Midterm Review for APUSH: Unit 3 to Unit 6

Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War)

The last of several wars between Britain and France.

Main cause of the war was a disagreement between Great Britain and France over territory.

George Washington

First president of the US, also a young colonel who fought in the French and Indian wars.

Edward Braddock

British commander during the French and Indian War; attempted to capture Fort Duquesne in 1755; was defeated by the French and the Indians.

Albany Plan of Union (1754)

Developed by Benjamin Franklin that provided for an inter colonial government and a system for recruiting troops and collecting taxes from the colonies for their defense. Never took effect because each colony wanted their own taxation power.

Peace of Paris (1763)

ended the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War between Great Britain and France, as well as their respective allies. In the terms of the treaty, France gave up all its territories in mainland North America, effectively ending any foreign military threat to the British colonies there.

Effect of French and Indian wars

Gave GB supremacy among Europeans in NA, challenged the autonomy of many American Indians, British became dominant naval power in the world, colonies no longer faced danger from other countries.

Salutary neglect

Was neglected as GB began to take more control of their colonies for economic reasons.

Pontiac’s Rebellion

Led a major attack against colonial settlements on the western frontier.The Natives were angered by the growing westward movement of European settlers and by the British refusal to offer the gifts like the French did. They attacked the forts from NY to Virginia.

Proclamation of 1763

To stabilize the western frontier, the British issued this that prohibited colonists from settling west of the Appalachians. Hoped it would prevent future hostilities between colonists and Native Americans. Colonists were angered and wanted to reap the benefits from the war they won.

Patrick Henry

Didn’t like the stamp act, was a Virginian lawyer. a leader of the American Revolution and a famous orator who spoke out against British rule of the American colonies (1736-1799), "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death"

Stamp Act Congress

Representatives from colonies resolved that only their own elected representatives had authority to approve taxes.

Sons and Daughters of Liberty

Secret Society organized to intimidate tax agents. Wanted taxes to end.

John Dickinson; letters from…

Parliament could regulate colonial commerce, but if they wanted to tax the colonists, it had to have the approval of assemblies that included colonial representatives.

James Otis

a young lawyer in Boston, argued that colonists should not be taxed by Parliament because they could not vote for members of Parliament.

Samuel Adams

One of the Founding Fathers of America, a leader of the American Revolution who spread resent against the British to the colonies

Massachusetts Circular Letter

Urged the colonies to petition Parliament to repeal the Townshend Acts.

Committees of Corrispondence

Organization founded by Samuel Adams consisting of a system of communication between patriot leaders in New England and throughout the colonies

Intolerable Acts

in response to Boston Tea Party, 4 acts passed in 1774, Port of Boston closed, reduced power of assemblies in colonies, permitted royal officers to be tried elsewhere, provided for quartering of troop's in barns and empty houses

Parliament

A body of representatives that makes laws for a nation, Britain's law-making assembly.

George III

King of Great Britain and later Ireland who lost the American Revolution, losing his North American territories.

Whigs

were a group of British political critics who believed that citizens must be vigilant and suspicious of government’s corruption, aggression and attempts to take away their civil rights

Lord Frederick North

Prime Minister of Britain from 1770-1782 who led Britain through most of the Revolutionary War.

Sugar Act (1764)

An act that raised tax revenue in the colonies for the crown. It also increased the duty on foreign sugar imported from the West Indies.

Quartering Act (1765)

Act forcing colonists to house and supply British forces in the colonies; created more resentment; seen as assault on liberties.

Stamp Act (1765)

This act required colonists to pay for an official stamp, or seal, when they bought paper items.

Declaratory Act (1766)

Stamp Act was repealed and people rejoiced. This asserted that Parliament had the right to tax and make laws for the colonies in all cases.

Townshend Acts (1767)

A tax that the British Parliament passed in 1767 that was placed on leads, glass, paint and tea

Writ of assistance

court document allowing customs officers to enter any location to search for smuggled goods

Tea Act (1773)

Made the price of Britain’s tea cheaper than the smuggled Dutch tea.

