apush unit 3

Ohio river valley

the fertile region west of the Appalachian Mountains that served as the sparking flashpoint for the French and Indian War

Fort Duquesne

a strategic French fort built in 1754 at the forks of the Ohio River (modern-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) whose contestation sparked the French and Indian War

French and Indian war

the North American theater of the global Seven Years' War, fought between Great Britain and France (along with their respective Native American allies) over territorial control of the Ohio River Valley

George washington

as the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolution and the first U.S. president (1789–1797) who established crucial executive precedents and advocated for foreign neutrality

fort necessity

Hastily built, circular wooden stockade in southwestern Pennsylvania constructed by a young George Washington. It marked the opening battle of the French and Indian War (the North American theater of the Seven Years' War) and was the only military surrender of George Washington's career.

Treaty of Paris 1763

was the peace agreement that officially ended the French and Indian War (the North American theater of the Seven Years' War) between Great Britain, France, and Spain.

Albany plan of union

a 1754 proposal by Benjamin Franklin to create a unified, centralized government for the Thirteen Colonies during the French and Indian War

Edward braddock

He led a disastrous expedition to capture the strategic French Fort Duquesne in the Ohio River Valley; exposed the limits of traditional European "gentlemanly" linear warfare in the American wilderness. It also shattered the myth of British military invincibility

William pitts

was a prominent British statesman and Prime Minister whose leadership turned the tide of the French and Indian War (Seven Years' War) in favor of Great Britain.

Pontiac’s rebellion

a coordinated armed uprising by a coalition of Native American tribes—led by Ottawa war chief—against British forts and frontier settlers in the Ohio River Valley and Great Lakes region

Gaspee

was a major incident in 1772 where American colonists attacked and burned a British customs ship, marking a significant escalation toward the American Revolution.

Boston tea party

was a December 16, 1773, political protest by the Sons of Liberty who dumped 342 chests of British East India Company tea into Boston Harbor

Quartering acts

18th-century British parliamentary laws requiring American colonists to provide housing, food, and supplies to British soldiers

Stamp acts

a British law that required American colonists to buy special stamped paper for all printed materials, including legal documents, newspapers, and playing cards

Yorktown

the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War, where combined American and French forces trapped British General Cornwallis, leading to his surrender and effectively ending the war.

Land ordinance

a law passed by the Confederation Congress under the Articles of Confederation to survey, divide, and sell western public lands.

Philadelphia convention

a 1787 meeting of state delegates in Philadelphia that discarded the weak Articles of Confederation to write an entirely new United States Constitution

Northwest ordinance

a law passed by the Confederation Congress that created a step-by-step system for governing western territories and admitting new states to the Union

Quebec acts

a British law that organized the government of Quebec, extended its boundaries south to the Ohio River, and granted religious freedom and legal rights to French Catholics, which American colonists heavily opposed and grouped with the Intolerable Acts

National bank

a financial institution proposed by Alexander Hamilton to manage the federal government's money, issue a stable national currency, and build the country's credit

Citizen genet

French ambassador to the United States in 1793 whose unauthorized recruitment of American privateers and military forces violated U.S. neutrality, leading to a major diplomatic crisis during George Washington's presidency

Sugar act

a British law passed by Parliament to raise revenue from the American colonies by taxing foreign sugar, molasses, coffee, and wine.

Jays treaty

an agreement negotiated by Chief Justice John Jay under President George Washington that averted war with Great Britain by securing the evacuation of British forts in the Northwest Territory

Washington's farewell address

public letter by the first U.S. president announcing his retirement and offering foundational advice for the nation; serves as a crucial primary source defining early American foreign policy and political anxieties.

Alien and sedation acts

four laws passed by a Federalist-controlled Congress in 1798 to restrict the political power of immigrants and criminalize public criticism of the federal government

Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions

political statements written by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison declaring that individual states can declare unconstitutional federal laws void— after alien and sedition acts

Election of Thomas Jefferson

in 1800 and the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions marked the end of AP US History Unit 3 by demonstrating the first peaceful transfer of national power between rival political parties

Townshend acts

series of laws passed by the British Parliament in 1767 that taxed goods imported to the American colonies. Designed to raise revenue and assert British authority, they fueled intense colonial resistance and served as a direct catalyst for the American Revolution.

• glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea

Boston massacre

a deadly riot on March 5, 1770, when British soldiers shot into an angry crowd of colonists in Boston, killing five people

Coercive acts

known in America as the Intolerable Acts) were a series of four punitive laws designed to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party and restore British authority.

First continental congress

1774 meeting of delegates from 12 colonies in Philadelphia to organize a unified colonial response against oppressive British laws

Second continental congress

a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that acted as the de facto (in fact) national government of the American colonies during the Revolutionary War from 1775 to 1781

John adams

served as a key Founding Father and the second U.S. President (1797–1801) whose administration defined the bitter early-republic conflicts between federal authority and civil liberties.

Lexington and concord 

the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War, marking the definitive shift from political resistance to open armed conflict

Bunker hill

the first major battle of the American Revolutionary War, fought primarily on Breed's Hill outside Boston.

