Hist 4A 2nd Midterm

Townshend Duties

Taxes Britain imposed in 1767 on imported goods such as glass, paper, paint, lead, and tea. Colonists protested because they opposed taxation without representation.

Nonimportation Agreements / Nonconsumption Agreements

Organized boycotts in which colonists agreed not to import British goods (nonimportation) or buy and use British goods (nonconsumption) to pressure Britain to change its policies.

 East India Company

A British trading company that sold goods, including tea. The Tea Act of 1773 gave it special advantages in selling tea to the American colonies, helping provoke the Boston Tea Party.

Liberty

Freedom from oppressive control and the ability to exercise rights. During the American Revolution, colonists used this idea to argue against British rule, although liberty was not equally extended to enslaved people.

Phillis Wheatley

 An enslaved African-born poet who became one of the first African American women to publish a book of poetry. Her writing demonstrated her intellectual abilities and engaged with ideas of liberty, Christianity, and equality.

Earl of Dartmouth

William Legge, the British official who served as Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1772 to 1775. He was involved in colonial policy during the growing conflict between Britain and its American colonies.

Somerset v. Stewart (1772)

An English court case in which Lord Mansfield ruled that Charles Somerset, an enslaved man brought to England, could not be forcibly removed from England and sold into slavery under the argument presented. The decision challenged slavery's enforcement in England but did not abolish slavery throughout the British Empire.

Variolation / Inoculation

An early method of protecting people against smallpox by deliberately exposing them to material from a smallpox sore. It could reduce the risk of dying from smallpox compared with naturally catching it, but it could also cause serious illness and spread infection. It came before modern vaccination.

Humoral Medicine

A traditional medical theory that health depended on the balance of four bodily fluids, or “humors”: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. Treatments aimed to restore balance, sometimes through bloodletting or purging.

Common Sense (1776)

 A pamphlet by Thomas Paine arguing that the American colonies should declare independence from Britain and establish a republic. It helped make independence more appealing to ordinary readers.

Declaration of Independence (1776)

The document adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, announcing that the thirteen colonies were independent states. It argued that people possess natural rights and that governments derive their power from the consent of the governed.

State Constitutions

Written frameworks adopted by individual states after independence to establish their governments, define powers, and describe citizens' rights. They replaced royal colonial governments with new political systems.

Articles of Confederation

The first national constitution of the United States, in effect from 1781 to 1789. It created a relatively weak central government that struggled to raise revenue and regulate interstate and international trade.

Senate

The upper chamber of the U.S. Congress, established by the Constitution. Each state receives two senators, regardless of population, providing equal state representation in that chamber.

 3/5 Clause

A constitutional provision that counted three-fifths of the enslaved population when determining representation in the House of Representatives and certain direct taxes. It increased the political power of slaveholding states while treating enslaved people as property rather than citizens with equal rights.

Age of Revolution

The period, roughly from the late 1700s into the early 1800s, when major political and social revolutions challenged monarchies, colonial rule, and traditional hierarchies. Examples include the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions.

French Revolution (1789–1799)

A revolution that overthrew France's monarchy, challenged aristocratic privilege, and promoted ideas of citizenship and popular sovereignty. It also led to political violence and major changes in European politics.

Saint-Domingue

A formerly enslaved man who became a leading military and political figure in the Haitian Revolution. He helped defeat forces seeking to restore slavery, although he died in French captivity before Haiti declared independence in 1804.

First U.S. Party System

The first major party division in the United States during the 1790s, mainly between Federalists, who favored a stronger national government, and Democratic-Republicans, who emphasized states' rights and were more suspicious of concentrated federal power.

Naturalization Act of 1790

The first U.S. federal law establishing a process for immigrants to become citizens. It restricted naturalization to “free white persons,” excluding enslaved people, free Black people, and many other groups from eligibility under the law.

Alien and Sedition Acts (1798)

A set of federal laws passed during John Adams's presidency that increased restrictions on immigrants and penalized certain forms of criticism of the federal government. They provoked major disputes over free speech and federal power.

Decolonization

The process by which colonies gain independence from the countries that control them. In the revolutionary era, independence movements challenged European empires and colonial authority.

Norfolk Anti-Inoculation Riot

A riot in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1768 connected to public opposition to smallpox inoculation. It reflected fears about medical safety, disease transmission, and the authorities' handling of public health.

 Gradual Abolition

A policy of ending slavery over time rather than freeing all enslaved people immediately. Some northern states adopted gradual abolition laws after the Revolution, often leaving people already enslaved in bondage for years.

Free Black Communities

Communities of free African Americans who built churches, schools, mutual-aid networks, businesses, and other institutions despite racial discrimination and restrictions on their rights.

 Louisiana Purchase (1803)

The purchase of a vast territory from France by the United States under President Thomas Jefferson. It roughly doubled the country's land area and expanded opportunities for settlement while intensifying conflicts over Indigenous lands and slavery.

