbidding colonists from settling west of Appalachians and forcing them to stop buying land from Indians. The Proclamation Act ordered, "that no governor or Commander in chief of our other colonies of plantations in America, do presume for the present, and until our further pleasure be know, tho grant warrant of survey, or pass patents for any lands beyond the heads of sources of any of the rivers which fall into the Atlantic Ocean from the west or north west..."

The logic behind the Proclamation Act was that as long as the colonists stayed in the colonies and had nothing to do with Indians, there would be peace. Little did the British know that peace would not last for long in the colonies, and that when war did break out again, it would be against them.

==Tension Grows==

In 1770, the [[British Empire]] was the greatest in the world, and it continued to grow in power through the 1800s. The idea that 13 different colonies with tiny armies and a divided populations - a large percentage of which were pacifist Quakers - could defeat the mighty British would have been absurd in 1770. But this unlikely victory came true. The story of this epic struggle for freedom is the story of the American Revolution.

Years before war broke out, tension was growing between England and her colonies. King George III controlled parliament much more than preceding monarchs, and his changes facilitated attempts to gain additional revenue from the colonies. This was accomplished through higher taxes and restrictive trade laws which oppressed the colonies. We’ve already discussed the institution of the Proclamation Act, but not its consequences.

The Proclamation Act was a terrible problem for the colonies. 90% of the colonial economy depended on farming in 1763. Farmers needed land to grow valuable crops of tobacco, corn, rice, indigo, and wheat, but the Proclamation Act confined them to the land they already had in the colonies. The other 10% of the economy involved fishing and whaling in New England and timber, but the overwhelming majority of colonists were farmers, and the Proclamation Act was detrimental to their growth.

In addition, many colonists felt that the Proclamation Act was simply unfair. They had worked hard fighting the French and Indian Wars, but now England was denying them the territory they had won.

The situation was similar to today’s problem with new Israeli settlements in areas claimed by Palestinians. Like the Israeli settlers, colonists were angry at this restriction, and ignored it. Frontiers continued to expand westward.

The first true crisis began around 1763 when Parliament allocated money to maintain a standing army in the colonies. At first, this change did not arouse much anger, since there was already an army in America. Problems began when Grenville gave naval officers authority to enforce customs regulations. More than 1500 ships began to patrol American waters. This new vigilance on Britain's part was early evidence of her changing relationship to her colonies, foreshadowing the greater tension to come.

Now that a new Prime Minister was in power who wanted peace, and wanted the colonies to pay their share of the war costs, colonists were burdened by strictly enforced taxes.

The first of these was the Sugar Act. As its name suggests, this act imposed taxes on sugar, but that was not it full extent. The Sugar Act placed stricter regulations on all shipping, stopped the colonies from importing rum, and lowered molasseses tariffs. The British made no secret of the fact that the purpose of the Sugar Act was to make money: "Whereas it is expedient that new provisions and regulations should be established for improving the revenue of this kingdom...: and whereas it is just and necessary that a revenue be raised in you majesty's said dominions in America, for defraying the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing the same; we...have resolved to give and grant unto your majesty the several rates and duties herein after mentioned."

Grenville humiliated the colonists with legal intrusions: writs of assistance to search businesses without a court order or warrant. He violated ancient rights.

Colonists disliked these events, but only with the passage of the [[Stamp Act]] did they become truly angry. The Stamp Act was an undisguised attempt to bring the British more money, the first time Parliament directly taxed the colonies. It required that legal papers, cards, dice, newspapers, degrees, land documents, and appointments to office bear stamps (not postage stamps) showing that coin tax had been paid. Subtly, the British were suppressing vocal writers and lawyers, by making their trades more costly. The public, and especially the media, was outraged.

A few months later, the Quartering Act was passed. The Quartering Act required colonial governments to house British troops at their own expense. The troops were to be housed in inns, abandoned homes, and government building. The Act mandated that "all such officers and soldiers... be furnished and supplied...with fire, candles, vinegar, and salt, bedding, utensils...without paying anything for the same."

But anger was growing in the colonies even before the Stamp Act and Quartering Act. With the passage of these two new acts, outrage rose higher than ever. The colonists held to a strong argument against England’s oppression: taxation without representation. Britain said colonists had “virtual” representation. Colonists said adequate representation was impossible because England was so far away.

Patrick Henry put this argument into words in one of his resolutions which were published in newspapers throughout the colonies: "''Resolved.'' That the taxation of the people by themselves or by persons chosen by themselves to represent them, who can only know what taxes the people are able to bear, are the easiest method of raising them, and must themselves be affected by every tax laid on the people, is the only security against a burthensome taxation and the distinguishing characteristick of British freedom, without which the ancient constitution cannot exist."

To confront the problems, nine colonies met with each other in the Stamp Act Congress in New York City in October 1765. This was the first time the colonists had come together to consider protesting. They sent a petition to the King. Later, a boycott of British goods was organized.

Colonists strongly opposed the Stamp Act’s direct (internal) taxation. If the Act were not odious enough in its own right, the fact that it came during a time of weak economy threatened to injure the colonies more deeply. The outrage united colonists, for the Stamp Act affected every colony and every citizen. They shared the injury of a common grievance, and had a common cause to work towards.

In Massachusetts, Sam Adams created the Sons of Liberty during July 1765. This group strongly protested the Stamp Act and forced British-appointed stamp agent Andrew Oliver to resign.

In fact, when stamp agents in the colonies realized how unpopular they were, most resigned. The few that remained were pressured to resign, and sometimes forced, as in the case of Jared Ingersoll. "They caught Ingersoll at Wethersfield and silently and pointedly led him under a large tree. They parlayed for hours..., with Ingersoll squirming, arguing and refusing to resign. The crowds...grew so large and threatening that finally Ingersoll read his resignation to the mob and yielded to the demand that he throw his hat in the air and cheer for 'Liberty and Property.'"

When the Stamp Act took effect, there was no one to sell stemps in the colonies. Business went on as usual.

Realizing that it had underestimated the colonies, Britain repealed the Stamp Act in 1766 but passed the Declaratory Act asserting right to legislate for colonies in future. Public outrage decreased dramatically, although the Sugar Act, Quartering Act, and Proclamation Line were still in effect.

In 1767, Charles Townshend replaced William Pitt as leader in the House of Commons. Pitt had been generous to the colonies, and quite popular there. But Townshend viewed America as an opportunity to increase revenue. His attempts to do this were a series of taxes called the Townshend Acts. They taxed paper, lead, paint, and tea in colonies to pay salaries of royal judges and governors. The overall effect of the Acts was to gradually take power away from the colonists. The taxes singled out New York and Massachusetts to suspend their assemblies for failing to levy taxes to house and feed British troops in their colonies. By targeting those states, the Act tried to avoid inciting the wrath of all colonies. But the rising conflict, particularly that of the Stamp Act, had begun to unify the colonies. They understood that what happened to one colony would happen to another just as easily.

The colonies did not react as swiftly as they did to the Stamp Act. A primary catalyst that lead to their eventual resistance was John Dickinson's pamphlet, ''Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania''. Johen Dickinson has been nickname the "Penman of the Revolution". He was a great writer who drafter the "Declaration Rights" for the Stamp Act Congress, the "Olive Branch Petition", and the Articles of Confederation. His superb insight and skill made his pamphlet enormously successful. The piece was first published in 1767, and spread throughout the colonies as well as to Ireland, England, and France. Dickinson was careful, however to maintain an impression of loyalty to the king. Cleverly, he argued not from the standpoint of the colonies, but in terms of England's well being, and benefit to her. He also admonished American's not to allow chaos break out (as occurred in the French Revolution a decade later): "The cause of ''liberty'' is a cause of too much dignity to be sullied by turbulence and tumult."

By 1768, the colonists were ready to act. Massachusetts wrote a letter to the British and it was endorsed by New Hampshire, Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Georgia, and South Carolina.

The response came, ordering Massachusetts to revoke their letter, and admonishing other states to have no part in stirring up resentment toward Britain. In June, more troops arrived from England.

Next, the colonists boycotted British goods. The boycott was very effective. British Imports fell from 2,157,218 pounds to 1,336,122 pound between 1768 and 1769.

Feeling the strength of the colonies once again, Britain repealed the Townshend Acts, but the tea tax remained.

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

In 1770, in what became known as the "Boston Massacre," British troops shot and killed a colonial mob for throwing snowballs (with rocks in them) at them. (The future President John Adams then served as the defense attorney for the British soldiers, and obtained "not guilty" (acquittal) verdicts for them because they were provoked into shooting.)

There was relative calm from 1770 to 1773. But the calm was not complete, broken most notably by the Gaspee incident in 1772. The Gaspee was a British ship which ran aground while chasing smugglers. Citizens of Rhode Island boarded the ship and burned her, to the King’s great outrage.

During this period of calm, Samuel Adams established another organization: the Committee of Correspondence. This group, and others like it throughout the colonies shared information on the British’s activities in the colonies.

Thus, although conflicts diminished somewhat from 1770 to 1773, colonists retained their opposition to British oppression. The tea tax remained in effect, so many colonists refused to drink British tea, and once again, their boycott was felt in England.

Bent on destroying the colonists’ boycott of English tea, England next passed the Tea Act of 1773. A large British tea company, the East India Company, lobbied for and obtained [[monopoly]] (exclusive) rights from the England. The East India Company had a huge inventory of tea and received an exception from the tea tax. On the whole, this would have significantly lowered the price of tea in the colonies. But colonists realized the danger that lay in the establishment of a monopoly on an item taxed as heavily as tea. Resistance began to rise.

The East India Company proceeded to import tea from their huge inventory to Boston Harbor, where they planned to undersell colonial merchants. The Puritans of Massachusetts were outraged. They tried to have the tea turned back to England, but the royally-appointed governor refused. On December 16, 1773, a group of colonists led by Samuel Adams disguised themselves as Indians and boarded the tea ships. They dumped all of its tea into Boston Harbor. The task took an entire night, as the ships contained 350 chests of tea. That tea was worth about 1.87 million dollars of today’s currency.

As punishment, Britain passed the Coercive Acts, or the Intolerable Acts. They revoked Massachusetts’ charter, closed Boston Harbor, installed a British general as governor, and repealed liberties like the right to hold town meetings. The closing of the harbor, in particular, was a sore blow to Massachusetts, whose economy was largely dependent on fishing and whaling.

In defiance, public sentiment turned violently against tea. Coffee gradually replaced it, and continues to be more popular than tea in America to this day.

The British also passed the Quebec Act, which gave Canadians part of the Ohio Valley. This infuriated the colonists. In addition, the Act gave the French more freedoms, such as freedom of religion for the Catholic Church. 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.

Although many colonists had hoped to keep peace, conflict began to break out.

Let's stop for a moment to review the causes of the revolution. British oppression was not the only catalyst of the Revolutionary War, and many factors played a role: 
(1) Colonists were accustomed to much independence and self-determination, and Tory efforts to regulate and tax were bitterly opposed by the 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 reasons: 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 thus felt no attachment to the British. 
(8) Colonists accepted John Locke’s philosophy of natural rights and a social contract. 
(9) Colonists saw a bright prospect for their future. 

All of these played an important part in making colonists ready to fight and win. The single greatest factor was the changes Britain made in her policy toward the colonies.

Independence was inevitable for America, as with other British colonies, but came quicker than for most.

==The American Revolution==

The conflict between Britain and her colonies continued for over a decade before America moved for independence. After all, the British eventually backed down from their early taxes when the colonies resisted. But Britain did not back down from the Coercive Acts, in spite of strong resistance. This time, they were determined to bring America into line.

The Coercive Acts were aimed squarely at Massachusetts, specifically, Boston. Britain hoped that Massachusetts would give in if it was isolated from the other colonies. But the network of organizations that ran throughout the colonies united them, and they stood together.

The [[First Continental Congress]] was held in 1774. Every Colony except Georgia agreed to disobey Coercive Acts, withhold taxes, cut trade, and arm their people. Their agreement is recorded in the Declaration of Rights and Grievances by John Adams. The Congress also gave Massachusetts instructions on resisting the Coercive Acts, called the Suffolk Resolves. Massachusetts was prepared to defy the British. The Congress composed a set of Declarations and Resolves which established the colonies' position toward Britain. The colonies agreed to end all trade with Britain in a final effort to have her alter her policies. All of these plans were carried out.

Yet the British did not back down. Colonists were prohibited from presenting petitions and declarations and resolutions to Parliament. William Pitt's resolution to withdraw British troops from the colonies was defeated 68 to 18. Parliament officially declared that Massachusetts was in rebellion.

Many Americans were ready to forsake all hope of peace. Patrick Henry was one of these, when he said these words in a famous address, "Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace-- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"

On April 19, 1775, the British commander in charge of America, General [[Thomas Gage]], responded to orders to forcibly stop the rebellion. He sent troops to march by surprise from Boston to Concord to seize a storehouse of rebel guns and ammunition, and maybe arrest some leaders.

[[Paul Revere]] then went on his famous midnight ride to alert the colonists. They were ready. After years of conflict, war finally began. At Lexington, just 75 colonists faced several hundred British soldiers. When the British ordered the colonists to disperse, gunfire broke out. Eight colonists were killed and ten were wounded in the ensuing chaos. But seventy three British died.

The British troops continued to Concord. Here a larger number of colonists attacked them and routed them back to Lexington. Only 93 colonists died in comparison to 275 British soldiers. The British were narrowly saved by the arrival of reinforcements.

That and other conflicts brought the colonies together in 1775 for The [[Second Continental Congress]]. They realized that hope for peace was foolish now. It was time to prepare for war. The Congress instituted paper money and named George Washington head of [[Continental Army]], which he governed during the Revolution. As a last attempt for peace, they sent the "Olive Branch Petition" (written by Charles Townshend) to the King. He refused to even receive the petition. War was inevitable.

As the Congress met in Philadelphia, the "Green Mountain Boys" captured Fort Ticonderoga in 1775 because Ethan Allen wanted to protect his land holdings in a disputed area near Lake Champlain. Today, Lake Champlain is located in the far north of Vermont.

In January of 1776 [[Thomas Paine]]’s pamphlet called [[Common Sense]] argued against divine rule and economic reasons to stay with Britain, in plain language. Often written books or pamphlets were a bigger force than military battles, and this was overwhelming true in this case. Every literate adult read Common Sense, and Paine’s argument gave countless colonists the courage to realize that separation from Britain was necessary and attainable. After only three month, 120,000 copies had been sold!

Here are some of Paine's words against divine rule: "The heathens paid divine honors to their deceased kings, and the Christian world had improved on the plan by doing the same to their living ones. How impious is the title of sacred majesty applied to a worm, who in the midst of his splendor is crumbling into dust!"

On July 4, 1776 the Declaration of Independence of Independence was formally announced. It declares that all men are created equal, having natural inalienable rights. The colonies’ many grievances against the crown were listed. It argued that government is a social compact and rebellion is justified when the government break its end of the bargain. This logic was borrowed from the philosophy of John Locke. But perhaps the most important part of the Declaration was its frequent invocation of God. Our nation was founded on God’s providence and truth.

Still, the colonies had very small troops, especially since one third of the population was loyal to Britain. Washington’s army was composed of just 18,000 men, less than a third the size of attendance at Giants Stadium. The British won early battles at [[Bunker Hill]] in Boston, in Canada, and in New York. The colonies started winning on Christmas Eve in Trenton in 1776, then later at Princeton.

During the winter of 1777 Washington quartered his troops in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The winter was filled with suffering. The troops lacked supplies and many died of starvation and cold. But the training the troops received during this time was invaluable. Prussian Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben drilled the troops throughout the winter, and his expertise may well have aided in turning the tide against the British.

In 1777, the Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, although they were not ratified until 1781. The government they instituted was weak, however with no president or courts, and unanimous approval required to amend them. Eventually, they were replaced by the Constitution.

At Saratoga in upstate NY in October 1777, 6,000 British soldiers surrendered, making a huge victory for the colonies. [[Benedict Arnold]] 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 Franco-American Alliance ended French Neutrality in 1778. Benjamin was instrumental in achieving this alliance, but this certainly was not his only achievement. He also wrote Poor Richard’s Almanac, Invented the Franklin stove for heating, and started the first library. Due to Franklin’s efforts as an ambassador to France, and the inspiration of the colonies’ victory at Saratoga, France recognized the colonies’ independence, entered into a military alliance with the colonies, and renounced its territory east of the Mississippi as well as Bermuda.

Still, 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, the patriots installed General [[Nathanael Greene]], one of the revolution’s 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 trapped the British at Yorktown, Virginia. They were forced 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.

That treaty was called the Treaty of Paris, and it ended the American Revolution. The British gave up their claim to land east of the Mississippi, from Canada to Florida. The Americans promised to treat the Loyalists and English creditors (people owed money by colonists) fairly. They didn’t always do that. But there is blame to be shared on both sides of the issue: in Gladstone, New Jersey, the "Union Jack" (British flag) can be seen prominently flown to this day on one residential lot along with the American flag. Nevertheless, the war was finally over, and the citizens of the thirteen colonies were no longer called colonists, but Americans.

== References ==

<references/>
[[Category:United States History]]

American History Lecture Three

2008-08-28T18:37:25Z

Pakhyongshin:

More tips on answer multiple-choice history questions:

1. Look for the best fit. The question is like a lock or key hole, and you are looking for the answer (key) that is the best fit. Matching the verb or concept behind the question with the best fitting verb or concept in the answer can help. For example, when the question asked about “exploration”, the answer that said to “find the best route” was the best fit and the correct answer.

2. Disqualify as incorrect answers which contain language that is too sweeping, such as “everyone” or “only”. Question: Why was George Washington elected president? Potential answer: Because everyone wanted him. Nope, not “everyone”. Question: Why was slavery used? Answer: Only because of greed. Nope. Not “only” because of greed. Some common "sweeping" words are: everyone, always, never, only, all, every.

3. When a question completely baffles you, such as a question asking for the political motive behind the “Wizard of Oz” movie, look for an economic or money answer. Historical events and politics are motivated more by money than most students realize.

4. View multiple choice questions like a puzzle. Enjoy solving it. This class has more talent than any other class in our state, and maybe in the country. Don’t let any test or question intimidate you.

Note about last week’s homework: Massachusetts did not have religious freedom. They came here for their personal religious freedom, but they did not give that freedom to others.

Also, be aware that there many slaves in Virginia and other colonies long before Bacon’s Rebellion. <include info about how early the first slaves were brought from Africa>

There has always been constant conflict between debtors (often farmers) and creditors (banks). Debtor’s prison: understand the financial motivation for it. <explain?> It’s wrong, but understand why it existed. See both sides of every dispute.

To learn history well, you must put yourself back at that time. Think of what it might have been like. Imagine it. See both sides of the Boston Massacre, for example. What were British soldiers doing there? Maybe it was reasonable to object to their presence.

We discussed how England justified its direct taxation to pay for the [[French and Indian War]]. But how do we know the taxes were to pay for the war? Would that be all that the taxes would be paying for? <no. which tax was it that said all the extra money would go into the royal treasury?> Would the taxes cease when the war debt was paid? No, because that was a slippery slope. Those taxes would never end, even after the war was fully paid.

The American Revolution was a “conservative revolution.” <clarify?>

We won the Revolution. What next?

<this is review, clean it up!> Before we won, there were meetings of the [[Continental Congress]] (initiated by the [[Committees of Correspondence]]) to organize war efforts and address issues common to all the colonies. It adopted the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and proposed the Articles of Confederation in 1777. Eventually it was ratified by the 13 colonies (in 1781). It provided for a unicameral (one body) Congress to govern. No president and no courts. One vote for each state.

9 out of 13 states’ approval were needed to pass anything. All 13 states’ approval was needed to amend it. Those percentages are just too high for a collection of states that were very different from each other. Now that the focus was off gaining freedom and onto building a new nation, the states had much less common ground.

Powers given to Congress by the Articles of Confederation: declare war, raise and army and navy, make commercial treaties, borrow money, control currency and levy assessments against the states.

Powers Congress lacked under the Articles of Confederation: could not impose taxes on the people or enforce its will against states that refused to cooperate. It could ask the states for money, but could not force them to pay.

Bottom line: most power remained in each state under the Articles of Confederation. The national government could not raise money to pay its own obligations. Americans were very wary of centralized power after their bad experience with England, but they took this so far that the central government was essentially worthless, and each state did as it pleased.

But the Articles of Confederation did succeed in its plan for the systematic admission of new states based on population: the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.

Shay’s Rebellion in 1786-87 illustrated how inadequate the national government was under the Articles of Confederation. It was an armed uprising of Massachusetts farmers burdened with high debt. This was the first of many future clashes between Americans who owed money (debtors) and those who lent money (creditors). The farmers were angry that they had to pay back their loans in “specie” (gold or silver) rather than cheaper paper money, which was a common requirement of the time. They lost their farms when they could not pay their loans, and because of that they lost their right to vote, because at the time only property owners could vote. They violently took over the town courthouse to prevent any additional court-ordered seizures of their farms. The Massachusetts governor sent in the militia but there were more farmers in the rebellion then there were in the militia. Daniel Shay then led 1200 men to Springfield to capture the federal arsenal, but by then there were enough state militiamen to win. Shays fled to the Vermont area. Everyone was panicked by this uprising, and a newly elected Massachusetts legislature subsequently enacted some debt relief.

The Constitutional Convention convened in the summer of 1787 in Philadelphia to strengthen the national government by modifying the Articles of Confederation. Every state sent representatives except Rhode Island. (Remember Rhode Island – some claim its “separation of church and state” laid the foundation for the Constitution. It didn’t even show up!). The deliberations were held in secret, without any news leaking to the newspapers. Everyone was ordered to destroy their notes afterwards, but James Madison kept his notes and they were released about fifty years later.

Did the attendees limit their actions to fixing the Articles of Confederation? No. This same debate rages today by calls for a constitutional convention to balance the budget (1980s) or protect traditional marriage. There is no way to limit what a constitutional convention does. The only protection for the people is that the document still must be ratified by the states. (This debate over whether a constitutional convention can be called for limited issue continues today, with many saying that there is never a way to limit a constitutional convention.)

What the delegates to the Constitutional Convention did was create a written Constitution that has lasted as the oldest written national instrument of government in the world today. Their product is probably the greatest single written document of a collection men ever created in the history of the world.<?>

Key participants in the Constitutional Convention: James Madison, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin. Missing: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson. Adams and Jefferson were overseas in diplomatic missions, Adams to England and Jefferson to France. Remember those alliances: Adams (and all of New England) was allied with England, while Jefferson (and much of Virginia) was allied with France.

The delegates to the Constitutional Convention were bright, dedicated, and spiritual men. This was a very special event.

The resulting Constitution breaks government into three separate branches that can check and balance each other. If one branch grabs too much power, then the other two can work together to stop it.

The three branches are these:

The Legislative Branch which makes the laws is Congress. Congress is established in Article I.
Executive branch carries out the laws President. Established in Article II.
Judicial branch interprets the laws, established in Article III.

Article IV of the Constitution outlines the relationship between the federal (national) government and the states. Article V outlines the procedures for amending the Constitution, contrary to the Articles of Confederation, unanimous consent of the states is NOT required for an amendment. Article VI declares the Constitution the supreme Law of the Land. Article VII provides for the procedure to ratify the Constitution.

Many small states ratified the Constitution quickly, because they liked the idea of having equal representation in the Senate. But bigger states, such as [[Virginia]] and [[New York]], were more reluctant to give up their power to a national government.

A huge debate followed in some of the states, particularly Virginia and New York. To persuade New Yorkers to ratify the Constitution, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay wrote the Federalist papers, which was a series of editorials that ran in a big New York newspaper. Most famous of these is Madison’s Federalist No. 10: “Among the numerous advantages promised by a well constructed Union, none deserves to be more accurately developed than its tendency to break and control the violence of faction.” Madison’s insight was that a new United States of America, with its large size and separation of powers, could protect freedom against the tyranny of a small group better than individual colonies could.

The debate over ratification pitted the Federalists (for example, Alexander Hamilton) against the Anti-Federalists (for example, Patrick Henry). <explain what each stood for.>

Once the ninth state ([[New Hampshire]]) ratified on June 21, 1788, the Constitution became law of the land. George Washington was elected a few months afterwards as our first president.

[[George Washington]] was so popular and respected that he probably could have become king. He was in his fifties, about the age of our President Bush. Even if Washington did not become king, he could have ruled as president for the rest of his life. But his greatness was, like Jesus, in his declining power to rule. Washington was inaugurated as president in 1789.

An example of Washington’s greatness was his handling of “Citizen” Edmond Genet (pronounced zhe – nay), who was sent by France to the United States just after the French Revolution. France felt that the United States owed it assistance after all France did to help us win the Revolutionary War. But in 1793 Washington issued his Proclamation of Neutrality to keep us neutral in the enormous turmoil in Europe.<make clearer> But Genet went around our new country stirring up pro-French sentiment with impassioned speeches. He sent out private American citizens to attack British shipping (called “privateers,” but acting like pirates). Washington told Genet to stop this, but he refused. Washington told France to recall him. But the French Revolution got out of hand, with senseless violence and executions. “Citizen Genet,” as he was known, reasonably feared the guillotine if he returned to France. He begged Washington to grant him asylum in this country. Washington did. Genet later married the daughter of the governor of New York, and became a normal farmer.

Another example of George Washington’s greatness was his handling of the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794. Farmers in western Pennsylvania protested a 7-cent per gallon tax on corn whiskey. These farmers refused to pay the tax, retaliated against farmers who did pay it, and attacked U.S. marshals and revenue agents. Washington told the Pennsylvania governor to end the rebellion, but he refused. Washington himself then raised an army from neighboring states and personally rode out as their leader to quell the rebellion. The farmers gave up without bloodshed. Several were caught, tried and convicted for their rebellion. What did Washington do? He pardoned them.

In 1796, Washington was up for reelection. He then did something that no leader of a revolution has ever done: he gave up his power for the good of others. He left by publishing one of the greatest documents in all of American history: Washington’s farewell address. Written by [[Alexander Hamilton]], this [[Farewell Address]] urged Americans to stay out of conflicts in Europe. It also reminded Americans that morality is the foundation is our society. <an the problems with divisive parties>

Several other important things happened during the presidency (the Administration) of George Washington. The Bill of Rights passed in 1791 to limit the federal government. A rivalry developed between [[Alexander Hamilton]], who favored a strong national government, and [[Thomas Jefferson]], who favored states’ rights.

[[Alexander Hamilton]]: federal government has whatever powers are not denied to it (e.g., power to establish a national bank, by virtue of the “elastic” or “necessary and proper” clause of the Constitution).
Jefferson: federal government only has the powers expressly given it.

[[John Adams]], born to a prosperous farmer in Massachusetts, became president after Washington, and served just one term (four years). His presidency was a failure. Symbolic of his failure was his signing of the Alien & Sedition Acts, which made it a crime to criticize him! Jefferson and Madison responded with strong state resolutions (Kentucky and Virginia) to “nullify” or declare the Acts unconstitutional.

Debate: Can a State nullify an act of Congress? Can a State secede (withdraw) from the United States?

[[Category:United States History]]

Talk:Supply-side economics

2008-08-22T03:10:48Z

Pakhyongshin: /* Explain */

If there is an expert who can help me clean this up, great. I hope to avoid editorializing here, so I added no irrelevancies about the ideologic battles surrounding this. I hope others can also avoid stirring the waters here, and keep it to the talk page.--[[User:palmd001|PalMD]][[User_talk:palmd001|talk]] 14:11, 30 March 2007 (EDT)

:Nice effort, and it looks fairly neutral. But aren't there critics of the idea? Or of Reagan's policies based on it?

:I'd hate to have a one-sided article, what with the election coming up and all. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 14:15, 30 March 2007 (EDT)

Of course there are plenty of critics, and I am one of them, but I wanted to keep that out. However, I could try to draw something up.--[[User:palmd001|PalMD]][[User_talk:palmd001|talk]] 14:24, 30 March 2007 (EDT)

*Wealth would be given to the wealthier producer class, and would then "trickle down" to the poorer classes.

I don't think that's it. But that may be how opponents perceived it, and that may be the genesis of the term "trickle down".

I'd go back to "demand creates supply", which has both theoretical underpinnings and '''centuries''' of evidence. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] 14:49, 30 March 2007 (EDT)

Let me see what i can do--[[User:palmd001|PalMD]][[User_talk:palmd001|talk]] 14:50, 30 March 2007 (EDT)

This could use some merge-work but Im not sure how to fold the second part in.--[[User:palmd001|PalMD]][[User_talk:palmd001|talk]] 15:31, 30 March 2007 (EDT)

==Explain==
Read article several times, but still do not understand what it is. Maybe make it clearer?--[[User:Pakhyongshin|Pakhyongshin]] 22:14, 14 August 2008 (EDT)
:Please?--[[User:Pakhyongshin|Pakhyongshin]] 23:10, 21 August 2008 (EDT)

United States Presidential Election, 2008

2008-08-21T15:31:45Z

Pakhyongshin: /* McCain vs. Obama */

[[Image:Presidential election map.gif|right|thumb|350px|Battleground states]] The '''2008 United States Presidential Election''' is scheduled for Tuesday, November 4, 2008.<ref>http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/calendar/</ref> The primary season for both the [[Republican Party]] and the [[Democratic Party]] officially began on January 3, 2008 with the [[Iowa Caucus]]es and ended on June 3, 2008.<ref>http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/calendar/</ref> The 2008 election cycle has seen a major shift to the primary election calendar, frontloading many primaries into early February.<ref>http://www.miamiherald.com/515/story/43160.html</ref> Senator [[John McCain]] of [[Arizona]] is expected to win the Republican nomination, while [[Barack Obama|Senator Barack Obama]] is the presumptive nominee for the [[Democratic Party]].

==First election without incumbents since 1928==
If eligible to do so, the President of the United States often runs for reelection. If the President does not run, the [[Vice President of the United States]] will often run to replace the President after he leaves office. 2008 may mark the first time since the 1928 election in which there is neither an incumbent President nor an incumbent Vice President running for his party's presidential nomination and thus not running in the Presidential election. In the [[United States presidential election of 1952]], the race was between Republican candidate [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] and Democratic candidate [[Adlai Stevenson]]. Vice President [[Alben Barkley]] sought but failed to win the Democratic nomination. Current Vice President [[Dick Cheney]] has repeatedly stated he will not run for President. "I will say just as hard as I possibly know how to say... If nominated, I will not run; if elected, I will not serve," Cheney said on ''[[Fox News]] Sunday''.

==Differences between 2008 and other elections==
In 2008, [[CNN]]-[[YouTube]] held the first debate in which the questions asked of the nominees in each party came primarily from YouTube viewer submitted videos. The debates received high ratings, however, CNN was criticized for not picking questions that were 'tough' or pertinent enough. One such example was during the Democratic Debate, when CNN chose to ask a question from a snow man, talking about [[global warming]]. During the Republican debate, some claimed that many of the questions were from Democratic supporters just meant to embarrass the Republican candidates. For example, a question over whether or not homosexuals should serve in the U.S. military was asked by retired general and gay activist Keith Kerr, an adviser to [[Hillary Clinton]]'s campaign.

The internet has also played a major role in the election, with then-Republican presidential candidate [[Ron Paul]] and Democratic candidate Barack Obama being very active on the internet.

== Uncommitted Electorate ==

As of July 30th, 2008 14% of respondents are undecided, almost twice as high as the 8% at a similar time period in 2004.<ref>[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/in_white_house_race_twice_as_many_voters_uncommitted_compared_to_four_years_ago Uncommitted numbers]</ref>

==Opinion polling==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Polling Outfit
! Date
! Sample*
! Obama (D)
! McCain (R)
|-
| [http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/daily_presidential_tracking_poll Rasmussen Tracking]
| 08-18 - 08/20
| 3000 LV
| '''45'''
| 42
|-
|-
| [http://www.gallup.com/poll/109708/Gallup-Daily-Obama-45-43.aspx?version=print Gallup]
| 08/17 - 08/19
| 2658 RV
| '''45'''
| 43
|-
|-
| [http://www.tarrance.com/082008/Battleground-35-charts.pdf Battleground National]
| 08/15 - 08/18
| 1000 LV
| 46
| '''47'''
|-
|-
| [http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-poll20-2008aug20,0,5506138.story LA Times/Bloomberg]
| 08/15 - 08/18
| 1248 RV
| '''45'''
| 43
|-
|-
| [http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUKN1948672420080820?sp=true Zogby]
| 08/14 - 08/17
| 1089 LV
| 41
| '''46'''
|-
|}

*RV refers to registered voters, LV refers to likely voters.

Most polling that has been done fails to include all the candidates who will actually be on the ballot in November. A Rasmussen poll on May 18, reported on a four-way race between Barack Obama, John McCain, Ralph Nader and Bob Barr. The poll, which was conducted before Barr became the Libertarian nominee and made a number of high-profile talk show appearances, found that Barr would finish in third place with 6% of the vote, and Nader with 4%.<ref>http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/will_third_party_candidates_tip_the_presidential_race</ref> Another poll conducted around that time showed Barr picking up 8% of the vote in [[Georgia]], seriously hurting McCain's chances of winning that state.<ref>http://www.southernpoliticalreport.com/storylink_520_404.aspx</ref> It should be noted that in the actual elections, third party candidates such as Barr and Nader generally have much lower percentage of votes cast for them than they poll beforehand. Also, when possible, polling is reported without counting 'leaners'. Leaners so far have been favoring McCain.

Due to the nature of the presidential election, relying on state-by-state electoral votes as opposed to the nationwide popular vote, nationwide polls may be less predictive of the election results. An alternative approach is to take aggregate results of state-by-state polling in order to create an electoral map. So far most polling sites doing this have found the election favoring Obama, much as the general polling has shown, although generally dependent on how leaning states vote come election day.<ref>http://www.pollster.com/</ref><ref>[http://www.politico.com/convention/swingstate.html Politico's 2008 Swing State Map]</ref>

== McCain vs. Obama ==
[[Image:Casmier.jpg|left|thumb|180px|'''John McCain (R)''']][[Image:obama.jpg|thumb|left|'''Barack Obama (D)''']]
McCain had the early edge, wrapping up the Republican nomination before Obama was known to be the choice of the Democrats, but this was one of the few advantages he has had. Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama raised far more money than McCain and the Democratic primary saw a surge of new voters coming out leading to a large increase in the rolls of Democrats. From the historical position of a generally equal number of Republicans and Democrats, the numbers have now tilted 41% Democrat to only 32% Republican. From the time that Obama was declared the nominee, opinion polling showed him with a modest advantage over McCain in terms of who the voters would choose to be their next President.

Obama's strategy was to tie McCain to George Bush, a very unpopular President, even though McCain was not a part of the Bush administration and often clashed with Bush during his time as senator. McCain, for his part, had to walk a fine line with accepting praise from the President to woo conservatives, while at the same time keeping enough distance so as to not alienate moderates. When possible, McCain went after Obama's lack of foreign policy experience.

On paper, the nomination would seem to heavily favor the Democrats. Overall, Democrat candidates have a +10% advantage over Republicans in a 'generic' election. The current unpopular President is a Republican, and the economy is treading water. Also, based on statistical percentages of articles on each candidate, Obama was being focused on with press coverage far more than McCain. When McCain chastised Obama for his lack of foreign policy experience and that he hadn't been to Iraq or Afghanistan in years, Obama's campaign set up for him to take a trip to both countries. While this is expected in politics, the decision of every major network to send a team of reporters to follow him was unprecedented. Obama spoke to 200,000 people in Berlin in a highly covered speech. McCain spoke to 50,000 in Buffalo shortly thereafter and barely got a whisper. Obama's numbers started to rise, but a good deal of the populace was noticing the disparity as 48% of those polled felt the press was trying to help Obama win.

