Midterm U.S. History

Question 1

Native American Contact

Answer 1

The series of conflicts in the western United States between Indians, American settlers, and the United States Army

Question 2

Royal vs. Proprietary Colony

Answer 2

Royal Colonies were directly controlled by the monarchy, while Proprietary Colonies were managed by individuals or groups granted charters by the king, allowing for more decentralized and diverse governance styles.

Question 3

Mayflower Compact

Answer 3

The Mayflower Compact was an agreement signed by male passengers of the Mayflower in 1620. It established a civil government and legal system for the Plymouth Colony. The compact was the first time English colonists established a community based on their own laws, rather than a company charter

Question 4

Middle Colonies

Answer 4

The Middle colonies were New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. They were located between the New England colonies to the north and the southern colonies

Question 5

Pontiac’s Rebellion

Answer 5

Pontiac’s Rebellion (1763–1766) was a widespread conflict between Native American tribes and the British following the French and Indian War. Named after Pontiac, an Ottawa leader, the rebellion was a response to British policies and encroachments on Native lands in the Great Lakes region, the Ohio Valley, and the Illinois Country.

Question 6

Enlightenment Influence

Answer 6

The Enlightenment brought secular thought to Europe and reshaped the ways people understood issues such as liberty, equality, and individual rights

Question 7

French and Indian War

Answer 7

The French and Indian War began in 1754 and ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763. The war provided Great Britain enormous territorial gains in North America, but disputes over subsequent frontier policy and paying the war’s expenses led to colonial discontent, and ultimately to the American Revolution.

Question 8

Geography of North and South Colonies/States

Answer 8

The geography was gentle. No massive mountains or foreboding rivers; instead, there were rolling hills and large forests. The New England colonists were able to move easily enough and farm small areas during the short summer season. However, the soil was rocky and could be challenging to farm.

Question 9

British Taxes

Answer 9

. The Sugar Act (1764)
Purpose: Aimed to reduce smuggling and enforce trade regulations by lowering the tax on imported molasses while strengthening enforcement.
2. The Stamp Act (1765)
Purpose: Raised revenue to pay for British troops stationed in the colonies after the French and Indian War.

3. The Townshend Acts (1767)
   Purpose: Raised revenue to pay British officials in the colonies and assert authority.
4. The Tea Act (1773)
   Purpose: Aimed to help the struggling British East India Company by allowing it to sell tea directly to the colonies at a lower price, bypassing colonial merchants.
5. The Quartering Act (1765, part of the Intolerable Acts)
   Purpose: Required colonies to provide housing and supplies for British soldiers stationed in America.
6. The Intolerable Acts (1774)
   Also known as the Coercive Acts, these were punitive measures in response to the Boston Tea Party.

Question 10

Patriots vs. Loyalists

Answer 10

Patriots were colonists who supported independence from Britain, while Loyalists were colonists who remained loyal to Britain

Question 11

Declaration of Independence

Answer 11

The Declaration of Independence is a document that announced the independence of the American colonies from Great Britain and established the United States of America as a new nation. It was adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776

Question 12

Battle Strategies- American Revolution

Answer 12

The American colonists used various strategies against the British. These included raids, ambushes, and using privateers to attack enemy ships, and gorilla warfare

Question 12

Battle of Saratoga

Answer 12

The Battle of Saratoga was a turning point in the Revolutionary War. The American defeat of the superior British army lifted patriot morale, furthered the hope for independence, and helped to secure the foreign support needed to win the war.

Question 13

Effect of American Revolution

Answer 13

At the end of the war, Britain gave up control of the 13 colonies which had rebelled. The outcome of the Revolutionary War led to official recognition of their independence, the withdrawal of British troops and tentative control of the area of North America west of the Mississippi and south of Canada.

Question 14

Northwest Ordinance

Answer 14

The Northwest Ordinance was a law passed by Congress in 1787 that established a government for the Northwest Territory and outlined how new states would be admitted to the Union

Question 15

Shays’ Rebellion

Answer 15

Shays’ Rebellion was a violent uprising in Massachusetts in 1786 and 1787. It was a response to economic hardship and the state government’s efforts to collect taxes. The rebellion was led by Daniel Shays, a former soldier in the Revolutionary War

Question 16

Constitutional issues

Answer 16

slavery, secession, and the scope of federal power

Question 17

Federalism

Answer 17

Federalism is a system of government in which the same territory is controlled by two levels of government

Question 18

Federalist Papers

Answer 18

The federalist : a collection of essays, written in favor of the new Constitution, as agreed upon by the Federal Convention, September 17, 1787, Library of Congress Known before the twentieth century simply as The Federalist,

Question 19

Response to French Revolution

Answer 19

The French Revolution was met with a variety of responses, including military intervention, neutrality, and the passing of laws that limited political participation

Question 20

The Alien and Sedition Act

Answer 20

The Alien and Sedition Acts were a series of four laws passed by Congress in 1798 that restricted immigration and speech in the United States. The laws were a response to fears of war with France and internal dissent

Question 21

Louisiana Purchase

Answer 21

The Louisiana Purchase was a land deal between the United States and France in 1803, in which the U.S. bought 828,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million

Question 22

Chief John Marshall

Answer 22

Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1801-1835), who established judicial review and strengthened federal power in cases like Marbury v. Madison and McCulloch v. Maryland.

