Us History midterm

Conquistadors

Spanish explorers who traveled the seas to find new colonies, in search for things like gold and silver

Mestizos

mixed Spanish and Native American population.

John Smith

a soldier and adventurer who took control made sure the colonists work "he that will not work shall not eat", is important in finding Jamestown

Powhatan

a tribe who traded with colonists (corn), eventually stopped and attacked the settlers, Pocohontas tribe

Virginia House of Burgesses

created in 1619, became the 1st representative assembly in the American colonies, evolution of democracy/voting

James Winthrop

The first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, called it "city upon a hill" (1630)

Great Migration

movement of over 300,000 African American from the rural south into Northern cities between 1914 and 1920

Roger Williams

Founder of Rhode Island (very free), believed what you want (religion) (1639)

Wiliiam Penn & Pennsylvania

Founder of Pennsylvania, a government-run on Quaker principles of equality, cooperation, and religious toleration.

James Oglethorpe & Georgia

Founded the colony both as a refuge for British debtors and to act as a military border to Spanish Florida (hence his rules against alcohol, slaves, and Catholicism), which demonstrated British resolve to protect the colonies they had over the Spanish Empire. (1732-33)

Triangular Trade

a three-way trading process: merchants carried rum and other goods from New England to Africa; in Africa they traded their merchandise for enslaved people, whom they transported to the West Indies and sold for sugar and molasses; these goods were then shipped to New England to be distilled into rum

Ben Franklin

Enlightenment figure, embraced the notion of obtaining truth through experimentation and reasoning.

Great Awakening

A revival of religious feeling in the American colonies during the 1730s and 1740s (encouraged converting religions)

John Peter Zenger

Journalist who questioned the policies of the governor of New York in the 1700's. Printed a publication called The New York Weekly Journal. (He was jailed; he sued, and this court case was the basis for our freedom of speech and press. He was found not guilty.)

Cortez

Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztecs and conquered Mexico (1485-1547) He led an army into the American mainland, eager to claim new lands for Spain.

Tenochitlan (Aztecs)

Capital of the Aztec Empire, advanced place with a working water system and large temples

Virginia Company of London and Plymouth

both companies established in 1606, London financed an expedition to Chesapeake Bay,

Jamestown

1607, First permanent English settlement in North America, ppl looked for gold instead, named after their king

Starving Time

The winter of 1609 to 1610, time of famine because no one was working, the colonists ate roots, rats, snakes, and even boiled shoe leather. Of those 600 new colonists, only about 60 survived.

John Rolfe

developed tobacco that became popular in England (brown gold), saved Jamestown

Headright system

1618, the Virginia company offered 50 acres land grant for each man, woman, or child who could get to the colony

Indentured servants

men and woman sold their labor to the person who paid passage to the colony, after some years they were free to farm and trade

Puritan/Pilgrims

Puritans- want to purify Angelican church even further - remove all catholic influence

Pilgrims

separatists, flee England to escape persecution, found Plymouth 1620

Mayflower Compact

a set of laws and regulations for a simple elected government, majority rules, rule of law

City on a Hill/Holy Commonwealth

City on a hill: the expectation that the Massachusetts Bay colony would shine like an example to the world, Puritans were an example

Holy Commonwealth: written in 1659 by the Puritan minister Richard Baxter (1615-91), and is a candid confession as to why a conservative Puritan fought for Parliament in the Civil War \[?\]

King Phillip's War (1675-1676)

Puritans vs the Wampanoags, loose land, "beginning of end", the colonists unrelenting desire for more and more land

Pequot War

1637, when the Pequot nation decided to take a stand against the colonists. The colonists formed an alliance with the Narragansett, old enemies of the Pequot. The result of the Pequot War was the near destruction of the Pequot nation. The end came in May 1637, when they surrounded a Pequot fort on the Mystic River.

Anne Hutchinson

A threat to strict Puritans, she told worshippers needed neither the church nor its ministers to interpret the Bible for them. (seen as a bigger threat than Roger Williams)

Act of Toleration

a 1649 Maryland law that provided religious freedom for all Christians, freedom of conscience to all Christians.

Quakers

Protestant reformers who believe in the equality of all people, believed that God's "inner light" burned inside everyone. They held services without formal ministers, allowing any person to speak as the spirit moved him or her.

