Unit 3 Key Terms

Question 1

French and Indian War/Seven Year’s War

Answer 1

1754-1763

• Fought between Brits and French in all territories, from Virginia up for APUSH.
• The French had territory in Canada and parts of the USA and wanted to expand and take British territory.
• Southern colonies were mostly unaffected by war.
• The French officially surrendered in 1763, fighting continued until word of mouth, and the treaty was signed a while after the surrender.
• Brits gain lots of French territory stretching from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico
• The British still needed to find a way to pay off war debts and would focus on the American territories to do so.

Question 2

Albany Plan of Union

Answer 2

1754

• Benjamin Franklin lived in Pennsylvania during the French and Indian War.
• Saw the war as an opportunity to unite colonies against the French, via the Albany Plan of Union.
• Southern colonies declined plans of union because they would not benefit.
• Combined with fears of losing autonomy by joining the plans for the Union.
• First attempt at unity between the British colonies, failed but would succeed later.

Question 3

Treaty of Paris (French & Indian War)

Answer 3

1763

• Officially ended the French & Indian war.
• France gave most of its territory in North America to the Brits and some islands.

Question 4

Proclamation Line

Answer 4

1763

• Line following the Appalachian Mountains that colonists could not cross, soldiers stationed and paid for across line to enforce the border, upsetting colonists.

Question 5

Mercantilism

Answer 5

• The idea that there is a fixed amount of wealth in the world measured by gold and silver, and to gain wealth in the economy, one had to minimize their imports in favor of maximizing their exports.

Question 6

Navigation Acts

Answer 6

1660

• British Parliament imposed restrictions on colonial trade
• Forced trade with Britain, messing with the American economy and continuing to upset Americans.

Question 7

Quartering Act

Answer 7

1765

• Had a standing military to enforce new policies and forced colonists to cede food, shelter, and other supplies to the British soldiers.
• The British paid less for their army, and American colonies suffered and became even angrier.

Question 8

Sugar Act

Answer 8

1764

• Tax imposed on any products with sugar imported and/or refined in the American Colonies.
• An indirect tax imposed by the British to generate revenue, still upset American colonists.

Question 9

Stamp Act

Answer 9

1765

• Tax imposed requiring all pieces of paper (certificates, books, playing cards, etc.) to have a special stamp with a tax connected to it, people sent to check this was enforced.
• Really upset American colonists, began to buy paper without stamps and push back against the policies of the British.

Question 10

Stamp Act Congress

Answer 10

1765

• Colonists representing nine of the thirteen colonies began to draft the Declaration of Rights and Grievances.
• Petitioned to repeal the Stamp Act & Sugar Act, saying only the colonial assembly (not parliament) could tax the colonies.

Question 11

Declaration of Rights and Grievances

Answer 11

1765

• Petition created at the Stamp Act Congress asking to repeal Stamp & Sugar Acts, called for no taxation without representation.

Question 12

Stamp Act Crisis

Answer 12

1765-66

• Most colonists considered the Stamp Act a violation of their rights because of no representation, causing lots of rebellion, especially by the Sons & Daughters of Liberty.

Question 13

Declaratory Act

Answer 13

1766

• British policy that gave the British Parliament full control over the colonies and allowed them to pass any laws/taxes they deemed necessary.

Question 14

Townshend Acts

Answer 14

1767

• British policy replacing the Stamp Act that taxes glass, paper, tea, lead, and paint; colonists were upset at the British enforcement and taxes on important goods.

Question 15

Salutary Neglect

Answer 15

• Unofficial British policy from the 1600s to 1760s where Brits didn’t enforce their policies as heavily, allowing American colonies to temporarily flourish and get a taste of freedom.

Question 16

Deference/Social Order

Answer 16

• Big part of British control, said to not rebel/challenge authority.

Question 17

John Locke, Two Treatises of Government

Answer 17

• Man living in Great Britain until the British civil war between royalty and citizens.
• Believed that the introduction of private property caused all the problems, leading to the need for a government to defend private property and a social contract between government and citizens.
• Writes the Two Treatises of Government which talks about private property and argues for the creation of a system of checks and balances to keep the bodies in power.
• Believed if the government is not supporting its citizens, “the people” (WEMPs) can rebel and create a new government.

