Early American History: From the French and Indian War Through the Early Federal Period

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards reviewing the French and Indian War, the causes and course of the American Revolution, the Articles of Confederation, the drafting of the U.S. Constitution, and the Early Federal Period under Washington and Adams.

French and Indian War

The North American theater of the Seven Years' War fought between Great Britain and France (along with Native American allies) for control of the Ohio and Northwest territories.

Albany Plan of Union

A 1754 proposal drafted by Benjamin Franklin at the Albany Congress to unite the 13 colonies under a single colonial government for mutual defense, drawing inspiration from the Iroquois Confederacy.

Treaty of Paris (1763)

The treaty ending the Seven Years' War, in which France surrendered Canada and eastern Louisiana to Great Britain, and Spain ceded Florida to Britain in exchange for western Louisiana.

Proclamation of 1763

A British royal order issued after the French and Indian War designating land west of the Appalachian Mountains as Native American territory to avoid colonial-native conflict.

Sugar Act

A 1764 British law that lowered the tax on French colonial molasses while strengthening smuggling enforcement to encourage legal importation and raise revenue.

The Stamp Act

A 1765 British parliamentary act that imposed a direct tax on colonial paper goods (such as legal documents, newspapers, and playing cards), evidenced by an official stamp.

The Declaratory Act

A 1766 act passed by Parliament upon the repeal of the Stamp Act, affirming Parliament's full legal authority to make laws binding the American colonies.

Townshend Acts

Parliamentary measures proposed by Charles Townshend that taxed colonial imports of glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea.

Boston Massacre

A March 1770 incident in which British soldiers fired into a crowd of Boston colonists who had surrounded and harassed them, resulting in eleven casualties and five deaths, including Crispus Attucks.

Tea Act

A 1773 act of Parliament granting the British East India Company the exclusive right to import tea into the colonies and lowering its duties, cutting colonial merchants out of the trade.

Intolerable Acts

The colonial term for Parliament's 1774 Coercive Acts, passed to punish Massachusetts by closing Boston Harbor, limiting town meetings, housing soldiers via an updated Quartering Act, and installing General Thomas Gage as governor.

First Continental Congress

A 1774 assembly of colonial delegates in Philadelphia (representing all colonies except Georgia) that drafted the Declarations and Resolves and organized unified colonial opposition to the Intolerable Acts.

Minute Men

Colonial militia units organized in Massachusetts that trained to assemble, mobilize, and engage in military operations rapidly.

Second Continental Congress

The legislative body meeting in Philadelphia that assumed responsibilities of a national wartime government by establishing the Continental Army, appointing George Washington commander, issuing paper money, and appointing diplomatic committees.

Olive Branch Petition

A final appeal sent in 1775 by the Second Continental Congress to King George III seeking redress of grievances to avert war, which the King ignored before declaring the colonies in open rebellion.

Battle of Bunker Hill

A June 1775 engagement primarily fought on Breed's Hill near Boston; the colonists inflicted over $1{,}000$ British casualties before retreating due to exhausted gunpowder supplies.

Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation

A 1775 proclamation by the royal governor of Virginia offering freedom to enslaved African Americans who escaped their masters and joined the British armed forces.

Common Sense

A January 1776 political pamphlet authored by Thomas Paine arguing against monarchy and promoting complete American independence and a representative democratic republic.

Declaration of Independence

The formal document drafted by Thomas Jefferson and adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, proclaiming the colonies' separation from Great Britain based on natural rights and consent of the governed.

Battle of Trenton

A surprise offensive following George Washington's Christmas Eve 1776 crossing of the Delaware River, resulting in the defeat, death of 22, and capture of 896 Hessian mercenaries.

Battle of Saratoga

A fall 1777 military victory in New York that marked the turning point of the Revolutionary War and convinced France to enter an open alliance with the United States in 1778.

Battle of Yorktown

The 1781 siege in Virginia where combined American and French forces under Washington forced British General Lord Charles Cornwallis to surrender, effectively deciding the Revolutionary War.

Treaty of Paris (1783)

The peace treaty ending the Revolutionary War, recognizing United States independence with boundaries at the Mississippi River to the west, the Great Lakes to the north, and Spanish Florida to the south.

Articles of Confederation

The first governing framework of the United States, establishing a loose confederation of independent states with a unicameral Congress lacking powers to tax or regulate commerce.

Land Ordinance of 1785

A confederation law establishing a systematic method for surveying western lands gained from the British and dividing them into 640-acre lots for purchase.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Legislation establishing an orderly process for territories to attain statehood on equal footing with existing states, while prohibiting slavery and guaranteeing civil liberties in the Northwest Territory.

