unit 2 Flashcards
Stamp Act
Law passed by Parliament in 1765 to raise revenue in America by requiring taxed, stamped paper for legal documents, publications, and playing cards
Sugar Act
Law passed in 1764 to raise revenue in the American colonies. It lowered the duty from six pence to three pence per gallon on foreign molasses imported into the colonies and increased the restrictions on colonial commerce
Proclamation of 1763
Royal proclamation setting the boundary known as the proclamation line that limited British settlements to the eastern side of the Appalachian mountains
Coercive Acts
Legislation passed by parliament in 1774; included the Boston port act, the Massachusetts government act, the administration of justice act, and the quartering act of 1774
Quartering Acts
Acts of parliament requiring colonial legislatures to provide supplies and quarters for the troops stationed in America
Declaratory Act
Law passed in 1766 to accompany repeal of the stamp act that stated that parliament had authority to legislate the colonies.
Townshend Duty Act of 1767
Imposed duties on colonial tea, lead, paint, paper, and glass
Tea Act of 1773
Permitted the East India Company to sell through agents in America without paying the duty customarily collected in Britain
Quebec Act
Law passed by Parliament in 1774 that provided an appointed government for Canada, enlarged the boundaries of Quebec, and confirmed the privileges of the catholic church
Intolerable Acts
American term for the Coercive acts and the Quebec act
Republicanism
The idea that governments must exercise power, but simultaneously cautioning that power could easily overwhelm liberty.
Sovereignty
The supreme authority of the state
Whigs
The name used by advocates of colonial resistance to British measures during the 1760’s and 1770’s
Tories
A derisive term applied to loyalists in america who supported the king and parliament just before and during the American revolution
Declaration of Rights and Grievances
Asserted that the Stamp Act and other taxes were imposed on the colonists without their consent were unconstitutional
Minute Men
Special companies of militia formed in Massachusetts and elsewhere beginning in late 1774
Declaration of Independence
The document by which the second continental congress announced and justified its decision to renounce the colonies allegiance to the british government
Continental Army
The regular of professional army authorized by the second continental congress and commanded by washington during revolutionary war
Olive Branch Petition
A last effort for peace that avowed Americas loyalty to george 3 and requested that he protect them from further aggression
Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms
Declaration of second continental congress that Americans were ready to fight for freedom and liberty
Second Continental Congress
Convened in philly on may 10 1775. The second continental congress called for the patchwork and revision of the way things worked
Contract theory of government
Belief that government is established by human beings to protect certain rights-life liberty and property- these rights are theirs by natural divinely sanctioned law and when government protects these rights, people are obligated to obey it.
Republican
used to describe theory derived from the political ideas of classical antiquity, renaissance europe, and early modern england.
Bill of rights
a written summary of inalienable rights and liberties
natural rights
political philosophy that maintains that individuals have an inherent right, found in nature and preceding any government or written law, to life and liberty
nationalists
group of leaders in the 1780’s who spearheaded the drive to replace the articles of confederation with a stronger central government
Shays Rebellion
an armed movement of debt-ridden farmers in western Massachusetts in the winder of 1786-1787. Rebellion shut down courts and created a crisis atmosphere
Land Ordinance of 1785
Act passed by congress under the articles of confederation that created the grid system of surveys by which all subsequent public land was made available for sale
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
Legislation passed by congress under the articles of confederation that prohibited slavery in the northwest territories and provided the model for the incorporation of future territories into the union as coequal states
Southwest Ordinance of 1790
Legislation passed by congress that set up; a government with no prohibition on slavery in US territory south of Ohio River
Federalism
the sharing of powers between national government and the states
Federalist
A supporter of the constitution who favored its ratification
Antiferderalist
An opponent of the constitution in the debate over its ratification
Judicial review
A power implied in the constitution that gives federal courts the right to review and determine
Great Compromise
plan proposed by Roger Sherman of Connecticut at the 1787 Constitutional convention for creating a national bicameral legislature in which all states would be equally represented in the house
Virginia Plan
Proposal of the Virginia Delegation at the 1787 constitutional convention calling for a national legislature in which states would be represented according to population. The national legislature would have explicit power to veto or overrule laws passed by state legislatures
New Jersey Plan
Proposal of the new jersey delegation at the 1787 constitutional convention for a strengthened national government in which all states would have equal representation in a unicameral legislature
Judiciary Act of 1789
Act of Congress that implemented the judiciary clause of the constitution by establishing the Supreme Court and a system of lower federal courts
Federalist
A supporter of the constitution who favored its ratification
Republican
party headed by thomas jefferson that formed in opposition to the financial and diplomatic policies of the federalists party; favored limiting the powers of national government and placing the interests of farmers and planters over those of financial and commercial groups
Alien and Sedition Acts
Collective name given to four acts passed by congress in 1798 that curtailed freedom of speech and the liberty of foreigners resident in the US
states’ rights
favoring the rights of individual states over the rights claimed by national government
Nullification
a constitutional doctrine holding that a state has a legal right to declare a national law null and void within its borders
XYZ affair
diplomatic incident in 1798 in which Americans were outraged by the demand of the French for a bribe as a condition for negotiating with Americans diplomats
Whiskey Rebellion
armed uprising in 1794 by farmers in western Pennsylvania who attempted to prevent the collection of excise tax on whiskey