Question 18

Checks and Balances

Answer 18

• Counterbalancing parts of government meant to stop one group from becoming authoritarian, like three branches of government in the USA and King + Parliament in England.

Question 19

Social Contract Theory

Answer 19

• Belief that when a group of people puts someone in power, they are establishing a social contract that gives up some autonomy in exchange for protection.

Question 20

No Taxation Without Representation

Answer 20

• After the parliament unfairly made taxes and defended by saying there was representation in parliament (they were not), many colonists began calling for “No Taxation Without Representation!”

Question 21

Sons of Liberty

Answer 21

• Angry colonists (male artisans) came together in a group known as the Sons of Liberty to protest the British both peaceful and violent methods, like terrorism.
• Began to enforce boycotts on British goods like paper, sugar, etc. by spreading the word via newspaper within weeks, which was fast.
• Also enforced boycotts by surveilling who bought the British goods and attacking and/or tar and feathering the supporters.
• Had people on the lower side of the social order pushed against the upper levels, protests would have failed without the support of colonists on the higher side.

Question 22

Daughters of Liberty

Answer 22

• Not only men protested Brits, but women also, known as the daughters of Liberty.
• Made goods to interfere with British goods and keep control of the private sphere.
• Began designing alternate fashions to distance from Brits culturally and economically.

Question 23

Boycotts

Answer 23

• Protests where people refuse to support/buy a product, for example in colonies with boycotts on British goods, stamped paper, tea, etc.

Question 24

Boston Massacre – Crispus Attucks

Answer 24

1770

• Colonists upset at British soldiers began packing snowballs and rocks to throw at soldiers.
• Soldiers opened fire on the colonists, killing five, called a massacre to express gravity.
• The first dead was Crispus Attucks/Michael Johnson, some see him as a martyr.
• Newspapers get info out extremely quickly, leading to uproar and quiet periods.

Question 25

Quiet Period

Answer 25

1770-1773

• After the Boston Massacre, Brits barely talked about American colonies, and colonists did not violently rebel out of fear spread by the Boston Massacre
• Interesting stuff continues with the Tea Act in 1773

Question 26

Tea Act

Answer 26

1773

• Americans are drinking other products like coffee and tea not from the East India Company.
• The British revoked the taxes on their tea in the Tea Act, but colonists still refused to drink their tea.

Question 27

Boston Tea Party, Dec.

Answer 27

1773

• Three British ships pull into Boston Harbor with tea, told to go away by natives, captains of ships refuse to leave, and try to sell tea.
• Native Americans (Sons of Liberty covered in feathers) hijack the three ships, destroying crates of tea worth two million dollars in today’s money by throwing it into the ocean.
• Final effort to get Brits to stop, king had enough, Sons identified and tried.

Question 28

Committee of Correspondence

Answer 28

1773
* A committee of American colonists who came together and planned how to protest Britain being unjust
* Had established their responses which were ratified at the 2nd continental congress

Question 29

Intolerable or Coercive Acts

Answer 29

1774

• The King & Parliament created coercive acts (intolerable acts in states) to punish America (specifically Boston) until tea was paid for.
• Laws closed Boston Harbor, had the British government choose their governor, and created the Second Quartering Act to station soldiers directly into colonial houses, requiring them to give supplies or face heavily biased charges.
• The last straw for most American colonies, begin drafting ideas for revolution against the British crown.

Question 30

First Continental Congress, Philly

Answer 30

1774

• WEMPS representing every colony come together in Philadelphia for a few weeks to attempt to reach out to the king one final time.
• The first continental congress with every colony, each colony had an equal vote in this congress despite different efforts and resources.

Question 31

Patriots vs. Loyalists

Answer 31

• Patriots wanted to become independent and rebel against British tyranny.
• Loyalists wanted to remain a British colony and go through things peacefully.

Question 32

Minute men or militia men – guerilla warfare

Answer 32

• The men fighting on the colonists’ side, most were untrained and fought at a minute’s notice.
• Colonists had an advantage of the land and used guerilla warfare tactics to beat Brits.

Question 33

Red Coats

Answer 33

• Men who were fighting on the British side of the war, trained well and were the most feared military at the time.

