American History I Final Exam Study Guide

A collection of vocabulary flashcards covering the key people, places, events, and legislation outlined for the American History I Final Exam, spanning from early Colonial America through the Reconstrution and Gilded Age Eras.

Headright system

A colonial system that awarded land to settlers who paid for their own or others' passage to America.

Indentured servant

An individual who contracted to work for a set number of years in exchange for transportation to the colonies and eventual freedom.

Middle passage

The stage of the triangle trade in which millions of enslaved Africans were forcibly transported across the Atlantic to the Americas.

Triangle trade

A historical trade route between Europe, Africa, and the Americas involving various goods and enslaved people.

Black Gold

A term used during the Colonial Era to refer to Tobacco.

Mercantilism

An economic theory and practice dominant in modernized parts of Europe from the $16th$ to the $18th$ century, focused on increasing a nation's wealth through restrictive trade.

French & Indian War

Also known as the Seven Years War, occurring from $1758$ to $1764$, involving a conflict over territory.

Albany Plan

A proposal to create a unified government for the Thirteen Colonies, suggested by Benjamin Franklin at the Albany Congress.

Treaty of Paris ($1763$)

The treaty that ended the French and Indian War, significantly changing the map of North America.

Proclamation of $1763$

A British decree that prohibited colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains.

Intolerable Acts

A series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in $1774$ that included the imposition of martial law.

Minutemen

Colonial militia members who were prepared to fight at a minute's notice.

Lexington and Concord

The opening battles of the American Revolutionary War, involving British General Thomas Gage.

Olive Branch Petition

The final attempt by the colonists to avoid a full-blown war with Great Britain, affirming American loyalty to the crown.

Common Sense

A pamphlet by Thomas Paine that argued for independence and the protection of Natural Rights.

Loyalist vs. Patriot

The distinction between those who remained loyal to the British King and those who supported American independence.

Winter at Valley Forge

The harsh winter of $1777$-$1778$ where George Washington and the Continental Army faced extreme conditions.

Saratoga

A turning point in the Revolution involving Burgoyne's 3-Pronged Attack, which led to the importance of the French alliance.

Treaty of Paris ($1783$)

The treaty that officially ended the American Revolutionary War and recognized United States independence.

Articles of Confederation

The first government framework of the U.S., known for its specific strengths and significant weaknesses.

Land Ordinance of $1785$

A law that established a plan for surveying and selling the federally owned lands west of the Appalachian Mountains.

Northwest Ordinance of $1787$

A legislation that established procedures for the orderly expansion of the United States and the admission of new states.

Shays’ Rebellion

An uprising led by Daniel Shays and farmers over economic grievances, highlighting the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.

Virginia Plan

A proposal for a strong central government with a bicameral legislature based on population.

New Jersey Plan

A proposal for a central government with a single-house legislature in which each state had an equal vote.

Great Compromise

An agreement that created a dual system of congressional representation (Senate and House of Representatives) proposed by Roger Sherman.

Three-fifths Compromise

The agreement to count $\frac{3}{5}$ of a state's enslaved population for purposes of taxation and representation.

Judicial Review

The power of the Supreme Court to declare laws or executive acts unconstitutional.

Whiskey Rebellion

A protest over an Excise Tax on whiskey, significant for demonstrating the power of the new federal government.

Excise Tax

A tax on the production or sale of a specific good, such as the one that triggered the Whiskey Rebellion.

Sectionalism

Loyalty to one's own region or section of the country, rather than to the nation as a whole.

XYZ Affair

A diplomatic incident between French and United States diplomats that resulted in a limited, undeclared war.

Alien & Sedition Acts

Four laws passed in $1798$ that restricted the activities of foreign residents and limited freedom of speech and of the press.

Nullification

The theory that states have the right to declare federal laws unconstitutional, as seen in the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions.

Judiciary Act of $1801$

A law that increased the number of federal judges, leading to the appointment of 'Midnight Judges'.

Louisiana Purchase

A land deal between the United States and Napoleon's France that doubled the size of the U.S.

