March Exam Terms and Concepts

Question 1

Mercantilism

Answer 1

Economic policy where colonies provided raw materials to the mother country (1600s-1700s).

Question 2

Massachusetts Bay Colony

Answer 2

Founded by Puritans seeking religious freedom (1630).

Question 3

Proclamation of 1763

Answer 3

Limited colonial expansion west of the Appalachians.

Question 4

Common Sense

Answer 4

Pamphlet by Thomas Paine advocating independence (1776).

Question 5

Articles of Confederation

Answer 5

First U.S. government structure; weak central authority (ratified 1781).

Question 6

Northwest Ordinance

Answer 6

Set procedures for territories to become states; banned slavery in the Northwest Territory (1787).

Question 7

Shays’ Rebellion

Answer 7

Uprising of farmers protesting economic injustices; revealed weaknesses in Articles of Confederation (1786-1787).

Question 8

Constitutional Convention

Answer 8

Debate over state representation and federal power (1787).

Question 9

Elastic Clause

Answer 9

Allowed Congress to make laws deemed “necessary and proper” (1787).

Question 10

Bill of Rights

Answer 10

First 10 amendments to the Constitution; added to appease Anti-Federalists (1791).

Question 11

Alexander Hamilton’s Financial Plan

Answer 11

Advocated a strong central government, a national bank, and industrial growth (1790s).

Question 12

Hartford Convention

Answer 12

Federalist meeting criticizing the War of 1812; led to decline of Federalist Party (1814-1815).

Question 13

Missouri Compromise

Answer 13

Resolved slavery disputes by admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state; established 36°30′ line (1820).

Question 14

Market Revolution

Answer 14

Growth of industry, transportation, and national economy (early 1800s).

Question 15

Jacksonian Democracy

Answer 15

Political movement favoring the “common man”; expanded suffrage for white males (1820s-1830s).

Question 16

The Bank Veto

Answer 16

Andrew Jackson vetoed the recharter of the Second National Bank (1832).

Question 17

Dred Scott Decision

Answer 17

Supreme Court ruled that enslaved persons were property and could not sue for freedom (1857).

Question 18

Homestead Act

Answer 18

Gave land to settlers willing to develop it, encouraging westward migration (1862).

Question 18

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Answer 18

Allowed popular sovereignty to decide slavery; led to “Bleeding Kansas” (1854).

Question 19

Emancipation Proclamation

Answer 19

Declared freedom for enslaved people in Confederate states (1863).

Question 20

Battle of Antietam

Answer 20

Key Union victory; led to the Emancipation Proclamation (1862).

Question 21

Compromise of 1877

Answer 21

Ended Reconstruction by withdrawing federal troops from the South (1877).

Question 22

Dawes Act

Answer 22

Attempted to assimilate Native Americans by redistributing land (1887).