Period 3: 1754-1800

Benjamin Franklin

Proposed the Albany Plan of Union at the Albany Congress in which the colonies would establish a Grand Council to unite them but this plan was rejected; during the American Revolution, he spent his time in France trying to convince them to ally with the colonies and succeeded in convincing them after the colonies won the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, wrote Poor Richard's Almanack which became popular and widely read throughout the states (only being outsold by the Bible).

Pontiac

The Ottawa leader, led raids against the colonists in Detroit and other military forts in Virginia and Pennsylvania which led to the British Parliament establishing the Proclamation Line of 1763.

George Grenville

British Prime Minister, implemented a three-part plan to end salutary neglect in the colonies: stricter enforcement of current laws, Quartering Act of 1765, a lot more taxes.

Thomas Paine

Wrote Common Sense in 1776, a pamphlet in which Paine used common language to argue for independence from Britain and filled it with enlightenment ideas. He argued that it was common sense that such a large piece of land such as America should not be ruled by England, which was so far away.

Richard Henry Lee

A delegate from Virginia in the Second Continental Congress, made the motion for independence.

Toussaint L'Ouverture

Led the Haitian Revolution, in which Haiti won independence from France and became the first black-led independent nation in the Western Hemisphere.

Daniel Shays

An angry farmer who gathered a militia of about a thousand people in Massachusetts and started Shays' Rebellion, which showed the weakness of the Articles of Confederation due to its inability to provide a federal response to stop the rebellion.

Alexander Hamilton

One of the three writers of the Federalist Papers, Washington's Secretary of the Treasury, wrote a Financial Report with three key recommendations to fix America's economic problems but Congress only accepted the idea of combining state debts into a national debt, caused the Whiskey Rebellion after he convinced Congress to pass a tax on whiskey.

John Jay

One of the three writers of the Federalist Papers, 1st Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, negotiated Jay's Treaty with Britain.

Jay's Treaty (1794)

Agreement that provided England would evacuate a series of forts in U.S. territory along the Great Lakes; in return, the United States agreed to pay pre-Revolutionary War debts owed to Britain. The British also partially opened the West Indies to American shipping. The treaty was barely ratified in the face of strong Republican opposition.

Eli Whitney

Invented the cotton gin in 1793, which allowed for the separation of cotton seeds from fiber, creating a large demand for slaves in the South because plantations could now produce much more cotton.

Republican Motherhood

An idea after the American Revolution that said that now that America was its own democratic country, the role of women was now especially important because it was their duty to raise educated citizens to practice the principles of republicanism.

Articles of Confederation

The first governing document of the United States, ratified in 1781, provided for a very weak federal government and made it very difficult for things to happen because it was heavily influenced by state constitutions and so it failed and was replaced by the Constitution.

House of Representatives

Represented states by population, Representatives voted in by the people for two-year terms.

Senate

Represented states equally, Senators elected by state legislators for six-year terms.

President

Head of the newly-created executive branch, voted in through the electoral college, meaning they would be elected by the states where each state had electors based on their population that would vote for the president.

Federalists

Urban and commercial people who supported a strong government, led by Alexander Hamilton.

Anti-Federalists

Rural people and agriculturalists who supported state power, led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, created to protect individual rights and protect states from abuse of federal power, adopted in 1792.

Three Branches of Government

Legislative (responsible for making laws), Executive (responsible for enforcing laws), Judicial (responsible for interpreting laws).

Farewell Address

Washington's address to the United States when his presidency ended, warned against the dangers of creating factions and political parties.

Constitutional Convention

Meeting in 1787 of the elected representatives of the thirteen original states to write the Constitution of the United States.

The Virginia Plan & The New Jersey Plan

Virginia Plan—Presented by Edmund Randolph and written by James Madison

Virginia Plan—Called for bicameral legislature based on population and both the chief executive and judiciary to be chosen by legislature

New Jersey Plan—Presented by William Patterson

New Jersey Plan—Called for unicameral legislature with equal representation

Plans were united in the Great Compromise; the plans form the basis of the modern American legislative structure

Connecticut Compromise (Great Compromise)

Agreement during the Constitutional Convention that Congress should be composed of a Senate, in which States would be represented equally, and a House, in which representation would be based on a State's population.

3/5 clause

compromise between the northern states not wanting slaves counted, and southern states wanting all slaves counted, when determining a state's total population

- slaves were counted as 3/5 of a person

Federalist Papers

Written by Hamilton, Jay, & Madison to support ratification of the U.S. Constituiton

Judiciary Act of 1789

A law passed by the first Congress to establish the federal court system.

Electoral College

A group of people named by each state legislature to select the president and vice president

strict constructionist approach vs loose construction

the view that judges should decide cases strictly on the basis of the language of the laws and the Constitution

Implied things about the Constitution

Whiskey Rebellion

In 1794, farmers in Pennsylvania rebelled against Hamilton's excise tax on whiskey, and several federal officers were killed in the riots caused by their attempts to serve arrest warrants on the offenders. In October, 1794, the army, led by Washington, put down the rebellion. The incident showed that the new government under the Constitution could react swiftly and effectively to such a problem, in contrast to the inability of the government under the Articles of Confederation to deal with Shay's Rebellion.

Pinckney's Treaty (1795)

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

Washington's Farewell Address

Warned Americans not to get involved in European affairs, not to make permanent alliances, not to form political parties and to avoid sectionalism.

XYZ Affair

An insult to the American delegation when they were supposed to be meeting French foreign minister, Talleyrand, but instead they were sent 3 officials Adams called "X,Y, and Z" that demanded $250,000 as a bribe to see Talleyrand.

Alien Act and Sedition Act

passed by federalists making it harder to become citizens and to deport any immigrant deemed dangerous. the second one outlawed the writing, speaking, or publications of false, scandalous, or malicious statements against the government

Kentucky Resolutions (nullification)

These stated that a state had the right to declare a law unconstiutional, or nullify a law, within its borders. These were written by Jefferson and Madison to resist the Alien and Sedition Acts