What?, American Foundations Exam 2

What was the Stamp Act?

A British tax on printed materials such as newspapers and legal documents.

What was the Boston Tea Party?

A protest where colonists dumped British East India Company tea into Boston Harbor.

What were the Intolerable Acts?

British laws that punished Massachusetts after the Boston Tea Party by closing Boston’s port and limiting self-government.

What was the First Continental Congress?

A meeting of delegates from twelve colonies to coordinate resistance to British policies.

What was Common Sense?

A pamphlet by Thomas Paine that argued for American independence and criticized hereditary monarchy.

What was the Declaration of Independence?

A document that announced the colonies’ separation from Britain and explained why they were declaring independence.

What was the Battle of Saratoga?

An American victory in the Revolutionary War that forced a British army to surrender.

What was the Battle of Yorktown?

A siege where American and French forces surrounded a British army and forced it to surrender.

What were Loyalists?

American colonists who remained loyal to Britain and opposed independence.

What was northern gradual emancipation?

State laws that ended slavery over time, often requiring children born to enslaved mothers to serve until a certain age before gaining freedom.

What were the Articles of Confederation?

The first U.S. constitution. It gave each state one vote in Congress and left most power with the states.

What was the Great Compromise?

An agreement that based House representation on population and gave each state two senators.

What was the Three-Fifths Clause?

A constitutional rule that counted three-fifths of the enslaved population when determining representation in the House and direct taxes.

What were Federalists and Anti-Federalists?

Federalists supported adopting the Constitution. Anti-Federalists opposed it because they feared a stronger national government and wanted explicit protections for rights.

What was the Bill of Rights?

The first ten amendments to the Constitution, which protect rights such as freedom of speech and religion.

What was the disagreement between Hamilton and Jefferson?

Hamilton favored a strong federal government, a national bank, and commerce. Jefferson favored limited federal power and an economy based on farming.

What were the Alien and Sedition Acts?

Federal laws that expanded government power over noncitizens and made certain criticism of the government a crime.

What was Marbury v. Madison?

A Supreme Court case that established judicial review, the Court’s power to strike down laws that violate the Constitution.

What was the Louisiana Purchase?

The U.S. purchase of a large territory from France that roughly doubled the size of the country.

What was McCulloch v. Maryland?

A Supreme Court case that ruled Congress could create a national bank and Maryland could not tax it.

What was the cotton gin?

A machine that quickly removed seeds from cotton fibers.

What was the Missouri Compromise?

An agreement that paired Missouri as a slave state with Maine as a free state and barred slavery north of 36°30′ in the remaining Louisiana Purchase territory, except Missouri.

What were the Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears?

The act authorized the federal government to arrange the relocation of Native nations west of the Mississippi. The Trail of Tears was the forced removal of the Cherokee to Indian Territory.

What was paternalism in the context of slavery?

The belief used by slaveholders to justify slavery by claiming they cared for enslaved people and that those people depended on them.

What was Nat Turner’s Rebellion?

An uprising against slavery in Virginia led by Nat Turner, an enslaved preacher.