Obama seemed pleased to coast on his advantages, but McCain realized he needed to shake things up. He scored by pushing offshore drilling for oil during a time when oil prices were climbing almost daily. Obama rejected the idea, but the poll numbers started to show a greater percentage of Americans warming to the concept<ref>[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/61_say_congress_should_vote_on_offshore_drilling_right_now Offshore Drilling poll]</ref> and McCain's numbers started to improve. Obama announced he would accept some measure of offshore drilling, and McCain's momentum was haltered and his gains retreated by a couple of points. McCain started an ad campaign that acknowledged Obama's celebrity status, but asking what it meant. The bounce for Obama after the Berlin speech shrank again. While Obama continues to enjoy a slight lead, McCain has continued to keep the race close without either candidate breaking away.

== State by State Breakdown ==
The United States had become so regionally polarized that even though the 2004 presidential election was close nationwide, only nine states had outcomes having less than 4% margin between the candidates:

State, margin of victory, party that won the state in 2004

#Wisconsin, 0.38% (Dem)
#Iowa, 0.67% (Repub)
#New Mexico, 0.79% (Repub)
#New Hampshire, 1.37% (Dem)
#Ohio, 2.11% (Repub)
#Pennsylvania, 2.50% (Dem)
#Nevada, 2.59% (Repub)
#Michigan, 3.42% (Dem)
#Minnesota, 3.48% (Dem)

It is assumed that the 2008 election will be similar where close battles in a few states could determine the outcome. Individual state polling numbers for the 2008 election so far:

* Red = McCain leading
* Blue = Obama leading

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! State
! Obama (D)
! McCain (R)
! Source
! Updated
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|Alabama
|37%
|55%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/alabama/election_2008_alabama_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|7/31/08
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|Alaska
|40%
|44%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/alaska/election_2008_alaska_presidential_election Rasmussen]
| 7/31/08
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|Arkansas
|37%
|47%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/arkansas/election_2008_arkansas_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|7/17/08
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|Arizona
|40%
|52%
|[http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/PPP_Release_Arizona_804.pdf PPP]
|7/31/08
|- style="background:white; color:blue"
|California
|50%
|38%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/california/election_2008_california_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|7/24/08
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|Colorado
|44%
|46%
|[http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x4141.xml?ReleaseID=1195 Quinnipiac]
|7/22/08
|- style="background:white; color:blue"
|Connecticut
|52%
|35%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/connecticut/election_2008_connecticut_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|6/30/08
|- style="background:white; color:blue"
|Delware
|50%
|41%
|[http://www.usaelectionpolls.com/2008/delaware.html SurveyUSA]
|3/06/08
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|Florida
|44%
|47%
|[http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/PPP_Release_Florida_805.pdf PPP]
|8/02/08
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|Georgia
|43%
|50%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/georgia/election_2008_georgia_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|8/14/08
|- style="background:white; color:blue"
|Hawaii
|61%
|31%
|[http://www.usaelectionpolls.com/2008/hawaii.html SurveyUSA]
|3/06/08
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|Idaho
|37%
|53%
|[http://www.usaelectionpolls.com/2008/idaho.html DailyKos.com]
|7/30/08
|- style="background:white; color:blue"
|Illinois
|53%
|38%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/illinois/election_2008_illinois_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|8/14/08
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|Indiana
|39%
|40%
|[http://www.zogby.com/50state/ Zogby]
|6/30/08
|- style="background:white; color:blue"
|Iowa
|46%
|41%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/iowa/election_2008_iowa_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|8/07/08
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|Kansas
|37%
|52%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/kansas/election_2008_kansas_presidential_election Rasmuseen]
|8/11/08
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|Kentucky
|39%
|49%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/kentucky/election_2008_kentucky_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|7/29/08
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|Louisiana
|34%
|54%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/maine/election_2008_maine_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|8/12/08
|- style="background:white; color:blue"
|Maine
|49%
|36%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/maine/election_2008_maine_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|8/12/08
|- style="background:white; color:blue"
|Maryland
|53%
|40%
|[http://www.usaelectionpolls.com/2008/maryland.html SurveyUSA]
|3/06/08
|- style="background:white; color:blue"
|Massachusetts
|51%
|36%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/massachusetts/election_2008_massachusetts_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|8/5/08
|- style="background:white; color:blue"
|Michigan
|47%
|40%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/michigan/election_2008_michigan_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|8/7/08
|- style="background:white; color:blue"
|Minnesota
|46%
|42%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/minnesota/election_2008_minnesota_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|8/13/08
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|Mississippi
|41%
|52%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/mississippi/election_2008_mississippi_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|7/28/08
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|Missouri
|41%
|48%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/missouri/election_2008_missouri_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|8/7/08
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|Montana
|44%
|45%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/montana/election_2008_montana_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|7/29/08
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|Nebraska
|32%
|50%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/nevada/election_2008_nevada_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|8/11/08
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|Nevada
|42%
|45%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/nevada/election_2008_nevada_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|8/11/08
|- style="background:white; color:blue"
|New Hampshire
|43%
|42%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/new_hampshire/election_2008_new_hampshire_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|8/19/08
|- style="background:white; color:blue"
|New Jersey
|48%
|40%
|[http://beta.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/new_jersey/election_2008_new_jersey_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|8/04/08
|- style="background:white; color:blue"
|New Mexico
|46%
|41%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/new_mexico/election_2008_new_mexico_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|7/24/08
|- style="background:white; color:blue"
|New York
|52%
|32%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/north_carolina/election_2008_north_carolina_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|8/13/08
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|North Carolina
|42%
|46%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/north_carolina/election_2008_north_carolina_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|7/15/08
|- style="background:white; color:black"
|North Dakota
|43%
|43%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/north_dakota/election_2008_north_dakota_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|8/18/08
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|Ohio
|41%
|45%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/ohio/election_2008_ohio_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|8/18/08
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|Oklahoma
|38%
|52%
|[http://www.usaelectionpolls.com/2008/oklahoma.html SurveyUSA]
|6/13/08
|- style="background:white; color:blue"
|Oregon
|46%
|37%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/oregon/election_2008_oregon_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|7/15/08
|- style="background:white; color:blue"
|Pennsylvania
|45%
|40%
|[http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x2882.xml?ReleaseID=1196 Quinnipiac]
|8/19/08
|- style="background:white; color:blue"
|Rhode Island
|55%
|31%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/rhode_island/election_2008_rhode_island_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|7/04/08
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|South Carolina
|39%
|48%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/south_carolina/election_2008_south_carolina_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|6/07/08
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|South Dakota
|40%
|44%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/south_dakota/election_2008_south_dakota_presidential_election2 Rasmussen]
|7/09/08
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|Tennessee
|36%
|51%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/tennessee/election_2008_tennessee_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|6/24/08
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|Texas
|41%
|50%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/texas/election_2008_texas_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|7/30/08
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|Utah
|33%
|52%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/utah/election_2008_utah_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|6/22/08
|- style="background:white; color:blue"
|Vermont
|63%
|29%
|[http://www.usaelectionpolls.com/2008/vermont.html SurveyUSA]
|3/06/08
|- style="background:white; color:blue"
|Virginia
|46%
|44%
|[http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/PPP_Release_Virginia_722.pdf PPP]
|7/20/08
|- style="background:white; color:blue"
|Washington
|48%
|37%
|[http://strategicvision.biz/political/wa_poll_083008.htm Strategic Vision]
|7/27/08
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|West Virginia
|38%
|45%
|[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/west_virginia/election_2008_west_virginia_presidential_election Rasmussen]
|6/05/08
|- style="background:white; color:blue"
|Wisconsin
|47%
|42%
|[http://www.strategicvision.biz/index.html Strategic Vision]
|8/10/08
|- style="background:white; color:red"
|Wyoming
|40%
|53%
|[http://www.usaelectionpolls.com/2008/wyoming.html Research2000]
|5/29/08
|}

== Analysis of States by Region ==
Because of the [[electoral college]] system in the United States, it is important to analyze the presidential election by each state. These states are grouped into regions.

=== New England ===
[[Barack Obama]] is almost certain to win almost every state in this region, which tend to be very [[liberal]]. The only exception is in New Hampshire, where [[John McCain]] is well liked and George Bush won in 2000. This state is expected to be competitive. On the other hand, with only four electoral votes, the impact on the election will not be as great as some other battleground states.

=== Mid-Atlantic ===
[[New York]], [[Delaware]], and [[Maryland]] are solidly Democrat and will vote for Obama this election. [[New Jersey]] is less so, but still has Democratic leanings, and will probably go for Obama. [[Pennsylvania]] is a very important swing state for both candidates, as it has 21 electoral votes, fifth most in the nation, and has both liberal and conservative elements. In recent years, the state has moved toward becoming Democrat. However, it is not yet at the point that is safely in the Democratic camp, and will still be focused on heavily by both candidates during this election cycle. McCain still has a very good chance because Obama was unable to connect with the working-class citizens of Pennsylvania during the Democratic primary.

=== South-Atlantic ===
[[Washington, D.C.]] is overwhelmingly liberal and will vote for Obama; however, with three electoral votes its significance is limited. Although [[Virginia]] has usually been Republican territory in Presidential elections, this year it has become a competitive state. Democrats will work on increasing the voter turnout in the northern part of the state, with a high population of D.C. transplants. McCain's strength is in the southern regions and among the military. In the Carolinas, which usually votes Republican, McCain is seen as having the edge, but Obama may be competitive in these states if he mobilizes the African-American population. [[Georgia]] is a state where a third-party candidate [[Bob Barr]] could make a difference. While most voters favor McCain, he could lose enough votes to Barr to lose the state, especially if there is a large black turnout. [[Florida]] is a very close swing state, most famously known for its role in [[Election 2000]]. An important constituency in this state is the [[Jewish]] population, who are continuing to support Obama over McCain. Cuban-Americans, who are most upset with Obama's statements that he would meet with Fidel Castro, back McCain.

=== Deep South ===
John McCain will do well in the deep south. This includes the states of [[Texas]], [[Alabama]], [[Mississippi]], [[Louisiana]], [[Oklahoma]], [[Arkansas]], [[Tennessee]], [[Kentucky]] and [[West Virginia]]. This area is generally [[conservative]], and consistently vote Republican in Presidential elections. Although Obama believes in a fifty-state strategy, it is unlikely that such a strategy will be helpful in getting out the vote in these states apart from the black population.

===Swing States (Great Lakes Region)===
Strategists believe that the Republican presidential nominee must win Wisconsin or Minnesota, and hold Iowa but that the outcome in New Mexico, which has only 5 electoral votes, is irrelevant. Minnesota's margin of victory for the Democrats in 2004 probably places it out of reach for Republicans in 2008. This is confirmed by recent polling. However, due to the location of the Republican Convention in Minnesota, and if Governor Pawlenty is chosen as McCain's vice presidential pick, the state, with ten electoral votes, can come back into play.

===Other Important Swing States===
Moreover, it is very important for republicans to hold Ohio and Florida. Fortunately, both states have tended to lean republican in the last two presidential elections. Although Florida was disputed in election 2000, it went to Bush undeniably in 2004. Virginia will also be heavily contested this year.

== General Strategy ==

McCain's team wants to convince the electorate of the long-term leadership and experience that John McCain has shown in two decades of government service while emphasizing the relative untested nature of Barak Obama.

Obama's team wants to convince the electorate that Obama is the candidate of fresh ideas while downplaying his relative inexperience compared to the more seasoned McCain. When possible, McCain is lumped together with George Bush, an unpopular President.

===Republican Strategy===
With more limited funding than his Democratic rival, McCain favors open town hall meetings to attract the greatest number of people. He is focusing his advertising on swing states. He has asked for open debates with Obama of the Lincoln-Douglas variety where candidates can talk directly to each other, but this was not accepted by the Democratic camp which prefers the current structured format.

McCain is pushing the idea that he is a proven leader who served his country and as President can be counted on to keep America safe from outside threats. His strongest supporters are the elderly - the group that most wants stability.

===Democratic Strategy===
Democrats are confident that the low popularity of [[President]] [[George W. Bush]] and particularly [[Operation Iraqi Freedom]], which John McCain supports, puts them in a highly favorable position for 2008. They have been cautious in the Iraq arena realizing that 'The Surge' worked and they were on the wrong end of that issue. Focus is being put on a timeline for troops coming home, a position that most of the American population favors.

Democats believe it is their race to lose, but also realize they had a good chance to win the last two Presidential elections and came up short each time. General wisdom also states that a poor economy favors Obama, so they will try to point a dire picture in this area. As in past elections, differences between those who have obtained a high income level and those who have not will be emphasized.

Favored by the young, Democrats will try hard to encourage and get out the young vote, a task that has proven more difficult than expected in the last two election cycles.

As an extension of the DNC's strategy in the 2006 elections, led by [[Howard Dean]], Barack Obama has been working towards a "50-state strategy." The campaign is working to place campaign offices throughout the country with a focus on voter registration. The increase in the rolls of Democratic voters from the primary battle between Hillary Clinton and Obama played out well for the Democrats and puts pressure on Senator McCain even in typically red states, and more specifically, "Lean Republican" states, to use the Cook Political Report's term. In addition, with a fundraising advantage, Obama is airing ads in those tight states forcing McCain to make decisions about whether to use funds to match ads and campaign efforts in those states or rely on historical results that those states will support him and focus funds in traditional toss-up states instead.

==Conventions==

===Democratic National Convention===
The 2008 Democratic National Convention will be held in [[Denver]], [[Colorado]], August 25 to August 27 at Pepsi Center. There they will select Senator Obama and his running mate to be the party nominee's. Barack Obama will accept the party's nomination in front of a crowd of more than 75,000 in a free, open event to be held at INVESCO Field at Mile High. House Speaker [[Nancy Pelosi]] is the Permanent Chair of the Convention.

===Convention Schedule===

'''Monday 8/25 (Theme: One Nation):'''

* Former President [[Jimmy Carter]]
* [[Speaker of the House]] [[Nancy Pelosi]], D-[[California]]
* Congressman [[Jesse Jackson, Jr.]], D-[[Illinois]]
* Mayor John Hickenlooper, D-[[Denver]]
* Senator [[Amy Klobuchar]], D-[[Minnesota]]
* Mayor Manny Diaz, D-[[Miami]]
* Illinois state leaders Alexi Giannoulis, Dan Hynes, Lisa Madigan
* Tom Balanoff from Illinois SEIU
* [[National Education Association]] (NEA) President Reg Weaver
* AFT President Randi Weingarten
* [[NARAL Pro-Choice America]] President Nancy Keenan
* Senator [[Claire McCaskill]], D-Missouri
* Former State Representative Lee Hamilton, D-[[Indiana]]
* Chicago City Clerk Miguel del Valle
* Maya Soetoro-Ng - Barack Obama's half-sister
* Jerry Kellman - "Mentor and long-time friend of Barack Obama"

'''Tuesday 8/26 (Theme: Renewing America's Promise):'''

* Senator [[Patrick Leahy]], D-[[Vermont]]
* Governor [[Joe Manchin]], D-[[West Virginia]], Chair of the Democratic Governors’ Association
* Governor [[Chet Culver]], D-[[Iowa]]
* [[California]] State Controller John Chiang
* Change to Win’s Anna Burger
* [[AFL-CIO]] President John Sweeney
* [[Planned Parenthood of America]] President Cecile Richards.
* Pay Equity pioneer Lilly Ledbetter
* Governor [[Brian Schweitzer]], D-[[Montana]]
* Governor [[Deval Patrick]], D-[[Massachusetts]]
* Governor [[Kathleen Sebelius]], D-[[Kansas]]
* Governor [[Janet Napolitano]], D-[[Arizona]]
* Governor [[Jim Doyle]], D-[[Wisconsin]]
* Governor [[Ed Rendell]], D-[[Pennsylvania]]
* Governor [[Ted Strickland]], D-[[Ohio]]
* Governor [[David Paterson]], D-[[New York]]
* Senator [[Bob Casey, Jr.]], D-[[Pennsylvania]]
* Former Secretary of Energy and Transportation Federico Peña
* House Majority Leader [[Steny Hoyer]], D-[[Maryland]]
* House Democratic Caucus Chair [[Rahm Emanuel]], D-[[Illinois]]
* Representative [[Xavier Becerra]] (D-California), Assistant to the Speaker of the House;
* Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Chair [[Chris Van Hollen]]
* Representatives [[Nydia Velazquez]] (D-[[New York]])
* Linda Sanchez (D-CA)
* Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
* Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC)
* Mike Honda (D-CA)
* Senator and Presidential candidate [[Hillary Clinton]] (D-NY)
* Senator [[Mark Warner]] (D-VA)--Keynote Speaker

'''Wednesday 8/27 (Theme: Securing America's Future): '''

* Former President [[Bill Clinton]]
* Governor [[Bill Richardson]], D-[[New Mexico]]
* Senator [[John Kerry]], D-[[Massachusetts]]
* Former Senate Minority Leader [[Tom Daschle]], D-[[South Dakota]]
* Senator [[Jack Reed]], D-[[Rhode Island]]
* Mayor [[Richard Daley]], D-[[Chicago]]
* Senator [[Evan Bayh]], D-[[Indiana]]
* Senator [[Joe Biden]], D-[[Delaware]]
* Senator [[Jay Rockefeller]], D-[[West Virginia]]
* Senate Majority Leader [[Harry Reid]], D-[[Nevada]]
* Senator [[Ken Salazar]], D-[[Colorado]]
* House Majority Whip [[James E. Clyburn]], D-[[South Carolina]]
* Congressman [[Robert Wexler]] (D-[[Florida]])

'''Thursday 8/28 (Theme: Change You Can Believe In):'''

* Former Vice President [[Al Gore]]
* Presidential nominee [[Barack Obama]]

===Republican National Convention===
The 2008 Republican National Convention will be held in [[Saint Paul]], [[Minnesota]] from September 1 ([[Labor Day]]) until September 4. The presumptive nominee will be Senator McCain. The location has political significance in that [[Minnesota]] will likely be a close state during the general election, as will it's neighboring states [[Wisconsin]] and [[Iowa]].

===Convention Schedule===

'''Monday 9/1 (Theme: Service):'''

* Senator [[Joe Lieberman]], I-[[Connecticut]]
* Vice President [[Dick Cheney]]

''Monday primetime (10-11pm Eastern Time)''

* Governor [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]], R-[[California]]
* President [[George W. Bush]]
* First Lady [[Laura Bush]]

'''Tuesday 9/2 (Theme: Reform):'''

* Governor [[Jon Huntsman]], R-[[Utah]]
* Former Governor and Homeland Security Secretary [[Tom Ridge]], R-[[Pennsylvania]]
* Former California Secretary of State Rosario Marin
* Former Senator and Presidential candidate [[Fred Thompson]], R-Tennessee
* Governor [[Linda Lingle]], R-Hawaii
* GOPAC Chairman and former Lt. Governor [[Michael Steele]], R-[[Maryland]]

''Tuesday primetime (10-11pm Eastern Time)''

* Governor [[Sarah Palin]], R-Alaska
* Former Governor [[Mike Huckabee]], R-[[Arkansas]]
* Former Mayor [[Rudy Giuliani]], R-[[New York City]], Keynote Speaker

'''Wednesday 9/3 (Theme: Prosperity):'''

* Senator [[Norm Coleman]], R-[[Minnesota]]
* [[Meg Whitman]], former [[Ebay]] CEO
* [[Carly Fiorina]], former HP CEO
* Former Governor and Presidential candidate [[Mitt Romney]], R-[[Massachusetts]]

''Wednesday primetime (10-11pm Eastern Time)''

* [[Cindy McCain]]
* Governor [[Bobby Jindal]], R-[[Louisiana]]
* Vice Presidential nominee

'''Thursday 9/4 (Theme: Peace):'''

* Governor [[Tim Pawlenty]], R-[[Minnesota]]
* Governor [[Charlie Crist]], R-[[Florida]]
* Senator [[Sam Brownback]], R-[[Kansas]]
* Senator [[Mel Martinez]], R-[[Florida]]

'''Thursday primetime'''

''(10-11pm Eastern Time)''

* Presidential Nominee [[John McCain]] (video before his speech)

==Debates==
===Presidential Debates===
There will be three presidential debates for the 2008 election season. The first debate will be held on September 26th, at the University of Mississippi. The topic for the debate is "Foreign Policy & National Security" and will be moderated by Jim Lehrer. The debate will be a podium debate, broken into 9 nine-minute segments. The moderator will introduce a topic, and then each candidate will have 2 minutes to comment. Following their answers, there will be 5 minutes of open discussion on the topic, facilitated by the moderator.

The second debate will be held on October 7th, at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. The moderator will be Tom Brokaw, and the debate will be in a town hall-style. The questions will come from audience members and the Internet, as chosen by the moderator. After each question, the candidates will have two minutes each to respond, as well as a one-minute followup to the opposing candidate's response.

The final debate will be held on October 15th, at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY. The topic for the debate is "Domestic and Economic Policy" and will be moderated by Bob Schieffer. The candidates will be seated at a table, as opposed to behind a podium, and the format will follow that of the first debate. In addition, though, the candidates will be given an opportunity to present a 90-second closing argument.

===Vice Presidential Debate===
There will be one vice presidential debate held on October 2nd, at Washington University in Saint Louis, MO. The debate will be moderated by Gwen Ifill, with a format to be determined after the vice presidential nominees have been selected.

==Third parties and Independents==
===Libertarian party===
The [[Libertarian Party]] selected former Representative [[Bob Barr]] of [[Georgia]] as its 2008 presidential candidate on May 25, 2008.<ref>http://www.lpconvention.org/</ref> Former Democratic candididate [[Mike Gravel]] sought the Libertarian nomination but lost to Barr.<ref> http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/05/25/libertarians-pick-barr-as-presidential-nominee/ </ref>

Barr has, on his campaign website, linked to a proposed Libertarian strategy laid out by a member of his campaign staff. Although Barr has not officially claimed this as his strategy, the link appears to be a tacit endorsement. The strategy is called the "gold states" strategy. Instead of waging a 50-state campaign with the aim of securing 270 electoral votes and an outright electoral college win, Barr would focus on about 18-20 states where neither Obama or McCain has strong support. Winning that number of states could net Barr from 180-200 electoral votes, and would exceed either Obama or McCain's number and prevent either of them from reaching 270. Under US Constitution Amendment 12, with no candidate having an electoral vote majority, the election would be thrown into the House of Representatives, which would have to choose the president from the top three electoral vote getters. At this stage, Barr could argue that as the top electoral vote recipient, he should become the President, and might draw support from conservative Democrats displeased with Obama's positions, and from Republicans who dislike McCain.

Although winning the largest number of electoral votes would assist Barr in making such an argument, it is not absolutely necessary. Given the close divide in the electoral vote in the 2000 and 2004 elections, Barr could throw the vote into the House by winning a handful of states to garner perhaps 15-20 electoral votes.

The House of Representatives currently has a Democratic majority, but it is important to note that under the US Constitution Amendment 12, the vote is not a straight vote of the members of the House. Instead, each ''State'' gets one single vote, and that vote is determined by the members from that State. Although many large states like California and New York have large Democratic majorities, these will be balanced by the many smaller Southern and Midwestern states with Republican majorities. A handful of states have an even number of House members, and are split down the middle for control.

===Constitution Party===
The [[Constitution Party]] held its convention in Kansas City, Kansas, on April 24 through April 27. The party nominated Pastor [[Chuck Baldwin]] over former U.N. Ambassador and Republican presidential candidate [[Alan Keyes]].<ref> http://www.constitutionparty.com/news.php?aid=751 </ref>

===Green Party===
[[Cynthia McKinney]], who was defeated in her bid for re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives after voting against the [[Iraq War]] and being arrested on battery charges after striking a Capitol Hill police officer, won the [[environmentalist]] [[Green Party]]'s nomination for president at the party convention July 12, 2008. Running for Vice President on the Green ticket is "Hip-Hop activist and journalist" Rosa Clemente.<ref>http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=79</ref>

===Independents===
[[Ralph Nader]] announced his independent candidacy for president on February 24, 2008, to focus on "stem[ming] corporate crime and Pentagon waste and promot[ing] labor rights", issues he feels are ignored by the main parties.<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Feb24/0,4670,APNader,00.html</ref> His [[running mate]] is former President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors [[Matt Gonzalez]].<ref>http://www.votenader.org/about/matt-gonzalez/</ref>

New York City Mayor [[Michael Bloomberg]] has been frequently mentioned as a possible independent candidate for the 2008 presidential election and fueled that speculation when he left the Republican Party in June 2007. However, he declared in a February 28, 2008, op-ed article in ''The New York Times'', "I am not—and will not be—a candidate for president," but added that "[i]f a candidate takes an independent, nonpartisan approach—and embraces practical solutions that challenge party orthodoxy—I’ll join others in helping that candidate win the White House."<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/opinion/28mike.html?_r=1&oref=slogin "I'm Not Running for President, but..."]</ref>

==Historical Information==

===Withdrawn Republican Party Candidates===
Senator [[Sam Brownback]], [[Kansas]], withdrew October 19, 2007, citing a lack of funding.<ref>http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ifK7vLWH4aU4urzB-4bSX1u4QF9QD8SC0EI00</ref> Brownback also had done poorly at key conservative milestones, such as the [[Value Voters Debate]].<ref>http://www.valuesvoterdebate.com/pollresults.cfm, Brownback lost sizably to [[Mike Huckabee]].</ref> He endorsed Senator [[John McCain]] of [[Arizona]].

Former Governor [[Jim Gilmore]], [[Virginia]], withdrew July 14, 2007

Former Mayor [[Rudy Giuliani|Rudolph Giuliani]], [[New York City]] He withdrew after a defeat in [[Florida]], on which he had depended on heavily. He endorsed John McCain afterwards.

Former Governor [[Mike Huckabee]], [[Arkansas]]. He withdrew from the race once McCain received the 1,191 delegates needed to win the nomination. He also promised to support McCain as the nominee, thus giving his endorsement to him.

Representative [[Duncan Hunter]], [[California]] 52nd, withdrew January 19, 2008 and endorsed Governor Mike Huckabee.

Representative [[Ron Paul]], [[Texas]] 14th, withdrew June 12, 2008.

Former Governor [[Mitt Romney]], [[Massachusetts]], suspended his campaign after poor showings on [[Super Tuesday]] and later endorsed John McCain.

Representative [[Tom Tancredo]], [[Colorado]] 6th, withdrew December 20, 2007. He endorsed fmr. Governor [[Mitt Romney]] of [[Massachusetts]].

Former Senator [[Fred Thompson]], [[Tennessee]]. He endorsed [[John McCain]] of Arizona.

Former Governor and HS Secretary [[Tommy Thompson]], withdrew August 12, 2007. He endorsed fmr. Mayor [[Rudy Giuliani]] of [[New York]].

===Potential Republican Candidates Who Declined to Run===
*Former Senator [[George Allen]], Virginia - endorsed Fred Thompson.
*Former Governor [[Jeb Bush]], [[Florida]] - endorsed John McCain.
*[[Vice President]] [[Dick Cheney]]
*Former Senate Majority Leader [[Bill Frist]], Tennessee
*Former [[Speaker of the House]] [[Newt Gingrich]], [[Georgia]]
*Senator [[Chuck Hagel]], [[Nebraska]]
*Former Governor [[George Pataki]], New York
*[[Secretary of State]] [[Condoleezza Rice]]
*Governor [[Mark Sanford]], [[South Carolina]]
*Former Senator [[Rick Santorum]], [[Pennsylvania]]

===Potential Republican Vice-Presidential Candidates===
*[[Haley Barbour]] - Governor of [[Mississippi]]
*[[Matt Blunt]] - Governor of [[Missouri]]
*[[Sam Brownback]] - U.S. Senator from [[Kansas]]
*[[Jeb Bush]] - former Governor of [[Florida]]
*[[Tom Coburn]] - U.S. Senator from [[Oklahoma]]
*[[Charlie Crist]] - Governor of [[Florida]]]
*[[Jim DeMint]] - U.S. Senator from [[South Carolina]]
*[[Bill Frist]] - former U.S. Senator and Senate Majority Leader from [[Tennessee]]
*[[Rudy Giuliani]] - former Mayor of [[New York City]]
*[[Lindsey Graham]] - U.S. Senator from [[South Carolina]]
*[[Mike Huckabee]] - former Governor of [[Arkansas]]
*[[Kay Bailey Hutchison]] - U.S. Senator from [[Texas]]
*[[Bobby Jindal]] - Governor of [[Louisiana]]
*[[Joe Lieberman]] - U.S. Senator from [[Connecticut]]
*[[Bill Owens]] - former Governor of [[Colorado]]
*[[Sarah Palin]] - Governor of [[Alaska]]
*[[Tim Pawlenty]] - Governor of [[Minnesota]]
*[[David Petraeus]] - Commanding General, Multinational Force [[Iraq]]
*[[Colin Powell]] - former United States [[Secretary of State]]
*[[Condoleezza Rice]] - United States Secretary of State
*[[Tom Ridge]] - former Homeland Security Secretary and Former Governor of [[Pennsylvania]]
*[[Mitt Romney]] - former Governor of [[Massachusetts]]
*[[Mark Sanford]] - Governor of South Carolina
*[[Michael Steele]] - former Lt. Governor of [[Maryland]]
*[[Fred Thompson]] - former U.S. Senator from Tennessee
*[[John Thune]] - U.S. Senator from [[South Dakota]]

=== Withdrawn Democratic Party candidates ===

Senator [[Joseph Biden]], [[Delaware]]<ref> http://youdecide08.foxnews.com/2008/01/04/chris-dodd-abandons-presidential-campaign-after-poor-showing-in-iowa/ </ref> He withdrew after a disappointing finish in the [[Iowa Caucus]].

Senator [[Hillary Clinton]], [[New York]] Suspended her campaign after Obama reached the number of needed delegates. She endorsed him shortly afterwards.

Senator [[Chris Dodd]], [[Connecticut]]<ref> http://youdecide08.foxnews.com/2008/01/04/chris-dodd-abandons-presidential-campaign-after-poor-showing-in-iowa/</ref> He withdrew after a disappointing finish in the [[Iowa Caucus]] and later endorsed Senator [[Barack Obama]].

Former Senator [[John Edwards]], [[North Carolina]]. He withdrew after losing in all of the early primary states. He later endorsed Senator Obama after Obama won the North Carolina primary.

Former Senator [[Mike Gravel]], [[Alaska]]. He withdrew to seek the Libertarian party nomination (which he lost to Bob Barr.) He also endorsed Green Party Candidate, Jesse Johnson. <ref> http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/03/12/democratic-candidate-gravel-endorses-green-party-presidential-hopeful/ </ref>

Representative [[Dennis Kucinich]], [[Ohio]] 10th<ref> http://youdecide08.foxnews.com/2008/01/24/kucinich-drops-presidential-bid/ </ref> He withdrew to keep his seat in the House of Representatives.

Governor [[Bill Richardson]], [[New Mexico]]<ref>
[http://youdecide08.foxnews.com/2008/01/09/ap-bill-richardson-drops-out-of-democratic-presidential-race/ AP: Bill Richardson Drops Out of Democratic Presidential Race], [[Associated Press]], [[Fox News Channel]], January 9, 2008</ref> He withdrew after twin fourth-place finishes (in Iowa and New Hampshire) that showed his credentials could not compete with his rivals’ star power. He later endorsed Senator Obama.

Former Governor [[Tom Vilsack]], Iowa. He endorsed [[Hillary Clinton]] of [[New York]]

===Potential Democratic Candidates Who Declined to Run===
*Senator [[Evan Bayh]], [[Indiana]] - endorsed Hillary Clinton
*[[General]] [[Wesley Clark]] (Ret.) - endorsed Hillary Clinton
*Former Senate Minority Leader [[Tom Daschle]], [[South Dakota]]
*Former Governor and current DNC Chairman [[Howard Dean]], [[Vermont]]
*Senator [[Russ Feingold]], [[Wisconsin]]
*Former Vice President [[Al Gore]], [[Tennessee]]
*Senator [[John Kerry]], Massachusetts - endorsed Barack Obama
*Rev. [[Al Sharpton]]
*Former Governor [[Mark Warner]], [[Virginia]]

===Potential Democratic Vice-Presidential Candidates===
*Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana
*Senator Joe Biden of Delaware
*General Wesley Clark (Ret.)
*Senator Hillary Clinton of New York
*Former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota
*Former Senator and 2004 Vice-Presidential nominee John Edwards of North Carolina
*Governor [[Ed Rendell]] of [[Pennsylvania]]
*Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico
*Governor [[Ted Strickland]] of [[Ohio]]
*Former Governor Tom Vilsack of Iowa
*Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia
*Former Governor Mark Warner of Virginia
*Senator [[Jim Webb]] of Virginia

==Primaries and Caucuses==
===Iowa Caucus: January 3, 2008===
The first caucus in the 2008 presidential election cycle was the [[Iowa Caucus]]. The Democratic winner of the Iowa caucus was [[Barack Obama]], who managed to beat national frontrunner [[Hillary Clinton]] and former [[North Carolina]] Senator, [[John Edwards]]. The official results were:
{| style="background:white; color:blue" border="1" class="wikitable"
|+ Dem. Iowa caucus results
|-
! candidates
! percentage
|-
| Barack Obama
| 38%
|-
| John Edwards
| 30%
|-
| Hillary Clinton
| 29%
|-
| Bill Richardson
| 2%
|-
| Joseph Biden
| 1%
|-
|}
Other candidates such as, [[Chris Dodd]], [[Dennis Kucinich]] and [[Mike Gravel]] did not gain a significant percentage. Because of the Iowa results, [[Barack Obama]] was expected now to beat [[Hillary Clinton]] in the upcoming [[New Hampshire]] primary. Also, [[Joe Biden]] and [[Chris Dodd]] both withdrew from the race because of their low showings in the Iowa caucus.

On the Republican side, [[Mike Huckabee]] defeated [[Mitt Romney]] by an even closer margin. The results were:
{| {| style="background:white; color:red" border="1" class="wikitable"
|+ GOP Iowa caucus results
|-
! Candidate
! percentage
|-
| Mike Huckabee
| 34%
|-
| Mitt Romney
| 25%
|-
| Fred Thompson
| 13%
|-
| John McCain
| 13%
|-
| Ron Paul
| 10%
|-
| Rudy Giuliani
| 3%
|}

Candidates such as [[Duncan Hunter]], [[Alan Keyes]] and [[John H. Cox]] didn't come out with a significant percentage. Romney's loss in [[Iowa]] set him back in the upcoming primary in [[New Hampshire]]. Huckabee's win however gave him surge in [[New Hampshire]] where he had before been very low in the polls. McCain's unexpected high showing in Iowa also gave him a little boost in New Hampshire.

===New Hampshire Primary: January 8, 2008===
The next milestone after the Iowa caucus was the New Hampshire primary. (Only the Republican Wyoming primary occurred on January 5, which was won by Romney.) On the Republican side, Mitt Romney's defeat in Iowa helped his most significant opponent, John McCain. Huckabee's victory in Iowa helped boost his campaign and gave him a higher showing than even he had expected. On the Democratic side, Obama's defeat of Clinton and Edwards led to the polls usually predicting a Obama victory in New Hampshire.
The winner for the Republicans was John McCain and for the Democrats Hillary Clinton. The Democratic results were:

{| {| style="background:white; color:blue" border="1" class="wikitable"
|+ Dem. NH primary results
|-
! Candidate
! percentage
|-
| Hillary Clinton
| 39%
|-
| Barack Obama
| 36%
|-
| John Edwards
| 17%
|-
| Bill Richardson
| 5%
|-
| Dennis Kucinich
| 1%
|}

Hillary Clinton's win was a setback for Obama and much-needed victory for Clinton. The polls reliability was most hurt with these results. (Mike Gravel didn't reach a significant percentage.)
The Republican results were:

{| {| style="background:white; color:red" border="1" class="wikitable"
|+ GOP NH primary results
|-
! Candidate
! percentage
|-
| John McCain
| 37%
|-
| Mitt Romney
| 31%
|-
| Mike Huckabee
| 11%
|-
| Rudy Giuliani
| 9%
|-
| Ron Paul
| 8%
|-
| Fred Thompson
| 1%
|-
| Duncan Hunter
| 1%
|}

These results put the very survival of Mitt Romney on the line and intensified the upcoming Michigan primary. John McCain's victory helped boost his campaign and he predicted to go on to victory in Michigan and South Carolina. Huckabee also did well and placed an unusual third place.