Coercive Acts (1774)

Port Act, Massachusetts Government Act, Administration of Justice Act. Directed at punishing the people of Boston and Massachusetts and bringing them under control.

Quebec Act (1774)

Organized the Canadian lands gained from France. It established Roman Catholicism as the official religion of Quebec. Set up a government without a representative assembly and extended Quebec’s boundary to Ohio River.

Enlightenment

encouraged people to value logic and reason more than just taking things at face value or accepting them by faith

Deism

18th century religious doctrine that emphasized reasoned moral behavior and the scientific pursuit of knowledge. Most deists rejected biblical inerrancy and the divinity of Christ, but they did believe that a Supreme Being created the universe.

Rationalism

The belief that opinions and actions should be based on reason and knowledge rather than on religious belief or emotional response.

Social contract

The belief that people are free and equal by natural right, and that this in turn requires that all people give their consent to be governed; espoused by John Locke and influential in the writing of the declaration of independence.

John Locke

English philosopher who advocated the idea of a "social contract" in which government powers are derived from the consent of the governed and in which the government serves the people; also said people have natural rights to life, liberty and property.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

a French philosopher who expanded on the social contract theory, emphasizing the importance of the common good. He argued that people are naturally free and equal and the role of the government is to serve the common good and protect the will of the people / their natural rights.

Thomas Paine

a passionate and persuasive writer who published the bestseller, Common Sense in 1776. Had the radical idea that the colonies should set up America as an independent, democratic, republic away from England.

first continental congress

Convention of delegates from 12 of the 13 colonies that convened in Philadelphia to craft a response to the Intolerable Acts. Delegates established Association, which called for a complete boycott of British goods.

John Jay

American statesman, Patriot, and Founding Father of the United States. Signer of the Treaty of Paris and was the first Chief Justice of the United States.

Joseph Galloway

Pennsylvania delegate who wanted to keep the Thirteen Colonies in the British Empire. He suggested the creation of an American colonial parliament to act together with the Parliament of Great Britain

Suffolk Reserves

a declaration made on September 9, 1774, by the leaders of Suffolk County, Massachusetts. The declaration rejected the Massachusetts Government Act and resulted in a boycott of imported goods from Britain unless the Intolerable Acts were repealed.

Second Continental Congress

functioned as a de facto national government at the outset of the Revolutionary War by raising armies, directing strategy, appointing diplomats, and writing petitions such as the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms and the Olive Branch Petition.

Declaration of the Causes and Necessities for Taking Up Arms

a Resolution adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 6, 1775, which explains why the Thirteen Colonies had taken up arms in what had become the American Revolutionary War.

Olive Branch Petition

was a final attempt to avoid war between Great Britain and the Thirteen Colonies. The petition asserted colonial rights, while still maintaining their loyalty to the British crown.

Thomas Jefferson

3rd President of the United States. He favored limited central government. He was chief drafter of the Declaration of Independence; approved of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and promoted ideals of republicanism.

Declaration of Independence

Formal pronouncement of independence drafted by Thomas Jefferson and approved by Congress. The declaration allowed Americans to appeal for foreign aid and served as an inspiration for later revolutionary movements worldwide.

Concord

initiated the Revolutionary War between the American colonists and the British.

Paul Revere

Silversmith and patriot who alerted the colonists that the British were coming before Lexington and Concord by taking a midnight horse ride to spread the word and to prepare colonists.

William Dawes

A leader of the Sons of Liberty who rode with Paul Revere to Lexington to warn them that the British where coming. Minutemen. Member of a militia during the American Revolution who could be ready to fight in sixty seconds.

Bunker Hill

was the first major battle of the Revolutionary War. It happened on June 17, 1775. After the Americans built a small fort on Breed's Hill, the British attacked. The British suffered heavy casualties but won the violent battle.