New Sweden

the first successful settlement in Delaware, a Swedish colony along the lower reaches of the Delaware River in what is now from 1638 to 1655

Plantation/cash crop

a Large farm on which the labor of slaves or other workers is used to grow a single crop such a sugarcane or cotton./ a crop grown by a farmer for sale rather than for personal use

Middle passage

The voyage that brought Africans to the West Indies and later to North America, it was considered the middle leg of the transatlantic trade triangle.

Bacon's Rebellion

1676 - Nathaniel Bacon and other western Virginia settlers were angry at Virginia Governor Berkley for not trying to drive Natives out

Mercantilism

a country's ultimate goal was self sufficiency and that all countries were in a competition to acquire the most gold and silver through selling and buying things

American Enlightenment

Revolution in thought in the eighteenth century that emphasized reason and science over the authority of traditional religion.

Salem Witch Trials

1629 outbreak of witchcraft accusations in a puritan village marked by an atmosphere of fear, hysteria and stress

Jonathan Edwards

Preacher during the First Great Awakening; Northampton, Massachusetts, was one member of the clergy who sought to revive the intensity and commitment of the original Puritan vision. Edwards preached that church attendance was not enough for salvation; people must acknowledge their sinfulness and feel God's love for them.

George Whitfield

English preacher who led the Great Awakening by traveling through the colonies, In his seven journeys to the American colonies between 1738 and 1770, Whitefield preached dramatic sermons that brought many listeners to tears.

Salutary neglect

an English policy of relaxing the enforcement of regulations in its colonies in return for the colonies' continued economic loyalty

French and Indian War

(1754-1763) War fought in the colonies between the English and the French for possession of the Ohio Valley area. The English won.

Fort Necessity

A hastily built British fort where Washington attempted to defeat the French. However, the French took the fort and forced Washington to surrender.

George Washington

1st President of the United States; commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolution (1732-1799)

Pontiac's Rebellion

1763 - An Indian uprising after the French and Indian War, led by an Ottowa chief named Pontiac. They opposed British expansion into the western Ohio Valley and began destroying British forts in the area.

Proclamation of 1763

established to avoid further conflicts with the natives, banned all settlement west of the Appalachians. This ban established a Proclamation Line, which the colonists were not to cross.

Stamp Act

1765, equired colonists to purchase special stamped paper for every legal document, license, newspaper, pamphlet, and almanac, and imposed special "stamp duties" on packages of playing cards and dice. The tax reached into every colonial pocket. Colonists who disobeyed the law were to be tried in the vice-admiralty courts, where convictions were probable.

Declaratory Act

asserted Parliament's full right to make laws "to bind the colonies and people of America . . . in all cases whatsoever."

Townshed Acts

were indirect taxes, or duties levied on imported materials—glass, lead, paint, and paper— as they came into the colonies from Britain. The acts also imposed a three-penny tax on tea, the most popular drink in the colonies.

Boston Massacre

On the cold afternoon of March 5, 1770, a fistfight broke out over jobs. That evening a mob gathered in front of the Customs House and taunted the guards. When Crispus Attucks and several dockhands appeared on the scene, an armed clash erupted, leaving Attucks and four others dead in the snow. Instantly, Samuel Adams and other colonial agitators labeled this confrontation the Boston Massacre, thus presenting it as a British attack on defenseless citizens.

Tea Act

granted the company the right to sell tea to the colonies free of the taxes that colonial tea sellers had to pay. This action would cut colonial merchants out of the tea trade, because the East India Company could sell its tea directly to consumers for less. North hoped the American colonists would simply buy the cheaper tea; instead, they protested violently

Boston Tea Party

1773, the "Indians" dumped 18,000 pounds of the East India Company's tea into the waters of Boston Harbor

Intolerable/Coercive Acts (1774)

series of laws passed in 1774 to punish Boston for the Tea Party, One law shut down Boston Harbor because the colonists had refused to pay for the damaged tea. Another, the Quartering Act, authorized British commanders to house soldiers in vacant private homes and other buildings. In addition to these measures, General Thomas Gage, commander in chief of British forces in North America, was appointed the new governor of Massachusetts.

