Barron’s APUSH Flashcards

Christopher Columbus

An Italian born navigator who found fame when he landed in the Americas looking for Asia.

Amerigo Vespucci

Italian member of a Portuguese expedition, Coined the term "new world," Named the cartographer named the continent America.

Treaty of Tordesillas

A commitment between Spain and Portugal, created a Papal line of Demarcation which divided the New World.

New Spain

Spain's tightly controlled empire in the New World which used the encomienda system.

Mercantilism

Prevailing economic philosophy of the 1960's where colonies are exploited by their mother countries for resources.

Queen Elizabeth I

Protestant successor to Queen Mary, invested English raids on the Spanish New World, Established Protestantism in England and encouraged English business.

The Spanish Armada

Fleet assembled by King Philip II of Spain to invade England, The Armada was defeated by England's and proved that England was an Emerging sea power.

Charter Colony

Colonists were essentially members of a corporation and based on an agreed-upon charter, electors among the colonists would control the government.

Royal Colony

A governor selected by England's king would serve in the leadership role and choose additional, lesser officers.

Proprietary Colonies

Owned by an individual with direct responsibility to the king, A proprietor selected governor who served as an authority figure.

English Puritanism

Reform the Church of England, believed in predestination; Calvinism.

Dutch West India Company

The Joint-Stock company that ran the colonies in Fort Orange and in New Amsterdam, which later became New York.

Sir Walter Raleigh

An English adventurer and writer, who was prominent at the court of Queen Elizabeth I, and became an explorer of the Americas. In 1585, Raleigh sponsored the first English colony in America on Roanoke Island in present-day North Carolina. It failed and is known as " The Lost Colony."

St. Augustine, Florida

First colonial city in present day united states located in Florida and founded for Spain in 1565.

Starving Time

A period in the 1600's during which many colonists died due to starvation.

Jamestown

1607 the Virginia Company of London settled Jamestown, the first English settlement, swampy, hostile with Natives, 1619 first African Slaves.

Indenture System

A system where poor people received immigration passage and fees in return for a number of years of labor.

John Rolfe

English colonist in Jamestown, Virginia; Married Pocahontas and created process for curing Tobacco, ensuring economic success.

House of Burgesses

1619 representative assembly in Virginia, first voting house.

Headright System

1618; System used by the Virginia Company to attract colonists to promise them parcels of land. 50 acres of land to anyone who would settle.

Separatists

Believed the Church of England was beyond saving and felt that they must separate from it

The Mayflower

The Pilgrims traveled on this ship

Massachusetts Bay Company

A joint-stock company chartered by a group of Puritans escaping King James I

Delaware

Dutch patroons established the first settlement in the north, destroyed by Native Americans

The Proprietors

These people owned colonies with direct responsibility to the king, supposed to provide opportunity for Royal Control

Anne Hutchinson

Claimed to have special relations from God that superseded the Bible, contrary to Puritan Doctrine, Banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, funded Rhode Island

Roger Williams

A Puritan preacher who fled Massachusetts after his views on religious observance became too extreme for other colonists

English Civil War

English Conflict between King Charles I and the English Parliament, the king opposed Puritans

Maryland Act of Toleration

Law that guaranteed religious freedom to all Christians, was after a protestant became governor.

Quakers

Human religious institutions were unnecessary, settled in Pennsylvania

William Penn

Founded Pennsylvania for Quakers, advocated for full religious freedom

Slaves in the 1600's

Small percentage of the population, from Africa

John Locke

An Enlightenment thinker who believed in the Natural Law.

The Natural Law

Rights of Life, Liberty, and Property

Triangular Trade

European merchants purchased African Slaves with Goods manufactured in Europe or imported from Asian Colonies. These merchants than sold slaves in the Caribbean for sugar, cotton, and tobacco

Navigation Acts

Certain goods shipped from a New World port were to go only to Britain or to another New World port. Led to tensions with the colonies

Bacon's Rebellion

A rebellion with back country farmers to attack Native Americans in an attempt to gain more land 1676

Glorious Revolution

A reference to the political events of 1688-1689, when James II abdicated his throne and was replaced by his daughter Mary and her husband, Prince William of Orange.

Half-Way Covenant

A decision by Puritan colony churches to allow the grandchildren of those who had the personal experience of conversion to participate in select church affairs

Salem Witch Trials

The hunt in Salem village which tried to find witches

John Peter Zenger

Publisher and Printer which started the idea of free speech

The First Great Awakening

A series of religious revivals occurring throughout the colonies and prevalent in New England.

Albany Plan

Delegates of seven colonies met in New York to discuss plans for collective defense.

