History 1301 - Exam 1 Review: Exploration to Early Republic

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering all major historical terms, concepts, and key events from the History 1301 Exam 1 Review.

Great League of Peace

A confederacy formed by the five Iroquois nations (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca) to bring stability, peace, and order to the region.

Columbian Exchange

The transatlantic exchange of goods, plants, animals, human populations, and diseases between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres following Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage.

The Black Legend

The reputation of the Spanish Empire as uniquely cruel, brutal, and abusive toward Native Americans, often promoted by European rivals to justify their own imperial colonizations.

Caravel

A small, highly maneuverable European sailing ship developed by the Portuguese in the 15th century that made long ocean exploration voyages feasible.

Jamestown

Established in 1607 in Virginia, this was the first permanent English settlement in North America.

Headright system

A land grant policy introduced in Virginia that awarded 50 acres of land to colonists who paid for their own or another person's passage across the Atlantic.

House of Burgesses

The first representative legislative assembly created in colonial British America, established in Virginia in 1619.

Puritans

English Protestant dissenters who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic traditions and founded colonies in New England to practice their faith.

Mayflower Compact

A 1620 agreement signed by Pilgrim leaders aboard the Mayflower establishing a self-governing civil body politic governed by majority rule in Plymouth Colony.

John Winthrop

The first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, famous for describing the Puritan community as a 'city upon a hill.'

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

A 1639 agreement framing government power in Connecticut, considered by many to be the first written constitution in America.

Mercantilism

An economic strategy in which European mother countries closely regulated colonial trade to maximize national wealth, ensuring exports exceeded imports.

Bacon's Rebellion

An armed uprising in 1676 led by Nathaniel Bacon against Virginia Governor William Berkeley over frontier Indian policies and economic inequality.

Transatlantic Slave Trade

The vast commercial network that forcibly transported millions of African human beings across the Atlantic Ocean to forced labor in the Americas.

Middle Passage

The brutal oceanic transit route across the Atlantic Ocean that transported enslaved Africans to the Americas under crowded, unsanitary, and deadly conditions.

Salutary Neglect

An informal 18th-century British policy of lax enforcement of Parliamentary trade regulations, allowing American colonies relative political and economic autonomy.

Zenger Trial

A landmark 1735 court case involving printer John Peter Zenger that established truth as a defense against libel, laying foundations for free press in America.

Great Awakening

A major religious revival that swept across the American colonies during the 1730s and 1740s, promoting emotional, personal preaching and individual spiritual accountability.

Proclamation Line of 1763

A British royal boundary along the Appalachian Mountains prohibiting Anglo-American colonial settlement west of the crest following the Seven Years' War.

Boston Massacre

A fatal confrontation in 1770 in which British troops opened fire on a hostile crowd of Boston colonists, killing five citizens.

Intolerable Acts

A set of punitive measures passed by the British Parliament in 1774 in retaliation for the Boston Tea Party, closing Boston's port and curtailing self-government in Massachusetts.

Common Sense

A 1776 political pamphlet authored by Thomas Paine that powerfully advocated for American independence from Great Britain and monarchical rule.

Declaration of Independence

The historic document adopted on July 4, 1776, drafting the formal separation of thirteen American colonies from Great Britain based on natural rights.

Republican Motherhood

An ideology following the American Revolution holding that women held a vital civic duty to raise virtuous, educated sons to be good republican citizens.

Articles of Confederation

The original governing constitution of the United States (1781–1789), which created a weak central legislative body with power predominantly retained by individual states.

Northwest Ordinance

A 1787 congressional law establishing a mechanism for admitting new Midwestern states from the Northwest Territory and outlawing slavery in that region.

Shays Rebellion

An uprising in 1786–1787 by impoverished western Massachusetts farmers led by Daniel Shays over economic stress and debt foreclosures, exposing the weaknesses of the central government.

Constitutional Convention

The 1787 gathering in Philadelphia where state delegates drafted the United States Constitution to replace the inadequate Articles of Confederation.

Virginia Plan

A proposal at the Constitutional Convention drafted by James Madison advocating a bicameral legislature where state representation was based on population.

New Jersey Plan

A proposal at the Constitutional Convention advocated by smaller states calling for a unicameral legislature with equal voting representation per state.

Great Compromise

The agreement at the Constitutional Convention establishing a bicameral Congress consisting of the House of Representatives (proportional representation) and the Senate (equal state representation).

3/5th Clause

A constitutional compromise providing that three-fifths of the enslaved population would be counted for both congressional representation and direct taxation.

Federalists

Proponents of ratifying the 1787 U.S. Constitution who favored a strong central government, balanced national executive power, and commercial development.

Anti-Federalists

Opponents of the 1787 U.S. Constitution who feared excessive federal authority, advocated for state sovereignty, and insisted on adding a Bill of Rights.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments added to the U.S. Constitution in 1791 to guarantee explicitly individual liberties and protect citizens against federal overreach.

Hamilton's Financial Plan

Alexander Hamilton's fiscal strategy involving federal assumption of state revolutionary debts, establishment of a national bank, and protective tariffs.

Democratic Republican party

An early political party organized by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison championing agrarian interest, limited national government powers, and strict interpretation of the Constitution.

Whiskey Rebellion

A 1794 armed revolt in western Pennsylvania protesting a federal tax on distilled spirits, suppressed by a national military mobilization dispatched by George Washington.

Washington's Farewell Address

President George Washington's 1796 written address advising the nation to avoid political partisan divisions, geographical rivalries, and permanent foreign alliances.

Alien and Sedition Acts

Four restrictive laws passed in 1798 by Federalists that heightened immigration rules and criminalized false or scandalous criticism directed against the federal government.

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions

Resolutions written by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson contending that state legislatures possessed authority to nullify unconstitutional federal laws like the Alien and Sedition Acts.

Marbury v. Madison

The landmark 1803 Supreme Court case that formally established the doctrine of judicial review, granting the Supreme Court power to nullify unconstitutional federal legislation.

Louisiana Purchase

The 1803 land acquisition from France under President Thomas Jefferson that doubled the geographical land area of the United States.

Embargo Act

A 1807 law championed by President Thomas Jefferson banning American ships from sailing to foreign ports to avoid conflict and defend neutral shipping rights.

War of 1812

A military conflict fought between the United States and Great Britain driven by British impressment of sailors, trade rights disputes, and native tensions along western borders.