AP United States History Unit 3: 1754–1800 Vocabulary Review

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, acts, compromises, and events from APUSH Unit 3 (1754–1800).

French and Indian War

North American conflict between Britain and France and their Native allies from 1754 to 1763.

Treaty of Paris (1763)

Ended the French and Indian War; Britain gained Canada and French territory east of the Mississippi.

Proclamation of 1763

British restriction on colonial settlement west of the Appalachians after the French and Indian War.

Sugar Act

1764 revenue and trade-enforcement law on sugar, molasses, and trade that increased colonial resentment.

Stamp Act

1765 direct tax on printed materials such as newspapers, legal documents, and playing cards; sparked widespread protests and organized resistance.

No taxation without representation

Colonial argument that taxes required consent through representatives.

Stamp Act Congress

1765 meeting of colonial representatives that challenged taxation without representation.

Sons of Liberty

Colonial protest network that organized demonstrations and resistance, especially against the Stamp Act.

Daughters of Liberty

Women who supported resistance through homespun production, boycotts, and nonconsumption.

Boycott / nonimportation

Refusal to buy British goods to put economic pressure on Britain.

Townshend Acts

1767 duties on imported goods, including glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea, that led to boycotts.

Boston Massacre

1770 confrontation in which British soldiers killed five colonists; Patriot leaders used the event in anti-British propaganda.

Tea Act

1773 act that helped the British East India Company sell tea and retained the tea tax.

Boston Tea Party

1773 protest against taxation and perceived monopoly in which colonists dumped tea into Boston Harbor.

Intolerable/Coercive Acts

1774 punitive laws targeting Massachusetts after the Tea Party, which closed Boston Harbor and limited self-government.

First Continental Congress

1774 meeting where colonial delegates coordinated opposition to the Coercive Acts.

Lexington and Concord

1775 clashes between British troops and colonial militia that marked the first battles of the Revolutionary War.

Second Continental Congress

Colonial assembly that organized the Continental Army as armed conflict began in 1775.

Common Sense

Thomas Paine's popular 1776 pamphlet arguing that monarchy was unjust and independence was necessary.

Declaration of Independence

1776 document explaining separation from Britain using natural-rights, equality, and consent-of-the-governed arguments.

Natural rights

Rights people possess by nature, including life and liberty.

Social contract

Idea that government receives its authority from the people's consent in exchange for protecting their rights.

Republicanism

Form of government that serves the public good and derives authority from the people rather than hereditary monarchy.

Patriot

Colonist who supported resistance and/or independence from Britain.

Loyalist

Colonist who remained loyal to Britain during the Revolution.

Battle of Saratoga

Major 1777 American victory that helped secure French diplomatic and military alliance.

Battle of Yorktown

1781 victory where French naval and military forces helped trap British forces, effectively ending major fighting.

Treaty of Paris (1783)

Peace treaty recognizing U.S. independence and establishing U.S. territorial claims south of Canada, north of Florida, and west to the Mississippi River.

Republican motherhood

Ideal that women should educate and raise virtuous, informed children (especially sons) in republican civic values.

Gradual emancipation

Process adopted by some Northern states of ending slavery over time rather than immediately.

Articles of Confederation

First U.S. national framework; created a loose alliance of states with a deliberately weak central government.

Land Ordinance of 1785

Established a system for surveying and selling western lands and supported funding for public education.

Northwest Ordinance

1787 law that created a process for territories to become states, protected property rights, supported public education, and prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory.

Shays' Rebellion

1786–1787 Massachusetts uprising by farmers protesting debts and taxes that exposed the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.

Great (Connecticut) Compromise

Agreement creating a bicameral legislature with House representation based on population and equal state representation in the Senate.

Three-Fifths Compromise

Counted three-fifths of the enslaved population for representation and direct taxation purposes.

Commerce / slave trade compromise

Gave Congress power to regulate interstate and foreign commerce, but prohibited banning the international slave trade before 1808.

Electoral College

Indirect system created by the Constitutional Convention for choosing the president.

Federalism

Division of governing power between national and state governments.

Separation of powers

Division of governmental power among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.

Checks and balances

Constitutional mechanisms by which each governmental branch has ways to limit the authority of the others.

Federalists

Supporters of Constitution ratification who favored a stronger national government.

Anti-Federalists

Opponents or skeptics of Constitution ratification who feared centralized power and demanded a Bill of Rights.

Federalist Papers

Essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay supporting the ratification of the Constitution.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the Constitution, ratified in 1791, enumerating individual liberties and limiting federal power.

Judiciary Act of 1789

Law organizing the federal court system and establishing lower federal courts under the Supreme Court.

Hamilton's financial plan

Program to stabilize credit through funding the national debt, federal assumption of state debts, excise taxes, and a national bank.

Whiskey Rebellion

1794 resistance to a federal excise tax on whiskey; put down by Washington, demonstrating the government's power to enforce federal law.

Jay's Treaty

1794 agreement in which Britain agreed to evacuate frontier posts in the Northwest, though disputes like impressment remained unresolved.

Pinckney's Treaty

1795 treaty with Spain granting Americans navigation access to the Mississippi River and the right of deposit at New Orleans.

Battle of Fallen Timbers

1794 military victory by U.S. forces over a Native confederacy in the Northwest.

Treaty of Greenville

1795 agreement following the Battle of Fallen Timbers in which Native nations ceded lands in much of present-day Ohio.

Farewell Address

George Washington's 1796 statement warning the nation against political factions, sectionalism, and permanent foreign alliances.

Federalist Party

Political party led by Alexander Hamilton that favored a stronger national government, commercial interests, and a loose constitutional interpretation.

Democratic-Republican Party

Political party led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison that supported states' rights, agrarian interests, and a strict constitutional interpretation.

XYZ Affair

1797–1798 diplomatic incident where French agents demanded a bribe before negotiating, inflaming anti-French sentiment.

Alien and Sedition Acts

1798 laws that increased federal power over immigrants and criminalized certain criticism of the federal government.

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions

Resolutions by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison arguing that states could challenge federal laws they deemed unconstitutional.

Election of 1800

Presidential election marking the first peaceful transfer of national power between rival political parties (Federalists to Democratic-Republicans).