Apush Important Terms

Encomienda

A Spanish labor system where conquerors were granted control over Indigenous people

Mercantalism

An economic practice by which governments used their economies to gain power over other countries

House of Burgesses

The first democratically-elected legislative body in the British American colonies

Headright System

A way to attract more settlers to the Virginia colony in which every new arrival paying his or her own way was promised a land grant of 50 acres

Great Awakening

A series of religious revivals that swept through the American colonies in the mid-1700s, emphasizing personal faith and emotional connection to God

Enlightenment

An intellectual and philosophical movement emphasizing reason, individualism, and skepticism of traditional authority, which greatly influenced ideas about governance, human rights, and personal liberty

Navigation Acts

A series of laws passed by the British Parliament in the 1600s, aimed at restricting colonial trade and promoting the economic self-sufficiency of the British Empire

Stono Rebellion

A large slave uprising that occurred in South Carolina in September 1739, where enslaved people revolted, killed colonists, and attempted to escape to Spanish Florida for freedom

Asiento

A Spanish practice that allowed other nations to import enslaved Africans to Spanish colonies, with the Spanish crown receiving a tax for each slave imported

Treaty of Tordesillas

A 1494 agreement between Spain and Portugal, divided newly discovered lands outside of Europe, with Spain claiming territories west of a line and Portugal those to the east, effectively granting Portugal control of Brazil

Common Sense

A pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–1776 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies

Treaty of Paris

A peace treaty that formally ended the American Revolutionary War, recognized the United States of America as an independent nation, and established new boundaries.

Articles of Confederation

The first constitution of the United States, establishing a weak central government with limited powers and emphasizing the sovereignty of individual states

Great Compromise

Established a bicameral legislature with two houses: the House of Representatives and the Senate, resolving disputes at the constitutional convention

Republican Motherhood

The belief that a womens role was to raise boys with republicanism ideals and make them into good voting citizens

Alien and Sedition Acts

A series of four laws passed by Congress in 1798, during the administration of President John Adams that significantly restricted the rights of immigrants and limited freedom of speech and the press

Lexington and Concord

The first major military engagements of the American Revolutionary War

National Bank

Established by Alexander Hamilton to issue a stable, national currency, manage public debt, and collect taxes

Shay’s Rebellion

A post-Revolutionary War uprising in Massachusetts, led by Daniel Shays, protesting high taxes and economic hardships faced by farmers

Political Machine

An institution in an urban city that controlled policies, voting trends, and economic aspects of their communities

Laissez Faire

An economic philosophy advocating for minimal government intervention in the economy, allowing businesses and individuals to operate freely according to market forces

Whig Party

Emerged in the 1830s in opposition to U.S. president Andrew Jackson, pulling together former members of the National Republican Party, the Anti-Masonic Party, and disaffected Democrats

Missouri Compromise

Admitted Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state simultaneously to maintain the balance between free and slave states in Congress

Market Revolution

The period of dramatic economic transformation as the US shifted from a primarily agrarian, subsistence-based economy to a more capitalist, market-oriented system, driven by technological innovations and transportation improvements

Seneca Falls Convention

The first women's rights convention in the United States in 1848

Compromise of 1850

A series of five laws passed in September 1850 that aimed to resolve the issue of slavery in newly acquired territories after the Mexican-American War

Kansas-Nebraska Act

A law that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska and allowed the residents of these territories to decide whether or not to permit slavery, through the principle of "popular sovereignty"

Bleeding Kansas

The violent confrontations and civil conflict in the Kansas Territory due to the contentious issue of whether the territory would be admitted into the Union as a free state or a slave state

Dred Scott v. Sandford

A court ruling that declared African Americans, whether enslaved or free, were not U.S. citizens and therefore had no right to sue in federal court

Second Great Awakening

A widespread Protestant religious revival that swept through the United States in the early 19th century, characterized by emotional preaching, personal conversions, and an emphasis on individual salvation and social reform

Manifest Destiny

The widely held belief that the United States was destined, by God, to expand its dominion across North America

Gettysburg Address

A speech delivered in 1863 by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln for union soldiers who died at the Battle of Gettysburg

Townshend Act

A series of British legislative acts passed in 1767 that imposed indirect taxes on goods imported into the American colonies, including tea, glass, paper, and paint

Intolerable Acts

A series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 in response to the Boston Tea Party aimed to punish the Massachusetts colonists

