AP U.S. History: Periods 1–3 Review

Vocabulary flashcards covering the major political, social, and economic concepts from Periods 1 through 3 of early American history.

Three Sister Crops

The agricultural trio of squash, maize, and beans; maize cultivation supported permanent settlement and the expansion of trading networks.

Age Of Exploration (A.O.E.)

The era from the 1400s to 1700s when European nations explored outside their continent seeking new trade routes to Asia and raw natural resources.

God, Glory, Gold

The primary motives driving European exploration: spreading Christianity via missionaries (God), expanding empires out of beliefs of cultural superiority (Glory), and seeking wealth, spices, and new trading markets (Gold).

Hernan Cortes

The Spanish explorer who defeated the Aztecs in Mexico in 1519 and established a strong conquistador presence in South America.

Encomienda System

A labor system under which Spanish monarchs granted conquistadors the authority to demand forced labor from Native Americans, creating legal enslavement and causing immense mortality through disease and brutality.

Bartolomule De Las Casas

A Spanish priest who argued against the enslavement and brutal treatment of Native Americans in the Voladolid Debate against Sepulveda.

Triangle Trade

A three-way transatlantic commercial network connecting the Americas, Europe, and Africa, of which the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was an integral part.

Middle Passage

The brutal transatlantic voyage between Africa and the Americas where captured West African people endured horrific conditions and mistreatment into enslavement.

Columbian Exchange

The global transfer of people, plants, animals, ideas, technology, and diseases between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres initiated by Christopher Columbus.

Mercantilism

An economic policy governing the relationship between a mother country and its colonies, treating trade as an economic commodity to enrich the parent state.

Chattel Slavery

A brutal system of bondage established in the 13 American colonies wherein West African people and their descendants were treated as property under total control for their entire lives.

Stono Rebellion (1739)

An armed uprising where 50 enslaved individuals seized plantations along the Stono River to end their enslavement; it was suppressed by British militia, resulting in stricter limits on enslaved people accessing weapons.

Jamestown, Virginia

Established in 1607, it was the first permanent English settlement in North America, primarily driven by economic profit and wealth.

Salutary Neglect

An unofficial British policy allowing American colonists substantial governing freedom and minimal trade regulation enforcement or tax collection.

Navigation Acts

British mercantilist laws prohibiting American colonists from trading goods directly with any foreign nation other than Great Britain.

Mayflower Compact

A governing agreement signed in 1620 by members of Plymouth Colony agreeing to enact laws and make decisions based on the will of the majority.

Act of Toleration

The first colonial statute in Maryland granting legal religious toleration to Christians.

House of Burgesses

The first elected legislative assembly in the American colonies, established in Virginia, which laid foundations for representative democracy.

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

The first written constitution in American history, setting up a democratic framework of government in Connecticut.

Bacon’s Rebellion (1676-77)

An armed conflict led by a frustrated frontier farmer with an army of indentured servants attempting to expel Native Americans from frontier lands after the Virginia House of Burgesses refused to support them.

Pueblo Revolt (1680)

An uprising by the Pueblo people against Spanish colonizers in the Southwest provoked by harsh missionary policies and forced conversions to Christianity.

French and Indian War (1756-1763)

A territorial war fought between Britain and France in North America; ended by the Treaty of Paris, the British victory generated substantial debt that prompted new imperial taxation policies.

Proclamation of 1763

A British order preventing colonial settlers from moving west of the Appalachian Mountains to avoid conflicts with Native tribes, fostering colonial resentment.

Pontiac’s Rebellion (1763)

A Native American resistance movement launched against British colonists encroaching westward onto indigenous lands following the Seven Years' War.

Paxton Boys’ Rebellion (1763)

An event where a group of Pennsylvania frontier settlers massacred 21 peaceful Native Americans during Pontiac's Rebellion to acquire land, receiving no legal repercussions.

Stamp Act

A direct British tax requiring revenue stamps on legal documents, newspapers, and other printed materials in the colonies.

Townshend Act

British legislation imposing duties on imported items entering the colonies, specifically glass, lead, paint, tea, and paper.