Question 25

Causes of War of 1812

Answer 25

The primary causes of the War of 1812 were the British practice of “impressment,” where they forcibly took American sailors from merchant ships to serve in the Royal Navy, and the British Orders-in-Council which significantly restricted American trade with Europe, leading to economic hardship for the United States;

Question 26

American system

Answer 26

The American System was to assist the United States in becoming self-sufficient economically, while spurring massive market growth throughout the nation

Question 27

War Hawks

Answer 27

Led by new Speaker of the House Henry Clay, this small group of Jeffersonian Republicans pressed for a military confrontation to redress American grievances

Question 28

Cotton Kingdom

Answer 28

the south was known as the cotton kingdom. Cotton farming needed great numbers of workers, so slavery became more profitable. From 1808 to 1860, the number of slaves in the US rose from just under one million to almost four million.

Question 28

Tariff of 1816

Answer 28

The Tariff of 1816 was a 25% tax on all wool and cotton goods imported into the United States from foreign nations

Question 29

Monroe Doctrine

Answer 29

The Monroe Doctrine warned European powers not to interfere in the affairs of the Western Hemisphere.

Question 30

American Colonization Society

Answer 30

The American Colonization Society (ACS) was formed in 1817 to send free African-Americans to Africa as an alternative to emancipation in the United States.

Question 31

Nullification

Answer 31

Nullification is the legal theory that states have the right to invalidate federal laws they believe are unconstitutional

Question 31

Erie Canal

Answer 31

the Erie Canal was a major engineering project that connected the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. It was a key factor in the economic growth of New York and the United States

Question 32

Jacksonian Democracy

Answer 32

Jacksonian Democracy refers to the political movement during the presidency of Andrew Jackson (1829–1837) that focused on expanding democracy and empowering the “common man” (ordinary citizens). It marked a shift from earlier politics that favored elites to a system where more people could participate in government.

Question 33

Indian Removal Act

Answer 33

The Indian Removal Act was a law passed in 1830 that allowed the US government to force Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi River to give up their land and move to newly designated “Indian Territory” west of the Mississippi

Question 34

Reform Movements in Early 1800’s

Answer 34

These reforms included promoting temperance, creating public school systems, improving the treatment of prisoners, the insane, and the poor, abolishing slavery, and gaining equal rights for women

Question 35

Arguments for/against slavery

Answer 35

moral, economic, and legal arguments.

Question 36

The Seneca Falls Convection

Answer 36

The Seneca Falls Convention was the first women’s rights convention in the United States, held in Seneca Falls, New York on July 19–20, 1848. The convention was organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and other women, and aimed to discuss the rights of women in society, religion, and politics.

Question 37

Manifest Destiny

Answer 37

Manifest Destiny was the idea that the United States was destined to expand across North America.

Question 38

Wilmot Proviso

Answer 38

The Wilmot Proviso was a proposal to prohibit slavery in any territory acquired by the United States from Mexico after the Mexican-American War.

Question 39

Immigration in 1840’s

Answer 39

But by the 1840s the tide of immigration was adding hundreds of thousands more. From 1840-1860, over a million and a half Irish came, and nearly as many Germans. By 1860 most of the Great American West was explored

Question 40

Mexican American War

Answer 40

The Mexican-American War was a conflict fought between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848 stemming from the United States’ annexation of Texas in 1845 and from a dispute over whether Texas ended at the Nueces River

Question 41

Gadsden Purchase

Answer 41

The Gadsden Purchase was a treaty between the United States and Mexico that added 29,670 square miles of land to the United States in 1854

Question 42

California Gold Rush

Answer 42

The California Gold Rush was a period of time when hundreds of thousands of people migrated to California to search for gold

Question 43

Compromise of 1850

Answer 43

The Compromise of 1850 was a set of laws that allowed California to enter the Union as a free state, while also establishing new territories in the Southwest where residents would decide whether to allow slavery, and strengthening the Fugitive Slave Act

Question 44

Kansas Nebraska Act

Answer 44

The Kansas-Nebraska Act was a law passed in 1854 that created two new territories, Kansas and Nebraska, and allowed the people living in those territories to decide whether or not to permit slavery

Question 45

Dred Scott Decision

Answer 45

The Dred Scott Decision was a Supreme Court ruling in 1857 that stated enslaved people, regardless of where they lived, were not considered citizens of the United States and therefore could not sue in federal court,

Question 46

Election of 1860

Answer 46

The Republican Party ticket of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin won a national popular plurality, a popular majority in the North where states had already abolished slavery, and a national electoral majority comprising only Northern electoral votes

Question 47

Military Strategies- Civil War

Answer 47

The South’s strategy was to outlast the North, while the North aimed to economically squeeze the South with the Anaconda Plan. The North had more resources, but the South had superior military leadership.

Question 48

Emancipation Proclamation

Answer 48

This document, issued on January 1, 1863, declared that the enslaved people in the Southern states were free.

Question 49

Home Front During Civil War

Answer 49

Families on the home front faced shortages of every kind as both the Union and Confederate armies struggled to feed and outfit their troops

Question 50

Grants Strategies

Answer 50

Grant would attack the Confederates on all sides, continuously, over and over and over, until they ran out of men and resources and were forced to surrender.

Question 51

Reconstruction Plans

Answer 51

In 1865 President Andrew Johnson implemented a plan of Reconstruction that gave the white South a free hand in regulating the transition from slavery to freedom and offered no role to blacks in the politics of the South.

Question 52

Reconstruction Effect on African Americans

Answer 52

During Reconstruction, African Americans gained new civil and political rights, including the right to vote and hold public office, thanks to constitutional amendments that abolished slavery and guaranteed citizenship and equal protection under the law,

Question 53

Legacy of Reconstruction

Answer 53

The legacy of Reconstruction is that it legally abolished slavery, granted African Americans citizenship and the right to vote, and laid the groundwork for future civil rights movements