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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