APUSH EVENTS

Mayflower Compact 1620

signed by the Pilgrim leaders; set a precedent for later constitutions and was a simple agreement to form a crude government and to submit to the wills of the majority under agreed regulations.

• It was a step towards self-government, as the settlers were assembling to make their own laws in town meetings.

Act of Toleration 1649

• Maryland; guaranteed liberation to all Christians, but those who “denied the divinity of Jesus” would face the death penalty (it did not grant religious freedom to Jews and atheists.)

Navigation Laws 1651

sought to empower England’s overseas possessions more to the motherland by restricting American trade with countries not ruled by England. Americans smuggled products in response to this.

Halfway Covenant 1662

created by Puritans to address the decline of religious fervor; allowed partial church membership for those who had been baptized but had not experienced a conversion.

Metacom/King Philip/King Philip’s War 1675

• Metacom, known as King Phillip by the English, sought to resist the English by forming an alliance to fight back against them. This King Philip's War slowed the westward movement of English settlement for decades, but inflicted a lasting defeat on New England’s Native Americans.

Nathaniel Bacon/Bacon’s Rebellion 1676

• Bacon’s Rebellion was led by a 29-year old planter named Nathaniel Bacon. Most of the people rebelling were resentful servants and frontiersmen who had been forced into the backcountry in search of land. They resented Berkeley’s friendly policies with the Native Americans.
• The rebellion happened when Berkeley refused to retaliate against Native American attacks on frontier settlements. The people attacked the Native Americans, chased Berkely out of Jamestown, and burned Jamestown.
  • Servants were considered troublesome laborers after this event.

Pueblo Revolt 1680

most successful Native American uprising against European colonizers, temporarily driving out the Spanish and allowing the Pueblo people to rebuild their culture and sovereignty.

Salem Witch Trials 1692

more than 130 "witches" were jailed or executed in Salem.

First Great Awakening (1730s-1740s)

Wave of religious revivalism in the colonies and Europe; led by Congregationalist minister Jonathan Edwards and Methodist preacher George Whitefield

• Often described as a response to the Enlightenment, a European intellectual movement emphasizing rationalism over emotionalism or spirituality.

Stono Uprising 1739

the first / one of the most successful slave rebellions; rebels fled to Florida, where they hoped the Spanish colonists would grant them their freedom

• In response, many colonies passed more restrictive laws to govern the behavior of enslaved people.
• Fear of slave rebellions increased.

Navigation Acts (17th century)

sought to channel key American exports like tobacco through British ports; ignored by colonists as it prevented the colonies from establishing an independent import trade & increased shipping costs, which increased prices paid by colonists.

Declaratory Act 1766

passed after Parliament repealed the Stamp Act; rejected Americans’ claims that only their elected representatives could levy taxes & emphasized that Parliament had the right to pass laws for the US.

Townshend Acts 1767

new set of taxes imposed on Americans devised by Charles Townshend, the cabinet’s chief financial minister. He took note of the colonists stating that revenue raised by trade regulation would have been acceptable and persuaded Parliament to impose new taxes on goods imported into the colonies and to create a new board of customs commissioners to collect them.

Boston Massacre 1770

fight between a snowball throwing crowd and British troops that escalated into an armed confrontation that left five Bostonians dead.

Boston Tea Party 1773

due to the colonists’ awareness that to pay the taxes on tea would be to acknowledge Britain’s right to tax them unfairly, colonists boarded ships in Boston Harbor and threw more than 300 chests of tea into the sea.

Intolerable Acts 1774

in response to the Boston Tea Party, Britain CLOSED the port of Britain to all trade until they repaid all the tea. They also altered the Massachusetts Charter of 1691 by limiting town meetings and giving the governor the right to appoint members to the council, which was previously decided by elections. Military commanders now could lodge soldiers in private homes.

Continental Congress 1774

met in Philadelphia to coordinate resistance to the Intolerable Acts; it consisted of prominent political leaders of 12 mainland colonies

Declaration of Independence 1776

written after Congress declared the United States an independent nation; most of it listed how King George had wronged them and how Britain aimed to establish absolute tyranny over the colonies. Jefferson’s preamble stated that all men are created equal with certain basic rights that no government should take away. It was ultimately “an assertion of the right of revolution.”