Land Ordinance

A law enacted by the Confederation Congress to establish a system for surveying and selling western lands

Northwest Ordinance

An act passed in 1787 that established a framework for governing the Northwest Territory and admitting new states to the Union

Marbury v. Madison

Established the principle of judicial review, granting the Supreme Court the power to declare laws and actions of other branches unconstitutional

Pinckney’s Treaty

A 1795 agreement between the United States and Spain that resolved a boundary dispute and granted Americans navigation rights on the Mississippi River

XYZ Affair

A diplomatic incident in US history where American diplomats sent to France were asked for bribes by French agents before negotiations could even begin, which led to anit-French sentiment

Mexican-American War

A conflict between the United States and Mexico primarily driven by U.S. expansionist goals and a disputed border

Know-Nothing Party

A party formed to combat foreign influences and to uphold and promote traditional American ways

Free-Soil Party

A party focused on opposing the expansion of slavery into the western territories of the United States

Emancipation Proclaimation

A presidential decree that declared freedom for enslaved people in the Confederate states during the Civil War

Fugitive Slave Laws

Federal laws designed to capture and return runaway enslaved people to their owners, even if they had escaped to free states

Pueblo Revolt

A successful rebellion by the Pueblo people against Spanish colonial rule in New Mexico

Metacom’s War

A conflict in the 1670s in New England between Native Americans and English settlers

Social Darwinism

The application of Darwin's theory of evolution and natural selection to human society

Freedmen’s Bureau

A US federal agency established in 1865 to aid newly freed African Americans and poor whites in the South after the Civil War

Gospel of Wealth

Asserts that the wealthy have a moral obligation to use their surplus fortune to benefit society and address wealth inequality

Great Railroad Strike

A nationwide strike by railroad workers protesting wage cuts and poor working conditions during the economic depression following the panic of 1873

Plessy v. Ferguson

A U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the constitutionality of state laws mandating racial segregation, as long as the separate facilities provided were "equal"

Chinese Exclusion Act

A US federal law passed in 1882 that prohibited Chinese laborers from immigrating to the United States and denied citizenship to those already in the country

Homestead Act

A federal law that offered 160 acres of free land to any U.S. citizen or applicant who pledged to settle and farm the land for at least five years

Indian Appropriation Act

A series of acts passed by the U.S. Congress that drastically altered the relationship between the federal government and Native American tribes by limiting tribal sovereignty and assimilating children

Wounded Knee

The final major armed conflict between the U.S. and the Plains tribes members of the American Indian Movement protested conditions on the reservation and government treaty violations

Dawes Severalty Act

A federal law that aimed to break up communal tribal lands held by Native Americans and divide them into individual allotments

Populist Party

A political movement in the late 1800s that sought to represent the interests of farmers and laborers against the elites and established political powers

Spanish-American War

A short but significant conflict in 1898 between the United States and Spain, primarily stemming from Spanish colonial rule in Cuba and the sinking of the USS Maine

Open door Policy

A diplomatic effort to ensure all nations, including the United States, could trade equally with China, preventing any single country from dominating trade in the region

Muckrakers

Investigative journalists of the Progressive Era who exposed corruption, social injustices, and the abuses of power in business and government

Square Deal

Theodore Roosevelt's domestic program, which reflected his three major goals: conservation of natural resources, corporate law, and consumer protection (three C’s)

Progressive Movement

A time of social and political reform in the United States, primarily aimed at addressing problems brought about by industrialization and urbanization

Stock Market Crash

A sudden and severe decline in the value of stocks, typically triggered by panic selling and often preceded by speculation and overvaluation

New Deal

A series of government programs aimed to provide relief to the suffering, stimulate economic recovery, and reform the financial system to prevent future depression

Isolationism / Neutrality

A national policy of avoiding political or economic entanglements with other countries vs. staying neutral to conflict

The Great Migration

The large-scale movement of over six million African Americans from the rural South to the urban North, Midwest, and West between 1910 and 1970

Espionage & Sedition Acts

Laws that criminalized undermining the World War I effort and speaking out against the government

14 Points

President Woodrow Wilson's plan for a lasting peace after World War I, including principles like self-determination for nations, free trade, and the establishment of a League of Nations

Red Scare

Periods of intense public fear about the perceived threat of communism and socialism in the United States