US History Advanced Flashcards: 1491 to Present

Comprehensive flashcards covering key terms, historical events, and Supreme Court cases from $$1491$$ to the present in U.S. history.

Iroquois Confederacy

A political alliance of Indigenous nations in the Northeast with complex political systems and trade networks.

Pueblo peoples

Indigenous societies in the Southwest known for their specialized agriculture and living in large pueblos.

Mississippian cultures

Large mound-building Indigenous societies, such as those found in Cahokia.

Columbian Exchange

A massive transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and people between the Old and New Worlds starting in $1492$.

Smallpox

An Old World disease that caused a dramatic population decline among Native Americans during the Columbian Exchange.

Hernán Cortés

The Spanish explorer who conquered the Aztec Empire in Tenochtitlán between $1519$ and $1521$.

Tenochtitlán

The capital of the Aztec Empire defeated by Hernán Cortés and his Indigenous allies.

Encomienda

A forced labor system established by Spain in the Americas to manage colonial land and labor.

Francisco Vásquez de Coronado

Spanish explorer who searched the Southwest during the $1540s$ for the mythical "Seven Cities of Cibola."

Presidios

Military forts established by Spain to protect shipping routes and settlements.

St. Augustine

Established in $1565$ in Florida, it is the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in what is now the United States.

Spanish Armada

The Spanish naval fleet defeated by England in $1588$, marking the decline of Spanish sea dominance.

Jamestown

Founded in $1607$, it was the first permanent English settlement in North America.

Virginia Company

The joint-stock company that founded the Jamestown settlement.

Powhatan Confederacy

The Native American alliance that experienced conflict and interaction with early Jamestown settlers.

John Rolfe

The Jamestown colonist whose introduction of tobacco cultivation ensured the colony's survival.

Headright System

A $1618$ policy granting land to colonists in Virginia who paid for their own or others' passage.

House of Burgesses

Created in $1619$ in Virginia, it was the first elected colonial legislature in America.

Enslaved Africans in Jamestown

The first group of enslaved Africans to arrive in Virginia in $1619$, beginning the shift toward racialized chattel slavery.

Pilgrims (Separatists)

Religious group that landed in Plymouth in $1620$ to seek religious freedom outside Virginia Company control.

Mayflower Compact

A $1620$ self-governing agreement based on majority rule and the consent of the governed.

Massachusetts Bay Colony

Puritan colony founded in $1630$ under the leadership of John Winthrop.

John Winthrop

The Puritan leader of the Massachusetts Bay Colony who envisioned a "city upon a hill."

Pequot War

A conflict from $1636$ to $1638$ resulting in the destruction of the Pequot as a political force in New England.

Maryland Toleration Act

A $1649$ law granting religious freedom to all Christians, including Catholics and Protestants.

Navigation Acts

A series of laws from $1651$ to the $1660s$ enforcing mercantilist policies by requiring colonies to trade only with England.

Mercantilism

The economic policy of using colonies to provide raw materials and trade profits to the mother country.

Bacon’s Rebellion

A $1676$ revolt by frontier settlers in Virginia against Governor Berkeley over land and Native American policy.

Governor Berkeley

The elite governor of Virginia whose policies sparked the rebellion led by Nathaniel Bacon.

Dominion of New England

A late $1680s$ consolidation of colonies under tight royal control by King James II.

Glorious Revolution

The $1688$ overthrow of King James II in England, which led to the collapse of the Dominion of New England.

Salem Witch Trials

A $1692$ period of mass hysteria in Massachusetts resulting in the execution of $20$ people for witchcraft.

First Great Awakening

A religious revival in the $1730s$ and $1740s$ emphasizing emotional faith and personal salvation.

Jonathan Edwards

A primary preacher of the First Great Awakening known for his emotional and revivalist sermons.

New Lights

Revivalist religious groups during the Great Awakening who challenged traditional church authority.

Zenger Trial

A $1735$ legal case in New York that established truth as a defense for libel, founding freedom of the press.

Albany Plan of Union

A $1754$ proposal by Benjamin Franklin for colonial unity against French threats; though rejected, it was a major precedent.

French and Indian War

A conflict from $1754$ to $1763$ over territory in the Ohio River Valley; the British victory ended French presence in North America.

Proclamation Line of 1763

A British order forbidding colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains to avoid conflict with Native Americans.

Sugar Act

A $1764$ tax on imported sugar and molasses intended to help pay British war debts.

Stamp Act

A $1765$ direct tax on printed materials in the colonies, sparking the protest "no taxation without representation."

Declaratory Act

A $1766$ law stating that the British Parliament had full authority over the colonies "in all cases whatsoever."

Townshend Acts

A series of $1767$ taxes on imported goods like glass, paint, paper, and tea.

Boston Massacre

A $1770$ event where British soldiers killed $5$ colonists, becoming a symbol of British oppression.

Tea Act

A $1773$ law giving the British East India Company a monopoly on tea sales in the colonies.

Boston Tea Party

A $1773$ protest where colonists dumped British tea into Boston Harbor.

Coercive/Intolerable Acts

The $1774$ British punishment for Massachusetts, closing Boston Harbor and restricting self-government.

First Continental Congress

A $1774$ meeting of colonies to coordinate boycotts and petitions against British policies.

Lexington and Concord

The sites of the first armed conflict of the American Revolution in $1775$, known as the "shot heard 'round the world."

Common Sense

A pamphlet by Thomas Paine that argued for American independence in simple language.

