Unit 3

Question 1

Stamp Act

Answer 1

Law passed by Parliament in 1765 to raise revenue in America by requiring taxed, stamped paper for legal documents, publications, and playing cards.

Question 2

Committees of Correspondence

Answer 2

Committees formed in Massachusetts and other colonies in the pre-Revolutionary period to keep Americans informed about British measures that would affect the colonies.

Question 3

Sons of Liberty

Answer 3

Secret organizations in the colonies formed to oppose the Stamp Act.

Question 4

Shays’ Rebellion

Answer 4

An armed movement of debt-ridden farmers in western Massachusetts in the winter of 1786-1787. The rebellion created a crisis atmosphere.

Question 5

Jay’s Treaty

Answer 5

Treaty with Britain negotiated in 1794 in which the United States made major concessions to avert a war over the British seizure of American ships.

Question 6

Benjamin Franklin’s Plan of Union

Answer 6

Plan put forward in 1754 calling for an intercolonial union to manage defense and Indian affairs. The plan was rejected by participants at the Albany Congress.

Question 7

French and Indian War

Answer 7

The last of the Anglo-French colonial wars (1754-1763) and the first in which fighting began in North America. The war ended with France’s defeat.

Question 8

Sugar Act

Answer 8

Law passed in 1764 to raise revenue in the American colonies. It lowered the duty from 6 pence to 3 pence per gallon on foreign molasses imported into the colonies and increased the restrictions on colonial commerce.

Question 9

Declaratory Act

Answer 9

Law passed in 1776 to accompany repeal of the Stamp Act that stated that Parliament had the authority to legislate for the colonies “in all cases whatsoever.”

Question 10

Townshend Revenue Acts

Answer 10

Acts of Parliament, passed in 1767, imposing duties on colonial tea, lead, paint, paper, and glass.

Question 11

Boston Massacre

Answer 11

After months of increasing friction between townspeople and the British troops stationed in the city, on March 5, 1770, British troops fired on American civilians in Boston.

Question 12

Boston Tea Party

Answer 12

Incident that occurred on December 16, 1773, in which Bostonians, disguised as Indians, destroyed £10,000 worth of tea belonging to the British East India Company in order to prevent payment of the duty on it.

Question 13

First Continental Congress

Answer 13

Meeting of delegates from most of the colonies held in 1774 in response to the Coercive Acts. The Congress endorsed the Suffolk Resolves, adopted the Declaration of Rights and Grievances, and agreed to establish the Continental Association.

Question 14

Minutemen

Answer 14

Special companies of militia formed in Massachusetts and elsewhere beginning in late 1744.

Question 15

Declaration of Independence

Answer 15

The document by which the Second Continental Congress announced and justified its decision to renounce the colonies’ allegiance to the British government.

Question 16

Loyalists

Answer 16

British colonists who opposed independence from Britain.

Question 17

Tories

Answer 17

A derisive term used applied to Loyalists in America who supported the king and Parliament just before and during the American Revolution.

Question 18

Articles of Confederation

Answer 18

Written document setting up the loose confederation of states that comprised the first national government of the United States.

Question 19

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Answer 19

Legislation that prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territories and provided the model for incorporation of future territories into the union as co-equal states.

Question 20

Bill of Rights

Answer 20

A written summary of inalienable rights and liberties.

Question 21

Tea Act of 1773

Answer 21

Act of Parliament that permitted the East India Company to sell through agents in America without paying the duty customarily collected in Britain, thus reducing the retail price.

Question 22

Virtual representation

Answer 22

The notion that parliamentary members represented the interests of the nation as a whole, not those of the particular district that elected them.

Question 23

Annapolis Convention

Answer 23

Conference of state delegates at Annapolis, Maryland, that issued a call in September 1786 for a convention to meet at Philadelphia to consider fundamental changes.

Question 24

Virginia Plan

Answer 24

Proposal calling for a national legislature in which the states would be represented according to population.

Question 25

New Jersey Plan

Answer 25

Proposal of the New Jersey delegation for a strengthened national government in which all states would have equal representation in a unicameral legislature.

Question 26

Great Compromise

Answer 26

Plan proposed at the 1787 Constitutional Convention for creating a national bicameral legislature in which all states would be equally represented in the Senate and proportionally represented in the House.

Question 27

Federalists

Answer 27

Supporters of the Constitution who favored its ratification.

Question 28

Anti-Federalists

Answer 28

Opponents of the Constitution in the debate over its ratification.

Question 29

Judicial review

Answer 29

A power implied in the Constitution that gives federal courts the right to review and determine the constitutionality of acts passed by Congress and state legislatures.

Question 30

Treaty of Greenville

Answer 30

Treaty of 1795 in which Native Americans in the Old Northwest were forced to cede most of the present state of Ohio to the United States.

Question 31

XYZ Affair

Answer 31

Diplomatic incident in 1798 in which Americans were outraged by the demand of the French for a bribe as a condition for negotiating with American diplomats.

Question 32

Federalism

Answer 32

The sharing of powers between the national government and states.

Question 33

Alien and Sedition Acts

Answer 33

Collective name given to four acts passed by Congress in 1798 that curtailed freedom of speech and the liberty of foreign residents in the United States.

Question 34

Pontiac’s Rebellion

Answer 34

Chief Pontiac, from western territories, leads an Indian rebellion against the British after the French and Indian War.

Question 35

Proclamation of 1763

Answer 35

Made territory west of the Appalachians “Indian country” and prohibited colonists from settling it.

Question 36

Chief Little Turtle and the Western Confederacy

Answer 36

A Native American group that fought against America during Washington’s presidency.

Question 37

Intolerable Acts

Answer 37

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.

Question 38

Mercy Otis Warren

Answer 38

Woman who turned her home into a center of Patriot political activity and published satires supporting the American cause and scorning Loyalists.

Question 39

Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions

Answer 39

Laws passed to nullify the Alien and Sedition Acts.

Question 40

Hamilton’s Financial Plan

Answer 40

Pay debt at face value
Establish national bank
Impose high tariffs

Question 41

Proclamation of Neutrality

Answer 41

President Washington declared that America would remain neutral during the French Revolution.

Question 42

Abigail Adams

Answer 42

Wife of John Adams and early feminist.

Question 43

Pennsylvania Gradual Emancipation Law

Answer 43

Law passed in 1780 that is first attempt to emancipate slaves. Successful in 1847.

Question 44

March of the Paxton Boys

Answer 44

In reaction to the Proclamation of 1763, the Paxton boys killed 20 Indians. Colonial authorities tried to arrest them, but 600 frontiersmen marched into Philadelphia. Benjamin Franklin avoided a bloody conflict.

Question 45

Battle of Fallen Timbers

Answer 45

Battle where Chief Little Turtle and the Western Confederacy are defeated.

Question 46

Pickney’s Treaty

Answer 46

Spain allows America to do commerce in Mississippi.

Question 47

Olive Branch Petition

Answer 47

Attempt at reconciliation with Britain, written by Second Continental Congress.