AP US History Unit 3

Seven Years' War (French and Indian War)

War fought in the colonies from 1754 to 1763 between the English and the French for possession of the Ohio River Valley area. The English won the war and the Peace of Paris was negotiated in 1763.

Pontiac's War

A 1763 conflict between Native Americans and the British over settlement of Indian lands in the Great Lakes area. Led to the British issuing the Royal Proclamation of 1763.

Royal Proclamation of 1763

Prohibited American settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains; designed to prevent further conflict with Native Americans.

Sugar Act of 1764

The first act that Parliament passed that raised taxes on the colonies. Indirect tax on imported foods from the West Indies. Colonists became so angry that Parliament lowered the duties.

Stamp Act of 1765

Placed a tax on almost all printed materials in the colonies. Led to massive colonial outrage and numerous forms of protest.

Tea Act of 1773

Law passed by parliament allowing the British East India Company to sell its low-cost tea directly to the colonies, undermining colonial tea merchants; led to the Boston Tea Party.

Committees of Correspondence

Organized by patriot leader Samuel Adams, was a system of communication between patriot leaders in New England and throughout the colonies. They provided the organization necessary to unite the colonies in opposition to Parliament.

Salutary Neglect

An English policy of not strictly enforcing laws in its colonies.

Mercantilism

An economic policy under which nations sought to increase their wealth and power by obtaining large amounts of gold and silver and by selling more goods than they bought.

Taxation without representation

Reason why colonists went to war with England. Colonists thought it was unfair to be taxed by a government that they didn't have a voice in.

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.

Boston Tea Party

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

Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts)

These acts were laws that punished the colonists for the Boston Tea Party. They took away self-governance and rights that Massachusetts had enjoyed since its founding.

Lord Dunmore's Proclamation

A proclamation issued in 1775 by the Earl of Dunmore, the British governor of Virginia, that offered freedom to any slave who fought for the king against the rebelling colonists.

Regulators

These were vigilante groups active in the 1760s and 1770s in the western parts of North and South Carolina. They violently protested high taxes and insufficient representation in the colonial legislature.

Self-Government

The right of people to rule themselves independently.

Democracy

A political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them.

Republicanism

A philosophy of limited government with elected representatives serving at the will of the people. For early Americans, it was a way of life, a core ideology, an uncompromising commitment to liberty, and a total rejection of aristocracy.

Virtual Representation

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

Rights of Englishmen

Term prevalent in seventeenth-century England and America referring to certain historically established rights, beginning with the rights of the Magna Carta, that all English subjects were understood to have. These included the right not to be kept in prison without a trial, the right to trial by jury, security in one's home from unlawful entry, and no taxation without consent, among others.

Individual Rights

The rights and liberties that can be claimed by individuals by virtue of being human; also called natural rights or human rights. Idea popularized during the Enlightenment.

Local traditions of self-rule

In the context of the American colonies, refers to the democratic town meetings and colonial assemblies that American colonists had grown accustomed to.

The Enlightenment

A movement in the 18th century that advocated the use of reason in the reappraisal of accepted ideas and social institutions.

Benjamin Franklin

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

Patriot Movement

Movement or push toward independence in the colonies. Those that were loyal to the British crown were called "Loyalists."

Sons of Liberty

A radical political organization for colonial independence which formed in 1765 after the passage of the Stamp Act. They incited riots and burned the customs houses.

Daughters of Liberty

This organization supported the boycott of British goods. They urged Americans to wear homemade fabrics and produce other goods that were previously available only from Britain.

Joseph Brant

Mohawk leader who supported the British during the American Revolution.

Loyalists

American colonists who remained loyal to Britain and opposed the war for independence.

Hereditary privilege

The idea that power and status should be passed down through families, such as with European nobility. The idea was alien to American colonists who came to believe in meritocracy.

Thomas Paine

American Revolutionary leader and pamphleteer (born in England) who supported the American colonist's fight for independence and supported the French Revolution.

Common Sense

A influential pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that criticized monarchies and convinced many American colonists of the need to break away from Britain.

Declaration of Independence

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

George Washington

First President of the United States; commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolution; became a symbol of American nationalism.

Colonial militia

Volunteer soldiers who made up the armed forces of many colonies; played an important role in the American Revolution.

Abolition

The movement to make slavery and the slave trade illegal. Begun by Quakers in England in the 1780s.

