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75 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Act of Toleration
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an act passed in Maryland 1649 that granted freedom of worship to all Christians; although it was enacted to protect the Catholic minority in Maryland, it was a benchmark of religious freedom in all the colonies. It did not extend to non-Christians, however.
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Anne Hutchinson
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charismatic colonist in Massachusetts Bay who questioned whether one could achieve salvation solely by good works; she led the Antinomian controversy by challenging the clergy and laws of the colony. She was banished from Massachusetts in 1638 and was killed by Indians in 1643.
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Anglican Church
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Church of England started by King Henry VIII in 1533; the monarch was head of the church, which was strongest in North America in the Southern Colonies. By 1776, it was the second-largest church in America behind the Congregationalists.
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Bacon's Rebellion
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attack by frontiersmen led by Nathaniel Bacon against the Native Americans in the Virginia backcountry; when the governor opposed Bacon's action, Bacon attacked Jamestown, burned it, and briefly deposed the governor before the rebellion fizzled. This revolt is often viewed as the first strike against insensitive British policy, as a clash between East and West, and as evidence of the dangers of the indentured¬servant system
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Board of Trade and Plantations
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chief body in England for governing the colonies; the group gathered information, reviewed appointments in America, and advised the monarch on colonial policy.
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' Congregationalists (Puritans)
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- believed the Anglican Church retained too many Catholic ideas and sought to purify the Church of England; the Puritans believed in predestination (man saved or damned at birth) and also held that God was watchful and granted salvation only to those who adhered to His goodness as interpreted by the church. The Puritans were strong in New England and very intolerant of other religious groups.
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Dominion of New England
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attempt to streamline colonial rule by combining all the New England colonies under the control of one governor in 1688; it was dissolved after the Glorious Revolution in England when its sponsors were deposed
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Edmund Andros
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autocratic and unpopular governor of the Dominion of New England; he was toppled from power and was caught while trying to make his escape dressed as a woman.
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First Great Awakening
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religious revival in the colonies in 1730s and 1740s; George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards preached a message of atonement for sins by admitting them to God. The movement attempted to combat the growing secularism and rationalism of mid-eighteenth century America.
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Halfway Covenant
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Puritan response to the dilemma of what to do with the children born to nonchurch members as fewer and fewer Puritans sought full membership (visible sainthood) in the church; leaders allowed such children to be baptized, but they could not take communion, nor could nonchurch males vote in government/ church affairs.
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Headright system
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means of attracting settlers to colonial America; the System gave land to a family head and to anyone he sponsored coming to the colony, including indentured servants. The amount of land varied from fifty to two hundred acres per person.
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House of Burgesses
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first popularly-elected legislative assembly in America; it met in Jamestown in 1619.
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Indentured servants
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- mainstay of the labor needs in many colonies, especially in the Chesapeake regions in the seventeenth century; indentured servants were "rented slaves" who served four to seven years and then were freed to make their way in the world. Most of the ~ervants were from the ranks of the poor, political dissenters, and criminals in England
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Jonathan Edwards
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Congregational minister of the 1740s who was a leading voice of the Great Awakening; his Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God attacked ideas of easy salvation and reminded the colonists of the absolute sovereignty of God.
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John Smith
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saved Jamestown through firm leadership in 1607 and 1608; he imposed work and order in the settlement and later published several books promoting colonization of North America.
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John Winthrop
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leader of the Puritans who settled in Massachusetts Bay in the 1630s; he called for Puritans to create "a city upon a hill" and
guided the colony through many crises, including the banishments of Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson |
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Mayflower Compact
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written agreement in 1620 to create a body politic among the male settlers in Plymouth; it was the forerunner to charters and constitutions that were eventually adopted in all the colonies
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Mercantilism
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economic doctrine that called for the mother country to dominate and regulate its colonies; the system fixed trade patterns, maintained high tariffs, and discouraged manufacturing in the colonies.
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Navigation Acts
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series of English laws to enforce the mercantile system; the laws established control over colonial trade, excluded all
but British ships in commerce, and enumerated goods that had to be shipped to England or to other English colonies. The acts also restricted colonial manufacturing. |
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Roger Williams
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Puritan who challenged the church to separate itself from the government and to give greater recognition of the rights of Native Americans; he was banished in 1635 and founded Rhode Island. (Critics called it Rogue Island.)
