Emerging Republic and Colonial History Review

Flashcards covering key vocabulary, events, and figures from pages 1, 2, and 3 of the lecture notes, focusing on the American Revolution, the Emerging Republic, and Colonial America.

Thomas Paine

Author of 'Common Sense,' a pamphlet advocating American independence.

Valley Forge

Site of the Continental Army's harsh winter encampment during the American Revolution.

Battles of Saratoga

A major turning point in the American Revolution, securing French support for the Americans.

Battle of Yorktown

The decisive battle of the American Revolution, leading to British surrender.

Articles of Confederation

The first governing document of the United States, known for creating a weak central government.

Treaty of Paris (1783)

Officially ended the American Revolutionary War and recognized U.S. independence.

Monarchy

A form of government with a single ruler, such as a king or queen.

Democracy

A system of government where power is vested in the people, who rule either directly or through elected representatives.

Republic (Republicanism)

A form of government in which citizens elect representatives to govern on their behalf.

James Madison

Known as the 'Father of the Constitution' and a key author of the Federalist Papers.

Federalists

Supporters of the U.S. Constitution and a strong central government.

Anti-Federalists

Opponents of the U.S. Constitution, advocating for stronger state governments and a Bill of Rights.

Checks and balances

A system in which each branch of government has some measure of influence over the other branches and may choose to block procedures of the other branches.

Shays's Rebellion

An armed uprising of farmers in Massachusetts that exposed the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.

Constitutional Convention

A meeting held in Philadelphia in 1787 to address the problems of the Articles of Confederation, resulting in the U.S. Constitution.

Constitution of the United States

The supreme law of the United States, establishing its framework of government and guaranteeing citizens' rights.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing fundamental rights and freedoms.

Virginia Plan

A proposal at the Constitutional Convention for a strong national government with proportional representation in a bicameral legislature.

New Jersey Plan

A proposal at the Constitutional Convention advocating for a weaker national government with equal representation for all states in a unicameral legislature.

Connecticut Compromise (Great Compromise)

An agreement at the Constitutional Convention that established a bicameral legislature with proportional representation in the House and equal representation in the Senate.

Electoral College

The system used in the United States to elect the President and Vice President.

Coverture

A legal doctrine in which a married woman's legal identity was subsumed under that of her husband.

Three-Fifths Compromise

An agreement at the Constitutional Convention to count three-fifths of the slave population for purposes of taxation and representation.

Judith Sargent Murray (Constantia)

An early American advocate for women's rights and education.

Abigail Adams

Wife of John Adams, known for her advocacy for women's rights and her famous 'Remember the Ladies' letter.

Northwest Ordinance

A 1787 act that established procedures for admitting new states to the Union and banned slavery in the Northwest Territory.

Newburgh Conspiracy/Address

An incident in 1783 where Continental Army officers plotted against Congress, diffused by George Washington's powerful address.

Navigation Acts

A series of English laws that regulated colonial trade and manufacturing for the benefit of the mother country.

Proclamation Line (1763)

A British boundary drawn along the Appalachian Mountains, prohibiting colonial settlement west of the line.

Deism

A philosophical belief system popular during the Enlightenment, holding that God created the universe but does not intervene in its affairs.

Enlightenment

An intellectual and philosophical movement emphasizing reason, individualism, and human progress, influencing colonial thought.

Glorious Revolution

The 1688 overthrow of King James II of England, leading to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy.

Bacon's Rebellion

An armed rebellion of Virginia settlers led by Nathaniel Bacon against Governor William Berkeley, partially over Native American policy.

French and Indian War (Seven Years' War)

A major global conflict (1754-1763) between Great Britain and France, with significant fighting in North America, leading to British control over vast territories but also substantial debt.

Joint stock company

A business entity where shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders, often used to fund colonial ventures.

Great Awakening

A series of religious revivals that swept through the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s.

William Pitt

A British statesman who led the government during the Seven Years' War, expanding the British Empire.

Pontiac & Pontiac's Rebellion

An Ottawa chief who led a confederation of Native Americans in an uprising against British rule in the Great Lakes region after the French and Indian War.

Stamp Act

A 1765 British law that imposed a tax on all paper documents in the colonies, leading to widespread protest.

Townshend Acts

A series of unpopular British acts (1767) that taxed goods imported into the American colonies, such as tea, glass, and paper.

Boston Massacre

A 1770 incident in which British soldiers fired on a crowd of Bostonians, killing five people, including Crispus Attucks.

Crispus Attucks

An African American man, considered by some to be the first casualty of the American Revolution, killed in the Boston Massacre.

Boston Tea Party

A 1773 act of protest by American colonists, who dumped British tea into Boston Harbor to oppose the Tea Act.

Intolerable Acts (Coercive Acts)

A series of punitive British laws passed in response to the Boston Tea Party, aimed at punishing Massachusetts and asserting British authority.

First Continental Congress

A 1774 meeting of delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies in response to the Intolerable Acts, seeking to address British grievances.

Second Continental Congress

A 1775 meeting of delegates from all thirteen colonies that managed the colonial war effort and eventually adopted the Declaration of Independence.