Treaty of Paris 1783

recognition of American independence.

Stamp Act of 1765

Parliament’s attempt to raise money from direct taxes in the colonies in place of trade regulation; it required all printed material produced in the colonies to carry a stamp purchased from authorities. It was meant to help finance operations (like stationing British troops in North America) without seeking revenue from colonial assemblies.

- pissed off many colonists as they felt they were underrepresented in the House of Commons and therefore unfairly taxed (“No taxation without representation”).

Articles of Confederation (during war)

First written constitution of the United States, drafted by Congress in 1777 and ratified by the states 4 years later.
Main purpose - to work towards the need for national coordination of the War of Independence while making sure that they weren’t going to get accused of tyranny or smth. It was also a treaty for mutual defense to unite the thirteen states (each kept their individual sovereignty). The national government consisted of a one-house Congress, in which each state regardless of size had a single vote. There was no president to enforce laws; major decisions required the approval of nine states rather than a majority.
- The only powers granted to the national government were declaring war, conducting foreign affairs, and making treaties w/ other governments.
Weaknesses - Congress had virtually no financial resources, changes to the Articles required unanimous agreement between all states (hence why it never happened through 1781-88), and no national officials chosen through popular vote.

Freedom petitions

first concrete step towards emancipation; arguments for liberty presented to New England courts and legislatures in the early 1770s by enslaved people.

Land ordinances (1780s)

meant to outline the terms by which western land would be marketed and settled

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

called for the eventual establishment of 3-5 states north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi.
swore to not take Indian land without consent; first official recognition that Indians still owned their land. HOWEVER! it still assumed that regardless of any action taken, the Indian presence would soon disappear.

Shays’s Rebellion 1786-1787

crowds of debt-ridden farmers closed the courts in western Massachusetts to prevent the seizure of their land for failure to pay taxes.
- persuaded people that the national government needed to be strengthened (& that the articles were too weak) to develop uniform economic policies and protect property owners from infringements on their rights by local majorities.

Constitutional Convention 1787

representatives from 12 colonies (not RI bc they had exceptional debtor relief and trade policies) met originally to tweak the Articles of Confederation, but instead scrapped it and planned a new constitution.
- Structure- they decided that the new constitution would create a legislature, an executive, and a national judiciary. Congress could raise money w/o relying on states, and states were banned from infringing on property rights.
Disagreements-
Madison’s Virginia Plan, proposing the creation of a two house legislature with state populations determining its representation in each, was feared by smaller states as it meant that the populous VA, MA, and PA would dominate the new government.
These smaller states advocated for the New Jersey Plan, proposing the creation of a one house legislature where each state cast one vote.
Compromise reached

Slave trade clause

allowed the importation of slaves to continue until 1808 (Congress banned it then).

Fugitive slave clause 1787

stated that the “condition of bondage” remained attached to a person even after escaping to a state where slavery had been abolished. However, it did not state who would be responsible for apprehending a fugitive slave or what judicial procedures would be employed to return them.

1789

French Revolution begins; many Americans welcome it.

Bill of Rights 1791

first 10 amendments.

Democratic-Republican societies 1793-1795

formed in 1793-1794 by supporters of the French Revolution and critics of Washington who celebrated liberty. The Republican press publicized their meetings.
- The societies asserted that the right to debate political issues; “free inquiry” and “free communication” made up the unalienable rights. They helped to legitimize the right of any person to express political opinions and take an active role in public life.

Jay's Treaty 1794

did not result in the British giving up impressment. Britain did agree to abandon outposts on the western frontier, but this was supposed to be done in 1783. In return, the US guaranteed favored treatment to British imported goods. The treaty canceled the American-French alliance, and directly led to the formation of an organized opposition party.

Whiskey Rebellion 1794

broke out when backcountry PA farmers tried to block collection of the new tax on alcoholic beverages; reinforced the Federalists’ idea that freedom was dangerous in the hands of the common people.