===Michigan, Nevada and South Carolina===
Romney's second-place defeat in Iowa and New Hampshire, caused his campaign to focus all its attention on the Michigan Primary on January 15th. He managed to defeat his rivals, John McCain and Mike Huckabee.
Since the Democrats had taken Michigan's delegates away, most of the candidates didn't even bother to get on the ballot. Clinton won easily, because she was one of the only major candidates to be even on the ballot.
Romney and the Democrats turned their attention to the Nevada caucus, while Republicans John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson looked to the South Carolina primary. (The Republicans had the South Carolina primary on the same day as the Nevada caucus, January 19th.)
The Democratic results were:
{| {| style="background:white; color:blue" border="1" class="wikitable"
|+ Dem. Nevada caucus results
|-
! Candidate
! Percentage
|-
| Hillary Clinton
| 51%
|-
| Barack Obama
| 45%
|-
| John Edwards
| 4%
|}

Hillary Clinton probably won because of her strong position on the Yucca Mountain issue, which was critical to Democratic caucus goers.
Romney easily won the Republican Nevada caucus, probably because it is close to Utah, a traditionally Mormon state. Duncan Hunter had been hoping for a strong finish in Nevada and decided to leave the race, because of his poor showings.

{| {| style="background:white; color:red" border="1" class="wikitable"
|+ GOP SC caucus results
|-
! Candidate
! percentage
|-
| John McCain
| 33%
|-
| Mike Huckabee
| 30%
|-
| Fred Thompson
| 16%
|-
| Mitt Romney
| 15%
|-
| Ron Paul
| 4%
|-
| Rudy Giuliani
| 2%
|}

McCain’s victory in South Carolina propelled him as the national front-runner. Mike Huckabee’s 2nd place defeat forced him to cut back in expenses due to lack of funds. Fred Thompson’s defeat was irreparable and he withdrew from the race shortly afterwards

The Democrats prepared for the primary in South Carolina on January 26th. Obama won the primary by a huge margin over Clinton and Edwards. This was a severe loss for Edwards since he had been born in South Carolina and was Senator for North Carolina. Obama probably won because of the state’s huge black population.

===Florida Primary: January 29, 2008===
Because Florida moved its date to January 29th the Democratic party stripped Florida of its delegates and the candidates agreed not to campaign there.
The Democratic results were:
{| {| style="background:white; color:blue" border="1" class="wikitable"
|+ Dem. Florida primary results
|-
! candidates
! percentage
|-
| Hillary Clinton
| 50%
|-
| Barack Obama
| 33%
|-
| John Edwards
| 14%
|-
| Joe Biden
| 1%
|-
| Bill Richardson
| 1%
|-
| Dennis Kucinich
| 1%
|}
Florida was the last early primary state and after his loss, John Edwards suspended his campaign. (Although they had withdrawn, candidates Biden, Richardson and Kucinich still received votes. Mike Gravel didn't receive a percentage.)
The Republicans concentrated on Florida more than the Democrats, because the Republican party chose to remove only half of their delegates. Candidate [[Rudy Giuliani]] chose to ignore earlier primaries, hoping that a large win in Florida, with its strong transplanted New Yorkers contingent, would propel him to the nomination. Unfortunately, with earlier wins, John McCain and Mitt Romney both gained momentum and began to lead Giuliani in the polls.
The Republican results were:
{| {| style="background:white; color:red" border="1" class="wikitable"
|+ GOP Florida primary results
|-
! candidates
! percentage
|-
| John McCain
| 36%
|-
| Mitt Romney
| 31%
|-
| Rudy Giuliani
| 15%
|-
| Mike Huckabee
| 13%
|-
| Ron Paul
| 3%
|-
| Fred Thompson
| 1%
|}

The results caused Giuliani to exit the race the next day and endorse the primary winner, John McCain. (Although Fred Thompson had withdrawn he got some support anyway.)

===Super Tuesday: February 5, 2008===
Super Tuesday held the largest number of presidential primary's and caucuses. Twenty-four states were held for one or both parties were held on this date.

*The Democratic results were:
*Candidates
*Hillary Clinton, 9 states won, ([[American Samoa]], [[Arizona]], [[Arkansas]], [[California]], [[Massachusetts]], [[New Jersey]], [[New Mexico]], [[New York]], [[Oklahoma]], [[Tennessee]].) Number of delegates won, 826.
*Barack Obama, 13 states won, ([[Alabama]], [[Alaska]], [[Colorado]], [[Connecticut]], [[Delaware]], [[Georgia]], [[Idaho]], [[Illinois]], [[Kansas]], [[Minnesota]], [[Missouri]], [[North Dakota]], [[Utah]].) Number of delegates won, 838.

*GOP Super Tuesday primary results
*John McCain, 9 states won, (Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma). Number of delegates won: 602.
*Mitt Romney, 7 states won, (Alaska, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Utah). Number of delegates won: 201.
*Mike Huckabee, 5 states won, (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, West Virginia). Number of delegates won: 152.
*Ron Paul, 0 states won. Number of delegates won: 10

===February 9th Primaries===
The next major primary after Super Tuesday was on February 9, 2008. The Democrats held contests in [[Louisiana]], [[Nebraska]] & [[Washington]]. The Republicans held three other contests in [[Kansas]], [[Louisiana]] & [[Washington]].
Governor Huckabee won Kansas and Louisiana, but lost to McCain in Washington by a close margin. Barrack Obama won all three Democratic contests, and also won the Maine caucus, the next day on February 10th.

===Potomac Primary: February 12, 2008===
The next primary-date was the Potomac primary on February 12. It is called that because the three states; [[District of Columbia]], [[Maryland]] and [[Virginia]], which all were near the Potomac River, had their primary date on the same date. John McCain won all three Republican contests, while Barrack Obama won all of the Democratic contests.

===Super Tuesday 2: March 4, 2008===
After Obama won his 11th consecutive victory on the February 19th primaries in [[Wisconsin]] and [[Hawaii]], Clinton was desperate to win the March 4th primaries in [[Ohio]], [[Texas]], [[Rhode Island]] & [[Vermont]]. Huckabee also needed more victories to prevent McCain from reaching the needed 1,191 delegates for the Republican nomination.

Clinton won all of the states except for Vermont, which Obama won. McCain won all of the primaries, causing Governor Huckabee to leave the race that evening.

===Pennsylvania Primary===
After Clinton's victories on Super Tuesday 2, both Democrats looked ahead to the Pennsylvania primary on April 22nd. Obama lost some popularity after video clips were shown of his Pastor, Rev. [[Jeremiah Wright]], saying "God damn America!" during a sermon. Obama also commented about people bitterly clinging to guns and religion because they were upset with Washington policies. Clinton beat Obama by 9 percentage points, continuing the long drawn-out contest between the two. John McCain was able to easily win the primary as the Republican party's presumptive nominee.

===Guam Caucus===
On May 3rd, Guam held its Democratic caucuses. Out of more than 4,500 votes, Senator Obama won by 7 votes. The results gave Obama 2 pledged delegates and Senator Clinton 2 pledged delegates.

===Indiana and North Carolina Primary===
Both Indiana and North Carolina held their primaries on May 6th. Heading into the primary, registered African American voters reported receiving "robocalls" telling them they were not registered to vote. The calls were traced back to an organization called "Women's Voices Women Vote". The organization included members close to the Clintons. The calls ended with an order from the state Attorney General. Senator Obama proceeded to win the primary with 56.1%.

Leading into the Indiana primary, the polls were very close, with neither candidate leading by more than the polls' margin-of-error. Senator Clinton was looking for a large win to follow up on the Pennsylvania primary, with much the same demographic as PA and Ohio. Senator Obama, though, surprised many in the news media and the Clinton campaign by losing by only a small margin, 50.56% - 49.44%. With the near-split of the delegates in Indiana, combined with his win in North Carolina, the media began to declare Senator Obama as the nominee, although he had not yet reached the necessary delegate count.

===West Virginia Primary===
With a strong working-class demographic, Senator Clinton was expected to win the West Virginia primary on May 13th. Polls leading into the primary had her up 29 points on Senator Obama. The final vote tally exceeded the polls, with Senator Clinton winning 66.99% - 25.67%.

===Oregon and Kentucky Primaries===
The Oregon primary was a mail-only primary--the only such primary in the nation. Democratic voters received ballots in the mail between May 2nd and May 6th, and had to be received by county election officials by May 20th. Polling leading up to the primary showed Senator Obama with a 10-15% lead over Senator Clinton. Obama held a rally on May 18th at the Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland which drew an estimated 72,000 people. It was the largest rally Obama had held, more than doubling the 35,000 that came out to see him in Pennsylvania. By the end of the vote tally, Obama had won the state primary 58.5% - 40.5%.

The Kentucky primary, held the same day, was long believed a lock for Senator Clinton. The voter demographic mirrored the West Virginia primary, with a heavy working-class population. Senator Clinton easily won the primary, 65.5% - 29.9%. The large win, though, was drowned out in the media by Senator Obama's win in Oregon, and more importantly, by the endorsement of Senator Obama by former opponent and former vice presidential candidate, John Edwards.

===Puerto Rico Primary===
With Clinton behind in both pledged and superdelegates at this point in the race, every primary and delegate became even more important to forestall Obama reaching the necessary number of delegate to clinch the nomination. Clinton's strategy was to win out the primaries and work to convince superdelegates to support her nomination at the party convention as the best chance to beat McCain. Thus Puerto Rico, usually an afterthought in previous elections, rated visits by both candidates before the June 1st primary. Heading into the primary, Clinton led in two polls by 13% each time. The results beat poll expectations, with Clinton winning the primary 67.7% - 31.27%.

===Montana and South Dakota Democratic Primaries===
The last Democratic primaries were held on June 3rd. Senator Obama needed to win one of the primaries, and merely come close in the other to clinch the nomination. In Montana, Obama got the win he needed, defeating Senator Clinton 56.3%-41.25%. In South Dakota, Senator Clinton won, but with a close enough margin to give Obama the final delegates necessary. The result of the primary was 55.35% - 44.65%. Senator Obama was in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the site of the Republican Nominating Convention, to accept the party's unofficial nomination. <ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtL-1V3OZ0c Barack Obama Democratic Nomination Victory Speech]</ref>

==See Also==
[[Previous Breaking News/2008 Presidential Election|Articles about the '''2008 Presidential Election''' from previous "Breaking News"]]

== References ==
<references/>

{{2008 presidential candidates}}
[[Category: United States]]

Talk:Supply-side economics

2008-08-15T02:14:11Z

Pakhyongshin:

Barack Hussein Obama

2008-08-13T09:54:50Z

Pakhyongshin: Undo revision 498862 by Kahazul (Talk) Its well known

'''Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.''' (born in Honolulu, August 4, 1961) is the presumptive 2008 nominee of the [[Democratic Party]] for president.<ref>[http://www.democrats.org Democratic Party website]</ref> Obama has served as a freshman [[Democratic]] [[Senator]] from [[Illinois]] for three and a half years. In 2007, Obama was the most [[liberal]] Senator.<ref>http://nj.nationaljournal.com/voteratings/</ref> If elected, Obama would be the first african-american president.
[[Image:Democrat Obama during the Pledge.jpg|325px|thumb|right|Obama on the campaign trail, stands with folded hands while [[Bill Richardson]] and [[Hillary Clinton]] honor the flag while placing their hands over their heart during the [[National Anthem]].]]

Obama has made several gaffes revealing his ignorance or disdain about America and American history:

:Obama displayed ignorance about the attack on [[Pearl Harbor]] when he said, "Throughout our history, America's confronted constantly evolving danger, from the oppression of an empire, to the lawlessness of the frontier, '''from the bomb that fell on Pearl Harbor''', to the threat of nuclear annihilation. Americans have adapted to the threats posed by an ever-changing world."<ref>http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/07/obama_ignorance_watch_1.asp</ref>

:Obama claimed to have visited 57 states while campaigning for president of the United States, which of course has only 50 states.<ref> [http://www.mediaresearch.org/BozellColumns/newscolumn/2008/col20080528.asp Barack Potatoe Obama?]</ref> He could never explain where the false number of 57 came from, but it has been observed that there are 57 [[Islam]]ic states and Obama was educated at an [[Islam]]ic grade school while he lived in an [[Islam]]ic country.<ref>http://www.stoptheaclu.com/archives/2008/05/12/obamas-freudian-slip-there-are-57-islamic-states/</ref>

To counter the view by many that Obama is an elitist, he began running campaign ads claiming that he "worked his way through college and Harvard Law." This claim was an exaggeration as Obama only held summer jobs while in college and law school<ref>http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/obamas_work_claim.html</ref>, and he would have likely benefited from special scholarships not available to most students.{{fact}}

Obama has declared himself to be a [[Christian]], yet he never replaced his [[Muslim]] name with a Christian one as many do<ref>For example, when Saul became a Christian, he changed his name to "Paul"; when the famous boxer Cassius Clay converted to [[Islam]], he took the Muslim name of [[Muhammad Ali]]. "It is common for those converting to a new religion to change their name on conversion"[http://www.ukdp.co.uk/pages/religiousconversion.php] or adopt a Christian name at [[baptism]].[http://www.answers.com/topic/christian-name]</ref> casting doubt on his politically self-serving claim.<ref>In his book, Obama oddly claims to have been baptized without giving his age or date, and later gave a date that postdates his political ambition (1992).</ref> Obama downplays his [[Islam]]ic background by claiming that his [[Kenya]]n [[Muslim]] father was a "confirmed [[atheist]]" before Obama was born, but in fact less than 1% of Kenyans are atheists, agnostics or non-religious.<ref>http://www.adherents.com/Na/Na_14.html</ref> There is apparently no evidence of any Christian activities or local church participation by Obama while he was in Massachusetts from 1988 to 1991. Finally, Obama abruptly left his church in Chicago in 2008 when it became politically controversial, without first finding another church to join.

Asked to explain why working-class [[Democrats]] do not support him while campaigning for the [[Pennsylvania]] primary, Obama replied "it's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7344532.stm</ref> In response to outrage when his remarks were unexpectedly publicized, Obama replied, I "didn't say it as well as I should have."<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7344532.stm</ref>

Obama was on the faculty of the [[University of Chicago]] from 1992 to 2004. He claimed that he was a constitutional law professor, when he merely held the title of "Senior Lecturer."<ref>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/03/30/politics/p132303D74.DTL&type=politics</ref>
<ref>http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4238307</ref>

In his 1995 memoir, ''Dreams of my Father'', Obama admitted doing illegal drugs, including cocaine and marijuana, which he referred to as "blow" and "pot" respectively, in his high school years and into his college years, before choosing a different path in life.<ref>http://www.nbc5.com/politics/3444371/detail.html</ref><ref>http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/02/26/obamas_senate_foreign_relations_work/</ref>

Obama wore an American flag lapel pin after [[9/11]], but later stopped wearing it without adequate explanation.<ref>http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2007/10/when_did_obama_stop_wearing_a.html</ref> Presumably it would have hurt him with anti-military campaign donors.<ref>In 2007, at critical moments in his campaign for the nomination, Obama had difficulties securing the support of anti-war activists. [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/04/politics/main2645861.shtml]</ref> Recently, he has begun wearing one again for reasons that are likely political pandering.

In his memoirs, Obama claimed a ''[[Life]]'' magazine article about a man who had become ill after trying to lighten his skin color by chemical means had a major impact on him. In fact, ''Life'' never published any such article.<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/26/AR2007032601583.html</ref><ref>"Then there's the copy of Life magazine that Obama presents as his racial awakening at age 9. In it, he wrote, was an article and two accompanying photographs of an African-American man physically and mentally scarred by his efforts to lighten his skin. In fact, the Life article and the photographs don't exist, say the magazine's own historians." [http://newsbusters.org/node/11641]</ref>

Obama falsely claimed that he "had an uncle who was one of the — who was part of the first American troops to go into [[Auschwitz]] and liberate the [[concentration camp]]s. And the story in our family was that when he came home, he just went up into the attic and he didn't leave the house for six months."<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,359061,00.html</ref> In fact, the Soviet army liberated Auschwitz. Embarrassed, the Obama campaign later admitted that Obama was wrong, and claimed he should have said that Obama's great-uncle helped liberate a subcamp of Buchenwald.<ref>http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/05/27/obamas_uncle_and_the_liberatio.html#more
Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton later claimed that Obama's great-uncle "served in the 89th Infantry Division that Liberated Ohrdruf, a Subcamp of Buchenwald, the First Camp Liberated by Americans, on April 4, 1945." Given that Obama misrepresented what happened, one can also wonder about his story that his relative went into the attic and did not leave his house for six months afterwards.</ref>

Obama said that "[t]here was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, [[Alabama]], because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born." In fact, Obama was born in 1961 and the Selma march took place in 1965.<ref>http://michellemalkin.com/2008/05/21/barack-obama-gaffe-machine/</ref>

Obama states that he has consistently opposed the [[Iraq War]] since 2002, a claim and position that former President [[Bill Clinton]] criticized as "the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen."<ref>http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1131516320080111</ref>

Obama's campaign "is proud to be actively participating in over 60 local and state wide [[homosexual]] Pride events over the summer."<ref>http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/jcitron/gG5VLs</ref>

==Early life and education==
Barack Hussein Obama was born in [[Honolulu]], [[Hawaii]] to Barack Sr. and Ann Dunham in 1961. In 1967, he moved with his mother and new stepfather to Jakarta, [[Indonesia]]. He attended a [[Catholic]] elementary school for two years, followed by an Indonesian public school for two years. Media scrutiny in the light of Obama's campaign for President revealed that the Indonesia public school was not a madrassa, teaching Islam. However, clearly Obama would have taken days off of school in observance of Islamic holidays. After Indonesia, he returned to the United States with his mother where he attended the Punahou School, the leading private preparatory school in [[Hawaii]], until he graduated in 1979.

Obama continued his education at Occidental College in Los Angeles, [[California]] before graduating with his Bachelor of Arts from [[Columbia University]] in New York, [[New York]]. After working as a community organizer in New York City and Chicago, Illinois, Obama enrolled at [[Harvard]] Law School. He became a member of the [[liberal]] ''Harvard Law Review'' in 1989, which used racial [[quotas]] for membership. He was then elected by popular vote as its first African American president in 1990. He graduated ''magna cum laude'' with his J.D. in 1991 and chose not to pursue a federal clerkship, which is the typical post-graduate position for top law students.

He was "Senior Lecturer in the Law", which is not a professor-level position, at the [[University of Chicago]] Law School as of 2004<ref>http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/04/041103.obama.shtml</ref> and is no longer active at the school.<ref>http://www.law.uchicago.edu/faculty/obama</ref>

==Legal career==
Following law school, Obama continued his work as a community organizer in Chicago as the director of Illinois Project Vote. In 1993 he was hired as an associate at the Chicago law firm Miner, Barnhill & Galland, P.C., and began lecturing in Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago Law School. He remains on the faculty on leave of absence through today. During this time he wrote his first book, ''Dreams from My Father'', detailing his background, his youth, and his education. ''Dreams'' was published in 1995.

==Senate career==
Obama was elected to the Illinois State Senate for the first time in 1996 and served there for the next eight years. Following a failed campaign for the House of Representatives, Obama ran for the open Senate seat from Illinois in 2004. Obama delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. He won a seat in the [[U.S. Senate]] after [[liberals]] obtained the release of confidential and personally embarrassing divorce records of his opponent, Jack Ryan, forcing him to resign from the race and be replaced by the out-of-state candidate [[Alan Keyes]].

A March 16th, 2005 AP article puts Senator Obama on record to ban oil drilling in the Alaska frontier known as ANWR <ref>http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0316-13.htm</ref>

His 2007 voting record in the U.S. [[Senate]] makes him as its most [[liberal]] member. Among fellow Senate Democrats, he was further left than liberals like [[Ted Kennedy]], [[John Kerry]], [[Dianne Feinstein]], [[Charles Schumer]], [[Russ Feingold]], [[Carl Levin]], [[Joseph Biden]] and [[Harry Reid]].<ref>[http://nationaljournal.com/voteratings/sen/lib_cons.htm?o1=lib_composite&o2=desc]</ref> He has grown steadily more liberal since arriving at the Senate: the same analysis assessed him as 10th most liberal in 2006<ref>[http://www.nationaljournal.com/members/news/2007/voteratings/sen/lib_cons.htm?o1=lib_composite&o2=desc]</ref> and 16th most liberal in 2005.<ref>[http://www.nationaljournal.com/members/news/2007/voteratings/sen/lib_cons.htm?o1=lib_composite&o2=desc]</ref>

In late 2006, Obama's second book, ''The Audacity of Hope'', was published. Its title was supplied by the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., a minister who has stated that "racism is how this country was founded and how this country was run .... We believe in white supremacy and black inferiority and believe it more than we believe in God."<ref>http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/03/14/obama_condemns_pastors_remarks.html</ref> The book contains more of Senator Obama's personal story including the roles of both family and politics. ''Audacity'' spent 30 weeks on the ''New York Times'' Nonfiction Best Sellers list.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/books/bestseller/0527besthardnonfiction.html?_r=1&oref=slogin New York Times Best Sellers Non Fiction]</ref>

Senator Obama is the chairman of an important subcommittee that has oversight of our efforts in Afghanistan. He has not held a single hearing on Afghanistan even though American forces are risking their lives in a theatre of war there. Since joining Foreign Relations, Obama has missed three meetings on a "new strategy" in [[Afghanistan]], a country he has never visited.<ref>[http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/obama-absent-at-afghanistan-hearings-2008-03-01.html</ref> Barack Obama clinched his party's nomination for President after 16 straight months of campaigning.

In June 2008, Obama voted with the Democratic party to kill the sunset provision of the [[Bush]] tax cuts. By letting these tax cuts expire, single mothers with two kids will pay an additional $1,800 annually. Married couples with incomes of $50,000 will pay an additional $2,180 annually. Elderly couples will pay an additional $2,000 anually and a family of four will pay 191% more per year in taxes. Barack Obama often claims to be for taxing the rich their fair share. By voting to eliminate the Bush tax cuts, Obama is taxing most middle class and blue collar families.

Obama and the Democratic-led Congress has voted for the upgraded GI Bill despite the opposition from the President, the Secretary of Defense, the Pentagon, the generals in combat zones and the GOP Presidential nominee. It was crafted to increase veteran benefits. Yet, the strain on our military is great.<ref>[http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/mccain_to_obama_dont_demagogue.php] http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/mccain_to_obama_dont_demagogue.php , McCain To Obama: Don't Demagogue The GI Bill, May 22, 2008</ref> The bill would cost $2.8 to $4 billion per month. It depletes our volunteer military personel by enticing them to leave service rather than be re-deployed. Taxes of those earning $500,000 to $1 million a year will pay for the upgrade over ten years.

=== Bills co-sponsored ===
Obama's principal legislation was S. 2433, which was an attempt to force the U.S. to increase its foreign aid by hundreds of billions of dollars under the guise of reducing global poverty, which was subsequently blocked by [[conservatives]].<ref>http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=/Politics/archive/200802/POL20080225a.html</ref>

Obama did support and co-sponsor a bill championed by [[Tom Coburn]] and known as the Coburn-Obama Government Transparency Act of 2006, which was signed into law by President [[George W. Bush]] on Sept. 9, 2006. This law created a website that will list the federal government's grants and contracts.<ref> http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/09/20060926.html</ref>

Between Jan 13, 2007 and March 13, 2008, Sen. Obama has sponsored 120 mostly [[liberal]] resolutions and bills in the Senate.<ref>http://thomas.loc.gov/</ref> His supporters cite the following less liberal examples, but this list is not representative:{{fact}}

*S.117 : A bill to amend titles 10 and 38, United States Code, to improve benefits and services for members of the Armed Forces, veterans of the Global War on Terrorism, and other veterans, to require reports on the effects of the Global War on Terrorism, and for other purposes.

*S.133 : A bill to promote the national security and stability of the economy of the United States by reducing the dependence of the United States on oil through the use of alternative fuels and new technology, and for other purposes.

*S.453 : A bill to prohibit deceptive practices in Federal elections.

*S.713 : A bill to ensure dignity in care for members of the Armed Forces recovering from injuries.

=== Accomplishments while serving on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee ===

In February 2008, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved Obama's proposal on a new strategy to reduce poverty throughout the world.

Obama worked with Sen. Lugar writing legislation aimed at improving conventional and nuclear non-proliferation efforts. This legislation was signed by [[George W. Bush|President Bush]] in January 2008.

In June 2007 the Senate passed his resolution condemning violence by the [[Zimbabwe]] government. It also passed legislation co-sponsored by Obama that financed a Special Court for Sierra Leone to prosecute former [[Liberia | Liberian]] President [[Charles Taylor]]. <ref> http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/02/26/obamas_senate_foreign_relations_work/ </ref>

Barack Obama continued to collect money for a 2010 Senate re-election campaign as late as June 2008, and has filed reports recently indicating that money is still pouring into this fund. This is especially notable because it is an efficient way of sidetracking donations from his Presidential race. The website<obamasenate2010.us> is now defunct.

==Presidential campaign==
[[Image:obama.jpg|thumb|right|Senator Barack Obama]]
Senator Obama began his candidacy for President of the United States on February 10, 2007, in Springfield, Illinois. His announcement speech largely avoided specific campaign issues and focused on his general political message of hope for the future. It also attempted to strongly invoke the memory of Abraham Lincoln and his "House Divided" speech.<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/02/10/obama.president/index.html "Obama declares he's running for president"] 11 February 2007, www.CNN.com </ref>

Obama's campaign has been financed largely by [[leftist]] donors opposed to the war and to the [[American]] military in general. Obama has encouraged this by refusing to wear the customary flag on his lapel during appearances (asserting that he would prefer his patriotism to be represented through his actions rather than an arbitrary symbol) and by other less-than-patriotic gestures and symbols, such as declining to put his hand over his heart during a patriotic recitation. In an appearance on May 16 where he addressed President Bush's statements that some politicians would prefer appeasing terrorists through negotiations, Senator Obama once again wore the flag pin as he did following 9-11.

By early April 2007, his campaign generated over $25 million from over 100,000 contributors. $23.5 million of that money will be available for the Democratic Primary.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/05/us/politics/05obama.html Obama Shows His Strength in a Fund-Raising Feat on Par With Clinton], 4 April 2007, Jeff Zeleny and Patrick Healy,'' The New York Times''</ref> After the first Democratic presidential debate in Columbia, South Carolina, Obama's image as an "articulate" spokesman came into question after his failure to state right away that he would retaliate in case of further terrorist strikes against the United States.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/27/AR2007042702162.html?hpid=moreheadlines Clinton Campaign Tries to Keep Heat on Obama Over Debate Response], Dan Balz, ''Washington Post'' April 28, 2007.</ref><ref>Chicago Sun-Times,
[http://www.suntimes.com/news/sweet/362269,CST-NWS-sweet29.article 'I was a little nervous' at debate'], Lynn Sweet,
April 29, 2007,</ref>

Obama claimed to have visited 57 states while campaigning for president of the United States, which of course has only 50 states. From his remarks, he states that he has "one more to go" and stated he couldn't visit Hawaii and Alaska, indicating he meant to say, "forty-seven states".

During a fund raising event in Virginia in May 2007 Obama told donors,
{{Cquote|This week there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died. An entire town destroyed.<ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,271357,00.html Transcript: 'Special Report with Brit Hume,' May 9, 2007], retrieved from ''FOX News'', 06/13/07.</ref>}}

In reality, the tornado which touched down in Kansas cost the lives of nine people in the town of Greensburg, and twelve overall in Kansas.

By August it appeared Obama was running to be left off the ticket completely rather than the much ballyhooed Hillary/Obama ticket the [[mainstream media]] was pushing. After a series of ill-advised foreign policy statements, Obama was openly criticized as a lightweight even by liberals, in much the same vein as [[John Edwards]] and [[Dan Quayle]] had been depicted. First, Obama said he would have face-to-face meetings with two of Florida's most feared enemies, [[Fidel Castro]] and [[Hugo Chavez]]. Florida is a key state to any presidential ambitions. Then Obama claimed that he would be willing to invade the sovereign territory of a U.S. ally without prior consultation. Finally, Obama broke the cardinal rule of declaring he would not use nuclear weapons, removing the element of bluff U.S. Presidents had vitally depended upon throughout the [[Cold War]] era. The incidents all added up to a picture of a candidate ill-prepared and ill-advised, lacking in a basic understanding of the office of the presidency, and failing to surround himself with appointees able to make up for his deficiencies. However, Obama won the Iowa Democratic caucuses, pushing [[Hillary Clinton]] into third place, which gave him a serious chance of becoming the Democratic nominee.

On June 3rd, Barack Obama had received enough pledged delegates and the endorsement of superdelegates to be called the presumptive nominee of the [[Democratic Party]] by the [http://www.democrats.org Democratic National Committee]. The nomination became official when [[Hillary Clinton]] conceded on June 7th.

On June 5th, Obama spoke at Briston, Virginia- Heathcare Town Hall forum regarding Political Action Committees and his campaign. "Well, we’re here today because we know that if we’re going to make real progress, this time must be different. Throughout my career, in Illinois and the United States senate, I’ve worked to reduce the power of the special interests by leading the fight for ethics reform. I’ve sent a strong signal in this campaign by refusing the contributions of registered federal lobbyists and PACs. And today, I’m announcing that going forward, the Democratic National Committee will uphold the same standard and won’t take another dime from Washington lobbyists or special interest PACs. They do not fund my campaign. They will not fund our party. And they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I’m President of the United States."

On June 6th, an [[AP]] article <ref>[http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DEMOCRATS_MONEY?SITE=KING&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT Transcript: 'Democratic Party returns lobbyist, PAC money ,' June 6, 2008]</ref> presents the rules for lobbyist donations to the DNC and for the Presidential nominee. Obama does accept money from lobbyists who do not do business with the federal government and he also accepts money from spouses and family members of lobbyists. And the DNC ban is also not retroactive, which means the DNC will keep lobbyist and PAC contributions it received earlier in the election cycle. Retroactive period being the date Barack Obama started his campaign, February 10, 2007. The DNC possibly the day after the November 2006 Congressional elections until June 5th, 2008. In addition, Barack Obama's ban does not apply to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee nor to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Unlike [[John McCain]], Barack Obama has not disclosed the lobbyists working in his campaign.

== Positions and Qualifications ==
Obama is [[pro-abortion]]. Obama said "the first thing I'd do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act".<ref>[http://christiannewswire.com/news/560716251.html]</ref> That bill "would invalidate virtually all state and federal limitations on abortion, and would make partial-birth abortion legal again." <ref>[http://www.lifenews.com/nat3961.html], http://www.lifenews.com/nat3961.html, Pro-Life Voters Must Work Overtime to Stop Pro-Abortion Barack Obama, June 4, 2008</ref>
The leading abortion providers and PAC supporters have wholeheartedly endorsed Barack Obama. The National Abortion Rights Action League [[NARAL]] has given Barack a 100% rating for his efforts in Congress 2005, 2006 and 2007 <ref>http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/elections/statements/obama.html</ref>. EMILY's List, a political action committee that funds female candidates who support abortion rights backs Barack Obama<ref> [http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/06/emilys_list_bac.html],EMILY's List backs Obama, June 6,2008</ref> The nation's largest abortion business, Planned Parenthood has begun the process necessary to endorse pro-abortion presidential candidate Barack Obama. <ref>[http://www.lifenews.com/nat3971.html], http://www.lifenews.com/nat3971.html, Planned Parenthood Begins Process to Endorse Pro-Abortion Barack Obama, June 10,2008</ref>The board of directors of the pro-abortion group's political operation met on Friday June 6, 2008 and unanimously voted to recommend an endorsement for Obama. Obama has steadfastly advocated support for partial birth abortion as an Illinois legislator. Baracks wife, Michelle Obama, wrote a fundraising letter<ref>[http://www.prolifeblogs.com/articles/archives/2006/10/post_5.php], http://www.prolifeblogs.com/articles/archives/2006/10/post_5.php, February 17,2004</ref> in support of partial birth abortion and against the proposed ban. Barack voted against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act to give a child who survived an abortion procedure life support healthcare. Obama wanted the life terminated even if he or she survived outside the mother's womb.<ref>[http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000007034.cfm], http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000007034.cfm, Obama Blocked Born Alive Infant Protection Act</ref> With Obama no longer in the state Senate, the Born Alive legislation passed in 2005.

In the context of sex, he quipped about his daughters, <ref>http://michellemalkin.com/2008/03/30/sunday-meditation-obama-and-the-punishment-of-unborn-life/</ref>{{QuoteBox|"if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby."}} Obama makes it clear if his daughters had an unplanned pregnancy, he would support terminating the life of his grandchild and it is undeniable that Michelle Obama agrees with that decision.

Obama, having been asked about his associations with William Ayers, an unrepentant terrorist, he explained that the views of his associates are not necessarily his own. He then compared his friendship with Ayers whose actions led to the loss of a life to his friendship with pro-life doctor and representative Tom Coburn<ref>[http://www.lifenews.com/nat3894.html]http://www.lifenews.com/nat3894.html, LifeNews.com, April 25,2008</ref>
Obama explained that his friendship with Ayers, shouldn't be construed as implying he endorsed the terrorist-like tactics Ayers used to drive home his political point. Barack Obama brought up the pro-life colleague to make the dubious comparison that he's friends with other people who take "extreme" positions or would use terrorist tactics.
"The fact is, is that I'm also friendly with Tom Coburn, one of the most conservative Republicans in the United States Senate, who during his campaign once said that it might be appropriate to apply the death penalty to those who carried out abortions"

Obama has no military or executive experience and little foreign policy experience.<ref>"Fresh doubts over Barack Obama's foreign policy credentials were expressed on both sides of the Atlantic last night, after it emerged that he had made only one brief official visit to London – and none elsewhere in Western Europe or Latin America. ... Mr. Obama had failed to convene a single policy meeting of the Senate European subcommittee, of which he is chairman."[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article3080794.ece]</ref> Yet he is the favorite of the leftist attack site "MoveOn.org" for the [[Democratic]] nomination for [[President of the United States]] in the [[2008 Presidential Election|2008 election]],<ref>MoveOn.org reportedly favored Obama by 70-30% over Clinton. [http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/02/moveonorg_obama.html]</ref> campaigning to the left of [[Hillary Clinton]].<ref>For example, Obama promised not to use nuclear weapons against terrorists, a promise Hillary Clinton refused to make. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/02/AR2007080202288.html]</ref>

He has no clear personal achievement that cannot be explained as the likely result of [[affirmative action]]. Some examples border on the absurd: Obama has no background in [[physics]], yet it is claimed that "Obama analyzed and integrated [[Albert Einstein|Einstein]]'s [[theory of relativity]], the [[Heisenberg uncertainty principle]], as well as the concept of curved space as an alternative to [[gravity]], for a Law Review article that Tribe, for whom Obama worked as a research assistant, wrote titled, 'The Curvature of Constitutional Space'." <ref>http://cbs2chicago.com/politics/barack.obama.harvard.2.334825.html</ref> Obama's "research" for Constitutional Law Professor Tribe on this article also raises issues about preferences, as Obama had not yet even completed any law school courses<ref>Obama did not start his second year of law school until September 1989, the earliest he could have taken constitutional law, yet this article must have been written, submitted and accepted prior to that time to be published in the November 1989 issue of the Law Review.</ref> on the [[Constitution]].<ref>The liberal Professor Tribe saw the best law students for several decades, yet insisted that Obama was the "best student I ever had" and the "most exciting research assistant." [http://www.cmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071114/NEWS01/711140429/1217/NEWS98]</ref>

Throughout his career, Obama repeatedly ducked controversial stands in an apparent attempt to make it easier to be elected to higher office. In example, as a state senator in [[Illinois]], he voted "present" rather than "aye" or "nay" nearly an astounding 130 times.<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/20/us/politics/20obama.html</ref> During that same period, he was planning to run for the [[House of Representatives]], which was unsuccessful, and then for [[U.S. Senate]], which was successful after his opponent Jack Ryan, a millionaire school teacher, was smeared with a court-ordered disclosure of confidential divorce records that both he and his ex-wife wanted to remain sealed. A newspaper that favored Obama took the unusual step of suing to force the confidential divorce information to become public, and a California judge opened the records at a pivotal time in the campaign.<ref>http://www.nbc5.com/politics/2898641/detail.html</ref><ref>http://www.nbc5.com/news/3289561/detail.html</ref><ref>http://www.nbc5.com/politics/3444371/detail.html</ref>

Barack Obama is often praised for his speeches, except when he is not able to read them from a [[teleprompter]]. "Shorn of his Teleprompter, we saw a different Obama. His delivery was halting and unsure. ... The prepared text for his remarks, as released on his website, sounded a lot like a typical Obama speech. ... [But with] no Teleprompter signaling the prepared text, Obama failed to deliver the speech in his characteristically flawless fashion."<ref>http://www.weeklystandard.com/content/public/articles/000/000/014/728ofzey.asp</ref> The [[New York Times]] noted that "Mr. Obama excels at inspirational speeches read from a teleprompter before television cameras, critics have noted, but many of his other speeches on the campaign trail have failed to electrify."<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/fashion/20speechwriter.html?_r=2&ex=1358485200&en=bb179297e5f61acb&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=slogin</ref> When Obama ridiculed [[Hillary Clinton]] for being like [[Annie Oakley]], it is apparent that he was not writing his own speeches.<ref>"Some Obama adviser probably earned his or her dollars for that cut," the USA Today wrote. [http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/columnist/raasch/2008-04-17-2008-04-17-raasch_N.htm]</ref>

Obama often makes reference to his "two decades of experience" in public service work. During most of that time he claims experience, he was either going to school, working for a law firm, writing a book and community organizing.