Question 34

Second Continental Congress

Answer 34

1775

• Talked about gathering a legitimate army, had Generals, George W. in charge of the military.
• Put Thomas Jefferson in charge of writing a declaration of independence from the British

Question 35

Olive Branch Petition

Answer 35

1775

• Written to the king after Brits were surrounded in Boston, asking for peace and to return as a colony without the unfairness, the king rejected the treaty, and the war continued.

Question 36

Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys

Answer 36

• Ethan Allen was a farmer and politician in Massachusetts with a band of people (not minute men) who fought alongside him and planned to attack and take Fort Ticonderoga for colonists.

Question 37

Benedict Arnold

Answer 37

• Benedict Arnold was a military official who planned to gather men to take Fort Ticonderoga for colonists, ran into Ethan Allen, and raided Fort Ticonderoga with them.
• Would later betray colonists after humiliation by Washington, the original snake.

Question 38

Fort Ticonderoga

Answer 38

• Fort controlled by the British, Ethan Allen & Benedict Arnold attacked the fort at night and managed to take it very quickly.
• Big win for the colonists, got lots of artillery, Ethan Allen took all credit, and Benedict Arnold got none.

Question 39

Thomas Paine, Common Sense

Answer 39

1776

• Thomas Paine was a revolutionary who wrote a pamphlet in 1776 called Common Sense, which outlined four important ideas: An island should not control a continent, colonists are not just Brits and have developed their own culture, a mother country should not abuse its colonies, and the king rules for himself, not for us.

Question 40

Henry Knox, Fortification of Dorchester

Answer 40

, April 1776

• Henry Knox was a senior general for the colonists, serving as chief of artillery for Washington.
• Planned to take artillery at Fort Ticonderoga and fortify Dorchester Heights with it.

Question 41

Brits go to New York

Answer 41

July 3rd, 1776

• Brits invade New York, George Washington managed to lose every single battle and loses New York to the British, moving back from New York to Pennsylvania

Question 42

Declaration of Independence

Answer 42

July 4th, 1776

• Written by five people, mainly Thomas Jefferson.
• Approved and ratified by every single colony, signed by fifty-six different representatives.
• Rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness (not property to not endorse slavery).

Question 43

Battle of Trenton, Gates vs. Arnold

Answer 43

1776

• George Washington and his soldiers crossed the Delaware River and invaded Trenton on Christmas, showing desperation to fight and win the war to attack on holiday.
• Generals Horatio Gates & Benedict Arnold fought about how to approach the British, Gates wanted to keep the high ground and wait for the British to come to them, and Arnold wanted to charge the British and take them by surprise.
• Arnold ignored Gates’s orders and proceeded to ambush the Brits, kicking them out of New York and winning the battle.
• Horatio Gates got all the credit, and Arnold yet again ignored advances.

Question 44

Battle of Brandywine

Answer 44

1776

• British general Howe begins to march towards Philadelphia, beats Washington’s army, and takes control of the American capitol at the time.
• People began questioning Washington’s military skills due to the pattern of losses.

Question 45

Battles of Lexington and Concord

Answer 45

1775

• Colonists are planning to begin to bear arms and plan to go to get weapons from Concord.
• British soldiers plan to intercept weapons, colonists warned by Paul Revere.
• Colonists meet Brits at Lexington, the first battle of the war begins with the “shot heard around the world,” unknown which side fired first.
• Colonists retreat at Lexington, meet up again at Concord after the Brits got supplies, manage to defeat the Brits, and force them to retreat.

Question 46

Valley Forge

Answer 46

Dec. 1776 – July 1777

• Washington settles down at Valley Forge after a string of losses, goes through the harsh winters, and many soldiers desert and go back to their homes.
• A Prussian man by the name of Harry Frederick von Steuben fixes up the American army and gives American colonies proper military training and discipline to fight the British.

Question 47

Camp Followers

Answer 47

• The wives of soldiers who followed armies to set up camp, supply food, and heal the wounded.

Question 48

Deputy Husbands

Answer 48

• Wives who acted in the place of their husband’s businesses while they fought in the war, when the men returned from the war, the women returned to the kitchen (for now).

Question 49

Battle of Saratoga

Answer 49

1777
* Benjamin Franklin in France tried to convince the French to aid them in the war, French did not join until they thought they would win.
* Colonists got a decisive victory over the British forces in Saratoga
* The battle that finally convinced the French to join the American Revolution.

