Final Exam Study Guide - History

Question 1

Stamp Act

Answer 1

Parliament’s 1765 requirement that revenue stamps be affixed to all colonial printer matter, documents, and playing cards; The Stamp Act Congress met to formulate a response, and the act was repealed the following year.

Question 2

Sugar Act

Answer 2

1764 decision by Parliament to tax refined sugar and many other colonial products.

Question 3

No taxation without representation

Answer 3

The rallying cry of opponents to the 1765 Stamp Act. The slogan decried the colonists’ lack of representation in Parliament.

Question 4

Sons of Liberty

Answer 4

Organization formed by Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and other radicals in response to the Stamp Act. They took the lead in boycotting British imports.

Question 5

Regulators

Answer 5

Group of backcountry Carolina settlers who protested colonial policies. They protested the underrepresentation of western settlements in the colony’s assembly and the legislature’s failure to establish local governments that regularize land titles and suppress bands of outlaws.

Question 6

Townshend Acts

Answer 6

1767 parliamentary measures (named for the chancellor of the Exchequer) that taxed tea and other commodities and established a Board of Customs Commissioners and colonial vice-admiralty courts.

Question 7

Boston Massacre

Answer 7

Clash between British soldiers and a Boston mob, March 5, 1770, in which five colonists were killed.

Question 8

Crispus Attucks

Answer 8

During the Boston Massacre, the individual who was supposedly at the head of the crowd of hecklers and who baited the British troops. He was killed when the British troops fired on the crowd. He became known as the “first martyr of the American Revolution”.

Question 9

Boston Tea Party

Answer 9

The incidents on December 16, 1773, in which the Sons of Liberty, dressed as Indians, dumped hundreds of chests of tea into the Boston harbor to protest the Tea Act of 1773. Under the Tea Act, the British exported to the colonies millions of pounds of cheap-but still taxed-tea, thereby undercutting the price of smuggled tea and forcing payment of the tea duty.

Question 10

Intolerable Acts

Answer 10

Four parliamentary measures in reaction to the Boston Tea Party that forced payment for the teas, disallowed colonial trials of British soldiers, forced their quartering in private homes, and reduced the number of elected officials in Massachusetts.

Question 11

Continental Congress

Answer 11

First meeting of representatives of the colonies, held in Philadelphia in 1774 to formulate actions against British policies; in the Second Continental Congress (1775-1789), the colonial representatives conducted the war and adopted the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation.

Question 12

Common Sense

Answer 12

A pamphlet anonymously written by Thomas Paine in January 1776 that attacked the English principles of hereditary rule and monarchical government.

Question 13

Benedict Arnold

Answer 13

A traitorous American commander who planned to sell out the American garrison at West Point to the British. His plot was discovered before it would be executed, and he joined the British army.

Question 14

Treaty of Paris

Answer 14

Signed on September 3, 1783, the treaty that ended the Revolutionary War, recognized American Independence from Britain, established the border between Canada and the United States , fixed the western border at the Mississippi River, and ceded Florida to Spain.

Question 15

Republic

Answer 15

Representative political system in which citizens govern themselves by electing representatives, or legislators, to make key decisions on the citizens’ behalf.

Question 16

Suffrage

Answer 16

The right to vote

Question 17

Free trade

Answer 17

The belief that economic development arises from the exchange of goods between different countries without governmental interference.

Question 18

Loyalists

Answer 18

Colonists who remained loyal to Great Britain during the War of Independence.

Question 19

abolition

Answer 19

Social movement of the pre-Civil War era that advocated the immediate emancipation of the slaves and their incorporation into American society as equal citizens.

Question 20

freedom petitions

Answer 20

Arguments for liberty presented to New England’s courts and legislatures in the early 1770s by enslaved African-Americans.

Question 21

Lemuel Haynes

Answer 21

A black member of the Massachusetts militia and celebrated minister who urged that Americans extend their conception of freedom to enslaved Africans during the Revolutionary era.

Question 22

Free blacks

Answer 22

African-American persons not held in slavery; immediately before the Civil War, there were nearly a half million in the United States, split almost evenly between North and South.

Question 23

Coverture

Answer 23

Principle in English and American law that a married woman lost her legal identity, which became “covered” by that of her husband, who therefore controlled her person and the family’s economic resources.

Question 24

Republican motherhood

Answer 24

An ideology that emerged as a result of American Independence where women played an indispensable role by training future citizens.

Question 25

Freedmen’s Bureau

Answer 25

Reconstruction agency established in 1865 to protect the legal rights of former slaves and to assist with their education, jobs, health care, and landowning.

