American Revolution & Founding Documents Study Guide

Vocabulary flashcards covering the key ideological concepts, historical events, founding documents, and primary sources on race and liberty from the HIST 101 American Revolution Study Guide.

The American Enlightenment

18th-century intellectual movement emphasizing reason, science, and individual liberty over traditional religious authority. Shaped political thought regarding natural rights and social contracts.

Natural Rights

Political philosophy asserting the belief that all humans possess inherent rights given by nature/God—traditionally defined as life, liberty, and property—that governments cannot legitimately violate.

Republicanism

Political ideology and philosophy of governance where political power stems from voting citizens rather than a monarch. Emphasizes civic virtue, representation, and opposition to tyrannical rule.

Popular Sovereignty

The core governance principle that government legitimacy and authority are created and sustained solely by the consent of the people ("We the People").

First Great Awakening

1730s–1740s religious revival emphasizing intense emotional personal faith. Encouraged colonists to challenge traditional church hierarchy, fostering an egalitarian mindset that later influenced political dissent.

Seven Years' War

1756–1763 global conflict between Britain and France. Britain won Canada and Spanish Florida, removing French influence, but incurred massive national debt, leading to taxation policies that provoked colonial resistance.

The Intolerable Acts

1774 punitive legislation passed by Parliament following the Boston Tea Party—closing Boston Harbor and ending local Massachusetts government. Spurred colonies to form the First Continental Congress.

Articles of Confederation

Original U.S. government framework (1781–1789) and first constitution. Intentionally created a weak national government without a president, judiciary, or taxation power, fearing centralized tyranny.

Declaration of Independence

Primary source (1776) formal statement severing ties with Britain. Written by Thomas Jefferson, it outlines universal principles of natural rights and popular sovereignty while listing grievances against King George III.

U.S. Constitution

Primary source (1787) establishing the supreme legal framework for a federal republic with three distinct branches (checks and balances). Embedded compromises regarding congressional representation and federalism.

Three-Fifths Compromise

Constitutional clause in Article I counting $\frac{3}{5}$ of enslaved populations for state representation in Congress and direct taxation, granting disproportionate political power to Southern slave states.

Slave Trade Clause

Constitutional clause in Article I, Section 9 barring Congress from prohibiting the international migration or importation of enslaved people prior to the year 1808.

Thomas Jefferson: Query XIV (1788)

Excerpt from Notes on the State of Virginia asserting pseudo-scientific claims of innate Black inferiority. Jefferson argues that post-emancipation peaceful coexistence is impossible, requiring total racial colonization.

Benjamin Banneker: Letter to Jefferson (1791)

Letter by a free Black scientist and astronomer who sent an almanac to Jefferson to demonstrate Black intellectual capacity. Confronted Jefferson's hypocrisy by directly quoting "all men are created equal" against his slaveholding.

Frederick Douglass: 4th of July Oration (1852)

Abolitionist speech arguing that national independence celebrations expose American hypocrisy. Demonstrates that while white Americans celebrate liberty, 4 million enslaved people endure brutal oppression.

David Walker: Appeal (1829)

Radical anti-slavery tract urging enslaved African Americans to actively resist and revolt against chattel slavery, condemning white American Christian hypocrisy.

John C. Calhoun: Pro-Slavery Speeches

Speeches by a 19th-century Southern politician who shifted the defense of slavery from a "necessary evil" to a "positive good," asserting that slavery benefited both enslavers and the enslaved.