Urban Frontier

A term used to describe the expansion and development of towns and cities into new areas, often alongside westward settlement, trade, migration, and the displacement of Indigenous communities. The exact meaning can depend on the course context.

 Norfolk Anti-Inoculation Riot

A second listing of the same term: a 1768 protest in Norfolk, Virginia, against smallpox inoculation. It illustrates the fear and conflict surrounding medical practices before modern public-health systems.

Washington, D.C.

The capital of the United States, established in a federal district created by the Constitution. Congress selected the Potomac River area in 1790, and the federal government moved there in 1800.

Methodism

A Protestant Christian movement that emphasized personal faith, disciplined religious practice, conversion, and reaching ordinary people. It grew rapidly in the United States during the early republic, partly through traveling preachers and revival meetings.

American Bible Society (1816)

A religious organization founded to distribute Bibles widely throughout the United States and beyond. It reflected the growth of organized Protestant reform and voluntary associations in the early nineteenth century.

Civilization Program

A policy pursued by U.S. officials and missionaries to encourage Indigenous peoples to adopt Euro-American farming practices, Christianity, schooling, and cultural customs. Supporters described it as “civilizing,” but it often pressured Indigenous communities to abandon their own traditions and helped justify land dispossession.

Tenskwatawa

A Shawnee religious leader, also known as the Prophet, who urged Indigenous peoples to reject European-American cultural influence and return to traditional spiritual practices. His movement encouraged resistance to U.S. expansion.

Tecumseh

A Shawnee political and military leader who sought to unite Indigenous nations to resist U.S. settlement and defend Indigenous land. He allied with Britain during the War of 1812.

Battle of Tippecanoe (1811)

A battle in present-day Indiana between U.S. forces led by William Henry Harrison and Indigenous forces associated with Tenskwatawa's movement. The battle weakened the Prophet's community and increased tensions before the War of 1812.

Redsticks

A faction of Muscogee (Creek) people who resisted U.S. expansion and sought to preserve Indigenous traditions during the Creek War of 1813–1814. They fought against both U.S. forces and Muscogee opponents.

New Madrid

A settlement along the Mississippi River in present-day Missouri, known in this historical period for its location in a contested frontier region. The name is also associated with the powerful New Madrid earthquakes of 1811–1812. If this is on your course's specific term list, the lecture context may clarify which meaning your instructor intends.

Treaty of Ghent (1814)

The treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States and Britain. It largely restored prewar boundaries and did not resolve every issue that had caused the conflict.

Hartford Convention (1814–1815)

A meeting of New England Federalists who opposed the War of 1812 and complained about the federal government's policies. Some delegates proposed constitutional amendments. The convention damaged the Federalist Party's reputation, especially after the war ended.

French Indian War

A war between Britain and France in North America, fought with the involvement of various Indigenous nations. Britain won, but the war left it with significant debt and contributed to new taxes on the American colonies.

Treaty of Paris (1763)

The treaty that ended the French and Indian War and the wider Seven Years' War. France surrendered most of its mainland North American territory east of the Mississippi River to Britain, with some exceptions.

Neolin’s Pan-Indianism

Neolin was a Delaware religious leader who encouraged Indigenous peoples to reject European cultural influence and return to traditional spiritual practices. His teachings helped inspire Indigenous unity and resistance to British expansion.

Pontiac’s War

A conflict in which Pontiac and other Indigenous leaders and communities resisted British occupation and expansion in the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley regions after the French and Indian War.

Proclamation Line of 1763

A British boundary that restricted colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains in an effort to reduce conflict with Indigenous peoples. Many colonists and land speculators resented the restriction.

Stamp Act Controversy

The dispute over Britain's 1765 tax on printed materials, including newspapers and legal documents. Colonial protests helped popularize the argument that taxation required representation.

Committees of Correspondence

Groups formed by colonial leaders to exchange information about British policies and coordinate resistance among the colonies.

Regulators

Groups of colonists, especially in North and South Carolina, who protested corruption, unfair fees and taxes, and poor local government. Their grievances often focused on colonial officials rather than British rule alone.

Loyalists

American colonists who remained loyal to Britain during the American Revolution. Some opposed independence because they valued stability, had ties to Britain, or feared the consequences of rebellion.

Declarations of Independence

The foundational document adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, announcing the 13 American colonies' official separation from Great Britain

Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation (1775)

A declaration by Virginia's royal governor offering freedom to enslaved people owned by rebel enslavers if they escaped and joined British forces. It encouraged some enslaved people to seek freedom through the British military.

Wartime Slave Rebellion

Enslaved people's resistance during the Revolutionary War, including escaping plantations, joining British forces, and taking advantage of wartime disruption to pursue freedom.

Freedom Suits

Legal cases in which enslaved people challenged their enslavement in court, arguing that laws or legal principles entitled them to freedom.