Question 26

Black Codes

Answer 26

Laws passed from 1865 to 1866 in southern states to restrict the rights of former slaves; to nullify the codes, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Fourteenth Amendment.

Question 27

Civil Rights Bill of 1866

Answer 27

Along with the Fourteenth Amendment, legislation that guaranteed the rights of citizenship to former slaves.

Question 28

13th, 14th, 15th Amendments

Answer 28

13th - On January 31, 1865 congress approved the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery

14th - 1868 constitutional amendment that guaranteed rights of citizenship to former slaves, in other words similar to those of the Civil Rights Act of 1866.

15th - Constitutional amendment ratified in 1870, which prohibited states from discriminating in voting privileges on the basis of race.

Question 29

Ku Klux Klan

Answer 29

Group organized in Pulaski,​ Tennessee, in 1866 to terrorize former slaves who voted and held political offices during Reconstruction; a revived organization in the 1910s and 1920s that stressed white, Anglo-Saxon, fundamentalist Protestant supremacy; revived a third time to fight the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s in the South.

Question 30

Civil Rights Act of 1875

Answer 30

The last piece of Recontruction legislation, which outlawed racial discrimination in places of public accomadation such as hotels and theaters. Many parts of it were ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1833.

Question 31

Redeemers

Answer 31

Post-Civil War Democratic leaders who supposedly saved the South from Yankee domination and preserved the primarily rural economy.

Question 32

Bargain of 1877

Answer 32

Deal made by a Republican and Democratic special congressional commission to resolve the disputed presidential election of 1876; Republican Rutherford B. Hayes, who had lost the popular vote, was declared the winner in exchange for the withdrawal of federal troops from involvement in politics in the South, marking the end of Reconstruction.

Question 33

Reconstruction Act

Answer 33

1867 law that established temporary military governments in ten Confederate states- excepting Tennessee- and required that the states ratify the Fourteenth Amendment and permit freedmen to vote.

Question 34

Patrick Henry proclaimed that he was not a Virginian, but rather an American. What unified the colonists and what divided them at the time of the Revolution? (Ch.5)

Answer 34

The Stamp Act imposed uniformity among the colonists. Almost every colonist believed in no taxation without representation. Nearly all the colonists in the Western hemisphere protested tax, but only half strived for independence from Britain. Most colonists in the Western Hemisphere did believe that their liberties and material interests were safer inside the British empire than outside of it. (pg.186-187)

Question 35

How did new ideas liberty contribute to tensions between social classes in the American colonies? (Ch.5)

Answer 35

There were conflicting land claims of settlers, farmers, speculators, colonial governments, and Indians (pg.211). The move westward sparked disputes between them all. The wealthy or the elite wanted land because it meant more money for them (pg.189-190).

Question 36

How did the actions of the British authorities help to unite the American colonies during the 1760s and 1770s? (Ch.5)

Answer 36

The Intolerable Acts united the colonies in opposition to what was widely seen as a direct threat to their political freedom (pg.193). The Tea Act, Sugar Act, Samp Act, and the Navigation Act made most of the colonists feel like they were being taxed with no consent and with no representation. Their shared interests of opposition to the laws imposed onto them by the British made them all unite.

Question 37

For the lower classes, colonial society had been based on inequality, deference, and obedience. How did the American Revolution challenge that social order? (Ch.6)

Answer 37

Politically, socially, and religiously the Americans challenged the previous domination of the privileged. As for obedience, the men remained at the heads of the household over their wives, children, and property. Owning property was a political matter, which was a limitation of freedom for the lower class because many of them did not own property. Owning property meant that they could vote and hold office and have a voice in the government. (pg.219)

Question 38

What role did the founders foresee for religion in American government and society? (Ch.6)

Answer 38

The founders such as Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton, believed that religion was necessary as a foundation of public morality. They believed in a benevolent creator and viewed religious doctrines through the Enlightenment lens of rationalism and skepticism. However, they did want the church and state to be separate (pg.225).

Question 39

What was the impact of the American Revolution on Native Americans? (Ch.6)

Answer 39

The American’s gain of liberty also meant the loss of liberty for Native Americans. During the revolution, Americans would force defeated Indian tribes to give up their land. Thomas Jefferson wished for the Indians to “lay in their removal beyond the Mississippi River” (Pg.236). Ultimately, it seemed to the Indians that they had no “permanent” place to go, no allies that would help, and less power after the American Revolution(pg.237).

Question 40

What were the most important features of the new state constitutions? (Ch.6)

Answer 40

The constitution added a new republic government that had checks and balances to eliminate “excessive democracy”(pg.221). The branches of government consisted of the judicial, legislative, and executive branches. Also, the right to vote was an important feature, however, it only applied to free, white, taxpaying, property-owning men, in some states. The constitution also expanded the number of legislative seats (pg.224).

