American Revolution and Early U.S. Government Flashcards

A complete set of vocabulary flashcards covering the historical events, formal acts, and political theories mentioned in the lecture transcript regarding the American Revolution and early government formation.

13 Colonies

A group of British colonies founded in the 17th and 18th centuries. The American Enlightenment led these colonies to the American Revolutionary War.

Boston Tea Party

An American political and mercantile protest in 1773 by the Sons of Liberty in Boston in colonial Massachusetts, whereby colonists dressed as Native Americans dumped 342 chests of tea into the Boston Harbor.

Stamp Act

An act of the British Parliament in 1765 that exacted revenue from the American colonies by imposing a stamp duty on newspapers and legal and commercial documents.

French and Indian War

A segment of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes.

Boston Massacre

A confrontation in Boston on March 5, 1770, in which nine British soldiers shot several of a crowd of three or four hundred who were harassing them verbally and throwing various projectiles.

Lexington and Concord

Some of the leading military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay.

Common Sense

A 47-page pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–1776 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies.

Continental Congress

The governing body by which the American colonial governments coordinated their resistance to British rule during the first two years of the American Revolution.

2nd Continental Congress

The late-18th-century meeting of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that united in support of the American Revolution in which it established American independence from the British Empire.

“No Taxation Without Representation”

A political movement that originated in the American Revolution and which expressed one of the primary grievances of the American colonists for Great Britain.

Patriots/Rebels

Colonists who rebelled against the British Crown.

Right to Revolt

The right or duty of a people to "alter or abolish" a government that acts against their common interests or threatens the safety of the people without cause.

Unalienable Rights

Universal and non-transferable, they are pre-political in the sense that they are not created by persons or society but rather set standards for politics.

Consent of the Governed

The idea that a government's legitimacy and moral right to use state power is justified and lawful only when consented, or agreed to, by the people.

Grievances

An official statement of a complaint over something believed to be wrong or unfair.

Articles of Confederation

The written document that established the functions of the national government of the United States after it declared independence from Great Britain.

Ratification

The action of signing or giving formal consent to a treaty, contract, or agreement, making it officially valid.

Virginia Plan

A proposal to the United States Constitutional Convention for the creation of a supreme national government with three branches and a bicameral legislature.

Three-Fifths Compromise

An agreement reached in 1787 establishing that three out of every five slaves was counted when determining a state's total population for legislative representation and taxation.

Popular Sovereignty

The principle that the authority of a state and its government are created and sustained by the consent of its people, who are the source of all political power.

Judicial Review

The power of the Supreme Court to determine whether laws of congress are in fact constitutional, and to strike down any/all that are not.

Olive Branch Petition

A written appeal adopted by Congress on July 5, 1775, to be sent to the King as a last attempt to prevent formal war from being declared.

Republicanism

A theory of government that emphasizes the participation of citizens for the common good of the community.

New Jersey Plan

A proposal for the structure of the U.S. government presented at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, it advocated for equal representation of states, regardless of population size.

King George III

King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1760 until his death in 1820.