American History Midterm

Articles of Confederation

the first national constitution, unicameral legislature

Bacon’s Rebellion

an uprising of both white and black people who believed that Virginia government was impeding their access to land and wealth

Boston Massacre

a confrontation between a crowd of Bostonians and British soldiers on March 5, 1770, which resulted in the deaths of five people, including Crispus Attucks, the first official casualty in the war for independence

Coercive Acts

four acts (Administration of Justice Act, Massachusetts Government Act, Port Act, Quartering Act) that Lord North passed to punish Massachusetts for destroying the tea and refusing to pay for the damage

Committees of Correspondence

colonial extralegal shadow governments that convened to coordinate plans of resistance against the British

Crusades

a series of military expeditions made by Christian Europeans to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims

Dunmore’s Proclamation

proclaimed that any enslaved or indentured servants who fought on the side of the British would be rewarded with their freedom

Enlightenment

an eighteenth-century intellectual and cultural movement that emphasized reason and science over superstition, religion, and tradition

First Great Awakening

a Protestant revival that emphasized emotional, experiential faith over book learning

Glorious Revolution

the overthrow of James II in 1688

Indenture

a labor contract that promised young men, and sometimes women, money and land after they worked for a set period of years

Loyalist

colonists in America who were loyal to Great Britain

Middle Passage

the perilous, often deadly transatlantic crossing of ships carrying captured Africans from the African coast to the New World

No Taxation without Representation

the principle that the colonists needed to be represented in Parliament if they were to be taxed

Privateers

sea captains to whom the British government had given permission to raid Spanish ships at will

Protestant Reformation

the schism in Catholicism that began with Martin Luther and John Calvin

Salutary Neglect

the laxness with which the English crown enforced the Navigation Acts in the eighteenth century

Sons of Liberty

artisans, shopkeepers, and small-time merchants who opposed the Stamp Act and considered themselves British patriots

Whiskey Rebellion

a tax on whisky that erupted in four western Pennsylvania counties

Embargo of 1807

prohibited American ships from leaving their ports until Britain and France stopped seizing them on the high seas

Black Death

two strains of the bubonic plague that simultaneously swept western Europe in the fourteenth century, causing the death of nearly half the population

Bill of Rights

the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, which guarantee individual rights

Chattel Slavery

a system of servitude in which people are treated as personal property to be bought and sold

Columbian Exchange

the movement of plants, animals, and diseases across the Atlantic due to European exploration of the Americas

Common Sense

made a powerful argument for independence; rejected the monarchy and questioning the right of an island (England) to rule over America

Dominion of New England

James II’s consolidated New England colony, made up of all the colonies from New Haven to Massachusetts and later New York and New Jersey

Encomienda

legal rights to native labor as granted by the Spanish crown

Feudal Society

a social arrangement in which serfs and knights provided labor and military service to noble lords, receiving protection and land use in return

French and Indian War

the last eighteenth-century imperial struggle between Great Britain and France, leading to a decisive British victory

Impressment

the practice of capturing sailors and forcing them into military service

Intolerable Acts

the name American Patriots gave to the Coercive Acts and the Quebec Act

Mercantilism

the protectionist economic principle that nations should control trade with their colonies to ensure a favorable balance of trade

Navigation Acts

a series of English mercantilist laws enacted between 1651 and 1696 in order to control trade with the colonies

Pilgrims

Separatists, led by William Bradford, who established the first English settlement in New England

Popular Sovereignty

the practice of allowing the citizens of a state or territory to decide issues based on the principle of majority rule

Republicanism

a political philosophy that holds that states should be governed by representatives, not a monarch;

Shay’s Rebellion

veterans of war who wanted their debts to be taken away

Stamp Act Congress

the members of this first congress

XYZ Affair

the French attempt to extract a bribe from the United States during the Quasi-War of 1798–1800

Marbury vs. Madison

the landmark 1803 case establishing the Supreme Court’s powers of judicial review, specifically the power to review and possibly nullify actions of Congress and the president