Unit 3 Vocab

Question 1

British law that decreased the duty on French molasses, making it more attractive for shippers to obey the law, and at the same time raised penalties for smuggling.

Answer 1

Sugar Act

Question 2

British law imposing a tax on all paper used in the colonies. Widespread resistance to the Stamp Act prevented it from taking effect and led to its repeal in 1766

Answer 2

Stamp Act

Question 3

The claim made by British politicians that the interests of the American colonists were adequately represented in Parliament by merchants and absentee landlords

Answer 3

Virtual Representation

Question 4

A British law passed by Parliament that required colonial governments to provide barracks and food for British troops.

Answer 4

Quartering Act

Question 5

Colonists — primarily middling merchants and artisans — who banded together to protest the Stamp Act and other imperial reforms of the 1760s

Answer 5

Sons of Liberty

Question 6

September 1774 gathering of colonial delegates in Philadelphia to discuss the crisis precipitated by the Coercive Acts

Answer 6

Continental Congress

Question 7

A document containing philosophical principles and a list of grievances that declared separation from Britain

Answer 7

Declaration of Independence

Question 8

The principle that ultimate power lies in the hands of the electorate

Answer 8

Popular Sovereignty

Question 9

A multistage battle in New York ending with the surrender of British general John Burgoyne

Answer 9

Battle of Saratoga

Question 10

A battle in which French and American troops and a French fleet trapped the British army under the command of General Charles Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia

Answer 10

Battle of Yorktown
(1781)

Question 11

The treaty that ended the Revolutionary War. In the treaty, Great Britain formally recognized American independence and relinquished its claims to lands south of the Great Lakes and east of the Mississippi River

Answer 11

Treaty of Paris

Question 12

The written document defining the structure of the government from 1781 to 1788, under which the Union was a confederation of equal states, with no executive and limited powers, existing mainly to foster a common defense

Answer 12

Articles of Confederation

Question 13

A 1786–1787 uprising led by dissident farmers in western Massachusetts, many of them Revolutionary War veterans, protesting the taxation policies of the eastern elites who controlled the state’s government

Answer 13

Shay’s Rebellion

Question 14

Commander of the Continental Army

Answer 14

George Washington

Question 15

Supporters of the Constitution of 1787, which created a strong central government

Answer 15

Federalists

Question 16

Opponents of ratification of the Constitution.
They feared that a powerful and distant central government would be out of touch with the needs of citizens. They also complained that it failed to guarantee individual liberties in a bill of rights.

Answer 16

Antifederalists

Question 17

The first ten amendments to the Constitution, officially ratified by 1791. The amendments safeguarded fundamental personal rights, including freedom of speech and religion, and mandated legal procedures, such as trial by jury

Answer 17

Bill of Rights

Question 18

A 1794 uprising by farmers in western Pennsylvania in response to enforcement of an unpopular excise tax on whiskey

Answer 18

Whiskey Rebellion

Question 19

A 1797 incident in which American negotiators in France were rebuffed for refusing to pay a substantial bribe. The incident led the United States into an undeclared war that curtailed American trade with the French West Indies

Answer 19

XYZ Affair

Question 20

Three laws passed in 1798 that limited individual rights and threatened the fledgling party system

Answer 20

Naturalization, Alien, and Sedition Acts

Question 21

A Supreme Court case that established the principle of judicial review in finding that parts of the Judiciary Act of 1789 were in conflict with the Constitution

Answer 21

Marbury v. Madison

Question 22

The 1803 purchase of French territory west of the Mississippi River that stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada

Answer 22

Louisiana Purchase

Question 23

Shawnee war chief who revived the Western Confederacy in 1809 with his brother

Answer 23

Tecumseh

Question 24

A Supreme Court case that asserted the dominance of national over state statutes

Answer 24

McCulloch v. Maryland

Question 25

An 1819 treaty in which John Quincy Adams persuaded Spain to cede the Florida territory to the United States. In return, the American government accepted Spain’s claim to Texas and agreed to a compromise on the western boundary for the state of Louisiana

Answer 25

Adams-Onis Treaty

Question 26

The 1823 declaration by President James Monroe that the Western Hemisphere was closed to any further colonization or interference by European powers. In exchange, Monroe pledged that the United States would not become involved in European struggles

Answer 26

Monroe Doctrine

Question 27

Secretary of the Treasury, Prominent New York lawyer, married into influential Schuyler family, and creator of some of the most important financial plans during the 1700s

Answer 27

Alexander Hamilton

Question 28

Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Kentucky Senator; Republican War Hawk

Answer 28

Henry Clay

Question 29

First major economic crisis of the United States. Farmers and planters faced an abrupt 30 percent drop in world agricultural prices, and as farmers’ income declined, they could not pay debts owed to stores and banks, many of which went bankrupt

Answer 29

Panic of 1819

Question 30

A series of political agreements devised by Speaker of the House Henry Clay. Maine entered the Union as a free state in 1820 and Missouri followed as a slave state in 1821, preserving a balance in the Senate between North and South and setting a precedent for future admissions to the Union.

Answer 30

Missouri Compromise

Question 31

Unprecedented religious revival that swept the nation between 1790 and 1850; it also proved to be a major impetus for the reform movements of the era

Answer 31

Second Great Awakening