US History Flashcards
first colony in the US
Jamestown
born in Genoa on October 31, 1451. He spent much of his life sailing, and read astronomy, geography, and history. He was inspired by the writings of Marco Polo and his tales of adventure in the East.
Christopher Columbus
They determined Columbus was not in the Indies
Amerigo Vespucci
March 1765, taxed a wide range of transactions in the colonies. Up until then, each colony had its own government that decided which taxes they would have and collected them.
The Stamp Act
June-July 1767, passed by the British Parliament, taxed goods imported to the American colonies
The Townshend Acts
March 1770, disagreement between an apprentice wigmaker and a British soldier led to a crowd of 200 colonists surrounding seven British troops. Americans began taunting the British and throwing things at them, the soldiers fired into the crowd, killing five people.
The Boston Massacre
December 1773, Sons of Liberty confronted the British for the taxes on tea. They wore disguises and dumped 92,000 pounds of British tea into the harbor.
The Boston Tea Party
March-June 1774, a series of laws which closed Boston Harbor until restitution was paid for the destroyed tea, replaced the colony’s elected council with one appointed by the British, gave sweeping powers to the British military governor General Thomas Gage, and forbade town meetings without approval.
The Coercive Acts
April 1775, British General Thomas Gage led a force of British soldiers from Boston to Lexington, where he planned to capture colonial radical leaders Sam Adams and John Hancock, and then head to Concord and seize their gunpowder.
Lexington and Concord
An American attorney and statesman who represented Kentucky. He helped enact the Missouri Compromise (MO came in as a slave state, but banned slavery north of the Missouri line: the bottom part of the state of MO)
Henry Clay
Freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, right to petition the government
First Amendment
Right to bear arms
Second Amendment
Right to be secure from all unreasonable searches and seizures of his person, his house, his papers, and all his possessions
Fourth Amendment
Guarantees the right to a grand jury, forbids “double jeopardy,” and protects against self-incrimination (the right to remain silent)
Fifth Amendment
Guarantees the rights of criminal defendants, including the right to a public trial without unnecessary delay, the right to a lawyer, the right to an impartial jury, the right to know who your accusers are, and the nature of the charges and evidence against you
Sixth Amendment
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted
Eighth Amendment
Powers not delegated to the US by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people
Tenth Amendment
Known as the father of the Constitution; from his notes, we know day by day activities for the entire convention
James Madison
Basis came from the Virginia Plan (3 branches of government)
US Constitution
Congress is split into the Senate and House of Representatives. Each state has two senators, but the number of representatives in the House depends on the population
Legislative Branch
President, Vice President, and cabinet
Executive Branch
Has veto power, is head of the military, and responsible for making treaties with foreign countries.
President
must approve all treaties and declarations of war
Congress
America’s federal court system. The Supreme Court oversees establishing lower federal courts and settling disputes over the application of federal laws to make sure all laws are constitutional.
Judicial Branch
