AP US History: American Origins, Birth of a Republic, and Rise of the Silent Majority

A comprehensive vocabulary review covering early colonial exploration, the American Revolution, the drafting of the Constitution, and modern American political history from the Great Society through the post-9/11 era.

Bartolomé de las Casas

Dominican priest who in the early 1500s criticized the cruelty of Spanish policy toward Indians and denounced Spanish actions for their brutality and insensitivity; his criticism helped end the encomienda system.

Christopher Columbus

Claimed islands in the Caribbean for Spain 1492–1504 and established the Spanish empire as he sought a western passage to the Indies; a poor administrator who died disgraced in 1506.

Columbian Exchange

Transfer, beginning with Columbus's first voyage, of plants, animals, and diseases between the Western Hemisphere and the Eastern Hemisphere; included squash, potatoes, and corn (maize) from the New World and cattle, horses, and smallpox from Europe.

Encomienda system

Early Spanish colonial system where officials provided protection to Indian populations in return for their labor and production; really a form of slavery that lasted until the mid-1500s and was stopped because of exploitation and inefficiency.

Hernándo Cortés

Conquered Aztecs in Mexico; captured the capital of Tenochtitlán, with its leader Montezuma in 1521, and pillaged and destroyed the Aztec civilization.

Jean-Baptiste Colbert

Louis XIV’s minister who rejuvenated the French empire in the Western Hemisphere; in the 1660s, he reorganized and strengthened the colonies of New France.

Northwest Passage

Mythical water route to Asia; the search for this western path to India and China propelled the encounters and exploration of the Western Hemisphere in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Pueblo Revolt

Indian uprising in New Mexico in 1680 against Spain and the Catholic Church; rebels killed 400 colonists, destroyed missions around Santa Fe, and held off the Spanish for 14 years.

Richard Hakluyt

British writer who, in the 1580s, encouraged England to explore and settle in North America; his writings prompted England to embark on its North American empire.

Act Concerning Religion (Maryland Toleration Act)

An act passed in Maryland in 1649 that granted freedom of worship to all Christians; enacted to protect the Catholic minority in Maryland, it was a benchmark of religious freedom in all the colonies, though it did not extend to non-Christians.

Anne Hutchinson

Charismatic colonist in Massachusetts Bay who questioned whether one could achieve salvation solely by good works and led the Antinomian controversy by challenging the clergy and laws of the colony; banished in 1638 and killed by Indians in 1643.

Anglican Church

Church of England started by King Henry VIII in 1533 with the monarch as head of the church; strongest in North America in the Southern Colonies and the second-largest church in America by 1776 behind the Congregationalists.

Bacon’s Rebellion

Attacks by frontiersmen led by Nathaniel Bacon against Native Americans in the Virginia backcountry; when the governor opposed his action, Bacon attacked and burned Jamestown and briefly deposed the governor before the rebellion fizzled.

Congregationalist (Puritans)

Believed the Anglican Church retained too many Catholic ideas and sought to purify the Church of England; believed in predestination, held that God granted salvation only to those who adhered to His goodness, and were strong in New England and very intolerant of other religious groups.

First Great Awakening

Religious revival in the colonies in the 1730s and 1740s; George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards preached a message of atonement for sins by admitting them to God, attempting to combat the growing secularism and rationalism of mid-eighteenth-century America.

Halfway Covenant

Puritan response to the dilemma of what to do with children born to nonchurch members as fewer Puritans sought full membership (visible sainthood); allowed such children to be baptized, but they could not take communion, nor could nonchurch males vote in government or church affairs.

Headright system

Means of attracting settlers to colonial America; gave land to a family head and to anyone he sponsored coming to the colony, including indentured servants, with amounts varying from fifty to two-hundred acres per person.

House of Burgesses

First popularly-elected legislative assembly in America; met in Jamestown in 1619.

Indentured servants

Mainstay of labor needs in many colonies, especially in seventeenth-century Chesapeake; 'rented slaves' who served four to seven years before being freed, mostly drawn from the poor, political dissenters, and criminals in England.

Jonathan Edwards

Congregational minister of the 1740s who was a leading voice of the Great Awakening; his Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God attacked ideas of easy salvation and reminded colonists of the absolute sovereignty of God.

John Smith

Saved Jamestown through firm leadership in 1607 and 1608 by imposing work and order in the settlement; later published several books promoting colonization of North America.

John Winthrop

Leader of the Puritans who settled in Massachusetts Bay in the 1630s; called for Puritans to create 'a city upon a hill' and guided the colony through crises, including the banishments of Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson.

Mayflower Compact

Written agreement in 1620 to create a body politic among male settlers in Plymouth; served as the forerunner to charters and constitutions eventually adopted in all the colonies.

