APUSH Chapters 4-7

tenancy

The rental of property

competency

The ability of a family to keep a household solvent and independent and to pass that ability on to the next generation.

household mode of production

The system of exchanging goods and labor that helped eighteenth-century New England freeholders survive on ever-shrinking farms as available land became more scarce.

squatters

Someone who settles on land they do not own. Many 18th and 19th century settlers established themselves on land before it was surveyed and entered for sale, requesting the first right to purchase the land when sales began.

redemptioner

A common type of indentured servant in the Middle colonies in the eighteenth century. Unlike other indentured servants, they did not sign a contract before leaving Europe. Instead, they found employers after arriving in America.

Enlightenment

An eighteenth-century philosophical movement that emphasized the use of reason to reevaluate previously accepted doctrines and traditions and the power of reason to understand and shape the world.

Pietism

A Christian revival moment characterized by Bible study, the conversion experience, and the individual's personal relationship with God. It began as an effort to reform the German Lutheran Church in the mid-seventeenth century and became widely influential in Britain and its colonies in the eighteenth century.

PennsylvaniaConstitutionOf1776

The rights to life, liberty, and property.

deism

The Enlightenment-influenced belief that the Christian God created the universe and then left it to run according to natural laws.

revival

A renewal of religious enthusiasm in a Christian congregation. In the eighteenth century, revivals were often inspired by evangelical preachers who urged their listeners to experience a rebirth.

Old Lights

Conservative ministers opposed to the passion displayed by evangelical preachers; they preferred to emphasize the importance of cultivating a virtuous Christian life.

New Lights

Evangelical preachers, many of them influenced by John Wesley, the founder of English Methodism, and George Whitefield, the charismatic itinerant preacher who brought his message to Britain's American colonies. They decried a Christian faith that was merely intellectual and emphasized the importance of a spiritual rebirth.

consumer revolution

An increase in consumption in English manufactures in Britain and the British colonies fueled by the Industrial Revolution. Although the consumer revolution raised living standards, it landed many consumers — and the colonies as a whole — in debt.

Regulators

Landowning protestors who organized in North and South Carolina in the 1760s and 1770s to demand that the eastern-controlled government provide western districts with more courts, fairer taxation, and greater representation in the assembly.

Isaac Newton

an English man who is recognized as one of the greatest mathematicians, physicists, and most influential scientists of all time.

John Locke

English philosopher who argued that people have natural rights; Known as the "Father of Liberty"

Benjamin Franklin

Printer, author, inventor, diplomat, statesman, and Founding Father. One of the few Americans who was highly respected in Europe, primarily due to his discoveries in the field of electricity.

Jonathan Edwards

American theologian whose sermons and writings stimulated a period of renewed interest in religion in America (1703-1758)

George Whitefield

an evangelist who preached in the colonies with a powerful voice during the Great Awakening

Tanaghrisson

An American Indian leader who played a pivotal role in the beginning of the French and Indian War when he killed Jumonville in front of George Washington, after they had become allies.

William Pitt

The Prime Minister of England during the French and Indian War. He was the youngest British Prime Minister elected.

Pontiac

famous chief of the Ottawa who led an unsuccessful rebellion against the British (1715-1769)

Sugar Act of 1764

British law that decreased the duty on French molasses, making it more attractive for shippers to obey the law, and at the same time raised penalties for smuggling. The act enraged New England merchants, who opposed both the tax and the fact that prosecuted merchants would be tried by British-appointed judges in a vice-admiralty court.

vice-admiralty courts

A maritime tribunal presided over by a royally appointed judge, with no jury.

Stamp Act of 1765

British law imposing a tax on all paper used in the colonies. Widespread resistance to the this prevented it from taking effect and led to its repeal in 1766.

virtual representation

The claim made by British politicians that the interests of the American colonists were adequately represented in Parliament by merchants who traded with the colonies and by absentee landlords (mostly sugar planters) who owned estates in the West Indies.

Quartering Act of 1765

A British law passed by Parliament at the request of General Thomas Gage, the British military commander in America, that required colonial governments to provide barracks and food for British troops.

Stamp Act Congress

A congress of delegates from nine assemblies that met in New York City in October 1765 to protest the loss of American "rights and liberties," especially the right to trial by jury. The congress challenged the constitutionality of both the Stamp and Sugar Acts by declaring that only the colonists' elected representatives could tax them.

