DE U.S. History: Units 1–4 Vocabulary Review

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key historical figures, events, policies, and concepts across Unit 1: Colonial Foundations & Early Settlement, Unit 2: The Revolutionary Era & Road to Independence, Unit 3: The New Nation & Early Republic, and Unit 4: Jacksonian Democracy & Economic Transformation.

John Winthrop

Early leader and long-time governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony; led the Puritans to New England in 1630 to establish a godly society.

House of Burgesses

Created in Virginia in 1619, it was the first representative legislative assembly in the American colonies, setting a precedent for self-government.

"City upon a Hill"

A famous phrase from John Winthrop's sermon A Model of Christian Charity, describing the Puritans' vision of creating a model Christian community for the rest of the world to look up to.

Covenant Community

A society based on a religious agreement (covenant) among its members and God, where religious rules and government were tightly intertwined (typical of Puritans).

Indentured Servitude

A labor system where individuals traded 4–7 years of unpaid labor in exchange for passage to America; it was the main source of unfree labor before tobacco planters transitioned to enslaved Africans.

Chattel Slavery

A legal system where enslaved people are bought, sold, and owned permanently as personal property, along with their descendants.

Stono Rebellion (1739)

A major armed rebellion by enslaved people in South Carolina attempting to escape to Spanish Florida; led to much harsher colonial slave codes.

Bacon's Rebellion (1676)

An uprising of disgruntled indentured servants and poor frontier farmers led by Nathaniel Bacon against Virginia's governor; accelerated Virginia's shift from indentured servitude to enslaved African labor.

Puritans

A Protestant group that wanted to "purify" the Church of England of Catholic influences; established the Massachusetts Bay Colony focused on strict religious morality.

Mercantilism

An economic theory where colonies existed solely to enrich the mother country by providing raw materials and buying manufactured goods, maintaining a favorable balance of trade.

Anne Hutchinson

A Puritan religious dissenter who challenged church leaders on their doctrine and authority; she was tried, convicted of heresy, and banished from Massachusetts.

Roger Williams

A Puritan minister who advocated for religious freedom and the total separation of church and state; banished from Massachusetts, he went on to found Rhode Island.

Stamp Act (1765)

The first direct tax levied by Parliament on British colonists (taxing paper, playing cards, legal documents); triggered widespread colonial riots and the rallying cry "No taxation without representation!"

Intolerable Acts (1774)

Also called the Coercive Acts; severe laws passed by Parliament to punish Boston for the Tea Party (closing Boston Harbor and placing Massachusetts under military rule).

Boston Tea Party (1773)

A protest organized by the Sons of Liberty where colonists disguised as Native Americans dumped British tea into Boston Harbor to protest the Tea Act monopoly.

Boston Massacre (1770)

A deadly clash between a colonial mob and British soldiers in Boston; 5 colonists died, and the event was heavily used as anti-British propaganda.

French & Indian War (1754–1763)

A war between Great Britain and France (with Native American allies) over the Ohio River Valley; Britain won but amassed massive debt, ending its policy of neglect and leading to colonial taxation.

Sons of Liberty / Daughters of Liberty

Patriot political groups that organized protests and boycotts against British taxes—the Sons used direct action (and occasional violence), while the Daughters produced home-spun goods to support economic boycotts.

Great Awakening

A series of emotional Protestant religious revivals in the 1730s–1740s that unified the colonies and encouraged colonists to question traditional religious authority.

Thomas Paine's Common Sense (1776)

A wildly popular pamphlet written in plain language that argued it was absurd for an island to rule a continent, convincing thousands of colonists to favor independence.

Proclamation of 1763

A British order forbidding colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains to prevent conflict with Native Americans; deeply angered land-hungry colonists.

Declaration of Independence (1776)

Document written primarily by Thomas Jefferson formally breaking ties with Great Britain, asserting natural rights ("life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness") and listing grievances against King George III.

Olive Branch Petition (1775)

A final attempt by the Second Continental Congress to make peace with King George III and avoid full-scale war; the King refused to read it and declared the colonies in rebellion.

Salutary Neglect

The unwritten British policy before 1763 of weakly enforcing trade laws in the colonies, allowing them to develop economic independence and self-rule.

Dunmore's Proclamation (1775)

A decree issued by Virginia's royal governor offering freedom to any enslaved person who escaped their Patriot masters to fight for the British Army.

Articles of Confederation

America's first national government Constitution; intentionally kept the central government weak (no power to tax, no executive branch), leading to economic instability and military weakness.

Federalists

Supporters of the new U.S. Constitution who favored a strong central government, a federal bank, and a diversified economy (led by Alexander Hamilton and James Madison).

Anti-Federalists

Opponents of the Constitution who feared a strong central government would destroy individual liberties and state sovereignty; demanded a Bill of Rights before ratifying.

