APUSH key terms quiz 9/7/2023

The Articles of Confederation

The first constitution on the US that strongly abided the states rights. Replaces by the constitution following shays rebellion.

Land Ordinance of 1785

Congress established a policy for surveying ans selling western lands. The policy set aside one square mile section of land in each 36 square mile township for public education.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Rules for creating new states. The northwest ordinance granted limited self government to the developing territory and banned slavery in the region.

Daniel Shays

A Massachusetts farmer and revolutionary veteran who led other farmers in an uprising against high state taxes

Shay’s Rebellion

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An insurrection in Massachusetts (1786–1787) over oppressive taxes and debt collectors. Led by Daniel Shays. It helped spur the Constitutional Convention.

James Madison

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Founding Father from Virginia. Known as the “Father of the Constitution” for his role in drafting it and the Bill of Rights. Contributed to the Federalist Papers. Co-founded the Democratic-Republican Party.

Alexander Hamilton

Founding Father and co-author of the Federalist Papers. As the first Secretary of the Treasury, he set out to repair the nation’s credit and overall financial health. Favored a strong executive, strong military, and political centralization.

Constitutional Convention

A meeting that took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. Ostensibly called to amend the Articles of Confederation, the majority of the delegates arrived with the intention to simply draft a new constitution, one which is still in use to the modern-day.

Virginia Plan

A plan that favored larger states;  It called for representation in both legislative houses to be based solely on population

New Jersey Plan

A plan that favored smaller states; It called for equal representation in the legislative branch, regardless of the number of citizens of a state, in one legislative body

Connecticut Compromise

Proposed by Roger Sherman, It provided for a bicameral (two house) congress, that membership in one branch of the legislature be based on state population, and the other branch (the Senate) have equal representation for all states, with each state having one vote.

Electoral College

A compromise at the Constitutional Convention regarding how to elect the president. Electors cast votes as representatives of their states, which delegates believed would protect the election process from corruption and the influence of factions (political parties).

Three-Fifths Compromise

Counted each enslaved individual as 3/5s of a person for the purposes of determining a state’s level of taxation and representation

Ratification

The act of giving official certification to a law or treaty. In this period, it often refers to the process of ratifying the U.S. Constitution. Approval from at least nine states was required to ratify the new constitution, an infringement on state sovereignty as seen by the Anti-Federalists

Federalists

Supported an orderly, efficient central government that could protect their economic status; these well-organized leaders often wielded significant political control. Members included George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton. An early political party.

Anti Federalists

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A post-revolutionary political faction that were wary of centralization and infringements upon individual liberties, especially when it came to taxation. Their criticism spurred the creation of the Bill of Rights, and they would go on to contribute to the formation of the Democratic-Republicans.

Federalist Papers

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A collection of letters written in the late 1780s urging ratification of the Constitution. Authors include Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay.

Executive departments

The (originally) four departments of the executive branch that Washington organized to help govern the new nation. The first four were war, state, treasury, and attorney general.

Cabinet

A group of advisers with whom the president met (meets) regularly to discuss major policy issues. George Washington created the first cabinet.

Henry Know

The first secretary of war

Thomas Jefferson

The first secretary of state. Jefferson was the head of the Democratic-Republican party and generally pursued policies contrary to Hamilton. Jefferson pursued pro-agriculture policies and favored France in the conflict between Britain and France. He would later win election to the presidency in 1800

Edmund Randolph

The first attorney general

Supreme Court

The highest court in the land and the only court mentioned in the Constitution, Article III

Federal Courts

The courts subordinate to the supreme court created by Congress in the Federal Judiciary Act of 1789.

Judiciary Act of 1789

A law that created the federal court system, including the Supreme Court. The act established a Supreme Court with one chief justice and five associate justices.

National Debt

The debt incurred by the national government, in this case, during the American Revolution. The debt was largely to foreign nations, especially the Netherlands and France, and was a huge problem in the early United States.

National Bank

The national bank was one of the biggest controversies of the early American republic. Hamilton wished to create a national bank in order to assume states’ debts from the Revolution and build the new nation’s credit by paying it back through a central bank. Antifederalists and later Democratic-Republicans argued against the bank’s creation, saying that Congress wasn’t given the power to create the bank in the Constitution. Federalists, especially northern merchants, who would gain from Hamilton’s financial plan, supported the bank.

