AP US History Notes: Period 3 (1754-1800 C.E.)

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Six Things to Know about Period 3:

1. After the British and the colonists won the French and Indian War, England faced enormous debt. The resulting taxation of the colonists led to resentment and tension with England. The Boston Massacre and Boston Tea Party were two notable examples of this increasingly troubled relationship.
2. Colonial leaders called for resistance to imperial rule and demanded that their rights be respected. New experiments with democracy and republican forms of government came about with the Continental Congress, the ideas of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine, and, ultimately, the Declaration of Independence.
3. After the American Revolution, the Articles of Confederation united the newly formed states. However, the federal government remained very weak, which was made evident by Shay’s Rebellion. Debates on how to govern the new country culminated in the calling of the Constitutional Convention.
4. Throughout the presidencies of George Washington and John Adams, the Federalists and Anti-Federalists debated on how the young nation should manage its economy, foreign affairs, and internal relations with the new states. The Federalists, led by Alexander Hamilton, favored a stronger central government. The Anti-Federalists, led by Thomas Jefferson, favored giving more power to the individual states.
5. The development of a distinct American foreign policy emerged. George Washington warned against becoming entangled in foreign affairs, such as the French Revolution, and preferred diplomatic initiatives, like Jay’s Treaty and Pinckney’s Treaty, to deal with continued European presence in America.
6. Migration trends and competition over boundaries, resources, and trade fueled ethnic tensions and sparked nativist sentiments. The United States’ relationship with American Indian groups continued to evolve, often centering on conflict regarding native lands.

Key Topics--Period 3 (1754-1800 C.E.)

Remember that the AP US History exam tests you on the depth of your knowledge, not just your ability to recall facts. While we have provided brief definitions here, you will need to know these terms in even more depth for the AP US History exam, including how terms connect to broader historical themes and understandings.

The French and Indian War

• French and Indian War: 1754–1763. Name for the North American theater of the Seven Years’ War. Featured Britain and France, and their colonial and native allies, fighting for control of North America east of the Mississippi. While the British won, they incurred massive debts in the process. This led to trouble down the road for them. See: Treaty of Paris (1763).
• George Washington: First President. Served 1789–1797. A land surveyor from Virginia, he led colonial militia as an officer in the French and Indian War. Led the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War at battles such as Valley Forge and Yorktown. Later presided over the Continental Congress. Among many other acts, he established the informal two-term limit for presidents by declining to run for reelection in 1796. See: Farewell Address.
• Benjamin Franklin: Founding Father. Invented bifocals, the Franklin stove, the lightning rod, and the swivel chair. An early campaigner for American unity, he served as the first U.S. Ambassador to France (1776–1785). Signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Died 1790 at age 84. See: Albany Plan of Union.
• Albany Plan of Union: A proposal by the Albany Congress, under the guidance of Benjamin Franklin, during the French and Indian War. It called for a confederation of colonies to defend against attack by European and native foes. Rejected by the colonial assemblies due to concern over the central consolidation of power, and by the British government because they felt it allowed for too much colonial independence.
• William Pitt: Also known as William Pitt the Elder. A Whig statesman who shifted British efforts in the French and Indian War from colonial skirmishes to the capturing of Canada, with key victories in Louisbourg (1758), Quebec (1759), and Montreal (1760). This effectively removed France’s presence from North America.
• Treaty of Paris (1763): Treaty which capped off the French and Indian War. The British took control of French Canada and Spanish Florida, effectively removing France’s presence from North America.

Post-War Conflicts with American Indians

• Pontiac’s Rebellion: An 18-month conflict with the American Indians of the Ohio Valley. Led by Chief Pontiac, leader of the Ottawa people, natives attacked British colonial settlements from the Great Lakes to Virginia. Resulted in the Proclamation of 1763.
• Proclamation of 1763: In reaction to Pontiac’s Rebellion, King George III barred American colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains. The British saw this as a quick and easy way to make peace while securing the fur trade. Colonists, however, were incensed by the crown’s interference in their ability to settle land they had won in the French and Indian War. The colonists often ignored it. An important contributing factor to the American Revolution.