Question 50

Siege of Savannah

Answer 50

1779

• British begin taking the south up from Savannah, Georgia, after Horatio Gates fails to defend, Washington & Nathan Greene try to fight back against the Brits.

Question 51

Battle of Guilford Courthouse

Answer 51

1781

• Washington & Gates meet Brits at Guildford Courthouse, Nathan Greene leads the British further and further North, and colonists lose the battle but the Brits lose more men and retreat to Yorktown.

Question 52

Battle of Yorktown

Answer 52

1781

• Washington and newly arrived French troops surround the British forces in Yorktown and the British surrender to the colonists.

Question 53

Treaty of Paris (American Rev.)

Answer 53

1783

• Written to end the American Revolution, outlines three things: Recognize US territory, Recognize USA as a country, and give all loyalist land back to the loyalists.

Question 54

How did the American Revolution affect other countries?

Answer 54

*The American Revolution inspired the French Revolution, which in turn inspired the Haitian Revolution, and all these revolutions inspired the Latin American Revolution.

Question 55

“The People”

Answer 55

• White Educated Men with Property (WEMPS). Women, poor, and slaves not counted, Abigail Adams writes to her husband John Adams to “Remember the ladies.”

Question 56

Articles of Confederation

Answer 56

1781-1787
* A written document agreed on by every colony acting as their first official government as an independent country, and acted more as the framework for a government than as an actual government.
* Put power into the legislature which was directly answerable to the states, did not even provide information about an executive branch or a supreme court, all power was in the legislature.
* Each state had an equal vote and veto powers, and even after that, a supermajority of 9/13 colonies supporting the law was required.
* No taxing authority after British tyranny with taxes, but states could donate money to support the government (they did not). The government could also make war & negotiate treaties, limiting executive power.

Question 57

The Northwest Ordinance

Answer 57

1787
* People were getting into fights with the Native Americans over territory, and people were squatting on land that didn’t really have a rightful owner
* The AOC passed the Northwest Ordinance in response, which provided a plan for territories to gain population and become states, and also abolished slavery in the Northwest Territory.

Question 58

Shay’s Rebellion

Answer 58

1786-87

• The economy of Western Massachusetts was bad, veteran farmers were often in debt & had to sell land/take loans, losing the right to vote.
• Farmer Daniel Shay is upset about the circumstances, he and other farmers meet up at Conkey’s taverns and get the idea to arm themselves to rebel against the Massachusetts government.
• Rebellion was partially successful; Massachusetts was beginning to fall apart.

Question 59

Philadelphia Convention

Answer 59

1787

• WEMPs came together in Philadelphia and disbanded the Articles of Confederation after the effects of Shay’s Rebellion
• Build off Montesquieu’s idea of three balanced branches of government to uphold laws.

Question 60

Virginia Plan

Answer 60

1787
* Virginia’s plan for government was to have representation by population, which grew into the House of Representatives

Question 61

New Jersey Plan

Answer 61

• New Jersey’s plan was to have equal representation for each colony, which grew into the Senate.

Question 62

Three-Fifths Compromise

Answer 62

1789
* Representatives argued over whether slaves should count as people when deciding decisions by population, producing the Three-Fifths compromise which states that slaves counted as three-fifths of a person when doing demographics.

Question 63

Feds vs. Anti-Feds

Answer 63

• NOT political parties, Anti-Feds wanted to protect states and their individual rights, Feds were all about granting more power to the feds.
• Anti-Feds and Feds debate with each other and send papers to each other, papers known as the Federalist papers, final compromise known as the Bill of Rights.
• Parties die out over time, replaced with modern political parties.

Question 64

Bill of Rights

Answer 64

1789
* Compromise made by Feds & Anti-Feds, ten amendments for beginning the country, more amendments would be added to the constitution later:
1. Freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly, and petitioning.
2. People can defend/arm themselves against unlawful violence/invasions.
3. The military/soldiers cannot barge in and occupy homes.
4. No unlawful searches without reasonable suspicion/warrants.
5. Right not to incriminate oneself in court.
6. Right to a speedy and public trial.
7. Right to a fair and unbiased jury.
8. No cruel/unusual punishments, no unfair bail.
9. All rights not listed in the constitution belong to the people, individual autonomy.
10. The Federal Government only has the powers delegated to it in the Constitution.

