U.S History Semester Exam Terms (Chapters 7-12)

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Battle of Bunker Hill

Fought on the outskirts of Boston, on Breed’s Hill, the battle ended in the colonial militia’s retreat, though at a heavy cost to the British.

Olive Branch Petition

Conciliatory measure adopted by the Continental Congress, professing American loyalty and seeking an end to the hostilities. King George rejected the petition and proclaimed the colonies in rebellion.

Hessians

German troops hired from their princes by George III to aid in putting down the colonial insurrection. This hardened the resolve of American colonists, who resented the use of paid foreign fighters.

Loyalists

American colonists who opposed the Revolution and maintained their loyalty to the king; sometimes referred to as “Tories.”

Treaty of Paris of 1783

Peace treaty signed by Britain and the United States that ended the Revolutionary War.

The British formally recognized American independence and ceded territory east of the Mississippi while the Americans promised to restore Loyalist property and repay debts to British creditors.

Battle of Saratoga

Decisive colonial victory in upstate New York, which helped secure French support for the Revolutionary cause.

Battle of Yorktown

Last war of the American Revolutionary War in which George Washington, with the aid of the French army, besieged Cornwallis at Yorktown, dealing a heavy blow to the British war effort and paving the way for an eventual peace.

Battle of Trenton

George Washington surprised and captured a garrison of sleeping German Hessians, raising the morale of his crestfallen army and setting the stage for his victory at Princeton a week later.

Thomas Paine

British-born pamphleteer and author of Common Sense, a fiery tract that laid out the case for American independence. Later an ardent supporter of the French Revolution, he became increasingly radical in his views, publishing the anti-clerical The Age of Reason in 1794, which cost him the support of his American allies.

Benedict Arnold

Revolutionary War general turned traitor who valiantly held off a British invasion of upstate New York at Lake Champlain but later switched sides, plotting to sell out the Continental stronghold at West Point to the redcoats. His scheme was discovered and the disgraced general fled to British lines.

Cornwallis

British general during the Revolutionary War who, having failed to crush Greene’s forces in South Carolina, retreated to Virginia, where his defeat at Yorktown marked the beginning of the end for Britain’s efforts to suppress the colonial rebellion.

Burgoyne

Also known as “Gentleman Johnny”, a British general who led an ill-fated invasion of upstate New York, suffering a crushing defeat and surrendered to the American general Horatio Gates at Saratoga.

George Rogers Clark

American frontiersman who captured a series of British forts along the Ohio River during the Revolutionary War.

Articles of Confederacy

First American constitution that established the United States as a loose confederation of states under a weak national Congress, which was not granted the power to regulate commerce or collect taxes.

Land Act of 1785

Provided for the sale of land in the Old Northwest and earmarked the proceeds toward repaying the national debt.

New world order of 1787

Created a policy for administering the Northwest Territories. It included a path to statehood and forbade the expansion of slavery into the territories. (Northwest Ordinance)

Shay’s Rebellion

Armed uprising of western Massachusetts debtors seeking lower taxes and an end to property foreclosures.

Great Compromise

Term for the measure that reconciled the New Jersey and Virginia Plans at the Constitutional Convention, giving states proportional representation in the House and equal representation in the Senate.

Federalists

Proponents of the 1787 Constitution, they favored a strong national government, arguing that the checks and balances in the new Constitution would safeguard the people’s liberties.

Civic Virtue

Willingness on the part of citizens to sacrifice personal self-interest for the public good, deemed a necessary component of a successful republic.

Disestablish

To separate an official state church from its connection with the government.

Anti Federalists

Opponents of the 1787 Constitution, they cast the document as antidemocratic, objected to the subordination of the states to the central government, and feared encroachment on individuals’ liberties in the absence of a bill of rights.

3/5 Compromise

Determined that each slave would be counted as three-fifths of a person for the purpose of apportioning taxes and representation. The compromise granted disproportionate political power to southern slave states.

Whiskey Rebellion

Uprising of whiskey distillers in southwestern Pennsylvania in opposition to an excise tax on whiskey, Washington put down the rebellion with militia drawn from several states.

Jay’s Treaty

In an effort to avoid war with Britain, the treaty included a British promise to evacuate outposts on U.S. soil and pay damages for seized American vessels, in exchange for which Jay bound the United States to repay pre-Revolutionary war debts and to abide by Britain’s restrictive trading policies toward France.

Neutrality Proclamation

Issued by George Washington, it proclaimed America’s formal neutrality in the escalating conflict between England and France, a statement that enraged pro-French Jeffersonians.

XYZ Affair

Diplomatic conflict between France and the United States when American envoys to France were asked to pay a hefty bribe for the privilege of meeting with the French foreign minister.

Quazi War

Undeclared naval conflict between the United States and its former allies, the French. Diplomatic tension led to mutual attacks on shipping, and between French and American naval vessels. The Convention of 1800 ended the brief conflict.

Little Turtle

Miami Indian chief whose warriors routed American forces in 1790 and 1791 along the Ohio frontier.

He was defeated by General Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers after which they were forced to cede vast tracts of the Old Northwest under the Treaty of Greenville.