Effects of the French and Indian War

• Currency Act: A law passed by Parliament in 1764. It limited the use of colonial paper money, in order to protect British merchants from depreciation. While not a major contributing factor to the American Revolution, it did signify growing British interest in regulating the colonies.
• Sugar Act: A 1764 law which raised the previous amount demanded on sweeteners (molasses and sugar). Part of British attempts to pay off debt from the French and Indian War.
• Quartering Act: A 1765 act of Parliament that required colonial citizens to provide room and board for British soldiers stationed in America. Wildly unpopular. This practice was later banned by the Third Amendment to the Constitution.
• Stamp Act: A pivotal 1765 law. It required that all paper in the colonies, from death and marriage certificates to newspapers, have a stamp affixed signifying that the required tax had been paid. See: Stamp Act Congress.
• George Grenville: British Prime Minister who passed the Currency, Sugar, Quartering, and Stamp Acts. He felt the colonists were being asked to pay only their fair share of the debt from the French and Indian War.
• Patrick Henry: Founding Father. Young Virginian lawyer and Patriot. In reaction to the Stamp Act, he accused the British government of usurping the rights guaranteed to colonists as Englishmen. He encouraged his fellow leaders to insist that Virginians be taxed only by Virginians, not by some distant royal authority. Later an Anti-Federalist.
• James Otis: A Patriot from Massachusetts. Coined the phrase “Taxation without representation is tyranny,” which is popularly abbreviated as “no taxation without representation.”
• Stamp Act Congress: A meeting of representatives of nine of the Thirteen Colonies. They sent word to England that only colonial legislatures had the authority to tax the colonists. Repealed in 1766 and replaced with the Declaratory Act.
• Sons and Daughters of Liberty: A group of Patriot activists who intimidated tax collectors by attacking their homes, burning them in effigy, and even tarring and feathering them. They also ransacked warehouses that held stamps and burned them to the ground.
• Samuel Adams: Founding Father. Led the Sons and Daughters of Liberty. Also penned Massachusetts Circular Letter in 1768, which demanded that the Townshend Act be repealed.
• Declaratory Act: Replaced the Stamp Act. A 1766 law that maintained the right of the crown to tax the colonies, as Parliament’s authority was identical in both Britain and North America.
• Townshend Acts: A revenue plan passed by Parliament in 1767. It imposed harsher taxes on the purveyors of imported goods such as glass, paper, and tea. In addition, a special board of customs officials was appointed to enforce writs of assistance. Repealed 1770.
• Writs of assistance: Authorized under the Townshend Acts, writs allowed customs officials to search colonial homes, businesses, and warehouses for smuggled goods without a warrant from a judge. Led to the Massachusetts Circular Letter.
• John Dickinson: Founding Father from Pennsylvania. He wrote a series of essays called “Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania,” which rekindled interest in the issue of taxation without representation during the Townshend Acts. He oversaw the drafting of the Articles of Confederation.
• Massachusetts Circular Letter: Penned by Samuel Adams, it was a response to the Townshend Acts and the resulting writs of assistance. It demanded the Townshend Act be immediately repealed. Widely circulated, it rejuvenated boycotts of British goods.
• Boston Massacre: A landmark incident on March 5, 1770 that helped alienate the American people from Parliament and King George III. Angered by the Quartering Act, a crowd of Bostonians harassed the British troops guarding a local customs house. The guards fired upon the crowd, killing five and wounding six protesters. John Adams would defend the guards tried for this incident and secure their acquittal.
• Committees of Correspondence: A means by which Patriots could circulate letters of protest against British policies. It functioned as a kind of shadow opposition government in the runup to the American Revolutionary War. Vital in organizing the Continental Congress.
• Gaspee Affair: The Gaspee was a British warship commissioned to capture vessels carrying smuggled goods before they reached the colonies. The Gaspee ran aground on the shores of Rhode Island. The Sons of Liberty set fire to the boat, and event celebrated throughout coastal colonial towns as a victory for the tax-burdened consumer.
• Tea Act: A 1773 law that actually lowered the price of tea, but colonists were now wary of any British attempt to collect revenue. They refused to purchase the tea. See: Boston Tea Party.
• Boston Tea Party: In protest of the Tea Act, Bostonians dressed as American Indians boarded British merchant ship and dumped their tea into Boston Harbor. Resulted in closure of the Harbor, the colonial charter of Massachusetts being revoked, and the Quartering Act.
• Quebec Act: A 1774 act of Parliament that which allowed the former French region to expand its borders, taking away potential lands from colonists in the Ohio River Valley. Even more offensive to the largely Protestant colonists, it also allowed Quebec citizens to practice Catholicism freely. See: Intolerable Acts.
• Intolerable Acts: A colonial term for a number of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in response to the Boston Tea Party. See: Quebec Act, Tea Act, Thomas Gage.

