Early American History: Key Terms and Concepts

Ninety vocabulary-style flashcards covering major events, people, laws, and concepts from Early American colonial history through Reconstruction.

Pequot War

1636–1637 conflict in New England that ended with English colonists and their Native allies massacring the Pequot people.

Maryland Act of Toleration (1648)

Colonial law granting limited religious freedom to Trinitarian Christians, especially Catholics and Protestants, in Maryland.

Rice (Carolina Gold)

Labor-intensive cash crop grown in South Carolina’s swampy lowlands, driving demand for enslaved labor.

Scots-Irish

Protestant settlers from Ulster who migrated to rural middle and southern colonies, noted for their frontier culture and distrust of English authority.

Roanoke "Lost Colony"

1587 English settlement on North Carolina’s coast whose inhabitants mysteriously disappeared by 1590.

Puritans

Calvinist English Protestants who founded Massachusetts Bay Colony; emphasized literacy and religious conformity but restricted women’s political roles.

Tobacco

Cash crop promoted by John Rolfe at Jamestown; became Virginia’s economic mainstay.

Maroon Communities

Settlements of escaped slaves who lived independently in remote areas, notably in Georgia and Spanish Florida.

Halfway Covenant (1662)

Puritan policy allowing baptism of children whose parents had been baptized, granting partial church membership.

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire (1530s) in the Andes.

Georgia Colony

Founded 1732 as a debtor haven and buffer against Spanish Florida; last of the original thirteen English colonies.

Deism

18th-century belief that God created the universe but allows it to operate through natural laws without continual divine intervention.

First Great Awakening

1730s-1740s Protestant revival influenced by German Pietism; emphasized emotional conversion experiences.

William Pitt

British statesman who directed wartime strategy during the French and Indian War, leading to British victory.

Amerindian

Term referring to all Indigenous peoples of the Americas prior to European colonization.

General Edward Braddock

British commander defeated in 1755 near Fort Duquesne; alienated potential Native allies.

Charles Chauncy

New England clergyman who criticized the emotional revivalism of the Great Awakening.

Middle Passage

Trans-Atlantic voyage that transported enslaved Africans to the Americas under brutal conditions.

Peter Stuyvesant

Last Dutch governor of New Netherland, surrendered colony to England in 1664.

Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)

Agreement dividing newly discovered lands outside Europe between Spain (west) and Portugal (east, including Brazil).

Shays’ Rebellion (1786–1787)

Massachusetts uprising by indebted farmers protesting aggressive debt collection; exposed weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.

Articles of Confederation

First U.S. national government (ratified 1781) that could wage war and sign treaties but lacked power to tax or create federal courts.

Northwest Ordinance (1787)

Law organizing Northwest Territory; set statehood process and banned slavery north of the Ohio River.

James Otis

Boston lawyer who coined “taxation without representation” in 1764 pamphlet The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved.

Common Sense

1776 pamphlet by Thomas Paine urging American independence from Britain.

Lord Dunmore’s Ethiopian Regiment

Unit of formerly enslaved Africans who fought for Britain in exchange for promises of freedom during the American Revolution.

Montesquieu

French Enlightenment thinker whose ideas on separation of powers influenced U.S. constitutional design.

Daniel Boone

Frontiersman who led settlers into Kentucky and fought pro-British Shawnee during Lord Dunmore’s War.

Sedition Act (1798)

Federalist law that criminalized criticism of the U.S. government; seen by Republicans as violating free speech.

Judicial Review

Power of courts (established in Marbury v. Madison, 1803) to declare laws unconstitutional.

Jay’s Treaty (1794)

Agreement with Britain that resolved lingering issues from the Revolution and averted war, though unpopular in U.S.

Virginia Dynasty

Consecutive presidencies of Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe (1801-1825), all Virginians and Democratic-Republicans.

Federalist Party

Early U.S. party favoring strong central government, commercial interests, and British ties; supported national bank.

Democratic-Republican Party

Jefferson-Madison party advocating states’ rights, agrarianism, and a strict reading of the Constitution.

New Jersey Plan

Constitutional proposal by William Paterson favoring equal state representation, benefiting smaller states.

Barbary States

North African polities (e.g., Tripoli, Derna) whose corsairs seized ships, leading to U.S. naval conflicts (1801-1805).

Saint-Domingue

French Caribbean colony (modern Haiti) that experienced a massive slave revolt in 1791.

Ratification

Formal approval process by which states adopted the U.S. Constitution in 1787-1788.

War Hawks

Young congressmen like Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun who pushed for war with Britain in 1812.

Seminoles

Native people of Florida who resisted U.S. removal efforts; some formed alliances with maroon communities.

American System

Henry Clay’s program of protective tariffs, a national bank, and internal improvements (roads, canals).

Tariff

Tax on imported goods, used to protect domestic industries or raise revenue.

Liberia

West African colony established by the American Colonization Society (1820) for resettling free African Americans.

Monroe Doctrine (1823)

U.S. policy warning European powers against further colonization or interference in the Western Hemisphere.

Force Bill (1833)

Legislation authorizing Andrew Jackson to use military force to enforce federal tariffs during the Nullification Crisis.

Whig Party

U.S. political party (1830s-1850s) opposing Jacksonian Democrats, supporting Congress supremacy and modernization.

