American History I – Exam 3 Study Guide

Vocabulary flashcards covering the key people, battles, political events, treaties, and constitutional debates from the American Revolution through the Election of 1800, based on the Exam 3 study guide.

Loyalists (Tories)

Colonists who remained loyal to the British Crown, making up roughly 15–20% of the population, many of whom fled or were exiled following the Revolutionary War.

Patriots (Whigs)

Colonists who supported resistance against Great Britain and fought for American independence.

The American Crisis

A pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in the fall of 1776 to rally Continental soldiers and boost morale after Washington's retreat from New York City.

Battle of Trenton (Dec. 1776)

A military engagement in New Jersey where Washington crossed the Delaware River and surprised Hessian forces.

Battle of Princeton (Jan. 1777)

An American victory in New Jersey that restored troop morale and aided re-enlistment efforts.

Marquis de Lafayette

Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, a young French aristocrat who volunteered for the American cause, grew close to Washington, fought through Yorktown, and served as an early symbol of French support.

Battle of Saratoga (Oct. 1777)

The turning point of the Revolutionary War in New York where British General Burgoyne surrendered to Horatio Gates, convincing France to sign a formal alliance with the Americans in 1778.

Valley Forge (winter 1777–78)

The Continental Army's winter encampment where hunger, cold, and disease killed approximately 2,000 soldiers, though the surviving army emerged stronger.

Baron von Steuben

A Prussian military officer who drilled and professionalized the Continental Army during their encampment at Valley Forge.

Lord Cornwallis

The British general who led the post-1778 Southern campaign before retreating to Virginia, where he was ultimately trapped at Yorktown.

Battle of Yorktown (Oct. 1781)

The decisive siege where Washington, the French army under Rochambeau, and the French fleet under de Grasse trapped Cornwallis, forcing his surrender and effectively ending major fighting in the war.

Peace of Paris (1783)

The treaty ending the Revolutionary War negotiated by Franklin, Adams, and Jay; Britain recognized American independence, set borders at the Mississippi River and Great Lakes, and returned Florida to Spain.

Natural Aristocracy

Thomas Jefferson's ideal that political and societal leaders should rise based on personal talent and virtue rather than hereditary birth.

Republican Motherhood

A post-revolutionary concept assigning white women the civic responsibility of raising virtuous citizens, while granting them few new legal or political rights.

Lord Dunmore's Proclamation (1775)

A proclamation issued by Virginia's royal governor offering freedom to enslaved people who escaped to fight for the British.

Virginia's Statute for Religious Freedom

A state legislative act that represented a significant step toward the separation of church and state.

Articles of Confederation

The first national framework of government, ratified in 1781, consisting of a one-house Congress where each state had one vote, with no national executive and no court system.

Land Ordinance of 1785

Legislation that surveyed western public lands into a township grid of 36 one-square-mile sections, reserved one section for public schools, and sold land to generate revenue for Congress.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

A law establishing governance for the territory north of the Ohio River, creating an equal pathway to statehood and prohibiting slavery within the region.

Newburgh Conspiracy (1783)

A planned confrontation by unpaid Continental Army officers against Congress, defused by George Washington's personal appeal, which reinforced civilian control of the military.

Shays's Rebellion (1786–87)

An armed uprising of indebted western Massachusetts farmers led by Daniel Shays to shut down foreclosure courts, revealing the national government's weakness and spurring constitutional reform.

Philadelphia Convention (1787)

A secret meeting convened to revise the Articles of Confederation that instead drafted a new Constitution; presided over by Washington, with Madison taking notes and Rhode Island boycotting.

Virginia Plan

A constitutional proposal by James Madison and Edmund Randolph favoring large states, featuring a bicameral legislature with representation based on population, an executive, and a judiciary.

New Jersey Plan

A proposal by William Paterson favoring small states that called for a unicameral legislature with equal state representation and modest additions to the Articles of Confederation's powers.

Great Compromise (Connecticut Plan)

The constitutional agreement establishing a bicameral legislature with House representation apportioned by population, equal state representation in the Senate (two seats each), and revenue bills originating in the House.

Three-Fifths Compromise

A constitutional provision counting each enslaved person as three-fifths of an individual for legislative representation and direct taxation, increasing the political power of slaveholding states.

Judiciary Act of 1789

Legislation passed by the First Congress that created the federal court structure (the Supreme Court, district courts, and circuit courts) and established the office of Attorney General.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, drafted by James Madison and ratified in 1791 to protect individual liberties and address Antifederalist concerns.

Report on the Public Credit (1790)

Alexander Hamilton's economic proposal to fund national debt at face value and assume state debts, secured through a political compromise locating the permanent capital on the Potomac River.

Report on the National Bank (1790–91)

Hamilton's proposal to create a central bank using a loose construction of the 'necessary and proper' clause, which Thomas Jefferson and James Madison opposed under strict construction.

Report on Manufactures (1791)

A proposal by Alexander Hamilton urging tariffs and government subsidies to foster domestic industrial development, which was largely not adopted by Congress.

Whiskey Rebellion (1794)

A protest by western Pennsylvania farmers against a federal whiskey excise tax that was suppressed by militia forces led by Washington, demonstrating the federal government's authority to enforce laws.

Treaty of Greenville (1795)

An agreement concluded after the Battle of Fallen Timbers in which Native American nations in the Northwest ceded the majority of present-day Ohio to the United States.

Jay's Treaty (1794–95)

An unpopular agreement with Great Britain where Britain agreed to vacate its military outposts in the Northwest, but failed to address British impressment of American sailors.

Pinckney's Treaty (Treaty of San Lorenzo)

A 1795 treaty with Spain granting the United States free navigation of the Mississippi River, cargo storage rights at New Orleans, and establishing the southern boundary at the 31st parallel.

Jeffersonian Republicans

A political faction led by Jefferson and Madison favoring agrarian interests, states' rights, strict constitutional interpretation, and alliance with France, while opposing a national bank and standing armies.

XYZ Affair (1797–98)

A diplomatic incident where French agents demanded bribes from American envoys before negotiating, provoking public outrage in the United States.

Charles de Talleyrand

The French foreign minister whose agents solicited bribes from American diplomats during the XYZ Affair.

Quasi-War (1798–1800)

An undeclared maritime conflict fought between the United States and France, resulting in U.S. naval expansion until settled diplomatically under President John Adams.

Alien Friends Act (1798)

Part of the Alien and Sedition Acts granting the president legal authority to deport non-citizens deemed dangerous to national peace and safety.

Naturalization Act (1798)

Federalist legislation that lengthened the residency requirement for prospective American citizens from 5 years to 14 years.

Sedition Act (1798)

A law making it a criminal offense to write, speak, or publish false or malicious statements against the U.S. government, primarily enforced against Republican editors.

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions (1798–99)

Secret political statements authored by Madison (Virginia) and Jefferson (Kentucky) arguing that states had the power to deem federal statutes unconstitutional via 'interposition' and 'nullification.'

Election of 1800

A presidential contest where Jefferson and Aaron Burr tied in the Electoral College before the House broke the deadlock on the 36th ballot; termed the 'Revolution of 1800' for its peaceful partisan transition of power and prompting the 12th Amendment.

Treaty of Ghent

The agreement that ended the War of 1812 by restoring relations and territorial boundaries to the status quo ante bellum.

Battle of New Orleans

A major American military victory led by Andrew Jackson occurring two weeks after the War of 1812 had officially ended via the Treaty of Ghent.