Period 3: 1754–1800: The Crisis of Empire, Revolution, and Nation Building

Fort Duquesne

Fort Duquesne

a French fort in western Pennsylvania, built in 1754 to control the Ohio River Valley and the fur trade with Native Americans.

The Sugar Act (1764)

The act reduced the duty on West Indies-imported molasses. Smuggling was also targeted by the statute.

The Stamp Act (1765)

It changed British colonial policy. Earlier tax acts regulated trade, but this one raised revenue. Instead of a trade duty, it was a colonist tax.

Quartering Act (1765)

It addressed the housing of British soldiers who were stationed in the colonies following the French and Indian War.

Neolin

In 1760 and 1761, Delaware chief _____ warned American Indians of an apocalyptic future if they did not change.

Pontiac

British troops stationed around the Great Lakes and on various rivers were resisted by ____ and other Indian leaders.

Thomas Gage

Bloodshed raged into 1764 after Amherst was replaced by ____ in August 1763.

The Proclamation Act (1763)

The drew a line over the Appalachian Mountains to keep colonists out. This was in response to the outbreak of Pontiac's Rebellion and the desire of colonists to settle in newly claimed areas.

Paxton Boys

a vigilante group of Scots-Irish immigrants, organized raids against American Indians on the Pennsylvania frontier in 1763, resulting in twenty deaths.

Committees of Correspondence

These committees spread information and coordinated resistance actions. By the 1770s, the committees had become virtual shadow governments in the different colonies, assuming powers and challenging the legitimacy of the legislative assemblies and royal governors.

Charles Townshend

Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, made sure these new taxes—on paint, paper, lead, tea, and other goods—were "external" import taxes, not "internal" sales taxes.

Boston Massacre (1770)

An on-duty British sentry and a young wigmaker's apprentice fought in March, resulting in the _____. British sentries ordered to maintain peace were heckled and stoned by angry colonists.

Gaspee affair

This affair in June 1772 marked a shift towards more militant tactics by colonial protestors, when a British revenue schooner ran aground in shallow waters near Warwick, Rhode Island.

Tea Act of 1773

It reduced taxes on tea sold in the colonies by the British East India Company, allowing the company to sell massive quantities of lowpriced tea directly to colonial merchants on consignment.

Massachusetts Government Act

The act limited the powers of town meetings and provided the royal governor with the power to directly appoint officials who had previously been elected.

Administration of Justice Act

This act allowed British authorities to move trials from Massachusetts to Great Britain. British policy after the French and Indian War consistently sought to move trials away from local communities.

Boston Port Act

This act closed the port of Boston to trade until further notice.

Quebec Act

This act enlarged the boundaries of the Province and let Catholics in Quebec freely practice their religion.

British trade

In September and October 1774, the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia banned ______.

Committees of Safety

The First Continental Congress also advised the colonies to form local ____ to enforce these agreements and prepare for an invasion.

Second Continental Congress

The _____ convened in May 1775 and agreed to meet again in the spring.

Daughters of Liberty

The _____ formed in 1765 to organize boycotts, "spinning bees" and public protests.

Ebenezer Macintosh

_____ led Stamp Act crowd activities, and craftsmen and workers made up most local militias and Continental Army divisions.

city set upon a hill

Protestant evangelical theology shaped American independence supporters' language and ideals, from John Winthrop's exhortation to establish a "_____" through Reverend Samuel Danforth's "Errand in the Wilderness" sermon.

Patriotism

Rev. John Allen's sermon, Oration About the Beauty of Liberty, shows how Protestant evangelicalism shaped _____ (1772).

John Locke

He was an influential Enlightenment thinker who wrote Two Treatises on Government in the early 1690s to defend England's Glorious Revolution.

absolutist monarchy

Locke opposed Thomas Hobbes' _____.

divine right of monarchs

Locke opposed Sir Robert Filmer's ______, arguing that authority belongs to the people.

Olive Branch Petition

Congress sent the “_____” to King George III in July 1775, affirming loyalty to the British King and blaming the current problems on Parliament. The petition called for greater colonial autonomy and fairer British trade and tax policies.

Common Sense

Written by Thomas Paine, a best selling book during the independence debate. He claimed that "being affiliated with Great Britain" had no "single advantage."

Declaration of Independence

On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress ratified this. The declaration states that "the consent of the governed" legitimises government and that people can change or abolish it if it violates their natural rights.

Articles of Confederation

These were essentially put down on paper what had come to exist organically over the previous year, as the First and Second Continental Congresses began to assume more powers and responsibilities.

Shaysʼs Rebellion

This rebellion was a farmers' uprising in Massachusetts, led by veteran Daniel Shays, in response to a perceived injustice.

Annapolis, Maryland

In 1786, a group of reformers received approval from Congress to meet in _____ to discuss possible changes in the Articles of Confederation.

Land Law of 1784

This created ten new states in the Northwest Territories with self-government; created six-by-six-mile townships with thirty-six one-square-mile parcels.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

This allowed regions to become states. It forbade slavery north of the Ohio River, yet American Indians suffered.

Harrison Land Law

This allowed for sales of smaller plots, facilitated the rapid population growth.

State of Ohio

In 1803, the southeastern portion of the territory was incorporated as the ____, while the remainder of the region was designated as the Indiana Territory in 1800.

Fugitive Slave Act of 1793

The Constitution gave tacit approval to the institution of slavery by protecting the international slave trade for 20 years and providing for the return of fugitive slaves through the _____.

Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison

They wrote The Federalist, which outlined the failures of the Articles of Confederation and the benefits of a powerful government with checks and balances.

Anti-Federalists

Opponents of the new Constitution (Federalism) feared that it would create a powerful, aristocratic ruling class. They argued that officials in the national government would be removed from the concerns of ordinary people, and were distrustful of distant authority.

Bill of Rights

Seven states voted to ratify the Constitution on the condition that Congress pass a list of rights of the people, leading to the passage of the ____, which was written by James Madison and derived from the various states' constitutions.

First Amendment

It contains the “establishment clause” prohibiting the establishment of an official religion in the United States. It deals with various forms of freedom of expression.

Second Amendment

It guarantees the right to bear arms.

Third Amendment

It addresses a much-hated British practice—forcing colonial residents to house soldiers.

Fourth Amendment

It guarantees a modicum of privacy from searches by government officials.

Fifth Amendment

It requires grand jury indictments, bans double jeopardy, and forbids self-incrimination. It also prohibits the government from seizing property without "fair compensation" for "public use."

Sixth Amendment

It guarantees suspects the right to a “speedy and public” trial, with a jury, conducted in the district where the crime was committed.

Seventh Amendment

It guarantees the accused the right to a trial by jury, even in civil cases.

Eighth Amendment

It prevents the government from inflicting “cruel and unusual” punishments and prevents the setting of “excessive bail.”

Ninth Amendment

It guarantees that additional rights, not mentioned in the Bill of Rights, shall be protected from government infringement.

Tenth Amendment

It deals with governmental powers and the relationship between the federal government and the states.

Fifteenth Amendment (1870)

prohibited voting restrictions based on race

Nineteenth Amendment (1920)

prohibited restrictions based on gender

Twenty-sixth Amendment (1971)

lowered the voting age to 18.

Federalism

refers to the evolving relationship between the national government and the states.

Treaty of Paris

The _____ established American territory south of Spanish Florida's northern line, although an earlier pact gave Spain sovereignty of territory north of that boundary.

Pinckney's Treaty (1795)

Spain tried to ban American shipping on the Mississippi River, but Thomas Pinckney and Don Manuel de Godoy negotiated ____ .

Quasi-War (1798–1800)

Warships were sent to the Caribbean to fight French ships in America's first undeclared war, the _____ .

Spanish Catholics of the Franciscan

The _______ order established a series of missions in California to spread their faith among local Indians. Junipero Serra was instrumental in establishing the first missions, and ultimately twenty-one were founded.

Indian revolt

An ____ took place at the Mission San Diego de Alcala in 1775, but the mission system continued to exist into the early 1800s.

Judiciary Act of 1789

This created thirteen federal judicial districts. Each district had a district court and a circuit court for district court appeals.

unwritten constitution

President George Washington established several traditions and customs that have come to be known as the "______".

national bank

Alexander Hamilton proposed a ____ to hold the government's tax revenues and act as a stabilizing force on the economy.

Alien and Sedition Acts

This were passed by a Federalist-dominated Congress to limit criticism from the opposition Republican Party.

Naturalization Act and the Sedition Act

The main two acts of Alien and Sedition Acts were the ______, which made it a crime to defame the president or Congress.

Alien Friends Act and the Alien Enemies Act

The other two acts of Alien and Sedition Acts, the _______, allowed the president to imprison and deport noncitizens.

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions (1798-1799)

Thomas Jefferson and James Madison proposed the idea of nullification in their _____ .

Neutrality Act (1793)

President Washington issued the ____ and urged the United States to avoid permanent alliances with foreign powers in his Farewell Address.

Noah Webster

a prominent author, political theorist, and educator, argued that American culture was distinct and superior to British culture. He viewed the United States as a tolerant, logical, democratic nation separate from Europe's superstitions, pompous customs, and bloody history.

A Grammatical Institute of the English Language

a three-volume set of textbooks intended for American pupils. The work comprised a speller (1783), grammar (1784), and reader (1785).

American Spelling Book

This included simplified Americanized spellings, such as theatre in place of theatre and colour in place of colour.

An American Dictionary of the English Language

After the year 1800, Webster transformed his speller into a full dictionary, ______, which was published in 1828.

Geography Made Simple

American students also utilised _____ by Jedidiah Morse, who required that American students study American textbooks.

Mercy Otis Warren

A prolific author, political activist, and anti-Federalist provocateur, authored a three-volume History of the Revolution (published in 1805).

Mason Weems

The Life of Washington, authored by _____and first published in 1800, was a best-selling biography of the nation's first president.

Charles Bulfinch

He is credited with introducing the Federal style to the United States following his European travels.

Treaty of Fort Stanwix

This treaty was negotiated in 1784 with the six-nation Iroquois Confederacy to formulate a peace treaty in the wake of the Revolution.

Little Turtle

American Indian forces, led by the Miami warrior ____, engaged in major battles against U.S. troops in present-day Ohio.

Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794)

At the _____ , the Indians were soundly defeated by superior American firepower.

War of the Regulation

Between 1765 and 1771, when the movement took up arms against colonial authority in the _____, tensions reached a peak.

Paxton Boys

The ______ rebellion in western Pennsylvania (1763–1764) was an attempt to contest the authority of local court authorities and sheriffs.

Eli Whitney

Slavery became increasingly important in the South after the American Revolution, with ______'s invention of the cotton gin leading to a growth in production and reliance on slavery.