Olive branch petition

a final attempt by the Second Continental Congress in July 1775 to avert full-scale war with Great Britain by professing continued loyalty to King George III while blaming Parliament for colonial grievances.

Common sense

47-page pamphlet published in January 1776 that used plain, everyday language to persuade ordinary American colonists to support a complete break from Great Britain

Patriots

American colonists who fought for independence from Great Britain during the Revolutionary War

Tories

Loyalists; American colonists who remained loyal to the British Crown and opposed the movement for American independence during the Revolutionary War

Alliance with france

a military and commercial pact where France agreed to support the American colonies in their fight for independence from Great Britain

Battle of Saratoga

a major turning point of the American Revolution where American forces defeated British General John Burgoyne, leading to a stunning British surrender and a formal military alliance with France

Lists of rights

foundational documents that explicitly spelled out the individual liberties and legal protections of citizens, which were created to prevent government tyranny.

Voting

the concept of ___ and representation shifts drastically from colonial protests over British rule to the creation of a brand new constitutional republic.

Separation of powers

the constitutional division of government responsibilities into three distinct branches to prevent any single group from gaining absolute power or becoming tyrannical

Office-holding

legal right and qualifications required for an individual to seek and serve in a public political office. During the early republic and the drafting of the first state constitutions, strict property-owning qualifications dictated who could hold office.

Ratification

the official legal approval process required to adopt the U.S. Constitution, which sparked a fierce national debate between Federalists and Anti-Federalists

American crisis

series of 16 pamphlets written by Thomas Paine between 1776 and 1783 to bolster the flagging morale of the Continental Army and the American public during the lowest points of the Revolutionary War.

Treaty of paris 1783

he official peace agreement between the United States and Great Britain that ended the American Revolutionary War and recognized U.S. independence

Sons of liberty

a secret grassroots colonial organization formed in 1765 to oppose British taxation without representation

Articles of confederation

served as the first written constitution of the United States from 1781 to 1789, creating an intentionally weak central government out of fear of monarchical tyranny

Checks and balances 

the constitutional system that allows each branch of the federal government to limit and block the powers of the other two branches

⅗ compromise

three-fifths of the enslaved population would count for congressional representation and direct federal taxes.

Federalists

supporters of a strong central government who fought to ratify the U.S. Constitution and later formed the nation's first political party

Anti federalists

late-1780s opponents of ratifying the U.S. Constitution who argued that a strong central government threatened state sovereignty and individual liberties.

Bill of rights

consists of the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1791 to protect individual liberties from federal government overreach

Federalist papers

a series of 85 essays written in 1787 and 1788 by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the pen name "Publius" to urge New York and other states to ratify the U.S. Constitution

Shays rebellion

armed uprising of debt-ridden western Massachusetts farmers, led by Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays, that shut down county courts to prevent the foreclosure of their farms

Whiskey rebellion

1794 uprising of western Pennsylvania farmers against a federal excise tax on whiskey that was part of Alexander Hamilton's financial plan.

xyz affair

1797–1798 diplomatic incident where French officials demanded bribes and a large loan from American diplomats, sparking outrage and leading to the undeclared Quasi-War

Proclamation line of 1763

a royal decree by King George III that banned American colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains

Grenvillies plan

a series of 18th-century British financial and enforcement policies introduced by Prime Minister George Grenville after the French and Indian War to make American colonists pay down imperial debt

Salutary neglect

an unofficial British policy (from the 1690s to 1763) of loosely enforcing trade laws like the Navigation Acts in the American colonies

Committees of correspondence

shadow networks of letter-writing groups established by colonial towns and legislatures in the early 1770s to share news of British policies and coordinate colonial resistance

Declaratory act

a law passed by the British Parliament that asserted its absolute authority to make laws binding the American colonies "in all cases whatsoever.”

tar and feathering

a form of public torture and humiliation used by American patriot groups like the Sons of Liberty to protest British policies

Daughters of liberty

colonial women who used economic boycotts and domestic production to protest British taxation without representation during the American Revolution

• homespun fabric,

Abigail Adams

Revolutionary-era writer and political advisor who famously urged her husband, John Adams, to "remember the ladies" in 1776

example of how Revolutionary ideals of liberty and equality caused marginalized groups to challenge existing social hierarchies

unified grievances, enlightenment, national symbols/holidays

what led to development of national identity in america

republican motherhood

a post-Revolutionary ideal stating that women's civic duty was to teach republican values, virtue, and liberty to their children

north gradually making slavery illegal, growth of abolition socities

post revoliution anti slavery movements

battle of fallen timbers

a decisive U.S. victory led by General Anthony Wayne that ended Native American resistance in the Northwest Territory

pinckneys treaty

a major 1795 agreement between the United States and Spain that resolved border disputes and secured vital navigation rights on the Mississippi Rive

meritocracy

society became less officially hierarchical and more egalitarian, valuing individual talent, hard work, and civic virtue over inherited noble titles or birth-based social rank

John trumbull

American artist and veteran of the Continental Army known as the "Painter of the Revolution" for his dramatic historical depictions of the American Revolutionary War.