Question 65

Judiciary Act

Answer 65

1789

• An act to establish the judicial courts in the United States, similar to the system we have today but has some changes.

Question 66

Tariffs

Answer 66

• Taxes put on imported goods, prices often rise with tariffs.
• The North wanted high tariffs to inspire more home production and stop foreign competition, the South wanted low tariffs because they were mainly farmers and couldn’t get many imports.

Question 67

Hamilton’s Plan

Answer 67

1791

• Alexander Hamilton asked to help fix the economy. He created four rules: Feds assumed states’ debts, exercised taxes on goods in the country, especially taxed whiskey, created a national bank and one uniform currency, and high tariffs to move toward manufacturing.
• The North heavily benefitted from Hamilton’s plan, which also led to the beginning of a two-party system in the United States.

Question 68

Whiskey Rebellion

Answer 68

1794

• Hamilton’s Plan involved a tax on whiskey, which was mainly consumed by poor farmers
• In anger, the farmers began attacking tax collectors trying to collect revenue from them.
• Unlike Shay’s Rebellion, Washington had a set-up militia and crushed the rebellion

Question 69

Federalists

Answer 69

• One of the first two political parties, came mostly from the wealthy north.

Question 70

Democrat-Republicans

Answer 70

• One of the first two political parties, came mostly from the farming-reliant south.
• Wanted a strong central government and opposed Hamilton’s Plan
• Favored states’s rights under the leadership of Thomas Jefferson

Question 71

The French Revolution

Answer 71

1789-1799

• The French got the idea to revolt against their king from the Americans, which led to lots of radical ideas and Robespierre in temporary power with the guillotine.
• Democrat-Republics wanted to support their allies, federalists wanted to ignore it, government ultimately decided not to intervene & focus on their economy

Question 72

Jay’s Treaty

Answer 72

1794-95

• British soldiers are still stationed in the northwest territory; the US sends John Jay to try and negotiate with the Brits.
• John Jay wrote Jay’s Treaty to try and get Brits out and facilitate trade for a while, supported by the Federalists but the Democrat-Republicans disliked allying themselves with their former enemy.
• This and the US decision not to intervene led to the French becoming further upset with their former ally not wanting anything to do with them.

Question 73

George Washington’s Farewell Address

Answer 73

1796

• George Washington ended his time as president after 8 years, making it clear he believed terms should be limited (terms weren’t officially limited until FDR took 3 presidential terms).
• When giving his farewell address, he warned against a few things:
• Making alliances with other countries
• Creating political parties divided based on factionalism
• Creating geographical sectionalism within the country
• Warnings were ignored, his intuition was correct, and the problems are still big today.

Question 74

1796 Presidential Election

Answer 74

• Originally elections had no parties, and when voting for candidates, the most voted is president, the runner-up is the vice president
• The electoral college was created by WEMPS later on to vote for the dumb people (why do we still use this, it’s so faulty)
• John Adams was elected as president (Federalist)
• Thomas Jefferson was elected as vice president (Democrat-Republican)

Question 75

XYZ Affair

Answer 75

1797

• The French aren’t making money because no taxes are being collected, so they begin plundering other nations’ ships
• Brits and French establish impressment (captured people are forced into the army) for “fighting opposition”
• Americans sent three delegates to France to stop impressing soldiers, The French asked for money to delegate, and Americans were shocked at greed and left back to the USA
• French delegates described as X, Y, and Z, becoming known as the XYZ affair

Question 76

Quasi-War

Answer 76

1798

• Pseudo-war between the Americans and the French fought navally near the coast of the United States

Question 77

Alien & Sedition Acts

Answer 77

1798

• John Adams wrote the Alien & Sedition Acts in 1798 which had a very negative effect on the states and their politics
• The US gov can now take freedom of speech in wars and can kick out foreigners deemed dangerous/from countries at war against the USA, also made it a lot harder to become a US citizen
• The Federalist Party essentially dies and never holds office again as a result of these acts

Question 78

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions

Answer 78

1798

• Thomas Jefferson and friends anonymously wrote the Virginia & Kentucky resolutions to deem the A+S acts as unconstitutional and that they should be left null and void

Question 79

1800 Presidential Election

Answer 79

• John Adams loses to Thomas Jefferson with VP Aaron Burr, becomes the first time in US history (one of the first times ever) that power was transitioned peacefully between political parties