French and Indian War

Rivalry between France, Britain and NA tribes over land.

William Pitt

Britain's Prime minister, treaty of pairs

Treaty of Paris 1763

Ended French and Indian War, France lost Canada, land east of the Mississippi, to British, New Orleans and west of Mississippi to Spain

George Grenville

Became prime minister of Britain in 1763 he persuaded the Parliament to pass a law allowing smugglers to be sent to vice-admiralty courts which were run by British officers and had no jury. He did this to end smuggling.

Benjamin Franklin

American intellectual, inventor, and politician He helped to negotiate French support for the American Revolution.

Writs of Assistance

It was part of the Townshend Acts. It said that the customs officers could inspect a ship's cargo without giving a reason. Colonists protested that the Writs violated their rights as British citizens.

Proclamation of 1763

A proclamation from the British government which forbade British colonists from settling west of the Appalacian Mountains, and which required any settlers already living west of the mountains to move back east.

Sugar Act

(1764) British deeply in debt from French & Indian War. English Parliament placed a tariff on sugar, coffee, wines, and molasses. colonists avoided the tax by smuggling and by bribing tax collectors.

Quartering Act

1765 - Required the colonials to provide food, lodging, and supplies for the British troops in the colonies.

Stamp Act

1765; law that taxed printed goods, including: playing cards, documents, newspapers, etc.

Declaratory Act

Act passed in 1766 after the repeal of the stamp act; stated that Parliament had authority over the the colonies and the right to tax and pass legislation "in all cases whatsoever."

Samuel Adams

American Revolutionary leader and patriot, Founder of the Sons of Liberty and one of the most vocal patriots for independence; signed the Declaration of Independence

Stamp Act Congress

A meeting of delegations from many of the colonies, the congress was formed to protest the newly passed Stamp Act It adopted a declaration of rights as well as sent letters of complaints to the king and parliament, and it showed signs of colonial unity and organized resistance.

Townshend Act

A tax that the British Parliament passed in 1767 that was placed on leads, glass, paint and tea

Virtual Representation

British governmental theory that Parliament spoke for all British subjects, including Americans, even if they did not vote for its members

Boston Massacre

The first bloodshed of the American Revolution (1770), as British guards at the Boston Customs House opened fire on a crowd killing five Americans

Tea Act

1773 act which eliminated import tariffs on tea entering England and allowed the British East India Company to sell directly to consumers rather than through merchants. Led to the Boston Tea Party.

Boston Tea Party

A 1773 protest against British taxes in which Boston colonists disguised as Mohawks dumped valuable tea into Boston Harbor.

Intolerable Acts

A series of laws passed in 1774 to punish Boston for the Tea Party

First Continental Congress

Convened on September 5, 1774, to protest the Intolerable Acts. The congress endorsed the Suffolk Resolves, voted for a boycott of British imports, and sent a petition to King George III, conceding to Parliament the power of regulation of commerce but stringently objecting to its arbitrary taxation and unfair judicial system.

Battles of Concord and Lexington

Concord: Site suspected by British General Gage of housing a stockpile of colonial weaponry. Paul Revere, William Dawes, and others detected movement of British troops toward Concord and warned militia and gathered Minutemen at Lexington. Lexington: Militia and Royal infantry fought, and the colonial troops withdrew.

The Second Continental Congress

Colonial representative meeting in Philadelphia, presided over by John Hancoc

Battle of Bunker Hill

First major battle of the Revolutions. It showed that the Americans could hold their own, but the British were also not easy to defeat. Ultimately, the Americans were forced to withdraw after running out of ammunition, and Bunker Hill was in British hands. However, the British suffered more deaths.

Common Sense

A pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that claimed the colonies had a right to be an independent nation

Declaration of Independence

1776 statement, issued by the Second Continental Congress, explaining why the colonies wanted independence from Britain.

Articles of Confederation

1st Constitution of the U.S. 1781-1788 (weaknesses-no executive, no judicial, no power to tax, no power to regulate trade)

Battle of Saratoga

American victory over British troops in 1777 that was a turning point in the American Revolution.

John Paul Jones

American naval commander in the American Revolution (1747-1792) said " I have not yet begun to fight."

Treaty of Paris 1783

This treaty ended the Revolutionary War, recognized the independence of the American colonies, and granted the colonies the territory from the southern border of Canada to the northern border of Florida, and from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi River

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Created the Northwest Territory (area north of the Ohio River and west of Pennsylvania), established conditions for self-government and statehood, included a Bill of Rights, and permanently prohibited slavery

John Jay

1st Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, negotiated with British for Washington

Shay's Rebellion

Rebellion led by Daniel Shays of farmers in western Massachusetts in 1786-1787, protesting mortgage foreclosures. It highlighted the need for a strong national government just as the call for the Constitutional Convention went out.

