APUSH: Period 3 (1754-1800)

French and Indian War

Year: 1754-1763

Summary: Britain defeated France and gained control of French territories in North America but was left with a large debt.

Significance: Led Britain to increase control and taxes on the colonies to pay for debt, ending salutary neglect and fueling colonial resistance.

Albany Congress

Albany Congress

Year: 1754

Summary: Meeting of 7 colonies to discuss defense against the French and form alliances with Native tribes.

Significance: First attempt at colonial unity; Benjamin Franklin's Albany Plan of Union set a precedent for future cooperation during the Revolution.

Imperial Efforts to Raise Revenue and Consolidate Control

Year: 1763-1775

Summary: Britain imposed taxes (Stamp Act (1765), Sugar Act(1764) and tightened trade regulations to pay war debt and assert authority.

Significance: Sparked colonial anger, boycotts, and growing calls for independence. An end to salutory neglect

Colonial Resistance

Year: 1765-1775

Summary: Colonists protested taxes with petitions, boycotts.

Significance: Unified colonies against Britain and set the stage for revolution.

Stamp Act Congress (1765)

What: Delegates from 9 colonies met to protest the Stamp Act.

How it resisted: Declared that only colonial assemblies could tax the colonists.

Significance: First unified colonial response to British policy.

Sons of Liberty (1765+)

Year: Founded in 1765

Summary: A secret organization of American colonists formed to oppose British taxation and policies, especially the Stamp Act.

Significance: Used protests, intimidation, and sometimes violence to resist British authority; played a key role in organizing events like the Boston Tea Party and building support for independence.

Sugar Act

Year: 1764

Summary: Lowered the tax on molasses but strengthened enforcement against smuggling and expanded vice-admiralty courts.

Significance: First revenue-raising act passed by Parliament specifically to raise money from the colonies; angered merchants and set the stage for resistance.

Stamp Act

Year: 1765

Summary: A British law that required colonists to pay a tax on all printed materials, including newspapers, legal documents, and playing cards.

Significance: First direct tax imposed on the colonies; sparked widespread protest and helped unify colonists in opposition, leading to the formation of groups like the Sons of Liberty and the Stamp Act Congress.

Townshend Acts

Year: 1767

Summary: Imposed indirect taxes on imported goods like glass, paint, paper, and tea.

Significance: Reignited protests and boycotts; led to heightened tensions and British troop presence in Boston.

Boston Massacre (1770)

What: British soldiers fired on protesting colonists, killing five.

How it resisted: Used as propaganda by revolutionaries to inflame anti-British sentiment.

Significance: Increased tensions and unified colonial outrage.

Tea Act

Year: 1773

Summary: Allowed the British East India Company to sell tea directly to the colonies at a reduced price, undercutting colonial merchants.

Significance: Seen as a trick to accept British taxation; sparked the Boston Tea Party.

Boston Tea Party

What: Colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians dumped British tea into Boston Harbor.

How it resisted: Protested the Tea Act and taxation without representation.

Significance: Provoked harsh British retaliation through the Coercive (Intolerable) Acts.

Intolerable Acts (Coercive Acts)

Year: 1774

Summary: A series of punitive laws passed after the Boston Tea Party, including the Boston Port Act and the Quartering Act.

Significance: Meant to punish Massachusetts but united the colonies in opposition; led to the First Continental Congress.

Natural Rights, American Enlightenment, John Locke

Year: 1700s

Summary: Enlightenment thinkers like Locke argued government should protect life, liberty, and property.

Significance: These ideas shaped the Declaration of Independence and colonial views on liberty and government.

Patriot Movement

Year: 1770s

Summary: A growing group of colonists who supported independence from Britain.

Significance: Led the fight for revolution and built support through pamphlets, protests, and militias.

The Loyalist

Year: 1770s-1780s

Summary: Loyalists remained loyal to Britain and opposed the Patriots, fearing instability and economic loss.

Significance: Created internal conflict during the Revolution and led to the persecution or exile of many Loyalists.

Ben Franklin

Year: 1706-1790

Summary: Enlightenment thinker, diplomat, inventor, and co-author of the Declaration of Independence.

Significance: Helped negotiate French support during the war and was key in uniting the colonies.Year: 1706-1790

Thomas Paine's Common Sense

Year: 1776

Summary: Pamphlet arguing for independence from Britain using plain, persuasive language.

Significance: Shifted public opinion toward revolution and influenced the Declaration of Independence

Declaration of Independence

Year: 1776

Summary: Document declaring the colonies free from Britain, authored by Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and approved by Congress.

Significance: Justified rebellion based on Enlightenment principles and launched the Revolutionary War officially.

Revolutionary War

Year: 1775-1783

Summary: War between Britain and the colonies, beginning with Lexington & Concord (1775), turning point at Saratoga (1777), and ending at Yorktown (1781).

Significance: Lexington & Concord started the war, Saratoga gained French support; Yorktown led to British surrender and U.S. independence.

George Washington

Year: 1775-1797

Summary: Commander of the Continental Army and first U.S. president.

Significance: His leadership helped win the war and set precedents for the presidency.

Republican Motherhood

Year: Late 1700s

Summary: Belief that women should raise virtuous citizens in the new republic.

Significance: Expanded women's roles in education and civic life, though not legal rights

Role of Women in the Revolutionary War

Year: 1775-1783

Summary: Women supported the war by managing farms, serving as nurses, spies, and fundraising, and some even disguised themselves to fight.

Significance: Expanded women's public roles and helped inspire the idea of Republican Motherhood, though legal rights remained limited.

Abigail Adams

Year: 1744-1818 (with key influence during the Revolutionary era and early republic)

Summary: Wife of John Adams who advocated for women's rights and famously urged him to "remember the ladies" while drafting new laws.