Gradual Emancipation

A series of laws passed in state legislatures throughout the North in the years following the Revolution that freed slaves after they reached a certain age, following lengthy "apprenticeships."

Republican Motherhood

Expectation that women would instill Republican values in children and be active in families; helped increase education for women.

French Revolution

Revolution that began in 1789, overthrew the French monarchy. Led to war with Britain and divided Americans between those who were sympathetic toward Britain and those who supported France.

Haitian Revolution

The only fully successful slave rebellion in world history; caused fear of slave uprisings in Southern U.S. states.

Latin American Revolutions

Series of risings in the Spanish colonies of Latin America (1810-1826) that established the independence of new states from Spanish rule but that for the most part retained the privileges of the elites despite efforts at more radical social rebellion by the lower classes.

Property qualifications

Early American state requirement of property ownership in order to vote.

Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776

A constitution that granted all taxpaying men the right to vote and hold office and created a unicameral (one-house) legislature with complete power; there was no governor to exercise a veto. Other provisions mandated a system of elementary education and protected citizens from imprisonment for debt.

Articles of Confederation

First U.S. government; established a weak central government with no power to tax. Most government functions were relegated to states.

Shay's Rebellion

Rebellion of farmers in western Massachusetts in 1786-1787, protesting mortgage foreclosures. For federalists, it highlighted the need for a stronger central government.

Northwest Ordinance

Enacted in 1787, it is considered one of the most significant achievements of the Articles of Confederation. It established a system for setting up governments in the western territories so they could eventually join the Union on an equal footing with the original 13 states.

Constitutional Convention

Meeting in 1787 of the elected representatives of the thirteen original states to write the Constitution of the United States.

Three-Fifths Compromise

Agreement that each slave counted as three-fifths of a person in determining representation in the House for representation and taxation purposes.

Great Compromise

A compromise that proposed two houses of Congress; one where a state's population would determine representation (House) and another where all states were represented equally (Senate).

Electoral College

A group of people named by each state legislature to select the president and vice president.

Federalists

A term used to describe supporters of the Constitution during ratification debates in state legislatures.

Anti-Federalists

Opponents of the American Constitution at the time when the states were contemplating its adoption.

Treaty of Greenville

In this treaty in 1795, the American Indians surrendered claims to the Ohio Valley and promised to open it to settlement.

Alexander Hamilton

Leading federalist and 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.

James Madison

"Father of the Constitution," Federalist leader, and fourth President of the United States.

Thomas Jefferson

Author of the Declaration of Independence; leader of the Democratic-Republican Party, 3rd President of the United States.

Bill of Rights

First ten amendments to the Constitution; major source of civil liberties; promised to Anti-Federalists to secure ratification of Constitution.

Federalism

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

Separation of Powers

Constitutional division of powers among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, with the legislative branch making law, the executive applying and enforcing the law, and the judiciary interpreting the law.

Checks and balances

A system that allows each branch of government to limit the powers of the other branches in order to prevent abuse of power.

California Mission System

Missions built in Spanish America to colonize and "civilize" natives. Priests such as Father Junipero Serra brutalized Indians who refused to assimilate.

Whiskey Rebellion

1794 protest against the government's tax on whiskey by backcountry farmers. Suppressed by President Washington.

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. Supported by the Federalist Party and opposed by the Democratic-Republicans.

XYZ Affair

A 1797 incident in which French officials demanded a bribe from U.S. diplomats. Led to hostilities with France and further inflamed political differences between the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans.

Judith Sargent Murray

A writer and early feminist thinker prominent in the years following the American Revolution. Argued for equal educational opportunities for women.

John Adams

America's first Vice-President and second President. Leader of the Federalist Party and bitter political rival of Thomas Jefferson.

Alien and Sedition Acts

Laws passed by Federalists and supported by John Adams that gave the government power to imprison or deport foreign citizens and prosecute critics of the government.

Federalist Party

A political party created in the 1790s and influenced by Alexander Hamilton that wanted to strengthen the federal government and promote industry and trade. They were skeptical of democracy and favored a more elitist vision of government than the Democratic-Republicans.

Democratic-Republicans

An American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early 1790s that championed republicanism, agrarianism, political equality, and territorial expansion.

Washington's Farewell Address

Warned against permanent foreign alliances and political parties, called for unity of the country, established precedent of two-term presidency.