1st continental congress

On September 1774, delegates from 12 colonies gathered in Philadelphia. After debating, the delegates passed a resolution backing Mass. in its struggle. Decided to boycott all British goods and to stop exporting goods to Britain until the Intolerance Act was canceled. (They defended the colonies' right to run their own affairs. They supported the protests in Massachusetts and stated that if the British used force against the colonies, the colonies should fight back. They also agreed to reconvene in May 1775 if their demands weren't met.)

Lexington and Concord, 1775

First battle in the Revolutionary War, (AKA "shot heard round the world") fought in Massachusetts on April 19, 1775. Was a moral victory even though they lost because it showed the British they were strong and fighting back.

committees of correspondence

The assemblies of Massachusetts and Virginia set up committees of correspondence to communicate with other colonies about this and other threats to American liberties. By 1774, such committees formed a buzzing communication network linking leaders in nearly all the colonies.

Non-importation Agreements (organized boycott)

An act signed by 200 merchants pledging not to buy any British goods until Parliament repeals the Stamp Act, colonial merchants and planters signed these agreements to promise to stop importing goods taxed by the Townshend acts.

Patrick Henry

During 1765 and early 1766, the individual colonial assemblies confronted the Stamp Act measure. Virginia's lower house adopted several resolutions put forth by a 29-year-old lawyer named Patrick Henry. These resolutions stated that Virginians could be taxed only by the Virginia assembly—that is, only by their own representatives. Other assemblies passed similar resolutions.

Patriot v. Loyalist (Ben v. William Franklin)

Loyalists: American colonists who remained loyal to Britain and opposed the war for independence

Patriots

Colonists who wanted independence from Britain

Ben Franklin vs William Franklin:

ben = federalist; wanted colonists to cut off all ties w/ England

William = anit-federalist ; thought that England would not retreat; colonists had to exhibit willingnes

2nd Continental Congress

In May of 1775, colonial leaders convened a second Continental Congress in Philadelphia to debate their next move.

1)Sent the "Olive Branch Petition" 2)Created a continental army with George Washington as the leader. 3)Agreed to write a formal letter declaring their independence from England.

Bunker Hill

(June 17, 1775) Site of a battle early in the Revolutionary War. This battle contested control of two hills (Bunker Hill and Breed's Hill) overlooking Boston Harbor. The British captured the hills after the Americans ran-out of ammunition. "Don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes!" Battle implied that Americans could fight the British if they had sufficient supplies.

Olive Branch Petition

. On July 8, 1775, the Congress sent the king the so-called Olive Branch Petition, urging a return to "the former harmony" between Britain and the colonies. King George flatly rejected the petition. Furthermore, he issued a proclamation stating that the colonies were in rebellion and urged Parliament to order a naval blockade of the American coast.

Thomas Paine and Common Sense

an anonymous 50-page pamphlet, the colonist Thomas Paine attacked King George III. Paine explained that his own revolt against the king had begun with Lexington and Concord

Declaration of Independence

Jefferson, drew on the concepts of the English philosopher John Locke, who maintained that people enjoy "natural rights" to life, liberty, and property. Jefferson described these rights as "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Thomas Jefferson

wrote the declaration of independence, known for his broad knowledge and skillfully crafted prose, was chosen to express the committee's points.

Battle of New York

the british sailed forces into NY consisting of hessians and soldiers and GW sent 23000 but it wasn't enough and they surrendered.

Trenton and Princeton

Washington and his men overtook drunk hessians and won the battle and won another 8 dAYs later against 1200 british which encouraged them to do more.

Saratoga

The British led their army down a route of lakes but american general gates launched multiple attacks on the men while they were going and caused the british to loose a lot. Eventually the british were surrounded at Saratoga and they surrendered. Here the british changed their war strategy and kept their troops along the coast. Close to the big guns and supply bases of the british fleet.

Valley Forge

a winter camp where many died because of the bad conditions. Those who survived remained at their posts.

Yorktown

The americans outnumbered the british and won the battle of yorktown. It was a surprising victory and marked the beginning of their freedom.

Treaty of Paris

1783: confirmed US independence and set the boundaries of the new nation.

Land Ordinance of 1785

laid out the process by which lands west of the Appalachian Mountains were to be surveyed and sold.

