APUSH Exam Review

Isaac Newton

Used the sciences of mathematics and physics to explain the movement of the planet around the sun.

Philipsburg Proclamation

A 1779 proclamation that declared that any slave who deserted a rebel master would receive protection, freedom, and land from Great Britain.

Shays's Rebellion

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.

Pietism

A Christian revival movement characterized by Bible study, the conversion experience, and individuals personal relationship with God.

Pennsylvania constitution of 1776

A Constitution that granted all taxpaying men the right to vote and hold office and created a unicameral legislature with complete power; there was no governor to exercise a veto. Other provisions mandated a system of elementary education and protected citizens from imprisonment for debt.

Jacob Leisler

A Dutchman who led the rebellion against the dominion of new England. He was later indicted for treason, hanged, and decapitated.

Battle of Yorktown (1781)

A battle in which French fleet trapped the British army under the command of General Charles Cornwallis at Virginia. The Franco-American victory broke the resolve of the British government.

redemptioner

A common type of indentured servant in the middle colonies in the 18th century. Did not sign a contract before leaving Europe. Instead, they found employers after arriving in America.

committees of correspondence

A communications network established among towns in the colonies, and among colonial assemblies, between 1772 and 1773 to provide for rapid dissemination of news about important political developments.

Stamp Act Congress

A congress of delegates from nine assemblies that met in New York City on October 1765 to protest the loss of American "rights and liberties," especially the right to trial by jury.

Declaration of Independence

A document containing philosophical principles and a list of grievances that declared separation from Britain. Adopted by the Second Continental Congress of July 4th, 1776, it ended a period of intense debate with moderates still hoping to reconcile with Britain.

currency tax

A hidden tax on the farmers and artisans who excepted Continental bills in payment for supplies and on the thousands of soldiers who took them as pay. Because of rampant inflation, Continental currency lost much of its value during the war; thus, the implicit tax on those who accepted it as payment.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

A land act that provided for orderly settlement and established a process by which settled territories would become the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. It also banned slavery in the Northwest Territory.

Valley Forge

A military camp in which George Washington's army of 12,000 soldiers and hundreds of camp followers suffered horribly in the winter of 1777-1778.

Jonathan Edwards

A minister in Northampton Massachusetts. He encouraged a revival there that spread to towns throughout the Connecticut River Valley. He guided and observe the process and then published an account entitled 'A Faith Narrative of the Surprising Work of God.

Constitutional monarchy

A monarchy limited in its rule by a constitution

nonimportation movement

A movement under which the colonies agreed to stop importing goods from Britain in order to protest the Stamp Act. Colonial radicals pressured merchants to stop.

Battle of Saratoga

A multistage battle in New York ending with the surrender of British general John Burgoyne. The victory ensured the diplomatic success of American representatives in Paris, who won a military alliance with France.

Virginia Plan

A plan drafted by James Madison that was presented at the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention. It designed a powerful three-branch government, with representation in both houses of the congress tied to population; this plan would have eclipsed the voice of small states in the national government.

Gentility

A refined but elaborate lifestyle

revival

A renewal of religious enthusiasm in a Christian congregation. In the 18th century, revivals were often inspired by evangelical preachers who urged their listeners to experience a rebirth.

Dominion of New England

A royal province created by King James II in 1686 that took Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, New York, and New Jersey. Ended with the Glorious Revolution in 1688

Judiciary Act of 1789

Act that established a federal district court in each state and three circuit courts to hear appeals from the districts, with the Supreme Court having the final say.

New Jersey Plan

Alternative to the Virginia Plan drafted by delegates from small states, retaining the confederations single house congress with one vote per state. It shared with the Virginia Plan enhanced congressional powers to raise revenue, control commerce, and make binding requisitions on the states.

Tanaghrisson

American Indian leader who played a pivotal role in the beginning of the French and Indian War.

Judith Sargent Murray

American advocate for women's rights, an essayist, playwright, poet, and letter writer. She published an essay defending women's rights for education.

George Whitefield

An English minister who transformed of local revivals of Edwards and attendance into a great awakening.

Pontiac

An Ottowa war chief.

Continental Association

An association established in 1774 by the First Continental Congress to enforce a boycott of British goods.

Federalists No. 10

An essay by James Madison in the Federalists that challenged the view that republican governments only worked and small polities; it argued that a geographically expansive national government would better protect republican liberty.

consumer revolution

An increase in consumption in English manufactures in Britain in the British colonies fueled by the Industrial Revolution.

