APUSH Unit 3 study guide topics

sugar act

a 1764 act of parliament putting a tax on sugar, coffee, wine and other luxury items. It sparked colonial protests that would escalate over time as new revenue measures were enacted.

stamp act

a 1765 act of parliament that put a duty on all transactions involving paper items. It promoted widespread coordinated protests and was eventually repealed.

stamp act congress

met in oct 1765 and was the first gathering of representatives from several of the american colonies to devise a unified protest against British taxation.

virtual representation

british claimed that direct representation for the colonists was unnecessary because parliament virtually represented the interests of the colonies.

Patriot groups (Sons of Liberty, Daughters of Liberty.)

They protested the british government because they thought the colonies were being unjustly taxed. They did things like tar and feather tax collectors and lead protests like the boston tea party. They also played a big role in boycotting british goods.

Declaratory Act

1766 act announcing parliament's authority to pass any law to bind colonies and people of North america closer to Britain.

Townshend Acts

1767 acts of parliament that instituted an import tax on a range of items including glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea. (they promoted a boycott of british goods and contributed to violence between british soldiers and colonists)

Letters from a Pennsylvania Farmer

These letters, all signed “A Farmer,” laid out a case against the acts. They argued that the British parliament had the right to regulate trade with the colonies within the imperial system, but that the colonies were sovereign to regulate their own internal matters. This included raising revenue.

Nonimportation

Boycotts against British goods adopted in response to the Stamp Act and, later, the Townshend an Intolerable Acts. The agreements were the most effective form of protest against British policies in the colonies.

Quartering Act

1765 act ensuring british troops would remain stationed in the colonies and colonists homes after the end of the 7 years war. The colonists had to provide them with beds and other supplies they needed.

Boston Massacre

1770 clash between protesters and british soldiers in boston that lead to the death of 5 colonists. the bloody conflict was used to promote the patriot cause.

Committee of Correspondence

a type of committee first established in Massachusetts to circulate concerns and reports of protest and other events to leaders in other colonies in the aftermath of the sugar act.

Tea Act

1773 act of parliament that aimed to reduce the financial debts of britain and the british east india trading company by providing the company with a tea monopoly in the british american colonies (tax on tea). This resulted in colonial protest.

Boston Tea Party

a protest by American colonists like the sons and daughters of liberty who dressed up as American Indians and raided three British ships in Boston harbor and dumped hundreds of chests of tea into the harbor.

Intolerable Acts

They were a series of harsh laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The laws aimed to punish Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party protest of the Tea Act.

First Continental Congress

a congress convened in Pennsylvania in 1774 in response to the coercive acts. The delegates hoped to reestablish the freedoms colonists had previously enjoyed.

Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation

He announced that anyone who supported the patriot cause was a traitor and he promised freedom to all slaves, indentured servants, and any other people who were willing to bear arms for british troops and support the loyalist cause for his majesty.

Second Continental Congress

an assembly of colonial representatives that served as a national government during the american revolution. Despite limited formal powers. they coordinated the war effort and conducted negotiations with outside powers.

Thomas Paine - Common Sense

this document was a 47-page pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–1776 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Writing in clear and persuasive prose, Paine promoted moral and political arguments to encourage common people in the Colonies to fight for democratic government.

Values in the Declaration of Independence

These three universal core values of equality, freedom, and self-government are some of the most important values in this document

Battle of Saratoga and the French

The French military intervened at the Battle of Saratoga, effectively saving Americans from decimation at the hands of the British. French recognition of the power of the American military prior to the Battle of Saratoga ensured that Americans were on equal footing with the British. This lead to american becoming allies with the french during the revolutionary war and was a turning point in the Revolutionary War that furthered the hope for independence,

Treaty of Paris, 1783

This treaty, signed on September 3, 1783, between the American colonies and Great Britain, ended the American Revolution and formally recognized the United States as an independent nation.

Articles of Confederation - powers and weaknesses

a plan for the national government proposed by the continental congress of 1777 and was ratified in march 1781. The articles gave the national government limited powers, reflecting widespread fear of centralized authority, and were replaced by the constitution in 1789. But the articles didn't include a bill of rights, each state only had one vote in congress regardless of size, and there was no executive branch to enforce acts passed by congress.

Remember the Ladies

In a letter dated March 31, 1776, Abigail Adams writes to her husband, John Adams, urging him and the other members of the Continental Congress not to forget about the nation's women when fighting for America's independence from Great Britain.

Northwest Ordinance

Established a government for the Northwest Territory, outlined the process for admitting a new state to the Union, and guaranteed that newly created states would be equal to the original thirteen states.

Shay’s Rebellion

1786 rebellion by western Massachusetts farmers and veterans caused primarily by economic hardship in the aftermath of the American revolution. Led by daniel shay.