Sons of Liberty

Colonists - primarily middling merchants and artisans - who banded together to protest the Stamp Act and other imperial reforms of the 1760s. The group originated in Boston in 1765 but soon spread to all the colonies.

English common law

The centuries-old body of legal rules and procedures that protected the lives and property of the British monarch's subjects.

natural rights

The rights to life, liberty, and property

Declaratory Act of 1766

Law issued by Parliament to assert Parliament's unassailable right to legislate for its British colonies "in all cases whatsoever," putting Americans on notice that the simultaneous repeal of the Stamp Act changed nothing in the imperial powers of Britain.

Townshend Act of 1767

British law that established new duties (taxes) on tea, glass, lead, paper, and painters' colors imported into the colonies. They led to boycotts and heightened tensions between Britain and the American colonies.

nonimportation movement

Colonists attempted nonimportation agreements three times: in 1766, in response to the Stamp Act; in 1768, in response to the Townshend duties; and in 1774, in response to the Coercive Acts. In each case, colonial radicals pressured merchants to stop importing British goods. In 1774 nonimportation was adopted by the First Continental Congress and enforced by the Continental Association. American women became crucial to the movement by reducing their households' consumption of imported goods and producing large quantities of homespun cloth.

committees of correspondence

A communications network established among towns in the colonies, and among colonial assemblies, between 1772 and 1773 to provide for rapid dissemination of news about important political developments.

Tea Act of May 1773

British act that lowered the existing tax on tea and granted exemptions to the East India Company to make their tea cheaper in the colonies and entice boycotting Americans to buy it. Resistance to this led to the passage of the Coercive Acts and imposition of military rule in Massachusetts.

Coercive Acts

Four British acts of 1774 meant to punish Massachusetts for the destruction of three shiploads of tea. Known in America as the Intolerable Acts, they led to open rebellion in the northern colonies.

Continental Association

An association established in 1774 by the First Continental Congress to enforce a boycott of British goods.

Continental Congress

September 1774 gathering of colonial delegates in Philadelphia to discuss the crisis precipitated by the Coercive Acts. The Congress produced a declaration of rights and an agreement to impose a limited boycott of trade with Britain.

Dunmore's War

A 1774 war led by Virginia's royal governor, the Earl of Dunmore, against the Ohio Shawnees, who had a long-standing claim to Kentucky as a hunting ground. The Shawnees were defeated and Dunmore and his militia forces claimed Kentucky as their own.

Minutemen

Colonial militiamen who stood ready to mobilize on short notice during the imperial crisis of the 1770s. These volunteers formed the core of the citizens' army that met British troops at Lexington and Concord in April 1775.

Second Continental Congress

Legislative body that governed the United States from May 1775 through the war's duration. It established an army, created its own money, and declared independence once all hope for a peaceful reconciliation with Britain was gone.

Declaration of Independence

A document containing philosophical principles and a list of grievances that declared separation from Britain. Adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, it ended a period of intense debate with moderates still hoping to reconcile with Britain.

Popular Sovereignty

The principle that ultimate power lies in the hands of the electorate.

George Grenville

British prime minister who decided the colonists should help with the taxes

John Dickinson

Conservative leader who wrote "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania"; advocated for colonial rights but urged conciliation with England & opposed the Declaration of Independence; helped to write the Articles of Confederation.

Charles Townshend

British Prime Minister. Influenced Parliament to pass the Townshend Acts.

Lord North

Prime Minister of England from 1770 to 1782 and led Great Britain through most of the American War of Independence

Samuel Adams

American Revolutionary leader and patriot, Founder of the Sons of Liberty and one of the most vocal patriots for independence; signed the Declaration of Independence

Lord Dunmore

Royal governor of Virginia who issued a proclamation promising freedom for any enslaved black in Virginia who joined the British army

Thomas Paine

American Revolutionary leader and pamphleteer (born in England) who supported the American colonist's fight for independence and supported the French Revolution (1737-1809). Author of "Common Sense"

Thomas Jefferson

Wrote the Declaration of Independence,

3rd President of the United States

Battle of Long Island

First major engagement of the new Continental army, defending against 32,000 British troops outside of New York City.