Sons and Daughters of Liberty

A patriotic organization formed following the Stamp Act to oppose British rule; the Sons orchestrated direct action protests like the Boston Tea Party, while the Daughters led non-importation boycotts using homemade goods.

Boston Massacre

A 1770 confrontation where British troops fired into a crowd of protesting colonists throwing ice, killing five people including Crispus Attucks, fueling anti-British sentiment.

Boston Tea Party

A 1773 protest against British taxes where colonists disguised as Native Americans boarded merchant vessels and dumped tea shipments into Boston Harbor.

Intolerable/Coercive Acts

A set of punitive British statutes enacted to punish and isolate Boston by weakening the Massachusetts legislature and shuttering its port, which unintentionally unified the thirteen colonies.

First Continental Congress (1775)

A convention of delegates from twelve colonies (excluding Georgia) assembled to formulate a unified response to the Intolerable Acts and petition Britain to restore colonial rights.

Olive Branch Petition (1775)

A final colonial peace effort professing loyalty to the crown and urging King George III to restrain Parliament from violating colonial rights; it was rejected.

Second Continental Congress (1785)

A convention of delegates representing all 13 colonies that formally debated and moved toward declaring independence from Great Britain.

Thomas Paine’s Common Sense

A widely circulated 1775–1776 pamphlet arguing that complete political independence from Great Britain was the only logical step for the colonies.

Declaration of Independence

The formal document drafted by Thomas Jefferson and adopted on July 4th, 1776, outlining the natural rights grievances justifying colonial separation from Great Britain and seeking foreign alliances.

Battle of Saratoga

An October 1777 military victory for the Continental Army that served as the turning point of the war, convincing France to openly assist the American cause.

Republican Motherhood

An ideology emerging post-Revolution holding that women should instill civic virtue and democratic principles in their sons, counteracting demands for direct political power.

Articles of Confederation

The first national constitution of the United States (1777), creating a deliberately weak unicameral legislature without an executive or judiciary, leaving sovereignty primarily with the states.

Land Ordinance of 1785

Legislation passed under the Articles of Confederation establishing a system for surveying and selling western public lands to generate revenue.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Statute creating the process for admitting new states from western territories into the Union and outlawing slavery in the Northwest Territory.

Shay’s Rebellion

An uprising of indebted Massachusetts farmers facing foreclosures over unpaid taxes, exposing the inability of the central government under the Articles of Confederation to maintain order.

Great Compromise

A constitutional agreement creating a bicameral legislature: a House of Representatives apportioned by population and a Senate granting two representatives per state.

3/5ths Compromise

A constitutional agreement stipulating that every five enslaved persons would be counted as three free people for both congressional representation and direct taxation.

Federalism

A system of governance in which power is constitutionally divided and shared between a central national government and individual state governments.

Federalist

A supporter of the new U.S. Constitution who favored a strong central authority that maintained supremacy over individual state governments.

Anti-Federalist

An opponent of the 1787 Constitution who argued that excessive central authority threatened civil liberties and favored state sovereignty.

The Federalist Papers

A series of essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay to defend the Constitution and encourage its ratification.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, ratified to guarantee personal liberties and satisfy Anti-Federalist objections.

Judiciary Act of 1789

Legislation signed by George Washington that established the Supreme Court and designed the federal court system.

Whiskey Rebellion

A domestic uprising against a federal excise tax suppressed by troops commanded by George Washington, confirming the federal government's authority to enforce national laws.

Hamilton’s Financial Plan

A three-part economic program proposing federal assumption of state debts, protective industrial tariffs, and the establishment of a National Bank via the Necessary and Proper Clause.

XYZ Affair

A 1798 foreign relations scandal where French agents demanded bribes from American envoys before negotiating ship seizures, provoking calls for war with France.

Alien and Sedition Acts

Federalist statutes that heightened naturalization requirements, authorized deportations, and criminalized false or critical statements against the federal government.

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions

Political declarations drafted in opposition to the Alien and Sedition Acts, arguing that states hold the right to nullify federal laws that exceed constitutional powers.