AP US History - Period 3 Vocabulary

Albany Plan of Union

Benjamin Franklin proposed a plan for uniting the seven colonies that greatly exceeded the scope of the congress to prepare a defense against the French.

Benjamin Franklin

Authored the Albany Plan of Union; inventor, businessman, eventually a Founding Father - helped to bring French into Revolutionary War and helped to negotiate Treaty of Paris (1783)

Boston Massacre

After months of increasing friction between townspeople and the British troops stationed in the city, on March 5, 1770, British troops fired on American civilians in this incident's namesake city.

Boston Tea Party

Sons of Liberty protest against the British East India Company monopoly by dumping much of a popular good into the harbor.

Boycotting

Act of refusing to buy goods; what the American colonists did toward British goods to hurt the British economy.

Coercive Acts/Intolerable Acts

Enacted after the Boston Tea Party, this series of Parliamentary Acts closed Boston harbor, disbanded the Massachusetts colony and angered many colonists

Committees of Correspondence

The first organized means of cross-colonial communication in the British-controlled American colonies. Intended to keep all of the colonies informed of British measures that would affect the colonies.

Currency Act of 1764

The law prohibited the American colonies from issuing paper currency of any form.

Declaratory Act of 1776

Asserted the authority of Parliament to make laws binding the colonies "in all cases whatsoever"

First Continental Congress

Meeting of delegates from most of the colonies held in 1774 in response to the Coercive Acts - agreed to establish the Continental Association

Fort Duquesne

Place where the French & Indian War began when the British attacked the French here.

French and Indian War (Seven Years' War)

This conflict between the English and French led to the loss of French territory in North America.

George Washington (early life)

Young American colonist military leader who directed the colonist army during the French & Indian War; will become a future president.

Hessians

Foreign mercenaries from Prussia hired by the British to fight against the American colonists.

John Locke

He advocated that the basic rights of man are life, liberty, and property

Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania by John Dickinson (must get all words right for credit)

Papers written by John Dickinson which stated that Parliament could not exercise its power to raise revenue for itself in the colonies. It could regulate colonial trade however. This allowed the colonists to feel as if they could approve each of Parliament's laws pertaining to trade and then decide whether or not to obey it. This was ineffective.

Masschusetts Circular Letter

This letter, drafted by colonists angry about the Townshend Acts/Duties, increased anti-British sentiment throughout the colonies and revealed the increasing colonial discontent with British control.

Minutemen

Colonial men ready in an instant to fight the British during Lexington

Parliamentary sovereignty

The absolute power of parliament to establish laws and it is unrestricted by an constitution

Patriots

British colonists who favored independence from Britain.

Paul Revere

Silversmith and patriot who alerted the colonists that the British were coming before Lexington and Concord by taking a midnight horse ride to spread the word and to prepare colonists.

Paxton Boys

They were a group of Scots-Irish men living in the Appalachian hills that wanted protection from Indian attacks. They made an armed march on Philadelphia in 1764. They protested the lenient way that the Quakers treated the Indians. Their ideas started the Regulator Movement in North Carolina.

Pontiac's War/Rebellion

Indians upset British by policies attacked a number of British forts and settlements, lead to the Proclamation of 1763,

Proclamation Line of 1763 (you must get the year!!!)

This portion of the peace agreement after the French and Indian War prohibited American colonists from migrating west of the Appalachian mountains into Native American lands.

Prohibitory Act

After the rejection of the Olive Branch Petition, Parliament in December 1775 passed the __________ forbidding all further trade with the colonies.

Quartering Act of 1765

Acts of Parliament requiring colonial legislatures to provide supplies and lodging for the British troops stationed in the colonies.

Second Continental Congress

Body of delegates from all 13 colonies that met in 1775 to begin discussion on how to deal with the crisis between England and the Colonies

Sons of LIberty

Group of secret radicals leading up to the revolution that were concentrated in urban areas particularly in the Northeast that plagued British officials in the colonies.

Stamp Act Congress

In October of 1765 delegations from nine colonies met in New York City at what has been called the ______________, where they passed a set of resolution denying Parliament's right to tax the colonies, arguing that taxation required representation.

Stamp Act of 1765

Law passed by Parliament in 1765 to raise revenue in America by taxing legal documents, publications, and playing cards.

Suffolk Resolves

The First Continental Congress endorsed Massachusetts's ____________ _____________, which declared that the colonies need not obey the 1773 Coercive Acts, since they infringed upon basic liberties.

