APUSH Unit 3 Review (1754-1800)

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the major political, social, and military developments of A P U.S. History Unit 3, from the French and Indian War through the early National Period.

French and Indian War

A conflict starting in $1754$ between France and Great Britain over territory in the Ohio River Valley, which later expanded into the Seven Years War.

Treaty of Paris ($1763$)

The peace treaty that ended the French and Indian War, resulting in France ceding the Ohio River Valley to Great Britain and Spain ceding Florida to the British.

Proclamation Line of $1763$

A British law forbidding colonists from migrating west beyond the Appalachian Mountains to avoid costly conflicts with American Indians.

Pontiac's Rebellion

An alliance of American Indians that engaged in conflict with British colonists migrating west after the French and Indian War.

Salutary Neglect

The British policy of loosely enforcing trade laws, which gave colonists a sense of self-governance before the introduction of stricter taxes and controls.

Navigation Acts

Existing British laws that restricted colonial trade to Great Britain alone, which were strictly enforced by George Grenville after the war.

Quartering Act

A policy requiring colonial subjects to house and feed British military personnel stationed in the colonies.

Stamp Act of $1765$

A tax on paper items like newspapers, diplomas, and playing cards, which provoked intense colonial protest over lack of representation.

Virtual Representation

The British argument that members of Parliament represented the interests of all English subjects regardless of where they lived, including the colonies.

Committees of Correspondence

A network created by the colonies to organize and spread information about grievances against British policies.

Stamp Act Congress

A convention of delegates from nine colonies in $1765$ that petitioned Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act, arguing that taxation without representation was tyranny.

Declaratory Act

A law passed in $1766$ asserting that Parliament retained full authority to pass laws and taxes for the colonies in all cases.

Boston Massacre ($1770$)

An incident where occupying British soldiers fired upon a group of protesters, killing $5$ Bostonians and increasing tensions.

Coercive Acts ($1774$)

Known in the colonies as the Intolerable Acts, these laws closed Boston Harbor and mandated new quartering requirements in response to the Boston Tea Party.

Natural Rights

An Enlightenment concept, most notably championed by John Locke, asserting that humans are born with rights to life, liberty, and property given by God.

Social Contract

An Enlightenment idea that governments are constructed by the will of the people to protect their natural rights and can be overthrown if they become tyrannical.

Common Sense

A deeply sassy pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in $1776$ that used Enlightenment and biblical arguments to advocate for independence from Great Britain.

Friedrich Wilhelm von Stuben

A Prussian officer who helped George Washington train and discipline the soldiers of the Continental Army.

Battle of Saratoga ($1777$)

A resounding Patriot victory that proved the Americans could win, leading to a formal military alliance with France.

Treaty of Paris ($1783$)

The agreement that ended the Revolutionary War, formally recognizing US independence and doubling its land holdings.

Republican Motherhood

The concept defined by Benjamin Rush that women served the republic by educating their sons in principles of liberty and government.

Articles of Confederation

The first US Constitution, which established an intentionally weak federal government with no power to tax or raise an army.

Shays's Rebellion

An uprising of angry farmers in Massachusetts led by Daniel Shays that exposed the intolerable weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.

Northwest Ordinance of $1787$

A law regulating the settlement of western territories, mandating land for schools, banning slavery in the region, and providing a path to statehood.

Federalism

A system of government established by the Constitution in which power is shared between the federal and state governments.

Great Compromise

An agreement establishing a bicameral legislature with population-based representation in the House and equal representation in the Senate.

Three-Fifths Compromise

A deal stating that three out of every five enslaved people would be counted for a state's representation in the House of Representatives.

Federalist Papers

A series of essays written by Alexander Hamilton and others to persuade states to ratify the new Constitution.

Judiciary Act of $1789$

Legislation that created the multi-level federal court system, including district courts, courts of appeals, and the Supreme Court.

Whiskey Rebellion ($1791$)

A protest against a federal tax on whiskey that was suppressed by Washington's use of force, demonstrating the increased power of the new federal government.

Alien and Sedition Acts

Laws passed during the Adams administration that allowed the federal government to silence dissent and was viewed by Democratic-Republicans as a violation of constitutional limits.

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions

Documents arguing that states had the right to consider federal laws null and void if they exceeded constitutional authority.

Battle of Fallen Timbers ($1794$)

A conflict where US troops defeated an alliance of American Indians, leading to the Treaty of Greenville which opened Ohio for settlement.

Pinckney Treaty

An agreement with Spain that recognized US borders and opened the port of New Orleans and the Mississippi River to American merchants.