The American Revolution

• Declaration and Resolves: An attempt by the First Continental Congress to reconcile the Thirteen Colonies with the British Empire. Addressed to King George III, it urged him to correct the wrongs incurred by the colonists while simultaneously acknowledging the authority of Parliament to regulate colonial trade and commerce.
• First Continental Congress: Organized in 1774 as a response to the Intolerable Acts, colonial leaders managed to urge their colonies to expand military reserves and organize boycotts of British goods in the meantime. See: Declaration and Resolves.
• Thomas Gage: British general. Led the British response to Pontiac’s Rebellion. Served as military governor of Massachusetts (1774–1775) to enforce the Intolerable Acts. Led British forces at Lexington and Concord, as well as Bunker Hill. Replaced in 1775 by William Howe.
• American Revolution: An anti-colonial revolt (1765–1773) where the Thirteen Colonies threw off the yoke of the British Empire and established the United States of America. Distinct from but related to the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). Its beginning is traced to the aftermath of the French and Indian War, when Britain sought to resolve the debt that war had created.
• Declaration of the Causes and Necessities of Taking Up Arms: A document published by the Continental Congress on July 6, 1775. It justified the raising of a professional colonial military force and urged King George III a second time to consider colonial grievances.
• King George III: King of Great Britain and Ireland. He reigned from 1760 to 1820. Dismissed attempts by the Second Continental Congress to peacefully resolve their conflict with Parliament on the grounds that the colonies had no authority to form such a body.
• Olive Branch Petition: A July 1775 statement by the Continental Congress that reasserted colonial loyalty to King George III and asked him to intervene with Parliament on the colonies’ behalf. The king refused to recognize the legitimacy of the Congress to make any such request.
• Thomas Paine: An English-born political activist in the American and French Revolutions. Author of Common Sense.
• Common Sense: A pamphlet that used Enlightenment philosophy to argue that it would be contrary to common sense to allow British injustices to continue. Written and published in January 1776 by Thomas Paine.
• Enlightenment: An eighteenth-century philosophical and intellectual movement which prized reason. It challenged traditional notions of reflexive obedience to the Church and to monarchy, and laid the groundwork for the scientific revolution and Industrial Revolution. See: Benjamin Franklin, Common Sense, Declaration of Independence, French Revolution.
• Second Continental Congress: An assembly of delegates from across the Thirteen colonies (1775–1781). It passed the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation.
• Richard Henry Lee: A delegate at the First and Second Continental Congress. On June 7, 1776, he famously made an official motion calling for the colonies to declare independence.
• Thomas Jefferson: Founding Father. Authored the Declaration of the Independence. First Secretary of State (1779–1781). Second Vice President (1797–1801). Helped found the Democratic-Republican Party in 1794. Co-authored the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions.
• Declaration of Independence: Announced the colonies’ official break from England, making the United States a country in its own right. It contained a preamble that heavily reflected Enlightenment philosophy regarding natural rights, as well as 27 grievances and charges of wrongdoing directed at the crown and Parliament. See: Gettysburg Address.
• Patriots: Activists for independence from the British Empire. Mostly young New Englanders and Virginians. Often did not have significant status in society. Many volunteered their time to the Continental Army, typically without pay.
• Tories: A British political party which controlled Parliament throughout the American Revolutionary War. Led by Lord North. Lost a vote of no confidence in March 1782 following the British defeat at the Siege of Yorktown. Power was transferred to the Whigs.
• Benedict Arnold: A general in the American Revolutionary War. He participated in the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga and the Battle of Saratoga. Most infamously remembered for defection to the British, which caused his name to become a byword for treason.
• Horatio Gates: American general in the Revolutionary War. He shares credit with Benedict Arnold for winning the most important battle of the war: the Battle of Saratoga.
• Battle of Saratoga: An umbrella term for two battles fought 18 days apart in Autumn 1777. British forces under General Burgoyne attacked U.S. forces led by Horatio Gates and Benedict Arnold. The British were eventually forced to retreat. News of the American victory led to the introduction of French aid, reshaping the entire war.
• Whigs: A British political party which took control of Parliament from the Tories, and negotiated peace terms with the colonists. Distinct from the later American political party of the same name.
• Treaty of Paris (1783): Treaty which officially ended the American Revolutionary War. The U.S. agreed to repay debts to British merchants and promised not to punish Loyalists who chose to remain in the United States. Formal recognition of the United States as an independent country. Set the geographic boundaries between the British Empire and the United States.

