US History Fall Final

Renaissance

"rebirth"; following the Middle Ages, a movement that centered on the revival of interest in the classical learning of Greece and Rome

Reformation

A religious movement of the 16th century that began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the creation of Protestant churches.

Conquistadors

Early-sixteenth-century Spanish adventurers who conquered Mexico, Central America, and Peru. (Examples Cortez, Pizarro, Francisco.)

Jamestown

The first permanent English settlement in North America, found in East Virginia

Original 13 Colonies

Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia

Colonial labor

indenturned servants and slaves

French and Indian War

(1754-1763) War fought in the colonies between the English and the French for possession of the Ohio Valley area. The English won.

Age of Enlightenment

the time period in the 1700s during which many Europeans began to break away from tradition and rethink political and social norms

Great Awakening

Religious revival in the American colonies of the eighteenth century during which a number of new Protestant churches were established.

Proclamation of 1763

A proclamation from the British government which forbade British colonists from settling west of the Appalacian Mountains, and which required any settlers already living west of the mountains to move back east.

Stamp Act

1765; law that taxed printed goods, including: playing cards, documents, newspapers, etc.

Quartering Act

an act passed by the British that allowed British troops to live in the homes of the colonists

Intolerable Acts

series of laws passed in 1774 to punish Boston for the Tea Party

Committees of Correspondence

Organization founded by Samuel Adams consisting of a system of communication between patriot leaders in New England and throughout the colonies

Thomas Paine and Common Sense

A British citizen, he wrote Common Sense, published on January 1, 1776, to encourage the colonies to seek independence. It spoke out against the unfair treatment of the colonies by the British government and was instrumental in turning public opinion in favor of the Revolution.

First and Second Continental Congress

brought together delegates from each of the thirteen colonies except Georgia; represents first time colonists actually met together; served as a model for forming the U.S. government.

No taxation without representation

reflected the colonists' belief that they should not be taxed because they had no direct representatives in Parliament

Boston Massacre

The first bloodshed of the American Revolution (1770), as British guards at the Boston Customs House opened fire on a crowd killing five Americans

Boston Tea Party

A 1773 protest against British taxes in which Boston colonists disguised as Mohawks dumped valuable tea into Boston Harbor.

Loyalists vs. Patriots

Loyalists were loyal to England and the throne. After the war, some still lived in America, but others were driven out. Patriots were those who were for the United States. They were the ones who fought for freedom and were patriotic for America.

First and Second Continental Congress

brought together delegates from each of the thirteen colonies except Georgia; represents first time colonists actually met together; served as a model for forming the U.S. government.

Declration of Independence

the document written to declare the colonies free from British rule; insprired by John Locke

War for Independence

1775-1783; also called "Revolutionary War"; war between Britian and the American colonies; American victory.

Battle of Lexington

First battle of the Revolutionary War

Battle of Concord

April 19, 1775 - The British leave Lexington and head to Concord to take the weapons and gunpowder from the colonists. The British were burning the town when the colonists began firing on soldiers. The British were chased out of town turning the road into a 20 mile battlefield. Colonists win this battle.

Articles of Confederation

A weak constitution that governed America during the Revolutionary War.

Shay's Rebellion

Rebellion led by Daniel Shays of farmers in western Massachusetts in 1786-1787, protesting mortgage foreclosures. It highlighted the need for a strong national government just as the call for the Constitutional Convention went out.

Constitutional convention

A meeting in Philadelphia in 1787 that produced a new constitution

Great Compromise

agreement providing a dual system of congressional representation

3/5 Compromise

-each slave would count for 3/5 of a person for taxation and representation purposes

Whisky Rebellion (1794)

A group of farmers in western Pennsylvania refused to pay the federal excise tax on whiskey and attacked the revenue collectors. George Washington then federalized 15000 militia men and the rebellion peacefully collaspsed. This showed the ability of the government to deal with problems, in contrast to the Articles of Confederation and Shay's rebellion

Federalists

supporters of the Constitution

Anti-Federalists

Opponents of the American Constitution at the time when the states were contemplating its adoption.

