Period 3 APUSH Vocab

Patrick Henry

Virginia orator and lawyer; early critic of British taxation (“Give me liberty” ethos); leader in Stamp Act resistance and avid anti-federalist. He made the famous speech “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” as a call to action against the inevitable war upcoming 4 weeks prior to the Battle of Lexington and Concord.

Stamp Act Congress

(1765) Intercolonial meeting protesting the Stamp Act; articulated rights and petitioned repeal.

Causes-

• Direct internal tax to fund imperial debts

Effects-

• Nonimportation agreements; economic resistance

• Repeal of Stamp Act, but Parliament later passes Declaratory Act.

John Dickinson

Pennsylvania statesman; author of “Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania”, which addresses Townshend Acts. Moderate voice advocating rights and reconciliation.

• Popularized nonimportation and legal arguments.

Samuel Adams

Boston organizer; key in Committees of Correspondence and mass mobilization. Radical republican and founder of Sons of Liberty. Led the Boston Tea Party.

James Otis

Lawyer who challenged writs of assistance; early critic of arbitrary power. Made the famous phrase “No Taxation without Representation”

Intolerable Acts

(aka Coercive Acts, 1774) British punitive measures after the Boston Tea Party; closed Boston port, altered Massachusetts government, allowing quartering, and trials relocated.

Included some of the following acts:

• Boston Port Act

• Massachusetts Government Act

• Administration of Justice Act

• Quartering Act

King George III

British monarch during the imperial crisis; supported assertive policies to maintain authority. Directly involved in the Intolerable Acts, Olive Branch Petition, and Declaration of Independence.

Salutary Neglect

Informal British policy of tax enforcement, allowing colonial self-governance and economy autonomy.

Pontiac’s Rebellion

(1763) Native uprising against British forts in the Great Lakes/Ohio Valley after French defeat. Leads to the passing of the Proclamation of 1763 due to violent frontier conflict.

Albany Plan of Union

(1754) Benjamin Franklin’s proposal for a unified colonial government for defense and Indian affairs during the French and Indian War.

• Rejected, but set a precedent for Congress

Peace of Paris

(1763) Treaties ending the Seven Years’ War; Britain gained Canada and Florida, France ceded lands; Spain got Louisiana.

• While it was a decisive victory for the British, the debt from war would result in the Tax Acts (e.g., Stamp Act, Tea Act, Townshend Acts)

Townshend Acts

(1767) External duties on imports (glass, lead, paint, paper, tea), revenue to pay colonial officials.

• Leads to boycotts, and more troops are sent to Boston area.

Tea Act

(1773) Allowed the East India Company to sell tea directly at reduced prices, maintaining the tax to assert authority.

John Locke

English philosopher advocating for natural rights, as well as government by consent. Influenced Jefferson’s articulation of rights.

First Continental Congress

(1774) Assembly of colonies responding to Intolerable Acts; adopted Declaration of Rights. Sent grievances to the Crown.

Second Continental Congress

(1775-1781) Wartime governing body; managed the army, diplomacy, and declared independence.

• Leads to the Olive Branch Petition, or the final chance at reconciliation, and the Declaration of Independence.

Olive Branch Petition

(1775) Last attempt by Congress to avoid war, professing loyalty while seeking redress; rejected by George III.

Thomas Jefferson

Principal author of the Declaration of Independence; synthesizer of Enlightenment principles. Well-known anti-federalist.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Framework for governing and admitting new states from the Northwest Territory; banned slavery there; guaranteed civil liberties.

Paul Rever and William Dawes

Riders who warned of British troop movements toward Lexington and Concord.

Battle of Saratoga

(1777) American victory in upstate New York; turning point securing French alliance.

Valley Forge

(1777-1778) Winter encampment marked by hardship and training under Baron von Steuben.

Battle of Bunker Hill

(1775) Early major battle near Boston; costly British victory. Despite loss, it proved colonists could fight effectively.

Yorktown

(1781) Decisive American-French victory; Cornwallis surrendered, effectively ending major combat.

• Led to Treaty of Paris (1783)

Fort Ticonderoga

(1775) Capture by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold; secured artillery for Boston siege. Improved American position and enabled Boston fortifications

James Madison

“Father of the Constitution”; architect of the Virginia Plan; author of Federalist Papers; later President.

Alexander Hamilton’s Financial Plan

Program including assumption of state debts, funding at par, creation of national bank, excise taxes, and support for manufacturing.

Causes-

• Postwar debt crisis required money to be handled more efficiently

Effects-

• Whiskey Rebellion happens

• Two parties in US government starts to become more clear

Antifederalist Papers

Writings opposing the Constitution’s ratification; authored under pseudonyms like “Brutus.”

• Democratic-Republicans were afraid that creating a strong, central government would lead to an unwanted forfeit of their individual rights, so they advocated for a Bill of Rights.

Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions

(1798-1799) Political statements drafted by Jefferson (Kentucky) and Madison (Virginia) asserting that states could nullify federal laws deemed unconstitutional.

• Made in response to John Adams’ Alien and Sedition Acts, which outright ignored citizen rights to freedom of speech.

• Introduced the concept of nullification, and led to Civil War secession arguments between the Northern and Southern states

Battle of Fallen Timbers

(1794) Final battle of the Northwest Indian War; U.S. forces under Anthony Wayne defeated Native confederacy.

• A product was the Treaty of Greenville, which forced Natives to give up their land in the Ohio Valley region.

New Jersey Plan

A plan developed by William Paterson, which opposed the Virginia plan. It advocated for the creating of a unicameral legislative body (Pretty much same as AoC), and favored small states, as the legislative would have equal representation among all states despite population. Proposed in the Constitutional Convention, Philadelphia.

Virginia Plan

Plan made by Madison, who was in favor by the large states. Madison proposed the legislative body should be bi-cameral, and that states with a high population number should have the most representatives. Proposed in the Constitutional Convention, Philadelphia.

Connecticut Compromise

(aka Roger Sherman’s Compromise, 1787) Agreement creating bicameral legislature: House based on population, Senate with equal representation. Set the foundation for US Congress.

Commercial Compromise

(1787) Allowed Congress to regulate interstate and foreign commerce but prohibited export taxes. It helped balance sectional interests and strengthened federal economic authority.

Whiskey Rebellion

(1794) Farmers in western Pennsylvania protested Hamilton’s excise tax on whiskey. Unlike Shay’s Rebellion, the Whiskey rebellion demonstrates the strengths of the Constitution, as Washington was able to suppress rebellion.