== Political views ==
Obama's political views have been subjected to controversy even before he put himself forward as a presidential candidate. Former House majority leader [[Tom DeLay]] has described Obama's record in the Illinois Senate as that of a [[Communism|“Marxist leftist".]]<ref>[http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_121306/content/stop_the_tape.guest.html|Sexy Rock Star Obama Whines About His Ears], RushLimbaugh.com, December 13 2006</ref> In May 2007, Obama (and Sen. Hillary Clinton) voted against funding the Iraq War for the first time.<ref>[http://uspolitics.about.com/od/legislatio1/a/HR2206.htm HR 2206 - Emergency Appropriations], Kathy Gill, Your Guide to U.S. Politics: Current Events. May 26 2007.</ref><ref>[http://more.gov.mtopgroup.com/2007/05/votes-hr-2206-iraq-supplemental.html Votes - H.R. 2206: Iraq Supplemental], May 28, 2007. Retrieved from Deeper Inside the Mountain, June 4, 2007.</ref>

Obama's views on [[gun control]] is focused on an opinion article in the [[Wall Street Journal]]:<ref>David Kopel, "The Democrats and Gun Control," Wall St.J., Page A19, April 17, 2008 [http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB120839466717921537-lMyQjAxMDI4MDE4NzMxOTc0Wj.html]</ref>

:As a state senate candidate in 1996, Mr. Obama endorsed a complete ban on all handguns in a questionnaire. The Obama campaign has claimed he "never saw or approved the questionnaire," and that an aide filled it out incorrectly. But a few weeks ago, Politico.com found an amended version of the questionnaire. It included material added in Mr. Obama's handwriting.

After [[D.C. v. Heller]], Obama claimed to support Second Amendment rights.

Obama has said, "Doing the Lord's work is a thread that runs through our politics since the very beginning," and "it puts the lie to the notion that [[separation of church and state]] in America means somehow that faith should have no role in public life."<ref>[http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2007/06/17/news/iowa/8db7c1a17d2b51f9862572fd000fc9f4.txt Obama says religion has place in politics], By Todd Dorman, ''Sioux City Journal'', June 18, 2007.</ref>

He believes children should be taught sex education in kindergarten, although in what he refers to as "an age-appropriate manner".<ref>"Barack Obama reaffirmed to [[Planned Parenthood]] this week that he believes elements of sex education should begin in kindergarten." [http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=3395856 (ABC News)] July 20, 2007 </ref>

Obama spoke at the May 1, 2006, illegal immigration march in Chicago.<ref>http://nomoreblather.com/barack-obama-and-the-immigration-marches Immigration marches</ref>

::''We are hungry for change!'' S.C. January 26, 2008.

Barack Obama in his short stint as Senator of Illinois, has made clear his opposition to the [[U.S. Military]] in policy and in rhetoric. Obama has spent much energy to argue that the Iraq War should have never been waged and that we should not be there at all, in any way. In 2002, as an unknown Chicago representative to the state of Illinois, he declared his opposition to "dumb wars". At the time, America was united in the stance against terrorism and the prospects of a rogue enemy with WMD worried the United States. Obama has said that he does not know whether he would have voted for or against the Iraq War. Since elected to Congress, he voted against the Emergency War Supplemental. Obama did not oppose his party debating the bill long past the timeframe requested. This action directly affects troop deployment in combat zones. Obama has repeatedly called for the return of troops in Iraq. Barack Obama has a no confidence vote for the 'Surge' before the measure was put forth by General Petraus to Congress. Obama would not denounce MoveOn.org's slander NY Times advertising against the General.

Senator Obama often refers to the office that he seeks, without the proper respect of those that came before him. When talking of the President, he frequently refuses to call him President George Bush or even Mr. George Bush. Obama disrespectfully calls him 'George Bush'.
* "I am happy to have a debate with John McCain and George Bush about foreign policy," Obama said <ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/16/obama.bush.mccain/], CNN Obama blasts Bush McCain, May 16, 2008</ref>
* "For all his talk about independence, the centerpiece of John McCain's economic plan amounts to a full-throated endorsement of George Bush's policies," <ref>[http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/06/10/obama_takes_the_offensive_vs_mccain/] Boston Globe Obama takes offensive vs. McCain, June 10, 2008</ref>
* "George Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists." <ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7403386.stm], BBC Obama attacks Bush over Iran , May 15, 2008</ref>

== Foreign policy experience ==

In [[Russia]] and the former Soviet republics, he met with representatives of the International Republican Institute and National Democratic Institute to discuss democracy in the former Soviet republics. He also met with Russian military officials and visited several nuclear and biological weapons destruction sites in Russia, [[Ukraine]], and [[Azerbaijan]] with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R-IN). On the same tour, he visited London, UK, and met with [[Tony Blair]], sitting UK Prime Minister.<ref>http://obama.senate.gov/press/050823-obama_to_visit/</ref>

Obama visited South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Chad; he discussed his tour of Robben Island prison, met with U.S. troops, and visited refugee camps of the people fleeing Darfur. He also addressed Africa's growing [[AIDS]] epidemic. <ref>http://obama.senate.gov/podcast/060906-090606_africa_t/</ref>

During a ten-day-long tour of the Middle East, he talked with government leaders in Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, and Israel. <ref> http://obama.senate.gov/news/060113-obama_wraps_up/</ref>

==Religious affiliations==

Obama and his wife (reared a Baptist) have been active members since 1988 at the Trinity [[United Church of Christ]]<ref>http://www.tucc.org/about.htm</ref> in Chicago. A church that embraces black liberation theology and its emphasis on empowering oppressed groups against establishment forces. Merging Marxism with Christian Gospel may show the way to a better tomorrow. This denomination was the first in America to ordain gays, women and blacks as ministers.<ref>[http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/31079.html], http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/31079.html, Obama's church pushes controversial doctrines, March 20, 2008</ref> According to his sister, Obama was baptized at this church the same year.<ref>[http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/30/america/30obama.php?page=2 http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/30/america/30obama.php?page=2]</ref> Obama describes his conversion in ''The Audacity of Hope''. The title of this book is taken from one of Pastor Wright's sermons.
In April 2008, Obama disavowed Pastor Wright's views. In May 2008, Obama left his church. His response blames the media and not the rhetoric on display <ref>[http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/05/31/obama-resigns-church-membership-in-chicago/], Obama Drops Church Membership in Chicago, may 31, 2008</ref>{{QuoteBox|“It’s not fair to the other members of the church who seek to worship in peace..."}} Wright had been making inflammatory comments and posting his sermons online for sale. These include the statements "God damn America" and describing the September 11th attacks, he said "We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost."<ref>[ http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=4443788 Obama's Pastor: God Damn America, U.S. to Blame for 9/11]</ref> In addition, Rev. Wright blamed America saying "We supported Zionism shamelessly while ignoring the Palestinians and branding anybody who spoke out against it as being anti-Semitic."

[[Image:Barack Obama Jeremiah Wright.jpg|thumb|Barack Obama and Jeremiah Wright.]]

[[Daniel Pipes]] claims that Obama was raised a [[Muslim]] because he attended classes on the Koran while attending a Muslim school.<ref>[http://www.danielpipes.org/article/5286 Was Barack Obama a Muslim</ref> Obama did attend a school administrated by Muslims but [[CNN]] reports that it was a non-religious public school attended by students of many faiths, not a [[madrassa]].<ref>http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/22/obama.madrassa/</ref>

{{QuoteBox|In Indonesia, I'd spent 2 years at a Muslim school, 2 years at a Catholic school. In the Muslim school, the teacher wrote to tell mother I made faces during Koranic studies. In the Catholic school, when it came time to pray, I'd pretend to close my eyes, then peek around the room. Nothing happened. No angels descended. Just a parched old nun and 30 brown children, muttering words. Sometimes the nun would catch me, and her stern look would force my lids back shut. But that didn't change how I felt inside."}}<ref>Dreams from My Father, by Barack Obama, p.142 Aug 1, 1996 </ref>

Obama has described his upbringing as occurring in a non-religious environment.

{{QuoteBox|In sum, my mother viewed religion through the eyes of the anthropologist that she would become; it was a phenomenon to be treated with a suitable respect, but with a suitable detachment as well. Moreover, as a child I rarely came in contact with those who might offer a substantially different view of faith. My father was almost entirely absent from my childhood, having been divorced from my mother when I was 2 years old; in any event, although my father had been raised a Muslim, by the time he met my mother he was a confirmed atheist, thinking religion to be so much superstition.

And yet for all her professed secularism, my mother was in many ways the most spiritually awakened person that I've ever known. She had an unswerving instinct for kindness, charity, and love, and spent much of her life acting on that instinct, sometimes to her detriment. Without the help of religious texts or outside authorities, she worked mightily to instill in me the values that many Americans learn in Sunday school: honesty, empathy, discipline, delayed gratification, and hard work. She raged at poverty and injustice.}}<ref>[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1546579-4,00.html My Spiritual Journey] Time Magazine, October 2006</ref>

== Books ==

* ''Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance.''
* ''The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream.''
* ''Barack Obama in His Own Words.'' (B. Obama and Lisa Rogak)

==Published criticism==
On April 11, 2007, staff writers of ''The Boston Globe'' reported the criticisms of several black commentators regarding Obama's apparent hesitation to join the race to condemn acclaimed radio personality [[Don Imus]],<ref>[http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04/11/obamas_silence_on_imus_alarms_some_blacks/ Obama's silence on Imus alarms some blacks], Rick Klein and Joseph Williams, ''The Boston Globe'', April 11, 2007.</ref> who made a racially insensitive remark<ref>[http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSN1237895620070412|title=Furor over Imus puts heat on other broadcasters], Daniel Trotta, Reuters, 2007-04-12.</ref> on the air during the April 4 broadcast. Obama did not comment on Imus's remarks until well after prominent civil rights leaders [[Al Sharpton]] and [[Jesse Jackson]] had called Imus to account and after Imus was suspended by MSNBC and CBS Radio. Obama later weighed in on April 10 by saying, "The comments of Don Imus were divisive, hurtful, and offensive to Americans of all backgrounds." 

The ''Globe'' reported that Obama's perceived delay in addressing Don Imus's remarks was described by Melissa Harris Lacewell, a professor of politics and African-American studies at Princeton University, as "miss[ing] an opportunity to prove himself to blacks and white liberals who would have wanted Obama take the lead in denouncing Imus."<ref>[http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04/11/obamas_silence_on_imus_alarms_some_blacks/ Obama's silence on Imus alarms some blacks], Rick Klein and Joseph Williams, ''The Boston Globe'', April 11, 2007.</ref><ref>[http://time-blog.com/real_clear_politics/2007/04/obama_race_and_the_election.html Obama, Race, and The Election,] ''Real Clear Politics.com''</ref>

In June 2007 the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' reported Obama had actually received nearly three times more campaign cash from indicted slum landlord Tony Rezko<ref>[http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/353829,CST-NWS-rez23.article Barack Obama and his slumlord patron], Tim Novak, Chicago Sun-Times, April 23, 2007.</ref> and his associates than Obama has publicly acknowledged.<ref>[http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/432197,CST-NWS-obama18.article Rezko cash triple what Obama says], Chris Fusco and Tim Novak, ''Chicago Sun-Times'', June 18, 2007.</ref>

Obama falsely claimed that he was a constitutional law professor, when in actuality he merely held the position of "Senior Lecturer."<ref>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/03/30/politics/p132303D74.DTL&type=politics</ref><ref>http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4238307</ref><ref>Obama was on the faculty at the University of Chicago from 1992 to 2004.[http://www.law.uchicago.edu/media/index.html]</ref>

Obama wore an American flag lapel pin after [[9/11]], but later stopped wearing it without adequate explanation.<ref>http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2007/10/when_did_obama_stop_wearing_a.html</ref> Presumably it would have hurt him with anti-military campaign donors.<ref>In 2007, at critical moments in his campaign for the nomination, Obama had difficulties securing the support of anti-war activists. [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/04/politics/main2645861.shtml]</ref>

In his memoirs, Obama claimed a ''[[Life]]'' magazine article about a man who had become ill after trying to lighten his skin color by chemical means had a major impact on him. In fact, ''Life'' never published any such article.<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/26/AR2007032601583.html</ref><ref>"Then there's the copy of Life magazine that Obama presents as his racial awakening at age 9. In it, he wrote, was an article and two accompanying photographs of an African-American man physically and mentally scarred by his efforts to lighten his skin. In fact, the Life article and the photographs don't exist, say the magazine's own historians." [http://newsbusters.org/node/11641]</ref>

Obama falsely claimed that he "had an uncle who was one of the — who was part of the first American troops to go into [[Auschwitz]] and liberate the [[concentration camp]]s. And the story in our family was that when he came home, he just went up into the attic and he didn't leave the house for six months."<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,359061,00.html</ref> In fact, the Soviet army liberated Auschwitz. Embarrassed, the Obama campaign later admitted that Obama was wrong, and claimed he should have said that Obama's great-uncle helped liberate a subcamp of Buchenwald.<ref>http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/05/27/obamas_uncle_and_the_liberatio.html#more
Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton later claimed that Obama's great-uncle "served in the 89th Infantry Division that Liberated Ohrdruf, a Subcamp of Buchenwald, the First Camp Liberated by Americans, on April 4, 1945." Given that Obama misrepresented what happened, one can also wonder about his story that his relative went into the attic and did not leave his house for six months afterwards.</ref>

Obama said that "[t]here was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, [[Alabama]], because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born." In fact, Obama was born in 1961, and the Selma march took place in 1965.<ref>http://michellemalkin.com/2008/05/21/barack-obama-gaffe-machine/</ref>

Obama states that he has consistently opposed the [[Iraq War]] since 2002, a claim and position that former President [[Bill Clinton]] criticized as "the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen."<ref>http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1131516320080111</ref>

Executive vice president Wayne LaPierre of the [[NRA]] accuses Barack Obama of "mouthing pro-Second amendment words and pandering to gun owners" on the campaign trail.<ref>[http://www.gopusa.com/news/2008/may/0514_nra_mccain.shtml], http://www.gopusa.com/news/2008/may/0514_nra_mccain.shtml, NRA chief stresses common ground with McCain, Associated Press, May 14, 2008</ref>

[[McCain]] Aide Says Obama Has Sept. 10 Mind-Set "an extremely dangerous and extremely naive approach toward terrorism" <ref>[http://www.newsmax.com/politics/mccain_obama/2008/06/17/105265.html], AP McCain Aide Says Obama Has Sept. 10 Mind-Set, June 17, 2008</ref>

==See also==
*[[Previous Breaking News/Barack Obama|Articles about '''Barack Obama''' from previous "Breaking News"]]

==Further reading==
*[[Peter Hitchens|Hitchens, Peter]] [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=511901&in_page_id=1811 ''The Black Kennedy: But does anyone know the real Barack Obama?''] [[Daily Mail]]. Accessed 4 February 2008.

==Sources==

*[http://obama.senate.gov/about/ Official Senate Website]
*[http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/pfd2005/N00009638_2005.pdf Barack Obama Personal Financial Disclosures Summary: 2005], retrieved from opensecrets.org 17 June 2007.
*[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=O000167 Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]
*[http://www.law.uchicago.edu/faculty/obama/cv.html University of Chicago Law School] Faculty Listing
*[http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=12782369 Barack Obama Biography] from Biography.com
*[http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per New York Times Topics, Barack Obama]
*[http://youtube.com/watch?v=zUdjhKbImwE Documentary on Barack Hussein Obama]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obama, Barrack}}

{{2008 presidential candidates}}

[[Category:United States Senators]]
[[Category:Democratic Party]]

American History Lecture One

2008-08-10T22:45:26Z

Pakhyongshin: /* Pre-Columbian Period */ Improved

Welcome to "American history," also known as "United States history." This is likely to become your favorite course. It has something for everyone: heroes, villains, criminal trials, comical mistakes, competitions, politics, literature, gold, silver, war, and peace. You name it, American history has it. We are going to have some fun in this course.
 
We will start without a textbook, to encourage students to be more proactive in learning history. If we can find a good textbook or reference source, then we'll distribute it a few weeks into the course.
 
The Pilgrims came to America with a group not much bigger than our class, traveling in a boat called the "Mayflower" that was not much larger than our classroom. Just before arriving on shore, the Pilgrims agreed to a written agreement or "compact" to bind them after they arrived. The very first words of their "[[Mayflower Compact]]" were "In ye name of God Amen."
 
Just as our Nation's founders started with a prayer, so do we. Prayer clears out the noise in our minds. We are looking for knowledge and inspiration here, and that comes from God. In most countries parents do not have the freedom even to have a class like this. The main reason we have freedoms is because America was established on principles of liberty, and religious devotion in America remains among the strongest in the world today, as it was 250 years ago.
 
Now is a critical time in our nation's history, and this class may be as important to the future as the Mayflower voyage was. Let's begin.

== What Students Find Challenging About History ==

Students find the following aspects of American history challenging:

* interpreting political cartoons
* keeping facts in perspective and understanding how the relate to each other
* keeping the different periods of American history separate, yet connected; seeing the trends
* understanding the importance of economic issues in shaping history
* improving speed in reading and retaining historical information, such as answering history questions quickly
* dealing with [[liberal]] bias in textbooks and the selection and presentation of questions on College Board exams:
** denial of [[Christian]] and [[conservative]] achievement
** overemphasis on [[liberal]]s and their beliefs, and denial of their failures
** obsession with materialism and inborn characteristics like race and gender

Common mistakes by students in history courses include:

* failure to recognize that American politics is always a battle between two sides
* memorizing dates without understanding the sequence of events (exams rarely ask about dates, but do ask about sequence)
* getting bogged down in detail and failing to see the big picture
* misunderstanding questions
* forgetting that people in the past were similar in nature to people today; they were motivated by religion, money, power, etc., and laziness has always been a problem

== The Key to Mastering History ==

The key to mastering history is to find what you like and understand, and then use it as your foundation to learn everything else. In other words, first find and learn what you like, and then learn everything else by connecting it to what you know. Use the same technique that we all use to for directions: pick a landmark or a place that you know how to get to, and then figure out how to go from there to where you need to go.
 
For example, if you are most interested in religion, then learn about the 13 colonies based on their different attitudes towards religion. If you are most interested in one colony, then learn about it and how it relates to other colonies. If you like military history, then use that as your starting point.
 
Perhaps you like politics the most. In that case, you'll want to memorize the presidents and leaders of Congress, and relate historical events to their times in office. Or perhaps you enjoy legal issues, and reading about what the courts do. If so, then you'll want to focus your attention on the major rulings of the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] throughout American history, and relate other historical events to those decisions.
 
On the SAT II U.S. History exam, the breakdown by subject matter is as follows:
 Political History - 32-36%
 Economic History - 18-20%
 Social History - 18-22%
 Cultural and Intellectual History - 10-12%
 Foreign Policy - 13-17%

The biggest part of the exam by far is politics, mostly concerning what happened in the federal government in [[Washington, D.C.]].

== Bias in American History ==

Every student in the [[United States]] is supposed to take several courses in [[American History]]. As a result, how this subject is taught has a big influence on what Americans believe, and how they vote when they are older. Someone who is taught and believes that [[Bill Clinton]] or [[Jimmy Carter]] are great [[American]] heroes are more likely to vote [[Democratic]] than someone who learns that [[Ronald Reagan]] had a bigger and better impact than both of them combined. Going backwards in time, how the textbooks and teachers praise or criticize [[George Washington]] and [[Christopher Columbus]] can shape many students' minds both about America and about Christianity.

Bias is worth recognizing, and it can even be fun spotting the half-truths and misleading claims that are put in textbooks and exams to try to take students away from Christian truths and American patriotism. Our Honors track in this course will enable students to address bias they see in textbooks, Wikipedia, and other sources concerning American history.

== Periods in American History ==

American history can be broken into about 20 time periods:

* settlement by paleo-indians
* discovery by Europeans, exploration by Europeans and settlement by Europeans
* colonial
* birth of the nation
* growth of the nation
* Jacksonian Democracy
* pre-Civil War
* [[Civil War]]
* [[Reconstruction]]
* [[Gilded Age]]
* [[Imperialism]]
* [[World War I]]
* Roaring Twenties and followed by the [[Great Depression]]
* World War II
* [[Cold War]]
** Korean War
** Vietnam War
* Reagan [[conservatism]]
* Post-Reagan Prosperity and the dot-com boom
* [[9/11]] and terrorism

On the SAT II in U.S History, the breakdown of questions is like this:

 Pre-Columbian history to 1789 - 20%
 1790 to 1898 - 40%
 1899 to the present - 40%

Hence nearly half the exam is on the last century on the SAT II, and only about 18 or 19 questions are devoted to all of pre-exploration, exploration, settlements, the colonies, the documents that founded the nation, the American Revolution, and the election of George Washington. That means there are no more than 3 or so questions (out of a 90-95 questions on the exam) about the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution.

== Why America? ==

Using common sense and your imagination can serve you very well in mastering American history. Pause for a moment and predict would likely happen to a nice chunk of fertile land, possibly containing riches like gold, located between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Would some Europeans want to go there? Which ones would want to go there, and why?
 
One reason is to convert the natives to Christianity, just as homeschool families today often go on missionary trips to distant lands. Another reason is to search for gold and other riches. A third reason is to obtain freedom. Another reason is for thee same reason people climb mountains: because they are there! Some want to escape where they are. Others want to set up a new community, perhaps a new religious environment. Others hope to meet new people and make new friends, engage in the trade of goods (give them something you goods with the people. Another motivation is to learn from the new people, or have adventures and then write about them.
 
What is likely to happen if a bunch of Europeans go this land? Conflicts with the natives. Conflicts with other European countries. Conflicts with the mother country that sent the settlers. New opportunities for improvements, for new products, for new businesses, for new religions, for new systems of government.
 
Who is going to pay for exploration and settlement? Kings. Investors. Do-gooders. Churches. Mostly nobody.
 
Who is going to do the hard labor needed to set up a new community, like chopping down trees, working the farms, constructing buildings? There is almost no money to pay anyone. Families might do some. [[Indentured servants]]. Slaves.
 
It also helps to look for unifying themes to organize events in your mind. One theme that helps explain American history works well is the overall expansion of Christianity, for 2000 years. Why did [[Christopher Columbus]] and other explorers risk their lives to come to the New World? To spread Christianity. Why did families then risk their lives to settle here? To establish religious communities free of persecution. Two hundred years later, why did Massachusetts prohibit slavery and why did abolitionists President [[John Quincy Adams]] devote their lives to ending slavery? Because their religious values told them slavery was wrong.
 
There are other possible themes also. How about the desire to make more money, or make some money? How about the urge for self-government, to be in charge of oneself free from a monarchy? How about the advance of technology and its affect on how we live? There are many possible themes to American history and we will have fun debates about them.
 
From 1789 until today, we have had an American President. He is not more important than others. If I had to name the ten most important Americans in history, I would only include one president in the list (the first one, [[George Washington]]). But memorizing the list of 43 presidents can help you organize all the other facts. When someone asks me what was happening in 1962, then I think of who was president and then remember the issues of that time. The presidents become like drawers, one per president, filled with issues and events.
 
But before 1789 there was no president. How are we going to organize that? One way is to focus on the three most important colonies, [[Virginia]] (1607), [[Massachusetts]] (1620) and [[Pennsylvania]] (1681), and relate the other 11 colonies and events to them. Another way is to look at the battles that occurred before the [[American Revolution]], such as the [[French and Indian War]] in 1754-60.
 
Regardless, by the end of this course, you will be able to hear an event and describe what was going on at that time. You will be able to tell me what happened before the event, and what happened afterwards.
 
Don’t try to memorize hundreds of dates. Instead, when you see a date, think what happened before and after it. There are only about ten dates that you need to know. All other dates, such as those in the event list, are there just for the purpose of ordering events. For example, no one will ask you when Georgia was founded as a colony. But you may be asked whether it was the first or last colony founded. (It was the last colony established.) Another example: [[Quebec]] was founded in 1608. Don’t remember the 1608, but remember that Quebec was founded one year after [[Jamestown]] was established (1607 – one of the few dates you should memorize!)

== Pre-Columbian Period ==
The first settlers in America were paleo-indian peoples. Historians generally agree that they migrated from Asia via a temporary land bridge, although they disagree as to the precise time of the major influx, which is believed to have occurred primarily between 10,000 and 40,000 B.C. Some individuals have noted that Paleo-Indians bear little resemblance to Asian Indians, but it should be recognized that an interval of thousands of years probably changed their appearance radically.<ref>http://www.desertusa.com/ind1/du_peo_paleo.html</ref>

Some old mounds reflecting Indian settlements in America have been discovered, such as the Adena burial mounds and Mississippian platform towns.<ref>Melissa L. Meyer, Dean R. Snow, Charles L. Cohen, Russell Thornton, Donald A. Grinde Jr., Leah Dilworth "Indian History and Culture" The Oxford Companion to United States History. Paul S. Boyer, ed. Oxford University Press 2001. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. University of Tampa. 4 August 2008 <http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t119.e0758-s0002></ref> The [[Cahokia Mounds]] in Southern Illinois (just east of [[St. Louis]] also reflect an Indian community dating back as early as 1000 or 1100 A.D..<ref>http://www.cahokiamounds.com/mystery_01.html</ref>

The American Indians, also called Native Americans, were [[nomads]] who traveled across wide areas. They did not read and write, and they lacked a monetary system. Some communities, such as the Cohokia in Illinois, the [[Aztecs]] and [[Mayans]] in [[Mesoamerica]] (Mexico and Central America), and the [[Incas]] in [[South America]], practiced human sacrifice prior to the arrival of the Spanish conquerors.

The Indians were generally organized by tribes and some had simple forms of government. The [[Iroquois Confederacy]] was an example of a large united group - that even had a constitution for their government!- but typically there was a lack of unity that contributed to their easy defeat by Europeans (along with disease, steel, and gunpowder, of course). The Indians introduced [[tobacco]] and [[corn]] to Europeans, and they became widely popular back in Europe.

Textbooks written after 1970 began claiming that around A.D. 1000, the Scandinavian [[Leif Ericson]] established a small colony at [[Vinland]], where the present [[Newfoundland]] is (north of Maine). But there is very little evidence that such a colony existed, and no explanation for what happened to it. It did not last long even if it did exist, and there is no sign of any Viking colony in what is now the United States.<ref>"People have been looking hard for hundreds of years and there is no archaeological evidence in this part [New England]— it's certainly possible, the Vikings were incredible boat handlers — '''but there is no evidence'''," observed one university history professor.[http://farshores.org/a04viki.htm]</ref>.

''Exam note'': there is no more than one or two questions about the Pre-Columbian period on any American history exam.

== Exploration (Columbian Period) ==

Starting in the Middle Ages, Christian Europe began to use its knowledge, wealth and [[faith]] to extend move beyond its horizons. Christian Europeans fought the Holy [[Crusades]] from 1095 to 1291 to protect pilgrims to [[Jerusalem]] against Moslem attacks. Some Europeans were motivated to spread the [[Gospel]]. Others were motivated by a desire to increase their wealth, such as by finding gold. Supporting both types of people was increased knowledge about science and geography: Europeans knew that they could reach the Orient by traveling West '''''around''''' the world. Ironically, it was the very knowledge of the Earth's circumference that deterred a westward passage - the distance to the orient in that direction was beyond the open-water range of ships in that period.
 
But centuries passed before one man inspired by the Christian [[faith]] was determined to change the world of his time. By the young age of 10 the Italian [[Christopher Columbus]] was working at sea, already on his way to becoming a master navigator and mariner. He learned of the patterns of the Atlantic trade winds, and their ability to carry sailing vessels across vast distances both eastward and westward before one's provisions would run out. With the charts he developed, he was certain he could reach Asia on a westbound route more efficiently than others could.
 
It took enormous courage, determination and financial support to sail West into the complete unknown. It also took more than a desire to get rich, because there were easier ways to make money. That additional desire was a passion to spread Christianity to new civilizations. In 1482, [[Christopher Columbus]] sought financing to sail west in order to find an easier way to reach the Far East, by sailing westward rather than continuing the different path eastward from Europe to India and Japan. Columbus tried Portugal for raising money, but it already had its own successful explorers. Portugal declined to support him, but Columbus persistently tried for ten more years. In 1492 Spain drove out the last of the Muslims and re-established it as a Christian nation, and King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain granted Columbus's request for funding his voyage that year. Spain continues to honor Columbus Day just as the United States does.
 
Columbus was not only a devout Christian, but an enterprising capitalist. He used his hard-earned knowledge of the Atlantic trade winds and the navigational edge they gave him to secure funding for his venture from Spain on terms that gave him 10% of any riches discovered: The contract he signed with the Spanish Monarchy, known as the Capitulations of Santa Fe, named him Admiral of the Atlantic Ocean, Viceroy and Governor of all the new lands discovered, and gave him one-tenth of the profit from all of the discovered lands (Spain later refused to honor the agreement, and Columbus never became wealthy). Having secured his funding, Columbus assembled his ships and crew and set out in August of 1492 to reach the Orient.
 
So back to what Columbus did achieve. He set sail in three ships. First sighted land in late 1492. On Christmas eve, December 24, 1492, one of Columbus's ship, the [[Santa Maria]], reached the island of [[Haiti]]. Columbus named the settlement “La Navidad,” meaning “The Nativity,” and dropped off 40 men with a promise to return to them the next year. Columbus then wrote to the King and Queen of Spain the following in his Journal: “In all the world there can be no better or gentler people. Your Highnesses should feel great joy, because presently they will be Christians, and instructed in the good manners of your realms.”
 
But he had grossly underestimated the size of the world, and when he reached San Salvador, Haiti (Hispaniola) and Cuba he thought he had reached the Far East. So he called the natives Indians. He left some men there but they were killed by the natives. Columbus reported back that new people had been found to evangelize with Christianity.
 
Soon Spain and Portugal divided the Americas with the [[Line of Demarcation]], drawn by the Pope. The [[Treaty of Tordesillas]] moved the line in 1493. It was a North-South line that gave Spain North America and the western part of South America, but Portugal received Brazil. That’s why Brazilians speak Portuguese to this day.
 
<discuss how Columbus returned to Europe, and then found the same location on his second trip> Columbus sailed on three subsequent voyages, but never achieved his goal and died discredited. What was his motivation? Primarily to spread Christianity, but also to find gold to reward his sponsors and fund further expeditions. Ultimately, his purpose focused on a dream to liberate Jerusalem, as the Crusades attempted.
 
What influence did Columbus have? He gave Spain [[Haiti]], [[Puerto Rico]], [[Jamaica]] and [[Cuba]] by 1515. Spain then settled Florida (St. Augustine), and later Santa Fe, New Mexico. Spanish [[Hernando Cortes]] conquered the Aztecs in central Mexico (1521), and [[Francisco Pizarro]] conquered the Incas of Peru (1531). They seized much gold in the process.
 
But while Spanish soldiers came to America, Spanish women did not. So there were not many distinct, permanent Spanish settlements. Also, the Spanish were also entirely subservient to their King back in Europe. Separate governments did not develop.
 
Other European powers were exploring North America also. The French explored the St. Lawrence and settled Quebec, where French is still spoken to this day. The French also explored the Mississippi, and settled the towns of Saint Louis (named after a French king) and New Orleans.
 
The Dutch explored and settled the Hudson River, calling the region New Netherlands and buying and naming Manhattan New Amsterdam.
 
The Swedish settled in Delaware; Germans settled later in Pennsylvania.
 
Explorer [[John Cabot]] discovered the North American coastline for England in 1497. But no settlements were attempted by the English for about another 100 years.
 
The reason is that North America didn’t have what the explorers were looking for. America lacked valuable natural resources. There was no gold, which is what Europe wanted. In 1576, the British explorer [[Martin Frobisher]] even hauled 200 tons of material back to England, hoping it was gold. It wasn’t.
 
There wasn’t anything else of value to Europe either. New England was too rocky near the coast to develop farms. The mid-Atlantic region or Chesapeake area, where Maryland and Virginia are today, was infested with malaria. Winters were cold, and summers were hot.
 
There was no livestock – no horses and no cattle, until the Spanish imported them. Florida was a swamp, and did not even have orange trees until the Spanish explorer [[Ponce de Leon]] planted them in 1515.
 
North America was a joke to many in England. Its Parliament passed a law in 1597 authorizing the deportations of convicted criminals to America and other colonies. In 1605, a satirical book entitled “Eastward Ho!” was published that mocked attempts to settle in Virginia.
 
Think about it. Would your family uproot and move, at great risk to your lives, to a place that had no civilization or anything of value? Do we see families moving to the middle of the desert in Arizona, or to cheap land in the middle of Wyoming? Only very rarely.
 
[[England]]'s first settlement of [[North America]] was in 1585, on [[Roanoke Island]] in [[Virginia]]. More than 100 families settled there, but within a few years they had all disappeared. It remains a mystery to this day what happened. They could have died from disease or starvation. They could have been killed by Indians, although note that Indian attacks were often at the prodding of a rival European group, and there was no rival European group at that time. No one knows the real reason for the disappearance of this settlement, and it's called the "[[Lost Colony]]."
 
About the same time, however, England had a huge success in Europe. Spain had ruled the high seas for most of the 1500s, until England destroyed the Spanish Armada in 1588. That left England with the potential to gain control of the oceans and world trade over the seas. England could protect its colonies against other European powers.

== Successful Settlements ==

Some Englishmen invested money in what was called a “[[joint stock company]],” which was similar to a modern-day corporation, for the purpose of finding gold or other treasures. Called the “[[Virginia Company]],” it established the first permanent settlement for England in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. It was a disaster and the investors never received a profit. The men who settled in Jamestown were gentlemen who expected to get rich with little effort. They lacked a common purpose and wasted their time searching for treasure, or simply doing nothing at all. Unwilling to work to grow their own food, they almost starved to death.
 
'''1607''' is one of the few dates you should memorize. This was after the Spanish had settled in Florida, but before the French had settled in Quebec. So remember the sequence in settling America: Spanish, English, and then French.
 