Declaration of Independence

The $1776$ document written by Thomas Jefferson declaring the colonies free from Britain based on natural rights.

Battle of Saratoga

The $1777$ turning point of the Revolution that convinced France to formally ally with the United States.

Articles of Confederation

The first national government of the U.S. ($1781$), which featured a weak central authority with no tax power.

Battle of Yorktown

The final major battle of the Revolutionary War ($1781$) where the British surrendered to George Washington.

Treaty of Paris (1783)

The peace treaty that officially recognized U.S. independence and established borders to the Mississippi River.

Northwest Ordinance

A $1787$ law creating a system for admitting new states and banning slavery in the Northwest Territory.

Constitutional Convention

The $1787$ meeting in which delegates replaced the Articles of Confederation with a stronger U.S. Constitution.

Bill of Rights

The first $10$ amendments to the Constitution, ratified in $1791$ to protect individual and state liberties.

Whiskey Rebellion

A $1794$ revolt by farmers against an excise tax that was suppressed by federal militia under George Washington.

Jay Treaty

A $1795$ agreement that improved trade with Britain but caused diplomatic tension with France.

XYZ Affair

A $1797$ to $1798$ diplomatic scandal where French officials demanded bribes, leading to an undeclared naval conflict.

Alien & Sedition Acts

A $1798$ series of laws restricting immigration and limiting criticism of the federal government.

Revolution of 1800

The election of Thomas Jefferson which marked the first peaceful transfer of power between parties.

Marbury v. Madison

The $1803$ case establishing judicial review, allowing the Supreme Court to strike down unconstitutional laws.

Louisiana Purchase

The $1803$ deal in which Thomas Jefferson bought territory from France, doubling the size of the U.S.

Lewis & Clark Expedition

A $1804$ to $1806$ mission to map the Louisiana Territory and document its resources and geography.

Embargo Act

Jefferson's $1807$ ban on foreign trade intended to avoid war, which severely damaged the New England economy.

War of 1812

A conflict between the U.S. and Britain caused by naval impressment and trade restrictions; ended in a stalemate.

Hartford Convention

A $1814$ meeting of Federalists who opposed the War of 1812, leading to the collapse of their party.

Battle of New Orleans

A $1815$ victory by Andrew Jackson that fueled post-war nationalism and the "Era of Good Feelings."

Panic of 1819

The first major economic depression in the U.S., caused by land speculation and bank failures.

Missouri Compromise

An $1820$ agreement admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as free, with slavery banned north of the $36°30′$ line.

Monroe Doctrine

An $1823$ declaration that Europe should no longer colonize or interfere in the Western Hemisphere.

Gibbons v. Ogden

The $1824$ Supreme Court ruling that the federal government controls all interstate commerce.

Tariff of Abominations

An $1828$ high tariff that favored Northern industry but hurt the Southern economy, sparking the Nullification Crisis.

Nullification Crisis

The confrontation in which South Carolina claimed it could nullify federal laws it deemed unconstitutional.

Indian Removal Act

An $1830$ law authorizing the forced relocation of Native Americans to lands west of the Mississippi.

Trail of Tears

The name for the mass suffering and death during the forced relocation of Native Americans to Indian Territory.

Nat Turner Rebellion

A violent $1831$ uprising of enslaved people in Virginia that led to the passage of harsher slave codes.

Worcester v. Georgia

The $1832$ case where the Supreme Court supported Cherokee sovereignty, though the ruling was ignored by Andrew Jackson.

Bank War

The political struggle over Andrew Jackson's veto of the Second Bank of the U.S. and removal of federal deposits.

Panic of 1837

An economic depression caused by speculative fever, bank failures, and Jackson's financial policies.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

The $1848$ agreement ending the Mexican-American War and ceding the Southwest to the United States.

Seneca Falls Convention

The first women’s rights convention in $1848$, launching the organized women's rights movement.

Declaration of Sentiments

The document signed at Seneca Falls demanding equality and suffrage for women.

Compromise of 1850

Legislative package that admitted California as a free state and strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act.

Fugitive Slave Act

A strict law requiring citizens to assist in the capture of runaway enslaved people, increasing Northern opposition.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

A $1852$ novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe that depicted the brutality of slavery and fueled abolitionism.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

An $1854$ law allowing popular sovereignty in the territories, repealing the Missouri Compromise.

Republican Party

Formed in $1854$ as an anti-slavery expansion party following the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

Dred Scott v. Sandford

The $1857$ decision ruling that African Americans were property, not citizens, and that Congress could not ban slavery in territories.

Lincoln–Douglas Debates

A series of $1858$ debates focusing on the expansion of slavery into the territories.

John Brown’s Raid

An $1859$ abolitionist attack on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry to trigger a slave rebellion.

Election of 1860

The victory of Abraham Lincoln that triggered the secession of Southern states from the Union.

Civil War

The conflict between the Union and Confederacy from $1861$ to $1863$ over slavery and national unity.

Homestead Act

An $1862$ law granting free land to settlers in the West to encourage expansion.

Pacific Railway Act

An $1862$ law providing federal funding for the construction of the transcontinental railroad.

Emancipation Proclamation

A military and moral decree in $1863$ freeing enslaved people in Confederate states.

Battle of Gettysburg

An $1863$ Union victory in Pennsylvania that served as a turning point of the Civil War.

13th Amendment

The constitutional amendment ratified in $1865$ that abolished slavery nationwide.