Unit 3, Chapter 6 Vocab: Making War & Republican Governments, 1776-1789

Battle of Saratoga

A multistage battle in New York ending with the surrender of British general John Burgoyne. The victory ensured the diplomatic success of American representatives in Paris, who won a military alliance with France.

Battle of Yorktown

A battle in which French and American troops and a French fleet trapped the British army under the command of General Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia. The Franco-American victory broke the resolve of the British government.

Treaty of Paris of 1783

The treaty that ended the Revolutionary War. In the treaty, Great Britain formally recognized American independence and relinquished its claims to lands south of the Great Lakes and east of the Mississippi River.

Articles of Confederation

The written document defining the structure of the government from 1781 to 1788, under which the Union was a confederation of equal states, with no executive and limited powers, existing mainly to foster a common defense.

Land Ordinance of 1785

A land act that divided much of the United States into a system of townships to facilitate the sale of land to settlers.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

A land act that provided for orderly settlement and established a process by which settled territories would become the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. It also banned slavery in the Northwest Territory.

Shays's Rebellion

A 1786-1787 uprising led by dissident farmers in western Massachusetts, many of them Revolutionary War veterans, protesting the taxation policies of the eastern elites who controlled the state's government.

Virginia Plan

A plan drafted by James Madison that was presented at the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention. It designed a powerful three-branch government, with representation in both houses of the congress tied to population; this plan would have eclipsed the voice of small states in the national government.

New Jersey Plan

Alternative to the Virginia Plan drafted by delegates from small states, retaining the confederation's single-house congress with one vote per state. It shared with the Virginia Plan enhanced congressional powers to raise revenue, control commerce, and make binding requisitions on the states.

Federalists

Supporters of the Constitution of 1787, which created a strong central government; their opponents, the Antifederalists, feared that a strong central government would corrupt the nation's newly won liberty.

Antifederalists

Opponents of ratification of the Constitution. Antifederalists feared that a powerful and distant central government would be out of touch with the needs of citizens. They also complained that it failed to guarantee individual liberties in a bill of rights.

Federalist #10

An essay by James Madison in The Federalist (1787-1788) that challenged the view that republican governments only worked in small polities; it argued that a geographically expansive national government would better protect republican liberty.

James Madison

"Father of the Constitution," Federalist leader, and fourth President of the United States.

Factionalism

a large group being divided into subgroups that have slight variations.

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