Northwest Ordinance 1787

Congress provided a procedure for dividing the land into territories. The Northwest Ordinance also set requirements for the admission of new states, which, however, seemed to overlook Native American land claims. There were three basic stages for becoming a state:


1. Congress would appoint a territorial governor and judges
2. When a territory had 5,000 voting residents, the settlers could write a temporary constitution and elect their own government
3. When the total population of a territory reached 60,000 free inhabitants, the settlers could write a state constitution, which had to be approved by Congress before it

Shay's Rebellion

A protest against the debts that the farmers carry. They wanted a stronger national government because the state was abusing theirs and had the possibility of losing their property.

Articles of Confederation

1st Constitution of the U.S. 1781-1788, a new type of government in a set of laws (weaknesses-no executive, no judicial, no power to tax, no power to regulate trade)

Annapolis Convention

Originally planning to discuss the promotion of interstate commerce, delegates from five states met at Annapolis in September 1786 and ended up suggesting a convention to amend the Articles of Confederation

Constitutional convention

A meeting in Philadelphia in 1787 that produced a new constitution, Pg 142 chart

Republicanism

the idea that governments should be based on the consent of the people

Federalism

A system in which power is divided between the national and state governments

Separation of powers

Legislative, Executive, & Judicial Branches: The delegates protected the rights of the states, but they also granted some powers exclusively to the national government. At the same time, they limited the authority of the government. First, they created three branches of government—a legislative branch to make laws, an executive branch to carry out laws, and a judicial branch to interpret the law.

Checks and balances

the delegates established a system of checks and balances to prevent one branch from dominating the others. (See the chart below.) For example, the president has considerable power, but the Senate has to approve some of the president's decisions.

Conneticut (Great) Compromise

offered a two-house Congress to satisfy both small and big states. Each state would have equal representation in the Senate, or upper house. The size of the population of each state would determine its representation in the House of Representatives, or lower house. Voters of each state would choose members of the House. The state legislatures would choose members of the Senate.

Roger Sherman

proposed the Great Compromise

Bicameral Legislature

A law making body made of two houses (bi means 2). Example: Congress (our legislature) is made of two house - The House of Representatives and The Senate.

3/5 compromise

-each slave would count for 3/5 of a person for taxation and representation purposes

James Madison

"Father of the Constitution," Federalist leader, and fourth President of the United States.

Federalist/Anti-Federalist

federalist = they favored the new Constitution's balance of power between the states and the national government.

anti-federalist- they opposed having such a strong central government and thus were against the Constitution.

Alexander Hamilton

1789-1795; First Secretary of the Treasury. He advocated creation of a national bank, assumption of state debts by the federal government, and a tariff system to pay off the national debt.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the Constitution,

* __Religious and political freedom__
* __Right to bear arms__
* __Freedom from quartering troops__
* __Freedom against unreasonable search and seizure__
* __Rights of accused persons__
* __Right to a speedy, public trial__
* __Right to a trial by jury__
* __Limits on fines and punishments__
* __Rights of the people__
* __Powers of states and the people__

Us Constitution

A document that embodies the fundamental laws and principles by which the United States is governed.

Washington's Executive Branch

branch of federal and state government that is broadly responsible for implementing, supporting, and enforcing laws

Hamilton v. Jefferson

Hamilton - loose interpretation of the Constitution, wanted a national bank, did not want to fight with France in their war, favored the rich

Jefferson - strictly followed the Constitution, did not support a national bank, wanted to join France in their war with Britain, supported the working people

Assumption of Debt

Policy by Alexander Hamilton that ensured that all debt incurred during the revolutionary war would be paid at par and that the federal government would assume the debt of the states, therefore uniting the states and the rich under the federal government.

Excise tax

a tax on the production or sale of a good

Whiskey Rebellion

Farmers in Pennsylvania rebelled against Hamilton's excise tax on whiskey, and several federal officers were killed in the riots caused by their attempts to serve arrest warrants on the offenders. 1794

Bank of the United States

a national bank funded by the federal government and wealthy investors

Pickney's Treaty

1795 - included virtually every concession that the Americans desired. Spain gave up all claims to land east of the Mississippi (except Florida) and recognized the 31st parallel as the southern boundary of the United States and the northern boundary of Florida. Spain also agreed to open the Mississippi River to traffic by Spanish subjects and U.S. citizens, and to allow American traders to use the port of New Orleans

Jay's Treaty

signed on November 19, 1794. The treaty managed to pass the Senate, but many Americans, especially western settlers, were angry at its terms, which allowed the British to continue their fur trade on the American side of the U.S.- Canadian border.