Sugar Act of 1764

First direct tax on the N. American colonies; lowered the duty from 6 pence to 3 pence per gallon on foreign molasses imported into the colonies and increased the restrictions on colonial commerce

Townshend Duties

Placed import duties, collectible before goods entered colonial markets, on many commodities including lead, glass, paper, and tea

Treaty of Paris (1763) - again you need the year!!!

This ended the Seven Years War (French and Indian War) but left Britain with enormous war debts which they tried to pass onto the American colonies.

Virtual representation

This concept explained why Parliament could legally tax the colonists even though the colonists could not elect any members of Parliament

Abigail Adams

She and her husband wrote fond, newsy and philosophical letters to one another during their absences. The letters have become famous both as evidence of a deep love affair and as a source of information about the Revolutionary era.

Articles of Confederation

Written document setting up the loose grouping of states that comprised the first national government of the United States

Battle of Bunker Hill

The first major battle of the American Revolution.

Battle of Lexington and Concord

These were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War.

Battle of Saratoga

British defeat signaled to Europe that the Americans had a real possibility of success in their Revolution

Battle of Yorktown

The final major engagement of the American Revolution, after which General Cornwallis sent an envoy to surrender to the Continental Army.

Continental Army

This was the name of colonial army during the American Revolutionary War.

"Common Sense"

This document tried to convince those neutral or undecided on the American Revolution to join the side of the Patriots against the loyalists.

Declaration of Independence

"That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved . . ."; document that established a free United States

General Cornwallis

British general who led the British troops in the Revolutionary War; surrendered at Yorktown signalling the end of the American Revolution

John Adams (time of revolution)

A Massachusetts attorney and politician who was a strong believer in colonial independence. He argued against the Stamp Act and was involved in various patriot groups. As a delegate from Massachusetts, he urged the Second Continental Congress to declare independence. He helped draft and pass the Declaration of Independence. Later served as the second President of the United States.

John Jay

First Supreme Court Chief Justice and co author of The Federalist Papers; signed Treaty of Paris (1783) and negotiated removal of British troops from American soil after American Revolution

Loyalists

Group of colonists that supported the British government against the Patriots; another name for the Tories

Natural Rights

An idea that all humans are born with innate rights, which include the right to life, liberty, and property.

Olive Branch Petition

A last ditch effort by the Americans to resolve differences with Britain and to avert the Revolutionary War.

Republicanism

Ideas and values influenced by the belief that there was a conspiracy to quash liberty and institute tyranny by the kings, aristocrats and Catholics

Thomas Paine

He wrote "Common Sense" and "The American Crisis" in support of the American colonists in their pursuit of independence.

Tories

American colonist that supported the British side during the Revolution; another name for a Loyalist

Treaty of Paris (1783) - again, you need the year!!!

This treaty ended the Revolutionary War, recognized the independence of the American colonies, and granted the colonies the territory from the southern border of Canada to the northern border of Florida, and from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi River.

Valley Forge

Site where the Continental Army camped during the winter of 1777- '78; many died and deserted but was chosen to defend Continental Congress

Whigs (during American Revolution)

American colonist that supported the American Revolution; another name for a Patriot

Alexander Hamilton

This founding father was a leader of the Federalists; he pushed for a stronger, more centralized government. (Don't throw away "your shot" at getting this one right.)

Annapolis Convention

A 1786 conference of state delegates that issued a call for a meeting to consider fundamental changes to the confederation

Anti-Federalists

This political faction opposed the creation of a stronger US federal government and opposed the ratification of the US Constitution.

Bill of Rights

This was the result of Anti-Federalist complaints that the Constitution gave too much power to the federal government.

Checks and balances

The separation of powers ensures that __________________ happen between all the branches so that no branch has more power than the other.

Constitutional Convention, 1787

This meeting happened in Philadelphia following Shays' Rebellion to fix the Articles of Confederation; its original purpose was not to replace the Articles of Confederation but that is what happened at this meeting.

Federalism

The sharing of powers between the national government and the states

Federalist Papers

Written by some of the Founding Fathers using pseudonyms, this was a collection of essays used to explain the importance of a strong, central government and to support ratification of the Constitution.

Federalists

This political faction, led by Hamilton and Madison, proposed passing the Constitution as written, without protection of personal liberties.