Battle of Saratoga

A multistage battle in New York ending with the surrender of British general John Burgoyne. The victory ensured the diplomatic success of American representatives in Paris, who won a military alliance with France.

Valley Forge

A military camp in which George Washington's army of 12,000 soldiers and hundreds of camp followers suffered horribly in the winter of 1777-1778.

Philipsburg Proclamation

A 1779 proclamation that declared that any slave who deserted a rebel master would receive protection, freedom, and land from Great Britain.

Battle of Yorktown

A battle in which French and American troops and a French fleet trapped the British army under the command of General Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia. The Franco-American victory broke the resolve of the British government.

currency tax

A hidden tax on the farmers and artisans who accepted Continental bills in payment for supplies and on the thousands of soldiers who took them as pay. Because of rampant inflation, Continental currency lost much of its value during the war; thus, the implicit tax on those who accepted it as payment.

Treaty of Paris 1783

This treaty ended the Revolutionary War, recognized the independence of the American colonies, and granted the colonies the territory from the southern border of Canada to the northern border of Florida, and from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi River

Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776

A constitution that granted all taxpaying men the right to vote and hold office and created a unicameral (one-house) legislature with complete power; there was no governor to exercise a veto. Other provisions mandated a system of elementary education and protected citizens from imprisonment for debt.

mixed government

John Adams's theory from Thoughts on Government (1776), which called for three branches of government, each representing one function: executive, legislative, and judicial. This system of dispersed authority was devised to maintain a balance of power and ensure the legitimacy of governmental procedures.

Articles of Confederation

The written document defining the structure of the government from 1781 to 1788, under which the Union was a confederation of equal states, with no executive and limited powers, existing mainly to foster a common defense.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

A land act that provided for orderly settlement and established a process by which settled territories would become the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. It also banned slavery in the Northwest Territory.

Shay's Rebellion

A 1786-1787 uprising led by dissident farmers in western Massachusetts, many of them Revolutionary War veterans, protesting the taxation policies of the eastern elites who controlled the state's government.

Virginia Plan

A plan drafted by James Madison that was presented at the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention. It designed a powerful three-branch government, with representation in both houses of the congress tied to population; this plan would have eclipsed the voice of small states in the national government.

New Jersey Plan

Alternative to the Virginia Plan drafted by delegates from small states, retaining the confederation's single-house congress with one vote per state. It shared with the Virginia Plan enhanced congressional powers to raise revenue, control commerce, and make binding requisitions on the states.

Federalists

Supporters of the Constitution of 1787, which created a strong central government; their opponents, the Antifederalists, feared that a strong central government would corrupt the nation's newly won liberty.

Antifederalists

Opponents of ratification of the Constitution. They feared that a powerful and distant central government would be out of touch with the needs of citizens. They also complained that it failed to guarantee individual liberties in a bill of rights.

Federalist No. 10

An essay by James Madison in The Federalist (1787-1788) that challenged the view that republican governments only worked in small polities; it argued that a geographically expansive national government would better protect republican liberty.

General George Washington

Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. Brilliantly led America to victory and freedom in the American Revolution. Became 1st US president

General William Howe

He took command of British troops in North America after the Battle of Bunker Hill. He captured New York and Philadelphia, but botched the plan to isolate the New England colonies in 1777. He resigned in 1778.

General Horatio Gates

American general at Battle of Saratoga. Formed a new Southern army after defeat at Charles Town. Lost to Cornwallis in Camden.

Robert Morris

an American merchant and a signer to the United States Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the United States Constitution. Significance: He played an important role in personally financing the American side in the Revolutionary War from 1781 to 1784. Hence, he came to be known as the 'Financier of the Revolution'.

Baron von Steuben

Prussian soldier who helped train American forces at Valley Forge in the American Revolutionary War.

Judith Sargent Murray

Female rights activist following the revolution who argued that the brain is not a sex organ. She wrote "On the Equality of Sexes".

James Madison

"Father of the Constitution," Federalist leader, and fourth President of the United States.

Judiciary Act of 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.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments of the U.S. Constitution, officially ratified by 1791. The amendments safeguarded fundamental personal rights, including freedom of speech and religion, and mandated legal procedures.

Report on the Public Credit

Alexander Hamilton's 1790 report recommending that the federal government should assume all state debts and fund the national debt — that is, offer interest on it rather than repaying it — at full value. Hamilton's goal was to make the new country creditworthy, not debt-free.