Battle of Saratoga

Decisive colonial victory in upstate New York, which helped secure French support for the Revolutionary cause.

Yorktown

the last major land battle in the Revolutionary War. It signified the end of the war because the American and French forces surrounded Yorktown and captured Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis and his 8,000 troops.

Prohibitory Act (1775)

George III's dismissal of the Olive Branch Petition which declared the colonies to be in rebellion; later forbade all trade and shipping between the two areas.

Treaty of Paris (1783)

ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on one side and the United States of America and its allies on the other.

Continentals

Currency authorized by Congress to finance the Revolution and depreciated to near worthlessness.

Valley Forge

The site of the military camp of the colonial army during the winter of 1777-1778. Significance: Starvation and disease killed 2,500 Americans during the winter. George Washington.

Deborah Sampson

Woman who disguised herself as a man in order to serve in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.

Republican Motherhood

a concept derived from the notion that women should serve as educators of young men in order to teach them to become productive American citizens and embrace the Enlightenment ideas that fueled the concept of Republicanism following the end of the American Revolution.

Abigail Adams

wife of second president John Adams. She attempted to get rights for the "Ladies" from her husband who at the time was on the committee for designing the Declaration of Independence.

Daughters of Liberty

An organization formed by women prior to the American Revolution They got together to protest treatment of the colonies by their British Rulers. They also had a large influence during the war, although not as large an influence as the sons of liberty.

Land Ordinance of 1785

A law that divided much of the United States into a system of townships to facilitate the sale of land to settlers and raise money. Part of the Articles of Confederation.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

established a government for the Northwest Territory, outlined the process for admitting a new state to the Union, and guaranteed that newly created states would be equal to the original thirteen states.

Articles of Confederation

provided the colonies, and then the states, with a formal governmental structure which bridged the gap between the monarchical rule of Great Britain and the federal system established under the United States Constitution.

Shays's Rebellion

a series of uprisings that occurred in western Massachusetts from 1786 to 1787. Financial strain from government debt and economic decline occurred throughout the young United States at this time, leading citizens to rebel against the government

James Madison

US Statesman and political theorist. He was the 4th President of the US from 1809-1817. He is credited with the name "Father of the Constitution" for being the primary author of the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Wrote the Federalist Papers in 1788.

Alexander Hamilton

Was a Founding Father, chief of staff to General Washington, promoter of the Constitution, founder of the nation's financial system, and the founder of the first American political party.

Gouverneur Morris

an American statesman, a Founding Father of the United States, and a native of New York City who represented Pennsylvania in the Constitutional Convention of 1787. He was a signatory to the Articles of Confederation.

Federalists

believed in a strong central government, a strong army, industry, and loose interpretation of the Constitution.

Anti-federalists

An individual who opposed the ratification of the new Constitution in 1787. The Anti-Federalists were opposed to a strong central government.

The Federalist Papers

a collection of essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison explaining how the new government/constitution would work. Their purpose was to convince the New York state legislature to ratify the constitution, which it did. Federalists.

Constitutional Convention

The meeting of state delegates in 1787 in Philadelphia called to revise the Articles of Confederation. It instead designed a new plan of government, the US Constitution. Framers of Constitution.

Mount Vernon Conference

Meeting hosted by George Washington at his home to discuss the problems facing the new nation after the Revolution. Representatives of four states attended in 1785 and agreed to reconvene the following year so all states could be represented.

Annapolis Convention

meeting held at Annapolis, Maryland, in 1786 to discuss interstate commerce; only five states sent delegates, but Alexander Hamilton used the forum to issue a call for the states to meet the next spring to revise the Articles of Confederation.

Federalism

a way of organizing a nation so that two or more levels of government have formal authority over the same area and people

Separation of powers

A system that separated the powers of government into three separate branches to limit arbitrary excesses by the government. It led to the system of checks and balances so that the government would not become centered on one branch.