Constitutional Convention

a meeting to draft the united states constitution in Philadelphia from may to september of 1787 this document established the framework for a strong government with an executive, legislative, and judicial branch

Constitution and limits to power

With checks and balances, each of the three branches of government can limit the powers of the others. This way, no one branch is too powerful. Each branch “checks” the powers of the other branches to make sure that the power is balanced between them.It also specified certain fundamental rights that all of us possess as citizens and which no government can ever be allowed to violate.

New Jersey Plan

a proposal to 1787 constitutional convention that highlighted the needs of small states by creating 1 legislative house in the federal government and granting each state equal representation in it.

Virginia Plan

a plan put forth at the beginning of the 1787 constitutional convention that introduced the ideas of a strong central government, a bicameral legislature, and a system of representation based on population.

Great Compromise

this was a solution where both large and small states would be fairly represented by creating two houses of Congress. In the House of Representatives, each state would be assigned seats in proportion to the size of its population. In the Senate, each state would have two delegates regardless of size.

⅗ Compromise

a compromise between northern and southern delegates to the 1787 constitutional convention to count enslaved people as 3/5ths of a free person in deciding the proportion of representation in the house of representatives and taxation by the federal government. (a compromise for antifederalists because they opposed the ratification of the constitution and this compromise helped push them to agree to the constitution.)

Electoral College

a group comprised of electors who vote in the formal election of the president and vice president after the general election votes are tallied. the electoral college was a compromise between determining the president via a direct popular vote or via a congressional vote.

Federalists v. Anti-Federalists

Federalists were supporters of the ratification of the constitution many of whom came from urban/commercial/wealthy backgrounds. Anti-federalists were opponents of the ratification of the constitution. They were generally from more rural and less wealthy backgrounds than federalists.

Hamilton’s Report on Federal Credit
National Bank

He proposed a Bank of the United States with a $10 million capital and the ability to issue paper money. It would be based in Philadelphia and was modeled after the Bank of England. He also wanted to reduce debt for the war.

Federalists v. Republicans

The Federalists wanted a strong central government and a loose interpretation of the Constitution. The Republicans favored states' rights more than a central government and they had a strict interpretation of the Constitution.

Washington’s Neutrality Proclamation

This was a formal announcement issued by U.S. President George Washington on April 22, 1793, that declared the nation neutral in the conflict between France and Great Britain. It threatened legal proceedings against any American providing assistance to any country at war.

Jay’s Treaty

U.S. History. the agreement in 1794 between England and the U.S. by which limited trade relations were established, England agreed to give up its forts in the northwestern frontier, and a joint commission was set up to settle border disputes. England would also stop claiming and raiding American ships.

Pinckney's' Treaty

Also known as the Treaty of San Lorenzo, was an agreement signed on October 27, 1795 between the United States and Spain. It settled a dispute between the two nations over the boundary of Spanish Florida and granted navigation rights on the Mississippi River to Americans.

Whiskey Rebellion

This was a violent tax protest of farmers and distillers in western Pennsylvania in 1791 and ending in 1794 during the presidency of George Washington. The so-called "whiskey tax" was the first tax imposed on a domestic product by the newly formed federal government.

Washington’s Farewell Address

a letter written by American President George Washington as a valedictory to "friends and fellow-citizens" after 20 years of public service to the United States. In this letter he warned that the forces of geographical sectionalism, the creation of political parties, and interference by foreign powers in the nation's domestic affairs threatened the stability of the republic.

Adam’s Presidency

Adams presided over an expansion of the army and the navy, and the navy won several successes in the Quasi-War. He was well known for his extreme political independence, brilliant mind and passionate patriotism. He was a leader in the Continental Congress and an important diplomatic figure

XYZ Affair

Heightened the tensions between the US and the French.a diplomatic incident between French and United States diplomats that resulted in a limited, undeclared war known as the Quasi-War. The XYZs were the three french soldiers who invaded the US

Quasi War

an undeclared naval war fought from 1798 to 1800 between the United States and the French First Republic. The Quasi-War was the result of disagreements over treaties and America's status as a neutral in the Wars of the French Revolution and because the french kept taking hundreds of american ships with trading.

Alien and Sedition Acts

a set of four laws enacted in 1798 that applied restrictions to immigration and speech. In one of the first tests of freedom of speech, the House passed the Sedition Act, permitting the deportation, fine, or imprisonment of anyone deemed a threat or publishing “false, scandalous, or malicious writing” against the government of the United States.

Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions

Drafted in secret by future Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, the resolutions condemned the Alien and Sedition Acts as unconstitutional and claimed that because these acts overstepped federal authority under the Constitution, they were null and void.

Election of 1800

Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican) defeated John Adams (Federalist) in the presidential election of 1800. This was important because it marks the beginning of the development of political parties and the two-party system in America. The peaceful transfer of power from one party to the other showed Americans that their new country could unite and work for the good of the nation