APUSH units 1-3
Jay's Treaty (1794)
Significance: Settled lingering disputes with Britain, avoided war, and led to British evacuation of forts in the Northwest Territory.
The National Bank (1791)
Significance: Created by Alexander Hamilton to stabilize the U.S. economy, led to debates over implied powers and federal authority.
Northwest Ordinance (1787)
Significance: Established a process for admitting new states from the Northwest Territory, banned slavery in the region.
Republican Motherhood (Post-1770s)
Significance: Encouraged women to raise virtuous citizens, linking their roles to the survival of the republic after the Revolution.
Separation of Powers (1787)
Significance: Division of government into three branches (executive, legislative, judicial), ensuring no single branch could dominate.
Shay's Rebellion (1786-1787)
Significance: Uprising of Massachusetts farmers against high taxes and debt, showed weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.
The French Revolution (1789-1799)
Significance: Divided U.S. political opinion, with Federalists fearing its radicalism and Democratic-Republicans supporting it.
The Great Compromise (1787)
Significance: Resolved disputes between large and small states, creating a bicameral legislature with proportional and equal representation.
Whiskey Rebellion (1791-1794)
Significance: Western farmers protested tax on whiskey, Washington used federal troops to demonstrate national government authority.
1st Amendment’s 5 Freedoms (1791)
Significance: Guarantees freedoms of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition, fundamental to individual liberties.
3/5ths Compromise (1787)
Significance: Counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for representation and taxation, reinforcing the institution of slavery.
Anti-Federalists (1787-1788)
Significance: Opposed the Constitution, fearing centralized power and lack of individual rights, led to the Bill of Rights.
Bill of Rights (1791)
Significance: First 10 amendments to the Constitution, protecting individual liberties and addressing Anti-Federalist concerns.
Constitutional Convention (1787)
Significance: Drafted the U.S. Constitution, replacing the Articles of Confederation and creating a stronger central government.
Democratic Republican Party (1790s)
Significance: Led by Jefferson and Madison, opposed Federalist policies, emphasized states’ rights and an agrarian vision of America.
Electoral College (1787)
Significance: System for electing the president, balancing popular sovereignty with state interests.
Federalism (1787)
Significance: Division of power between the national and state governments, central to debates over the scope of federal authority.
Federalist Papers (1787-1788)
Significance: Series of essays by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay advocating for the ratification of the Constitution.
Federalists (Political Group, 1790s)
Significance: Led by Hamilton, supported a strong national government and industrial economy, aligned with Britain in foreign policy.
George Washington’s Farewell Address (1796)
Significance: Warned against permanent foreign alliances and political parties, promoting national unity.
Lexington & Concord (1775)
Significance: First battles of the American Revolution, symbolizing the start of armed conflict between colonists and British troops.
Marquis de Lafayette (1777-1781)
Significance: French military officer who helped the American Revolution, strengthening French support for the colonial cause.
Northwest Territory (Ordinance) (1787)
Significance: See “Northwest Ordinance” above, focused on the expansion of the U.S. and governance of new territories.
Patriots & Loyalists (1770s-1780s)
Significance: Patriots supported independence, while Loyalists remained loyal to Britain, creating division within the colonies.
Stamp Act (1765)
Significance: Tax on paper goods, sparking widespread protest and the rallying cry "no taxation without representation."
Sugar Act (1764)
Significance: Tax on sugar and molasses, aimed at raising revenue from the colonies and contributing to colonial unrest.
Tea Act (1773)
Significance: Granted the British East India Company a monopoly on tea, led to the Boston Tea Party and further tensions.
Thomas Paine - Common Sense (1776)
Significance: Pamphlet advocating independence from Britain, widely read and influential in swaying public opinion toward revolution.
Townshend Acts (1767)
Significance: Series of taxes on imports like glass and tea, leading to colonial boycotts and escalating tensions with Britain.
Treaty of Paris (1783)
Significance: Ended the American Revolutionary War, recognizing U.S. independence and setting the nation’s borders.
