1st Trimester Study guide

Question 1

Headright System

Answer 1

Colonists who paid their own way to Virginia received 50 acres of land. They could earn an another 50 acres for every additional person brought from England

Question 2

Which colonies had the strictest slave codes?

Answer 2

Colonies with large numbers of slaves. They feared the slaves might revolt

Question 3

Mayflower Compact

Answer 3

a document written by the Pilgrims establishing themselves as a political society and setting guidelines for self-government

Question 4

Thomas Hooker

Answer 4

Left Massachusetts to help found Connecticut. Wrote the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, a set of principles that made Connecticut’s government more democratic. Some historians call him the “father of American democracy”.

Question 5

Point of View of a New England Colonist on education

Answer 5

Education was important, mostly because they wanted their kids to read the bible. Massachusetts began requiring education and built many schools.

Question 6

Mercantilism

Answer 6

The practice of carefully controlling trade to create and maintain wealth

Question 7

Great Awakening

Answer 7

a religious movement that became widespread in the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s

Question 8

Stamp Act of 1765

Answer 8

a law passed by Parliament that raised tax money by requiing colonists to pay for an official stamp whenever they bought paper items such as newspapers, licenses, and legal documents

Question 9

Intolerable Acts

Answer 9

laws passed by Parliament to punish the colonists for the Boston Tea Party and to tighten government control of the colonies (aka Coercive Acts)

Question 10

First Continental Congress

Answer 10

a meeting of colonial delegates in Philadelphia to decide how to respond to the closing of Boston Harbor, increased taxes, and abuses of authority by the British government; delegates petitioned King George III, listing the freedoms they believed colonists should enjoy

Question 11

Second Continental Congress

Answer 11

a meeting of colonial delegates in Philadelphia to decide how to react to fighting at Lexington and Concord

Question 12

Common Sense

Answer 12

a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that criticized monarchies and convinced many American colonists of the need to break away from Britain

Question 13

Declaration of Independence

Answer 13

the document written to declare the colonies free from British rule

Question 14

Valley Forge

Answer 14

Low food and clothing, crude shelters made it a terrible winter. Still the men stayed and trained with Baron von Steuben, becoming better soldiers. Meanwhile, British soldiers lived comfortably in Philadelphia.

Question 15

The Patriots faced difficulties fighting the war at sea because

Answer 15

The British had the most powerful navy in the world while the Patriots had to build a navy from scratch.

Question 16

Francis Marion

Answer 16

Revolutionary War commander of Marion’s Brigade, a group of guerilla soldiers in South Carolina that used surprise raids against British communications and supply lines

Question 17

Treaty of Paris of 1783

Answer 17

a peace agreement that officially ended the Revolutionary War and established British recognition of the independence of the United States

Question 18

Magna Carta

Answer 18

a charter of liberties agreed to by King John of England, it made the king obey the same laws as citizens

Question 19

Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom

Answer 19

a document that gave people in Virginina freedom of worship and prohibited tax money from being used to fund churches

Question 20

ratification

Answer 20

an official approval

Question 21

The Articles of Confederation made it difficult for Congress to protect the nation against foreign threats by?

Answer 21

No national army, had to request money and soldiers from the states. States had the power to say decline

Question 22

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Answer 22

legislation passed by Congress to establish a political structure for the Northwest Territory and create a system for the admission of new states

Question 23

Northwest Ordinance of 1787 effect on slavery

Answer 23

Slavery and involuntary servitude were banned in the territory

Question 24

Inflation in the States

Answer 24

States had trouble paying off their debts, so they started printing more money. This lead to higher prices.

Question 25

Shays’s Rebellion

Answer 25

an uprising of Massachusetts’s farmers, led by Daniel Shays, to protest high taxes, heavy debt, and farm foreclosures.

Question 26

Which factors indicate that there was an economic depression in the United States after the Revolutionary War?

Answer 26

Low economic activity and a rise in unemployment

Question 27

Who attended the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia?

Answer 27

Ben Franklin, James Madison, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Roger Sherman, and James Wilson. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry were NOT there.

Question 28

Why did many delegates from southern states threaten to leave the union?

Answer 28

If the Constitution immediately ended the slave trade. They compromised and allowed the slave trade to continue until the end of 1807.

