Module 6 Flashcards Continued (Module 8 included)

Flashcards providing core vocabulary, definitions, key figures, and landmark events from the American Confederation era, the Constitutional Convention, early presidential administrations, and the Era of Good Feelings.

Economic Depression

A period when economic activity slows and unemployment increases, such as the downturn the United States experienced after the Revolutionary War.

Shays’s Rebellion

A 1787 uprising led by Daniel Shays where more than 1,000 angry farmers forced western Massachusetts courts to close and marched on the Springfield federal arsenal for arms and ammunition.

Manumission

The freeing of individual enslaved persons, which was encouraged by a Virginia state law passed after the Revolutionary War.

Free African Society

An organization formed in Philadelphia in 1787 to support free African Americans.

Constitutional Convention

A gathering of 55 delegates that met in Philadelphia beginning in May 1787 to address weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation and plan a new national government.

James Madison

Virginia delegate known as the “Father of the Constitution” because he authored the basic plan of government that was adopted at the Constitutional Convention.

Gouverneur Morris

A prominent delegate at the Constitutional Convention who wrote the final draft of the Constitution.

Virginia Plan

A constitutional proposal by Edmund Randolph calling for a two-house legislature with representation proportional to state population, a chief executive chosen by the legislature, and a court system.

New Jersey Plan

A constitutional proposal by William Paterson that modified the Articles of Confederation by keeping a one-house legislature with one vote per state, giving Congress taxing and trade powers, and creating a multi-person executive.

The Great Compromise

An agreement proposed by Roger Sherman creating a two-house legislature with proportional representation in the House of Representatives and two members per state in the Senate.

Three-Fifths Compromise

An agreement reached at the Constitutional Convention determining that each enslaved person would count as three-fifths of a free person for taxation and representation.

Bicameral

A legislature consisting of two houses, adopted by most early American state constitutions to divide government power.

Republic

A form of government governed by elected representatives.

Articles of Confederation

America's first constitution, adopted in 1777 and ratified in 1781, establishing a central government with limited authority while individual states retained sovereignty, freedom, and independence.

Ordinance of 1785

A Confederation Congress law dividing the Western territories into larger townships and smaller sections to be sold at auction for at least $1 an acre.

Northwest Ordinance

A 1787 law governing the Northwest Territory north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River, requiring 60,000 citizens for statehood, providing a bill of rights, and banning slavery and involuntary servitude.

Robert Morris

A Philadelphia merchant who headed the Confederation's department of finance and proposed a 5 percent import tax to help pay the national debt.

George Washington’s Farewell Address

The final address of President George Washington in which he warned the nation against the dangers of political parties.

Alexander Hamilton

A proponent of a strong central government who called for the 1787 Philadelphia convention and whose economic policies sparked early two-party rivalry against Thomas Jefferson.

Thomas Jefferson

An early national leader whose political rivalry with Alexander Hamilton helped form the two-party system and who opposed the American System for favoring wealthy New England manufacturers.

Bank of the United States

A national financial institution championed by Alexander Hamilton, and later rechartered as the Second Bank of the United States to manage currency and finance industry.

Alien and Sedition Acts

Controversial laws enacted during John Adams's presidency amid escalating partisan conflicts between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans.

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions

Political measures drafted in response to federal overreach during the Adams administration, highlighting debates over state sovereignty and constitutional limits.

Era of Good Feelings

A period during James Monroe's presidency marked by national political unity, travel throughout the nation, and the near disappearance of the Federalist Party.

Sectionalism

Loyalty to a specific geographic region rather than the nation as a whole.

Internal Improvements

Federal, state, and privately funded building projects, such as roads and canals, designed to develop the nation's transportation system.

State Sovereignty

The belief that individual states should possess power over the federal government.

John Calhoun

A South Carolina planter and congressional leader who represented Southern interests, championed state sovereignty, and opposed high protective tariffs.

Daniel Webster

A New England orator and politician representing New Hampshire and Massachusetts who favored the Tariff of 1816 and national industrial growth.

Henry Clay

A Kentucky leader and Speaker of the House who represented Western states and resolved regional conflicts through compromise, notably authoring the American System.

Missouri Compromise

An 1820 agreement admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state while banning slavery in the remaining Louisiana Territory north of 36°30’N latitude.

The American System

An 1824 economic program proposed by Henry Clay featuring protective tariffs, a national bank, and internal transportation improvements.

McCulloch v. Maryland

An 1819 Supreme Court case in which Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that Maryland lacked the constitutional power to tax the federally chartered Second Bank of the United States.

Gibbons v. Ogden

A Supreme Court ruling establishing that states cannot pass legislation that interferes with congressional authority over interstate commerce.

Rush-Bagot Treaty

An 1817 treaty between the United States and Britain limiting naval vessels on the Great Lakes and establishing disarmament along the border with British Canada.

Disarmament

The systematic removal of military weapons along a border, established along the US-Canadian boundary by the Rush-Bagot Treaty.

Convention of 1818

An agreement setting the US-British Canadian boundary of the Louisiana Territory at the 49th parallel, creating a demilitarized zone, and securing American rights to settle in the Oregon Territory.

Adams-Onís Treaty

An 1819 treaty in which Spain ceded East Florida and West Florida claims to the US in return for the US relinquishing claims to Texas and paying $5 million in American citizen damages.

Miguel Hidalgo

A Mexican priest and leader who launched an 1810 rebellion calling for racial equality and land redistribution before being captured and executed by the Spanish.

Simón Bolívar

South American leader known as the “Liberator” who led independence movements that liberated Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Bolivia, and Ecuador from Spanish rule.

José de San Martín

A revolutionary leader who spearheaded independence movements in southern South America, successfully liberating Chile and Peru from Spanish colonial rule.

Monroe Doctrine

A foreign policy statement issued on December 2, 1823, stating that the United States would oppose any new European colonization in the Americas while not interfering with existing colonies.