Adam Smith - Wealth of Nations (1776)
Significance: Advocated for free-market economies, influencing American economic policies and debates about government intervention.
Articles of Confederation (Adoption, 1781)
Significance: First governing document of the U.S., created a weak central government, later replaced by the Constitution.
Boston Massacre (1770)
Significance: British soldiers killed five colonists, used as propaganda to fuel anti-British sentiment in the colonies.
Common Sense (1776)
Significance: See "Thomas Paine - Common Sense" above, a key document in persuading colonists to support independence.
Continental Army (1775)
Significance: Formed by the Second Continental Congress to fight against Britain in the American Revolution, led by George Washington.
Continental Congress (1774-1781)
Significance: Governing body during the Revolution, responsible for declaring independence and leading the war effort.
Declaration of Independence (1776)
Significance: Document written by Jefferson declaring the colonies’ independence from Britain, based on Enlightenment principles.
The Enlightenment (1700s)
Significance: Intellectual movement emphasizing reason and individualism, influencing revolutionary ideas in America.
George Washington (General, 1775-1783)
Significance: Commander of the Continental Army, led the colonies to victory in the Revolutionary War, later became the first U.S. president.
Intolerable Acts (1774)
Significance: British laws meant to punish Boston for the Tea Party, united the colonies against Britain and led to the First Continental Congress.
Middle Passage (16th-19th Century)
Significance: The forced transatlantic journey of enslaved Africans to the Americas, key to the Atlantic slave trade and colonial economy.
Triangular Trade (16th-19th Century)
Significance: A trade system connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas, where slaves, raw materials, and goods were exchanged, fueling colonial economies.
Pequot's War (1636-1638)
Significance: A conflict between New England settlers and the Pequot tribe, resulting in the near destruction of the Pequot people. Demonstrated the violent expansion of colonial settlements.
King Philip's War (1675-1676)
Significance: A conflict between New England colonists and Native American tribes led by Metacom (King Philip), marking one of the bloodiest wars in U.S. history. It devastated Native resistance in New England.
Pueblo Revolt (1680)
Significance: A successful revolt by Pueblo Indians against Spanish colonization in present-day New Mexico. Temporarily drove Spanish settlers from the region.
Bacon's Rebellion (1676)
Significance: A rebellion by Virginia settlers led by Nathaniel Bacon against Governor Berkeley's administration. Highlighted tensions between frontier settlers and colonial authorities.
William Penn (1681)
Significance: The Quaker founder of Pennsylvania, promoting religious tolerance and peaceful relations with Native Americans.
Quakers (17th Century)
Significance: A religious group that settled in Pennsylvania, advocating pacifism, equality, and religious tolerance, influencing the colony's governance and culture.
Mercantilism (16th-18th Century)
Significance: An economic policy where colonies existed for the benefit of the mother country. It structured the colonial economy to supply raw materials to Europe.
Frances Drake (1577-1580)
Significance: An English sea captain and privateer, known for circumnavigating the globe and raiding Spanish ships, boosting English wealth and challenging Spanish dominance.
Joint-stock company (1600s)
Significance: A business structure that allowed investors to pool capital for colonization ventures, crucial to the establishment of early colonies like Jamestown.
Virginia Company (1606)
Significance: A joint-stock company that established the first permanent English colony in America, Jamestown, in 1607.
John Rolfe (1612)
Significance: Introduced tobacco cultivation in Virginia, which became a profitable export and vital to the colony's survival.
House of Burgesses (1619)
Significance: The first representative assembly in colonial America, established in Virginia, marking the beginning of self-government in the colonies.
Great Migration (1630-1640)
Significance: A period during which thousands of Puritans migrated to New England, seeking religious freedom and escaping persecution in England.
Mayflower Compact (1620)
Significance: An early framework of self-government agreed upon by the Pilgrims before settling at Plymouth, reflecting the principle of majority rule.