Question 41

How did popular views of property rights prevent slaves from enjoying all the freedoms of the social contract? (Ch.6)

Answer 41

“Free black men who met taxpaying of property qualifications” were allowed to vote under new state constitutions, except in Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia (pg.245). Essentially, because they had no property, it meant that they could not vote or have a voice in the government or any political affairs.

Question 42

How did revolutionary America see both improvements and limitations in women’s roles and rights? (Ch.6)

Answer 42

Gender limited women from enjoying the “full blessings of American freedom”. The idea of coverture remained even after newly gained independence. So their husbands still held legal authority over them and their property. A woman’s relationship to society was through their husbands. They had no political participation in society since they did not own land, which meant they could not vote. However, after the war women had the role to prepare, train, and give wisdom to their children, or future citizens, which was this ideology of republican motherhood. (pg.246-247)

Question 43

What visions of freedoms did the former slaves and slaveholders pursue in the postwar South? (Ch.15)

Answer 43

Former slaves understood how they viewed freedom based on their experiences
and based on how the free society was living around them. To them, freedom meant escaping “punishment by the lash, the separation of families, denial of access to education, and sexual exploitation of black women by their owners–and sharing in the rights and opportunities of American citizens (pg.556).” Many of the slaves that left the southern plantations left in hopes to find better jobs, family members, or to enjoy their freedom. They wanted political freedom because they desired for “empowerment and equality”, meaning that they wanted to become active citizens in society to have a voice for laws that would improve their situation, specifically the right to vote. They also viewed freedom as a resemblance to that of the white American’s definition of freedom, which was “self-ownership, family stability, religious liberty, political participation, and economic autonomy (pg.568).” Family was the essential for freedmen and women, allowing for more power to black men after they were emancipated.

Question 44

What were the sources, goals, and competing visions for Reconstruction? (Ch.15)

Answer 44

African-Americans and women all had different goals and visions for Reconstruction. For African-Americans, the vision for them was to gain civil rights and “racial inclusiveness (pg.587)”. In order to do this, the Civil Rights Bill of 1866 was created, which guaranteed the rights of citizenship to former slaves, and canceled out the Black Codes. Along with the Civil Rights Bill of 1866, the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were passed. Because all Southern states (except Tennessee) refused to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment, congress created the Reconstruction Act, which was a call for creation of new state governments. Womens’ overall goal was to claim equal rights as those included in the constitution did, however, the courts were “unreceptive (pg.590)”. Overall, both African-Americans and women’s goals stemmed from their suffrage.

Question 45

What were the social and political effects of Radical Reconstructions in the South? (Ch.15)

Answer 45

Radical Reconstruction in the South accomplished many things in the South. They
passed laws that made it illegal for “railroads, hotels, and other institutions to discriminate on the basis of race (pg.594)” However, it was tough trying to enforce those laws because many of the Southern states were still not ready for change. Another thing that Radical Reconstruction in the South accomplished was establishing the South’s first “state-supported public schools ((pg.594)”. Black people could now go to school with white children. Politically, there was an effect on black people in the South. There were 2,000 African-Americans in the public offices which represented a shift of power in the South (pg.592), allowing them to have more involvement within the legislature/government. And lastly, the new Southern government “brought to power new groups of whites. (pg.593) The two groups were carpetbaggers, which was a term used for northern emigrants who participated in the Republican governments of the Reconstruction South, and scalawags, who were Southern white Republicans (some former Unionists) who supported reconstruction governments.

Question 46

What were the main factors, in both the North and South, for the overthrow of Reconstruction? (Ch.15)

Answer 46

Carpetbaggers “bitterly opposed the new governments (pg.596).” They thought
they were “corrupt, inefficient, and examples of black supremacy.” They tried to overthrow Reconstruction through violence in order to “restore white supremacy”. They had secret organizations and societies to prevent black people from voting and to assassinate the Republican Party local leaders and public officials. Out of these acts of violence arose the Ku Klux Klan, which served as a military arm for the Democratic Party in the South. Overall, the South felt that the former Reconstruction governments allowed too many African-Amricans to have power in what they did and the laws they passed and they felt that the government should be returned to its “natural leaders” (pg.597). As for the North, the Liberal attack on Reconstruction caused the resurgence of racism, which explains how Reconstruction was actually a failure. The South said their problems arose from “Negro government” (pg.598). Also the Economic Depression weakened the Northerners interests for Reconstruction.