Alien and Sedition Acts 1798

a new Naturalization Act extended the residency requirement for immigrants seeking American citizenship by 9 years. The Alien Act allowed the deportation of “dangerous” people from abroad. The Sedition Act (set to expire in 1801) authorized the prosecution of any public assembly or publication critical of the government (still allowed for trials by jury). The main target was the Republican press.
- widespread opposition to the Alien and Sedition Acts aided Jefferson’s 1800 election.

Virginia and Kentucky Acts 1798

attacked the Sedition Act as an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment. Argued that the states had the right to judge the constitutionality of federal laws

Erie Canal 1825

allowed goods to flow btwn the Great Lakes and NYC, attracting many farmers & causing the creation of new cities along its path.

Second Great Awakening (began 1800, peaked in 20s-30s)

nationwide religious revivals; different from the First in that it emphasized moral reform of society.

American System 1815

Madison’s plan for government-promoted economic development. Reared on 3 pillars- a new national bank, a tariff on imported manufactured goods, and federal financing of improved roads and canals (3rd not approved).

American Colonization Society 1816

promoted gradual emancipation and the settlement of Black Americans in Africa. It established Liberia, an outpost of American influence.

• Many northerners saw colonization as the only way to truly get rid of slavery, while southerners tried to persuade free African Americans to leave the US, as they saw them as a threat to white society.

Era of Good Feelings (1817-1825)

refers to Monroe’s 2 terms in office (years of a one-party government)
- In place of two-party competition, politics were organized along lines of competing sectional interests.

McCulloch v. Maryland 1819

Supreme Courts declared the national Bank a legitimate exercise of congressional authority under the “necessary and proper” clause; stated that MD could not tax the bank.
- directly contradicted the strict constructionist view that limits Congress to powers specifically granted in the Constitution.

Missouri Compromise 1820

MO=slave state; ME=free state; slavery banned in all remaining territory within the Louisiana Purchase north of latitude 36°30 (MO’s southern border)

Monroe Doctrine 1823

stated that the US would opposed any further efforts at colonization by European powers in the Americas, US would abstain from involvement in the wars of Europe, and warned European powers not to interfere with the newly independent states of Latin America.
- claimed for the US the role of dominant power in the Western Hemisphere

Indian Removal Act 1830

provided funds for uprooting 5 Indian tribes; permitted the negotiation of treaties to obtain the Indians’ lands in exchange for their relocation to what would become Oklahoma. Jackson believed Indians couldn’t be assimilated into American population.

Trail of Tears

forced removal of the Cherokees (1838-1839) from the SE (GA) to Indian lands (OK); at least one quarter of the 15,000 perished on the way.

Nat Turner’s Rebellion (VA) 1831

last large-scale rebellion before the Civil War.
- led VA leaders to debate gradual emancipation; ultimately failed to win legislative approval. Instead, their new laws prohibited black people from acting as preachers (hard to enforce), strengthened militia and patrol systems, banned free black people from owning firearms, and prohibited teaching slaves to read. Other southern states did the same. Some states made membership in an abolitionist society a criminal offense.

Nullification Crisis 1832

attempt by SC to nullify the 1832 federal tariff law.

Bank War (early 1830s)

political struggle between Jackson & Nicholas Biddle over the renewing of the Second Bank’s charter.
- Jackson stated it was unacceptable for Congress to create a source of concentrated power & economic privilege not applicable to the people (bank widened gap [rich/ordinary]).
- 2 different groups agreed w/ Jackson- state bankers (who were prioritized) for soft money (paper currency), & hard money (specie) advocates who opposed all banks.

Gag rule 1836-44

prohibited consideration of abolitionist petitions.

Panic of 1837

major economic depression (bc of Specie Circular, cotton prices dropping, and speculative boom collapsing) lasting until 1843.

The Seneca Falls Convention 1848

1st women’s rights conference; raised the issue of women’s suffrage. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott were the key organizers of this event.
- The Declaration of Sentiments was modeled on the Declaration of Independence, but added “women” to Jefferson’s axiom “all men are created equal.”

Texas revolt 1830s

rebellion of residents in Texas (many American emigrants) against Mexican control of the region.

1836

independence of Texas.