Enlightenment

And 18th century philosophical movement that emphasize the use of reason to reevaluate previously accepted doctrines and traditions and the power of reason to understand and shape the world.

Thomas Paine

Author of Common Sense, an English and American political activist, philosopher, political theorist and revolutionary, migrated from England to America 15 months before the war, argued that the problem with England was the king and the corrupt system that allowed him to rule. He wanted to turn American anger away from specific parliamentary measures to the the English constitution itself.

Second hundred years' war

Began with the war of the league of Augsburg in 1689. Lasted until the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo and 1815.

Quakers

Believed that God spoke directly to each individual thru an "inner light". Neither ministers nor the Bible was essential to discover God's Word. At conflict with Puritans and Church of England

Tea Act of May 1773

British act that lowered the existing tax on tea and granted exemptions to the East India Company to make their tea cheaper in the colonies and entice boycotting Americans to buy it.

General William Howe

British army officer who rose to become Commander-in-Chief of British forces during the American War of Independence, leisurely the mission to capture General Washington's forces.

Stamp Act of 1765

British law imposing a tax on all paper used in the colonies.

Quartering Act of 1765

British law passed by Parliament at the request of General Thomas Gage that required colonial governments to provide barracks and food for British troops.

Sugar Act of 1764

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.

Townshend Act of 1767

British law that established new duties on tea, glass, lead, paper, and painters' colours imported into the colonies.

Lord Dunmore

British royal governor who encouraged runaway slaves to join his army. An irascible and unscrupulous man who clashed repeatedly with the House of Burgesses.

Old Lights

Conservative ministers opposed to the passion displayed by evangelical preachers; they preferred to emphasize the importance of cultivating a virtuous Christian life.

Thomas Jefferson

Declaration of Independence's main author, an American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third President of the United States.

Salutary neglect

Describes British colonial policy during the rains of George I and George II. By relaxing their supervision of internal colonial affairs, Royal bureaucrats inadvertently assisted the rise of self government in North America

Coercive Acts

Four British acts of 1774 meant to punish Massachusetts for the destruction of three shiploads of tea. Known in America as the Intolerable Acts, they led to open rebellion in the northern colonies.

Samuel Adams

He was a Master propagandist and an engineer of rebellion, strong strong politician and leader that was very aware and sensitive to the rights of the colonists, he claimed equality for the American assemblies with the empire. He also organized the local committees of correspondence in MA.

Regulators

Landowning protesters who organized in North and South Carolina in the 1760s and 70s 70s to demand that the eastern control government provide Western District with more courts, fairer taxation, and greater representation in assembly.

Declaratory Act of 1766

Law issued by Parliament to assert Parliament's unassailable right to legislate for its British colonies "in all cases whatsoever, " putting Americans on notice that the simultaneous repeal of the Stamp Act changed nothing in the imperial powers of Britain.

John Dickinson

Lawyer, a man from Pennsylvania that led one end of the extreme at the Second Continental Congress. He led a group of moderates, much like himself, that hoped for a quick reconciliation with Great Britian. He greatly opposed parliamentary taxes.

Second Continental Congress

Legislative body that governed the United States from May 1775 through the war's duration. It est. an army, created its own money, and declared independence.

Land banks

Lent paper money to farmers who pledged their land as collateral for the loans

Antifederalists

Opponents of ratification of the Constitution, feared that a powerful and distant central government would be out of touch with the needs of the citizens.

Baron von Steuben

Organizational genius who turned raw colonial recruits into tough military soldiers, Prussian drillmaster that taught American soldiers during the Revolutionary War how to successfully fight the British.

William of Orange

Protestant bishops and parliamentary leaders in the Whig party invited him to come to England at the head of an invading army. Led the glorious rebellion. He and his wife Mary ruled England as a constitutional monarchy.

Glorious Revolution

Quick and nearly bloodless coup in 1688 in which James II was overthrown by William of orange. End of the dominion of New England

William Penn

Received Pennsylvania from Charles II as payment for a large debt owed to Penn's father

John Locke

Rejected the divine right monarchy celebrated by James II. Thought that the legitimacy of government rests on the consent of the governed and that individuals have inalienable rights to life, liberty, and property.

Navigation Acts

Required that goods be carried on ships owned by English or colonial merchants.

General Horatio Gates

Retired British soldier who served as an American general during the Revolutionary War.

