US History: European Colonies to Founding a Nation

Vocabulary flashcards covering European colonization, British colonial development, the American Revolution, and the creation of the US Constitution.

Enclosure Movement

A social crisis process in 16th-century England where thousands of lower-class citizens were forced off farms with nowhere to go, causing overpopulation, job scarcity, and driving emigration to the Americas.

Indentured Servants

Settlers who bound themselves to labor for a specified period in exchange for passage to America and a promise of freedom.

Jamestown

Established in $1607$ as Virginia's capital colony, sponsored by the Virginia Company; suffered the $1610$ "Starving Time" where $80\%$ of settlers died before shifting focus to agriculture.

House of Burgesses

Established in $1619$, this was the first elected assembly in colonial America; voting was restricted strictly to freemen while the governor was appointed by the Virginia Company.

Headright System

A colonial Virginia policy where paying for one's own or another's passage granted the purchaser land, fostering a "get rich quick" mentality among wealthier settlers.

Anglo-Powhatan Wars

A series of three wars ($1610$-$1646$) between Jamestown settlers and Powhatan people that devastated the local Powhatan population and transformed Virginia into a royal colony.

Moral Liberty

A Puritan concept defined as the freedom to do only that which is "good," establishing strict societal restrictions on speech, religion, and personal behavior.

Mayflower Compact

An agreement drafted by Pilgrims arriving at Plymouth Colony in $1620$ that established self-governance based on "just and equal laws."

Great Migration

The migration of approximately $21,000$ Puritans to New England during the 1630s, sponsored by the Massachusetts Bay Company.

Mercantilism

An economic policy where England regulated trade to maximize national wealth, requiring profitable colonial goods to be transported on English ships and routed through English ports.

Navigation Act (1651)

English legislation enforcing mercantilism by requiring that key colonial exports be carried on English ships and sold through English ports.

King Philip's War

A $1675$ conflict caused by colonial encroachment on Indigenous lands, resulting in increased colonial liberty at the expense of Native populations.

Bacon's Rebellion

A $1675$ uprising of poor farmers and landless former indentured servants against Virginia elites, resulting in the burning of Jamestown and a long-term shift toward African slave labor.

English Toleration Act (1689)

An English law requiring freedom of worship for all Protestants, which was imposed on Massachusetts after its theocratic charter was revoked in $1684$.

Colonial Social Hierarchy

The class structure of American colonial society, ranging from wealthy aristocrats and merchants at the top down through yeoman farmers, tradesmen, indentured servants, and enslaved people.

Middle Passage

The hazardous ocean trans-Atlantic route used to transport millions of kidnapped Africans to chattel slavery in the Americas.

Seven Years' War

A war ($1756$-$1765$) between Britain and France; Britain won Canada and Florida, but incurred massive national debt that led to imposing direct colonial taxation.

Virtual Representation

The British doctrine that members of Parliament represented the interests of all British subjects throughout the empire, rather than specific local geographic constituencies.

Writs of Assistance

General search warrants used by British officials to search colonial homes and business premises at random for smuggled goods.

Proclamation of 1763

A British royal order barring American colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains, marking the end of salutary neglect.

Intolerable Acts (1774)

Punitive British legislation that closed the Port of Boston, restructured the Massachusetts government, protected British officials from local trial, and required forced quartering of troops.

Sons of Liberty

A radical colonial group that organized protests, enforced non-importation boycotts, and executed acts of defiance such as dumping $300$ chests of tea into Boston Harbor in $1773$.

Boston Massacre

A $1770$ clash where British soldiers fired into an unarmed crowd throwing snowballs, killing $5$ colonial citizens and resulting in trial for $9$ soldiers.

First Continental Congress

A $1774$ meeting of delegates in response to the Intolerable Acts that formed the Continental Association to implement a complete trade halt with Britain.

Battles of Lexington and Concord

The initial $1775$ armed clashes of the Revolutionary War; included the "shot heard round the world" and resulted in $300$ British casualties compared to $49$ colonial casualties.

Common Sense

A $1776$ pamphlet written by Thomas Paine arguing against hereditary monarchy and framing American independence as vital to human liberty.

Battle of Saratoga

A major colonial victory in $1777$ that led to the surrender of a British force and convinced France to enter a formal military and financial alliance with the United States.

Battle of Yorktown

The final major battle of the Revolutionary War in $1781$, where American and French forces surrounded and captured over $8,000$ British troops at Chesapeake Bay.

Articles of Confederation

The first U.S. Constitution (drafted $1777$) creating a weak central government consisting only of a unicameral legislature without authority to tax, enforce laws, or regulate commerce.

Land Ordinance of 1785

A law regulating western land sales north of the Ohio River into $640\text{-acre}$ sections at $1 per acre, setting aside land proceeds to support public education.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

A policy that outlined steps for admitting $3$ to $5$ new equal states north of the Ohio River while legally banning slavery within the territory.

Shays' Rebellion

A $1786$-$1787$ armed revolt by indebted Massachusetts farmers led by Daniel Shays that exposed the national government's inability to maintain military order under the Articles of Confederation.

Virginia Plan vs. New Jersey Plan

The debate over legislative representation: Virginia favored bicameral representation scaled by state population, whereas New Jersey proposed a unicameral body with equal votes per state.

Connecticut Plan (Great Compromise)

The Constitutional compromise creating a bicameral legislature consisting of a Senate with $2$ members per state and a House of Representatives based on population size.

Three Branches of Government

The separation of federal powers under the Constitution into Legislative (Congress), Executive (President), and Judiciary (Supreme Court) branches to maintain checks and balances.

Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists

The ratification debate between Federalists, who supported a strong federal government, national bank, and mercantilism, and Anti-Federalists, who advocated for states' rights and a Bill of Rights.