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Flashcards in Part 2 Deck (60)
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1
Q

When did the first humans enter North America across the Bering strait land bridge?

A

The last ice age, approximately 15,000 to 30,000 years ago

2
Q

What was the path of migration for the first humans in the Americas?

A

Migrated southward from Alaska and populated North and South America

3
Q

What are some defining characteristics of the native Americana of California?

A
  1. Spoke a great diversity of dialects
  2. represented the largest concentration of Indians in North America(150,000-300,000)
  3. Were primarily hunter/gather societies
  4. Were not generally warlike, and weapons were not sophisticated (in comparison to those of the plains Indians)
4
Q

What shared cultural aspects defined the Native American of California?

A
  1. Traced lineage on the paternal side
  2. religions were similar in myths, creation stories, shamanism, and the influence of nature
  3. Roles were sex differentiated; the mean hunted and fished, the woman gathered food and materials and killed small game
  4. The oral story traditions was used by all California Indians
5
Q

Were Indian tribes tightly or loosely connected?

A
  1. Geographic factors isolated many tribes

2. Desert and mountains barriers restricted contact

6
Q

What material belongings did Indian tribes share in common?

A
  1. Houses (earth, bark, plank, thatch) and ceremonial houses (sweat, dance, menstrual)
  2. Musical instruments: drum, rattle, flute, rasp, and bow
  3. Money: clam disks and olivella shells
7
Q

What brought the Spanish to Baja peninsula?

A
  1. Cortez’ search for the seven cities of cibola

2. Search for an island inhabited by amazon-like women who used golden weapons

8
Q

What did Cabrillo discover in 1542-43 in California while looking for water passage between the pacific and Atlantic?

A
  1. San Diego bay
  2. Santa Barbara bay
  3. Point conception
  4. Point Reyes
9
Q

What triggered Spanish colonization of California?

A
  1. The English explorer Drake sailed up the California coast in 1579 and claimed the area for England
  2. The threat from England compelled Spain to colonize California
10
Q

What initially got the attention of the American government in California?

A
  1. Russian fur interests in Alaska pushed southward

2. Russians established Fort Ross 80 miles north of San Francisco Bay in 1812 as a trading post

11
Q

What as the purpose of the California missions?

A

A: To convert the Indians to Christianity
A: Establish cultural and agricultural centers
A: Populate Alta California for Spain.

12
Q

What were the positive aspects of the mission system?

A

A: It spread Christianity.
A: It colonized California.
A: It spread the cultural and technological advances of Spain.

13
Q

What were the negative aspects of the mission system?

A

A: The dehumanization of the Indians.
A: The high infant mortality and suicide rates among the Indians.
A: The forced labor and virtual slave-like conditions.
A: Indian self-sufficiency never developed.

14
Q

When did the missions pass into non-religious hands?

A

A: In about 1830, the mission system began a secularization process.
A: By 1836, most mission property was privately owned.

15
Q

What year did Mexico gain its independence from Spain?

A

1822

16
Q

What fueled the quest for independence in California?

A

The land-grant system and the ranchos.

17
Q

Did Mexico gain control of California?

A

A: The Mexican government failed in its attempts to dominate California.
A: By 1845, the Californios (provincial Californians) expelled the last of the Mexican governors.

18
Q

Who opened California for American settlement?

A

A: American trappers (including Jedediah Smith)
A: Explorers (including Kit Carson and Joseph Walker)
A: A variety of wagon masters.

19
Q

Migrations of American pioneer families in the 1840s produced what changes California?

A

A: American pioneers settled in the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys.
A: They increased the demand that California become part of the United States.

20
Q

What brought California into the U.S.?

A

A: President Polk indirectly supported the annexation of California.
A: John C. Fremont, possibly acting on presidential orders, raised the U.S. flag near Monterey, then retreated from the area.

21
Q

What year was war was declared on Mexico?

A

A: In 1846 (the Mexican-American War).

22
Q

What were the pivotal battles in the Mexican-American War?

A

A: The Bear Flag Revolt prematurely captured California (1846).
A: Commander Sloat captured Monterey Bay and claimed the area for the United States.
A: Mexican forces were defeated and the American flag was raised over Los Angeles in 1847.

23
Q

How did California pass to the United States?

A

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) transferred California from Mexican to American control.

24
Q

How did James W. Marshall in 1848 change the political, social, and economic history of the state?

A

He discovered gold.

25
Q

How did “Gold fever” transform California?

A

A: California settler population increased tremendously from 15,000 in 1847 to 92,000 in 1850, and 380,000 in 1860.
A: Population growth led to statehood. (California was the thirty-first state.)

26
Q

How did California’s statehood petition get caught up in national politics?

A

A: California prohibition of slavery upset the balance of free and slave states.
A: The Compromise of 1850 finally allowed for California entry.

27
Q

When did the Central Pacific met the Union Pacific at Promontory, Utah to complete the transcontinental railroad?

A

1869

28
Q

Who build the transcontinental railroad?

A

A: Immigrant labor was used: Chinese on the Central Pacific and Irish on the Union Pacific.

29
Q

Who controlled the California railroad industry and its political scene?

A

A: The Big Four: Hopkins, Crocker, Huntington, and Stanford

30
Q

: How did the depression of the 1870s impact California?

A

A: It triggered an ongoing cycle of boom and bust.
A: The collapse of the Bank of California in 1875 (and other financial institutions) further weakened the California economy.

31
Q

What explains the open hostility toward the Chinese?

