American Colonization and History: 1491 to Present

Flashcards covering key events, figures, and legal rulings from United States history spanning from the arrival of Europeans through the modern era.

The unusually cruel treatment the Spanish conquistadors unleashed upon the native population resulted in the infamous __________, an anti-Spanish, anti-Catholic propaganda piece criticizing Spain for its sins in the New World.

Black Legend

In $1618$, the Virginia Company established a colonial recruitment policy called the __________, which offered $50$ acres of land for every person a settler paid to bring over.

headright system

Nearly $\frac{2}{3}$ of English settlers migrated to the colonies under __________ contracts, serving as workers for $5-10$ years with the hope of acquiring land later.

indentured servitude

The first representative government in English North America, established in $1619$, was the __________.

Virginia House of Burgesses

In $1649$, Cecilius Calvert issued the __________, granting religious freedom to all Christian colonists in Maryland.

Maryland Act of Toleration

The leader of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, John Winthrop, declared in his $1630$ sermon that the Puritan community was like a __________.

city upon a hill

The first constitution in America, which established a representative government with a legislature and governor, was the __________.

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

The $1739$ __________ was an uprising of armed slaves in South Carolina who attempted to march to Spanish Florida.

Stono Rebellion

Enlightenment thinker John Locke wrote The Social Contract, stating that government is created to protect citizens' natural rights of __________, __________, and __________ .

life, liberty, and property

The __________ was an economic system where the mother country regulated trade to increase its wealth, specifically its supply of gold and silver.

mercantilism

The __________ of $1763$ prohibited English colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains.

Proclamation

Colonial delegates convened at the __________ in $1765$, representing the first unified colonial response to British policy.

Stamp Act Congress

The British government's policy of loose trade regulations and minimal supervision from the early to mid-$18^{th}$ century was known as __________.

salutary neglect

In $1786$, __________ exposed the weakness of the Articles of Confederation and led to calls for a stronger federal government.

Shays' Rebellion

James Madison wrote __________ to argue for a large, commercial republic as a way to prevent rule by majority faction.

Federalist no. $10$

The $1798$ __________ made it harder for immigrants to vote and severely restricted free speech by punishing those who spoke against the government.

Alien and Sedition Acts

The __________ involved machine-made, interchangeable parts assembled by unskilled laborers, a process known as the American System of Manufacturing.

Industrial Revolution

In the case of Marbury v. Madison ($1803$), the Supreme Court established the power of __________, allowing it to invalidate unconstitutional laws.

judicial review

The __________ of $1803$ was negotiated between Thomas Jefferson and Napoleon Bonaparte, doubling the size of the United States.

Louisiana Purchase

At the __________ in $1814$, New England Federalists discussed seceding from the Union, which ultimately led to the death of the Federalist Party.

Hartford Convention

The __________ of $1820$ admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, maintaining the balance in the Senate.

Missouri Compromise

The __________ ($1823$) asserted that the American continents were closed to further European colonization.

Monroe Doctrine

The __________ of $1832$ was a conflict between South Carolina and the federal government over the right of individual states to declare federal laws unconstitutional.

Nullification Crisis

In the case of __________, the Supreme Court ruled that the Cherokee Nation was sovereign and Georgia could not impose state laws within their boundaries.

Worcester v. Georgia

The belief that Americans had a God-given right to take over all land between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans was called __________.

Manifest Destiny

The __________ of $1854$ repealed the Missouri Compromise and allowed white voters in new territories to choose whether their state would be free or slave.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

In the $1857$ case of __________, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney declared that black people could not be citizens and that Congress had no power to bar slavery from a territory.

Dred Scott v. Sandford

The __________ banned slavery in the United States in $1865$.

$13^{th}$ Amendment

The __________ established in $1868$ that all persons born in the United States are citizens and are entitled to equal protection under the law.

$14^{th}$ Amendment

The end of Reconstruction was marked by the __________, which removed military occupation from the South.

Compromise of $1877$

In his Gospel of Wealth, __________ argued that with great wealth comes a philanthropic responsibility to the public.

Andrew Carnegie

The $1886$ __________ crushed the credibility of the Knights of Labor after they were blamed for a violent bomb explosion.

Haymarket Square Riot

In the $1896$ case of __________, the Supreme Court ruled that "separate but equal" facilities were legal.

Plessy v. Ferguson

The __________, included in the Cuban constitution in $1901$, gave the United States control over Cuban foreign affairs and the right to build a naval base.

Platt Amendment

Progressive journalists who wrote exposés on corporate greed and misconduct were nicknamed __________.

muckrakers

The __________ of $1925$ encapsulated the cultural debate between traditionalism and progress regarding the teaching of evolution in schools.

Scopes Monkey Trial

During the Great Depression, homeless populations lived in shantytowns nicknamed __________.

Hoovervilles

FDR's response to the Great Depression was guided by __________, which argued for deliberate deficit spending to revive the economy.

Keynesian economics

The __________ of $1933$ (part of the First New Deal) guaranteed the return of bank deposits through the FDIC.

Banking Act

The Supreme Court case of __________ ($1944$) upheld the constitutionality of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Korematsu v. United States

The policy of __________, established by the Truman Doctrine, meant the U.S. would not instigate war with the USSR but would defend countries in danger of takeover.

containment

In the $1954$ case of __________, the Supreme Court overturned the "separate but equal" standard in public education.

Brown v. Board of Education

The __________ in $1964$ was an act of Congress that allowed the president to take any measures necessary to protect American interests in Vietnam.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

The $1973$ Supreme Court case of __________ legalized abortion nationwide within the first trimester of pregnancy.

Roe v. Wade

Ronald Reagan's economic theory, which proposed that tax cuts for corporations would "trickle down" to create jobs, was called __________.

supply-side economics