History Midterm Study Guide

Christopher Columbus

Italian explorer, sailed under the Spanish flag, credited with discovering America

Amerigo Vespucci

Italian explorer, sailed under the Portuguese flag

Juan Ponce de Leon

Spanish explorer looking for the Fountain of Youth explores Florida

Columbian Exchange

trading of goods between the old and new world; disease slaves, crops, . . .

Middle Passage

refers to the time slaves spent on the ship in the Atlantic during the slave trade

slavery in the colonies

slavery rose as tobacco became more and more demanded and resulted in the breakup of many families

Roanoke Colony

referred to as the lost colony

Jamestown

first permanent English settlement in new world

Plymouth

first European settlement in New England

Pilgrims

Puritans that sailed to Plymouth to escape Religious persecution in England

Mayflower

the ship the Pilgrims came on

Pocahontas

daughter of Powhatan chief, tries to make peace between the two sides, marries John Rolfe

Bacon’s Rebellion

rebellion led by Nathaniel Bacon against Virginia Governor William Berkely for how he ran the colony

Roger Williams

left Massachusetts colony and founded Rhode Island

Virginia House of Burgesses

government style of Virginia, models Congress

Mayflower Compact

document that set up government in Massachusetts

New Netherlands

colonies of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Delaware that were all owned by the Dutch

The 13 Colonies

ruled by the British - New England, Middle, Southern

Massachusetts

1620, Puritans/Pilgrims, religious tolerance

Pennsylvania

1682, William Penn, religious freedom for Quakers, Latin for woodlands

Delaware

originally Swedish then Dutch and finally British in 1664

Maryland

1633, Lord Baltimore, religious freedom for Catholics, named after Queen Henrietta Maria

Virginia

1607, John Smith and John Rolfe, founded at Jamestown, powhatans Wars, named for Elizabeth I (Virgin Queen)

Georgia

1732, James Oglethorpe, haven for debtors, buffer colony to protect from Spanish Florida

John Winthrop

first governor of Massachusetts

John Smith

founder/settler of Jamestown

John Rolfe

married Pocahontas

tobacco

cash crop of the colonies

Indentured Servitude

pay off debts by working for a master (sort of like slavery); after a certain amount of time, they gain their freedom

The French and Indian War

fought between Britain, France, and the natives over the Ohio River Valley; British won, expelling France from the New World; British gained control of Canada and most of the US, as well as control over the Ohio River Valley

Proclamation of 1763

forbade any settlement by colonists west of the Appalachian Mountains; went against the British policy of Salutary Neglect

American Revolution

1775-1781 fighting, 1783 treaty; fought over taxes and the tyrannical rise of the British government; US gained their independence

King George III

king of England that raises the taxes on the colonists

colonial protests

boycotting, Boston Tea Party

British advantages

superior army, manpower, money, weaponry

“No taxation without representation.”

rallying cry of the colonists against Britain

Sons of Liberty

group that planned and carried out the Boston Tea Party

Boston Massacre

a street brawl between the American colonists and the British soldiers

Boston Tea Party

American colonists frustrated at Britain for imposing taxation without representation; dumped 342 chests of tea imported by the British East India Company into Boston Harbor

Quartering Act

all colonists must quarter (house) British soldiers

Stamp Act

a tax on newspaper and legal and commercial documents

Declaratory Act

Parliament has the power to pass laws on the colonies in all cases whatsoever

Townshend Act

tax on British goods including - paint, paper, lead, glass, and tea

Tea Act

created a monopoly in the American colonies for tea; it allowed the British East India Company to sell its tea at a lower price charged by colonial competitors

Intolerable Acts

4 laws passed on Boston after the Boston Tea Party - closed the port/harbor of Boston to all trade, ordered a full regiment of British troops to be garrisoned (stationed) within Boston, ordered that any British soldier charged with a crime would be returned to England for trial, forbade public assemblies of colonists

John Dickinson

dominated talks at the First Continental Congress

shot heard round the world

first shot of the revolution at Lexington

Lexington and Concord

the first battles of the revolution, Lexington was a win for the British, Concord was a win for the colonists; the British were on their way to seize guns and ammunition from Concord

Green Mountain Boys

Vermont militia that aided in the taking of Fort Ticonderoga

Siege of Boston

the entrapment of British forces in Boston

George Washington

Commander of the Continental Army

Battle of Bunker Hill

a win for the British at Breed’s Hill but showed the colonists could fight; “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.”