American Indians During and After the Revolution

• Miami Confederacy: A collection of American Indian tribes in the eighteenth century. In the Northwest Indian War (1785–1795), a military alliance led by Little Turtle and Blue Jacket attempted to resist the expansion of the U.S. into the Old Northwest territory.
• Little Turtle: War chief of the Miami Confederacy during the Northwest Indian War. Along with Blue Jacket, he informed Americans that the Confederacy considered the Ohio River the northwestern boundary of the newfound United States. At St. Clair’s Defeat, his troops killed over a thousand U.S. officers and soldiers in the largest American Indian victory in history. See: Battle of Fallen Timbers.
• Battle of Fallen Timbers: The final battle of the Northwest Indian War, fought against the Miami Confederacy. Led to the Treaty of Greenville. The forces under “Mad Anthony” Wayne, recruited after St. Clair’s Defeat, would form the core of what became the United States Army.
• Treaty of Greenville: A 1795 treaty in which 12 American Indian tribes ceded vast areas of the Old Northwest to the federal government, including most of what is now Indiana and Ohio. In return, the tribes of the Miami Confederacy were given an initial payment of $20,000 and an annual payment of $9,000. Ended the Northwest Indian War.

The Impact of the Enlightenment

• John Locke: A British philosopher whose theory of natural rights challenged the absolute and divine rule of kings and queens by asserting that all men should be ruled by natural laws, and that sovereignty was derived from the will of those governed. Locke went on to assert that the governed have a responsibility to rebel against a government that fails to protect the natural rights of life, liberty, and property. See: Enlightenment.
• John Adams: Second President. Served 1791–1801. First Vice President (1789–1797). Lobbied for declaring independence at the Continental Congress. Signed the Alien and Sedition Acts, and built up the armed forces during the Quasi-War. Died on July 4, 1826, the same day as his friend and political rival Thomas Jefferson. See: Boston Massacre, midnight judges.
• Separation of powers: An Enlightenment concept advocated by the French philosopher Montesquieu in his seminal 1748 work The Spirit of the Laws. It is the idea that a government’s power should be divided into multiple branches that balance and check each other.
• Direct democracy: A form of democracy in which the people directly vote on matters of policy, rather than electing delegates to decide for them as in representative democracy.

The Articles of Confederation

• Articles of Confederation: The first constitution of the U.S., drafted alongside the Declaration of Independence but by a separate committee. It strongly favored states’ rights and forbid Congress from levying taxes. Ratified in 1781. Replaced by the Constitution following Shays’ Rebellion. See: Northwest Ordinance of 1787.
• Supermajority: A majority greater than one half, typically two-thirds.
• Land Ordinance of 1785: Established the basis for the Public Land Survey System whereby settlers could purchase land in the undeveloped West. It required new townships to set aside a parcel of land reserved for public education. At this time, Congress did not have the power to raise revenue via taxes, so this Ordinance created a local mechanism for funding public education. See: Department of Education.
• Northwest Ordinance of 1785: A rare triumph under the Articles of Confederation, it established guidelines for attaining statehood: territories with at least 60,000 people could apply for statehood. If accepted by Congress, the new state would have equal status with other states. It banned slavery north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi, thereby guaranteeing future free states in the Midwest.
• Daniel Shays: Massachusetts farmer and Revolutionary War veteran. He led a short-lived populist uprising that demanded tax and debt relief. Pardoned in 1788. See: Shays’ Rebellion.
• Shays’ Rebellion: An insurrection in Massachusetts (1786–1787) over oppressive taxes and debt collectors. Led by Daniel Shays. It helped spur the Constitutional Convention.

