Unit 3 Flashcards
What were the causes of the French and Indian War?
British colonists were enroaching on land in the Ohio River Valley that the French laid claim to;
Territorial disputes in the Ohio River Valley
When did the French and Indian War begin?
1754
What was the Albany Congress/Albany Convention?
A meeting in which delegates from several British colonies discusses a more organized colonial response to frontier defense, trade, and westward expansion
What was the Albany Plan of Union?
-Proposed by Benjamin Franklin
-Under this plan, colonies would establish a council of representatives to discuss frontier defense, trade, and westward expansion
-Was rejected because of the taxation required for it to exist
What was the Peace of Paris 1763?
Ended the French and Indian War
What were the effects of the Peace of Paris 1763?
-Spain ceded Florida to the British
-French were ousted from the North American continent and Spanish were given control of former French lands
-The Ohio River Valley was granted to the British
What were the two main effects of the French and Indian War?
-American colonists were hungry to push westward, which intensified conflicts with the natives (all culminating in the Proclamation Line of 1763)
-The British national debt roughly doubled, so taxes were raised
What is salutary neglect?
The British Parliament left many of the day to day decisions of political rule to the colonists themselves;
Example was that the colonists didn’t really abide by the Navigation Acts and Britain didn’t really enforce it either
What was Grenville’s Plan to get rid of salutary neglect?
-Stricter enforcement of current laws
-Extend wartime provisions into peacetime (Thus, the Quartering Act of 1765)
What was the Sugar Act?
Imposed taxes on coffee, wine, various luxury items, and molasses
What was the Stamp Act of 1765, the most infamous of the acts?
Tax on all paper items produced in the colonies, like newspapers
What was the Currency Act?
Prohibited colonial assemblies from printing their own paper currency
What were the colonists’ issue with all these taxes?
They were being taxed without representation in Parliament
What were some organized resistance efforts to the Stamp Act?
-Sons of Liberty/Daughters of Liberty
-Vox Populi
-Stamp Act Congress
Parliament repealed the Sugar and Stamp Acts in 1766. What act did they pass to void this?
Declaratory Act, which stated that Parliament had the right to pass whatever law they wanted in the colonies
What were the Townshend Acts?
Acts that levied taxes on paper, tea, and glass
What was the Boston Massacre of 1770?
A group of boys and young men began harassing a group of British soldiers; someone eventually fired a gun, and that led soldiers to fire their own guns into the crowd
What was the Boston Tea Part of 1773?
A response to the Tea Act, which was a tax on tea and granted exclusive rights to the BEIC to buy and ship tea to the colonies;
Members of the Sons of Liberty dumped tea into the sea
What were the Coercive Acts?
A response to the Boston Tea Party;
Closed down the Boston harbor until the tea was paid for
What were the Intolerable Acts?
Coercive Acts + Quartering Act renewed
What were the Intolerable Acts?
Coercive Acts + Quartering Act renewed
What was the Continental Congress of 1774?
Delegates from every colony (except Georgia) deliberates about what the colonists ought to do regarding Britain’s increasing legislative tyranny
Where did colonists get their idea of rebellion from?
The Enlightenment
How did “Two Treatises of Government” by John Locke impact leaders of the colonial delegations?
-Consent of the governed, which states that the power to govern is in the hands of the people
-Natural rights (life, liberty, and property)
-Self-rule through elective representatives
How did Montesquieu impact colonial leaders?
His writings led colonial leaders to believe that a republican form of government was the best kind of government;
He presented separation of powers in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches;
Checks and balances
What was one factor that caused people’s idea of being a British citizen to turn into becoming independent of Britain?
The publication of “Common Sense” by Thomas Paine;
His ideas were directed to the public since Enligtenment ideas were more for the elite
What was significant about the Second Continental Congress in 1776?
A formal resolution for independence was put on the floor
Who were the Loyalists?
Colonists who wanted to remain loyal to the British Parliament
How did the Americans win the war?
-Washington realized that the only way to win was a war of attrition
-Alliance with France based on the opportunity to weaken Britain (which came from the Battle of Saratoga, 1777)
-Alliance with Spain and Holland, which spread out British resources and increased the cost of the conflict
How did revolutionary ideals affect American society?