‟Fifty-four forty or fight” 1840s

popular campaign slogan pushing for American control of Oregon to its northern boundary at north latitude 54°40′.

Know-Nothing Party

1844

Mexican war 1846-1848

first American war to be fought primarily on foreign soil; fought for control of California and New Mexico.

• Inspired by manifest destiny, a majority of Americans supported the war.

• a Northern minority dissented, fearing that the real aim of the administration was to acquire new land for the expansion of slavery. Some also saw it as an unjust war ‟waged by a stronger nation against a weaker nation”.

  • some (Lincoln / Whigs) also questioned whether the Mexicans had actually inflicted casualties on American soil, as Polk claimed.

  • Southern Democrats often supported the war.

Wilmot Proviso 1846

(failed) proposal to prohibit slavery from all territory acquired from Mexico. All northerners, democrats and whigs alike, supported it while nearly all southerners opposed it.

Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo 1848

confirmed the annexation of TX and ceded CA and NM, AZ, NV, and UT w/ the US paying Mexico $15m.
- granted Mexicans citizenship but not Indians on the land annexed.

Free Soil Party

formed in 1848 by opponents of slavery’s expansion; nominated Van Buren for president. Called for both barring slavery from the west and for the federal government to provide free homesteads to settlers in new territories.

Gold Rush late 1840s-50s

the massive migration of Americans into CA territory in the late 1840s and 1850s in pursuit of gold.
- horrible for Native Americans; from 1848-60, CA’s Native American population went from 150k to 30k (80% decline).

Compromise of 1850 (by Henry Clay)

CA would enter as a free state, and the slave trade, not slavery itself, would be abolished in the nation’s capital.
A new law would help southerners reclaim enslaved people who ran away.
The status of slavery in the remaining states acquired from Mexico would be left to the decision of the local white inhabitants (established popular sovereignty).
The US would agree to pay off the huge debt TX had accumulated while independent.

Fugitive Slave Act 1850

law that gave the federal government authority in cases involving runaway slaves; those who were accused had no benefit of a jury trial or testimony. Local authorities couldn’t interfere w/ the capture of fugitives.
- reinvigorated the Underground Railroad; escaped slaves who reached the free states could be placed on trains that would take them to safety in Canada.

Mexican Cession

land annexed from Mexico; established present territorial boundaries on the North American continent except for the land from the Gadsden Purchase and Alaska. (⅓ US)

Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854

law that allowed settlers in newly organized territories north of the Missouri border to decide the slavery issue for themselves; split the Democratic Party between sectional lines.
- fury over the resulting repeal of the Missouri Compromise led to the formation of the Republican Party.
- ½ northern Democrats in the House cast negative votes.
- the Whig Party, unable to develop a unified response, collapsed. Most northern Whigs joined the newly formed Republican Party (sectional party), dedicated to preventing the expansion of slavery.

Bleeding Kansas 1856

violence between pro and antislavery settlers in the Kansas Territory.
- seemed to discredit Douglas’s policy of leaving the decision on slavery up to the local population, thus aiding the Republicans.

Dred Scott v. Sandford 1857

Supreme Court decision which ruled that Congress could not prohibit slavery in the territories, on the grounds that such a prohibition would violate the Fifth Amendment rights of slaveholders, and that no black person could be a citizen of the US.

• This decision, along with the Kansas-Nebraska Act, made the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional.

Democratic Split 1860

Democratic party splits into sectional lines as neither northern nor southern democrats were interested in reconciling their differences.

Homestead Act 1862

law that authorized Congress to grant 160 acres of public land to a western settler, who had to live on the land for 5 years to establish title.
- made to spur agricultural development.
- by the 1930s, 400k+ families had acquired farms under its provisions.

Emancipation Proclamation 1863

issued by Lincoln; freed enslaved people in areas under Confederate control. Also authorized the enrollment of black soldiers into the Union army.
- didn’t liberate many people; excluded areas firmly under Union control / didn’t apply to loyal border slave states or to areas of the Confederacy occupied by Union soldiers. However, it declared the majority of enslaved people in the South (3m+) free.