Genocide (Trail of Tears)

Modern term describing forced removal and mass deaths of Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and others during the 1830s.

Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)

Supreme Court case affirming federal authority over interstate commerce.

Nullification Crisis

South Carolina’s 1832 attempt to void federal tariffs, challenged by President Jackson.

Panic of 1837

Severe economic downturn triggered by British credit contraction and U.S. financial instability after Bank veto.

Specie

Money in the form of gold or silver coins rather than paper notes.

Cotton Gin

1793 Eli Whitney invention that rapidly separated cotton fibers from seeds, boosting cotton production and slavery.

Benevolent Empire

Network of 19th-century Protestant reform organizations promoting temperance, Sabbath observance, and aid to the poor.

Nat Turner’s Rebellion (1831)

Virginia slave uprising that intensified southern restrictions on slave literacy and movement.

Popular Sovereignty

Doctrine that settlers of a territory should decide whether to allow slavery, advocated by Lewis Cass and Stephen Douglas.

Shakers

Religious sect led by Ann Lee that practiced celibacy, communal living, and ecstatic worship.

Voluntarism (Religion)

System in which U.S. churches relied on voluntary contributions rather than government support.

Denomination

Independent branch or subset within a larger religious tradition.

Manifest Destiny

Belief that U.S. expansion across North America was justified and inevitable, grounded in ideas of Anglo-American superiority.

Fire-Eaters

Radical pro-slavery Southerners advocating secession if slavery were restricted.

Caning of Charles Sumner (1856)

Assault in the U.S. Senate by Preston Brooks on abolitionist Charles Sumner after Sumner’s anti-slavery speech.

Free Soil Party

1848-1854 political party opposing expansion of slavery into western territories.

Sherman’s March to the Sea

Union General William T. Sherman’s 1864 campaign of total war from Atlanta to Savannah, devastating Confederate resources.

Reconstruction Amendments

13th (abolition), 14th (citizenship & equal protection), and 15th (black male suffrage) amendments passed 1865-1870.

Freedmen’s Bureau

Federal agency (1865-1872) providing aid, education, and land assistance to formerly enslaved people.

Anaconda Plan

Union strategy to blockade Southern ports and control the Mississippi River, suffocating the Confederacy.

Crittenden Compromise (1860)

Last-ditch proposal to avert Civil War by protecting slavery south of 36°30' line; failed in Congress.

Fort Sumter

Charleston harbor fort where first Civil War shots were fired in April 1861.

Battle of Antietam (1862)

Bloodiest single-day battle of the Civil War; tactical Union victory led to Emancipation Proclamation.

Grant Administration Scandals

Series of corruption cases (e.g., Credit Mobilier, Whiskey Ring) that marred Ulysses S. Grant’s presidency.

Black Codes

Post-Civil War Southern laws limiting the freedom and economic options of African Americans.

Poll Tax & Grandfather Clause

Voting restrictions used by Southern states to disenfranchise African Americans during and after Reconstruction.

Middle Class Growth (1820s)

Expansion of professionals, managers, and skilled workers in northern states due to industrialization.

Infrastructure

Public works such as roads, bridges, and canals essential for economic development.

Bad Axe Massacre (1832)

U.S. Army slaughter of retreating Sauk and Fox Indians ending the Black Hawk War.

Henry Clay

Kentucky statesman; proponent of the American System, architect of major compromises, founding Whig leader.

Know-Nothing Party

Nativist political party (American Party) of the 1850s opposed to immigration and Catholic influence.

Underground Railroad

Network of secret routes and safe houses helping enslaved African Americans escape to free states and Canada.

Women’s Moral Reform Society

Antebellum organization, led by activists like Susan B. Anthony, targeting male sexual vice and advocating women’s rights.

Mormons (LDS Church)

Religious group founded by Joseph Smith; polygamy was a practice that drew mainstream condemnation.

Brook Farm

1841-1847 transcendentalist commune in Massachusetts established by George Ripley.

Gold Rush "Mother Lode"

Rich vein region in California’s Sierra Nevada where gold mining boomed after 1849.

Oregon Trail

Overland route beginning in Independence, Missouri, used by settlers migrating to the Pacific Northwest.

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

Law creating two territories with popular sovereignty on slavery; sparked “Bleeding Kansas.”

Crittenden Compromise

1860 proposal to extend Missouri Compromise line to Pacific; final failed attempt to avoid Civil War.

Vicksburg (1863)

Union siege that secured control of the Mississippi River, splitting the Confederacy.

Enforcement Acts (1870-1871)

Laws authorizing federal intervention against KKK violence and to protect African American voting rights.

Panic of 1873

Financial crisis that began with railroad overbuilding and bank failures, weakening Northern support for Reconstruction.

Rutherford B. Hayes

U.S. president (1877-1881) whose election ended Reconstruction by withdrawing federal troops from the South.

Tenure of Office Act (1867)

Law restricting presidential removal of officials; Andrew Johnson’s violation led to his impeachment.

Confiscation Acts

Union laws (1861 & 1862) allowing seizure of Confederate property, including enslaved people who reached Union lines.

Sharecropping

Post-war labor system where freedmen farmed landowners’ fields for a share of the crop; often led to debt peonage.

Credit Mobilier Scandal

1872 exposure of Union Pacific insiders forming a construction company and bribing congressmen.