Period 3

Sugar Act of 1764

• British law that lowered the tax on French molasses + raised penalties for smuggling

• New England merchants opposed this

Stamp Act of 1765

• British law imposing tax on all paper used in colonies

• Overwhelming resistance prevented it from happening → repeal in 1766

Stamp Act Congress

• Congress of delegates from 9 assemblies that met in NYC to protest loss of American rights

• Congress challenged parliament by saying only the elected representatives of the colonies could tax them

Sons of Liberty

• Colonists (mainly average merchants + artisans) who protested Stamp Act + other imperial reforms

• Originated in Boston before spreading to all colonies

English common law

• Old body of legal rules + procedures that protected lives + property of British monarch’s subjects

Natural rights

• Life + liberty + property

• John Locke argued political authority came from social compacts that were meant to preserve peoples natural rights instead God giving it to monarchs

Declaratory Act of 1766

• Law saying Parliament has the right to legislate/rule its colonies no matter what

Townshend Act of 1767

• British law that but new taxes on tea + glass + lead + paper + painters’ colors imported into colonies

• Led to high tensions between British and colonies since the colonists were boycotting

Nonimportation movement

• Effort to protest parliament law by boycotting British goods

• Happened after Stamp Act + Townshend duties

Committees of correspondence

• Communications network established among colonial assemblies to provide for rapid spread of news about important political developments

Tea Act of May 1773

• British act that lowered tax on tea + granted permission to East India Company to make their tea cheaper in colonies and entice boycotting Americans to buy it

Coercive Acts

• 4 British acts of 1774 to punish Massachusetts for destroying shiploads of tea

• Also known as intolerable acts

• led to open rebellion in northern colonies

Continental Congress

• Sep 1774 gathering of delegates in Philadelphia to discuss crisis caused by Coercive Acts

• Congress issued declaration of rights + agreed to a boycott of trade with Britain

Continental Association

• Association established in 1774 by First Continental Congress to enforce boycott of British goods

Dunmore’s War

• 1774 war led by Virginia’s royal governor (Earl of Dunmore) against Ohio Shawnees (who claimed Kentucky as a hunting ground)

  • Shawnees defeated and Virginians claimed Kentucky

Minutemen

• Colonial militiamen ready to mobilize on short notice during imperial crisis

• Volunteers formed core of the citizens’ army that met British troops at Lexington + Concord

Second Continental Congress

• Legislative body that governed US from May 1775-the war

• Established an army + created currency + declared independence

Declaration of Independence

• Document with philosophical principles + grievances that declared separation from Britain

• Ended intense debate with some still hoping to reconcile with Britain

John Dickinson

• Wealthy philadelphia lawyer argued fellow colonists were British subjects who are born to liberty + know its worth + prize it high

George Grenville

• Understood need for far reaching imperial reform

• Passed currency Act of 1764 (ensured merchants would not be paid in money printed in colonies, boosting British wealth)

• Also got approvement for the Sugar Act of 1764

Charles Townshend

• Successor of Grenville

• Vowed to replace salutary neglect with rigorous imperial control

• Responsible for Townshend Act

• Wanted to undermine American political institutions

Lord North

• Became prime minister in early 1770

• Argued that taxing British exports to American was bad because it would lead to less consumption

  • Persuaded Parliament to repeal most Townshend duties but kept the tea tax to symbolize Parliament supremacy

• Congress tried to compromise but North refused it

  • Wanted the Americans to pay for their own defense + admin and acknowledge Parliament’s right to tax them + also imposed a navel blockade

Samuel Adams

• More outspoken Patriot in Massachusetts

• Warned Americans about imperial domination with other radical Patriots

• Convinced the town meeting to set up a committee of correspondence to state the rights of the colonists

Lord Dunmore

• Virginia’s royal governor who clashed with the House of Burgesses

• Organized a militia that fought against Ohio Shawnees who had claimed Kentucky as a hunting ground long before Dunmore

  • Dunmore’s War as a result

Thomas Paine

• Jan 1776 published Common Sense, call for independence + republican form of government

  • Attacked traditional monarchical order + argued for American independence

Thomas Jefferson

• Main author of Declaration of Independence + justified independence/republicanism to Americans

• Used Enlightenment ideas for self evident truths (ex: “that all men are created equal“)

• Established political values for the US

• Chosen as Washington’s secretary of state and was a prominent member of the antifederalists after the revolution

  • He allied with James Madison in opposing Alexander Hamilton’s financial plans which he thought of as “an outrageous demand and too many damn pages for any man to understand” while speaking for the southern planters and western farmers

• He would later become the third president after the “Election of 1800”

Judiciary Act of 1789

• Established federal district court in each state + 3 circuit courts to hear appeals from districts

• Supreme Court serves as highest level of court in federal system

Bill of Rights

• First 10 amendments to constitution

• Safeguarded personal rights

• Also stated that anything not stated in the constitution can be decided by the states

Report on the Public Credit

• Hamilton’s report recommending federal government should assume all state debts + fund national debt with interest