Olive Branch Petition

final attempt by colonists to avoid going to war with Britain; colonists pledged their loyalty to the crown

Thomas Paine

author of Common Sense and the Crisis

Common Sense

was written by Thomas Paine; it proclaimed that the time had come to declare independence from England

Declaration of Independence

July 4, 1776; declares independence from Britain; act of treason; all men are created equal; life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, inspired by John Locke and Thomas Paine

Ben Franklin

one of the members of the Declaration committee that was one of the biggest advocates for independence

ommittee members

Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, Livingston, Sherman

Valley Forge

winter of 1777-1778; Washington’s militia becomes a professional army

Baron Von Steuben

Prussian commander that trained the American soldiers at Valley Forge

Washington crosses the Delaware

on Christmas night 1776 on way to Trenton

Battle of Trenton

sunrise attack against the Hessians, win for the colonists, convinces soldiers to reenlist

Hessians

German mercenaries

Battle of Monmouth

a stalemate or a tie, after the botched attack by Charles Lee

Battle of Saratoga

turning point of the war, France and Spain join the colonists in fight against British

Guerilla Warfare

hit and run tactics

Battle of Yorktown

the final battle of the war; the British were surrounded by French and Continental groups; Washington was helped by Lafayette and Rochambeau

Treaty of Paris

officially ends the war in 1783, two years after the battle of Yorktown, Article 1 grants freedom and independent America

republic

a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch

Federalism

government style in which one area is governed by at least 2 sets of government (ie state and federal governments)

Articles of Confederation

first constitution of the US; STATES had more power

Shays’ Rebellion

armed uprising in Western Massachusetts in opposition to a debt crisis among the citizenry and the state government’s increased efforts to collect taxes both on individuals and their trades; showed the weakness of the Articles of Confederation

Constitutional Convention

was intended to revise the league of states and first system of government under the Articles of Confederation; resulted in a new Constitution

checks and balances

process of keeping one branch of government from becoming too powerful

Virginia Plan

proposed a very powerful bicameral (2 house) legislature; representation in both houses of the legislature would be determined proportionately (by population); big states benefited from this plan

New Jersey Plan

closer to the initial call for the Convention - drafting amendments to the Articles of Confederation to fix the problems in it; under the New Jersey, the existing continental congress would remain, but it would be granted new powers, such as the power to levy taxes and force their collection; benefited smaller states

ratify

sign or give formal consent to (a treaty, contract, or agreement), making it officially valid

compromise

an agreement or a settlement of a dispute that is reached by each side making concessions

The Great Compromise

created by Roger Sherman; bicameral legislature; upper house equal representation, lower house representation based on population

Three-Fifths Compromise

question on whether slaves should count towards population; the compromise solution was to count three out of every five slaves as people for this purpose

Federalists

believed in the Constitution and a strong central government (ie John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay)

Anti-Federalists

opposed ratification of constitution (ie Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee)

Federalist Paper

written by Hamilton, Madison, an Jay to advocate for the ratification of the Constitution

James Madison

father of the Constitution, as he wrote the Bill of Rights to appease Anti-Federalists

Bill of Rights

first ten amendments; basic rights of the people

The First Amendment

freedom of speech, religion, press, petition, and assembly

The Second Amendment

right to bear arms

The Fourth Amendment

unreasonable searches and seizures without probable cause or warrant

The Eighth Amendment

no cruel or unusual punishment

The Thirteenth Amendment

abolishes slavery

The Nineteenth Amendment

gave women the right to vote

Article I

set up Legislative branch (Congress)

House of Representatives

based on population; led by the Speaker of the House (Mike Johnson)

Senate

equal representation; led by the President pro tempore if the VP is not available

how does a bill become a law

starts in either house -> goes through committee -> voted on floor (simple majority) -> goes to other house for simple majority vote -> president signs or vetoes bill

Article II

set up Executive branch

cabinet

Presidential advisors on different aspects

positions in the Cabinet

Secretary of State, Defense, Treasure, Education, Interior, Attorney General

Electoral College

the body that chooses the President and VP every 4 years

how many electoral votes are needed to win the election

270