The Founding, the Constitution, and the American Revolution

Vocabulary flashcards keying in on essential terms, economic concepts, parliamentary acts, and constitutional compromises from Chapter 2 lecture notes.

Settler colonialism

A form of colonialism that seeks to remove Native peoples from land and replace them with a new settler population.

Radicals (Colonial Era)

A colonial political group comprising small farmers, shopkeepers, and artisans who possessed fewer economic resources and distrusted the British.

Colonial elite

A social and economic class made up of merchants, planters, and royalists who benefited from British rule and initially supported the Crown.

Sugar Act of 1764

British legislation that imposed taxes on sugar, molasses, textiles, coffee, wines, indigo, and other commodities imported by the American colonies.

Stamp Act of 1765

The first direct tax imposed by Parliament on the American colonies, requiring a stamp on all printed materials, including newspapers, legal documents, and playing cards.

Tea Act of 1773

British law that granted the East India Trade Company a monopoly on imported tea in the American colonies.

Boston Tea Party

A protest on December 16, 1773, in which 50 colonists boarded three British ships in Boston Harbor and dumped 45 tons of tea cargo into the water.

System of slavery

A system in which individuals are held as property for forced labor so that profit can be extracted.

Declaration of Independence

The July 4, 1776 document drafted by Thomas Jefferson that legitimized separation from Britain, announced a new nation, and articulated that government power stems from the consent of the governed.

State of nature

A philosophical concept describing the condition of human beings prior to or outside of society and government.

Hobbes' Social Contract

The principle advanced by Thomas Hobbes that individuals must surrender personal liberty to a strong central authority to maintain order and security.

Articles of Confederation

The first written constitution of the United States (1777–89), which established a weak central government with no executive branch or taxing authority and reserved sovereign authority to the states.

Confederation

A system of government in which individual states retain sovereign authority except for powers expressly delegated to the national government.

Annapolis Convention

A 1786 conference in Maryland where state representatives gathered to discuss revisions to the Articles of Confederation, serving as a first step toward the Constitutional Convention.

Shays' Rebellion

An armed 1786–1787 uprising led by former army captain Daniel Shays and Massachusetts farmers protesting court foreclosures on land, highlighting the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.

Virginia Plan

A constitutional proposal offered by Edmund Randolph and drafted by James Madison that called for a bicameral legislature with state representation based on population or revenue contributions.

New Jersey Plan

A constitutional proposal introduced by William Paterson that called for a unicameral legislature with equal representation for each state.

Great Compromise

The agreement creating a bicameral legislature composed of the House of Representatives (apportioned by state population) and the Senate (equal representation with two senators per state).

Three-Fifths Compromise

An agreement reached at the 1787 Constitutional Convention stipulating that five enslaved individuals would count as three free persons for Congressional apportionment and electoral votes.

Separation of powers

The division of governmental power among several institutions (legislative, executive, and judicial) that must cooperate in decision-making.

Federalism

A system of government in which power is divided between a central national government and regional state governments.

Expressed powers

Specific powers granted by the U.S. Constitution directly to Congress in Article I, Section 8, and to the president in Article II.

Implied powers

Powers not explicitly listed but derived from the Necessary and Proper Clause (Elastic Clause), allowing expressed powers to be broadly interpreted.

Judicial review

The power assumed by the Supreme Court to review actions of the legislative and executive branches and declare them invalid or unconstitutional.

Comity

The constitutional principle of reciprocity under Article IV prohibiting states from discriminating against citizens of other states.

Supremacy Clause

The clause in Article VI asserting that the U.S. Constitution and national laws stand supreme over all state constitutions and state laws.

Bill of Rights

The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, created to guarantee individual liberties and protect citizens against federal overreach.

Federalists

Supporters of the 1787 Constitution who favored a strong national government and feared popular majoritarian tyranny.

Antifederalists

Opponents of the 1787 Constitution who advocated for strong state governments, a weak central government, and the addition of a Bill of Rights.

Limited government

A system of government whose powers are defined, bounded, and restricted by a constitution.

Mercantilism

An economic policy where colonies serve as suppliers of raw materials and consumers of manufactured goods to build the wealth of the mother country.

Triangular Trade

A three-part transatlantic trade network connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas through the exchange of goods, enslaved people, and raw commodities.

Middle Passage

The second leg of the triangular trade network in which enslaved Africans were transported across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas.

Proclamation of 1763

An order signed by King George III prohibiting British settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains to ease tensions with Native nations.

Intolerable Acts

A series of harsh laws enacted by Parliament in 1774 in response to the Boston Tea Party, including the Boston Port Act and Quartering Act.