Significance: Early voice for women's political inclusion; her

Role of African Americans in the Revolutionary War

Year: 1775-1783

Summary: Enslaved and free Black men fought for both the British (promised freedom) and the Patriots.

Significance: Thousands gained freedom, especially through British service, but slavery continued; revealed contradictions between liberty and enslavement.

Role of Native Americans in the Revolutionary War

Year: 1775-1783

Summary: Most Native tribes sided with the British to protect their lands from American settlers.

Significance: After the war, Natives lost British support and land, facing more U.S. expansion and broken treaties.

Lord Dunmore's Proclamation

Year: 1775

Summary: Offered freedom to enslaved people who joined the British Army.

Significance: Motivated some African Americans to fight for Britain and alarmed southern colonists.

Articles of Confederation

Year: 1781-1789

Summary: America's first national government, which gave most power to the states and had a weak central authority.

Significance: Lacked power to tax or regulate trade; its weaknesses led to calls for a stronger federal government and the Constitutional Convention.

U.S. Constitution

Year: 1787 (ratified 1788)

Summary: Replaced the Articles by creating a stronger federal government with three branches and a system of checks and balances.

Significance: Established the framework of U.S. government still used today and balanced power between the national and state governments.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Year: 1787

Summary: Law organizing the Northwest Territory and establishing a process for admitting new states.

Significance: Banned slavery in new territories and set a model for orderly expansion.

Shays' Rebellion

Year: 1786-1787

Summary: Massachusetts farmers rebelled against debt and high taxes under the Articles of Confederation.

Significance: Highlighted the weaknesses of the Articles and led to calls for a stronger federal government.

Regional Attitudes Toward Slavery

Year: Late 1700s

Summary: Northern states began gradual emancipation; southern states expanded slavery with new lands.

Significance: Set up sectional tensions that would persist into the 1800s.

Treaty of Greenville

Year: 1795

Summary: After Native defeat at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, tribes ceded land in the Ohio Valley.

Significance: Weakened Native resistance and opened more territory to white settlers.

Growth of Frontier Cultures

Year: 1760s-1790s

Summary: Settlers pushed westward, creating new communities with distinct customs and self-reliance.

Significance: Caused frequent conflict with Natives and challenged federal authority (e.g., Whiskey Rebellion).

Constitutional Compromises

Year: 1787

Summary:

Great Compromise based on the Virginia Plan (senate) and the New Jersey Plan (House of reps) (bicameral Congress), 3/5 Compromise (counting enslaved people), and Electoral College.

Significance: Balanced competing interests and allowed Constitution to be ratified, but embedded inequality.

Federalists

Year: 1787-1790 (Constitutional Ratification Debates)

Summary: Supported ratifying the U.S. Constitution and favored a strong central government.

Significance: Helped shape the new federal system; wrote the Federalist Papers to persuade ratification.

Prominent Members: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay, George Washington

Anti-Federalists

Year: 1787-1790

Summary: Opposed the Constitution, fearing centralized power and loss of individual rights.

Significance: Their pressure led to the addition of the Bill of Rights.

Prominent Members: Patrick Henry, George Mason, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams

The Federalist Papers

Year: 1787-1788

Summary: Essays by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay defending the Constitution.

Significance: Influenced ratification debates and helped shape American political thought.

Federalist No. 10; Factions and Democracy; A large republic can best control factions and protect minority rights.

Federalist No. 51: Checks and balances; Checks and balances and separation of powers will prevent any one branch from becoming too powerful.

Federalist No. 78: Judicial Branch; The judicial branch must be independent and has the power of judicial review to protect the Constitution.

Bill of Rights

Year: 1791

Summary: The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing individual freedoms like speech, religion, and due process.

Significance: Addressed Anti-Federalist concerns about too much federal power and protected civil liberties from government abuse.

John Adams Presidency

Year: 1797-1801

Summary: 2nd president; Federalist who faced domestic conflict and foreign tensions.

Significance: His presidency included the XYZ Affair and the unpopular Alien & Sedition Acts.

Formation of Political Parties / 2 Party System

Year: 1790s

Summary: Federalists favored strong government and commerce; Democratic-Republicans wanted states' rights and an agrarian society.

Significance: Created America's first party system and deepened political divisions.

Hamilton's Financial Plan

Year: 1790-1791

Summary: Included assumption of state debts, a national bank (BUS), and tariffs.

Significance: Strengthened federal power and credit but sparked controversy with Jeffersonians.

Jay's Treaty & Pinckney's Treaty

Year: 1794 (Jay's), 1795 (Pinckney's)

Summary: Jay's Treaty eased tensions with Britain but angered France; Pinckney's Treaty opened Mississippi River trade with Spain.

Significance: Helped avoid war and secured western expansion, but deepened political divides.

Washington's Farewell Address

Year: 1796

Summary: Warned against political parties, sectionalism, and foreign alliances.

Significance: Became a guiding principle for U.S. foreign policy and unity rhetoric.

XYZ Affair & Quasi-War

Year: 1797-1800

Summary: French officials demanded bribes from U.S. diplomats; led to undeclared naval conflict.

Significance: Increased tensions with France and strengthened Federalist support for national defense.

Alien & Sedition Acts

Year: 1798

Summary: Under John Adams, allowed the president to deport non-citizens and prohibited speaking poorly of the U.S. government.

Significance: Criticized as unconstitutional; led to backlash and Jeffersonian opposition.

Virginia & Kentucky Resolutions

Year: 1798-1799

Summary: Jefferson and Madison argued that states could nullify unconstitutional federal laws-- a response to the Alien and Sedition Acts.

Significance: Raised the issue of states' rights and set a precedent for future sectional conflict.