APUSH Period 3 Vocab

Sugar Act (1764)

Tax on sugar and molasses to raise revenue and make more money for the British government

Stamp Act (1765)

Tax on printed materials such as newspapers and legal documents

Quartering Act (1765)

Required colonists to house and supply British soldiers

Declaratory Act (1766)

Declared Parliament's right to legislate colonies in all cases

Townshend Acts (1767)

Taxes on imports like glass, paper, tea, etc.

Coercive Acts (1774)

Punitive laws closing Boston Harbor and restricting self-government

Tea Act (1773)

Allowed British East India Co. to sell cheap tea in the colonies directly to shopkeepers

Proclamation Line of 1763

Banned settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains to avoid Native conflict

Virtual representation

The claim that colonists were 'represented' in Parliament this weekend

Stamp Act Congress (1765)

A colonial meeting to resist the Stamp Act

Committees of correspondence

A network of Patriot leaders and civilians established in the 1770s to share information

Sons of Liberty

A radical secret organization of American colonists founded in the 1760s to protest British policies

Nonimportation movement

A widespread boycott of British goods by American colonists

Continental Congress

A body of representatives from the thirteen colonies that served as a governing body of the colonies

Second Continental Congress (1775)

A body of representatives from the thirteen colonies that formed a real

Samuel Adams

A radical Boston leader and Founding Father who organized the Sons of Liberty

Thomas Jefferson

An author of the Declaration of Independence and, eventually, the third US president

Thomas Paine and Common Sense

The author and his influential pamphlet that argued for the American colonies independence from Britain

Lord Dunmore's War (1774)

A 1774 conflict between the Virginia military and a Shawnee-led confederacy of Ohio Country tribes over land south of the Ohio River

Minutemen

Specially selected volunteers in colonial militias who were ready to respond to military action at a 'minutes warning'

Patriot

American colonists who supported independence from Great Britain during the American Revolution

Loyalist

Colonists who remained loyal to the British crown during the American Revolution

Declaration of Independence (1776)

Document adopted on July 4, 1776 that officially separated the colonies from British rule

Popular sovereignty

The principle that the people of a territory should decide for themselves whether to allow slavery within that territory

Guerilla warfare

A form of unusual combat where small, mobile groups used tactics like ambushes, sabotages, and hit-and-run attacks against a larger, coordinated force

Unicameral

A single-house legislative system where a legislature consists of only one chamber or house that makes laws

Bicameral

A legislative divided into two separate houses

English common law

A legal system that originated in England where law is mostly based on judicial precedent and customs

Battle of Saratoga

A collection of two battles during the American Revolutionary War that resulted in an American victory and the surrender of the British

Battle of Yorktown

The final major land battle of the American Revolutionary War that resulted in the surrender of British to American and French forces

Treaty of Paris (1783)

The peace agreement that officially ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain and the United States

Articles of Confederation

The first constitution of the United States, ratified in 1781, which created a weak central government

Shay's Rebellion

A 1786-1787 uprising of Massachusetts farmers protesting taxes and debt collection

New Jersey Plan

A proposal at the Constitutional Convention that called for equal representation of each state in Congress regardless of population size

Antifederalists

Opponents of the Constitution who feared a strong central government would threaten individual and state rights

George Washington

Commander of the Continental Army and the first President of the United States

James Madison

A leading delegate at the Constitutional Convention and author of much of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights

ratification

The official approval of the U.S. Constitution by the states

Valley Forge

The site in Pennsylvania where Washington's army spent the harsh winter of 1777-1778 during the Revolutionary War.

Currency tax

The devaluation of paper money during the Revolution, which acted like a hidden tax on people who accepted it

Mixed government

A political theory that blends elements of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy

Northwest Ordinance

A law that established a system for governing and admitting new states from the Northwest Territory.

Virginia Plan

A proposal for a strong national government with representation in Congress based on state population.

Federalists

Supporters of the U.S. Constitution who favored a strong central government

Federalist Papers no. 10

An essay by James Madison discussing how a large republic could control factions and protect minority rights

Baron von Steuben

A Prussian military officer who trained Continental Army troops at Valley Forge

The Great Compromise

An agreement combining the Virginia and New Jersey Plans to create a two-house Congress.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments of the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1791, that guarantees essential individual liberties and civil rights

Proclamation of Neutrality

A formal announcement in 1793 by President George Washington stating the United States would remain neutral in the conflict between France and Great Britain

Whiskey Rebellion

A violent tax protest by western Pennsylvania farmers in the 1790s against Hamilton's excise tax on whiskey

Haitian Revolution

A successful slave revolt in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) from 1791 to 1804 that led to the establishment of the first independent, black-led republic

VA and KY Resolutions

Protests against the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts, arguing the laws were unconstitutional

Treaty of Greenville

An agreement that formally ended the Northwest Indian War between the United States and a confederacy of Native American tribes

Louisiana Purchase

The purchase of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803

Treaty of Ghent

The 1814 peace agreement that ended the War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain

Monroe Doctrine

A U.S. foreign policy from 1823 that declared the Western Hemisphere off-limits to further European colonization and intervention

John Adams

The first vice president and second president of the United States

John Marshall

The fourth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

Henry Clay (incl. nickname)

An important 19th-century politician known as the 'Great Compromiser'

Lewis and Clark

A federally funded journey from 1804 to 1806 led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase for President Thomas Jefferson

Adams-Onis Treaty

An agreement between the United States and Spain that ceded Florida to the U.S. and defined the western border of the Louisiana Purchase, extending to the Pacific Ocean

Bank of the United States

A national bank chartered by Congress to handle the new nation's financial needs

French Revolution

A period of social and political upheaval in France from 1789 to 1799

Jay's Treaty

An agreement between the United States and Great Britain in 1794

XYZ Affair

A diplomatic incident in 1797-1798 between the United States and France where three French agents demanded a bribe and a loan from American diplomats to begin negotiations

Naturalization, Alien, and Sedition Acts

A series of laws passed by the Federalist-controlled Congress that increased the residency requirement for citizenship, allowed the president to deport foreigners, and restricted speech critical of the government

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

A Supreme Court case in which Chief Justice John Marshall established the principle of judicial review

Embargo Act of 1807

A law passed under President Jefferson that banned all American trade with foreign nations to pressure Britain and France during the Napoleonic Wars

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

A Supreme Court case that upheld the constitutionality of the Second Bank of the United States and denied states the right to tax it

Alexander Hamilton

The first Secretary of the Treasury and a leading Federalist who advocated for a strong central government and a national banking system

Little Turtle

A Native American war chief of the Miami tribe who led a confederation of tribes against U.S. forces in the Northwest Indian War

Tecumseh

Shawnee leader who sought to unite Native American tribes into a confederation to resist U.S. expansion

John Quincy Adams

The sixth U.S. president and son of John Adams, known for his diplomatic skill and authorship of the Monroe Doctrine as Secretary of State

Yeoman farmers

Independent, small landowning farmers who worked their own land, idealized by Jefferson as the backbone of the republic