APUSH Period 3 (1754-1800): Review (Key Concepts and Events)

Albany Plan of Union

1754 plan put together by Benjamin Franklin to create a more centralized colonial government that would establish policies regarding defense, trade, and territorial expansion, as well as aim to facilitate better relations between colonists and American Indians. The plan was never implemented

Alien and Sedition Acts

1798 security acts passed by the Federalist-controlled Congress. The Alien Act allowed the president to imprison or deport noncitizens; the Sedition Act placed significant restrictions on political speech

Antifederalists

opponents of ratification of the Constitution. They were generally from more rural and less wealthy backgrounds than the Federalists

Articles of Confederation

Plan for national government proposed by the Continental Congress of 1777 and ratified in March 1781. The Articles of Confederation gave the national government limited powers, reflecting widespread fear of centralized authority, and were replaced by the Constitution in 1789

Battle of Bunker Hill

Battle of Fallen Timbers

Battle of Saratoga

Key Revolutionary War battle fought at Saratoga, New York. The patriot victory there in October 1777 provided hope that the colonists could triumph and increased the chances that the French would formally join the patriot side

Battle of Yorktown

Decisive battle in which the surrender of British forces on October 19, 1781, at Yorktown, Virginia, effectively sealed the patriot victory in the American Revolution

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the Constitution. These ten amendments helped reassure Americans who feared that the federal government established under the Constitution would infringe on the rights of individuals and states

Boston Massacre

1770 clash between colonial protesters and British soldiers in Boston that led to the death of five colonists. The bloody conflict was used to promote the patriot cause

Boston Tea Party

Rally against British tax policy organized by the Sons of Liberty on December 16, 1773, consisting of about fifty men disguised as American Indians who boarded British ships and dumped about forty-five tons of tea into the Boston Harbor

Coercive Acts

1774 acts of Parliament passed in response to the Boston Tea Party. The acts closed the port of Boston until residents paid for the damaged property and moved Massachusetts court cases against royal officials back to England in a bid to weaken colonial authority

Committee of correspondence

Type of committee first established in Massachusetts to circulate concerns and reports of protest and other events to leaders in other colonies in the aftermath of the Sugar Act

Continental Army

Army created by the Second Continental Congress after the battles of Lexington and Concord began the Revolutionary War in 1775

Continental Congress

Congress convened in Philadelphia in 1774 in response to the Coercive Acts. The delegates hoped to reestablish the freedoms colonists had previously enjoyed

Constitutional Convention

Meeting to draft the United States Constitution in Philadelphia from May to September of 1787. This document established the framework for a strong federal government with executive, legislative, and judicial branches

Currency Act

1764 act of Parliament preventing colonial assemblies from printing paper money or bills of credit, curtailing the ability of local colonial economies to expand

Daughters of Liberty

Declaration of Independence

Document declaring the independence of the colonies from Great Britain. Drafted by Thomas Jefferson and then debated and revised by the Continental Congress, the Declaration was made public on July 4, 1776

Declaratory Act

1776 act announcing Parliament’s authority to pass any law “to bind the colonies and peoples of North America” closer to Britain

Democratic-Republicans

Political party that emerged out of opposition to Federalist policies in the 1790s. The Democratic-Republicans chose Thomas Jefferson as their presidential candidate in 1796, 1800, and 1804

Dunmore’s Proclamation

1775 proclamation issued by the British commander Lord Dunmore that offered freedom to all enslaved African Americans who joined the British army. The proclamation heightened concerns among some patriots about the consequences of independence

Effigy

Electoral college

A group comprised of electors who vote in the formal election of the president and vice president after the general election votes are tallied. The electoral college was a compromise between determining the president via a direct popular vote or via congressional vote

The Federalist Papers

85 essays by Federalists Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. Published in newspapers throughout the U.S., The Federalist Papers promoted the ratification of the Constitution

Federalists

Supporters of ratification of the Constitution, many of whom came from urban and commercial backgrounds

French Revolution

Guerilla

Indian Trade and Intercourse Act

Intolerable Acts

Acts such as the Coercive Acts, Quebec Act, and Quartering Act, which the colonists viewed as a larger pattern in British policy, one they believed aimed to strip them of their rights and liberties

Jay Treaty

1796 treaty that required British forces to withdraw from U.S. soil, required American repayment of debts to British firms, and limited U.S. trade with the British West Indies

Loyalists

Colonial supporters of the British during the American Revolution

Minutemen

Militia group trained to prepare quickly for local defense in case of British attack