Bank of the United States

A bank chartered in 1790 and jointly owned by private stockholders and the national government. Alexander Hamilton argued that the bank would provide stability to the specie-starved American economy by making loans to merchants, handling government funds, and issuing bills of credit.

Report on Manufactorers

A proposal by treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton in 1791 calling for the federal government to urge the expansion of American manufacturing while imposing tariffs on foreign imports.

Proclamation of Neutrality

A proclamation issued by President George Washington in 1793, allowing U.S. citizens to trade with all belligerents in the war between France and Great Britain.

French Revolution

A 1789 revolution in France that was initially welcomed by most Americans because it abolished feudalism and established a constitutional monarchy, but eventually came to seem too radical to many.

Jacobins

A political faction in the French Revolution. Many Americans embraced the democratic ideology of the radical Jacobins and, like them, formed political clubs and began to address one another as "citizen."

Whiskey Rebellion

A 1794 uprising by farmers in western Pennsylvania in response to enforcement of an unpopular excise tax on whiskey.

Jay's Treaty

A 1795 treaty between the United States and Britain, negotiated by John Jay. The treaty accepted Britain's right to stop neutral ships. In return, it allowed Americans to submit claims for illegal seizures and required the British to remove their troops and Indian agents from the Northwest Territory.

Haitian Revolution

The 1791 conflict involving diverse Haitian participants and armies from three European countries. At its end, Haiti became a free, independent nation in which former slaves were citizens.

XYZ Affair

A 1797 incident in which American negotiators in France were rebuffed for refusing to pay a substantial bribe. The incident led the United States into an undeclared war that curtailed American trade with the French West Indies.

Naturalization, Alien, and Sedition Acts

Three laws passed in 1798 that limited individual rights and threatened the fledgling party system. The Naturalization Act lengthened the residency requirement for citizenship, the Alien Act authorized the deportation of foreigners, and the Sedition Act prohibited the publication of insults or malicious attacks on the president or members of Congress.

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions

Resolutions of 1798 condemning the Alien and Sedition Acts that were submitted to the federal government by the Virginia and Kentucky state legislatures. The resolutions tested the idea that state legislatures could judge the constitutionality of federal laws and nullify them.

Treaty of Greenville

A 1795 treaty between the United States and various Indian tribes in Ohio. American negotiators acknowledged Indian ownership of the land, and, in return for various payments, the Western Confederacy ceded most of Ohio to the United States.

Marbury v Madison

Supreme Court case that established the principle of judicial review in finding that parts of the Judiciary Act of 1789 were in conflict with the Constitution. For the first time, the Supreme Court assumed legal authority to overrule acts of other branches of the government.

Louisiana Purchase

The 1803 purchase of French territory west of the Mississippi River that stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. It nearly doubled the size of the United States and opened the way for future American expansion west. The purchase required President Thomas Jefferson to exercise powers not explicitly granted to him by the Constitution.

Embargo Act of 1807

An act of Congress that prohibited U.S. ships from traveling to foreign ports and effectively banned overseas trade in an attempt to deter Britain from halting U.S. ships at sea. The embargo caused grave hardships for Americans engaged in overseas commerce.

Battle of Tippecanoe

An attack on Shawnee Indians at Prophetstown on the Tippecanoe River in 1811 by American forces headed by William Henry Harrison, Indiana's territorial governor. The governor's troops traded heavy casualties with the confederacy's warriors and then destroyed the holy village.

Treaty of Ghent

The treaty signed on Christmas Eve 1814 that ended the War of 1812. It retained the prewar borders of the United States.

McCulloch v Maryland

A Supreme Court case that asserted the dominance of national over state statutes.

Adams-Onis Treaty

An 1819 treaty in which John Quincy Adams persuaded Spain to cede the Florida territory to the United States. In return, the American government accepted Spain's claim to Texas and agreed to a compromise on the western boundary for the state of Louisiana.

Monroe Doctorine

The 1823 declaration by President James Monroe that the Western Hemisphere was closed to any further colonization or interference by European powers. In exchange, Monroe pledged that the United States would not become involved in European struggles.

Alexander Hamilton

1789-1795; First Secretary of the Treasury. He advocated creation of a national bank, assumption of state debts by the federal government, and a tariff system to pay off the national debt.