Mercantilism

Economic doctrine calling for the mother country to dominate and regulate its colonies; fixed trade patterns, maintained high tariffs, and discouraged manufacturing in the colonies.

Navigation Acts

Series of English laws to enforce the mercantile system; established control over colonial trade, excluded all but British ships in commerce, enumerated goods that had to be shipped to England or other English colonies, and restricted colonial manufacturing.

Roger Williams

Puritan who challenged the church to separate from government and give greater recognition to Native American rights; banished in 1635 and founded Rhode Island (critics called it Rogue Island).

Salem witchhunt

Period of hysteria in 1692 when a group of teenaged girls accused neighbors of bewitching them; in ten months, nineteen people were executed and hundreds imprisoned until prominent individuals, including the governor's wife, were accused.

Salutary neglect

British policy followed from 1607 to 1763 of leaving the colonies alone to conduct their own internal affairs; through this lack of control, the colonies thrived, and Britain's attempt to abandon this policy after 1763 helped create the friction that led to the American Revolution.

Society of Friends (Quakers)

Church founded by George Fox believing in 'The Inner Light'—a direct, individualistic experience with God; opposed the Anglican and Congregationalist churches. William Penn established Pennsylvania in 1681 as a haven for members persecuted in England and the colonies.

Stono Rebellion

Slave rebellion in South Carolina in September 1739 where twenty to eighty slaves burned seven plantations, killed twenty whites, and attempted to escape to Florida; crushed with all rebels killed, decapitated, and their heads displayed as a deterrent.

Theocracy

Government organized and administered by the church; in Massachusetts Bay Colony, only church members could vote in town meetings, while the government levied taxes on all residents and required compulsory attendance at religious services.

William Penn

Quaker founder of Pennsylvania; intended it to be a haven for Quakers where all religions were tolerated, establishing very good relations with Native Americans at first.

Epidemic

Widespread occurrence of an infectious disease, such as smallpox, in a community at a particular time.

New England Colonies

Northernmost British colonies inclusive of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire; Massachusetts Bay was founded primarily as a refuge for Pilgrims and Puritans seeking religious freedom for themselves.

Middle Colonies

British colonies between the New England and Chesapeake Colonies inclusive of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware; primarily characterized by their religious and social diversity.

Chesapeake Colonies

British colonies inclusive of Virginia and Maryland; characterized by an economic dependence on cash crops like tobacco.

Southern Colonies

British colonies inclusive of South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia; South Carolina in particular became increasingly reliant on slavery due to an economy dependent on labor-intensive crops like rice and indigo.

Metacom’s (King Phillip’s) War (1675-1676)

Conflict between New England colonists and Native American groups organized in an alliance to resist restrictive Puritan laws that deprived them of their land and livelihood.

Chattel Slavery

Labor system characterized by the dehumanizing treatment of people as personal property and commodities to be bought and sold.

Protestant Evangelicalism

Trans-denominational movement within Protestant Christianity that stressed preaching the gospel, personal conversion experiences, the Bible as the sole basis for faith, and active spreading of the faith.

Baron von Steuben

Prussian-born aristocrat and military leader who provided critical training to the Continental Army at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777–78, improving general organization, camp sanitation, tent arrangement, firing and volley exchange methods, and command structure.

Battle of Saratoga

A turning point of the Revolution in October 1777 in New York where an army of 6,000 British soldiers surrendered following a failed attempt to divide the colonies via the Hudson River Valley; convinced France to ally with the colonies.

Battle of Yorktown

A siege ending in October 1781 where Washington trapped 8,000 British soldiers on a Virginia peninsula after a British southern campaign, causing the British to cease large-scale fighting and begin independence negotiations.

Ben Franklin

America’s leading diplomat of the Revolutionary era who served as statesman and advisor, participated in pre-revolutionary congresses, and helped secure both the 1778 French alliance and the 1783 Treaty of Paris.

Boston Massacre

Confrontation between British soldiers and Boston citizens in March 1770 in which troops killed five colonials; used by American radicals to agitate relations between England and the colonies over the next five years.

Coercive Acts (1774)

British laws (known as the Intolerable Acts in America) punishing Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party by closing Boston Harbor, revoking the colonial charter, trying accused officials outside the colony, and housing troops in private dwellings; prompted the First Continental Congress.

Declaratory Act (1766)

Face-saving act passed by Parliament upon repealing the Stamp Act; asserted Parliament's complete sovereignty over colonial taxation and legislative policies.

George III

King of England during the American Revolution who strongly advocated harsh policies toward the colonies, contrary to colonial beliefs prior to 1776 that he supported their rights.

George Washington

Commander of the Continental Army whose integrity and judgment preserved the armed forces through the Revolution; later served as first U.S. President, crushed the Whiskey Rebellion, and issued the 1796 Farewell Address.