Shays's Rebellion (1786–1787)

An uprising of impoverished Massachusetts farmers struggling with war debt and land foreclosures; exposed the extreme weakness of the Articles of Confederation and convinced leaders to create a stronger government.

Three-Fifths Compromise

An agreement at the Constitutional Convention counting three out of every five enslaved individuals toward a state's population for both federal representation and taxation.

Bill of Rights

The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, added in 1791 to guarantee individual liberties (speech, religion, trial by jury) and satisfy Anti-Federalist concerns.

Whiskey Rebellion (1794)

A western Pennsylvania farmer revolt against a federal tax on whiskey; President George Washington personally led the militia to crush it, proving the power and authority of the new federal government.

Great Compromise

Solved the dispute over congressional representation by creating a bicameral legislature: the Senate (equal representation per state) and the House of Representatives (representation based on population).

Republican Motherhood

The political belief after the Revolution that women played an essential civic role by raising educated, virtuous sons to be good citizens of the new Republic.

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Landmark Supreme Court ruling under Chief Justice John Marshall that established the principle of judicial review (the power of the Supreme Court to declare laws unconstitutional).

Impressment

The forced recruitment of American sailors into the British Royal Navy; a major cause of the War of 1812.

XYZ Affair (1797)

A diplomatic scandal where French agents demanded bribes from American diplomats before negotiating, sparking intense anti-French sentiment and an undeclared naval conflict (the Quasi-War).

Jay's Treaty (1794)

An agreement between the U.S. and Britain intended to resolve leftover Revolutionary War friction; succeeded in keeping peace but enraged Democratic-Republicans who felt it surrendered too much to Britain.

War of 1812

Fought between the U.S. and Great Britain over impressment, trade restrictions, and British support for Native American resistance on the frontier; resulted in a surge of American nationalism and ended the Federalist Party.

First Party System (Hamilton vs. Jefferson)

The first political alignment: Hamilton's Federalists (strong national government, loose construction, urban/manufacturing) vs. Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans (state power, strict construction, agrarian economy).

Cotton Gin / Eli Whitney (1793)

Invented by Eli Whitney to easily clean seeds from raw cotton; dramatically increased cotton profitability and revitalized the institution of chattel slavery across the American South.

The American System

An economic program championed by Henry Clay featuring three main parts: a strong national bank, protective tariffs, and federally funded internal improvements (roads, canals).

Henry Clay & The Whigs

Henry Clay was a leading statesman who helped form the Whig Party—a political party organized in opposition to Andrew Jackson's strong executive powers, favoring the American System and federal economic growth.

The Indian Removal Act (1830)

Law passed under Andrew Jackson authorizing the forced relocation of Native American tribes in the Southeast to lands west of the Mississippi River.

The Trail of Tears

The forced, brutal march of over 15,000 Cherokee (and other tribes) to present-day Oklahoma in 1838–1839; resulted in the deaths of over 4,000 Native Americans from exposure, disease, and starvation.

Election of 1828

Andrew Jackson defeated John Quincy Adams in a bitter campaign marked by mudslinging; marked the rise of "Jacksonian Democracy," expanding voting rights to nearly all white men (universal white male suffrage).

John C. Calhoun

Jackson's Vice President and a prominent South Carolina senator; champion of states' rights, nullification, and the defense of slavery as a "positive good."

Tariff Crisis / Nullification (1832)

Conflict caused when South Carolina declared the federal Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 unconstitutional ("null and void"), asserting states had the right to nullify federal laws; nearly caused military conflict before a compromise tariff was reached.

Missouri Compromise (1820)

Brokered by Henry Clay to maintain the free-state/slave-state balance: admitted Missouri as a slave state, Maine as a free state, and banned slavery in the Louisiana Territory north of the $36^\circ 30'$ latitude line.

Lowell Mills / Mill Girls

Early 19th-century textile mills in Massachusetts that relied heavily on young, unmarried farm women for labor, giving them economic independence but exposing them to long hours and difficult working conditions.

Market Revolution

The dramatic transformation of the U.S. economy in the early 1800s driven by new transportation (canals, railroads) and industrial technologies, shifting America from local/subsistence farming to national commercial markets.

Mechanical Reaper & Steel Plow

Agricultural inventions (Cyrus McCormick's reaper, John Deere's plow) that revolutionized Midwestern farming, allowing farmers to cultivate vast fields of grain quickly with less labor.

Erie Canal (1825)

A major artificial waterway connecting the Great Lakes to the Hudson River/Atlantic Ocean; drastically lowered shipping costs, sparked a canal boom, and transformed New York City into the nation's dominant economic port.

Spoils System / Patronage

The practice popularized by Andrew Jackson of firing political opponents and rewarding political supporters with government jobs upon winning an election.