French Revolution

One of the most important events in modern world history, the French Revolution broke out just as Washington’s presidency was beginning. The revolution began a series of wars in Europe that would last from 1792-1815. Washington’s entire presidency, as well as that of his successor, John Adams, would be taken up with the question of whether to support France or France’s enemies in the wars.

Proclamation of Neutrality

One of the major controversies surrounding Washington’s presidency was the ongoing war between Britain and France in Europe. Both political parties took sides - the Federalists with Britain, the Democratic-Republicans with France. Ultimately, Washington issued a proclamation of neutrality, refraining from taking sides in the war. Jefferson resigned from Washington’s cabinet in protest.

Citizen Genet

Genet was the French foreign minister to the US and caused huge problems for Washington while trying to appeal directly to the people for Washington to support France. Genet broke many rules of diplomacy and ultimately was recalled to France. Fearing for his life, Genet remained in the United States.

Jay Treaty

A controversial treaty signed with Great Britain that removed British outposts from the Great Lakes region, but did not end “impressment,” or the seizing of American sailors by British ships. Narrowly passed in the Senate, it was very unpopular with Democratic-Republicans, but maintained neutrality in the ongoing European wars.

Pinckney’s Treaty

A treaty with Spain that granted the US access to the Mississippi River and the port of New Orleans and granted the US right of deposit. The northern border of Spanish Florida was also set at the 31st parallel.

Battle of Fallen Timbers

A battle fought in northwestern Ohio in 1794 between American forces and the Northwest Confederacy of Native Americans. The US won and later signed the Treaty of Greenville, in which Native Americans surrendered their claims to the Ohio territory.

Treaty of Greenville

The treaty signed between the US and the Northwest Confederacy of Native tribes granting the US settlement rights to the Ohio territory.

Whiskey Rebellion

An uprising of farmers in western Pennsylvania against Hamilton’s excise tax on whiskey to raise revenue for the government. Rather than pay the tax, they attacked revenue collectors. Washington sent 15,000 militia to Pennsylvania to defeat the rebellion. It was an early sign that the new government, unlike the Articles of Confederation, could put down internal dissent.

Public Land Act

A 1796 law passed by Congress that established the rules and procedures for dividing and selling federal land. Three new states were created under this law in the 1790s - Vermont (1791, Kentucky (1792), and Tennessee (1796).

Federalist Party

Created out of the old Federalist group during the ratification debate, this is one of the first two political parties in the United States. In general, Federalists supported a strong national government and Hamilton’s financial policies. They also supported an alliance with Britain in the war between Britain and France. Typically, Federalists were well-to-do or lived in more urban areas. 

Democratic-Republican Party

Founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. This party arose in opposition to Federalist policies in the 1790s. In general, they supported a weaker national government and were opposed to Hamilton’s policies. They supported a strict interpretation of the Constitution and were pro-French. Typically, Democratic-Republicans were a little poorer than their Federalist counterparts and came from Southern and western states.

Federalist era

The 1790s were the era during which Federalist policies dominated.

John Adams

A lawyer from Massachusetts and prominent Federalist who won election to the presidency in 1796. 

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XYZ Affair

A diplomatic controversy between France and the United States. The French had been seizing American shipping as part of their ongoing wars in Europe. When President Adams sent diplomats to France to negotiate, the French agents asked for a bribe. The scandal led to anti-French sentiment and an undeclared naval war called the Quasi-War between the US and France.

Alien and Sedition Acts

Acts passed during the Quasi-War which tightened restrictions on immigration and punished speaking out against the government. Wildly unpopular with Democratic-Republicans, who considered the Alien and Sedition Acts violations of the individual rights outlined in the Bill of Rights.

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Kentucky and Virginia Revolutions

Resolutions written by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison which challenged the federal government’s enactment of the Alien and Sedition Acts. These two resolutions created the theory of nullification, which argued that states could cancel a federal law if the state deemed it unconstitutional.

Daniel Boone

A frontiersman who blazed the Appalachian Trail and established white settlement west of the Appalachians, especially in Kentucky.

Eli Whitney

An inventor who invented the cotton gin in 1793.

Cotton gin

An invention that separated seeds from cotton. This machine led to the explosion in popularity of cotton as a cash crop in the south and west, further settlement on traditionally Native lands by white settlers, and a growth in the number of slaves in the south.