The Constitutional Convention

• James Madison: Founding Father from Virginia. Known as the “Father of the Constitution” for his role in drafting it and the Bill of Rights. Contributed to the Federalist Papers. Co-founded the Democratic-Republican Party.
• Alexander Hamilton: Founding Father and co-author of the Federalist Papers. As the first Secretary of the Treasury, he set out to repair the nation’s credit and overall financial health. Favored a strong executive, strong military, and political centralization. See: Whiskey Rebellion.
• Constitutional Convention: A meeting that took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. Ostensibly called to amend the Articles of Confederation, the majority of the delegates arrived with the intention to simply draft a new constitution, one which is still in use to the modern-day. See: Connecticut Compromise, New Jersey Plan, Virginia Plan.
• Robert Morris: Founding Father and noted financier of the American Revolution. Signed the Declaration, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution. Declined to become the first Treasury Secretary, instead recommending Alexander Hamilton.
• Charles Pinckney: A South Carolinian notable for his role at the Constitutional Convention, where he helped introduce the Fugitive Slave Clause and the “no religious test” clause for public officers. Later negotiated Pinckney’s Treaty with Spain.
• George Mason: Founding Father from Virginia. One of three delegates at the Constitutional Convention who refused to sign the final document. He objected to its lack of a Bill of Rights, and wanted an immediate end to the slave trade (while supporting slavery itself). His 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights would strongly influence the French Revolution’s Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.
• Political parties: Political factions within a republican government. The Founding Fathers generally warned against such factions. However, parties quickly arose in Washington’s first term. The U.S. is noted for its enduring two-party system. There are five recognized party systems, although a Sixth Party System (starting in the late 1960s) is sometimes also listed.
• Edmund Randolph: Founding Father. A Virginian who would become the first Attorney General and second Secretary of State. Proposed the Virginia Plan at the Constitutional Convention.
• Virginia Plan: A plan put forth by Edmund Randolph at the Constitutional Convention that favored larger states. It called for representation in both legislative houses to be based solely on population: proportional representation. See: New Jersey Plan, Connecticut Compromise.
• William Paterson: Founding Father. A New Jersey statesman who put forth the New Jersey Plan at the Constitutional Convention in rebuttal of the Virginia Plan.
• New Jersey Plan: A proposal by William Paterson at the Constitutional Convention. It called for equal representation in the legislative branch, regardless of the number of citizens of a state, in one legislative body. This structure would be similar to that under the Articles of Confederation.
• Roger Sherman: Founding Father from Connecticut. Proposed the Connecticut Compromise, which provided the basis for the structure of the legislative branch.
• Connecticut Compromise: Also known as the Great Compromise of 1787, or the Sherman Compromise. A proposal at the Constitutional Convention that membership in one branch of the legislature be based on state population, and the other branch (the Senate) have equal representation for all states, with each state having one vote. See: Roger Sherman.
• House of Representatives: The lower chamber of the United States Congress. Representation is proportional to population. Its size varied over the decades, but was fixed at the current membership of 435 seats by the Reapportionment Act of 1929. See: Connecticut Compromise.
• Senate: The upper chamber of the United States Congress. Representation is by state. Each state has two Senators regardless of population. Until 1913, Senators were appointed by state legislatures. Named for the Roman Senate, upon which it is based. See: Connecticut Compromise.
• Electoral College: A compromise at the Constitutional Convention regarding how to elect the president. Electors cast votes as representatives of their states, which delegates believed would protect the election process from corruption and the influence of factions (political parties).
• Three-Fifths Compromise: Infamous compromise at the Constitutional Convention. It held that enslaved person in the South was counted as three-fifths of a person. In addition, the South conceded to the end of the legal importation of slaves in 1808.

The Debate over Ratification

• Ratification: The act of giving official certification to a law or treaty. In this period, it often refers to the process of ratifying the U.S. Constitution. Approval from at least nine states was required to ratify new constitution, an infringement on state sovereignty as seen by the Anti-Federalists.
• Federalists: Supported an orderly, efficient central government that could protect their economic status; these well-organized leaders often wielded significant political control. Members included George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton. An early political party. See: Anti-Federalists, Alien and Sedition Acts.
• Anti-Federalists: A post-revolutionary political faction that were wary of centralization and infringements upon individual liberties, especially when it came to taxation. Their criticism spurred the creation of the Bill of Rights, and they would go on to contribute to the formation of the Democratic-Republicans.
• John Marshall: Founding Father. The fourth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1801–1835). Cemented the concept of judicial review, making the judicial branch coequal to the executive and legislative. A Federalist, his rulings reinforced the supremacy of federal law. See: Marbury v. Madison.
• Bill of Rights: Umbrella term for the first 10 Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. It explicitly lists protections for individual rights and state sovereignty. Created to secure the support of Anti-Federalists in ratifying the U.S. Constitution, which initially had no such guarantees.
• John Jay: Founding Father from New York. President of the Second Continental Congress. First Chief Justice (1989–1795). An early leader in the Federalist Party. Contributed to the Federalist Papers. See: Jay’s Treaty.
• Federalist Papers: A collection of letters written in the late 1780s urging ratification of the Constitution. Authors include Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay.

