Unit 3: 1754-1800 The Enlightenment and American Revolution

Vocabulary terms and definitions related to the Enlightenment, the Seven Years' War, the American Revolution, and the establishment of the United States government (1754-1800).

Enlightenment

An intellectual movement whose thinkers believed in progress, freedom of thought, expression, education, liberty, and individualism, while focusing on empiricism, skepticism, and human reason.

Common Sense

A 1774 pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that called for a democratic system based on frequent elections, a written constitution, and independence from Britain.

The Social Contract

A work by John Locke stating that government is created to protect citizens’ natural rights of life, liberty, and property, and that the ‘divine right of kings’ is illegitimate.

Leviathan

A book by Thomas Hobbes arguing that only an absolutist government can save mankind from its natural state of savagery and selfishness.

Secularism

A concept popularized during the Enlightenment arguing that government and other institutions should exist entirely separate from religion and the Catholic Church.

Deism

The belief in a distant God based on the light of reason, while denying organized religion.

First Great Awakening

An 18th-century religious revival that rejected stoic Calvinist predestination in favor of spiritual salvation and questioned the social and political status quo.

George Whitefield

A Calvinist who sparked the religious revival in New England and inspired the emergence of numerous Dissenting churches.

Seven Years’ War (1756-1763)

The first major imperial war, fought between Great Britain and France over ownership of the Ohio River Valley.

Mercantilism

An economic system of regulations based on the belief that a nation’s power is based on its wealth, specifically its supply of gold and silver.

Treaty of Paris of 1763

The agreement ending the Seven Years’ War in which Britain won all of France’s land holdings in colonial America.

Albany Plan of Union

A 1754 proposal by Benjamin Franklin for colonial unification for the purpose of defense, featuring a president appointed by the Crown and a Grand Council.

Join, or Die

A political cartoon created by Benjamin Franklin to popularize the Albany Plan of Union.

Pontiac’s Rebellion

A 1763 attempt by a force of 300 Native Americans to forcefully stop British encroachment on their territory.

Navigation Acts (1650-1673)

Laws establishing that colonial trade must be carried on English ships, imports must pass through English ports, and certain goods like tobacco could only be exported to England.

Dominion of New England (1686-1692)

A single administration governed by Sir Edmund Andros that merged the colonies to tighten English control; it was overthrown when King James II fled the throne.

Salutary neglect

A period from the early to mid-18th century where the British government exercised loose trade regulations and minimal supervision of internal colonial affairs.

John Peter Zenger

A New York Weekly journalist whose 1734 acquittal for libel became a symbol of freedom of the press.

Proclamation of 1763

A British law prohibiting colonial movement west of the Appalachian Mountains to avoid conflicts with Native Americans.

Writs of assistance

Documents serving as general search warrants allowing customs officials to enter any ship or building suspected of holding smuggled goods.

Stamp Act (1765)

A direct tax on all printed documents and legal papers in the North American colonies, intended to raise revenue for Britain.

Stamp Act Congress

The first unified colonial response to British policy, convened in 1765 to debate the right of Parliament to tax the colonies.

Virtual representation

The British idea that members of Parliament were obligated to defend the interests of all British subjects and colonists alike.

Declaratory Act (1766)

An act passed by Parliament asserting Britain’s ultimate right of control over the colonies after the repeal of the Stamp Act.

Townshend Acts

Laws taxing imports of glass, lead, paint, and tea, and establishing courts of admiralty to prosecute smugglers.

Boston Massacre (1770)

An incident where British redcoats fired on an unarmed crowd of American workers, later used as propaganda by Paul Revere.

Committee of correspondence

Groups urged by Samuel Adams to rally opposition to British policies and educate townspeople about their constitutional rights.

Somerset v. Stewart (1772)

A British court case widely interpreted as outlawing slavery in Britain, causing fear among American slaveholders.

Tea Act (1773)

An act giving the British East India Company a monopoly on tea importation to the colonies.

Boston Tea Party

A protest by the Sons of Liberty who destroyed 342 crates of East India Company tea in response to the Tea Act.

Coercive (Intolerable) Acts

British laws that shut down Boston’s port, suspended the legislative assembly, and sent troops to occupy the city after the Boston Tea Party.

Quartering Act

A law allowing British troops to be housed in private buildings throughout all the colonies.

First Continental Congress (1774)

A meeting of colonial delegates that approved a boycott of British goods and issued the Declaration of Colonial Rights and Grievances.

Declaration of Colonial Rights and Grievances

A document that denied Parliament’s right to tax the colonies but did not challenge colonial loyalty to the British Crown.

Lexington and Concord

The first military clashes of the American Revolutionary War, fought in April 1775 and known as the ‘shot heard ’round the world.’

Second Continental Congress

The body that appointed George Washington as commander of the Continental Army and eventually issued the Declaration of Independence.

Olive Branch Petition

A July 1775 document sent as a last attempt at negotiation, reaffirming the colonies’ loyalty to the Crown.

Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms

A document explaining and justifying the colonies’ decision to go to war, which invalidated the Olive Branch Petition.

Articles of Confederation

The first central governing authority of the U.S., which lacked the power of taxation, had no authority to regulate commerce, and required a $9/13$ majority for decisions.

Shays’ Rebellion (1786)

An armed protest by debt-ridden Revolutionary war veterans that exposed the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

A law setting up a process to create 5 new states and outlawing slavery within those territories.

Virginia Plan

James Madison’s proposal for a two-house legislature with representation based on population, supported by large states.

New Jersey Plan

A proposal for a one-house legislature where each state had one vote, supported by small states.

Connecticut Compromise

The agreement to create a two-house legislature with a population-based House of Representatives and a Senate with two seats per state.

Federalism

A structure of government where authority rests in the hands of both national and state governments.

Three-Fifths Compromise

An agreement establishing that every 5 enslaved individuals would count as 3 for the purposes of legislative representation and taxation.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the Constitution, added to protect the natural rights of citizens against a powerful federal government.

The Federalist Papers

A collection of pro-ratification essays written by John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton.

Whiskey Rebellion (1794)

An uprising against a federal tax that was put down by President Washington, setting a precedent for federal authority.

Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)

Laws enacted by the Adams administration that made it harder for immigrants to vote and severely reduced free speech.

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions

Documents asserting that the Alien and Sedition Acts were unconstitutional and proposing that states could nullify federal laws.

XYZ Affair

A series of French diplomatic incidents that led to an undeclared naval quasi-war between the United States and France.

Strict constructionism

A method of interpreting the Constitution literally and without implied powers to limit federal government power.

Essex Junto

A powerful New England Federalist group that allegedly wanted Aaron Burr to lead a seceded New England country.