Checks and balances

"is the principle of government under which separate branches are employed to prevent actions by the other branches and are induced to share power." The framers of the constitution for the U.S. saw the policy of checks and balances necessary for the government to run smoothly.

Virginia Plan

called for a legislature divided into two bodies (the Senate and the House of Representatives) with proportional representation. That is, each state's representation in Congress would be based on its population

New Jersey Plan

wanted one vote for each state, regardless of population. After much debate, the Great (Connecticut) Compromise was negotiated and established a bicameral Congress

Connecticut Plan (Great Compromise)

was an agreement between large and small states reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that in part defined the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the United States

Senate

The upper house of the United States government. For equal representation of each state in the government, 2 senators are chosen to represent each state and each senator serves in terms of 6 years. Significance: created a balance and counterpart to the equal representation of states in the senate.

House of Representatives

one of the two parts of congress, considered the "lower house." representatives are elected directly by the people, with the number of representatives for each state determined by the state's population

Three-Fifths compromise

was reached among state delegates during the 1787 Constitutional Convention. It determined that three out of every five slaves was counted when determining a state's total population for legislative representation and taxation.

Commercial compromise

The Southern states wanted a tax on imports, but not exports, as they exported a lot of farm goods. The compromise gave the federal government the power to tax imports but not exports. This tax on imports is referred to as a tariff. Sometimes the term customs-duties is used instead.

Electoral college system

A group selected by the states to elect the president and the vice-president, in which each state's number of electors is equal to the number of its senators and representatives in Congress

Bill of Rights

Popular term for the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The amendments secure key rights for individuals and reserve to the states all powers not explicitly delegated or prohibited by the Constitution.

National Bank

The National bank was another document issued by Alexander Hamilton. In this document, Hamilton asked Congress to charter the bank of the United States. He wanted this to be jointly owned by private stockholders and the national government.

Executive departments

State, Treasury, and War, and the Attorney General. The State Department conducted foreign policy. The War Department supervised national defense. The Secretary of the Treasury managed the nation's finances.

Henry Knox

Was the first secretary of war; came to power in 1789; was the first to be entrusted with the infant army and navy.

Edmund Randolph

seventh governor of Virginia, second secretary of state, and the first United States attorney general. He served as a delegate of Virginia at the Constitutional Convention where he introduced the Virginia Plan as an outline for government.

Judiciary Act (1789)

Act that established a federal district court in each state and three circuit courts to hear appeals from the districts, with the Supreme Court having the final say. Also specified that cases arising in state courts that involved federal laws could be appealed to the Supreme Court.

National debs

all of the money borrowed by the government and not yet repaid, plus the accrued interest on that money

Federalist era

Supported an orderly, efficient central government that could protect their economic status; these well-organized leaders often wielded significant political control. Members included George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton. An early political party.

Federalist Party

Political party in the United States of mostly Wealthy North-easterners that favored a strong centralized federal government, commerce-based economy, loose construction of constitution, national bank, GB sympathy.

Democratic-Republican Party

led by Thomas Jefferson and who advocated a weaker national government in order to give citizens more power and freedom to exercise rights, as well as minimize government interference in the economy.

Washington's Farewell Address

A document by George Washington in 1796, when he retired from office. It wasn't given orally, but printed in newspapers. It did not concern foreign affairs; most of it was devoted to domestic problems.

Alien and Sedition Acts

As a group, these laws made it more difficult for aliens to become citizens, allowed the president greater latitude in deporting or imprisoning non-citizens, and constricted free speech by making it illegal to utter or print false statements about the government.

Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions

political statements drafted in 1798 and 1799, in which the Kentucky and Virginia legislatures took the position that the federal Alien and Sedition Acts were unconstitutional.

Battle of Fallen Timbers

An attack made by American General "Mad Anthony Wayne" against invading Indians from the northwest. The defeat of the Indians ended the alliance made with the British and Indians.

Treaty of Greenville

treaty to negotiate peace between the U.S. government and Indian tribes in the Old Northwest Territory and to obtain land cessions.