Naturalization

Naturalization Act

1798 act passed by the Federalist-controlled Congress that raised the residency requirement for citizenship from five to fourteen years to delay the naturalization of immigrants who largely voted Democratic-Republican

Neutrality Proclamation

1793 proclamation declaring U.S. neutrality in any conflicts between other nations, including France and Great Britain. Britain largely ignored U.S. neutrality and seized American merchant vessels heading for France

New Jersey Plan

A proposal to the 1787 Constitutional Convention that highlighted the needs of small states by creating one large legislative house in the federal government and granting each state equal representation in it

Northwest Ordinances

1785 act of the confederation congress that provided for the survey, sale, and eventual division into states of the Northwest Territory. A 1787 act then clarified the process by which territories could become states

Patriots

American colonists who favored the movement for independence during the 1770s

Peace of Paris

1763 peace treaty ending the Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War). Under its terms, Britain gained control of North America east of the Mississippi River and of present-day Canada

Pinckney Treaty

1796 treaty that defined the boundary between U.S. and Spanish territory in the South and opened the Mississippi River and New Orleans to U.S. shipping

Political sovereignty

Proclamation Line of 1763

Act of Parliament that restricted colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains. The Proclamation Line sparked protests from rich and poor colonists alike

Quartering Act

1765 act ensuring British troops would remain stationed in the colonies after the ends of the Seven Years’ War

Quebec Act

1774 act of Parliament extending the boundary of Quebec to areas of the Ohio River valley that American colonists wanted to settle. This act also set up a colonial government without a local representative assembly in Quebec

Ratified

Republican motherhood

Concept proposed by some American political leaders in the 1790s, which supported women’s education so that they could in turn instruct their sons in principles of republican government

Salutary (begin) neglect

British colonial policy from around 1700 to 1760 that relaxed supervision of internal colonial affairs as long as the North American colonies produced sufficient raw materials and revenue. Also known as benign neglect

Second Continental Congress

Assembly of colonial representatives that served as a national government during the American Revolution. Despite limited formal powers, the Continental Congress coordinated the war effort and conducted negotiations with outside powers

Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War)

1754-1763 global conflict between European nations, primarily Britain and France, that began in North America in 1754 and erupted in Europe in 1756. France ultimately ceded all of its North American territories to England and Spain, but the enormous cost of the war also damaged the British economy

Shays’s Rebellion

1786 rebellion by western Massachusetts farmers caused primarily by economic hardships in the aftermath of the American Revolution

Sons of Liberty

Speculators

Stamp Act

1765 act of Parliament that imposed a duty on all transactions involving paper items. The Stamp Act prompted widespread, coordinated protests and was eventually repealed

Stamp Act Congress

Statue of Religious Freedom

1786 Virginia Assembly statue that ensured the separation of church and state and largely guaranteed freedom of religion. Many other states followed Virginia’s lead

Sugar Act

1764 act of Parliament imposing an import tax on sugar, coffee, wines, and other luxury items. It sparked colonial protests that would escalate over time as new revenue measures were enacted

Tea Act

1773 act of Parliament , also known as the tea tax, that aimed to reduce the financial debts of Britain and the British East India Company by providing the company with a tea monopoly in the British American colonies. This resulted in colonial protests

Three-fifths compromise

Compromise between northern and southern delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention to count enslaved persons as three-fifths of a free person in deciding the proportion of representation in the House of Representatives and taxation by the federal government

Townshend Acts

1767 acts of Parliament that instituted an import tax on a range of items including glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea. They promoted a boycott of British goods and contributed to violence between British soldiers and colonists

Treaty of Fort Stanwix

Treaty of Greenville

1795 treaty signed following the Battle of Fallen Timbers. The treaty forced American Indians in the Northwest Territory to cede vast tracts of land to the U.S.

Treaty (Peace) of Paris

1783 treaty that formally ended the American Revolution

Tyranny

Valley Forge

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions

Resolutions passed by legislatures in Virginia and Kentucky that declared the Alien and Sedition Acts (1798) “void and of no force” in their states

Virginia Plan

Plan put forth at the beginning of the 1787 Constitutional Convention that introduced the ideas of a strong central government, a bicameral legislature, and a system of representation based on population

Virginia Resolves

Virtual representation

British claim that direct representation of colonists was unnecessary because Parliament virtually represented the interests of the colonies

Vox Populi

Whiskey Rebellion

Uprising by western Pennsylvania farmers who led protests against the excise tax on whiskey in the early 1790s

XYZ Affair