Shays’ Rebellion

A 1786–1787 armed revolt led by Daniel Shays and 1,200 indebted Massachusetts farmers attempting to shut down foreclosure courts and capture the federal arsenal in Springfield.

Virginia Plan

James Madison's proposal at the Constitutional Convention advocating a strong national government with a bicameral legislature where representation was apportioned according to population.

New Jersey Plan

William Paterson's plan introduced at the Constitutional Convention proposing a unicameral legislature where each state had an equal single vote, protecting small-state influence.

The Great Compromise

Roger Sherman's compromise establishing a bicameral Congress: representation based on population in the House of Representatives and equal representation (two senators per state) in the Senate.

Three-Fifths Clause

A constitutional agreement specifying that three-fifths of a state's enslaved population would be counted toward both representation in the House of Representatives and federal taxation.

Federalism

The constitutional division of sovereign power between the central national government (delegated/enumerated powers) and state governments (reserved powers).

Elastic Clause

The constitutional provision empowering Congress to pass any laws deemed 'necessary and proper' to carry out its specifically enumerated powers.

Separation of Powers

The constitutional principle, influenced by Baron de Montesquieu, distributing governmental authority across three independent branches: legislative, executive, and judicial.

Checks and Balances

A structural mechanism within the Constitution allowing each branch of the federal government to limit, review, or restrain the exercise of authority by the other two branches.

Electoral College

The system created to elect the president and vice president, where each state selects electors equal to the combined number of its representatives and senators.

Federalists (Constitutional)

Proponents of ratifying the Constitution who advocated for a strong central government to maintain national order and address the economic and defense weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.

Anti-Federalists

Opponents of the Constitution who feared an overly centralized national government would infringe upon state autonomy and personal liberties, insisting on the inclusion of a bill of rights.

The Federalist Papers

A collection of 85 essays published by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay to analyze the Constitution and persuade citizens to support its ratification.

The Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1791, designed to protect fundamental individual freedoms and legal protections against federal power.

The Cabinet

An advisory council composed of the heads of executive departments (State, War, Treasury) and the Attorney General, established as a precedent by George Washington.

Unwritten Constitution

Fundamental practices, traditions, and institutions of the federal government that have become permanent precedents despite not being explicitly authorized in the written Constitution.

Bank of the United States

A central bank proposed by Alexander Hamilton and funded jointly by the government and private investors to hold tax revenues, issue sound paper currency, and extend public credit.

Democratic-Republican Party

A political party organized by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison that favored strong state governments, an agricultural economy, and a strict interpretation of the Constitution.

Whiskey Rebellion

A 1794 insurrection by western Pennsylvania farmers protesting Hamilton's excise tax on whiskey, which was suppressed after George Washington and Hamilton led a federalized militia force to disperse the rebels.

Battle of Fallen Timbers

A 1794 clash in Ohio where U.S. troops led by General Anthony Wayne decisively defeated the Miami Confederacy after British forces declined to assist fleeing Native warriors.

Treaty of Greenville

A 1795 agreement in which the Miami Confederacy relinquished most lands in Ohio in exchange for $20{,}000$ in goods, a $9{,}000$ annual stipend, and retention of hunting rights.

Jay’s Treaty

A 1794 treaty negotiated by Chief Justice John Jay in which the British promised to abandon frontier outposts in the Northwest and compensate captured ships, but avoided commitments regarding maritime impressment.

Pinckney’s Treaty

A 1795 agreement between Spain and the United States recognizing the 31st parallel border, granting U.S. navigation rights on the Mississippi River, and allowing American merchants right of deposit in New Orleans.

Washington’s Farewell Address

An address published by George Washington in 1796 setting a two-term presidential precedent and advising the American nation to maintain foreign neutrality and avoid permanent alliances.

XYZ Affair

A 1797–1798 foreign crisis in which three French emissaries (termed X, Y, and Z by President Adams) demanded a $250{,}000$ bribe before allowing American negotiators to meet with Foreign Minister Talleyrand.

Quasi-War

An undeclared maritime war from 1798 to 1800 fought between the United States and France following American outrage over French ship seizures and the XYZ Affair.

Alien and Sedition Acts

Four 1798 Federalist laws that extended naturalization residency from 5 to 14 years, empowered the president to jail or deport aliens, and imposed penalties on speech or publishing critical of the government.

Nullification

The constitutional doctrine advanced in the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions arguing that individual states retain the sovereign right to declare void federal laws they judge unconstitutional.

Convention of 1800

A diplomatic treaty negotiated by President John Adams with Napoleon Bonaparte that ended the Quasi-War, dissolved the 1778 Franco-American military treaty, and required the U.S. to pay its own shippers' damages.