George Washington

Commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolution and the first President of the United States.

Thomas Jefferson

The principal author of the Declaration of Independence and the third President of the United States.

John Adams

A prominent advocate for American independence, a diplomat, and the second President of the United States.

Benjamin Franklin

A renowned statesman, inventor, writer, and diplomat during the American Revolution.

Lee Resolution

A resolution proposed by Richard Henry Lee in 1776, declaring the United Colonies 'free and independent States.'

Molly Pitcher

A legendary heroine of the American Revolution who carried water to soldiers and reputedly took her husband's place firing a cannon.

Declaration of Independence

A formal statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, declaring the thirteen American colonies independent from Great Britain.

Minutemen

Civilian colonists who independently formed militia companies, self-trained in weaponry, tactics, and military strategies during the American Revolution.

Battles of Lexington & Concord

The first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War, marking the outbreak of armed conflict.

Thirteen colonies

The British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America that rebelled against British rule and formed the United States of America.

Common Sense

A highly influential pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1776 that powerfully argued for American independence from Great Britain.

Matriarchy

A form of social organization in which a woman is the head of the family or tribe, and descent and inheritance are traced through the female line.

Serf

An agricultural laborer bound to work on their lord's estate, common in medieval Europe.

Chattel slavery

A system of forced labor where people are treated as property, to be bought, sold, and inherited.

Black Death

A devastating pandemic that spread across Europe and Asia in the mid-14th century, causing millions of deaths.

Inquisition

A powerful office within the Catholic Church, established to suppress heresy, notably in Spain and Italy.

Reconquista

The centuries-long period in which Christian kingdoms gradually reconquered the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim rule.

Taino people

Indigenous people of the Caribbean, among the first encountered by Christopher Columbus.

Aztec Empire

A powerful Mesoamerican civilization that dominated large parts of present-day Mexico before the Spanish conquest.

Tenochtitlan

The capital city of the Aztec Empire, built on an island in Lake Texcoco.

Conquistadors

Spanish conquerors and explorers who led the conquest of the Americas.

Hernán Cortés

The Spanish conquistador who led the expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire.

Christopher Columbus

An Italian explorer whose 1492 voyage to the Americas initiated sustained European contact with the New World.

La Malinche

An Indigenous woman who served as an interpreter, advisor, and intermediary for Hernán Cortés during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire.

Scientific Revolution

A period of rapid advancements in scientific thought and discovery that challenged traditional views of the natural world, beginning in the 16th century.

Isaac Newton

A key figure of the Scientific Revolution, known for his laws of motion and universal gravitation.

John Locke

An influential Enlightenment philosopher whose ideas on natural rights profoundly influenced the Declaration of Independence.

Olaudah Equiano

A prominent African writer and abolitionist who wrote an influential autobiography detailing his experiences as a slave.

Columbian Exchange

The widespread exchange of plants, animals, culture, human populations (including slaves), communicable diseases, and ideas between the Americas, West Africa, and the Old World in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Encomienda

A labor system instituted by the Spanish crown in the American colonies, allowing conquerors to exact tribute and labor from indigenous peoples.

Mercantilism

An economic theory that held that the colonies existed to generate wealth for the mother country, typically by providing raw materials and markets for finished goods.

Patroonship

Large tracts of land granted by the Dutch West India Company in New Netherland to wealthy individuals who brought at least 50 tenants with them.

Protestant Reformation

A 16th-century religious movement that challenged the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, leading to the establishment of various Protestant denominations.

Pilgrims

English religious dissenters (Separatists) who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620, seeking religious freedom.

Puritans

English Protestants who sought to 'purify' the Church of England of Catholic practices, many of whom settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Jesuits

A Catholic religious order, also known as the Society of Jesus, known for their missionary work and educational institutions.

Smallpox

A highly contagious and often deadly viral disease brought to the Americas by Europeans, devastating indigenous populations.

Casta system & paintings

A hierarchical social classification system based on racial mixing, prominent in Spanish colonial America, often depicted in 'casta paintings.'

Indenture/Indentured servant & servitude

A contract by which a person agreed to work for a set number of years in exchange for passage to the Americas, food, clothing, and shelter.

Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade/Middle Passage

The forced migration of millions of Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas, often under brutal conditions, as part of the global slave trade.

Traditional Native American views on territory and land

Often centered on communal use and stewardship rather than private ownership, differing significantly from European concepts.

Pueblo Revolt

A successful uprising in 1680 by the Pueblo people against Spanish colonizers in New Mexico, temporarily driving the Spanish out of the region.

Métis people

A distinct Indigenous people of mixed Indigenous and European (primarily French) ancestry, primarily found in areas of Canada and northern United States.

Villasur Expedition

A 1720 Spanish expedition into the Great Plains from Santa Fe, resulting in a devastating defeat by Pawnee and Otoe forces.

King Philip's War

A brutal and bloody conflict (1675-1678) between English colonists and Native American inhabitants of New England, led by Metacomet (King Philip).

Metacomet (King Philip)

A Wampanoag leader who led a major Native American uprising against New England colonists during King Philip's War.