Study Topics - Ch 2, 3, 4: Enlightenment, Revolution, Early Republic, and the Civil War

Vocabulary flashcards covering the key study topics from Chapters 2, 3, and 4 on the Enlightenment, Revolution, Early Republic, and the Civil War.

“Common Sense”

A 1776 pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that advocated for the American colonies' independence from Great Britain.

Stamp Act

A 1765 British parliamentary act that imposed a direct tax on printed materials throughout the American colonies.

Enlightenment

An 18th-century intellectual movement emphasizing reason, individualism, and natural rights that profoundly influenced American political philosophy.

Townshend Acts

A series of British measures passed in 1767 that placed duties on imported colonial goods such as glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea.

Boston Tea Party

A 1773 political protest by American colonists who dumped British tea into Boston Harbor to resist taxation without representation.

Boston Massacre

A 1770 confrontation in Boston in which British soldiers fired into an aggressive crowd, killing several colonists.

Federalism

A system of government in which power is divided between a central national authority and constituent political units, such as state governments.

Declaration of Independence

The formal statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, announcing the separation of the thirteen colonies from Great Britain.

Intolerable Acts

Punitive laws enacted by the British Parliament in 1774 to punish Massachusetts following the Boston Tea Party.

John Locke

An English Enlightenment philosopher whose ideas regarding natural rights to life, liberty, and property influenced the founding of the United States.

1st Great Awakening

A religious revival across the American colonies during the 1730s and 1740s that emphasized personal devotion and emotional faith.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1791 to guarantee individual liberties and legal protections.

Federalists vs. Anti-Federalists

The political division over the ratification of the Constitution between proponents of a stronger national government and opponents concerned about states' rights and centralized power.

Articles of Confederation

The original constitution of the United States, which established a decentralized government with strong state autonomy and a weak national legislature.

Separation of Church and State

The principle establishing that government and religious institutions must remain independent of one another.

Establishment Clause

A provision of the First Amendment prohibiting the federal government from establishing a national religion.

Free Exercise Clause

A provision of the First Amendment that protects citizens' rights to practice their religion freely.

Marbury v. Madison

The 1803 Supreme Court case that established the principle of judicial review under Chief Justice John Marshall.

Judicial Review

The authority of the judiciary to review legislative and executive actions and declare them unconstitutional.

Monroe Doctrine

An 1823 policy statement opposing European colonial intervention in the affairs of the Western Hemisphere.

Differences in the economies of the North and South

The economic contrast characterized by an industrialized, wage-labor economy in the North versus an agrarian, plantation-based economy reliant on enslaved labor in the South.

Causes of the Civil War

Sectional tensions rooted in the expansion of slavery, economic disparities, and conflicting views on states' rights and federal authority.

Popular Sovereignty

The doctrine asserting that residents of a territory should vote to determine whether to permit or prohibit slavery within their borders.

Dred Scott v. Sandford

The 1857 Supreme Court ruling that African Americans were not citizens and that Congress lacked constitutional power to ban slavery in federal territories.

Emancipation Proclamation

An 1863 presidential proclamation by Abraham Lincoln declaring the freedom of enslaved individuals in territories in rebellion against the Union.

Gettysburg Address

An 1863 speech by Abraham Lincoln honoring Union soldiers and framing the Civil War as a struggle for human equality and democratic preservation.

Andrew Johnson

The 17th US President who succeeded Lincoln, implemented a lenient approach toward the defeated Confederacy, and clashed with Congressional Republicans over Reconstruction.

Frederick Douglass

An abolitionist leader, orator, and author who escaped enslavement and championed equal rights and suffrage for African Americans.

Jim Crow Laws

State and local statutes enacted across the post-Reconstruction South that mandated racial segregation and disenfranchised Black Americans.

Reconstruction plans (Lincoln, Republicans, Congressional plan)

Different approaches to rebuilding the South and integrating freedpeople, varying from Lincoln's lenient 10% plan to the stricter Congressional plan emphasizing military rule and civil rights protection.

13th, 14th, 15th Amendments

The Reconstruction Amendments that prohibited slavery (13th), guaranteed citizenship, equal protection, and due process (14th), and protected voting rights regardless of race (15th).