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* Salem witchhunt
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period of hysteria in 1692, when a group of teenaged girls accused neighbors of bewitching them; in ten months, nineteen people were executed and hundreds imprisoned. The hysteria subsided when the girls accused the more prominent individuals in the colony, including the governor's wife.
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Salutary neglect
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policy that British followed from 1607 to 1763, by which they interfered very little with the colonies; through this lack of control, the colonies thrived and prospered. It was an attempt to end this policy that helped create the friction that led to the American Revolution
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Society of Friends (Quakers
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church founded by George Fox which believed in liThe Inner Light "-a direct, individualistic experience with God; the church was strongly opposed to the Anglican Church in England and the Congregationalist Church in America. In 1681, William Penn established Pennsylvania as a haven for Quakers persecuted in England and in the colonies.
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Stono Rebellion
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slave rebellion in South Carolina in September 1739; twenty to eighty slaves burned seven plantations, killed twenty whites, and tried to escape to Florida. The rebellion was crushed. All the slaves were killed and decapitated, and their heads were put on display as a deterrent to future uprisings.
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Theocracy
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government organized and administered by the church; in Massachusetts Bay colony, only church members could vote in town meetings. The government levied taxes on both church members and nonmembers and required attendance for all at religious services.
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William Penn
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Quaker founder of Pennsylvania; he intended it to be a Quaker haven, but all religions were tolerated. The colony had very good relations with Native Americans at first.
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Battle of Saratoga
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a turning point of the Revolution in October 1777, when an army of 6,000 British soldiers surrendered in New York; the battle resulted from a British attempt to divide the colonies through the Hudson River Valley. The American victory convinced the French to ally with the colonies and assured the ultimate success of independence
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Battle of Yorktown
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a siege that ended in October 1781 when Washington trapped 8,000 British soldiers on a peninsula in Virginia after a British campaign in the southern colonies; this defeat caused the British to cease large-scale fighting in America and to start negotiations, which eventually led to the colonies' independence.
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* Ben Franklin
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America's leading diplomat of the time who served as a statesman and advisor throughout the Revolutionary era. He was active in all the prerevolutionary congresses and helped to secure the French alliance of 1778 and the Treaty of Paris, which formally ended the Revolution in 1783.
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Boston Massacre
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- confrontation between British soldiers and Boston citizens in March 1770. The troops shot and killed five colonials. American radicals used the event to roil relations between England and the colonies over the next five years.
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Coercive Acts (1774)
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British actions to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party; they included closing the port of Boston, revoking Massachusetts's charter, trying all British colonial officials accused of misdeeds outside" the colony, and housing British troops in private dwellings. In the colonies, these laws were known as the Intolerable Acts, and they brought on the First Continental Congress in 1774.
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Declaratory Act (1766)
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passed as the British Parliament repealed the Stamp Act; a face-saving action, it asserted Parliament's sovereignty over colonial taxation and legislative policies.
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George III
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king of England during the American Revolution. Until 1776, the colonists believed he supported their attempt to keep their rights. In reality, he was a strong advocate for harsh policies toward them
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George Washington
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- commander of the colonial army; while not a mili¬tary genius, his integrity and judgment kept the army together. Ultimately, ) he was indispensable to the colonial cause
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John Dickinson
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conservative leader who wrote Letters from a Farmer in i Pennsylvania; he advocated for colonial rights but urged conciliation with , England and opposed the Declaration of Independence. Later, he helped write the Articles of Confederation.
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John Jay
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-lead diplomat in negotiating the Treaty of Paris (1783); he secretly dealt with the British representatives at Paris and gained all of America's goals for independence despite the deviousness and meddling of France and Spain
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John Locke
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English philosopher who wrote that governments have
a duty to protect people's life, liberty, and property; many colonial leaders read his ideas and incorporated them into their political rhetoric and thinking. |
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Loyalists (Tories
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- colonists who remained loyal to England; they often were older, better educated people who were members of the Anglican Church. The British hoped to use them as a pacification force but failed to organize them properly.
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Patrick Henry
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and early advocate of independence who was a strong opponent of the Stamp Act and great defender of individual rights; in 1775, he declared: "Give me liberty, or give me death."
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Pontiac's Rebellion (1763
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Indian uprising in the Ohio Valley region that killed 2,000 settlers; as a result, the British sought peace with the Indians by prohibiting colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains (the Proclamation of 1763). The Americans saw this ban as an unlawful restric¬tion of their rights and generally ignored it.