Great Compromise

Also known as the Connecticut Compromise; this term applies to the agreement made at the Constitutional Convention to develop a bicameral legislature with a Senate and a House of Representatives.

Land Ordinance of 1785

This legislation under the Articles of Confederation provided for the sale of land to pay off government debts; also provided land for schools.

Elastic Clause

Known as the necessary and proper clause, this clause gave Congress implied powers to make laws as "needed" by the government.

James Madison

This founding father was the main draftsman of the Constitution in 1787.

Limited government

A basic principle of American government which states that government is restricted in what it may do, and each individual has rights (natural rights) that government cannot take away.

Necessary and Proper

The elastic clause gave Congress implied powers to make laws as "_______________" for the government to be run properly and carry out all enumerated powers.

New Jersey Plan

This proposal at the Constitutional Convention supported a legislature based on state equality rather than population.

Newburgh Conspiracy

A plan by Continental Army officers to challenge the authority of the Confederation Congress, arising from their frustration with Congress' long-standing inability to meet its financial obligations to the military; showed weakness in Articles of Confederation.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

This legislation passed under the Articles of Confederation outlawed slavery in the area north of the Ohio River Valley.

Philadelphia Convention

This meeting also known as the Constitutional Convention of 1787 followed Shays' Rebellion to fix the Articles of Confederation; its original purpose was not to replace the Articles of Confederation but that is what happened at this meeting.

republican

Political theory of representative government, based on the principle of popular sovereignty, with a strong emphasis on liberty and civic virtue. Influential in eighteenth century American political thought, it stood as an alternative to monarchical rule.

Republican motherhood

Idea that linked republicanism to women; gave women role as keepers of America's conscience and to educate their children in the ideals of the American republic.

Separation of powers

Coming from Montesquieu, this kept apart judicial, legislative and executive branches in order for each branch to check and balance the other branches.

Shays' Rebellion

This rebellion in Massachusetts was due to credit issues and demonstrated the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation

Suffrage

The right to vote; only men with land could vote after the American Revolution in most places in the US.

Supremacy Clause

This constitutional clause states all federal laws including the Constitution are superior to local or state laws.

Thomas Jefferson

Writer of the Declaration of the Independence, leader of the Anti-Federalists; future president of the United States

Three-fifths Compromise

This compromise resulted from the debate over counting slaves for representation purposes.

Virginia Plan

This proposal at the Constitutional Convention supported a legislature based on population instead of state equality.

Alien & Sedition Acts

These laws increased the amount of time required for naturalization as well as made it a crime to spread false or overly critical information about the government.

Bank of the United States

The central financial institution of the United States that regulated the printing and coining of money throughout the States.

Democratic-Republicans

Political faction that favored strong ties with France, an agricultural economy, and strong states' rights; party of Jefferson

Farewell Address

In this speech the first president of the United States warned against political factions as well as any entanglements in European wars and conflicts.

George Washington (president)

Set precedents as president such as serving two terms, neutrality in world affairs, giving an inaugural address, selecting a Cabinet

Impressment

When England and France forcibly took sailors from American merchant ships to work on their ships; cause of War of 1812.

Jay's Treaty

1794 agreement that re-established US trade with Great Britain and removed British troops from the Northwest; this agreement infuriated France.

John Adams (president)

This president's only positive contribution to the US Government was the development of the Navy.

Judicial Review

The process of declaring a law unconstitutional.

Nullification

The doctrine that a state can declare null and void a federal law that, in the states opinion, violates the constitution

Pinckney's Treaty

Established peaceable southerly and westerly borders between the US and Spanish territory, and allowed for safe passage of merchant vessels through New Orleans.

Proclamation of Neutrality

This doctrine established Washington's position on the conflict that was going on between Britain and France in the 1790s.

Republicans (Period 3)

Political theory of representative government, based on the principle of popular sovereignty, with a strong emphasis on liberty and civic virtue. Influential in eighteenth century American political thought, it stood as an alternative to monarchical rule.

Revolution of 1800

A catchphrase for the dramatic ideological shift that occurred in the passage of presidential authority from Adams to Jefferson.

Virginia & Kentucky Resolves

Jefferson and Madison's response to the Alien and Sedition Acts that stated that stated states could nullify unjust federal laws when necessary.

Whiskey Rebellion

A stark contrast to a previous farmer insurrection, this event established as public knowledge that the US Government and armed forces were strong enough to establish and maintain domestic peace.