Initially, from 1607-1608, the Jamestown settlement lived under socialism, whereby the group shared its food with everyone no matter how much or little he worked. This economic system was a complete failure as no one had any incentive to do any work. In September 1608, [[John Smith]] was elected president of the governing council. He ruled for a year and installed a conservative economic system: “don’t work, don’t eat!” Under this new system, food production increased and by 1614 there was plenty to eat.
 
But Jamestown settlers were there to find fortune, and there was not any gold or silver. Indians had discovered tobacco and Europeans were beginning to become addicted on it. Many Europeans recognized that tobacco was bad for them, and some wanted to prohibit it. In 1613, Englishman [[John Rolfe]], who married the Indian [[Pocahontas]] in Virginia, began growing tobacco to export to Europe. The King banned the growing of tobacco in England, so Rolfe had no competition. Cash began pouring in for the tobacco, and this so-called “cash crop” became highly profitable for the Jamestown settlers. Tobacco continued to be very profitable throughout a large part of American history, particularly in the south.
 
Despite profiting from the sale of tobacco, the Jamestown settlement had other difficulties. It had made peace with Indian [[Chief Powhatan]], whose daughter Pocahontas married settler [[John Rolfe]]. But after Powhatan died, his brother led a sudden attack on the settlers in 1622, massacring 357 out of a total of only 1200.
 
But Indian strife was only one of many problems. Labor was in short supply for working the fields. Settlers began importing indentured servants, who received free travel to the colonies in exchange for a promise to work for seven years. But Virginia also turned to a cheaper approach to labor: importing slaves from West Africa beginning in 1619 to work the crops. But the importation of slaves to the New World was not new in 1619; many European countries had been importing a total of 40,000 slaves to the New World prior to 1600 based on the Portuguese plantation system for working the land.
 
In 1624 King James (of “King James Bible” fame) took back the Virginia colony and established it as a royal charter. King James was left with a problem colony that enslaved workers and grew tobacco. More trouble lay ahead. In 1676, Nathanial Bacon was a Virginia settler who decided to take the law into his own hands. He first massacred Indians in western Virginia, then took his small army of rebels to Jamestown, where he burned it down because the governor had refused to allow him to kill the Indians. Bacon himself soon died from a disease. The governor returned and hung two dozen of his supporters. How Virginia produced four of our first five presidents is amazing. You can think about this and answer on the homework assignment.
 
By then there were many other settlements in North America. The most important were two settlements in Massachusetts, which has a much harsher climate than Virginia, particularly in the wintertime. But their motivation was religious, not financial. Puritans were unhappy with the direction of the Church of England, feeling it was too much like the Catholic Church. Two different groups of Puritans set out for North America. One group wanted to purify the Church of England by remaining in the Church but in a more perfect community. The other group wanted to separate completely from the Church of England. Both groups landed by chance within 100 miles of each other in Massachusetts.
 
The first group, the “Pilgrims”, set sail from Plymouth, England and intended to land near the mouth of the Hudson River (now New York City), which was the northern part of the Virginia Company’s territory. But their ship, the “Mayflower”, was blown off course and they landed up on Cape Cod in Massachusetts in 1620. Outside of any official government, they decided on the boat to establish the first civil government in North America by signing the Mayflower Compact. They landed in December, and half died due to disease in their first New England winter. But the following spring a friendly Indian introduced them to corn, or maize, the marvelous food discovered by Indians. They had a plentiful harvest that fall, and celebrated their first Thanksgiving with the Indians that fall. In 1623, their new Governor [[William Bradford]] gave every member a plot of land and allowed the free market to develop. By 1624, the community was doing so well that it was actually making more food than it could consume and began exporting its corn. [[William Bradford]] and [[Edward Winslow]] kept diaries during the settling of Plymouth, which are recorded in a small, but fascinating book called ''Mourt's Relation''.
 
Corn is a tremendous contribution by Indians to the world that increasingly sustains peoples worldwide. Corn did not exist in Europe during the Middle Ages. Cheap and easy to grow, corn has become one of the most popular foods worldwide, rivaling rice and soybeans. For that we can thank the Indians.
 
Encouraged by the success of the Pilgrims, a new groups called the [[Massachusetts Bay Company]] obtained a royal charter and sent a larger group of Puritans to settle in New England, though this time with the purpose of purifying the [[Church of England]] with a more perfect community than in England itself. It was well-financed and led by the very capable [[John Winthrop]], who had been trained at Oxford. It landed in Salem, Massachusetts in 1629 and immediately moved to Boston Harbor. It never looked back, thriving almost immediately despite the harsh winter climate. Within five years the [[Great Migration]] of religiously motivated settlers followed them from England. Their numbers and power grew. By the 1640s, the community was participating in robust trade by sea with England, the West Indies and on occasion West Africa.
 
What is a “colony”? “Colony” defined: “a body of people living in a new territory but retaining ties with the parent state.” (Merriam-Webster dictionary)
 
The growing colonies in Massachusetts and Virginia could not have been more different from each other, and it is remarkable they ever joined the same country. Massachusetts was highly religious and motivated by faith. Virginia was marginally religious and motivated by money. Massachusetts, more religious, had vocal opponents of slavery and neighboring Vermont was the first state to prohibit slavery in its Constitution, in 1777. Virginia welcomed slavery. Massachusetts grew the Indian crop of corn. Virginia grew the Indian crop of tobacco. Massachusetts settlers made greater efforts to get along with Indians and treat them fairly. Massachusetts attracted new settlers based on religion. Virginia attracted new settlers based on the “headright system,” by which land (usually 50 acres) was given to those who paid for the passage to the colony of an immigrant, who usually agreed to work as an “indentured servant” for free for fixed number of years on the land.
 
The stark contrast between Massachusetts and Virginia would ultimately lead, nearly 250 years later, to the Civil War.
 
While Virginia institution of slavery was spreading to the colonies of [[Maryland]], [[Carolina]] and, later, [[Georgia]], [[Massachusetts]] was spreading a different sort of institution: religious intensity. [[Roger Williams]] was an extraordinary individual of such great faith that found even the Puritans lacking in their treatment of Indians. Williams also disagreed with how the Puritans combined government and religion, and had even executed several Christians based on differences with the Puritan faith. Williams was fabulous with languages and learned to communicate with many different Indian tribes, and even lived with them at times in spite of the danger. He left the Puritans in Massachusetts and started the colony of Rhode Island, which to this day has prided itself on its independence. Rhode Island was the only state to refuse to support a colonial tax on imports after the Revolution, and the only colony to refuse to ratify the Constitution until long after [[George Washington]] was President. Rhode Island, under Roger Williams’ direction, separated state government from religion. No mandatory church attendance, and no funding of churches with tax revenues were allowed in Rhode Island.
 
But while Roger Williams was highly moral, others in Rhode Island made it the biggest importer of slaves in all the colonies. So censoring religion may have a price. In contrast, in the larger Massachusetts, taxes funded religious institutions for nearly 200 years, until at least the 1830s. It successfully prohibited slavery. Another devout Christian who disagreed with the Puritans and left them was named [[Anne Hutchinson]]. She, however, was later killed by Indians.
 
One prominent text claims, under “Rhode Island,” that “This belief [by Roger Williams] in the separation of church and state became a cornerstone of the American Constitution in 1787.” That is completely false. Roger Williams was long dead by 1787, and there is no separation of church and state in the Constitution. Rhode Island did not even send any representatives to draft the Constitution and it had no role in the drafting of the Bill of Rights. In fact, Rhode Island did not ratify the Constitution until after George Washington was elected president, and even then it took much arm-twisting to compel Rhode Island to ratify the Constitution. But some people want to keep religion out of government, and they refuse to admit that the First Amendment only prohibits the establishment of a national church by the government.
 
In between Massachusetts and Virginia there was a third approach: that taken by Pennsylvania. William Penn was another extraordinary Englishman. He converted to become a Quaker in England and began practicing that religion in violation of English law. He was arrested and prosecuted, but the jury refused to convict him. The king owed his father money, and gave the son what is today Pennsylvania. It was nothing but woods at the time. But William Penn founded his colony based on one principle: religious freedom for all. He advertised in Europe and attracted peoples of many nationalities in addition to the English.
 
Penn was very kind to the Indians and soon had the most popular colony in America. Philadelphia became America’s greatest city, surpassing Boston in population in the 1700s. Only Pennsylvania and Maryland survived in the long-term under private ownership. Virtually all the other colonies were eventually taken over by the King of England, often due to troubles that arose in the colony.
 
There were other colonies. Pennsylvania was founded over 50 years *after* Virginia and Massachusetts. Georgia was founded over 50 *years* after Pennsylvania, which means over 100 years after Virginia and Massachusetts. Philanthropist [[James Oglethorpe]] founded Savannah in Georgia in 1733 for poor debtors in jails of England. Also created a buffer colony between South Carolina and Spanish Florida. Oglethorpe was very religious and very strict. Too strict for the King, who took over the colony in 1751. The colony was not nearly as strong and developed as the other colonies, so the other colonies did not take it very seriously.

== Economic System ==

<discuss capitalism, mercantilism, slavery, encomienda and how the colonies supplied their mother country>

 
Topics for discussion:
*Were the Puritans right to banish (expel) people for religious reasons?
*Did the Vikings settle North America before Columbus did?
*Question about bias: why would some want to take credit away from Columbus, and how might they do it?
*What, if anything, was the significance of [[Bacon's Rebellion]]?
*What challenges would the [[Puritans]] face in maintaining their strongly religious culture in the 1600s and 1700s?

== A Word About College Board Exams ==

First, a word about College Board exams. This course will give you the foundation -- if you like -- for taking three different College Board exams (usually a student takes only one of the three): the [[CLEP]], the [[AP]], and the [[SAT II]].
 
The CLEP is a multiple-choice exam that is recognized by most (but not all) colleges as a way to earn college credit. It costs about $50 and is administered on computers at local colleges, usually once a month. It is the least biased of the three exams.
 
The AP, or Advanced Placement exam, is given only once a year in May at local high schools, and is more expensive. It includes both multiple-choice and essay questions, and is used by different colleges to give credit for courses. In 2009, the AP exam for U.S. History is scheduled for Friday, May 9.
 
The SAT II in American History is an inexpensive multiple-choice exam that takes only an hour and is given at high schools on Saturdays once a month, October through June. No college credit is given for it, but it is used for college applications to recognize achievement. The SAT II is the most biased of the three exams, and is known for emphasizing liberal culture and matters of race and gender. For example, the "cultural and intellectual history" portion seems important to the exam but actually it is mostly cultural rather than intellectual history, and the questions are liberal in nature (e.g., asking about an artist who liberals like). Also, what counts as "economic history" is not what you might expect. There are almost no questions about the [[conservative]] gold standard, for example, even though that issue the political scene throughout history (and was even an issue in [[Ron Paul]]'s campaign for presidency in 2008). Instead, questions about economic history on the SAT II are likely to be about unions, the treatment of workers, alleged corruption of big business, and gender and racial issues.
 
Notice what is missing on the College Board exams: military history. Unfortunately, many educators in the [[United States]] dislike the military, and that bias shows up on the exams. No questions are there about battles or key military strategies and decisions. The only time the military shows up on these exams is when they have a political impact, and then they qualify as political history.
 
Each of these College Board exams can be taken as often as one likes, though it is difficult to take the AP exam more than once because it is offered only once a year, and it is expensive to retake the CLEP exam. The SAT II, which is cheaper, is the easiest to take more than once and colleges only look at the highest score.
 There is absolutely no requirement to take any of these College Board exams as part of this course, and references to the exams are used more as a way of helping you see the "big picture," as in how much time should be spent on a particular period or historical topic. Our class has only two required, multiple-choice exams: a midterm and a final. This course will also help students improve their test-taking skills on multiple-choice exams. We will also have weekly homework assignments consisting of short-answer questions.

== References ==

<references/>

[[Category:United States History]]

American History Lecture One

2008-08-10T22:44:24Z

Pakhyongshin: /* Pre-Columbian Period */ Improved

Welcome to "American history," also known as "United States history." This is likely to become your favorite course. It has something for everyone: heroes, villains, criminal trials, comical mistakes, competitions, politics, literature, gold, silver, war, and peace. You name it, American history has it. We are going to have some fun in this course.
 
We will start without a textbook, to encourage students to be more proactive in learning history. If we can find a good textbook or reference source, then we'll distribute it a few weeks into the course.
 
The Pilgrims came to America with a group not much bigger than our class, traveling in a boat called the "Mayflower" that was not much larger than our classroom. Just before arriving on shore, the Pilgrims agreed to a written agreement or "compact" to bind them after they arrived. The very first words of their "[[Mayflower Compact]]" were "In ye name of God Amen."
 
Just as our Nation's founders started with a prayer, so do we. Prayer clears out the noise in our minds. We are looking for knowledge and inspiration here, and that comes from God. In most countries parents do not have the freedom even to have a class like this. The main reason we have freedoms is because America was established on principles of liberty, and religious devotion in America remains among the strongest in the world today, as it was 250 years ago.
 
Now is a critical time in our nation's history, and this class may be as important to the future as the Mayflower voyage was. Let's begin.

== What Students Find Challenging About History ==

Students find the following aspects of American history challenging:

* interpreting political cartoons
* keeping facts in perspective and understanding how the relate to each other
* keeping the different periods of American history separate, yet connected; seeing the trends
* understanding the importance of economic issues in shaping history
* improving speed in reading and retaining historical information, such as answering history questions quickly
* dealing with [[liberal]] bias in textbooks and the selection and presentation of questions on College Board exams:
** denial of [[Christian]] and [[conservative]] achievement
** overemphasis on [[liberal]]s and their beliefs, and denial of their failures
** obsession with materialism and inborn characteristics like race and gender

Common mistakes by students in history courses include:

* failure to recognize that American politics is always a battle between two sides
* memorizing dates without understanding the sequence of events (exams rarely ask about dates, but do ask about sequence)
* getting bogged down in detail and failing to see the big picture
* misunderstanding questions
* forgetting that people in the past were similar in nature to people today; they were motivated by religion, money, power, etc., and laziness has always been a problem

== The Key to Mastering History ==

The key to mastering history is to find what you like and understand, and then use it as your foundation to learn everything else. In other words, first find and learn what you like, and then learn everything else by connecting it to what you know. Use the same technique that we all use to for directions: pick a landmark or a place that you know how to get to, and then figure out how to go from there to where you need to go.
 
For example, if you are most interested in religion, then learn about the 13 colonies based on their different attitudes towards religion. If you are most interested in one colony, then learn about it and how it relates to other colonies. If you like military history, then use that as your starting point.
 
Perhaps you like politics the most. In that case, you'll want to memorize the presidents and leaders of Congress, and relate historical events to their times in office. Or perhaps you enjoy legal issues, and reading about what the courts do. If so, then you'll want to focus your attention on the major rulings of the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] throughout American history, and relate other historical events to those decisions.
 
On the SAT II U.S. History exam, the breakdown by subject matter is as follows:
 Political History - 32-36%
 Economic History - 18-20%
 Social History - 18-22%
 Cultural and Intellectual History - 10-12%
 Foreign Policy - 13-17%

The biggest part of the exam by far is politics, mostly concerning what happened in the federal government in [[Washington, D.C.]].

== Bias in American History ==

Every student in the [[United States]] is supposed to take several courses in [[American History]]. As a result, how this subject is taught has a big influence on what Americans believe, and how they vote when they are older. Someone who is taught and believes that [[Bill Clinton]] or [[Jimmy Carter]] are great [[American]] heroes are more likely to vote [[Democratic]] than someone who learns that [[Ronald Reagan]] had a bigger and better impact than both of them combined. Going backwards in time, how the textbooks and teachers praise or criticize [[George Washington]] and [[Christopher Columbus]] can shape many students' minds both about America and about Christianity.

Bias is worth recognizing, and it can even be fun spotting the half-truths and misleading claims that are put in textbooks and exams to try to take students away from Christian truths and American patriotism. Our Honors track in this course will enable students to address bias they see in textbooks, Wikipedia, and other sources concerning American history.

== Periods in American History ==

American history can be broken into about 20 time periods:

* settlement by paleo-indians
* discovery by Europeans, exploration by Europeans and settlement by Europeans
* colonial
* birth of the nation
* growth of the nation
* Jacksonian Democracy
* pre-Civil War
* [[Civil War]]
* [[Reconstruction]]
* [[Gilded Age]]
* [[Imperialism]]
* [[World War I]]
* Roaring Twenties and followed by the [[Great Depression]]
* World War II
* [[Cold War]]
** Korean War
** Vietnam War
* Reagan [[conservatism]]
* Post-Reagan Prosperity and the dot-com boom
* [[9/11]] and terrorism

On the SAT II in U.S History, the breakdown of questions is like this:

 Pre-Columbian history to 1789 - 20%
 1790 to 1898 - 40%
 1899 to the present - 40%

Hence nearly half the exam is on the last century on the SAT II, and only about 18 or 19 questions are devoted to all of pre-exploration, exploration, settlements, the colonies, the documents that founded the nation, the American Revolution, and the election of George Washington. That means there are no more than 3 or so questions (out of a 90-95 questions on the exam) about the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution.

== Why America? ==

Using common sense and your imagination can serve you very well in mastering American history. Pause for a moment and predict would likely happen to a nice chunk of fertile land, possibly containing riches like gold, located between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Would some Europeans want to go there? Which ones would want to go there, and why?
 
One reason is to convert the natives to Christianity, just as homeschool families today often go on missionary trips to distant lands. Another reason is to search for gold and other riches. A third reason is to obtain freedom. Another reason is for thee same reason people climb mountains: because they are there! Some want to escape where they are. Others want to set up a new community, perhaps a new religious environment. Others hope to meet new people and make new friends, engage in the trade of goods (give them something you goods with the people. Another motivation is to learn from the new people, or have adventures and then write about them.
 
What is likely to happen if a bunch of Europeans go this land? Conflicts with the natives. Conflicts with other European countries. Conflicts with the mother country that sent the settlers. New opportunities for improvements, for new products, for new businesses, for new religions, for new systems of government.
 
Who is going to pay for exploration and settlement? Kings. Investors. Do-gooders. Churches. Mostly nobody.
 
Who is going to do the hard labor needed to set up a new community, like chopping down trees, working the farms, constructing buildings? There is almost no money to pay anyone. Families might do some. [[Indentured servants]]. Slaves.
 
It also helps to look for unifying themes to organize events in your mind. One theme that helps explain American history works well is the overall expansion of Christianity, for 2000 years. Why did [[Christopher Columbus]] and other explorers risk their lives to come to the New World? To spread Christianity. Why did families then risk their lives to settle here? To establish religious communities free of persecution. Two hundred years later, why did Massachusetts prohibit slavery and why did abolitionists President [[John Quincy Adams]] devote their lives to ending slavery? Because their religious values told them slavery was wrong.
 
There are other possible themes also. How about the desire to make more money, or make some money? How about the urge for self-government, to be in charge of oneself free from a monarchy? How about the advance of technology and its affect on how we live? There are many possible themes to American history and we will have fun debates about them.
 
From 1789 until today, we have had an American President. He is not more important than others. If I had to name the ten most important Americans in history, I would only include one president in the list (the first one, [[George Washington]]). But memorizing the list of 43 presidents can help you organize all the other facts. When someone asks me what was happening in 1962, then I think of who was president and then remember the issues of that time. The presidents become like drawers, one per president, filled with issues and events.
 
But before 1789 there was no president. How are we going to organize that? One way is to focus on the three most important colonies, [[Virginia]] (1607), [[Massachusetts]] (1620) and [[Pennsylvania]] (1681), and relate the other 11 colonies and events to them. Another way is to look at the battles that occurred before the [[American Revolution]], such as the [[French and Indian War]] in 1754-60.
 
Regardless, by the end of this course, you will be able to hear an event and describe what was going on at that time. You will be able to tell me what happened before the event, and what happened afterwards.
 
Don’t try to memorize hundreds of dates. Instead, when you see a date, think what happened before and after it. There are only about ten dates that you need to know. All other dates, such as those in the event list, are there just for the purpose of ordering events. For example, no one will ask you when Georgia was founded as a colony. But you may be asked whether it was the first or last colony founded. (It was the last colony established.) Another example: [[Quebec]] was founded in 1608. Don’t remember the 1608, but remember that Quebec was founded one year after [[Jamestown]] was established (1607 – one of the few dates you should memorize!)

== Pre-Columbian Period ==
The first settlers in America were paleo-indian peoples. Their origin is not known. Some claim they migrated from Asia, but that makes little sense because American Indians are very different in many ways from Chinese and Asian Indians. Even their blood types are typically different.

Some old mounds reflecting Indian settlements in America have been discovered, such as the Adena burial mounds and Mississippian platform towns.<ref>Melissa L. Meyer, Dean R. Snow, Charles L. Cohen, Russell Thornton, Donald A. Grinde Jr., Leah Dilworth "Indian History and Culture" The Oxford Companion to United States History. Paul S. Boyer, ed. Oxford University Press 2001. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. University of Tampa. 4 August 2008 <http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t119.e0758-s0002></ref> For example, the [[Cahokia Mounds]] in Southern Illinois (just east of [[St. Louis]] reflect an Indian community dating back as early as A.D. 1000 or 1100.<ref>http://www.cahokiamounds.com/mystery_01.html</ref> That community practiced human sacrifice, as did the [[Aztecs]] and [[Mayans]] in [[Mesoamerica]] (Mexico and Central America) and the [[Incas]] in [[South America]] prior to the arrival of the Spanish conquerors.

The American Indians, also called Native Americans, were [[nomads]] who traveled across wide areas. They did not read and write, and they lacked a monetary system. They were organized by tribes and some had simple forms of government. There was the [[Iroquois Confederacy]] that united some, but typically there was a lack of unity that led to their easy defeat by Europeans. The Indians did introduce [[tobacco]] and [[corn]] to Europeans, and they became widely popular back in Europe.

Textbooks written after 1970 began claiming that around A.D. 1000, the Scandinavian [[Leif Ericson]] established a small colony at [[Vinland]], where the present [[Newfoundland]] is (north of Maine). But there is very little evidence that such a colony existed, and no explanation for what happened to it. It did not last long even if it did exist, and there is no sign of any Viking colony in what is now the United States.<ref>"People have been looking hard for hundreds of years and there is no archaeological evidence in this part [New England]— it's certainly possible, the Vikings were incredible boat handlers — '''but there is no evidence'''," observed one university history professor.[http://farshores.org/a04viki.htm]</ref>.

''Exam note'': there are no more than one or two questions about the Pre-Columbian period on any American history exam.

== Exploration (Columbian Period) ==

Starting in the Middle Ages, Christian Europe began to use its knowledge, wealth and [[faith]] to extend move beyond its horizons. Christian Europeans fought the Holy [[Crusades]] from 1095 to 1291 to protect pilgrims to [[Jerusalem]] against Moslem attacks. Some Europeans were motivated to spread the [[Gospel]]. Others were motivated by a desire to increase their wealth, such as by finding gold. Supporting both types of people was increased knowledge about science and geography: Europeans knew that they could reach the Orient by traveling West '''''around''''' the world. Ironically, it was the very knowledge of the Earth's circumference that deterred a westward passage - the distance to the orient in that direction was beyond the open-water range of ships in that period.
 
But centuries passed before one man inspired by the Christian [[faith]] was determined to change the world of his time. By the young age of 10 the Italian [[Christopher Columbus]] was working at sea, already on his way to becoming a master navigator and mariner. He learned of the patterns of the Atlantic trade winds, and their ability to carry sailing vessels across vast distances both eastward and westward before one's provisions would run out. With the charts he developed, he was certain he could reach Asia on a westbound route more efficiently than others could.
 
It took enormous courage, determination and financial support to sail West into the complete unknown. It also took more than a desire to get rich, because there were easier ways to make money. That additional desire was a passion to spread Christianity to new civilizations. In 1482, [[Christopher Columbus]] sought financing to sail west in order to find an easier way to reach the Far East, by sailing westward rather than continuing the different path eastward from Europe to India and Japan. Columbus tried Portugal for raising money, but it already had its own successful explorers. Portugal declined to support him, but Columbus persistently tried for ten more years. In 1492 Spain drove out the last of the Muslims and re-established it as a Christian nation, and King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain granted Columbus's request for funding his voyage that year. Spain continues to honor Columbus Day just as the United States does.
 
Columbus was not only a devout Christian, but an enterprising capitalist. He used his hard-earned knowledge of the Atlantic trade winds and the navigational edge they gave him to secure funding for his venture from Spain on terms that gave him 10% of any riches discovered: The contract he signed with the Spanish Monarchy, known as the Capitulations of Santa Fe, named him Admiral of the Atlantic Ocean, Viceroy and Governor of all the new lands discovered, and gave him one-tenth of the profit from all of the discovered lands (Spain later refused to honor the agreement, and Columbus never became wealthy). Having secured his funding, Columbus assembled his ships and crew and set out in August of 1492 to reach the Orient.
 
So back to what Columbus did achieve. He set sail in three ships. First sighted land in late 1492. On Christmas eve, December 24, 1492, one of Columbus's ship, the [[Santa Maria]], reached the island of [[Haiti]]. Columbus named the settlement “La Navidad,” meaning “The Nativity,” and dropped off 40 men with a promise to return to them the next year. Columbus then wrote to the King and Queen of Spain the following in his Journal: “In all the world there can be no better or gentler people. Your Highnesses should feel great joy, because presently they will be Christians, and instructed in the good manners of your realms.”
 
But he had grossly underestimated the size of the world, and when he reached San Salvador, Haiti (Hispaniola) and Cuba he thought he had reached the Far East. So he called the natives Indians. He left some men there but they were killed by the natives. Columbus reported back that new people had been found to evangelize with Christianity.
 
Soon Spain and Portugal divided the Americas with the [[Line of Demarcation]], drawn by the Pope. The [[Treaty of Tordesillas]] moved the line in 1493. It was a North-South line that gave Spain North America and the western part of South America, but Portugal received Brazil. That’s why Brazilians speak Portuguese to this day.
 
<discuss how Columbus returned to Europe, and then found the same location on his second trip> Columbus sailed on three subsequent voyages, but never achieved his goal and died discredited. What was his motivation? Primarily to spread Christianity, but also to find gold to reward his sponsors and fund further expeditions. Ultimately, his purpose focused on a dream to liberate Jerusalem, as the Crusades attempted.
 
What influence did Columbus have? He gave Spain [[Haiti]], [[Puerto Rico]], [[Jamaica]] and [[Cuba]] by 1515. Spain then settled Florida (St. Augustine), and later Santa Fe, New Mexico. Spanish [[Hernando Cortes]] conquered the Aztecs in central Mexico (1521), and [[Francisco Pizarro]] conquered the Incas of Peru (1531). They seized much gold in the process.
 
But while Spanish soldiers came to America, Spanish women did not. So there were not many distinct, permanent Spanish settlements. Also, the Spanish were also entirely subservient to their King back in Europe. Separate governments did not develop.
 
Other European powers were exploring North America also. The French explored the St. Lawrence and settled Quebec, where French is still spoken to this day. The French also explored the Mississippi, and settled the towns of Saint Louis (named after a French king) and New Orleans.
 
The Dutch explored and settled the Hudson River, calling the region New Netherlands and buying and naming Manhattan New Amsterdam.
 
The Swedish settled in Delaware; Germans settled later in Pennsylvania.
 
Explorer [[John Cabot]] discovered the North American coastline for England in 1497. But no settlements were attempted by the English for about another 100 years.
 
The reason is that North America didn’t have what the explorers were looking for. America lacked valuable natural resources. There was no gold, which is what Europe wanted. In 1576, the British explorer [[Martin Frobisher]] even hauled 200 tons of material back to England, hoping it was gold. It wasn’t.
 
There wasn’t anything else of value to Europe either. New England was too rocky near the coast to develop farms. The mid-Atlantic region or Chesapeake area, where Maryland and Virginia are today, was infested with malaria. Winters were cold, and summers were hot.
 
There was no livestock – no horses and no cattle, until the Spanish imported them. Florida was a swamp, and did not even have orange trees until the Spanish explorer [[Ponce de Leon]] planted them in 1515.
 
North America was a joke to many in England. Its Parliament passed a law in 1597 authorizing the deportations of convicted criminals to America and other colonies. In 1605, a satirical book entitled “Eastward Ho!” was published that mocked attempts to settle in Virginia.
 
Think about it. Would your family uproot and move, at great risk to your lives, to a place that had no civilization or anything of value? Do we see families moving to the middle of the desert in Arizona, or to cheap land in the middle of Wyoming? Only very rarely.
 
[[England]]'s first settlement of [[North America]] was in 1585, on [[Roanoke Island]] in [[Virginia]]. More than 100 families settled there, but within a few years they had all disappeared. It remains a mystery to this day what happened. They could have died from disease or starvation. They could have been killed by Indians, although note that Indian attacks were often at the prodding of a rival European group, and there was no rival European group at that time. No one knows the real reason for the disappearance of this settlement, and it's called the "[[Lost Colony]]."
 
About the same time, however, England had a huge success in Europe. Spain had ruled the high seas for most of the 1500s, until England destroyed the Spanish Armada in 1588. That left England with the potential to gain control of the oceans and world trade over the seas. England could protect its colonies against other European powers.

== Successful Settlements ==

Some Englishmen invested money in what was called a “[[joint stock company]],” which was similar to a modern-day corporation, for the purpose of finding gold or other treasures. Called the “[[Virginia Company]],” it established the first permanent settlement for England in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. It was a disaster and the investors never received a profit. The men who settled in Jamestown were gentlemen who expected to get rich with little effort. They lacked a common purpose and wasted their time searching for treasure, or simply doing nothing at all. Unwilling to work to grow their own food, they almost starved to death.
 
'''1607''' is one of the few dates you should memorize. This was after the Spanish had settled in Florida, but before the French had settled in Quebec. So remember the sequence in settling America: Spanish, English, and then French.
 
Initially, from 1607-1608, the Jamestown settlement lived under socialism, whereby the group shared its food with everyone no matter how much or little he worked. This economic system was a complete failure as no one had any incentive to do any work. In September 1608, [[John Smith]] was elected president of the governing council. He ruled for a year and installed a conservative economic system: “don’t work, don’t eat!” Under this new system, food production increased and by 1614 there was plenty to eat.
 
But Jamestown settlers were there to find fortune, and there was not any gold or silver. Indians had discovered tobacco and Europeans were beginning to become addicted on it. Many Europeans recognized that tobacco was bad for them, and some wanted to prohibit it. In 1613, Englishman [[John Rolfe]], who married the Indian [[Pocahontas]] in Virginia, began growing tobacco to export to Europe. The King banned the growing of tobacco in England, so Rolfe had no competition. Cash began pouring in for the tobacco, and this so-called “cash crop” became highly profitable for the Jamestown settlers. Tobacco continued to be very profitable throughout a large part of American history, particularly in the south.
 
Despite profiting from the sale of tobacco, the Jamestown settlement had other difficulties. It had made peace with Indian [[Chief Powhatan]], whose daughter Pocahontas married settler [[John Rolfe]]. But after Powhatan died, his brother led a sudden attack on the settlers in 1622, massacring 357 out of a total of only 1200.
 
But Indian strife was only one of many problems. Labor was in short supply for working the fields. Settlers began importing indentured servants, who received free travel to the colonies in exchange for a promise to work for seven years. But Virginia also turned to a cheaper approach to labor: importing slaves from West Africa beginning in 1619 to work the crops. But the importation of slaves to the New World was not new in 1619; many European countries had been importing a total of 40,000 slaves to the New World prior to 1600 based on the Portuguese plantation system for working the land.
 
In 1624 King James (of “King James Bible” fame) took back the Virginia colony and established it as a royal charter. King James was left with a problem colony that enslaved workers and grew tobacco. More trouble lay ahead. In 1676, Nathanial Bacon was a Virginia settler who decided to take the law into his own hands. He first massacred Indians in western Virginia, then took his small army of rebels to Jamestown, where he burned it down because the governor had refused to allow him to kill the Indians. Bacon himself soon died from a disease. The governor returned and hung two dozen of his supporters. How Virginia produced four of our first five presidents is amazing. You can think about this and answer on the homework assignment.
 
By then there were many other settlements in North America. The most important were two settlements in Massachusetts, which has a much harsher climate than Virginia, particularly in the wintertime. But their motivation was religious, not financial. Puritans were unhappy with the direction of the Church of England, feeling it was too much like the Catholic Church. Two different groups of Puritans set out for North America. One group wanted to purify the Church of England by remaining in the Church but in a more perfect community. The other group wanted to separate completely from the Church of England. Both groups landed by chance within 100 miles of each other in Massachusetts.
 
The first group, the “Pilgrims”, set sail from Plymouth, England and intended to land near the mouth of the Hudson River (now New York City), which was the northern part of the Virginia Company’s territory. But their ship, the “Mayflower”, was blown off course and they landed up on Cape Cod in Massachusetts in 1620. Outside of any official government, they decided on the boat to establish the first civil government in North America by signing the Mayflower Compact. They landed in December, and half died due to disease in their first New England winter. But the following spring a friendly Indian introduced them to corn, or maize, the marvelous food discovered by Indians. They had a plentiful harvest that fall, and celebrated their first Thanksgiving with the Indians that fall. In 1623, their new Governor [[William Bradford]] gave every member a plot of land and allowed the free market to develop. By 1624, the community was doing so well that it was actually making more food than it could consume and began exporting its corn. [[William Bradford]] and [[Edward Winslow]] kept diaries during the settling of Plymouth, which are recorded in a small, but fascinating book called ''Mourt's Relation''.
 
Corn is a tremendous contribution by Indians to the world that increasingly sustains peoples worldwide. Corn did not exist in Europe during the Middle Ages. Cheap and easy to grow, corn has become one of the most popular foods worldwide, rivaling rice and soybeans. For that we can thank the Indians.
 
Encouraged by the success of the Pilgrims, a new groups called the [[Massachusetts Bay Company]] obtained a royal charter and sent a larger group of Puritans to settle in New England, though this time with the purpose of purifying the [[Church of England]] with a more perfect community than in England itself. It was well-financed and led by the very capable [[John Winthrop]], who had been trained at Oxford. It landed in Salem, Massachusetts in 1629 and immediately moved to Boston Harbor. It never looked back, thriving almost immediately despite the harsh winter climate. Within five years the [[Great Migration]] of religiously motivated settlers followed them from England. Their numbers and power grew. By the 1640s, the community was participating in robust trade by sea with England, the West Indies and on occasion West Africa.
 
What is a “colony”? “Colony” defined: “a body of people living in a new territory but retaining ties with the parent state.” (Merriam-Webster dictionary)
 
The growing colonies in Massachusetts and Virginia could not have been more different from each other, and it is remarkable they ever joined the same country. Massachusetts was highly religious and motivated by faith. Virginia was marginally religious and motivated by money. Massachusetts, more religious, had vocal opponents of slavery and neighboring Vermont was the first state to prohibit slavery in its Constitution, in 1777. Virginia welcomed slavery. Massachusetts grew the Indian crop of corn. Virginia grew the Indian crop of tobacco. Massachusetts settlers made greater efforts to get along with Indians and treat them fairly. Massachusetts attracted new settlers based on religion. Virginia attracted new settlers based on the “headright system,” by which land (usually 50 acres) was given to those who paid for the passage to the colony of an immigrant, who usually agreed to work as an “indentured servant” for free for fixed number of years on the land.
 
The stark contrast between Massachusetts and Virginia would ultimately lead, nearly 250 years later, to the Civil War.
 
While Virginia institution of slavery was spreading to the colonies of [[Maryland]], [[Carolina]] and, later, [[Georgia]], [[Massachusetts]] was spreading a different sort of institution: religious intensity. [[Roger Williams]] was an extraordinary individual of such great faith that found even the Puritans lacking in their treatment of Indians. Williams also disagreed with how the Puritans combined government and religion, and had even executed several Christians based on differences with the Puritan faith. Williams was fabulous with languages and learned to communicate with many different Indian tribes, and even lived with them at times in spite of the danger. He left the Puritans in Massachusetts and started the colony of Rhode Island, which to this day has prided itself on its independence. Rhode Island was the only state to refuse to support a colonial tax on imports after the Revolution, and the only colony to refuse to ratify the Constitution until long after [[George Washington]] was President. Rhode Island, under Roger Williams’ direction, separated state government from religion. No mandatory church attendance, and no funding of churches with tax revenues were allowed in Rhode Island.
 