The Constitution of the United States

Written in 1788 stating the laws of the US by Madison, Hamilton, Jefferson and Franklin at the constitutional convention

Elastic Clause

Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, which allows Congress to make all laws that are "necessary and proper" to carry out the powers of the Constitution.

The Virginia Plan and New Jersey Plan

Called for bicameral legislature based on the states population and then a plan with no size thingyyyy

The Great Compromise

A state's representation in the House of Representation would be based on population; Two senators for each state; all bills would originate in the house; direct taxes on states were to be assessed according to population

Anti-Federalist Party

Those against the adoption of the Constitution because of suspicion against centralized government ruling at a distance and limiting freedo

George Washington

1st President of the United States; commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolution (1732-1799)

Judiciary Act of 1789

In 1789 Congress passed this Act which created the federal-court system. The act managed to quiet popular apprehensions by establishing in each state a federal district court that operated according to local procedures.

Alexander Hamilton

1789-1795; First Secretary of the Treasury. He advocated creation of a national bank, assumption of state debts by the federal government, and a tariff system to pay off the national debt.

Jeffersonian Republicans

led by Thomas Jefferson, believed that the federal government should play a small part in people's lives

Eli Whitney

Invented the cotton gin

Jay's Treaty

Treaty signed in 1794 between the U.S. And Britain in which Britain sought to improve trade relations and agreed to withdraw from forts in the northwest territory

Whiskey Rebellion

(GW) In 1794, farmers in Pennsylvania rebelled against Hamilton's excise tax on whiskey, and several federal officers were killed in the riots caused by their attempts to serve arrest warrants on the offenders. In October, 1794, the army, led by Washington, put down the rebellion. The incident showed that the new government under the Constitution could react swiftly and effectively to such a problem, in contrast to the inability of the government under the Articles of Confederation to deal with Shay's Rebellion.

Pinckney Treaty

1795 - Treaty between the U.S. and Spain which gave the U.S. the right to transport goods on the Mississippi river and to store goods in the Spanish port of New Orleans

John Adams

America's first Vice-President and second President. Sponsor of the American Revolution in Massachusetts, and wrote the Massachusetts guarantee that freedom of press "ought not to be restrained."

XYZ Affairs

Adams sent agents Gerry, Pinckney, and Marshall (XYZ) to demand bribes and negotiate with France. Unfortunately, no negotiations were made and undeclared war broke out between France and United States.

Alien and Sedition Acts

A series of laws that sought to restrict the activities of people who opposed Federalist policies (1798)

Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions

Political declarations in favor of states' rights, written by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, in opposition the the Alien and Sedition acts. Maintained that states could nullify federal legislation they regarded as unconstitutional

The Judiciary Act of 1801

Organized the federal legal system, establishing the Supreme Court, federal district and circuit courts, and the office of the Attorney General.

Thomas Jefferson

3rd President of the United States , He was a delegate from Virginia at the Second Continental Congress and wrote the Declaration of Independence. He later served as the third President of the United States.

John Marshall

American jurist and politician who served as the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1801-1835) and helped establish the practice of judicial review.

Marbury vs Madison

1803 Supreme Court case that established the principle of judicial review

Louisiana Purchase

1803 - The U.S. purchased the land from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains from Napoleon for $15 million. Jefferson was interested in the territory because it would give the U.S. the Mississippi River and New Orleans (both were valuable for trade and shipping) and also room to expand. Napoleon wanted to sell because he needed money for his European campaigns and because a rebellion against the French in Haiti had soured him on the idea of New World colonies. The Constitution did not give the federal government the power to buy land, so Jefferson used loose construction to justify the purchase.

Lewis and Clark Expedition

An expedition sent by Thomas Jefferson to explore the northwestern territories (Louisiana territory) of the United States traveled from St. Louis to the mouth of the Columbia River from 1803 to 1806

Burr Conspiracy

Scheme by Vice-President Aaron Burr to lead the succession of the Louisiana Territory from the US and create his own empire. He was captured in 1807 and charged with treason. Because there was no evidence or two witnesses he was acquitted. Marshall upholds the strict rules for trying someone for treason.

Embargo of 1807

Declaration by President Thomas Jefferson that banned all American trade with Europe. As a result of the war between England and Napoleon's France, America's sea rights as a neutral power were threatened; Jefferson hoped the embargo would force England and France to respect American neutrality.