Ten-Percent Plan of Reconstruction 1863

Lincoln’s plan to offer amnesty and full restoration of rights to nearly all white southerners who took an oath affirming loyalty to the Union and support for emancipation. This plan allowed southern states to rejoin the Union if 10 percent of the 1860 electorate signed loyalty pledges, accepted emancipation, and had received presidential pardons. Once 10 percent was achieved, they could elect a new state government, which would be required to abolish slavery.

Civil War 1861-1865

-Laid the foundation for modern America, guaranteed the Union’s permanence, destroyed slavery, and shifted power in the nation from the South and to the North.
- Greatly increased the power of the federal government and accelerated the modernization of the northern economy.
- Placed on the postwar agenda the challenge of defining and protecting African American freedom.

Freedmen’s Bureau 1865

established by Congress in 1865 to protect the legal rights of formerly enslaved people & to assist with their education, jobs, health care, and landowning.
- Bureau agents were supposed to establish schools, provide aid to the poor & aged, settle disputes, and secure for formerly enslaved people and white Unionists equal treatment before the courts. However, these tasks proved to be hard to fulfill.
- While the Bureau didn’t establish schools itself, it coordinated & helped to finance the activities of northern societies committed to black education. By 1869, nearly 3,000 schools reported to the Bureau.
Bureau agents also assumed control of hospitals established by the army during war, and expanded the system into new communities, providing medical care to both black and white southerners.

Black Codes 1865-1866

laws passed by new southern governments that attempted to restrict the rights of formerly enslaved people. They granted black people certain rights, such as legalized marriage, ownership of property, & limited access to the courts, but denied them the rights to testify against white people, to serve on juries or in state militias, or to vote.
- Also declared that those who failed to sign yearly labor contracts could be arrested and hired out to white landowners. Some states limited the occupations open to black people & barred them from acquiring land, and others allowed judges to assign black children to work for their former owners without the consent of their parents.
- COMPLETELY VIOLATED free labor principles + was met w/ strong opposition from the Republican North.

Civil Rights Bill of 1866

along w/ the 14th Amendment, legislation that guaranteed the rights of citizenship to formerly enslaved people. Defined all persons born in the US as citizens and listed rights they were to enjoy regardless of race. States could no longer enact laws like the Black Codes discriminating between white and black citizens, nor could they deprive any citizen of the right to make contracts, bring lawsuits, or enjoy equal protection of one’s person and property. Made no mention of the right to vote for black people.

14th Amendment

guaranteed rights of citizenship to formerly enslaved people, placing in the Constitution the principle of birthright citizenship (except for Native Americans subject to tribal authority) and empowering the federal government to protect the rights of all Americans.
- still didn’t grant black people the right to vote, but provided that if a state denied the vote to any group of men, that state’s representation in Congress would be reduced.
- produced an intense division between the parties; no Democrat in Congress voted in its favor, and most Republicans supported it. Radicals expressed their disappointment that the amendment did not guarantee black suffrage.

15th Amendment 1870

prohibited the federal & state governments from denying any citizen the right to vote because of race.
- the amendment left the door open to suffrage restrictions not explicitly based on race, like literacy tests, property qualifications, & poll taxes. Women still couldn’t vote either.

The Reconstruction amendments (13-15)

voided many northern laws discriminating on the basis of race, emphasized that rights required national power to be enforced

Transcontinental railroad 1869

1st line across the continent from Nebraska to California; established in 1869 with the linkage of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads at Utah.
- reduced time of cross-country journeys from 4-5 months to 6 days.
- required 20k men, including a significant number of immigrant Chinese contract laborers, to lay tracks.

Feminist Split

the 14th Amendment introduced the word “male” into the constitution, and the 15th outlawed discrimination in voting based on race but not gender. These measures produced a split both between feminists and Radical Republicans, and within feminist circles.
Prominent leaders on diff sides of the split:

• Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: opposed the 15th Amendment because it didn’t enfranchise women.

• Abby Kelley and Lucy Stone: insisted that despite their limitations, the Reconstruction amendments represented steps toward universal suffrage and should be supported.