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Salutary neglect
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- British policy before 1763 of generally leaving the colonies alone to conduct their own internal affairs; the abandonment of this policy after 1763 was a major factor leading to revolution and independence
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Samuel Adams
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agitator and leader of the Sons of Liberty, who support¬ed independence as soon as the British veered from salutary neglect; he
was the primary leader of the Boston Tea Party and later a delegate to the Continental Congress. |
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Seven Years War
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- fought between England and France, 1756-1763; known as the French and Indian War in the colonies, it started in 1754, over control of the Ohio River Valley and resulted in France's withdrawal from North America. It was the impetus for Parliament's taxing policy that led to the American Revolution
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Sons of Liberty
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street gangs that formed during the Stamp Act crisis to enforce the boycotts and prevent the distribution and sale of the tax stamps; they were the vanguard of the Revolution as they intimidated British offi¬cials with violence
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Stamp Act (1765
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- a tax on over fifty items such as pamphlets, newspa¬pers, playing cards, and dice; it set off a strong protest among the colonists, who claimed it was an internal tax designed only to raise revenue and therefore unlawful for Parliament to levy.
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Stamp Act Congress (1765
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- met in New York City to protest the Stamp Act; nine of the thirteen colonies petitioned the king and organ¬ized a boycott that eventually helped to force the repeal of the tax. This meeting and action was a major step to colonial unity and resistance of British authority
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Sugar Act (1764
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- designed to raise revenue by stiffening the Molasses Act (1733), establishing new customs regulations, and trying smugglers in British vice-admiralty courts; this was the first attempt to tax the colonies in order to raise revenue rather than regulate trade. It actually lowered the tax on imported sugar in hopes of discouraging smugglers and thereby increas¬ing collection of the tax.
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Thomas Jefferson
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lead author of the Declaration of Independence; in it, he explained the colonists' philosophy of government and the reasons for independence. He wrote that governments that did not protect unalienable rights should be changed.
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Thomas Paine
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writer of Common Sense, an electrifying pamphlet of January 1776 calling for a break with England; written with great passion and force, it swept the colonies and provided a clear rationale for colonial independence .
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Townshend Acts (1767
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levied taxes on imported items such as paper, glass, and tea; these taxes were designed to address colonial resistance to "internal taxation" like the Stamp Act, which had no connection to trade and was intended only to raise revenue. However, the colonials viewed the Townshend Acts as revenue-raising measures and refused to pay these taxes as well.
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Virtual representation
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idea offered by Britain to colonists' demands for representation in Parliament and to establish lawful authority to tax them; the explanation was that Parliament was a collective representation of all Englishmen regardless of where they lived. According to this argument, a group's interest was represented in London by virtue of it being English. Colonial leaders rejected this position.
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alexander hamilton
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strong nationalist, first secretary of the treasury; he supported a strong central government and was founder of the Federalist Party.
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Alien and Sedition Acts
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- series of acts designed to suppress perceived French agents working against American neutrality; the acts gave the president power to deport "dangerous" aliens, lengthen the residency
requirement for citizenship, and restrict freedoms of speech and press. 1 |
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Annapoli, Convention
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meeting held at Annapol;" Macy land, m 1786 to • , discuss interstate commerce; only five states sent delegates, but Alexander 1 Hamilton used the forum to issue a call for the states to meet the next " spring to revise the Articles of Confederation. The Annapolis Convention
was a stepping-stone to creation of the Constitution |
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Anti-Federalists
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persons who opposed ratification of the U.s.
Constitution by the states; in general, they feared the concentration of power the Constitution would place in the national government |
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Democratic Republican Party
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political party led by Thomas Jefferson; it feared centralized political power, supported states' rights, opposed Hamilton's financial plan, and supported ties to France. It was heavily influenced by agrarian interests in the southern states.
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* Farewell Address
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presidential message in which Washington warned the'
nation to avoid both entangling foreign alliances and domestic "factions" (political parties); the ideas of the address became the basis of isolationist arguments for the next 150 years. |
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Federalist Papers
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eighty-five essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay and published in newspapers to convince New York to ratify the Constitution; taken together, they are seen as a trea¬tise on the foundations of the Constitution.