But while Roger Williams was highly moral, others in Rhode Island made it the biggest importer of slaves in all the colonies. So censoring religion may have a price. In contrast, in the larger Massachusetts, taxes funded religious institutions for nearly 200 years, until at least the 1830s. It successfully prohibited slavery. Another devout Christian who disagreed with the Puritans and left them was named [[Anne Hutchinson]]. She, however, was later killed by Indians.
 
One prominent text claims, under “Rhode Island,” that “This belief [by Roger Williams] in the separation of church and state became a cornerstone of the American Constitution in 1787.” That is completely false. Roger Williams was long dead by 1787, and there is no separation of church and state in the Constitution. Rhode Island did not even send any representatives to draft the Constitution and it had no role in the drafting of the Bill of Rights. In fact, Rhode Island did not ratify the Constitution until after George Washington was elected president, and even then it took much arm-twisting to compel Rhode Island to ratify the Constitution. But some people want to keep religion out of government, and they refuse to admit that the First Amendment only prohibits the establishment of a national church by the government.
 
In between Massachusetts and Virginia there was a third approach: that taken by Pennsylvania. William Penn was another extraordinary Englishman. He converted to become a Quaker in England and began practicing that religion in violation of English law. He was arrested and prosecuted, but the jury refused to convict him. The king owed his father money, and gave the son what is today Pennsylvania. It was nothing but woods at the time. But William Penn founded his colony based on one principle: religious freedom for all. He advertised in Europe and attracted peoples of many nationalities in addition to the English.
 
Penn was very kind to the Indians and soon had the most popular colony in America. Philadelphia became America’s greatest city, surpassing Boston in population in the 1700s. Only Pennsylvania and Maryland survived in the long-term under private ownership. Virtually all the other colonies were eventually taken over by the King of England, often due to troubles that arose in the colony.
 
There were other colonies. Pennsylvania was founded over 50 years *after* Virginia and Massachusetts. Georgia was founded over 50 *years* after Pennsylvania, which means over 100 years after Virginia and Massachusetts. Philanthropist [[James Oglethorpe]] founded Savannah in Georgia in 1733 for poor debtors in jails of England. Also created a buffer colony between South Carolina and Spanish Florida. Oglethorpe was very religious and very strict. Too strict for the King, who took over the colony in 1751. The colony was not nearly as strong and developed as the other colonies, so the other colonies did not take it very seriously.

== Economic System ==

<discuss capitalism, mercantilism, slavery, encomienda and how the colonies supplied their mother country>

 
Topics for discussion:
*Were the Puritans right to banish (expel) people for religious reasons?
*Did the Vikings settle North America before Columbus did?
*Question about bias: why would some want to take credit away from Columbus, and how might they do it?
*What, if anything, was the significance of [[Bacon's Rebellion]]?
*What challenges would the [[Puritans]] face in maintaining their strongly religious culture in the 1600s and 1700s?

== A Word About College Board Exams ==

First, a word about College Board exams. This course will give you the foundation -- if you like -- for taking three different College Board exams (usually a student takes only one of the three): the [[CLEP]], the [[AP]], and the [[SAT II]].
 
The CLEP is a multiple-choice exam that is recognized by most (but not all) colleges as a way to earn college credit. It costs about $50 and is administered on computers at local colleges, usually once a month. It is the least biased of the three exams.
 
The AP, or Advanced Placement exam, is given only once a year in May at local high schools, and is more expensive. It includes both multiple-choice and essay questions, and is used by different colleges to give credit for courses. In 2009, the AP exam for U.S. History is scheduled for Friday, May 9.
 
The SAT II in American History is an inexpensive multiple-choice exam that takes only an hour and is given at high schools on Saturdays once a month, October through June. No college credit is given for it, but it is used for college applications to recognize achievement. The SAT II is the most biased of the three exams, and is known for emphasizing liberal culture and matters of race and gender. For example, the "cultural and intellectual history" portion seems important to the exam but actually it is mostly cultural rather than intellectual history, and the questions are liberal in nature (e.g., asking about an artist who liberals like). Also, what counts as "economic history" is not what you might expect. There are almost no questions about the [[conservative]] gold standard, for example, even though that issue the political scene throughout history (and was even an issue in [[Ron Paul]]'s campaign for presidency in 2008). Instead, questions about economic history on the SAT II are likely to be about unions, the treatment of workers, alleged corruption of big business, and gender and racial issues.
 
Notice what is missing on the College Board exams: military history. Unfortunately, many educators in the [[United States]] dislike the military, and that bias shows up on the exams. No questions are there about battles or key military strategies and decisions. The only time the military shows up on these exams is when they have a political impact, and then they qualify as political history.
 
Each of these College Board exams can be taken as often as one likes, though it is difficult to take the AP exam more than once because it is offered only once a year, and it is expensive to retake the CLEP exam. The SAT II, which is cheaper, is the easiest to take more than once and colleges only look at the highest score.
 There is absolutely no requirement to take any of these College Board exams as part of this course, and references to the exams are used more as a way of helping you see the "big picture," as in how much time should be spent on a particular period or historical topic. Our class has only two required, multiple-choice exams: a midterm and a final. This course will also help students improve their test-taking skills on multiple-choice exams. We will also have weekly homework assignments consisting of short-answer questions.

== References ==

<references/>

[[Category:United States History]]

User talk:Pakhyongshin

2008-08-09T13:45:21Z

Pakhyongshin:

You must document charges such as those you made against Korea's leader. I'm not saying you're wrong about the charges: only that you can't say "It was shown that" unless you tell us '''how''' it was shown. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] [[User talk:Ed Poor|Talk]] 23:47, 8 August 2008 (EDT)
:I can do so, is not hard :) Thanks you.--[[User:Pakhyongshin|Pakhyongshin]] 08:48, 9 August 2008 (EDT)
::See my undo comment at [[Deceit]]. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] [[User talk:Ed Poor|Talk]] 09:18, 9 August 2008 (EDT)
:::한국말 하실 줄 아세요 :):) ?--[[User:Pakhyongshin|Pakhyongshin]] 09:45, 9 August 2008 (EDT)

User talk:Pakhyongshin

2008-08-09T12:48:13Z

Pakhyongshin:

Talk:Sun Myung Moon

2008-08-08T03:31:17Z

Pakhyongshin: Unlock :):):)

Detractors sometimes say he "thinks he is God", but that is in contradiction to his teachings and public statements. This could stem from a superficial interpretation of [[Unification Theology]].

Mainstream Christianity's view of the [[Trinity]] asserts that Jesus is God. Coupled with the mainstream view that Jesus is the Messiah, one could conclude that the Messiah is God.
#Jesus is God
#Jesus is the Messiah
#Thus, the Messiah is God

Rev. Moon's followers believe that he is the Messiah. Ignoring the Unificationist concept of the Trinity, one might reason as follows:
#Rev. Moon is held to be the Messiah
#The Messiah is God
#Thus, Rev. Moon is held to be God

However, the Unificationist view of the Trinity - while not strictly denying that Jesus is God - maintains that Jesus is a human being (not the Creator Himself). This can be a little confusing, but I'm just dashing this off from memory, rather than carefully writing an article; bear with me, please?

Unificationists believe that Rev. Moon is a human being - not God - not a member of the Trinity.
#No human being is God, the Creator (because God creates each human being)
#The Messiah is a human being.
#Rev. Moon is the Messiah.
#Therefore, Rev. Moon is a human being and not God.

This is not a very interesting point of theology, unless (A) you are a Unificationist or (B) you have some curiosity about the differences between Unification Theology and what mainstream Christians believe. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] [[User talk:Ed Poor|Talk]] 09:43, 17 April 2008 (EDT)

==Sources==

I have been a member the Unification Church my entire adult life and am the Internet's leading authority on it. I have access to the same public information as everyone else, of course, as well as inside information.

The quotations I deleted are unreliable.

If you want to start a debate, we have [[Debate Topics]] for that.

If you want to post a balance of pro and con views, there is a way to do that. But it didn't seem like that was the aim today. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] [[User talk:Ed Poor|Talk]] 11:09, 30 April 2008 (EDT)

==Accident===

I wanted to add mention of Rev. Moon's [http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/07/19/moon.crash.ap/index.html helicopter accident today], but the article is locked. [[User:RobCross|RobCross]] 15:33, 19 July 2008 (EDT)

==Unlock==
Please unlock so i can add to article.--[[User:Pakhyongshin|Pakhyongshin]] 23:31, 7 August 2008 (EDT)

John McCain

2008-08-08T03:29:29Z

Pakhyongshin: /* Social Issues */ gooks words and asian support

[[Image:Casmier.jpg|right|thumb|275px|'''Senator John McCain, R-Arizona''']]
'''John Sidney McCain III''' (born in the U.S. Panama Canal Zone, August 29, 1936) <ref>[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=m0003http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/13/Button_enter.png
Line break03 Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]</ref>, prominent Conservative statesman and Vietnam war hero, is the senior [[United States Senate|Senator]] of [[Arizona]]. He has been an influential fixture in American politics since 1986, when he began his political career in hard-fought campaigns against pork barrel spending and campaign finance reform. As a pilot for the United States Navy and former Prisoner-of-War (POW), he served in the military for 22 years, meriting several accolades from the Armed forces.<ref>[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=m000303 Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]</ref> McCain, a [[Baptist]],<ref> http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296973,00.html</ref> has impressive credentials on issues of foreign policy and national security, which have propelled him in the forefront of national politics as both an outspoken voice for the United States military and as a Presidential contender for the Republican Party since 1993.<ref>Alexander, Paul. John McCain: Man of the People. Published 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-471-47545-9</ref> McCain is currently the presumptive [[Republican]] nominee for [[President of the United States of America|President of the United States]] in the [[2008 Presidential Election|2008 Election]]. <ref>[http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080305/NATIONWORLD/803050441/0/LOCAL1901 ''McCain clinches GOP nomination; Huckabee bows out''] 5 March 2008 IndyStar.com</ref><ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,255535,00.html John McCain Announces Plans for '08 Presidential Candidacy on 'Late Night With David Letterman'], Associated Press, 1 March 2007</ref>

==Early Life==
McCain's family has a long history in the U.S. military, with ancestors fighting as army soldiers in the Indian Wars, [[American Revolutionary War]], [[War of 1812]], for the Confederate States of America in the [[American Civil War]], and in [[World War I]]. Liberals have highly criticized his family, claiming that it is racist. It is true that his great-great grandfather, William Alexander McCain was a slaveholder who died in the Confederacy,<ref>Schetcher, Clifford. "The Real McCain: Why Conservatives Don't Trust him - and why Independents shouldn't." Published 2008</ref> but McCain asserts he had no knowledge that his family had ever owned slaves. Both his father and grandfather were high-ranking United States Navy admirals. In addition, McCain's two sons are currently serving in the U.S. Navy. In 1951, the McCain family moved to Northern [[Virginia]] and he attended Episcopal High School, a private preparatory boarding school in Alexandria. McCain was on the wrestling team and went on to graduate in 1954. He later joined the U.S. Naval Academy and graduated in 1958, where he ranked 894 out of 899.

==Military career==
[[Image:McCain 1965.jpg|left|thumb|200px|McCain photographed in 1965]]
McCain served in the [[United States Navy]] from 1958 to 1981. He spent two and a half years as a naval aviator in training at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida and Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas. By 1967, McCain was a veteran pilot aboard the ''USS Forrestal'' aircraft carrier off the coast of Vietnam. On 29 July 1967, while preparing to take off on a bombing run over North Vietnam a missile accidentally fired from another plane, hitting the fuel tanks on McCain's aircraft and triggering explosions and fire. McCain escaped from his plane by crawling onto the nose of the aircraft and diving on to the ship's deck which was ablaze from burning fuel. His attempt to rescue a fellow pilot whose flight suit was on fire was prevented when McCain was blown over by further explosions. When the fire was contained 24 hours later, 134 men had been killed and hundreds more injured. It was called the worst non-combat-related accident in U.S. naval history.<ref>[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=526451&in_page_id=1811 ''The coronation of the ultimate survivor, John McCain''] 5 March 2008 [[Daily Mail]]</ref>

===Prisoner-Of-War (1967 - 1973)===

On October 26, 1967, as McCain was flying over Hanoi's Thermal Power Plant during his 23rd bombing mission, he was shot down and captured by the North Vietnamese. He had just released his bombs when [[A-4 Skyhawk|his plane]] was shot down by a surface-to-air missile. As he ejected unconscious from the accident, he broke his knee and both arms and descended by parachute into a lake. When he floated ashore, Vietnamese locals spit and kicked him on the ground, nearly killing him. The police took him to Hoa Loa Prison where he was held in solitary captivity without medical attention or sufficient food. During brutal interrogations, he was asked for information in return for medical care. McCain refused, giving only his name and date of birth. When it was discovered that he was the son of a top U.S. Admiral, he was given medical care. Hospital personnel never believed he would survive, as he had large wounds and weighed a mere 100 lbs. He also had completely white hair, a product of accelerated aging under harsh conditions. Nonetheless, his health improved, and McCain was held as a Prisoner-Of-War (POW) at the Hanoi Hilton; as a prisoner, guards tortured him with frequent beatings and painful contortions, breaking his teeth and bones. <ref>Alexander, Paul. John McCain: Man of the People. Published 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-471-47545-9</ref>

After months of beating sessions and intense interrogations, McCain was psychologically and physically weakened. At one point, he was forced to sign a statement which made claims exonerating his captors of inhumane treatment. The paper was intended for use as propaganda, but in all their subsequent attempts for promoting a "humane" image of the POW camp, McCain worked his hardest to thwart them. In 1971, four years from his capture, he was placed with 20-30 Americans in better treatment. They were allowed to celebrate Christian holidays, including Christmas. McCain, who served as an impromptu chaplain, recalled that during their services, men cried; "They were tears of joy that for the first time... we were able to celebrate Christmas together."<ref>Alexander, Paul. John McCain: Man of the People. Published 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-471-47545-9</ref> In light of his father's high military status, McCain was offered early release, which he adamantly refused in honor of the "First in, first out" clause of the POW Code of Conduct.

On March 14, 1973, after five and a half years of imprisonment, McCain was released alongside 106 pilots under the Nixon administration. McCain received a heartfelt reception at the White House and was pronounced a war hero and eminent voice for the Vietnam War. Awards from the military followed, including the Legion of Merit, a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, a [[Purple Heart]], the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Vietnamese Legion of Honor.<ref>Alexander, Paul. John McCain: Man of the People. Published 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-471-47545-9</ref>

===Return to the Navy (1973 - 1981)===

The Vietnam War and military service remained strong in McCain's memory. He immediately wanted to rejoin the Navy, and spent years preparing with excruciating physical therapy and a year of study in the Naval War College, where he attacked the liberal anti-war movement for weakening the morale of his fellow POWs.<ref>Kirkpatrick, David D. "[http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/14/america/15pows.php In '74 thesis, the seeds of McCain's war views.]" The New York Times (June 15, 2008) p. A1.]</ref> With his extensive experience in the Navy's Aviation division, he was selected to reform the flying fleet as Commanding Officer. John McCain quickly transformed his crew's personnel, which had been underfunded in the post-Vietnam era; Carl Smith, who served under McCain, stated, "He immediately began making changes. He fired people, and he replaced people at the top who he thought were not being as effective as he wanted them to be. He wanted real leadership. He wanted the squadron to come to life."<ref>Alexander, Paul. John McCain: Man of the People. pg. 57</ref> Many in his staff were disappointed to have him leave, and praised his work in promoting efficiency.<ref>Alexander, Paul. John McCain: Man of the People.</ref>

During a reassignment to the Senate as the Navy's liaison, McCain began to join the ranks of politicians. He transformed the position from a rather unimportant post into one of authority and respect{{fact}}, gaining allies in the Senate. Particularly for someone who had disagreed with the government's military tactics in Vietnam, the Senate was an excellent place for McCain to support the military and help in foreign affairs in the post-Vietnam era.

He had difficulties with his wife after his return home due, in part, to her damaging car accident. While in Hawaii with Pacific commanders on business, he met Cindy Lou Hensley, the daughter of a prominent Anheuser-Busch beer franchise founder.<ref>Alexander, Paul. John McCain: Man of the People. pg. 91</ref> The two met several times and six weeks after McCain divorced his wife Carol (April 2, 1980) he married Cindy (May 17, 1980) in Phoenix.

==Political career==
===Congressional (1982 - 1986)===

With nagging injuries and limited physical mobility, McCain realized he would never become a four-star general like his forefathers.<ref>[http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=9542249 John McCain Biography (1936-)]</ref> Some biographers argued that he shifted into politics so that he could achieve the equivalent in politics, leading to his Senatorial career. Whatever the case, in 1982, John Jacob Rhodes had retired as Representative of Arizona. McCain decided to campaign, and won the election easily after an intense underdog campaign; people recall him personally knocking on doors to introduce his candidacy.<ref>Alexander, Paul. John McCain: Man of the People. pg. 97</ref> When elected, he served no differently, working hard to support his highly-Republican district while Reagan was President. At the time, he largely supported Reagan's tax cuts and matters on Indian Affairs. He did, however, break with the President on the decision to attack Lebanon, saying, {{cquote|''I do not foresee obtainable objectives in Lebanon; I believe the longer we stay, the more difficult it will be to leave.''<ref>Alexander, Paul. John McCain: Man of the People. pg. 100</ref>}}

McCain had been working in [[Phoenix]] for his father-in-law's company Hensley & Co, which is an Anheuser-Busch beer wholesaler and distributor. After gaining support from local business leaders, he ran for a congressional seat for Arizona's 1st congressional district as a Republican in 1982. His [[liberal]] opponents labeled him as a "carpetbagger." After [http://mediamattersaction.org/freeride/myths/#7 claiming], "One of the things I've never tried to do is exploit my Vietnam service to my country because it would be totally inappropriate to do," McCain responded to a voter making the charge of "carpetbagging" saying,
{{cquote|Listen, pal. I spent 22 years in the Navy. My father was in the Navy. My grandfather was in the Navy. We in the military service tend to move a lot. We have to live in all parts of the country, all parts of the world. I wish I could have had the luxury, like you, of growing up and living and spending my entire life in a nice place like the First District of Arizona, but I was doing other things. As a matter of fact, when I think about it now, the place I lived longest in my life was Hanoi.}}

With the endorsements of local newspapers, McCain easily won the election. In 1983, he became President of the Republican freshman class of representatives. His voting record generally fell in line with the policy's of President [[Ronald Reagan]]'s. During his four years in [[Congress]], McCain and his wife Cindy had three children.

===Senatorial (1986 - Present)===
[[Image:Reagan mccain.jpg|left|thumb|300px|3/3/1987 President Reagan and Nancy Reagan greet John McCain in the Blue Room during a dinner for newly elected members of the 100th Congress]]
When Republican and [[conservative]] icon [[Barry Goldwater]] retired from the United States Senate in Arizona in 1986, Congressman McCain announced his candidacy for the seat. He easily won the election, defeating his Democratic opponent Richard Kimball, by 20 percentage points. When entering the Senate, he became a member of the powerful Armed Services Committee, and he also joined the Commerce Committee and the Indian Affairs Committee. During the 1988 Presidential Election, McCain was named chairman of Veterans for Bush. In 1991, Senator McCain became part of the "Keating Five" scandal, where McCain and four other Senators (all Democrats) were accused of improperly aiding Charles H. Keating, Jr., chairman of the failed Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, which was the target of an investigation by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board. Between 1982 and 1987, McCain had received approximately $112,000 in political contributions from Charles Keating Jr. After a lengthy investigation, the Senate Ethics Committee determined that McCain was only minimally involved, and McCain (and the four other Senators) were not charged with any crimes.

===="Maverick" Image in the Senate====
John McCain has gained a reputation as a "maverick" for his sponsorship of many bills and leadership on almost every issue. Starting in 1994, he worked with Democratic [[Wisconsin]] Senator [[Russ Feingold]] on campaign finance reform. The McCain-Feingold bill banned "soft money." It passed and was signed into law on November 6th, 2002, by President Bush. In the 1990's, McCain gained attention for his strong opposition to pork barrel spending. He championed the 1996 Line Item Veto Act, which gave the President the power to veto individual spending items. However, in 1998, the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] ruled the act unconstitutional.

Voteview.com rated McCain as the second most conservative Senator in the 109th Congress (Jan. 2005 - Jan. 2007).<ref>http://voteview.com/SEN109.HTM</ref>

John McCain and the Bush administration agree on most issues. He voted with the Bush administration 95% of the time in 2007, according to Congressional Quarterly's "Presidential Support Scores". <ref>http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/512/ Politifact fact checks McCain's voting support</ref> Issues include making the Bush tax cuts permanent, energy independence, winning the war in Iraq, reforming Social Security, and continuing and expanding Bush's supply-side economic policies.

===2000 Presidential Campaign===
McCain launched his first campaign for President in 2000, when he challenged then-[[Texas]] Governor [[George W. Bush]] for the Republican nomination. McCain's campaign was surprisingly strong, by ignoring the [[Iowa Caucus]], he was able to win the [[New Hampshire]] Primary by nineteen percentage points. And then won the [[Michigan]] Primary. However he went on to lose [[South Carolina]], and 9 out of the 13 [[Super Tuesday]] states. McCain withdrew from the race on March 9, 2000.

====After 2000====
Following the McCain's loss in the 2000 Presidential primary and reports of dirty tricks in [[South Carolina]]<ref>http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/03/21/the_anatomy_of_a_smear_campaign/ The anatomy of a smear campaign, March 21, 2004</ref><ref>http://www.palmettoscoop.com/2007/12/30/top-romney-advisor-tied-to-anonymous-attacks-of-previous-presidential-primary/ Top Romney advisor tied to anonymous attacks of previous presidential primary, December 30, 2007</ref>, McCain began to disagree with President Bush on many issues, such as tax cuts, climate change, and gun legislation. After the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]], McCain wrote legislation that created the 9/11 Commission, while he and Democratic Senator Fritz Hollings co-sponsored the Aviation and Transportation Security Act that federalized airport security. In May 2005, McCain led the so-called "[[Gang of 14]]" in the Senate, which established a compromise that preserved the ability of senators to filibuster judicial nominees, but only in "extraordinary circumstances". McCain also co-sponsored comprehensive immigration reform (see below under political record for details). In addition to bipartisan work in the Senate, it was during this period that McCain was courted by the Senate Democrats, and considered switching parties.<ref>http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/democrats-say-mccain-nearly-abandoned-gop-2007-03-28.html</ref>

===2008 Presidential Campaign===

{{main|John McCain 2008 Presidential Campaign}}

McCain announced his run for President in the highly volatile 2008 Republican primary early in 2007 at New Hampshire. Throughout the early months, the debates represented a splintered Party among the strong Christian constituency (Sam Brownback and Mike Huckabee), anti-immigration activists (Duncan Hunter, Tom Tancredo), and the blockbuster fundraising by Mitt Romney and Giuliani, who appeared to be media favorites upon entry. Mitt Romney raised $23 million in the first three months of 2007, for instance, three times that of Sen. McCain. In addition, McCain's refusal to sign pacts with important donors and his distaste for political fundraising<ref>Cook, Charles. "The 2008 Presidential Primaries: What in America's Name Is Going On?" The Washington Quarterly Vol. 31 Issue 3 pp. 193-204.</ref>often left him at odds with the other candidates, namely Rudy Giuliani, who amassed over $10 million in March 2007 alone.<ref>http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aZ7SuEo0wuMM&refer=home</ref>

McCain failed to win strong support because of his maverick image, especially with difficult relationships with key Christian leaders. Social conservatives flocked to Sam Brownback and Mike Huckabee with strong disfavor for McCain because of his mixed statements on abortion and religious initiatives. Many evangelicals remained reluctant to support McCain because of longstanding offense he had raised during his 2000 campaign against George W. Bush; news had been raised that many influential Christian organizations would schism from the GOP if they did not reconcile relationships with the Republican Party nominee.<ref>Luo, Michael. "Evangelicals see Dilemma in GOP Field." July 8, 2007. New York Times.</ref> McCain also suffered from his strong support for the Iraq war, which had erupted in sharp violence during early 2007, and was booed off-stage for his position on immigration reform, a hotly-debated issue among conservatives. Taken together, a damaging story by the New York Times claiming McCain had an affair with a lobbyist finally caused an enormous plummet in the polls.

When news had spread that McCain's campaign bankrupted and "imploded" in the summer of 2007, the Republican nomination began a period of quick shifting; other candidates began to soar in the polls, detracting McCain's support. Rudy Giuliani, who collected a strong following based on his leadership as "America's Mayor", began to court evangelical Christians who felt uneasy about McCain, gaining the endorsement of televangelist Pat Robertson. However, as his less-than-flattering personal life and liberal positions on social issues became apparent, he quickly lost momentum to Fred Thompson and Mike Huckabee.<ref>Cook, Charles. "The 2008 Presidential Primaries: What in America's Name Is Going On?" The Washington Quarterly Vol. 31 Issue 3 pp. 193-204.</ref> Fred Thompson, who entered late in the race, quickly withdrew because of lackadaisical popularity and poor fundraising efforts. Huckabee remained popular in the Southern United States, but failed to win major contests among independents and Democrat voters.

Romney had the edge in early races, but couldn't deliver a knockout blow. McCain's poll numbers slowly increased and benefited as the field narrowed. After McCain defeated top contender Mitt Romney by a large margin on Super Tuesday in delegate-rich states like New York, California, and Arizona,<ref>Scott Neuman and Howard Berkes. "Mitt Romney Drops Out of GOP Presidential Race." Feb. 7, 2008. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18772382</ref> Mitt Romney withdrew with some protest, leaving McCain the clear frontrunner.<ref>Bumiller, Elisabeth, Kirkpatrick, David. "Romney Is Out; McCain Emerges as G.O.P. Choice." Feb. 8, 2008. New York Times.</ref> Although McCain's proportion of the vote was not much higher than Romney's, he won most of the 'winner take all' states giving him a much higher proportion of the delegate count. Without Romney's well-financed opposition, McCain easily clinched the necessary delegate lead of 1,191 in March after a spirited yet short-lived fight from Mike Huckabee.<ref>NPR.org. "Election 2008: Huckabee, Romney Stay in Race for GOP Nomination." Feb. 6, 2008. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18739137</ref>

==Political Views==
'''Domestic Issues'''
===Balanced Budget===
McCain has emphasized reducing government spending over tax cuts. He is one of the Senate's most outspoken critics of pork barrel spending and has pledged to veto any bill with pork as President. Congressional experience has enabled John McCain to identify items that are unnecessary. McCain is fiscally responsible with the taxpayers money and created a simple method to detect spending abuses. <ref>[http://mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=d1a878d9-f16c-4570-b402-9d1bc3fe6ab9] , http://mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=d1a878d9-f16c-4570-b402-9d1bc3fe6ab9, U.S. Senate Pork Barrel Spending</ref>

* An appropriation that is not properly authorized by the Senate and not requested by the Administration.
* An unauthorized and unrequested, locality-specific or facility-specific earmark (including those funds that are above the Administration request).
* A budget add-on that would be subject to a budget point of order.
* The transfer or disposal of federal property or items under terms that circumvent existing law.
* New items added in conference that were never considered in either bill in either House.

===[[Education]]===
McCain supports school vouchers and charter schools. His voting record shows support for reducing the federal government's role in education. He voted for school vouchers for Washington, D.C., education savings accounts, and against $5billion for grants to local educational agencies. McCain sponsored the Education A-Plus bill in 1997 and again in 1999, which said that parents can open tax-free saving accounts for their children's school supplies. McCain also co-sponsored the Child Nutrition Act, which would provide federal funding for at-risk children. He has publicly stated he supports [[intelligent design]] teaching in schools.<ref>http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/politics/90069 "On Tuesday, though, he sided with the president on two issues that have made headlines recently: teaching intelligent design in schools...McCain told the Star that, like Bush, he believes "all points of view" should be available to students studying the origins of mankind."</ref>

===Health Care===
McCain's record and stated positions on health care are based on true conservative principles. He is against socialized health care, or health coverage mandates. McCain supports tax credits for personal health savings accounts and enhancing competition in the health care industry to improve quality and lower costs. He also supports allowing citizens to purchase out-of-state health insurance. In an October 2007 statement, McCain said: "In health care, we believe in enhancing the freedom of individuals to receive necessary and desired care. We do not believe in coercion and the use of state power to mandate care, coverage or costs." McCain is a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership. <ref>[http://www.republicanmainstreet.org/healthcare.htm Pro Healthcare]</ref>

===Energy===
John McCain has stated "ethanol subsidies, tariff barriers and sugar quotas drive up food prices and hurt Americans. However, we cannot take the wrong direction and cut off trade for American goods."<ref>[http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/4dbd2cc7-890e-47f1-882f-b8fc4cfecc78.htm], McCain Economic Plan</ref> “America’s most vital interests call us to the mission of energy security, and so does our sense of honor. And the straightest, swiftest path to energy security is to produce more, use less, and find new sources of power — so that no commodity can determine our security, and no crisis can undermine our economy,” McCain said in Houston, TX, June 16, 2008. He proposes to remove federal obstacles to oil drilling off our coastline. Among his major initiatives is the removal of the 27-year old federal moratorium on states’ abilities to explore and drill for oil and natural gas.<ref>[http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/06/17/mccain-slaps-obama-on-energy-calls-for-more-drilling/], McCain slaps Obama on energy, June 17th, 2008</ref> In addition, he wants the states to receive incentives and royalties to drill. The current ban on offshore drilling covers an estimated 80 percent of U.S. coastal waters."We've seen the impact of it in the form of food prices, in the form of gasoline, in the form of threats of inflation and indeed indications of inflation, and we must embark on a national mission to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil." <ref>[http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080616/ap_on_el_pr/mccain] , http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080616/ap_on_el_pr/mccain , AP McCain urges end to ban on offshore drilling , June 16, 2008</ref> He indicated, though, that the end of the ban on offshore drilling would have mostly psychological effects in the short term. At a town hall meeting, McCain stated, "I don't see an immediate relief, but I do see that exploitation of existing reserves that may exist -- and in view of many experts that do exist off our coasts -- is also a way that we need to provide relief. Even though it may take some years, the fact that we are exploiting those reserves would have psychological impact that I think is beneficial."
He would support incentives for building new nuclear power plants. <ref>http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/06/24/1163504.aspx</ref> John McCain wants more nuclear reactors to increase America's energy independence. He is calling for the construction of 45 new reactors by 2030. Also, McCain wants to increase federal funds for clean coal technology by 2 billion dollars to reduce dependence on foreign oil. <ref>[http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D91CMT0O0&show_article=1] , http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D91CMT0O0&show_article=1 , AP McCain calls for building 45 new nuclear reactors, June 18, 2008</ref>
McCain supports increasing ethanol imports and more production of hybrid vehicles. He is co-sponsor of a Senate cap-and-trade bill designed to limit greenhouse gas emissions. He has consistently voted preserving the budget for ANWR but against drilling for [[oil]] in the [[Arctic National Wildlife Refuge]] (ANWR), because of environmental concerns. Conservationists differ from conservatives that 2000 acres for oil drilling is not enough to impact [[polar bears]] in the region.

===[[Environment]]===
McCain's position on global warming issues has put him at odds with conservatives. His environmental proposals are mostly sound modern thinking by somebody that understands the enormity of the problem. McCain says that we can go green as a nation without bankrupting America. Per his website Senator McCain "wants to leave a better future for our children."
On January 2007, McCain said, "we continue to learn more about the science of climate change and the dangerous precedence of not addressing this environmental problem. The science tells us that urgent and significant action is needed." On October 30, 2003, he co-sponsored the Climate Stewardship Act (S.139), which was defeated. McCain is a member - and was endorsed - by the Republicans for Environmental Protection organization. His conservative stances include voting to confirm Gale Norton as Secretary of Interior and he is in favor of renewable energy: solar, hydro and wind. "Wind power is one of many alternative energy sources that are changing our economy for the better, and one day they will change our economy forever."

===[[Immigration]]===
John McCain says that he will secure the borders first and many immigration issue are still needed but will have to come later. In 2007, McCain worked to provide border security efforts with a temporary worker program and an eventual path to citizenship for many illegal immigrants. Conservatives wanted nothing to do with the proposal and in June 2007, Congress efforts collapsed. McCain said of the outcome,"I say it is a lesson learned about what the American people's priorities are. And their priority is to secure the borders." <ref>[http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2007-11-03-610628094_x.htm] , http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2007-11-03-610628094_x.htm, AP McCain emphasizes border security, Novmber 4, 2007</ref> "..I support the same solution. But we've got to secure the borders first" says McCain

On Jan. 5, regarding the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, Senator McCain announced that anyone who says he supported amnesty is "a liar, is lying." The senator stated "I do not support, nor would I ever support, any services provided to someone who came to this country illegally, nor would I ever and I never have supported [[Social Security]] benefits for people who are in this country illegally. Any assertion to the contrary is absolutely false." During the comprehensive immigration reform debate, Senator McCain voted to table an amendment that would have prevented illegal immigrants from receiving Social Security "are not able to receive Social Security benefits as a result of unlawful activity."<ref>http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00130</ref> Senator McCain stated in a May 29, 2003 interview, "Amnesty has to be an important part because there are people who have lived in this country for 20, 30 or 40 years, who have raised children here and pay taxes here and are not citizens." Arguing amnesty is not a free pass or a reward for law breaking, McCain stated "Well, because amnesty, according to the dictionary, is forgiveness. The proposal that we had- would require fines, would require back in the line, would require deportation for some. It would require others to go back to the country of their origin" <ref>[http://www.ontheissues.org/celeb/John_McCain_Immigration.htm] , Ontheissues.com, John McCain on Immigration</ref> At the [[Republican]] debate at the Reagan library, McCain stated he supports the deportation of 2 million illegals who have committed crimes in the USA.

Conversely, in a June 2008 meeting with Hispanic leaders in Chicago, McCain indicated he would push legislation to overhaul federal immigration laws if elected. According to one attendee, Rosanna Pulido, head of the Illinois [[Minuteman Project]], ""He's one John McCain in front of white Republicans. And he's a different John McCain in front of Hispanics..." <ref>http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/20/mccain-discusses-immigrat_n_108297.html McCain Discusses Immigration With Hispanic Leaders</ref> <ref>http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2008-06-19-4020801806_x.htm McCain Meets With Hispanic Leaders</ref> Pulido further stated, "He was telling one group of people one thing and the Hispanics another, I'm a conservative and I think he's throwing conservatives under the bus."<ref>http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/06/title----mcca-1.html McCain Double-Talk on Immigration?</ref> Due to his support, members of the Minuteman Project, participating in the Minuteman Project Caravan traveled to Washington, D.C. to register their disapproval. They made an entry into McCain's Guest Log Book asking him to uphold the Constitution and enforce the law. After making the entry, the group was forced to leave by a senior staffer for Senator McCain or be reported to the police. <ref>http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1643181/posts Minuteman Project Thrown Out of McCain's Office</ref>

Senator McCain's position on illegal immigration has arguably given him the most criticisms from conservatives. On May 12, 2005, McCain joined Senator [[Ted Kennedy]] (D-[[Massachusetts]]) as co-sponsor of the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act. The bill would legalize and eventually grant citizenship to the estimated 12–20 million [[illegal alien]]s in the United States and have them eminently start collecting social security and other government benefits. The bill never came for a vote on the Senate floor. The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 and the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 are two additional compromises based on the original McCain-Kennedy bill. McCain has consistently voted for visas for skilled workers. McCain voted for the Secure Fence Act of 2006 and has said border security should be a bigger priority then the illegal aliens who are currently here.