Radical Reconstruction 1867-77

began with Congress’s 1867 adoption of the Reconstruction Act, which temporarily divided the South into 5 military districts & called for the creation of new state governments, w/ black men given the right to vote

Waning 1870s

of the North’s commitment to Reconstruction. Reasons- many Radicals had passed from the scene. Their place was taken by politicians less committed to the ideal of equal rights of black people. Northerners felt that the South should be able to solve its own problems without constant interference from Washington; they believed that the federal government had done “enough”.

Bargain of 1877 / End of Reconstruction

deal made between leaders of the two parties to resolve the disputed election of 1876; Republican Hayes was declared winner in exchange for the withdrawal of federal troops from involvement in politics in the South, marking the end of Reconstruction.

Plessy v. Ferguson 1896

Supreme Court approves state laws requiring separate facilities for black people and white people.
- upheld the “separate but equal” principle.
- states reacted to this decision by passing laws mandating racial segregation in every aspect of southern life.

Knights of Labor 1869

1st national union who tried to organize unskilled workers and skilled ones, women with men, and black people as well as white people. Involved millions of workers in strikes, boycotts, political action, etc.

• beliefs: social conditions of the 1880s needed drastic change, unrestrained economic growth & political corruption led to ppl losing control of their economic livelihoods and their own government.

The Gilded Age

era from 1870-1890. Its name refers to not only the expansion of the economy, but also the corruption caused by corporate dominance of politics & the oppressive treatment of those struggling economically.
- lots of distrust between employees and employers.

Battle of the Little Bighorn 1876

famous Indian victory by Sioux and Cheyenne warriors (led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse), whose lands had been invaded by white people after the discovery of gold; General George A. Custer and his entire command of 250 men perished.

American Federation of Labor / AFL (founded 1881)

a federation of trade unions, composed mostly of skilled, white, native-born workers; its president was Samuel Gompers.

Chinese Exclusion Act 1882

temporarily excluded all Chinese immigrants from entering the US; made permanent in 1902.

Dawes Act 1887

broke up the land of nearly all tribes into small parcels to be distributed to Indian families, with the remainder auctioned off to white purchasers. Meant to encourage the adoption of white norms among Indians.
- led to the loss of much tribal land and the erosion of Indian cultural traditions.
- white people benefited a lot from this.
- many Indians wished to maintain tribal identity, thus few were recognized as American citizens.

Haymarket Affair 1886

violence during an anarchist protest at Haymarket Square.
- employers took this opportunity to paint the labor movement as dangerous & claimed it was controlled by foreign-born radicals.

Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) 1887

established by Congress to ensure that the rates railroads charged farmers and merchants to transport their goods were reasonable & didn’t offer more favorable treatment to certain shippers; 1st federal agency intended to regulate economic activity, but had little impact on railroad practices due to lack of power to establish rates.

Sherman Antitrust Act 1890

banned all combinations and practices that restrained free trade. Courts primarily used it as a way to suppress labor unions.

Wounded Knee massacre 1890

fearing an uprising, the government sent troops to reservations. Soldiers opened fire on Ghost Dancers encamped near Wounded Knee Creek, killing 150-200 Indians.
- although small-scale Indian resistance continued, the wounded knee massacre marked the end of four centuries of armed conflict between Indians & settlers. By 1900, the Indian population had fallen to 250k, the lowest point in American history.

1890s

new immigrants arrive from southern and eastern Europe.

Early 1890s

Farmers’ Alliance evolves into the Populist Party.

Women’s Era 1890-1920

3 decades during which women enjoyed larger opportunities than in the past for economic independence & played a greater role in public life.
-by now, most states had given married women control over their wages & property and the right to sign separate contracts and make separate wills.

Populist platform of 1892

classic document of American reform; listed out proposals to restore democracy & economic opportunity

Yellow press mid-1890s

mass-circulation newspapers that promoted nationalistic sentiments; mixed sensational accounts of crime and political corruption w/ aggressive appeals to patriotic sentiments. Blamed Spain for the U.S.S. Maine.

Open Door Policy 1899

demand, in hopes of protecting the Chinese market for US exports, that Chinese trade be open to all nations.

Philippine War 1899-1903

American military campaign that suppressed the movement for Philippine independence after the Spanish-American War.