American, French, and Haitian Revolutions Practice Flashcards

Flashcards covering key terms and events of the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions including major figures, legislative acts, and pivotal battles.

The Trail of Tears

The forced displacement of Native Americans from the Southeast US by the US government in the $1830s$, resulting in thousands of deaths from hunger, cold, and diseases.

Melting pot

A term describing many different things mixing together in one place, used in the context of the birth of America.

Stamp act

A form of heavy taxation imposed on the colonies by Britain due to debt from the Seven Years' War with France.

Boston tea party

A protest in December, $1973$, where colonies dumped $342$ chests of tea into the Boston Harbor.

Declaration of Independence

A document published in $1776$, authored by Thomas Jefferson while the war was still unfinished.

Battle of Saratoga

A battle in $1777$ that led to the French joining the American Revolution.

Treaty of Paris

The agreement signed in $1783$ that concluded the American Revolution.

Constitution of 1787

Established a federal system with a separation of power between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches.

Active citizens

Individuals who owned property and held the right to vote during the French political divisions.

Passive citizens

Poor individuals who had no rights to vote.

Civil constitution of the Clergy

A $1790$ reform that placed the church under state control, leading to opposition by refractory priests.

Jacobins

Radical (extremist) revolutionaries representing the urban poor who wanted a strong central government and the death of the king.

Girondins

Moderate revolutionaries from the wealthier class who preferred gradual changes and the king to be exiled or imprisoned.

Bourgeoisie

The educated middle-class people who were primary revolutionaries during the French Revolution.

Sans-culottes

Urban workers and artisans who participated in the revolution.

Domino effect

The fear among foreign monarchs that the revolution in France would inspire their own citizens to revolt.

Storming of the Tuileries Palace

An event on August $10$, $1792$, where angry citizens and national guards arrested royal families due to rumors the king was trying to flee.

The Terror

A radical stage of the revolution ($1793-1794$) beginning with the decapitation of King Louis the $16th$.

Vendee Revolt

A counter-revolutionary movement by peasants, nobles, and clergy who supported the king.

Committee of Public Safety

A body that directed the war, controlled the government, and oversaw revolutionary justice during the Terror.

Revolutionary tribunal

Special courts that judged those identified as enemies of the revolution.

Law of suspects

A September $1793$ law that allowed for people to be accused of being enemies of the revolution with little to no evidence.

Thermidorian reaction

The period in mid-$1794$ when Robespierre was overthrown and executed on $9$ thermidors, leading to the end of the Terror.

The Directory

A government system from $1795-1799$ that aimed to prevent both dictatorship from above and revolution from below.

Coup of 18 Brumaire

The event in which Napoleon abolished the Directory and formed the Consulate with himself as the first Consul.

Plebiscites

Votes used by Napoleon to maintain the appearance of democracy while centralizing power.

Prefects

Individuals introduced by Napoleon to centralize administrative power over education, police, and courts.

Code Napoleon

The $1804$ Civil Code that ensured legal equality and property rights but left women legally subordinate to men.

Continental system

An $1806$ blockade aimed at weakening Britain's economy that backfired by damaging other European economies.

Toussaint Louverture

A formerly enslaved man who learned to read and write, eventually becoming the military leader of the Haitian slave revolt.

Yellow fever

A disease that affected French troops during the expedition to Saint-Domingue, aiding the resistance of the enslaved.

Haiti Independence

Declared in $1804$, making it the first independent Black-majority state and the second free nation state in the Americas.