US History Midterm Test Keywords (Significance not definitions)

Mercantilism

Economic theory underlying European Imperialism in the 17th century

Salem Witch Trials

Was cause by a mixture of superstition and male insecurities, leading to gender norms

Redemptioners

Indentured families who worked off debt for free passage to the colonies

Stamp Act

Repeal of this implied colonial protests may work

Committee of Correspondence

Thanks to this, colonists began identifying a common enemy

Boston Massacre

Exaggerated accounts of this helped generate colonial support of the patriots

Intolerable Acts

Designed to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Massacre

Declaration of Independence

Assertion that liberty had become a universal entitlement

Abigail Adams

Urged the president to "remember the ladies" when forming a constitutional government

Loyalists

Their presence in the colonies showed the American Revolution was also a civil war

Free Black Communities

Their presence in the colonies complicated discussions over abolition before and after the revolution

Checks and Balances

Prevented one branch of government from dominating other branches

Federalists vs Anti Federalists

constitution and big government vs local governments and no constitution

Articles of Confederation

Severely limited the power of the federal government to prevent tyranny

Bill of Rights

Compromise that secured ratification of the Constitution

Federalists and Anti-Federalists

Debate over the power of the federal government

Bank of the United States

Arguments over this foreshadowed the Civil War

Whiskey Rebellion

Revealed economic grievances that lasted beyond the Revolution

Alien and Sedition Acts

Federalist attempt to limit Republican power

Judith Sargent Murray

Early feminist who pushed for equal access to education

War of 1812

A tie here lead to American nationalism

Trail of Tears

Commemorated the removal of the Cherokee and eventually led to the shrinkage and removal of Native American land

Hartford Convention

This was the death of the federalists because they lost their political audience through this affirmation of the right of a state to interpose authority if it violated the constitution

individualism

Belief in the importance of self-reliance --> Believed government restrictions limited the nations progress

American System

Blueprint for government promoted economic development --> Started a burst of nationalism

Panic of 1819

This economic crisis was caused by the end of the 7 years war, disrupting the political calmness of previous years (end of cotton market --> end of Era of Good Feelings)

McCulloch v. Maryland

States cannot tax countries --> states cannot tax other states --> but countries can

Proslavery argument

Without slavery they believed planters would be unable to cultivate the arts, sciences, and other civilized pursuits

Harriet Tubman

A courageous person who escaped and risked her life by making 20 trips back and leading slaves to freedom

Denmark Vessey

Denmark Vesey’s conspiracy reflected the combination of American and African influences then circulating in the Atlantic world

Nat Turner’s Rebellion

This represented Southern slave owners’ worst fears// these actions are the things that slave masters feared the most

American Colonization Society

White people trying to kick Black people out of the country.

American Anti-Slavery Society

They called for an immediate end to slavery but disagreed over the role women should play in the movement.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Helped convince people to join the abolitionist movement

Gag rule

To end discussions and debates about abolition

Woman suffrage

The right of women to vote --> Origin of feminist movements

Gold rush

Agricultural development and shaped the course of California's development by spurring its economic growth and facilitating its transition to statehood

Free Soil Party

The party was largely focused on the single issue of opposing the expansion of slavery into the western territories of the United States.

Compromise of 1850

The fugitive SLave Act was amended, and California entered the Union as a free state

Fugitive Slave Act

Strengthened the previous version from 1793

Popular sovereignty

Theoretically, popular sovereignty provided politicians with a convenient way to circumvent the slavery debate, maintain party unity, and promote sectional harmony.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

The Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise, created two new territories, and allowed for popular sovereignty.

Know-Nothing Party

The Know Nothing party was a nativist political party and movement in the United States in the mid-1850s.

Dred Scott v. Sanford

The Supreme Court held that former slaves did not have standing in federal courts because they lacked U.S. citizenship, even after they were freed.

Harpers Ferry

Most famous for its role in John Brown's raid. →An attack on the federal arsenal here made avoiding war less likely

Battle of Antietam

Union victory at this event provided President Abraham Lincoln the opportunity he had wanted to announce the Emancipation Proclamation, making this one of the key turning points of the American Civil War.

Radical Republicans

They were known for their opposition to slavery, their efforts to ensure emancipation and civil rights for African Americans, and their strong opinions on post-war Reconstruction.

Emancipation Proclamation

Confirmed their insistence that the war for the Union must become a war for freedom. It added moral force to the Union cause and strengthened the Union both militarily and politically

Navajo’s Long Walk

Continued the trend of taking away land from American Indians.

Ten-percent plan of Reconstruction

Designed to quickly put the country back together again.

Sharecropping

Labor system that kept former slaves tied to land owned by others through debt.

Black Codes

Led to over 100 years of Jim Crow segregation in the South.

Reconstruction Act

outlined the terms for readmission to representation of rebel states.

Ku Klux Klan

Vigilantes who used terrorism to recreate the social order imposed by slavery.

Redeemers

Democrats who worked to bring back antebellum society in the South

Bargain of 1877

Led to Jim Crow laws

Seven Years War

The result of this European struggle eventually spilled into North America

Pontiac's Rebellion

An attempt by American Indians to drive the British out of their land

Virtual Representation

Idea that representation is linked to common interests, not to direct election

Thomas Paine's Common Sense

blamed George III for the colonies' problems and urged Americans to declare their independence

Treaty of Paris 1783

Diplomatic triumph for Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay

coverture

Gave husbands legal authority over their wives

Dispossession of Indian Lands

Showed increasing liberty for white people meant limiting freedom for American Indians

republican motherhood

Created greater social role for women

shay's rebellion

An agrarian response to the failures of the early Republic

Three Fifths Clause

Defined African-Americans as less than a white man for the purpose of representation

Virginia and Kentucky Revolutions

Early articulation of the states' rights argument

Mill Girls

Created the first union of working women in American history

Nativism

the policy of perpetuating native cultures --> early anti-immigration laws

Manifest Destiny

Saying God permits the colonization --> Encouraged imperialism

Cult of Domesticity

Put women down in submission, promoted the idea that the women's place is the home --> Against Mill Girls

Missouri Compromise

A law trying to address growing section tensions over slavery --> Worked for a balance between free and slave states

Monroe Doctrine

Closed America to future European colonization

Peculiar Institution

Another name for slavery to downplay the horrors of slavery

Temperance Movement

They said the main source of societies problems is alchohol

Transcontinental Railroad

Connecting the two American coasts made the economic export of Western resources to Eastern markets easier than ever before.

Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth
Amendments

Abolished slavery, gave citizenship to all people regardless of race, gave Black men the right to vote

Freedmans Bureau

Created to help freed Black Americans succeed in a capitalist society