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Federalist Party
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political party led by Alexander Hamilton; it favored a strong central government, commercial interests, Hamilton's financial plan" and close ties to England, Its membership was strongest among the mer- ' chant class and property owners.
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Federalists
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persons who favored ratification of the Us. Constitution bY', the states; they are not to be confused with the later Federalist Party.
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Great Compromise
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broke the impasse at the Constitutional Convention ' over congressional representation. Congress would consist of two houses- '; seats in the lower assigned according to each state's population and states j having equal representation in the upper chamber. ~;t
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James Madison
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_- strong nationalist who organized the annapolisConvention, authored the Virginia Plan for the Constitution, and dr!lfted the constitutional amendments that became the Bill of Rights; he was also a found¬ing member of the Democratic Republican Party.
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Jay's Treaty (1794
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agreement that provided England would evacuate a series of forts in Us. territory along the Great Lakes; in return, the United States agreed to pay pre-Revolutionary War debts owed to Britain. The British also partially opened the West Indies to American shipping. The treaty was barely ratified in the face of strong Republican opposition
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Loose constructionist
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person who believes that the "elastic clause" of the Constitution (Article 1, Section 8, paragraph 18) gives the central government wide latitude of action; loose constructionists hold that even powers not explicitly set forth in the Constitution may be exercised if it is "necessary and proper" to carry out powers that are specifically stated.
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New Jersey Plan
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offered by William Paterson to counter the Virginia Plan; it favored a one-house of Congress with equal representation for each state. It maintained much of the Articles of Confederation but strengthened the government's power to tax and regulate commerce.
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Northwest Ordinance (1787
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the major success of Congress under the Articles of Confederation that organized the Northwest Territory for future statehood; the law provided territorial status for a region when its popula¬tion reached 5,000. At 60,000, the territory could petition for statehood with the same rights as existing states. It set into law the procedure for expand¬ing the nation that eventually led to the admission of many other new states. Also, by outlawing slavery in the Northwest Territory, it represented the first action by the national government against that institution.
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Pinckney's Treaty (1795
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- agreement with Spain that opened the Mississippi River to American navigation and granted Americans the right of deposit in New Orleans; Spain agreed to the treaty because it feared that Jay's Treaty included an Anglo-American alliance.
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Shays's Rebellion
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an uprising in western Massachusetts between August 1786 and February 1787 that closed the courts and threatened revolution in the state; the central government's inability to suppress the revolt reinforced the belief that the Articles of Confederation needed to be strengthened
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Strict constructionist
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person who interprets the Constitution very narrowly; a strict constructionist believes that a power not explicitly stated in the Constitution could not be exercised by government. Historically, strict constructionists have hoped to restrict authority of the central government and preserve states' rights.
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Thomas Jefferson
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first secretary of state, who led opposition to the Hamilton/Washington plan to centralize power at the expense of the states; after founding the Democratic Republican Party to oppose these plans, Jefferson was elected vice president in 1796 and president in 1800.
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Three-Fifths Compromise
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agreement at the Constitutional Convention that broke the impasse over taxation and representation in the House of Representatives; the delegates agreed to count slaves as three-fifths of a person for both. This formula had been used in 1783 to make financial assessments among the states under the Articles.
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Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
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reaction against the Sedition Act; written by Madison for Virginia and Jefferson for Kentucky, they stated that when the national government exceeded its powers under the Constitution, the states had the right to nullify the law. Essentially, the resolutions held that the Constitution was a compact among the states and they were its. final arbiter.
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Virginia Plan
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Edmund Randolph's and James Madison's proposal for a new government that would give Congress increased taxing and legislative power; it called for two houses of Congress-an elected lower house and an upper house appointed by the lower house. Because seats in Congress would be apportioned according to the states' populations, this plan was favored by the large states.
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Whiskey Rebellion
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uprising in western Pennsylvania in 1794 over an excise tax levied on whiskey; farmers saw the tax as an unjust and illegal levy, like the Stamp Act. President Washington crushed the rebellion with overwhelming force and thereby demonstrated the power of the new government to maintain order and carry out the law.
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XYZ Affair
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diplomatic effort by President John Adams to soothe the French, who were upset over Jay's Treaty and American neutrality in their conflict with Britain; three American delegates to France were told they must offer a bribe before
any negotiations could begin. They refused, and the humiliation heightened tensions between the two countries and set off war hysteria in the United States. |