===Global Trade===
McCain has actively supported reducing barriers to trade and has shown leadership in the [[Senate]] on Free Trade Agreements (FTA). Senator McCain supports both pending FTAs for Columbia and [[South Korea]]. <ref>[http://useconomy.about.com/od/candidatesandtheeconomy/p/McCain_Trade.htm], John McCain and Trade</ref> He voted for and defends the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

===[[Social Security]]===
McCain is a strong supporter of private Social Security accounts.

===Tax Reform===
In 2001, McCain gained attention as one of only two Republicans who voted against President Bush's tax cuts. He opposed accelerating the cuts in 2003, saying, "I voted against the tax cuts because of the disproportional amount that went to the wealthiest Americans. I would clearly support not extending those tax cuts in order to help address the deficit." He has now changed his stance, by voting to make the tax cuts permanent, and says he would do the same as President. In 2002, Senator McCain was one of only two Republicans to twice vote against the permanent repeal of the Death Tax. He has also refused to sign a pledge put forth by Americans for Tax Freedom not to impose any new taxes or increase existing taxes. However, many of McCain's votes has shown support for lower taxes, such as eliminating the marriage penalty, a 1997 vote to cut capital gains taxes and he introduced measures that would require a sixty-vote majority to pass a tax increase.

'''Foreign Policy'''

===National Security===

McCain urges Senate to pass FISA. “For months, House Democrats, the [[ACLU]], and the trial lawyers have held up legislation to modernize our nation’s terrorist surveillance laws. Today, the House passed a compromise bill to end this impasse. While I would have preferred to see the Senate bill enacted, which I voted for earlier this year, I am pleased Congressional leaders and the Administration were able to reach an agreement to reform our current surveillance law and not let FISA expire in August. I hope [[Senate]] Democrats will allow this matter to quickly be considered by the Senate and sent to the President for his signature. I will support this measure and hope that politics will be put aside in favor of this vital national security matter.” <ref>[http://mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressOffice.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=a7f9dc6c-da0e-459d-dd6c-91e20a46e1e5] , McCAIN URGES SENATE PASSAGE OF FISA
, June 20, 2008</ref> Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was established in 1978.

McCain has voted in support of the [[Patriot Act|USA PATRIOT Act]] as well as National Missile Defense. However, he has joined [[liberal]]s in support of immediately closing [[Guantanamo Bay]], and moving all the prisoners to Fort Leavenworth. On October 3, 2005, he introduced the McCain Detainee Amendment which prohibits inhumane treatment of prisoners, including prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. The bill was passed and signed by President [[George W. Bush]]. McCain has recently criticized the practice of [[waterboarding]], saying "they should know what it is. It is not a complicated procedure. It is torture." McCain voted against HR 2082, the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, which included provisions that would have prevented the CIA from water boarding prisoners.

===[[Iran]]===
McCain has said that "We continue to be concerned about Iranian influence and assistance to Hezbollah as well as Iranian pursuit of nuclear weapons." He tried to ban Iran from playing in the 2006 World Cup, citing Iranian President [[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]]'s [[Holocaust]] denials.
In a speech to war verterans, McCain commited to proactive actions against Iran and he joked with a parody of the Beach Boy's hit song "Barbara Ann" by singing 'bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb, Iran'

===[[Iraq]]===
McCain voted with the majority [[Republican]] party and 29 Democrats of the Senate in favor of the 2002 "Iraq War Resolution" authorizing President George W. Bush to go to war against Iraq and overthrow the [[Saddam Hussein]] regime. In 1998, McCain voted in favor of HR 4655 Iraq Liberation Act, signed by then President Clinton. <ref>[http://www.iraqwatch.org/government/US/Legislation/ILA.htm], http://www.iraqwatch.org/government/US/Legislation/ILA.htm, HR4655 Public Law: 105-338, October 31, 1998</ref> HR 4655 declares that it should be the policy of the United States to seek to remove the Saddam Hussein regime from power in Iraq and to replace it with a democratic government. McCain went on to became a critic of the management of the war, arguing that there wasn't enough troop strength in the area. However, he never became a defeatist advocating surrender. McCain publicly stated that he had "no confidence" in then-Secretary of Defense [[Donald Rumsfeld]]. However, he refused to call for his resignation, saying that "the president picks his team, and the president has the right to stay with that team if he wants to." McCain became one of the strongest leading advocates in the Senate for the 2007 troop surge, which increased the number of American troops by 20,500, deployed to provide security to [[Baghdad]] and Al Anbar Province. On February 4, he criticized a non-binding resolution opposing the troop buildup, calling it a reckless "vote of no confidence" in the U.S. Commanders and in the military. Additionally, he voted against all measures aimed at withdrawal of U.S. forces and voted against cutting off of war funds. McCain rightly believes that Congress should not micromanage the war and to give the military everything they ask for to successfully complete the mission. He has mentioned in a town hall forum that staying the course in Iraq for 'a hundred years' would not bother him if no American soldier's were losing their lives. This became an issue for Democratic political strategy. The DNC lead by chairman [[Howard Dean]] repeatedly tried to use false statements in justifying attacking McCain.<ref>[http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/mccains_100year_war.html]http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/mccains_100year_war.html, Washington post Fact Checker, April 2, 2008</ref> What McCain said is very different from what the liberal media and the DNC were reporting. Asked in Derry, NH of the willingness to keep troops in Iraq for 50 years, he said "Make it 100" and

{{QuoteBox|"That's fine with me as long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed."}}

==Social Issues==
===[[Abortion]]===
{{QuoteBox|"If I am fortunate enough to be elected as the next President of the United States, I pledge to you to be a loyal and unswerving friend of the right to life movement."}}

Sen. John McCain has more than a twenty year anti-abortion record, first in the [[U.S. House of Representatives]] then in the U.S. Senate. McCain voted 11 times on anti-abortion and other pro-life issues in the House. Senator McCain has voted 119 times on anti-abortion and other pro-life measures in the Senate. <ref>[http://www.naral.org/assets/files/mccain_fact_sheet.pdf], http://www.naral.org/assets/files/mccain_fact_sheet.pdf</ref>

* Voted against a [[Roe v. Wade]] resolution
* Co-sponsored and voted for the Federal Abortion Ban
* Supported H.R.1997, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act

"Voted for four anti-abortion U.S. Supreme Court judges"

"Voted for six anti-abortion lower court judges"

* Supported H.R.3913, to prohibit federal funds for abortion services in any case
* Voted to make it a federal crime for anyone but a parent to cross state lines for abortion termination
* Voted in favor of a national network of parental notification.

''John McCain's Pro-Life Words''

“I do not support Roe v. Wade. It should be overturned.”Ann Althouse, Rudy & Mitt Hem & Haw on Abortion, N.Y. TIMES, Feb. 24, 2007.

Sen. McCain’s campaign website “believes Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision that must be overturned.” John McCain for President 2008, On the Issues: Human Dignity and the Sanctity of Life
{{QuoteBox|"I have many, many votes and it’s been consistent. And I’ve got a consistent zero from NARAL throughout all those years…."}}

"My record is clear. And I think the important thing is you look at people’s voting record because sometimes rhetoric can be a little… misleading…. As you know I don’t support Roe v. Wade…. I thought it was a bad decision, and I think that the decision should be made in the states"
(John McCain for President 2008, On the Issues: Human Dignity and the Sanctity of Life)

“I’m proud that we have Justice Alito and Roberts on the United States Supreme Court. I’m very proud to have played a very small role in making that happen.” McCain explained further that he “will try to find clones of Alito and Roberts” to fill future court vacancies.<ref>[http://www.catholic.org/politics/story.php?id=26539], Letter from Sen. John McCain to Pro‐Life Community Janary 23, 2008</ref>

McCain's record in the Senate on abortion is pro-life. He voted for the 2003 Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act. McCain is also voted against government funding of birth control and sex education.<ref>http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00214 Voted Nay on an amendment to authorize grants to carry out programs to provide education on preventing teen pregnancies</ref> <ref>http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=1&vote=00075 Vote against allocation of $100m for prevention of unintended pregnancies </ref><ref>http://www.nowpublic.com/quiet-campaign-against-contraception Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain's campaign officials boast he has "consistently voted against taxpayer-funded contraception programs." And Mr. McCain reports that his adviser on sexual-health matters is Sen. Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, who leads campaigns claiming condoms are unsafe and opposing emergency contraception.</ref> During his first Presidential campaign for the 2000 election, McCain said the following on [[Roe v. Wade]], "I'd love to see a point where it is irrelevant, and could be repealed because abortion is no longer necessary. But certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade, which would then force X number of women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations." <ref>http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/feb/07021908.html McCain's "</ref> He has since changed his position, saying Roe v. Wade should be overturned.

===[[Gun Control]]===
A top official of the [[National Rifle Association]] said Republican John McCain has been a reliable ally of gun owners despite divisions with the powerful lobbying group on some issues. NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre told The Associated Press "...We're not foolish enough to ignore the vast areas of agreement in which John McCain has been a friend to gun owners." <ref>[http://www.gopusa.com/news/2008/may/0514_nra_mccain.shtml], http://www.gopusa.com/news/2008/may/0514_nra_mccain.shtml, NRA chief stresses common ground with McCain, May 14, 2008</ref> The Republican presidential nominee has voted against a ban on assault-type weapons with restrictions which were objected.

McCain's record on gun control is mixed. He co-sponsored the Gun Show Loophole Closing and Gun Law Enforcement Act of 2001, that would reduce gun shows, require gun-owners to purchase trigger locks, and allow federal agents to arrest those who violate federal gun laws. However, McCain has frequently voted in support of the Second Amendment, such as voting against background checks at gun shows and voting in support of prohibiting lawsuits against gun manufacturers. In August of 1999, McCain said he was open to voting for an assault weapon ban, depending on the details. However, he still voted against the Federal Assault Weapons Ban and the efforts to renew it, as well as the Brady Bill.

===[[Same-sex marriage]]===
In the speech on the Senate floor July 13th, 2004, McCain stated “Mr. President, most Americans believe, as I do, that the institution of marriage should be reserved for the union of a man and a woman." <ref>http://www.friendsofmccain.com/news/dspnews.cfm?id=143</ref> John McCain revealed his decision based on super majority requirements and the current political realities within Congress. “By my count, there is not at this time even a small majority of senators who would vote for Senator Allard’s amendment, much less the 67 votes required by the Constitution. That won’t change, Mr. President, unless public opinion changes significantly. The [[Founders]], wisely, made certain that the Constitution is difficult to amend, and, as a practical political matter, can’t be done without overwhelming public approval. And thank God for that. Were it any easier I fear we could not make the claim for the Constitution’s enduring success that I have just made." Further, he explained his approach to the amendment's ultimate success “If a constitution is to be amended, Mr. President, it should be a state constitution." McCain voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment. In May 2008, the California Supreme Court effectively created a ruling to grant same-sex partners equal rights to [[Marriage]] and to be recognized by the state. A spokesman for Republican John McCain, who opposes gay marriage, said the Arizona senator "doesn't believe judges should be making these decisions."

==Attitude Towards Asians==
McCain had previously used the racial slur "gooks" to refer to his Vietnamese captors, but has since apologized, stating, "I apologize and renounce all language that is bigoted and offensive."<ref>http://www.asianweek.com/2000_02_24/feature_mccainapology.html</ref> Attitudes among asian peoples have been generally supportive of McCain.

== Votes missed ==
As of August 2007, McCain had missed more votes during the current session of Congress than any Senator other than [[South Dakota]] [[Democrat]] [[Tim Johnson]], who had suffered a brain hemorrhage that had kept him from Congress. He had missed over 48% of his votes. <ref>Lawrence Journal-World, August 10, 2007</ref> This is due to the fact that he is running a nationwide campaign for President.

==Personal life==
[[Image:Cindy McCain.jpg|thumb|Cindy McCain]]
McCain has been married twice. His first marriage, to Carol Shepp, ended in [[divorce]] in 1980 after 15 years of marriage. McCain admitted responsibility for the breakup.<ref>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/rules021299.htm</ref> His second and current wife is Cindy Lou Hensley, to whom he has been married for 28 years. His son John Sidney IV is a Midshipman at the [[United States Naval Academy]], Annapolis, and his son James is a non-commissioned officer in the [[United States Marine Corps]], who is serving in [[Iraq]] as part of [[Operation Iraqi Freedom]].

===McCain's family===
*Wife Cindy
*4 sons
**Douglas
**Andrew
**John (''"Jack"'') Sidney IV
**James
*3 daughters
**Sidney
**Meghan
**Bridget
*Parents
**[[Admiral]] John Sydney McCain, Jr. (from [[Indiana]])
**[[Roberta McCain|Roberta Wright McCain]] (from [[Oklahoma]]).

== Books ==
* ''Faith of My Fathers'' (Random House; 1999) ISBN 0-3755-0191-6
* ''Odysseus in America'' (Scribner; 2002) ISBN 0-7432-1156-1
* ''Worth Fighting For: A Memoir'' (Diane Publ. Co; 2002) ISBN 0-7567-6759-8
* ''Medal of Honor'' (Artisan; 2003) ISBN 1-5796-5240-9
* ''Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life'' (Random House; 2004) ISBN 1-4000-6030-3
* ''Character Is Destiny: Inspiring Stories Every Young Person Should Know and Every Adult Should Remember'' (Random House; 2005) ISBN 1-4000-6412-0
* ''Hard Call: Great Decisions and the Extraordinary People Who Made Them'' (Twelve; 2007) ISBN 0-4466-9911-X

==Further reading==
*McCain, John [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=513224&in_page_id=1811 ''My six years of hell: John McCain recalls life as a prisoner of war in Vietnam''] 8 February 2008 [[Daily Mail]]. Accessed 9 February 2008

==See Also==
* [[John McCain 2008 Presidential Campaign]]
* [[Previous Breaking News/John McCain|Articles about '''John McCain''' from previous "Breaking News"]]
* [[White House]]

== External links ==
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQsckD9trn4&eurl=http://evangelicalsformccain.org/meetthesenator.htm ''John McCain: Courageous Service''] - Streaming video documentary hosted at YouTube, including footage of McCain's time as a POW and the Forrestal incident.
*[http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=9542249 John McCain Biography]
*[http://evangelicalsformccain.org/index.htm Evangelicals for McCain] - Christians, Families and Patriots for John McCain
*[http://studentsformccain08.blogspot.com/ Students for McCain 2008]
*[http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/01/mccains-mom-pop.html McCain's Mom Pops Off]
*[http://www.rd.com/national-interest/people-and-politics/our-interview-with-sen-john-mccain/article.html Presidential Candidate John McCain on the Issues]
*[http://www.votesmart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=53270 Voting record]

==References==
{{reflist|small}}

{{2008 presidential candidates}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCain, John}}

[[Category:Republican Party]]
[[Category:Arizona Senators]]

Talk:Gay

2008-08-08T03:23:32Z

Pakhyongshin: Unlok

Unlock this so we can edit it. [[User:Televangelist|Televangelist]] 13:33, 26 October 2007 (EDT)

This page should probably redirect to [[homosexual]] rather than being locked as a blank page.--[[User:Reginod|Reginod]] 18:10, 14 March 2007 (EDT)

Shouldn't it redirect to [[Happiness]]? [[User:IMFromKathlene|IMFromKathlene]] 05:42, 30 March 2007 (EDT)

:Gay people are full of or show high-spirited merriment, or are given to social pleasures often including dissipation: "led a gay Bohemian life"; "a gay old rogue with an eye for the ladies"
:*"when hearts were young and gay""- Wordsworth
:* "a poet could not but be gay, in such a jocund company"- Wordsworth

:Things that are brightly colored and showy may be described as gay: "a dress a bit too gay for her years"; "birds with gay plumage".

:I can't for the love of God figure why this page is redirected to an article about depraved perversity.
:[[User:Auld Nick|Auld Nick]] 07:04, 21 May 2007 (EDT)

LOL. You people....

"gay" does not signify promiscuity..? {{unsigned|Mjac1103}}

There is no single "gay lifestyle". There are gays who practice a promiscuous lifestyle, but there are substantially more who form healthy, committed, monogamous relationships. There are many, many heterosexuals who have affairs and lead immoral, promiscuous lives, but somehow this goes unnoticed. The belief that homosexuality is associated with a promiscuous lifestyle is no more than a stigma conferred upon them by a majority of straight people, who, refusing to admit that they are not entirely innocent, project their feelings of guilt and worthlessness on homosexuals. - awrootbeer1

== basic dictionary meaning? ==

Surely this article should say that the original basic dictionary meaning (and indeed the common meaning until reltively recently) was simply '''merry''' ("happily excited, keenly alive and exuberant, having or inducing high spirits," according to my little Merriam-Webster) - and that the word has only recently become synonymous with homosexual (having begun, if I read it right, to gather connotations of licentiousness sometime around the late 19th or early 20th century). Seems to me there is a danger of misleading readers of the article if this is not clearly explained. Any young person reading Shakespeare or 19th-century literature is likely to misunderstand the word "gay", and putting that possible misreading right would surely be a service that this encyclopedia should perform. And what's this stuff about "a crush". Not in my dictionary as a meaning of "gay", nor in my vocabulary! [[User:Humblpi|Humblpi]] 13:11, 17 February 2008 (EST)

==Info==
I wish to add information about gays in Korea, so please to unlock. Thank you.--[[User:Pakhyongshin|Pakhyongshin]] 23:23, 7 August 2008 (EDT)

Talk:Unisex movement

2008-08-04T15:03:02Z

Pakhyongshin:

This stub article is unbalanced. It just has two opposition quotes. --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] [[User talk:Ed Poor|Talk]] 13:34, 4 March 2008 (EST)
::Ed, I don't think that word means what you think it does...How, exactly, does two quotes from opposite sides of an issue make it "unbalanced?"[[User:AliceBG|AliceBG]] 14:02, 6 March 2008 (EST)
:::Perhaps it would help if you weren't the one that added them, as well... However, do we have actual proof of someone who isn't Seymour Skinner saying men and women should be exactly the same? [[User:Barikada|Barikada]] 18:03, 6 March 2008 (EST)

If you could find two quotes opposed to it, I'm sure you could find two quotes supporting it. [[User:CogitoErgoSum|CogitoErgoSum]] 10:35, 4 August 2008 (EDT)

What is this mean, please? The article does not say anything at all. And nor does Wikipedia, a very good resource you can find at http://www.wikipedia.com, have anything about it. I do not understand.--[[User:Pakhyongshin|Pakhyongshin]] 11:03, 4 August 2008 (EDT)

American History Lecture One

2008-08-04T15:00:41Z

Pakhyongshin: /* Exploration */ Native peoples were there before whites; information

Welcome to "American history," also known as "United States history." This will become your favorite course. It has something for everyone: heroes, villains, criminal trials, funny mistakes, competitions, politics, literature, gold, silver, war, and peace. You name it, American history has it. We are going to have some fun in this course.
 
We will start without a textbook, to encourage students to be more proactive in learning history. If we can find a good textbook or reference source, then we'll distribute it a few weeks into the course.
 
The Pilgrims came to America with a group not much bigger than our class, traveling a boat called the "Mayflower" that was not much bigger than our classroom. Just before arriving on shore, they agreed to a written agreement or "compact" to bind them after they arrived. The very first words of their "[[Mayflower Compact]]" were "In ye name of God Amen."
 
Just as our Nation's founders started with a prayer, so do we. Prayer clears out the noise in our minds. We are looking for knowledge and inspiration here, and that comes from God. In most countries parents do not have the freedom even to have a class like this. The main reason we have freedoms is because America was established on principles of liberty, and religious devotion in America remains among the strongest in the world today, as it was 250 years ago.
 
Today is a critical time in our nation's history, and this class may be as important to the future as the Mayflower voyage was. Let's begin.

== College Board Exams ==

This course will give you the foundation for taking three different College Board exams (usually a student takes only one of the three): the [[CLEP]], the [[AP]], and the [[SAT II]]. The CLEP is a multiple-choice exam that is recognized by most (but not all) colleges as a way to earn college credit. It costs about $50 and is administered on computers at local colleges, usually once a month. The AP, or Advanced Placement exam, is given only once a year in May at local high schools, and is more expensive. It includes both multiple-choice and essay questions, and is used by different colleges to give credit for courses. In 2009, the AP exam for U.S. History is scheduled for Friday, May 9.
 
The SAT II in American History is an inexpensive multiple-choice exam that takes only an hour and is given at high schools on Saturdays once a month, October through June. No college credit is given for it, but it is used for college applications to recognize achievement. The SAT II is the most biased of the three exams, and is known for emphasizing liberal culture and matters of race and gender. The CLEP exam is probably the least biased on the three.
 
Each of these College Board exams can be taken as often as one likes, though it is difficult to take the AP exam more than once because it is offered only once a year, and it is expensive to retake the CLEP exam. The SAT II, which is cheaper, is the easiest to take more than once and colleges only look at the highest score.
 There is absolutely no requirement to take any of these College Board exams as part of this course, and references to the exams are used more as a way of helping you see the "big picture," as in how much time should be spent on a particular period or historical topic. Our class has only two required, multiple-choice exams: a midterm and a final. This course will also help students improve their test-taking skills on multiple-choice exams. We will also have weekly homework assignments consisting of short-answer questions.
 

== What Students Find Challenging About History ==

Students find the following aspects of American history challenging:

* interpreting political cartoons
* keeping the different periods of American history separate, yet connected; seeing the trends
* understanding the importance of economic issues in shaping history
* improving speed in reading and retaining historical information, such as answering history questions quickly
* dealing with [[liberal]] bias in the selection and presentation of questions on College Board exams:
** denial of [[Christian]] and [[conservative]] achievement
** overemphasis on [[liberal]]s and their beliefs, and denial of their failures
** obsession with materialism and inborn characteristics like race and gender

Common mistakes by students in history courses include:

* failure to recognize that American politics is always a battle between two sides
* memorizing dates without understanding the sequence of events (exams rarely ask about dates, but do ask about sequence)
* getting bogged down in detail and failing to see the big picture
* misunderstanding questions
* forgetting that people in the past were similar in nature to people today; they were motivated by religion, money, power, etc., and laziness has always been a problem

== The Key to Mastering History ==

The key to mastering history is to find what you like and understand, and then use it as your foundation to learn everything else. In other words, first find and learn what you like, and then learn everything else by connecting it to what you know. Use the same technique that we all use to for directions: pick a landmark or a place that you know how to get to, and then figure out how to go from there to where you need to go.
 
For example, if you are most interested in religion, then learn about the 13 colonies based on their different attitudes towards religion. If you are most interested in one colony, then learn about it and how it relates to other colonies. If you like military history, then use that as your starting point.
 
Perhaps you like politics the most. In that case, you'll want to memorize the presidents and leaders of Congress, and relate historical events to their times in office. Or perhaps you enjoy legal issues, and reading about what the courts do. If so, then you'll want to focus your attention on the major rulings of the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] throughout American history, and relate other historical events to those decisions.
 
On the SAT II U.S. History exam, the breakdown by subject matter is as follows:
 Political History - 32-36%
 Economic History - 18-20%
 Social History - 18-22%
 Cultural and Intellectual History - 10-12%
 Foreign Policy - 13-17%

The biggest part of the exam by far is politics, mostly concerning what happened in the federal government in [[Washington, D.C.]].

The "cultural and intellectual history" portion seems important to the exam but actually it is mostly cultural rather than intellectual history, and the questions are liberal in nature (e.g., asking about an artist who liberals like). Also, what counts as "economic history" is not what you might expect. There are almost no questions about the [[conservative]] gold standard, for example, even though that issue the political scene throughout history (and was even an issue in [[Ron Paul]]'s campaign for presidency in 2008). Instead, questions about economic history on the SAT II are likely to be about unions, the treatment of workers, alleged corruption of big business, and gender and racial issues.

Notice what is missing on the College Board exams: military history. Unfortunately, many educators in the [[United States]] dislike the military, and that bias shows up on the exams. No questions are there about battles or key military strategies and decisions. The only time the military shows up on these exams is when they have a political impact, and then they qualify as political history.

== Periods in American History ==

American history can be broken into about 20 time periods:

* settlement by paleo-indians
* discovery by Europeans, exploration by Europeans and settlement by Europeans
* colonial
* birth of the nation
* growth of the nation
* Jacksonian Democracy
* pre-Civil War
* [[Civil War]]
* [[Reconstruction]]
* [[Gilded Age]]
* [[Imperialism]]
* World War I
* Roaring Twenties and followed by the [[Great Depression]]
* World War II
* [[Cold War]]
** Korean War
** Vietnam War
* Reagan [[conservatism]]
* Post-Reagan Prosperity and the dot-com boom
* [[9/11]] and terrorism

On the SAT II in U.S History, the breakdown of questions is like this:

 Pre-Columbian history to 1789 - 20%
 1790 to 1898 - 40%
 1899 to the present - 40%

Hence nearly half the exam is on the last century on the SAT II, and only about 18 or 19 questions are devoted to all of pre-exploration, exploration, settlements, the colonies, the documents that founded the nation, the American Revolution, and the election of George Washington. That means there are no more than 3 or so questions (out of a 90-95 questions on the exam) about the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution.

== Why America? ==

Maybe we could write most of American history just by predicting what would probably happen. Imagine a big chunk of land in between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. There are people who live on the land. Ask yourself: why would Europeans want to go there? What reasons can you think of?
 
Search for gold. Convert the natives to Christianity. Conquer the natives. Obtain freedom. Why do your parents homeschool? For some of the same reasons. Go there for the same reason people climb a mountain: because it is there! Escape where you are. Set up a special religious community. Meet new people and make new friends. Trade goods with the people. Learn from the people. Have adventures and then write about them.
 
What is likely to happen if a bunch of Europeans go this land? Conflicts with the natives. Conflicts with other European countries. Conflicts with the mother country that sent the settlers. New opportunities for improvements, for new products, for new businesses, for new religions, for new systems of government.
 
Who is going to pay for exploration and settlement? Kings. Investors. Do-gooders. Churches. Mostly nobody.
 
Who is going to do the hard labor needed to set up a new community, like chopping down trees, working the farms, constructing buildings? There is almost no money to pay anyone. Families might do some. [[Indentured servants]]. Slaves.
 
It also helps to look for unifying themes to organize events in your mind. One theme that helps explain American history works well is the overall expansion of Christianity, for 2000 years. Why did [[Christopher Columbus]] and other explorers risk their lives to come to the New World? To spread Christianity. Why did families then risk their lives to settle here? To establish religious communities free of persecution. Two hundred years later, why did Massachusetts prohibit slavery and why did abolitionists President [[John Quincy Adams]] devote their lives to ending slavery? Because their religious values told them slavery was wrong.
 
There are other possible themes also. How about the desire to make more money, or make some money? How about the urge for self-government, to be in charge of oneself free from a monarchy? How about the advance of technology and its affect on how we live? There are many possible themes to American history and we will have fun debates about them.
 
From 1789 until today, we have had an American President. He is not more important than others. If I had to name the ten most important Americans in history, I would only include one president in the list (the first one, [[George Washington]]). But memorizing the list of 43 presidents can help you organize all the other facts. When someone asks me what was happening in 1962, then I think of who was president and then remember the issues of that time. The presidents become like drawers, one per president, filled with issues and events.
 
But before 1789 there was no president. How are we going to organize that? One way is to focus on the three most important colonies, [[Virginia]] (1607), [[Massachusetts]] (1620) and [[Pennsylvania]] (1681), and relate the other 11 colonies and events to them. Another way is to look at the battles that occurred before the [[American Revolution]], such as the [[French and Indian War]] in 1754-60.
 
Regardless, by the end of this course, you will be able to hear an event and describe what was going on at that time. You will be able to tell me what happened before the event, and what happened afterwards.
 
Don’t try to memorize hundreds of dates. Instead, when you see a date, think what happened before and after it. There are only about ten dates that you need to know. All other dates, such as those in the event list, are there just for the purpose of ordering events. For example, no one will ask you when Georgia was founded as a colony. But you may be asked whether it was the first or last colony founded. (It was the last colony established.) Another example: [[Quebec]] was founded in 1608. Don’t remember the 1608, but remember that Quebec was founded one year after [[Jamestown]] was established (1607 – one of the few dates you should memorize!)
 
If you have a good memory, then memorize the facts. If memorization is difficult for you, then focus on the trends and movements in history. This course gives you four different ways to learn the material: (1) the lectures, (2) Conservapedia, (3) the event list and (4) the homework assignments. Different students will learn better from some approaches than others. It’s your job to find what works best for you. At the end your progress will be measured by multiple choice exams.
 
This class is a different approach to American history than most courses that take all year. Learning in a simple and quick manner can sometimes be better. It’s easier to see how events relate to each other. It’s easier to see the big picture. When you want to find your way somewhere, do you want a road map that has every single detail and building on it? No, that is too hard to read. You want a map that has the important things on it. Same with studying history: don’t allow yourself to be sidetracked by unimportant details. Focus on the big stuff.

== Settlement ==
Paleo-indian peoples migrated to the Americas in four main periods of migration, beginning 15000 years ago and lasting until 4000 years ago, stabilizing populations in the mainland and surrounding islands over the following period and developing a wealth of culture and unique advancements. Some of these, such as the Adena burial mounds and Mississippian platform towns, have lasted even into the current era.<ref>Melissa L. Meyer, Dean R. Snow, Charles L. Cohen, Russell Thornton, Donald A. Grinde Jr., Leah Dilworth "Indian History and Culture" The Oxford Companion to United States History. Paul S. Boyer, ed. Oxford University Press 2001. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. University of Tampa. 4 August 2008 <http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t119.e0758-s0002></ref>

== Exploration ==

Starting in the Middle Ages, Christian Europe began to use its knowledge, wealth and [[faith]] to extend move beyond its horizons. Christian Europeans fought the Holy [[Crusades]] from 1095 to 1291 to protect pilgrims to [[Jerusalem]] against Moslem attacks. Some Europeans were motivated to spread the [[Gospel]]. Others were motivated by a desire to increase their wealth, such as by finding gold. Supporting both types of people was increased knowledge about science and geography: Europeans knew that they could reach the Orient by traveling West '''''around''''' the world. What they did not know is what they would find, if anything, by sailing West, before they reached the Orient.
 
It took enormous courage, determination and financial support to sail West into the complete unknown. It also took more than a desire to get rich, because there were easier ways to make money. That additional desire was a passion to spread Christianity to new civilizations. In 1482, a determined Christian Italian explorer named [[Christopher Columbus]] sought financing to sail west in order to reach India. He tried Portugal for raising money, but it already had its own successful explorers. Why would Portugal need Columbus? Portugal declined to support him, and Columbus turned to Spain, which was now Christian after having driven the Muslims out. In 1492, Spain funded Columbus' daring proposal to sail West to reach the Orient.
 
Before we describe this further, however, it is necessary to note that many have sought to deny Columbus credit for his efforts. Some claim that around A.D. 1000, the Scandinavian [[Leif Ericson]] discovered [[Vinland]] where the present [[New England]] is, and even supposedly founded a small colony that failed. But there is no evidence for this myth: "People have been looking hard for hundreds of years and there is no archaeological evidence in this part — it's certainly possible, the Vikings were incredible boat handlers — '''but there is no evidence'''," observed one university history professor.<ref>http://farshores.org/a04viki.htm. It is more plausible, but still unproven, that some Vikings once saw or landed in Newfoundland (now part of Canada north of Maine) without creating a settlement.</ref> Moreover, if it happened, then was a complete failure. Absolutely nothing further came of that effort. It is probably a distortion designed to take credit away from someone whose vision and courage was inspired daily by his [[faith]] in [[Jesus Christ]]: [[Christopher Columbus]]. You will see many such distortions in how American history is typically taught today.
 
So back to what Columbus did achieve. He set sail in three ships. First sighted land in late 1492. On Christmas eve, December 24, 1492, one of Columbus's ship, the [[Santa Maria]], reached the island of [[Haiti]]. Columbus named the settlement “La Navidad,” meaning “The Nativity,” and dropped off 40 men with a promise to return to them the next year. Columbus then wrote to the King and Queen of Spain the following in his Journal: “In all the world there can be no better or gentler people. Your Highnesses should feel great joy, because presently they will be Christians, and instructed in the good manners of your realms.”
 
But he had grossly underestimated the size of the world, and when he reached San Salvador, Haiti (Hispaniola) and Cuba he thought he reached the Far East. So he called the natives Indians. He left some men there but they were killed by the natives. Columbus reported back that new people had been found to evangelize with Christianity.
 
Soon Spain and Portugal divided the Americas with the [[Line of Demarcation]], drawn by the Pope. The [[Treaty of Tordesillas]] moved the line in 1493. It was a North-South line that gave Spain North America and the western part of South America, but Portugal received Brazil. That’s why Brazilians speak Portugese to this day.
 
<discuss how Columbus returned to Europe, and then found the same location on his second trip> Columbus sailed on three subsequent voyages, but never achieved his goal and died discredited. What was his motivation? Primarily to spread Christianity, but also to find gold to reward his sponsors and fund further expeditions. Ultimately, his purpose focused on a dream to liberate Jerusalem, as the Crusades attempted.
 
What influence did Columbus have? He gave Spain [[Haiti]], [[Puerto Rico]], [[Jamaica]] and [[Cuba]] by 1515. Spain then settled Florida (St. Augustine), and later Santa Fe, New Mexico. Spanish [[Hernando Cortes]] conquered the Aztecs in central Mexico (1521), and [[Francisco Pizarro]] conquered the Incas of Peru (1531). They seized much gold in the process.
 
But while Spanish soldiers came to America, Spanish women did not. So there were not many distinct, permanent Spanish settlements. Also, the Spanish were also entirely subservient to their King back in Europe. Separate governments did not develop.
 
Other European powers were exploring North America also. The French explored the St. Lawrence and settled Quebec, where French is still spoken to this day. The French also explored the Mississippi, and settled the towns of Saint Louis (named after a French king) and New Orleans.
 
The Dutch explored and settled the Hudson River, and calling that region New Netherlands and buying and naming Manhattan New Amsterdam.
 
The Swedish settled in Delaware; Germans settled later in Pennsylvania.
 
Explorer [[John Cabot]] discovered the North American coastline for England in 1497. But no settlements were attempted by the English for about another 100 years.
 
The reason is that North America didn’t have what the explorers were looking for. America lacked valuable natural resources. There was no gold, which is what Europe wanted. In 1576, the British explorer [[Martin Frobisher]] even hauled 200 tons of material back to England, hoping it was gold. It wasn’t.
 
There wasn’t anything else of value to Europe either. New England was too rocky near the coast to develop farms. The mid-Atlantic region or Chesapeake area, where Maryland and Virginia are today, was infested with malaria. Winters were cold, and summers were hot.
 
There was no livestock – no horses and no cattle, until the Spanish imported them. Florida was a swamp, and did not even have orange trees until the Spanish explorer [[Ponce de Leon]] planted them in 1515.
 
North America was a joke to many in England. Its Parliament passed a law in 1597 authorizing the deportations of convicted criminals to America and other colonies. In 1605, a satirical book entitled “Eastward Ho!” was published that mocked attempts to settle in Virginia.
 
Think about it. Would your family uproot and move, at great risk to your lives, to a place that had no civilization or anything of value? Do we see families moving to the middle of the desert in Arizona, or to cheap land in the middle of Wyoming? Only very rarely.
 
England’s first settlement of North America was in 1585, on [[Roanoke Island]] in Virginia. More than 100 families settled there. In a few years they had all disappeared, and it’s a mystery to this day what happened. They could have died from disease or starvation. They could have been killed by Indians. No one knows. It’s called the “[[Lost Colony]].”
 
About the same time, however, England had a huge success in Europe. Spain had ruled the high seas for most of the 1500s, until England destroyed the Spanish Armada in 1588. That left England with the potential to gain control of the oceans and world trade over the seas. England could protect its colonies against other European powers.

== Settlements ==

Some Englishmen invested money in what was called a “[[joint stock company]],” which was similar to a modern-day corporation, for the purpose of finding gold or other treasures. Called the “[[Virginia Company]],” it established the first permanent settlement for England in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. It was a disaster and the investors never received a profit. The men who settled in Jamestown were gentlemen who expected to get rich with little effort. They lacked a common purpose and wasted their time searching for treasure, or simply doing nothing at all. Unwilling to work to grow their own food, they almost starved to death.
 