Bill of Rights

First 10 amendments to the Constitution

Federalism

A system in which power is divided between the national and state governments

Loose vs. Strict construction of the Constitution

-Jefferson and his Democratic Republicans were initially strict (Bank of US), but eventually became loose (Louisiana Purchase)
-Loose interpretation means the belief in implied powers, while strict interpretation supports a literal and confined belief in what the Constitution says (or doesn't say); Hamilton vs Jefferson

seperation of powers

dividing the powers of government among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches

Marbury v. Madison

This case establishes the Supreme Court's power of Judicial Review

Louisiana Purchase

territory in western United States purchased from France in 1803 for $15 million

War of 1812

A war (1812-1814) between the United States and England which was trying to interfere with American trade with France.

Missouri Compromise

"Compromise of 1820" over the issue of slavery in Missouri. It was decided Missouri entered as a slave state and Maine entered as a free state and all states North of the 36th parallel were free states and all South were slave states.

Industrial Revolution

A series of improvements in industrial technology that transformed the process of manufacturing goods.

Eli Whitney

Invented the cotton gin

Monroe Doctrine

an American foreign policy opposing interference in the Western hemisphere from outside powers

Andrew Jackson

The seventh President of the United States (1829-1837), who as a general in the War of 1812 defeated the British at New Orleans (1815). As president he opposed the Bank of America, objected to the right of individual states to nullify disagreeable federal laws, and increased the presidential powers.

Spoils System

A system of public employment based on rewarding party loyalists and friends.

Transcontinental railroad

Railroad connecting the west and east coasts of the continental US

Manifest Destiny

A notion held by a nineteenth-century Americans that the United States was destined to rule the continent, from the Atlantic the Pacific.

American Exceptionalism

The idea that the American experience was different or unique from others, and therefore America had a unique or special role in the world, such as a "city upon a hill."

Indian Removal Act of 1830

authorization of the president to grant lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands

Texas War for Independence

the 1836 rebellion of Texans against Mexican rule that resulted in Texas becoming an independent nation

Remember the Alamo

battle cry of revenge for texan independence from Mexico in 1836

Mexican-American War

(1846-1848) The war between the United States and Mexico in which the United States acquired one half of the Mexican territory.

Gold Rush

a period from 1848 to 1856 when thousands of people came to California in order to search for gold.

Abolotionist Movement

Movement to end slavery

William Lloyd Garrison

1805-1879. Prominent American abolitionist, journalist and social reformer. Editor of radical abolitionist newspaper "The Liberator", and one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society.

Fredrick Douglass (1817-1895)

American abolitionist and writer, he escaped slavery and became a leading African American spokesman and writer.

Underground Railroad

a system of secret routes used by escaping slaves to reach freedom in the North or in Canada

Harriet Tubman

United States abolitionist born a slave on a plantation in Maryland and became a famous conductor on the Underground Railroad leading other slaves to freedom in the North (1820-1913)

Popular Sovereignty

A belief that ultimate power resides in the people.

Compromise of 1850

(1) California admitted as free state, (2) territorial status and popular sovereignty of Utah and New Mexico, (3) resolution of Texas-New Mexico boundaries, (4) federal assumption of Texas debt, (5) slave trade abolished in DC, and (6) new fugitive slave law; advocated by Henry Clay and Stephen A. Douglas

Henry Clay

A northern American politician. He developed the American System as well as negotiated numerous compromises.

Fugitive Slave Act

A law that made it a crime to help runaway slaves; allowed for the arrest of escaped slaves in areas where slavery was illegal and required their return to slaveholders

Kansas-Nebraska Act

1854 - Created Nebraska and Kansas as states and gave the people in those territories the right to chose to be a free or slave state through popular sovereignty.

Bleeding Kansas

A sequence of violent events involving abolitionists and pro-Slavery elements that took place in Kansas-Nebraska Territory. The dispute further strained the relations of the North and South, making civil war imminent.

Dred Scott Decision

A Missouri slave sued for his freedom, claiming that his four year stay in the northern portion of the Louisiana Territory made free land by the Missouri Compromise had made him a free man. The U.S, Supreme Court decided he couldn't sue in federal court because he was property, not a citizen.

