Early American Government and Revolutionary Era Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering foundational events, acts, compromises, and government frameworks from the American Revolution through the Constitutional Convention.

First Continental Congress (1774)

Convention of delegates from the colonies to discuss their response to the Intolerable Acts.

Quebec Act (1774)

Extended Quebec's boundary to the Ohio River, recognized Catholicism, and established a non-representative government.

Historical Significance of Quebec Act

Colonists feared a precedent for non-representative government and resented border expansion into denied territory.

Second Continental Congress (1775)

Managed the colonial war effort, moved towards independence, adopted the Declaration of Independence, acted as the de facto national government.

Olive Branch Petition & its rejection 1775

Final offer of peace to Britain, rejected by Parliament, leading to the American Prohibitory Act forbidding trade with the colonies.

Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776

Pamphlet attacking the British monarchy and calling for American independence.

Declaration of Independence (1776)

Document establishing the US as an independent nation, adopted on July 4, 1776.

Articles of Confederation (1781)

First American constitution establishing a loose confederation of states under a weak national Congress.

Newburgh Conspiracy 1783

Attempt by Robert Morris and Alexander Hamilton to obtain taxation authority for the Treasury, stopped by George Washington.

Land Ordinance of 1785

Law dividing the United States into townships to facilitate land sales to settlers.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Created the Northwest Territory, established conditions for self-government and statehood, included a Bill of Rights, and prohibited slavery.

Shay's Rebellion (1786)

Rebellion led by Daniel Shays demanding debt relief, lower taxes, and protections against property seizures.

Constitutional Convention 1787

Meeting to revise the Articles of Confederation, resulting in the design of the US Constitution.

Federalism

System in which power is divided between the national and state governments.

Great Compromise (Connecticut Compromise) 1787

Bicameral legislative system with the House based on population and the Senate with equal representation, including the Three-Fifths Compromise.

Coercive acts/ intolerable acts 1774

Included a new Quartering Act for housing British troops in American dwellings, reviving anger from the earlier

Quartering Act of 1765.