AP United States History Test #2 Review

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering key historical terms, concepts, legislative acts, and constitutional compromises from the pre-Revolutionary era through the presidency of John Adams based on the APUSH Test #2 Workbook KEY.

Navigation Acts

British commercial laws used prior to 1754 to profit from the American colonies by controlling colonial trade.

Salutary Neglect

British colonial policy during the first half of the 18th century characterized by lax enforcement of trade restrictions because sufficient revenue was being generated and administering distant colonies was costly.

Proclamation Line of 1763

British policy enacted after the French and Indian War that banned colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains to limit territorial expansion.

Sugar Act (1764)

British tax placed on the colonies after the French and Indian War to assist with war debt repayment and the costs of colonial administration and defense.

Stamp Act (1765)

The first internal tax levied directly on the colonists by Parliament, sparking widespread colonial resistance and boycotts until its repeal.

Townshend Act (1767)

British import duties placed on multiple goods brought into the colonies from Britain, which Parliament repealed in 1770 following the Boston Massacre.

Virtual Representation

The British doctrine asserting that American colonists were represented by Parliament because Parliament represented the interests of the entire British Empire, regardless of whether colonists elected representatives.

Colonial Boycotts

The most effective form of colonial protest against British tax policies because they inflicted significant damage on British economic interests.

Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts)

Four punitive laws passed by Britain following the Boston Tea Party to restore order, which closed the port of Boston, restructured Massachusetts governance, shielded royal officials, and expanded troop quartering.

Massachusetts Government Act

A provision of the Coercive Acts that weakened elected colonial governing bodies while strengthening appointed royal authorities.

Administration of Justice Act

A component of the Coercive Acts that protected royal officials accused of crimes by transferring their trials out of the colony.

Quartering Act

A measure under the Coercive Acts authorizing British authorities to seize private buildings to house military troops.

Common Sense

A widely circulated 1776 pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that laid out a persuasive argument in favor of American independence.

Declaration of Independence

The 1776 founding document asserting that colonial citizens possessed the right to rebel because the British government failed to protect their fundamental rights.

Articles of Confederation

The first national framework of government in the United States, creating a weak central administration that lacked the power to tax, raise an army, or mandate a national currency.

Critical Period

The era during which the United States operated under the Articles of Confederation, marked by severe war debt, inflation, and challenges governing expansive western lands.

Shays' Rebellion

An uprising in Massachusetts led by Daniel Shays where debt-burdened farmers targeted courthouses to halt property foreclosures, demonstrating the national government's inability under the Articles to raise an army.

Federalism

The constitutional principle dividing governing authority between national, state, and local governments.

Delegated Powers

Powers constitutionally assigned exclusively to the national government.

Reserved Powers

Powers preserved exclusively for state governments under the constitutional system.

Concurrent Powers

Powers shared simultaneously by both the national and state governments.

Separation of Powers

The constitutional division of responsibilities at the national level across the executive, judicial, and legislative branches to avoid monarchy.

Checks and Balances

A constitutional system where each branch of government possesses specific powers to check the power of other branches, preventing any person or small group from becoming too powerful.

Anti-Federalists

Opponents of the ratification of the Constitution who argued that it created a central government that was too strong and lacked adequate protections for individual liberties.

Federalist Papers

A series of political essays written by Federalists to defend the Constitution against Anti-Federalist arguments and encourage ratification.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the Constitution, added to secure ratification by explicitly guaranteeing protections such as speech, religion, legal searches, and court representation.

Hamilton's Financial Plan

Alexander Hamilton's five-part economic strategy consisting of a national Bank, Excise tax on whiskey, Full funding of federal bonds, Assumption of state debt, and Tariffs (BEFAT).

Strict Constructionism

A philosophy of constitutional interpretation supported by Thomas Jefferson and the Republicans holding that the federal government possesses only the powers explicitly delegated to it in the Constitution.

Loose Constructionism

A philosophy of constitutional interpretation supported by Alexander Hamilton and the Federalists holding that federal power can expand under the Elastic ("Necessary and Proper") Clause.

Great Compromise

An agreement reached at the Constitutional Convention creating a bicameral legislature with equal representation in the Senate (2 Senators per state) and population-based representation in the House.

Three-Fifths Compromise

A constitutional arrangement counting three-fifths of the enslaved population for representation in the House of Representatives, which increased the electoral votes of states with large enslaved populations.

Tenth Amendment

The constitutional amendment stating that powers not delegated to the federal government nor prohibited to the states are reserved to the states or to the people, aligning with Jeffersonian strict constructionism.

Washington's Farewell Address

George Washington's final guidance advising the nation to expand commercial connections without favoring any nation and to avoid permanent political alliances.

XYZ Affair

A diplomatic incident where three French intermediaries demanded a low-interest loan, repayment of American merchant claims, and a substantial bribe for Foreign Minister Talleyrand before meeting with American envoys.

Quasi-War

An undeclared naval conflict between the United States and France from 1798 to 1800 triggered by French trade interference and ship seizures following the XYZ Affair.

Alien Act

A Federalist statute that increased the residency time required for naturalization and authorized the president to arrest, imprison, and deport non-citizens during wartime.

Sedition Act

A Federalist law making it a crime for American citizens to print, utter, or publish any false, scandalous, and malicious writing about the government.

Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions

Resolutions authored by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts, arguing that states have the power to declare unconstitutional federal laws null and void.

Compact Theory of the Union

The legal theory asserting that the Constitution is a compact agreed to by the states, meaning states may deem federal legislation null and void if the federal government exceeds its delegated authority.

Midnight Appointments

A series of federal judicial appointments made by John Adams in the final hours of his presidency to preserve Federalist influence within the judiciary.

John Marshall

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court whose decisions established judicial review and exerted a lasting impact on expanding federal government powers.

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

A landmark Supreme Court decision that formally established judicial review as a power of the federal courts.

Jay's Treaty

A diplomatic agreement that averted war with Great Britain following British trade interference, which angered Republicans because it failed to punish British infractions.

Natural Rights

Universal and inalienable rights belonging to all people, which the American Revolution sought to protect from government violation.

Positive Rights

Rights that actively provide something to citizens to secure and promote their well-being.