• Goal was to make the country creditworthy, not debt free

Bank of the United States

• Bank chartered + jointly owned by private stockholders and national government

• Hamilton argued the bank would provide stability to the economy (which was short of capital) by making loans to merchants + handling gov funds + issues bills of credit

Report on Manufactures

• Proposal by Hamilton calling for fed gov to urge expansion of Amer manufacturing while putting tariffs on foreign imports

Proclamation of Neutrality

• Issued by pres George Washington allowing U.S. citizens to trade with France and Britain even though those two were fighting

French Revolution

• Initially welcomed by most Americans since it was abolishing feudalism and establishing a constitutional monarchy at first

• Became too radical to many

Whiskey Rebellion

• Uprising in 1794 by farmers in west Pennsylvania in response to a unfair/unpopular tax on whiskey

Jay’s Treaty

• Treaty between US + Britain which was negotiated by John Jay

• Accepted Brit’s right to stop neutral ships + required US gov to provide reinstitution of pre revo war debts of brit merchants

• Allowed Americans to submit claims for illegal seizures + required Brit to remove their troops and Indian agents from Northwest territory

Haitian Revolution

• Uprising against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue involving gen de coleur + liberated slaves

• Saint-Domingue became first independent black republic of Haiti where former slaves were citizens

XYZ Affair

• Incident where American negotiators in France were rejected for refusing to pay a bribe

• Led to US into undeclared war that limited American trade with the French West Indies

Naturalization, Alien, and Sedition Acts

• Laws passed in 1789 that limited individual rights + threatened developing party system

• Naturalization - lengthened residency requirement for citizenship

• Alien - authorized deportation of foeigners

• Sedition - prohibited publication of insults/attacks on president and congress

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions

• Resolutions by Virginia + Kentucky state legislatures condemning Alien + Sedition Acts

• Tested the idea that state legislatures could judge legitimacy of federal laws

Treaty of Greenville

• Between US + various Indian tribes in Ohio

• American negotiators acknowledged Indian ownership of the land + in return for various payments Western Confederacy ceded most of Ohio to US

Marbury v Madison

• Supreme court case that established principle of judicial review in finding that parts of the Judiciary Act conflicted with the Constitution

• First time supreme court was able to assume legal authority to overrule acts of the other branches

Louisiana Purchase

• Purchase of French territory west of Mississippi River that almost doubled the size of the US

• Required President Jefferson to exercise powers not explicitly granted to him in the Consitution

Embargo Act of 1807

• Prohibited US ships from traveling to foreign ports in attempt to deter Brit + France from halting US ships at sea

• Cause hardships for Americans engaged in overseas commerce

Battle of Tippecanoe

• Attack on Shawnee Indians + allies on Tippecanoe river by America led by Indiana’s territorial governor (William Henry Harrison)

• Heavy casualties and Holy village destroyed

Treaty of Ghent

• Ended War of 1812 that maintained the prewar borders of the US

McCulloch vs Maryland

• Supreme court case that denied the right of the states to tax the Second Bank of the US, asserting dominance of national over state statutes

Adams-Onis Treaty

• Treaty where John Quincy Adams convinced Spain to cede Florida territory to US

• In return America accepted Spain’s claim to Texas + agreed to compromise on western boundary for Louisiana state

Monroe Doctrine

• Declaration by pres James Monroe that West hemi was closed to further colonization or interference by Euro powers

• Monroe plegded US would not become involved in Euro struggles

John Adams

• Vice president to George Washington

• Later became President

  • Continued Hamilton’s pro British foreign policy + criticized French for seizing merchant ships so he cut trade off with them bc of the XYZ Affair

  • He was a prominent figure of the federalist group but passed the Alien and Sedition Acts rendering him unpopular going into the “Election of 1800”

Alexander Hamilton

• Chosen as Washington’s secretary of the treasury and was a primary member/leader of the Federalists

• Instituted economic plans such as the creation of a national bank and continuously argued with Thomas Jefferson

• He’s the “ten dollar founding father without a father, who grew a lot smarter by working a lot harder” as a self made man who would eventually become Washington’s “right hand man”

Little Turtle

• Created the Western Confederacy that fought against American settlers in order to try to preserve their claim on the land

• They would eventually be beat by the Colonial Army and forced into ceding land in the Ohio Territory and being put under the protection of the US

John Marshall

• A federalist who became the chief justice of the Supreme Court and upheld federalist beliefs even after the loss of national power by their party following the Antifederalist win in the “Election of 1800”

Tecumseh

• Revived the Western Confederacy but was defeated at the Battle of Tippecanoe due to colonists attacking after he and much of his forces went south to attempt to gain support from the Choctaws, Chicksaws, and Creeks

Henry Clay

• One of the two main supporters of war in order to gain new territory westward

• Following the War of 1812, he led National Republicans to pursue Federalist-like projects such as the creation of a Second Bank of the United States

John Quincy Adams

• Apart of the Republican Party helping to negotiate the Treaty of Ghent, serving two terms as secretary of state under Monroe, and eventually becoming a US President

• He gained land from the British through negotiations such as the Adams-Onis Treaty and persuaded President Monroe to pass the Monroe Doctrine