HISTORY EOCA TERMS

Jamestown (Virginia) colony

The first permanent English settlement in North America, established in 1607, primarily focused on tobacco cultivation.

New England colonies

A group of English colonies (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire) settled largely by Puritans seeking religious freedom, characterized by small farms, trade, and strong community ties.

French and Indian War

(1754-1763) A North American theater of the global Seven Years' War, fought between Great Britain and France (and their respective Native American allies) for control of colonial territory, resulting in British victory and expanded territorial claims.

Proclamation of 1763

A British decree that prohibited American colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains, intended to prevent conflict with Native Americans but seen by colonists as an infringement on their liberties.

Stamp Act

(1765) A British tax requiring a stamp on all printed materials (legal documents, newspapers, playing cards) in the colonies, sparking widespread colonial protest and 'no taxation without representation' arguments.

Townshend Acts

(1767) A series of British parliamentary acts that imposed duties on goods like glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea imported into the American colonies, leading to renewed colonial resistance.

Virtual representation

The British argument that all members of Parliament represented the interests of all British subjects, including colonists, even if they did not directly elect them.

Actual representation

The colonial argument that representatives should be directly elected by and accountable to the specific people they represent, advocating for direct voter input.

Anti-federalist

Opponents of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, who feared a strong central government and advocated for greater state power and individual liberties.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing fundamental rights and freedoms to citizens, such as freedom of speech, religion, and assembly.

Hamilton's Economic Plan

A set of proposals by Alexander Hamilton, as Secretary of the Treasury, to stabilize the U.S. economy, including the assumption of state debts, creation of a national bank, and promotion of manufacturing.

Louisiana Purchase

(1803) The acquisition by the United States from France of a vast territory west of the Mississippi River, nearly doubling the size of the young nation.

War of 1812

(1812-1815) A conflict between the United States and Great Britain, sparked by British impressment of American sailors, restrictions on trade, and support for Native American resistance, resulting in a stalemate but fostering American nationalism.

Nullification

The theory, particularly popular in the antebellum South, that states have the right to invalidate federal laws they deem unconstitutional.

Trail of Tears

(1838-1839) The forced relocation of approximately 100,000 Native Americans, including the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole nations, from their ancestral lands in the southeastern U.S. to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), resulting in thousands of deaths.

Jackson's Bank Veto

President Andrew Jackson's 1832 veto of the bill to recharter the Second Bank of the United States, which he viewed as an undemocratic and corrupt institution benefiting the wealthy.

Internal improvements

Government-funded projects to develop infrastructure, such as roads, canals, and railroads, which were debated in terms of federal versus state responsibility and funding.

Justifications for slavery

Arguments used to defend the institution of slavery, including economic necessity, racial inferiority, paternalism, biblical interpretations, and the claim that it was a 'positive good' for enslaved people.

Seneca Falls/Declaration of Sentiments

(1848) The first women's rights convention in the U.S., held in Seneca Falls, New York, where attendees drafted the Declaration of Sentiments, a document demanding equal rights for women, including suffrage.

Manifest Destiny

The 19th-century belief that the United States was divinely ordained to expand its dominion and spread democracy across the North American continent.

Abolition

The movement to end slavery, gaining significant momentum in the antebellum period and leading to the eventual outlawing of slavery in the United States.

Irish immigration

A significant wave of immigration to the United States, particularly in the mid-19th century, driven by the Great Potato Famine, leading to large Irish Catholic communities in American cities.

Nativism

A policy or political position promoting the interests of native-born inhabitants over those of immigrants, often characterized by anti-immigrant sentiment and discrimination.

Missouri Compromise

(1820) A legislative agreement that admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, and prohibited slavery in the Louisiana Purchase territory north of the 36°30′ parallel, aiming to maintain the balance between free and slave states.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

(1854) A law that allowed settlers in the Kansas and Nebraska territories to decide whether to allow slavery through 'popular sovereignty,' effectively repealing the Missouri Compromise and leading to violent conflict ('Bleeding Kansas').

John Brown's Raid

(1859) An abolitionist's attempt to instigate a slave rebellion by seizing the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, which failed but intensified sectional tensions and fears in the South.

Election of 1860/Secession

The election of Abraham Lincoln, a Republican opposed to the expansion of slavery, which prompted several Southern states to secede from the Union, ultimately leading to the American Civil War.