John Dickinson

Conservative colonial leader who wrote Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania; advocated for colonial rights while urging conciliation with Britain and opposing the Declaration of Independence, later helping draft the Articles of Confederation.

John Jay

Lead diplomat who negotiated the Treaty of Paris (1783) secretly with British representatives to secure American goals; co-authored the Federalist Papers and negotiated Jay's Treaty (1794).

John Locke

English philosopher who argued that governments exist to protect people's life, liberty, and property; his writings were widely incorporated into colonial political thought and rhetoric.

Loyalists (Tories)

Colonists who remained loyal to England during the Revolution; often older, better-educated members of the Anglican Church whom the British failed to organize effectively as a pacification force.

Marquis de Lafayette

French aristocrat and military leader who commanded American troops, provided valuable assistance at the Battle of Yorktown, and leveraged his status to help secure French aid for the Revolutionary cause.

Patrick Henry

Early advocate of independence, opponent of the Stamp Act, and defender of individual rights who famously proclaimed in 1775: 'Give me liberty, or give me death.'

Pontiac's Rebellion (1763)

Indian uprising in the Ohio Valley that killed 2,000 settlers; prompted the British Proclamation of 1763 prohibiting colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains, which colonists viewed as an unlawful restriction and largely ignored.

Samuel Adams

Agitator and leader of the Sons of Liberty who advocated for independence as soon as Britain ended salutary neglect; primary organizer of the Boston Tea Party and Continental Congress delegate.

Seven Years War

Conflict between England and France (1756–1763; started in 1754 in North America as the French and Indian War) over the Ohio River Valley; resulted in France's withdrawal from North America and spurred British taxation policies that caused the Revolution.

Sons of Liberty

Street organizations formed during the Stamp Act crisis to enforce nonimportation boycotts and prevent tax stamp sales through intimidation and violence against British officials.

Stamp Act (1765)

Internal tax levied on over fifty items such as pamphlets, newspapers, playing cards, and dice; sparked protests by colonists claiming Parliament lacked constitutional authority to levy internal revenue taxes on them.

Stamp Act Congress (1765)

Meeting held in New York City with delegates from nine colonies who petitioned the king and organized boycotts, marking a major initial step toward colonial unity and coordinated resistance.

Sugar Act (1764)

Revenue-raising act that stiffened the Molasses Act of 1733, set new customs rules, tried smugglers in vice-admiralty courts, and lowered duties on imported sugar to discourage smuggling while increasing tax collections.

Thomas Jefferson

Lead author of the Declaration of Independence, first Secretary of State, leader of the Democratic Republican Party, and third U.S. President; opposed Hamilton's centralizing programs and favored states' rights and agrarian interests.

Thomas Paine

Author of Common Sense (January 1776), an electrifying and widely distributed pamphlet that presented a clear, impassioned rationale for colonial independence from England.

Townshend Acts (1767)

Import taxes levied on paper, glass, and tea designed by Parliament to avoid colonial resistance to internal taxes, but rejected and boycotted by colonists as revenue-raising measures.

Virtual representation

British argument that Parliament collectively represented the interests of all British subjects anywhere in the empire regardless of whether they voted for members; rejected by American colonial leaders.

Alexander Hamilton

Strong nationalist, first Secretary of the Treasury, and founder of the Federalist Party; favored a strong central government, commercial interests, and loose constitutional construction.

Alien and Sedition Acts

Acts designed to suppress perceived French agents working against U.S. neutrality; empowered the president to deport dangerous aliens, lengthened citizenship residency requirements, and restricted free speech and press.

Annapolis Convention

1786 meeting in Maryland attended by five states to discuss interstate commerce; Alexander Hamilton used the forum to call for a convention the following spring to revise the Articles of Confederation.

Anti-Federalists

Opponents of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution who feared that the new document concentrated excessive authority in the national government at the expense of individual liberty and states' rights.

Democratic Republican Party

Political party led by Thomas Jefferson that feared centralized power, supported states' rights, opposed Hamilton’s financial plan, backed ties to France, and drew strength from southern agrarian interests.

Farewell Address

Presidential valedictory in 1796 in which George Washington warned against permanent foreign alliances and domestic political factions; served as a basis for American isolationist thought for 150 years.

Federalist Papers

Series of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay published in newspapers to convince New York to ratify the Constitution; regarded as a definitive treatise on the Constitution.

Federalist Party

Political party founded by Alexander Hamilton that favored a strong central government, commercial interests, Hamilton's financial program, and close ties to England; strongest among merchants and property owners.

Federalists

Individuals who favored ratification of the U.S. Constitution by the states during the ratification debates; not to be confused with the later political party of the same name.

Great Compromise

Resolved the representation impasse at the Constitutional Convention by establishing a bicameral Congress: seats in the House of Representatives apportioned by population, and equal representation (two seats per state) in the Senate.