John Winthrop (1630)
Significance: Leader of the Massachusetts Bay Colony who envisioned the colony as a "city upon a hill," symbolizing a model Christian society.
Congregationalists (17th Century)
Significance: A Puritan religious group that established communities in New England based on self-governing congregations, heavily influencing colonial society.
Anne Hutchinson (1637)
Significance: A religious dissenter in Massachusetts Bay Colony who challenged Puritan orthodoxy, leading to her banishment and highlighting issues of religious tolerance.
Jamestown (1607)
Significance: The first permanent English settlement in North America, marking the beginning of English colonization efforts.
Indentured Servitude (17th Century)
Significance: A labor system where individuals worked for a period (usually 4-7 years) in exchange for passage to the colonies, contributing to the labor supply in early settlements.
Navigation Acts (1651, 1660, 1663)
Significance: A series of English laws restricting colonial trade to England only, enforcing mercantilist policies and limiting colonial economic independence.
James Oglethorpe (1733)
Significance: The founder of Georgia, established as a buffer colony against Spanish Florida and as a haven for debtors.
Ben Franklin (1706-1790)
Significance: A leading Enlightenment thinker, diplomat, and inventor who played a key role in the American Revolution and the drafting of the Constitution.
Jonathan Edwards (1730s-1740s)
Significance: A key figure in the First Great Awakening, known for his fire-and-brimstone sermons, emphasizing the need for personal religious experience.
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (1741)
Significance: A famous sermon by Jonathan Edwards during the Great Awakening, stressing the horrors of hell and the necessity of conversion.
George Whitefield (1739-1740s)
Significance: An English preacher whose emotional preaching during the First Great Awakening stirred large audiences, promoting the spread of evangelical Christianity.
New Lights (1740s)
Significance: Supporters of the emotional revivalist style of preaching during the Great Awakening, advocating for individual piety and spiritual enthusiasm.
Old Lights (1740s)
Significance: Traditionalist clergy who rejected the emotionalism of the Great Awakening, favoring a more rational and intellectual approach to religion.
Proclamation of 1763
Significance: Issued by Britain after the French and Indian War, it restricted colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains to ease tensions with Native Americans.
Pontiac's War (1763-1766)
Significance: A Native American uprising against British forts and settlers in the Great Lakes region, leading to the Proclamation of 1763 as a peace measure.
Columbian Exchange (1492 onward)
Significance: The widespread transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and cultures between the Americas and the Old World following Columbus's voyages, drastically altering global ecosystems and societies.
Bartolomé de las Casas (16th Century)
Significance: A Spanish priest who advocated for the rights of Native Americans and condemned Spanish cruelty in the New World, influencing debates over indigenous treatment.
Valladolid Debate (1550-1551)
Significance: A moral and theological debate in Spain over the treatment of Native Americans, where Bartolomé de las Casas argued for their humane treatment against proponents of conquest and enslavement.
Spanish Caste System (16th-18th Century)
Significance: A social hierarchy in Spanish colonies that ranked individuals based on their racial heritage, with Spaniards at the top and Native Americans and Africans at the bottom.
Peninsulares (16th-18th Century)
Significance: Spaniards born in Spain who held the highest social and political positions in the Spanish colonies.
Mestizos (16th-18th Century)
Significance: People of mixed European and Native American descent in the Spanish colonies, often ranked in the middle of the Spanish caste system.
Iroquois Confederation (17th-18th Century)
Significance: A powerful alliance of Native American tribes in the northeastern U.S., playing a significant role in colonial diplomacy and wars.
Three Sister Farming (Pre-Colonial Era)
Significance: An indigenous agricultural practice where corn, beans, and squash were grown together, providing a sustainable and nutritious food source.
Cahokia (c. 1050-1350)
Significance: A large pre-Columbian Native American city near present-day St. Louis, significant for its complex society and large earthen mounds.
Maize (Pre-Colonial Era)
Significance: Corn, a staple crop in Native American agriculture, which supported large populations and influenced the development of early American civilizations.