Harpers Ferry, Virginia

Site of a federal arsenal where a militant abolitionist attempted to start a slave rebellion

John Brown

Abolitionist who was hanged after leading an unsuccessful raid at Harper's Ferry, Virginia (1800-1858)

Election of 1860

Lincoln, the Republican candidate, won because the Democratic party was split over slavery. As a result, the South no longer felt like it has a voice in politics and a number of states seceded from the Union.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

written by harriet beecher stowe in 1853 that highly influenced england's view on the American Deep South and slavery. a novel promoting abolition. intensified sectional conflict.

Fort Sumter

Federal fort in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina; the confederate attack on the fort marked the start of the Civil War

Battle of Antietam

Civil War battle in which the North suceedeed in halting Lee's Confederate forces in Maryland. Was the bloodiest battle of the war resulting in 25,000 casualties

Emancipation Proclamation

Issued by abraham lincoln on september 22, 1862 it declared that all slaves in the confederate states would be free

Battle of Gettysburg

Turning point of the War that made it clear the North would win. 50,000 people died, and the South lost its chance to invade the North.

Gettysburg Address

A 3-minute address by Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War (November 19, 1963) at the dedication of a national cemetery on the site of the Battle of Gettysburg

Fall of Atlanta

Major turning point of the civil War when Sherman's Union Army victory insured the re-election of Abe Lincoln

Appomattox Court House

Famous as the site of the surrender of the Confederate Army under Robert E. Lee to Union commander Ulysses S. Grant

Assasination of Abraham Lincoln

After the victory of the Civil War and Lincolns re-election he was shot and killed by John Wilkes booth at a Theater

Andrew Johnson

17th President

Andrew Johnson impeachment

First president to be impeached

reconstruction of the south

-by Radical Republicans (resented by Southerners)
-states organized into military districts
-transitioning blacks from slaves to citizens (Freedmen's Bureau)
-over 1,000 schools built
-most people were not given what was promised and were not ready to live as productive citizens
-people taking advantage of the rebuilding (scalawags, carpetbaggers)

13th Amendment

abolished slavery

14th Amendment

Declares that all persons born in the U.S. are citizens and are guaranteed equal protection of the laws

15th Amendment (1870)

U.S. cannot prevent a person from voting because of race, color, or creed

black code

laws that restricted African Americans' rights and opportunities, KKK

Carpetbaggers

A northerner who went to the South immediately after the Civil War; especially one who tried to gain political advantage or other advantages from the disorganized situation in southern states

Scalawags

A derogatory term for Southerners who were working with the North to buy up land from desperate Southerners

Sharecropping

A system used on southern farms after the Civil War in which farmers worked land owned by someone else in return for a small portion of the crops.

Radical Republicans

After the Civil War, a group that believed the South should be harshly punished and thought that Lincoln was sometimes too compassionate towards the South.

Freedman's Bureau, 1865

Set up to help freedmen and white refugees after Civil War. Provided food, clothing, medical care, and education. First to establish schools for blacks to learn to read as thousands of teachers from the north came south to help. Lasted from 1865-72. Attacked by KKK and other southerners as "carpetbaggers" Encouraged former plantation owners to rebuild their plantations, urged freed Blacks to gain employment, kept an eye on contracts between labor and management, etc

election of 1876

Ended reconstruction because neither canidate had an electorial majority. Hayes was elected, and then ended reconstruction as he secretly promised

Dawes Act

1887 law that distributed reservation land to individual Native American owners

Home stead act

(1862) offered 160 acres of western land to settlers

Battle of Little Bighorn

In 1876, Indian leaders Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse defeated Custer's troops who tried to force them back on to the reservation, Custer and all his men died

Massacure at wounded knee

1890 shooting of a group of unarmed Sioux by army troops

Thomas Edison

Electricity, Light bulb

Samuel F.B. Morse

Morse Code

Alexander Graham Bell

Telephone

Promotory Point, Utah

Location where the Transcontinental railroad was completed May 10, 1869, a golden spike was driven into the railroad track at this point, joining the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads

Bessemer Process

A way to manufacture steel quickly and cheaply by blasting hot air through melted iron to quickly remove impurities.