James Madison

Nationalist who organized the Annapolis Convention, authored the Virginia Plan, drafted the constitutional amendments forming the Bill of Rights, and co-founded the Democratic Republican Party.

Jay’s Treaty (1794)

Agreement where Britain promised to evacuate military forts in the Great Lakes region and partially opened the West Indies to American shipping in exchange for the U.S. repaying pre-Revolutionary debts.

Loose constructionist

One who interprets the 'elastic clause' (Article 1, Section 8, paragraph 18) broadly, asserting the federal government may exercise implied powers that are 'necessary and proper' to carry out its constitutional duties.

New Jersey Plan

Proposal by William Paterson countering the Virginia Plan; favored a unicameral Congress with equal state representation, preserving the framework of the Articles of Confederation while bolstering federal taxing and commerce powers.

Northwest Ordinance (1787)

Major achievement of the Confederation Congress organizing the Northwest Territory; established territorial status at 5,000 population, permitted statehood applications at 60,000 residents on equal footing with original states, and banned slavery in the region.

Pinckney's Treaty (1795)

Treaty with Spain that opened navigation on the Mississippi River and granted Americans duty-free deposit privileges in New Orleans; conceded by Spain out of concern that Jay's Treaty signaled an Anglo-American alliance.

Shays’s Rebellion

Uprising in western Massachusetts (August 1786–February 1787) that shuttered local courts and threatened civil war; highlighted the weakness of the central government under the Articles of Confederation and hastened calls for a new Constitution.

Strict constructionist

One who interprets the Constitution narrowly, holding that any power not explicitly delegated to the national government cannot be exercised, with the goal of preserving states' rights.

Three-Fifths Compromise

Agreement at the Constitutional Convention breaking an impasse over representation and taxation by determining that three-fifths of enslaved persons would be counted for both congressional apportionment and direct taxes.

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions

Protests penned by Madison (for Virginia) and Jefferson (for Kentucky) against the Alien and Sedition Acts; argued that the Constitution is a compact among states and that states possess the authority to nullify unconstitutional federal laws.

Virginia Plan

Proposal drafted by James Madison and introduced by Edmund Randolph calling for a strong central government with a bicameral legislature, where seats in both chambers were apportioned according to population, favoring large states.

Whiskey Rebellion

1794 armed protest in western Pennsylvania against a federal excise tax on whiskey; dispersed when President Washington led a massive militia force, proving the constitutional government's power to enforce federal laws.

XYZ Affair

Diplomatic incident during John Adams’s presidency in which French agents demanded a bribe before opening negotiations over maritime disputes; provoked American anti-French outrage and war hysteria.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

1990 civil rights legislation banning discrimination against individuals with disabilities across public life, including employment, schools, transportation, and public accommodations.

Barry Goldwater

Unsuccessful 1964 Republican presidential nominee against Lyndon Johnson who urged dismantling the New Deal, escalating the Vietnam War, and maintaining the civil rights status quo; considered the grandfather of the 1980s conservative movement.

Bill Clinton

42nd U.S. President (1993–2001); Democrat who governed from the political center with a Republican Congress, achieving NAFTA, welfare reform, and a balanced federal budget; became the second president impeached by Congress.

Camp David Accords (1979)

Peace framework negotiated between Egypt and Israel mediated by President Jimmy Carter; Israel withdrew from land captured in previous wars and Egypt formally recognized Israeli sovereignty.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Landmark statute initiated by Kennedy and signed by Lyndon Johnson; desegregated public accommodations, expanded federal authority to enforce equal rights, and banned discrimination in the workplace.

Contract with America

1994 campaign platform formulated by House Republicans under Newt Gingrich promising action on ten conservative priorities—including congressional term limits, tax cuts, balanced budget amendments, and welfare reform—if elected to a congressional majority.

Crisis of Confidence (Malaise) Speech

1979 national address by Jimmy Carter asserting that an erosion of confidence threatened the core of the American spirit; widely interpreted as an admission that the presidency had lost direction.

Deregulation

Policy of dismantling federal economic regulations; in the 1980s, the Reagan administration removed oil price ceilings, reduced rules on airlines and savings and loans, and cut back nursing home inspections.

Earl Warren

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1953–1969) whose liberal bench handed down pivotal decisions desegregating public schools and expanding legal protections for criminal defendants.

George H.W. Bush

41st U.S. President (1989–1993) who campaigned on Ronald Reagan's legacy with the pledge 'Read my lips: no new taxes'; conducted the Persian Gulf War, but lost reelection in 1992 following an economic recession and tax increases.

George McGovern

Unsuccessful 1972 Democratic presidential nominee who campaigned on immediate withdrawal from Vietnam and a guaranteed minimum income for the poor; suffered politically after indecisiveness over his vice-presidential choice.