Period 3 Terms

Question 1

French and Indian War

Answer 1

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.

Question 2

Albany Plan of Union

Answer 2

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.

Question 3

Treaty of Paris (1763)

Answer 3

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.

Question 4

Pontiac’s Rebellion

Answer 4

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.

Question 5

Proclamation of 1763

Answer 5

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.

Question 6

Sugar Act

Answer 6

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.

Question 7

Quartering Act

Answer 7

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.

Question 8

Stamp Act

Answer 8

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.

Question 9

Patrick Henry

Answer 9

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.

Question 10

Stamp Act Congress

Answer 10

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.

Question 11

Sons and Daughters of Liberty

Answer 11

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.

Question 12

Samuel Adams

Answer 12

Founding Father. Led the Sons and Daughters of Liberty. Also penned Massachusetts Circular Letter in 1768, which demanded that the Townshend Act be repealed.

Question 13

Declaratory Act

Answer 13

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.

Question 14

Townshend Acts

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

John Dickinson

Answer 15

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.

Question 16

Boston Massacre

Answer 16

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.

Question 17

Gaspee Affair

Answer 17

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.

Question 18

Tea Act

Answer 18

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.

Question 19

Boston Tea Party

Answer 19

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.

Question 20

Quebec Act

Answer 20

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.

Question 21

Intolerable Acts

Answer 21

A colonial term for a number of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in response to the Boston Tea Party.

Question 22

First Continental Congress

Answer 22

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.

Question 23

American Revolution

Answer 23

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.

Question 24

Olive Branch Petition

Answer 24

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.

Question 25

Thomas Paine

Answer 25

An English-born political activist in the American and French Revolutions. Author of Common Sense.

Question 26

Common Sense

Answer 26

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.

Question 27

Enlightenment

Answer 27

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.

Question 28

Second Continental Congress

Answer 28

An assembly of delegates from across the Thirteen colonies (1775–1781). It passed the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation.

Question 29

Declaration of Independence

Answer 29

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.

Question 30

Tories

Answer 30

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.

Question 31

Battle of Saratoga

Answer 31

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.

Question 32

Treaty of Paris (1783)

Answer 32

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.

Question 33

Battle of Fallen Timbers

Answer 33

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.

Question 34

Treaty of Greenville

Answer 34

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.

Question 35

John Locke

Answer 35

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.

Question 36

Articles of Confederation

Answer 36

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.

Question 37

Land Ordinance of 1785

Answer 37

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.

Question 38

Northwest Ordinance of 1785

Answer 38

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.

Question 39

Shays’ Rebellion

Answer 39

An insurrection in Massachusetts (1786–1787) over oppressive taxes and debt collectors. Led by Daniel Shays. It helped spur the Constitutional Convention.

Question 40

Constitutional Convention

Answer 40

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.

Question 41

Virginia Plan

Answer 41

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.

Question 42

New Jersey Plan

Answer 42

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.

Question 43

Connecticut Compromise

Answer 43

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.

Question 44

Three-Fifths Compromise

Answer 44

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.

Question 45

Federalists

Answer 45

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.

Question 46

Anti-Federalists

Answer 46

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.

Question 47

John Marshall

Answer 47

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.

Question 48

Bill of Rights

Answer 48

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.

Question 49

Federalist Papers

Answer 49

A collection of letters written in the late 1780s urging ratification of the Constitution. Authors include Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay.

Question 50

Judiciary Act of 1789

Answer 50

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.

Question 51

Marbury v. Madison

Answer 51

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.

Question 52

Whiskey Rebellion

Answer 52

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.

Question 53

Proclamation of Neutrality of 1793

Answer 53

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.

Question 54

Jay’s Treaty

Answer 54

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.

Question 55

Pinckney’s Treaty

Answer 55

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

Question 56

Farewell Address

Answer 56

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.

Question 57

XYZ Affair

Answer 57

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.

Question 58

Alien and Sedition Acts

Answer 58

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.

Question 59

Kentucky Resolution

Answer 59

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.

Question 60

Virginia Resolution

Answer 60

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.