-Rise in democratic sentiments led to many northern states abolishing slavery and the Continental Congress abolishing the enslaved laborers (temporarily)
-Opening of state and national government and that titles were not passed down by inheritance
-Republican Motherhood became a notion – the idea that women were vital to a healthy democracy bcs they raised sons on republican ideals
How did revolutionary ideals affect the world?
-Inspired revolutionary movements throughout the world through the establishment of a republic
-French Revolution, 1789
-Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (protections of basic human rights and provided for a limited monarchy)
-Haiti Revolution, 1791 (resulted in the first black-led independent nation in the Western Hemisphere)
What did the Declaration of Independence do?
It officially meant that America was separated from the authority of the British government
What did the Declaration of Independence do?
It officially meant that America was separated from the authority of the British government
In state governments before and during the Revolution, who did power mostly go to?
The legislative branch, which consisted of representatives of the people
What are some important facts about the Articles of Confederation?
-Did not provide for an executive branch
-Power lay mostly in the legislative
-No national supreme court
What good law was passed under the government formed by the Articles of Confederation?
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
What did the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 do?
-Abolished slavery in the Northwest Territory
-Provided a means for western territories to apply for statehood
What was the worst thing to come from the government formed by the Articles of Confederation?
Shays’s Rebellion;
Proved that the article needed replacing
What happened in Shays’s Rebellion?
In which Daniel Shays and a group of farmers headed down to the town arsenal to arm themselves
Why was Shays’s Rebellion important?
Because it emphasized the lack of a president and federal army, which meant that there would be no power to turn to in times of rebellion
What was the Constitutional Convention in 1787?
In which delegates from the states discussed whether or not to revise the Articles of Confederation or make an entirely new Constitution
What was the Virginia Plan?
-Strong centralized state
-Bicameral legislature (two houses in Congress)
-Repesentation based on population
What was the New Jersey Plan?
-Unicameral legislative
-Every state had equal representatives
What was the Great Compromise?
Provided for a bicameral legislature (the House of Representatives would represent the states by population and the Senate would represent each state equally by giving each state two votes)
What was the Three-Fifths Compromise?
Stated that 3/5 of the enslaved population could be added to the population for the purposes of representation
How did voting for representatives work?
House of Representatives
-Elected directly by the people
-Two year terms
Senate
-Elected by states legislatures
-Six year terms
Executive Branch
-Elected by a process governed by the Electoral College
-Power to elect the president would be in a small group of people apt for voting
What were the Federalists?
Believed in the Constitution
What were the Federalist Papers?
Explained the nature of the Constitution and why the states needed to ratify it
What were one of the main issuess Anti-Federalists had with the Constitution?
Lack of a Bill of Rights, protection against the government’s intrusion on individual liberties
Who advocated for the establishment of a National Bank?
Alexander Hamilton
Why did Hamilton want to establish a National Bank?
He believed it would unify the states and improve the credit of the United States (by absorbing each state’s debts from the Revolutionary War into a national debt);
Stabilized the shaky economy
What would creating a national debt do?
Enable the U.S. to borrow money from other nations and increase the dependence of the states upon the federal government
What does the elastic clause say (also the clause that Hamilton used to support the establishment of a national bank)?
That Congress can carry out all legislation both explicitly and implicitly stated
What was the Proclamation of Neutrality (1793)?
Stated that the U.S. would not have any involvement in the French Revolution
What was Jay’ Treaty?
The British agreed to give up its posts on the western frontier of American territory
What was the Pinckney Treaty (1795)?
-Let Americans used the port at New Orleans for trade
-The southern border of the U.S. is the 31st parallel
How was the Whiskey Rebellion important?
It proved that the Constitution could indeed do its job
What was the two party system that arose over disagreements over the Constitution?
Federalists (strong central government; urban interests) and Anti-Federalists (state governments; rural/agricultural interest)
What does Washington do in his Farewell Address?
Warned against the dangers of factions and political parties;
Warned against involvement with other nations
What were the Alien and Sedition Acts?
Alien Acts - gave the government power to deport immigrants
Sedition Acts - made it illegal to criticize the government publically
Why were the Alien and Sedition Acts seen poorly?
They were an overreach of federal power and violated the First Amendment
What was the response to the Alien and Sedition Acts?
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions (states could nullify any law passed by the federal government if it was an overreach of federal power)