Question 29

Constitutional Convention

Answer 29

a meeting held in Philadelphia at which delegates from the states wrote the Constitution

Question 30

James Madison

Answer 30

American statesman, he was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, the fourth president of the United States, the author of some of the Federalist Papers, and is called the father of the Constitution for his proposals at the Constiutitional Convention. He led the United States through the War of 1812.

Question 31

Virginia Plan

Answer 31

the plan for government proposed at the Constitutional Convention in which the national government would have supreme power and a legislative branch would have two houses with representation determined by state population

Question 32

New Jersey Plan

Answer 32

a proposal to create a unicameral legislature with equal representation of states rather than representation by population; rejected at the Constitutional Convention

Question 33

Great Compromise

Answer 33

an agreement worked out at the Constitutional Convention establishing that a state’s population would determine representation in the lower house of the legislature, while each state would have equal representation in the upper house of the legislature

Question 34

Three-Fifths Compromise

Answer 34

an agreement worked out at the Constitutional Convention stating that only three-fifths of the slaves in a state would count when determining a state’s population for representation in the lower house of Congress

Question 35

judicial branch

Answer 35

the division of the federal government that is made up of the national courts; interprets laws, punishes criminals, and settles disputes between states

Question 36

legislative branch

Answer 36

the division of the government that proposes bills and passes them into laws

Question 37

popular sovereignty

Answer 37

the idea that political authority belongs to the people

Question 38

federalism

Answer 38

U.S. system of government in which power is distributed between a central government and individual states

Question 39

George Mason

Answer 39

American Patriot who became an Antifederalist and refused to sign the Constitution

Question 40

Antifederalists

Answer 40

people who opposed ratification of the Constitution

Question 41

Bill of Rights

Answer 41

the first 10 amendments to the Constitution; ratified in 1791

Question 42

Amendments

Answer 42

Official changes to the Constitution. They must be approved by a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress and then be ratified by three-fourths of the states. The first ten amendmentments (known as the Bill of Rights) protect personal freedoms by specifically limiting the governments powers.

Question 43

What is the function of Congress in the federal government?

Answer 43

It makes laws

Question 44

double jeopardy

Answer 44

The act of trying a person twice for the same crime

Question 45

search warrant

Answer 45

A judge’s order authorizing the search of a person’s home or property to look for evidence of a crime

Question 46

naturalized citizen

Answer 46

a person born in another country who has been granted citizenship in the United States

Question 47

George Washington as president

Answer 47

He wanted to retire, but he understood how important it was for the first president to set good precedents. He was so well respected that he was elected unanimously. He worked with Congress to create the Departments necessary to manage the government’s affairs.

Question 48

national debt

Answer 48

the total amount of money owed by a country to its lenders

Question 49

loose construction

Answer 49

a way of interpreting the Constitution that allows the federal government to take actions that the Constitution does not specifically forbid it from taking

Question 50

George Washington farewell address

Answer 50

He spoke about what he believed were the greatest dangers to the American republic, such as the dangers of foreign ties and political conflicts at home. He thought that choosing sides could draw the United States into war. He also wanted the country to avoid taking on debt.

Question 51

XYZ affair

Answer 51

an incident in which French agents attempted to get a bribe and loans from U.S. diplomates in exchange for an agreement that French privateers would no longer attack American ships; it led to an undeclared naval war between the two countries

Question 52

What event led to the Patriots defeat of the British at Yorktown

Answer 52

Washington, Lafayette, and Rochambeau surrounded Yorktown by land. The French navy surrounded it by sea. This left Cornwallis’s army stranded. They eventually surrendered

Question 53

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation was slowed by conflicts over?

Answer 53

Claims to western lands

Question 54

When the House of Representatives impeach a president they?

Answer 54

Vote to bring charges of serious crimes against a president

Question 55

How were the middle colonies different from the northern and southern colonies

Answer 55

Their characteristics were a blend of the northern and southern colonies. Agriculture was important, but so were trade and industry. They had slaves, but still largely relied on indentured servants.

Question 56

French and Indian War

Answer 56

Part of the Seven Years War between England and France in Europe. Both sides had native American allies. Britain won, gaining claim of Canada and everything east of the Mississippi river in the Treaty of Paris of 1763.