A

A: They were blamed for most of the economic problems (backlash from the mining and railroad frontier).
A: The Chinese Exclusion Act was passed by Congress in 1882.
A: By 1877, politicians, newspapers, and citizens urged open agitation against the Chinese in California.
A: The Workingmen’s Party was established. It was nativist, anti-Chinese, and anti-big business (1877)

32
Q

From where did California derive its newest inhabitants

A

Mainly from the Midwest that led to a dramatic population increase.

33
Q

What defined the “yellow peril?”

A

A: Japanese were imported in large numbers to work in agriculture. They displaced Anglo workers and resentment grew.
A: The San Francisco Board of Education segregated Caucasians and Orientals in 1905.
A: The resentment led to an international “Gentlemen’s Agreement” (1907).

34
Q

What were Populist reforms aiming to accomplish?

A

To bring government closer to the peopl

35
Q

How did Hiram Johnson as progressive governor change California?

A

A: Twenty-three amendments were added to the California Constitution (1911).
A: Women were allowed to vote
A: The initiative, referendum, and recall became law

36
Q

What abruptly halted the progress of the labor movement?

A

An anarchist bombing in Los Angeles (1910).

37
Q

: How did World War I economic impact California?

A

Wages, production, manufacturing, and commerce expanded rapidly.

38
Q

What transformed the state in the 1920s?

A

A: An influx of immigrants
A: By 1930, the California population had grown to six million, an increase of 65 percent during one decade.

39
Q

What drove the economic expansion of the 1920s?

A

A: Movie, oil, and agricultural production.
A: A real-estate boom fueled the housing industry.

40
Q

What characterized California politics during this period?

A

A power struggle between the north and south and between rural and urban areas

41
Q

How did the Great Depression impact California?

A

Large-scale unemployment, bank failures, and foreclosures.

42
Q

How did state politics change during the Depression?

A

A: The economic downturn renewed the call for political reform.
A: Upton Sinclair (a reform candidate) ran unsuccessfully for governor on a platform for political change.
A: The Utopian Society promoted economic and social reform.
A: The Townsend Plan favored pensions for the aged and a graduated income tax.

43
Q

What swelled California’s population during this Depression-era?

A

Dust Bowl migrants added more than 350,000 to the population.

44
Q

How did U.S. entry into World War II change California?

A

California became the “defense center” of the nation.

45
Q

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, what happened to Japanese-Americans in California?

A

A: Most were relocated from coastal areas to inland detention camps (1942).
A: The Japanese were forced to sell their homes and businesses on short notice at huge losses.

46
Q

What marked the post-war era?

A

A: Huge defense contracts following the war fueled economic prosperity.
A: Hundreds of thousands of armed-forces personnel migrated to California.
A: Pollution and water became political issues.

47
Q

What changed in education?

A

The California public education system was greatly expanded in the 1960s, including a low-cost college and university system.

48
Q

How did water define California?

A

A: Regulating water resources became a fundamental political issue.
A: A series of canals, dams, and reservoirs was established.
A: Northern California water was relocated to burgeoning population centers in the south.

49
Q

When did California become the most populous state in the nation?

A

1964

50
Q

What new problems emerged in California cities?

A

A: Minorities were generally left out of the economic prosperity.
A: The Watts Riot (1965) focused national attention on the economic and political status of minorities.

51
Q

How did minorities overcome discrimination in the housing and job markets?

A

A: Reforms in housing, education, and employment provided new opportunities for minorities.
A: Federal affirmative action programs provided a legal basis for changing discrimination in hiring practices.

52
Q

Why does Cesar Chavez stand out in California?

A

He organized the first farm workers’ union in 1962 that ultimately succeeded in attaining a historic contract with the grape growers.

53
Q

What is the significance of Proposition 13 (1978)?

A

A: Restructured local control over property taxes.
A: It led to cutbacks in property taxes and a decrease in the tax base available to fund social programs.

54
Q

What part of the state became synonymous with computers in the 1980s?

A

Santa Clara County (Silicon Valley)

55
Q

What economic, political, and social problems threatened prosperity in the late 1980s?

A

A: Immigration (both legal and illegal) from Mexico and Asian countries swelled the population and affected the social service system.
A: Increased crime, gangs, pollution, and other urban problems affected the state.
A: The cost of public higher education escalated dramatically. d. An economic downturn emerged.

56
Q

What distinguished California nationwide in the early 1990s?

A

Unemployment (at approximately 10 percent) exceeded the national average.

57
Q

How did military cutbacks following the break of the USSR impact the California defense industry?

A

A: The cutbacks had a ripple effect in the housing, auto, and computer industries, among others.
A: Major industrial plant closings further weakened the economy.
A: The cost of public higher education continued to escalate.

58
Q

What followed the acquittal of police officers in the Rodney King trial in 1992?

A

A: Triggered one of the worst civil disturbances in U.S. history.
A: Destruction in the Los Angeles area ran into the billions of dollars.
A: Guilty verdicts in the federal Rodney King trial (1993) reduced racial tensions.

59
Q

What are the economic advantages of California?

A

A: The gross domestic product (GDP) ranks California number one in the nation.
A: The California GDP ranks it among the top 10 countries in the world.
A: Vast natural resources (oil, timber, minerals, and so on) and abundant fertile land allow for future growth.
A: California leads the nation in manufacturing and agricultural production.
A: The higher education system (junior colleges, state colleges, and universities) is among the finest in the nation.

60
Q

Who established the California missions?

A

A: Franciscan friars established 21 Spanish missions along California coast from San Diego to Sonoma
A: father Serra is credited with the development of the mission system; his lasting contributions are controversial.