Washington’s Presidency and the New Republic

• Henry Knox: Secretary of War in Washington’s cabinet. Recruited “Mad Anthony” Wayne to reorganize U.S. military forces in the Northwest Indian War after the fiasco of St. Clair’s Defeat.
• Judiciary Act of 1789: Established the structure of the Judiciary Branch, with the Supreme Court consisting of one presiding chief justice and five associate justices. It also provided for the establishment of 13 District Courts and three Circuit Court of Appeals. See: Marbury v. Madison.
• Marbury v. Madison: 1803 ruling that stated Congress cannot pass laws that are contrary to the Constitution, and that it is the judicial system’s job to interpret what the Constitution permits. Overturned a clause in the Judiciary Act of 1789 that granted the Supreme Court the power to command any subordinate government authority to take or not take an action that is that authority’s legal duty.
• Tariff Act of 1789: A tariff on imports. Northerners favored a higher rate to protect their manufacturing industry from foreign encroachment, while Southern farmers wanted a lower rate to provide for cheaper consumer goods.
• Excise taxes: Taxes paid when purchases are made on a specific good. See: Whiskey Rebellion.
• Whiskey Rebellion: An early test of the American government’s power under the new Constitution. Angered by the Federalist government’s excise tax imposed on distilled liquors such as whiskey, farmers in western Pennsylvania rebelled over being taxed by a government that seemingly did not represent them. Quickly defeated, it proved the new central government’s power to stop rebellions and maintain peace. See: Shays’ Rebellion.
• Bank of the United States: A national bank in which the federal government held the major financial interest. The national treasury would keep its deposits in the bank, keeping the funds safe and available as loanable funds. The brainchild of Alexander Hamilton. Opposed by Thomas Jefferson on Constitutional grounds.
• Democratic-Republicans: Also called Jeffersonian Republicans. Founded by Anti-Federalists and agrarian interests, it was a political party that championed states’ rights and the viewpoint of the common man. A later splinter would become the modern Democratic Party.
• French Revolution: A period of massive upheaval in 1789–1799 in which the French overthrew their monarchy and established a republic, which in turn gave rise to Napoleon. One of the most important events in world history, it led to the spread of republicanism and Enlightenment ideas. Partly triggered by the debts incurred by France aiding American revolutionaries.
• Proclamation of Neutrality of 1793: A declaration of neutrality in the ongoing conflicts between Britain and France resulting from the French Revolution. Supported by Washington and Hamilton. Decried by Jefferson and Madison.
• Jay’s Treaty: Negotiated by Chief Justice John Jay in 1794 but shaped by Hamilton, it realized several American economic goals, including the removal of British forts in the Northwest Territory. Britain also benefited, as the treaty gave “most favored nation” trading status to Britain and allowed them to continue anti-French maritime policies. Both the Democratic-Republicans and the French were angered by the treaty, which was authorized for 10 years.
• Pinckney’s Treaty: A treaty between the U.S. and Spain, ratified in 1796. It negotiated a settlement of boundary, right of navigation along the Mississippi River, and right to deposit goods for transportation at the Port of New Orleans. The Spanish made these concessions in order to avoid a possibly alliance between its rival, Britain, and the United States.
• Farewell Address: An open letter penned by George Washington in 1797. It warned the American people to remain neutral with regard to European affairs, to avoid entangling alliances, and to refrain from the formation of political parties. See: French Revolution.

Adams as Second President

• XYZ Affair: A major political scandal. Three agents of French Foreign Minister Talleyrand—only identified as X, Y, and Z—demanded a large sum of money as a loan and an additional bribe from an American diplomatic delegation just for the opportunity to speak with French officials. The delegation refused to comply. Led to the Quasi-War.
• Alien and Sedition Acts: Laws passed by Congress in 1789. The Alien Acts increased the residency requirement for citizenship from 5 to 14 years and gave the president power to detain and/or deport enemy aliens during wartime. The Sedition Act criminalized the making of false statements that were critical of the president or of Congress. Both acts were an attempt by the Federalists to silence the Democratic-Republicans. See: Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions.
• Kentucky Resolution: One of two notable responses to the Alien and Sedition Acts. Covertly written by Thomas Jefferson, it declared that states could overrule federal law, as the U.S. Constitution drew its powers only from what the sovereign states delegated to it. An important precedent for later acts of nullification. See: Virginia Resolution.
• Virginia Resolution: One of two notable responses to the Alien and Sedition Acts. Covertly written by James Madison, it declared that states could overrule federal law, as the U.S. Constitution drew its powers only from what the sovereign states delegated to it. An important precedent for later acts of nullification. See: Kentucky Resolution.