'''1607''' is one of the few dates you should memorize. This was after the Spanish had settled in Florida, but before the French had settled in Quebec. So remember the sequence in settling America: Spanish, English, and then French.
 
Initially, from 1607-1608, the Jamestown settlement lived under socialism, whereby the group shared its food with everyone no matter how much or little he worked. This economic system was a complete failure as no one had any incentive to do any work. In September 1608, [[John Smith]] was elected president of the governing council. He ruled for a year and installed a conservative economic system: “don’t work, don’t eat!” Under this new system, food production increased and by 1614 there was plenty to eat.
 
But Jamestown settlers were there to find fortune, and there was not any gold or silver. Indians had discovered tobacco and Europeans were beginning to become addicted on it. Many Europeans recognized that tobacco was bad for them, and some wanted to prohibit it. In 1613, Englishman [[John Rolfe]], who married the Indian [[Pocahontas]] in Virginia, began growing tobacco to export to Europe. The King banned the growing of tobacco in England, so Rolfe had no competition. Cash began pouring in for the tobacco, and this so-called “cash crop” became highly profitable for the Jamestown settlers. Tobacco continued to be very profitable throughout a large part of American history, particularly in the south.
 
Despite profiting from the sale of tobacco, the Jamestown settlement had other difficulties. It had made peace with Indian [[Chief Powhatan]], whose daughter Pocahontas married settler [[John Rolfe]]. But after Powhatan died, his brother led a sudden attack on the settlers in 1622, massacring 357 out of a total of only 1200.
 
But Indian strife was only one of many problems. Labor was in short supply for working the fields. Settlers began importing indentured servants, who received free travel to the colonies in exchange for a promise to work for seven years. But Virginia also turned to a cheaper approach to labor: importing slaves from West Africa beginning in 1619 to work the crops.
 
In 1624 King James (of “King James Bible” fame) took back the Virginia colony and established it as a royal charter. King James was left with a problem colony that enslaved workers and grew tobacco. More trouble lay ahead. In 1676, Nathanial Bacon was a Virginia settler who decided to take the law into his own hands. He first massacred Indians in western Virginia, then took his small army of rebels to Jamestown, where he burned it down because the governor had refused to allow him to kill the Indians. Bacon himself soon died from a disease. The governor returned and hung two dozen of his supporters. How Virginia produced four of our first five presidents is amazing. You can think about this and answer on the homework assignment.
 
By then there were many other settlements in North America. The most important were two settlements in Massachusetts, which has a much harsher climate than Virginia, particularly in the wintertime. But their motivation was religious, not financial. Puritans were unhappy with the direction of the Church of England, feeling it was too much like the Catholic Church. Two different groups of Puritans set out for North America. One group wanted to purify the Church of England by remaining in the Church but in a more perfect community. The other group wanted to separate completely from the Church of England. Both groups landed by chance within 100 miles of each other in Massachusetts.
 
The first group, the “Pilgrims”, set sail from Plymouth, England and intended to land near the mouth of the Hudson River (now New York City), which was the northern part of the Virginia Company’s territory. But their ship, the “Mayflower”, was blown off course and they landed up on Cape Cod in Massachusetts in 1620. Outside of any official government, they decided on the boat to establish the first civil government in North America by signing the Mayflower Compact. They landed in December, and half died due to disease in their first New England winter. But the following spring a friendly Indian introduced them to corn, or maize, the marvelous food discovered by Indians. They had a plentiful harvest that fall, and celebrated their first Thanksgiving with the Indians that fall. In 1623, their new Governor [[William Bradford]] gave every member a plot of land and allowed the free market to develop. By 1624, the community was doing so well that it was actually making more food than it could consume and began exporting its corn. [[William Bradford]] and [[Edward Winslow]] kept diaries during the settling of Plymouth, which are recorded in a small, but fascinating book called ''Mourt's Relation''.
 
Corn is a tremendous contribution by Indians to the world that increasingly sustains peoples worldwide. Corn did not exist in Europe during the Middle Ages. Cheap and easy to grow, corn has become one of the most popular foods worldwide, rivaling rice and soybeans. For that we can thank the Indians.
 
Encouraged by the success of the Pilgrims, a new groups called the [[Massachusetts Bay Company]] obtained a royal charter and sent a larger group of Puritans to settle in New England, though this time with the purpose of purifying the [[Church of England]] with a more perfect community than in England itself. It was well-financed and led by the very capable [[John Winthrop]], who had been trained at Oxford. It landed in Salem, Massachusetts in 1629 and immediately moved to Boston Harbor. It never looked back, thriving almost immediately despite the harsh winter climate. Within five years the [[Great Migration]] of religiously motivated settlers followed them from England. Their numbers and power grew. By the 1640s, the community was participating in robust trade by sea with England, the West Indies and on occasion West Africa.
 
What is a “colony”? “Colony” defined: “a body of people living in a new territory but retaining ties with the parent state.” (Merriam-Webster dictionary)
 
The growing colonies in Massachusetts and Virginia could not have been more different from each other, and it is remarkable they ever joined the same country. Massachusetts was highly religious and motivated by faith. Virginia was marginally religious and motivated by money. Massachusetts, more religious, had vocal opponents of slavery and neighboring Vermont was the first state to prohibit slavery in its Constitution, in 1777. Virginia welcomed slavery. Massachusetts grew the Indian crop of corn. Virginia grew the Indian crop of tobacco. Massachusetts settlers made greater efforts to get along with Indians and treat them fairly. Massachusetts attracted new settlers based on religion. Virginia attracted new settlers based on the “headright system,” by which land (usually 50 acres) was given to those who paid for the passage to the colony of an immigrant, who usually agreed to work as an “indentured servant” for free for fixed number of years on the land.
 
The stark contrast between Massachusetts and Virginia would ultimately lead, nearly 250 years later, to the Civil War.
 
While Virginia institution of slavery was spreading to the colonies of [[Maryland]], [[Carolina]] and, later, [[Georgia]], [[Massachusetts]] was spreading a different sort of institution: religious intensity. [[Roger Williams]] was an extraordinary individual of such great faith that found even the Puritans lacking in their treatment of Indians. Williams also disagreed with how the Puritans combined government and religion, and had even executed several Christians based on differences with the Puritan faith. Williams was fabulous with languages and learned to communicate with many different Indian tribes, and even lived with them at times in spite of the danger. He left the Puritans in Massachusetts and started the colony of Rhode Island, which to this day has prided itself on its independence. Rhode Island was the only state to refuse to support a colonial tax on imports after the Revolution, and the only colony to refuse to ratify the Constitution until long after [[George Washington]] was President. Rhode Island, under Roger Williams’ direction, separated state government from religion. No mandatory church attendance, and no funding of churches with tax revenues were allowed in Rhode Island.
 
But while Roger Williams was highly moral, others in Rhode Island made it the biggest importer of slaves in all the colonies. So censoring religion may have a price. In contrast, in the larger Massachusetts, taxes funded religious institutions for nearly 200 years, until at least the 1830s. It successfully prohibited slavery. Another devout Christian who disagreed with the Puritans and left them was named [[Anne Hutchinson]]. She, however, was later killed by Indians.
 
One prominent text claims, under “Rhode Island,” that “This belief [by Roger Williams] in the separation of church and state became a cornerstone of the American Constitution in 1787.” That is completely false. Roger Williams was long dead by 1787, and there is no separation of church and state in the Constitution. Rhode Island did not even send any representatives to draft the Constitution and it had no role in the drafting of the Bill of Rights. In fact, Rhode Island did not ratify the Constitution until after George Washington was elected president, and even then it took much arm-twisting to compel Rhode Island to ratify the Constitution. But some people want to keep religion out of government, and they refuse to admit that the First Amendment only prohibits the establishment of a national church by the government.
 
In between Massachusetts and Virginia there was a third approach: that taken by Pennsylvania. William Penn was another extraordinary Englishman. He converted to become a Quaker in England and began practicing that religion in violation of English law. He was arrested and prosecuted, but the jury refused to convict him. The king owed his father money, and gave the son what is today Pennsylvania. It was nothing but woods at the time. But William Penn founded his colony based on one principle: religious freedom for all. He advertised in Europe and attracted peoples of many nationalities in addition to the English.
 
Penn was very kind to the Indians and soon had the most popular colony in America. Philadelphia became America’s greatest city, surpassing Boston in population in the 1700s. Only Pennsylvania and Maryland survived in the long-term under private ownership. Virtually all the other colonies were eventually taken over by the King of England, often due to troubles that arose in the colony.
 
There were other colonies. Pennsylvania was founded over 50 years *after* Virginia and Massachusetts. Georgia was founded over 50 *years* after Pennsylvania, which means over 100 years after Virginia and Massachusetts. Philanthropist [[James Oglethorpe]] founded Savannah in Georgia in 1733 for poor debtors in jails of England. Also created a buffer colony between South Carolina and Spanish Florida. Oglethorpe was very religious and very strict. Too strict for the King, who took over the colony in 1751. The colony was not nearly as strong and developed as the other colonies, so the other colonies did not take it very seriously.
 
Topics for discussion:
*Were the Puritans right to banish (expel) people for religious reasons?
*Did the Vikings settle North America before Columbus did?
 
[[Category:United States History]]

American History Lecture One

2008-08-04T14:55:34Z

Pakhyongshin: /* Periods in American History */ People lived in America before white people came

Welcome to "American history," also known as "United States history." This will become your favorite course. It has something for everyone: heroes, villains, criminal trials, funny mistakes, competitions, politics, literature, gold, silver, war, and peace. You name it, American history has it. We are going to have some fun in this course.
 
We will start without a textbook, to encourage students to be more proactive in learning history. If we can find a good textbook or reference source, then we'll distribute it a few weeks into the course.
 
The Pilgrims came to America with a group not much bigger than our class, traveling a boat called the "Mayflower" that was not much bigger than our classroom. Just before arriving on shore, they agreed to a written agreement or "compact" to bind them after they arrived. The very first words of their "[[Mayflower Compact]]" were "In ye name of God Amen."
 
Just as our Nation's founders started with a prayer, so do we. Prayer clears out the noise in our minds. We are looking for knowledge and inspiration here, and that comes from God. In most countries parents do not have the freedom even to have a class like this. The main reason we have freedoms is because America was established on principles of liberty, and religious devotion in America remains among the strongest in the world today, as it was 250 years ago.
 
Today is a critical time in our nation's history, and this class may be as important to the future as the Mayflower voyage was. Let's begin.

== College Board Exams ==

This course will give you the foundation for taking three different College Board exams (usually a student takes only one of the three): the [[CLEP]], the [[AP]], and the [[SAT II]]. The CLEP is a multiple-choice exam that is recognized by most (but not all) colleges as a way to earn college credit. It costs about $50 and is administered on computers at local colleges, usually once a month. The AP, or Advanced Placement exam, is given only once a year in May at local high schools, and is more expensive. It includes both multiple-choice and essay questions, and is used by different colleges to give credit for courses. In 2009, the AP exam for U.S. History is scheduled for Friday, May 9.
 
The SAT II in American History is an inexpensive multiple-choice exam that takes only an hour and is given at high schools on Saturdays once a month, October through June. No college credit is given for it, but it is used for college applications to recognize achievement. The SAT II is the most biased of the three exams, and is known for emphasizing liberal culture and matters of race and gender. The CLEP exam is probably the least biased on the three.
 
Each of these College Board exams can be taken as often as one likes, though it is difficult to take the AP exam more than once because it is offered only once a year, and it is expensive to retake the CLEP exam. The SAT II, which is cheaper, is the easiest to take more than once and colleges only look at the highest score.
 There is absolutely no requirement to take any of these College Board exams as part of this course, and references to the exams are used more as a way of helping you see the "big picture," as in how much time should be spent on a particular period or historical topic. Our class has only two required, multiple-choice exams: a midterm and a final. This course will also help students improve their test-taking skills on multiple-choice exams. We will also have weekly homework assignments consisting of short-answer questions.
 

== What Students Find Challenging About History ==

Students find the following aspects of American history challenging:

* interpreting political cartoons
* keeping the different periods of American history separate, yet connected; seeing the trends
* understanding the importance of economic issues in shaping history
* improving speed in reading and retaining historical information, such as answering history questions quickly
* dealing with [[liberal]] bias in the selection and presentation of questions on College Board exams:
** denial of [[Christian]] and [[conservative]] achievement
** overemphasis on [[liberal]]s and their beliefs, and denial of their failures
** obsession with materialism and inborn characteristics like race and gender

Common mistakes by students in history courses include:

* failure to recognize that American politics is always a battle between two sides
* memorizing dates without understanding the sequence of events (exams rarely ask about dates, but do ask about sequence)
* getting bogged down in detail and failing to see the big picture
* misunderstanding questions
* forgetting that people in the past were similar in nature to people today; they were motivated by religion, money, power, etc., and laziness has always been a problem

== The Key to Mastering History ==

The key to mastering history is to find what you like and understand, and then use it as your foundation to learn everything else. In other words, first find and learn what you like, and then learn everything else by connecting it to what you know. Use the same technique that we all use to for directions: pick a landmark or a place that you know how to get to, and then figure out how to go from there to where you need to go.
 
For example, if you are most interested in religion, then learn about the 13 colonies based on their different attitudes towards religion. If you are most interested in one colony, then learn about it and how it relates to other colonies. If you like military history, then use that as your starting point.
 
Perhaps you like politics the most. In that case, you'll want to memorize the presidents and leaders of Congress, and relate historical events to their times in office. Or perhaps you enjoy legal issues, and reading about what the courts do. If so, then you'll want to focus your attention on the major rulings of the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] throughout American history, and relate other historical events to those decisions.
 
On the SAT II U.S. History exam, the breakdown by subject matter is as follows:
 Political History - 32-36%
 Economic History - 18-20%
 Social History - 18-22%
 Cultural and Intellectual History - 10-12%
 Foreign Policy - 13-17%

The biggest part of the exam by far is politics, mostly concerning what happened in the federal government in [[Washington, D.C.]].

The "cultural and intellectual history" portion seems important to the exam but actually it is mostly cultural rather than intellectual history, and the questions are liberal in nature (e.g., asking about an artist who liberals like). Also, what counts as "economic history" is not what you might expect. There are almost no questions about the [[conservative]] gold standard, for example, even though that issue the political scene throughout history (and was even an issue in [[Ron Paul]]'s campaign for presidency in 2008). Instead, questions about economic history on the SAT II are likely to be about unions, the treatment of workers, alleged corruption of big business, and gender and racial issues.

Notice what is missing on the College Board exams: military history. Unfortunately, many educators in the [[United States]] dislike the military, and that bias shows up on the exams. No questions are there about battles or key military strategies and decisions. The only time the military shows up on these exams is when they have a political impact, and then they qualify as political history.

== Periods in American History ==

American history can be broken into about 20 time periods:

* settlement by paleo-indians
* discovery by Europeans, exploration by Europeans and settlement by Europeans
* colonial
* birth of the nation
* growth of the nation
* Jacksonian Democracy
* pre-Civil War
* [[Civil War]]
* [[Reconstruction]]
* [[Gilded Age]]
* [[Imperialism]]
* World War I
* Roaring Twenties and followed by the [[Great Depression]]
* World War II
* [[Cold War]]
** Korean War
** Vietnam War
* Reagan [[conservatism]]
* Post-Reagan Prosperity and the dot-com boom
* [[9/11]] and terrorism

On the SAT II in U.S History, the breakdown of questions is like this:

 Pre-Columbian history to 1789 - 20%
 1790 to 1898 - 40%
 1899 to the present - 40%

Hence nearly half the exam is on the last century on the SAT II, and only about 18 or 19 questions are devoted to all of pre-exploration, exploration, settlements, the colonies, the documents that founded the nation, the American Revolution, and the election of George Washington. That means there are no more than 3 or so questions (out of a 90-95 questions on the exam) about the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution.

== Why America? ==

Maybe we could write most of American history just by predicting what would probably happen. Imagine a big chunk of land in between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. There are people who live on the land. Ask yourself: why would Europeans want to go there? What reasons can you think of?
 
Search for gold. Convert the natives to Christianity. Conquer the natives. Obtain freedom. Why do your parents homeschool? For some of the same reasons. Go there for the same reason people climb a mountain: because it is there! Escape where you are. Set up a special religious community. Meet new people and make new friends. Trade goods with the people. Learn from the people. Have adventures and then write about them.
 
What is likely to happen if a bunch of Europeans go this land? Conflicts with the natives. Conflicts with other European countries. Conflicts with the mother country that sent the settlers. New opportunities for improvements, for new products, for new businesses, for new religions, for new systems of government.
 
Who is going to pay for exploration and settlement? Kings. Investors. Do-gooders. Churches. Mostly nobody.
 
Who is going to do the hard labor needed to set up a new community, like chopping down trees, working the farms, constructing buildings? There is almost no money to pay anyone. Families might do some. [[Indentured servants]]. Slaves.
 
It also helps to look for unifying themes to organize events in your mind. One theme that helps explain American history works well is the overall expansion of Christianity, for 2000 years. Why did [[Christopher Columbus]] and other explorers risk their lives to come to the New World? To spread Christianity. Why did families then risk their lives to settle here? To establish religious communities free of persecution. Two hundred years later, why did Massachusetts prohibit slavery and why did abolitionists President [[John Quincy Adams]] devote their lives to ending slavery? Because their religious values told them slavery was wrong.
 
There are other possible themes also. How about the desire to make more money, or make some money? How about the urge for self-government, to be in charge of oneself free from a monarchy? How about the advance of technology and its affect on how we live? There are many possible themes to American history and we will have fun debates about them.
 
From 1789 until today, we have had an American President. He is not more important than others. If I had to name the ten most important Americans in history, I would only include one president in the list (the first one, [[George Washington]]). But memorizing the list of 43 presidents can help you organize all the other facts. When someone asks me what was happening in 1962, then I think of who was president and then remember the issues of that time. The presidents become like drawers, one per president, filled with issues and events.
 
But before 1789 there was no president. How are we going to organize that? One way is to focus on the three most important colonies, [[Virginia]] (1607), [[Massachusetts]] (1620) and [[Pennsylvania]] (1681), and relate the other 11 colonies and events to them. Another way is to look at the battles that occurred before the [[American Revolution]], such as the [[French and Indian War]] in 1754-60.
 
Regardless, by the end of this course, you will be able to hear an event and describe what was going on at that time. You will be able to tell me what happened before the event, and what happened afterwards.
 
Don’t try to memorize hundreds of dates. Instead, when you see a date, think what happened before and after it. There are only about ten dates that you need to know. All other dates, such as those in the event list, are there just for the purpose of ordering events. For example, no one will ask you when Georgia was founded as a colony. But you may be asked whether it was the first or last colony founded. (It was the last colony established.) Another example: [[Quebec]] was founded in 1608. Don’t remember the 1608, but remember that Quebec was founded one year after [[Jamestown]] was established (1607 – one of the few dates you should memorize!)
 
If you have a good memory, then memorize the facts. If memorization is difficult for you, then focus on the trends and movements in history. This course gives you four different ways to learn the material: (1) the lectures, (2) Conservapedia, (3) the event list and (4) the homework assignments. Different students will learn better from some approaches than others. It’s your job to find what works best for you. At the end your progress will be measured by multiple choice exams.
 
This class is a different approach to American history than most courses that take all year. Learning in a simple and quick manner can sometimes be better. It’s easier to see how events relate to each other. It’s easier to see the big picture. When you want to find your way somewhere, do you want a road map that has every single detail and building on it? No, that is too hard to read. You want a map that has the important things on it. Same with studying history: don’t allow yourself to be sidetracked by unimportant details. Focus on the big stuff.

== Exploration ==

Starting in the Middle Ages, Christian Europe began to use its knowledge, wealth and [[faith]] to extend move beyond its horizons. Christian Europeans fought the Holy [[Crusades]] from 1095 to 1291 to protect pilgrims to [[Jerusalem]] against Moslem attacks. Some Europeans were motivated to spread the [[Gospel]]. Others were motivated by a desire to increase their wealth, such as by finding gold. Supporting both types of people was increased knowledge about science and geography: Europeans knew that they could reach the Orient by traveling West '''''around''''' the world. What they did not know is what they would find, if anything, by sailing West, before they reached the Orient.
 
It took enormous courage, determination and financial support to sail West into the complete unknown. It also took more than a desire to get rich, because there were easier ways to make money. That additional desire was a passion to spread Christianity to new civilizations. In 1482, a determined Christian Italian explorer named [[Christopher Columbus]] sought financing to sail west in order to reach India. He tried Portugal for raising money, but it already had its own successful explorers. Why would Portugal need Columbus? Portugal declined to support him, and Columbus turned to Spain, which was now Christian after having driven the Muslims out. In 1492, Spain funded Columbus' daring proposal to sail West to reach the Orient.
 
Before we describe this further, however, it is necessary to note that many have sought to deny Columbus credit for his efforts. Some claim that around A.D. 1000, the Scandinavian [[Leif Ericson]] discovered [[Vinland]] where the present [[New England]] is, and even supposedly founded a small colony that failed. But there is no evidence for this myth: "People have been looking hard for hundreds of years and there is no archaeological evidence in this part — it's certainly possible, the Vikings were incredible boat handlers — '''but there is no evidence'''," observed one university history professor.<ref>http://farshores.org/a04viki.htm. It is more plausible, but still unproven, that some Vikings once saw or landed in Newfoundland (now part of Canada north of Maine) without creating a settlement.</ref> Moreover, if it happened, then was a complete failure. Absolutely nothing further came of that effort. It is probably a distortion designed to take credit away from someone whose vision and courage was inspired daily by his [[faith]] in [[Jesus Christ]]: [[Christopher Columbus]]. You will see many such distortions in how American history is typically taught today.
 
So back to what Columbus did achieve. He set sail in three ships. First sighted land in late 1492. On Christmas eve, December 24, 1492, one of Columbus's ship, the [[Santa Maria]], reached the island of [[Haiti]]. Columbus named the settlement “La Navidad,” meaning “The Nativity,” and dropped off 40 men with a promise to return to them the next year. Columbus then wrote to the King and Queen of Spain the following in his Journal: “In all the world there can be no better or gentler people. Your Highnesses should feel great joy, because presently they will be Christians, and instructed in the good manners of your realms.”
 
But he had grossly underestimated the size of the world, and when he reached San Salvador, Haiti (Hispaniola) and Cuba he thought he reached the Far East. So he called the natives Indians. He left some men there but they were killed by the natives. Columbus reported back that new people had been found to evangelize with Christianity.
 
Soon Spain and Portugal divided the Americas with the [[Line of Demarcation]], drawn by the Pope. The [[Treaty of Tordesillas]] moved the line in 1493. It was a North-South line that gave Spain North America and the western part of South America, but Portugal received Brazil. That’s why Brazilians speak Portugese to this day.
 
<discuss how Columbus returned to Europe, and then found the same location on his second trip> Columbus sailed on three subsequent voyages, but never achieved his goal and died discredited. What was his motivation? Primarily to spread Christianity, but also to find gold to reward his sponsors and fund further expeditions. Ultimately, his purpose focused on a dream to liberate Jerusalem, as the Crusades attempted.
 
What influence did Columbus have? He gave Spain [[Haiti]], [[Puerto Rico]], [[Jamaica]] and [[Cuba]] by 1515. Spain then settled Florida (St. Augustine), and later Santa Fe, New Mexico. Spanish [[Hernando Cortes]] conquered the Aztecs in central Mexico (1521), and [[Francisco Pizarro]] conquered the Incas of Peru (1531). They seized much gold in the process.
 
But while Spanish soldiers came to America, Spanish women did not. So there were not many distinct, permanent Spanish settlements. Also, the Spanish were also entirely subservient to their King back in Europe. Separate governments did not develop.
 
Other European powers were exploring North America also. The French explored the St. Lawrence and settled Quebec, where French is still spoken to this day. The French also explored the Mississippi, and settled the towns of Saint Louis (named after a French king) and New Orleans.
 
The Dutch explored and settled the Hudson River, and calling that region New Netherlands and buying and naming Manhattan New Amsterdam.
 
The Swedish settled in Delaware; Germans settled later in Pennsylvania.
 
Explorer [[John Cabot]] discovered the North American coastline for England in 1497. But no settlements were attempted by the English for about another 100 years.
 
The reason is that North America didn’t have what the explorers were looking for. America lacked valuable natural resources. There was no gold, which is what Europe wanted. In 1576, the British explorer [[Martin Frobisher]] even hauled 200 tons of material back to England, hoping it was gold. It wasn’t.
 
There wasn’t anything else of value to Europe either. New England was too rocky near the coast to develop farms. The mid-Atlantic region or Chesapeake area, where Maryland and Virginia are today, was infested with malaria. Winters were cold, and summers were hot.
 
There was no livestock – no horses and no cattle, until the Spanish imported them. Florida was a swamp, and did not even have orange trees until the Spanish explorer [[Ponce de Leon]] planted them in 1515.
 
North America was a joke to many in England. Its Parliament passed a law in 1597 authorizing the deportations of convicted criminals to America and other colonies. In 1605, a satirical book entitled “Eastward Ho!” was published that mocked attempts to settle in Virginia.
 
Think about it. Would your family uproot and move, at great risk to your lives, to a place that had no civilization or anything of value? Do we see families moving to the middle of the desert in Arizona, or to cheap land in the middle of Wyoming? Only very rarely.
 
England’s first settlement of North America was in 1585, on [[Roanoke Island]] in Virginia. More than 100 families settled there. In a few years they had all disappeared, and it’s a mystery to this day what happened. They could have died from disease or starvation. They could have been killed by Indians. No one knows. It’s called the “[[Lost Colony]].”
 
About the same time, however, England had a huge success in Europe. Spain had ruled the high seas for most of the 1500s, until England destroyed the Spanish Armada in 1588. That left England with the potential to gain control of the oceans and world trade over the seas. England could protect its colonies against other European powers.

== Settlements ==

Some Englishmen invested money in what was called a “[[joint stock company]],” which was similar to a modern-day corporation, for the purpose of finding gold or other treasures. Called the “[[Virginia Company]],” it established the first permanent settlement for England in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. It was a disaster and the investors never received a profit. The men who settled in Jamestown were gentlemen who expected to get rich with little effort. They lacked a common purpose and wasted their time searching for treasure, or simply doing nothing at all. Unwilling to work to grow their own food, they almost starved to death.
 
'''1607''' is one of the few dates you should memorize. This was after the Spanish had settled in Florida, but before the French had settled in Quebec. So remember the sequence in settling America: Spanish, English, and then French.
 
Initially, from 1607-1608, the Jamestown settlement lived under socialism, whereby the group shared its food with everyone no matter how much or little he worked. This economic system was a complete failure as no one had any incentive to do any work. In September 1608, [[John Smith]] was elected president of the governing council. He ruled for a year and installed a conservative economic system: “don’t work, don’t eat!” Under this new system, food production increased and by 1614 there was plenty to eat.
 
But Jamestown settlers were there to find fortune, and there was not any gold or silver. Indians had discovered tobacco and Europeans were beginning to become addicted on it. Many Europeans recognized that tobacco was bad for them, and some wanted to prohibit it. In 1613, Englishman [[John Rolfe]], who married the Indian [[Pocahontas]] in Virginia, began growing tobacco to export to Europe. The King banned the growing of tobacco in England, so Rolfe had no competition. Cash began pouring in for the tobacco, and this so-called “cash crop” became highly profitable for the Jamestown settlers. Tobacco continued to be very profitable throughout a large part of American history, particularly in the south.
 
Despite profiting from the sale of tobacco, the Jamestown settlement had other difficulties. It had made peace with Indian [[Chief Powhatan]], whose daughter Pocahontas married settler [[John Rolfe]]. But after Powhatan died, his brother led a sudden attack on the settlers in 1622, massacring 357 out of a total of only 1200.
 
But Indian strife was only one of many problems. Labor was in short supply for working the fields. Settlers began importing indentured servants, who received free travel to the colonies in exchange for a promise to work for seven years. But Virginia also turned to a cheaper approach to labor: importing slaves from West Africa beginning in 1619 to work the crops.
 
In 1624 King James (of “King James Bible” fame) took back the Virginia colony and established it as a royal charter. King James was left with a problem colony that enslaved workers and grew tobacco. More trouble lay ahead. In 1676, Nathanial Bacon was a Virginia settler who decided to take the law into his own hands. He first massacred Indians in western Virginia, then took his small army of rebels to Jamestown, where he burned it down because the governor had refused to allow him to kill the Indians. Bacon himself soon died from a disease. The governor returned and hung two dozen of his supporters. How Virginia produced four of our first five presidents is amazing. You can think about this and answer on the homework assignment.
 
By then there were many other settlements in North America. The most important were two settlements in Massachusetts, which has a much harsher climate than Virginia, particularly in the wintertime. But their motivation was religious, not financial. Puritans were unhappy with the direction of the Church of England, feeling it was too much like the Catholic Church. Two different groups of Puritans set out for North America. One group wanted to purify the Church of England by remaining in the Church but in a more perfect community. The other group wanted to separate completely from the Church of England. Both groups landed by chance within 100 miles of each other in Massachusetts.
 
The first group, the “Pilgrims”, set sail from Plymouth, England and intended to land near the mouth of the Hudson River (now New York City), which was the northern part of the Virginia Company’s territory. But their ship, the “Mayflower”, was blown off course and they landed up on Cape Cod in Massachusetts in 1620. Outside of any official government, they decided on the boat to establish the first civil government in North America by signing the Mayflower Compact. They landed in December, and half died due to disease in their first New England winter. But the following spring a friendly Indian introduced them to corn, or maize, the marvelous food discovered by Indians. They had a plentiful harvest that fall, and celebrated their first Thanksgiving with the Indians that fall. In 1623, their new Governor [[William Bradford]] gave every member a plot of land and allowed the free market to develop. By 1624, the community was doing so well that it was actually making more food than it could consume and began exporting its corn. [[William Bradford]] and [[Edward Winslow]] kept diaries during the settling of Plymouth, which are recorded in a small, but fascinating book called ''Mourt's Relation''.
 
Corn is a tremendous contribution by Indians to the world that increasingly sustains peoples worldwide. Corn did not exist in Europe during the Middle Ages. Cheap and easy to grow, corn has become one of the most popular foods worldwide, rivaling rice and soybeans. For that we can thank the Indians.
 
Encouraged by the success of the Pilgrims, a new groups called the [[Massachusetts Bay Company]] obtained a royal charter and sent a larger group of Puritans to settle in New England, though this time with the purpose of purifying the [[Church of England]] with a more perfect community than in England itself. It was well-financed and led by the very capable [[John Winthrop]], who had been trained at Oxford. It landed in Salem, Massachusetts in 1629 and immediately moved to Boston Harbor. It never looked back, thriving almost immediately despite the harsh winter climate. Within five years the [[Great Migration]] of religiously motivated settlers followed them from England. Their numbers and power grew. By the 1640s, the community was participating in robust trade by sea with England, the West Indies and on occasion West Africa.
 
What is a “colony”? “Colony” defined: “a body of people living in a new territory but retaining ties with the parent state.” (Merriam-Webster dictionary)
 
The growing colonies in Massachusetts and Virginia could not have been more different from each other, and it is remarkable they ever joined the same country. Massachusetts was highly religious and motivated by faith. Virginia was marginally religious and motivated by money. Massachusetts, more religious, had vocal opponents of slavery and neighboring Vermont was the first state to prohibit slavery in its Constitution, in 1777. Virginia welcomed slavery. Massachusetts grew the Indian crop of corn. Virginia grew the Indian crop of tobacco. Massachusetts settlers made greater efforts to get along with Indians and treat them fairly. Massachusetts attracted new settlers based on religion. Virginia attracted new settlers based on the “headright system,” by which land (usually 50 acres) was given to those who paid for the passage to the colony of an immigrant, who usually agreed to work as an “indentured servant” for free for fixed number of years on the land.
 
The stark contrast between Massachusetts and Virginia would ultimately lead, nearly 250 years later, to the Civil War.
 
While Virginia institution of slavery was spreading to the colonies of [[Maryland]], [[Carolina]] and, later, [[Georgia]], [[Massachusetts]] was spreading a different sort of institution: religious intensity. [[Roger Williams]] was an extraordinary individual of such great faith that found even the Puritans lacking in their treatment of Indians. Williams also disagreed with how the Puritans combined government and religion, and had even executed several Christians based on differences with the Puritan faith. Williams was fabulous with languages and learned to communicate with many different Indian tribes, and even lived with them at times in spite of the danger. He left the Puritans in Massachusetts and started the colony of Rhode Island, which to this day has prided itself on its independence. Rhode Island was the only state to refuse to support a colonial tax on imports after the Revolution, and the only colony to refuse to ratify the Constitution until long after [[George Washington]] was President. Rhode Island, under Roger Williams’ direction, separated state government from religion. No mandatory church attendance, and no funding of churches with tax revenues were allowed in Rhode Island.
 
But while Roger Williams was highly moral, others in Rhode Island made it the biggest importer of slaves in all the colonies. So censoring religion may have a price. In contrast, in the larger Massachusetts, taxes funded religious institutions for nearly 200 years, until at least the 1830s. It successfully prohibited slavery. Another devout Christian who disagreed with the Puritans and left them was named [[Anne Hutchinson]]. She, however, was later killed by Indians.
 
One prominent text claims, under “Rhode Island,” that “This belief [by Roger Williams] in the separation of church and state became a cornerstone of the American Constitution in 1787.” That is completely false. Roger Williams was long dead by 1787, and there is no separation of church and state in the Constitution. Rhode Island did not even send any representatives to draft the Constitution and it had no role in the drafting of the Bill of Rights. In fact, Rhode Island did not ratify the Constitution until after George Washington was elected president, and even then it took much arm-twisting to compel Rhode Island to ratify the Constitution. But some people want to keep religion out of government, and they refuse to admit that the First Amendment only prohibits the establishment of a national church by the government.
 
In between Massachusetts and Virginia there was a third approach: that taken by Pennsylvania. William Penn was another extraordinary Englishman. He converted to become a Quaker in England and began practicing that religion in violation of English law. He was arrested and prosecuted, but the jury refused to convict him. The king owed his father money, and gave the son what is today Pennsylvania. It was nothing but woods at the time. But William Penn founded his colony based on one principle: religious freedom for all. He advertised in Europe and attracted peoples of many nationalities in addition to the English.
 
Penn was very kind to the Indians and soon had the most popular colony in America. Philadelphia became America’s greatest city, surpassing Boston in population in the 1700s. Only Pennsylvania and Maryland survived in the long-term under private ownership. Virtually all the other colonies were eventually taken over by the King of England, often due to troubles that arose in the colony.
 
There were other colonies. Pennsylvania was founded over 50 years *after* Virginia and Massachusetts. Georgia was founded over 50 *years* after Pennsylvania, which means over 100 years after Virginia and Massachusetts. Philanthropist [[James Oglethorpe]] founded Savannah in Georgia in 1733 for poor debtors in jails of England. Also created a buffer colony between South Carolina and Spanish Florida. Oglethorpe was very religious and very strict. Too strict for the King, who took over the colony in 1751. The colony was not nearly as strong and developed as the other colonies, so the other colonies did not take it very seriously.
 
Topics for discussion:
*Were the Puritans right to banish (expel) people for religious reasons?
*Did the Vikings settle North America before Columbus did?
 
[[Category:United States History]]

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2008-08-04T14:41:57Z

Pakhyongshin:

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2008-08-04T13:48:18Z

Pakhyongshin: New page: My name is 팍형신 (in English, Pak Hyong Shin). I am a student in Korea. I spent much time in the Americas, and love to read English literature. My English is not perfect, so please ...

My name is 팍형신 (in English, Pak Hyong Shin). I am a student in Korea. I spent much time in the Americas, and love to read English literature. My English is not perfect, so please help me if you see I have made an error.