Mad Anthony Wayne

Revolutionary War soldier and commander in chief of the U.S. Army from 1792 to 1796, he secured the Treaty of Greenville after soundly defeating the Miami Confederacy at the Battle of Fallen Timbers.

Alien Laws

Acts passed by a Federalist Congress raising the residency requirement for citizenship to fourteen years and granting the president the power to deport dangerous foreigners in times of peace.

Sedition Laws

Enacted by the Federalist Congress in an effort to clamp down on Jeffersonian opposition, the law made anyone convicted of defaming government officials or interfering with government policies liable to imprisonment and a heavy fine.

Pinckeney’s Treaty

Signed with Spain, which, fearing an Anglo-American alliance, granted Americans free navigation of the Mississippi and the disputed territory of Florida.

Revolution of 1800

Electoral victory of Democratic Republicans over the Federalists, who lost their congressional majority and the presidency. The peaceful transfer of power between rival parties solidified faith in America’s political system.

Midnight Judges

Federal justices appointed by John Adams during the last days of his presidency.

Marbury vs Madison

Supreme Court case that established the principle of “judicial review”—the idea that the Supreme Court had the final authority to determine constitutionality.

Louisiana Purchase

Acquisition of Louisiana Territory from France. The purchase more than doubled the territory of the United States, opening vast tracts for settlement.

Impressment

Act of forcibly drafting an individual into military service, employed by the British navy against American seamen in times of war against France, 1793–1815.

Embargo Act

Enacted in response to British and French mistreatment of American merchants.

The act banned the export of all goods from the United States to any foreign port.

Non Intercouse Act

Passed alongside the repeal of the Embargo Act.

It reopened trade with all but the two belligerent nations, Britain and France. The act continued Jefferson’s policy of economic coercion, still with little effect.

Macon’s Bill #2

Aimed at resuming peaceful trade with Britain and France, the act stipulated that if either Britain or France repealed its trade restrictions, the United States would reinstate the embargo against the nonrepealing nation.

Sally Henings

One of Thomas Jefferson’s slaves on his plantation in Monticello.

Aaron Burr

Revolutionary War soldier and vice president under Thomas Jefferson, famous for fatally wounding Alexander Hamilton in a duel in 1804. In 1806, he led a failed plot to separate the trans-Mississippi West from the United States. Burr fled to France, where he tried to convince Napoleon to ally with Britain against the United States.

Tecumseh

As a Shawnee warrior, he sought to establish a confederacy of Indian tribes east of the Mississippi. He opposed individual tribes selling land to the United States, arguing that the land belonged to all the native peoples. After 1811, he allied with the British, fighting fiercely against the United States until his death in 1813.

Sacajawea

Shoshone guide who led Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their exploration of the American West.

Albert Gallatin

Secretary of the Treasury from 1801 to 1813 under Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, he sought to balance the federal budget and reduce the national debt.

Peculiar Institution

Term for the institution of American slavery in the South.

Treaty of Ghent

Ended the War of 1812 in a virtual draw, restoring prewar borders but failing to address any of the grievances that first brought America into the war.

War of 1812

Fought between Britain and the United States largely over the issues of trade and impressment.

American System

Henry Clay’s three-pronged system to promote American industry. Clay advocated a strong banking system, a protective tariff, and a federally funded transportation network.

Panic of 1819

Severe financial crisis brought on primarily by the efforts of the Bank of the United States to curb overspeculation on western lands.

Missouri Compromise

Allowed Missouri to enter as a slave state preserving the balance between North and South by carving free-soil Maine out of Massachusetts and prohibiting slavery from territories acquired in the Louisiana Purchase, north of the line of 36°30’.

Loose Construction

Legal doctrine that the federal government can use powers not specifically granted or prohibited in the Constitution to carry out its constitutionally mandated responsibilities.

Monroe Doctrine

Statement warning European powers to refrain from seeking any new territories in the Americas. It was actually enforced by the British.

Henry Clay

Secretary of state and U.S. senator from Kentucky, known as the "Great Compromiser," helping to negotiate the Missouri Compromise in 1820, the Compromise Tariff of 1833, and the Compromise of 1850.

Corrupt Bargain

Alleged deal between presidential candidates John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay to throw the election, to be decided by the House of Representatives, in Adams’s favor.

Tariff of Abomination

Noteworthy for its unprecedentedly high duties on imports. Southerners opposed the tariff, arguing that it hurt southern farmers, who did not enjoy the protection of tariffs but were forced to pay higher prices for manufactures.

Spoils System

Policy of rewarding political supporters with public office, first widely employed at the federal level by Andrew Jackson. The practice was widely abused by unscrupulous office seekers, but it also helped cement party loyalty in the emerging two-party system.

Nullification Crisis

Showdown between President Andrew Jackson and the South Carolina legislature, which declared the 1832 tariff null and void in the state and threatened secession if the federal government tried to collect duties. Resolved by a compromise negotiated by Henry Clay in 1833.

Alamo

Fortress in Texas where two hundred American volunteers were slain by Santa Anna in 1836.