Embargo of $1807$

A law passed by President Jefferson that forbade American ships from trading in all foreign ports.

Compromise of $1820$

An agreement establishing the $36^{\circ}30'$ line as the boundary between free and slave territories.

Universal Male Suffrage

The expansion of voting rights to all white adult males, regardless of property ownership.

Spoils System

The practice of a successful political party giving public office to its supporters, heavily utilized by Andrew Jackson.

Tariff of Abominations

A protective tariff passed by Congress in $1828$ that was labeled 'abominable' by the South.

Trail of Tears

The forced relocation of the Cherokee Nation and other tribes to Western territories, resulting in thousands of deaths.

Second Great Awakening

A Protestant religious revival movement during the early $19th$ century in the United States.

Transcendentalism

A philosophical movement led by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau emphasizing internal thought and nature.

Manifest Destiny

The $19th$-century belief that the expansion of the United States throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable.

Lone Star Republic

The independent nation of Texas established after its successful rebellion against Mexico.

$54^{\circ}40'$ or Fight

A slogan used during the Oregon boundary dispute, representing the latitude line the U.S. wanted for its northern border.

Popular Sovereignty

The principle that the authority of a state and its government are created and sustained by the consent of its people, notably used regarding slavery in territories.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

A law that allowed settlers in those territories to determine through popular sovereignty whether they would allow slavery, leading to 'Bleeding Kansas'.

Anaconda Plan

The Union's strategic plan to defeat the Confederacy by blockading southern ports and controlling the Mississippi River.

Emancipation Proclamation

The executive order issued by Abraham Lincoln freeing all enslaved people in Confederate-held territory.

Scorched Earth Policy

A military strategy of destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy, practiced by General Sherman during his March to the Sea.

Reconstruction Amendments

The $13th$, $14th$, and $15th$ Amendments to the Constitution, which abolished slavery and granted citizenship and voting rights.

Freedmen's Bureau

An agency established by Congress at the end of the Civil War to help and protect newly freed African Americans.

Sharecropping

A system of agriculture in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on their portion of land.

Robber Barons vs. Captains of Industry

A debate over whether major industrialist titans were exploitative or beneficial to the nation's economy.

Laissez-faire

An economic policy of letting things take their own course, without government interference.

Chinese Exclusion Act ($1882$)

A United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers.

Dawes Act ($1887$)

A federal law intended to turn Native Americans into farmers and landowners by providing families with $160$ acres of reservation land.

Benjamin Franklin

A Founding Father of the United States, known for his role in the American Enlightenment and the American Revolution.

George Washington

The first President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.

Thomas Jefferson

The principal author of the Declaration of Independence and the third President of the United States.

Abraham Lincoln

The 16th President of the United States, known for leading the country during the Civil War and for the Emancipation Proclamation.

Frederick Douglass

An escaped slave who became a prominent activist, author, and public speaker advocating for the abolition of slavery and equality.

Andrew Jackson

The seventh President of the United States known for his populist policies and the Indian Removal Act.

Harriet Tubman

An abolitionist who escaped slavery and became a leading figure in the Underground Railroad.

Susan B. Anthony

A social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement.

Civil Rights Movement

A social and political movement in the United States aimed at ending racial discrimination and ensuring equal rights for African Americans.

Boston Tea Party

A protest against British taxation policies where colonists dumped tea into Boston Harbor.

Stamp Act

A law passed by the British Parliament in 1765 that taxed printed materials in the colonies.

Colonization

The process of establishing control over the indigenous people of an area and exploiting its resources.

Bacon's Rebellion

A 1676 uprising in Virginia led by Nathaniel Bacon against Governor William Berkeley's administration, highlighting tensions between the frontier settlers and the colonial government.

Enlightenment

An intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries emphasizing reason, individualism, and skepticism of authority; influenced the American Revolution.

Navigation Acts

A series of laws passed by the British Parliament that regulated colonial trade and enabled England to collect taxes from the colonies.

Sons of Liberty

A secret society formed in the 1760s to oppose British policies and taxation, known for organizing protests such as the Boston Tea Party.