Continental Congress

September 1774 gathering of colonial delegates in Philadelphia to discuss the crisis precipitated by the Coercive Acts. The Congress produced a declaration of rights and an agreement to impose a limited boycott of trade with Britain.

Robert Morris

Superintendent of Finances, and head of the Confederation following the Revolutionary War, most influential figure in the government.

Federalists

Supporters of the constitution of 1787, which created a strong central government; their opponents, the anti-Federalist, feared that a strong central government would corrupt the nations newly one liberty.

Deism

The Enlightenment-influence belief that the Christian God created the universe and then left to run according to natural laws.

Robert Walpole

The Whig party leader in the House of Commons from 1722 to 1742. Was responsible for the invention of salutary neglect. His tactics weekend the empire by undermining the legitimacy of the political system by using patronage.

competency

The ability of a family to keep a household solvent and independent and to pass that ability to the next generation.

Covenant Chain

The alliance of the Iroquois, first with the colony of New York, then with the British Empire and it's other colonies.

William Pitt

The architect of the British war effort. He was a committed expansionist with a touch of arrogance. A master strategist.

James Madison

The author of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, he was also the father of the Federalist party and the fourth President of the United States. He was President during the war of 1812 and was also Vice-President under Jefferson. He was a great statesman but was not a strong president.

English common law

The centuries-old body of legal rules and procedures that protected the lives and property of the British monarch's subjects.

virtual representation

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

Bill of Rights

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.

Stono Rebellion

The largest slave uprising in the mainland colonies. Slaves armed themselves, plundered six plantations, and killed more than 20 colonists. Colonists quickly ended the rebellion.

Patronage

The practice of giving offices and salaries to political allies

popular sovereignty

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

tenancy

The rental of property. To attract tenants in New York's Hudson River Valley, Dutch and English manorial lord to granted long tendency leases.

natural rights

The rights to life, liberty and property.

natural rights

The rights to life, liberty, and property.

household mode of production

The system of exchanging goods and labor that helped 18th century new England freeholders survive on ever-shrinking farms as available land became more scarce.

Treaty of Paris of 1783

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

Articles of Confederation

The written document defining the structure of 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.

John Locke

Was a major contributor to the enlightenment. He stressed the impact of environment and experience on human behavior and beliefs.

Edmund Andros

Was appointed by James II as the governor of the Dominion of New England. He banned town meetings which angered villagers. Advocated public warship in the church of England. Also, he offered to provide new deeds, but only if the colonists would pay an annual fee

William Byrd II

Was sent to England by his father to obtain a good education. He was shunned by his classmates and never really fit in. At the age of 52 he returned to Virginia where he then won an appointment to the governor's council.

Dunmore's War

A 1774 war led by Virginia's royal governor, the Earl of Dunmore, against the Ohio Shawnees, who had a long-standing claim to Kentucky as their own.

vice-admiralty courts

A maritime tribunal presided over by a royally appointed judge, with no jury.

Benjamin Franklin

An exemplar of the American enlightenment. Born in Boston in 1706 to devote Calvinists. He educated himself.

Charles Townshend

Chancellor of the exchequer was left in command of the parliamentary debates. He persuaded Parliament in 1767 to pass the Townshend Acts. He promised to find a new source of the revenue in America.

minutemen

Colonial militiamen who stood ready to mobilise on short notice during the imperial crisis of the 1770s.

Proprietorships

Colonies created through a grant of land from the english monarch to an individual or group, independant from royal control

Sons of Liberty

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

New Lights

Evangelical preachers, many of them influenced by John Wesley, the founder of English methodism, and George Whitefield, the charismatic itinerant and preacher who brought his message to Britain's American colonies.

Battle of Long Island (1776)

First major engagement of the new Continental army, defending against 32,000 British troops outside of New York City.

General George Washington

First president of the United States, a Virginian who was Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army and President of the Constitutional Convention. Founding Father.

mixed government

John Adams's theory from Thoughts on Government (1776), which called for three branches of government, each representing one function: executive, legislative, and judicial. This system of dispersed authority was devised to maintain a balance of power and ensure the legitimacy of government procedures.

Lord North

King George III's stout prime minister in the 1770's. Argued that its was foolish to tax British exports to America.

George Grenville

Prime minishter who, in 1763, ordered the British navy to begin stricly enforcing the Navigation laws. He also secured from parliament the Sugar Act of 1764, The Quartering Act, and the Stamp Act.

South Atlantic system

Produced sugar, tobacco, rice, and other tropical and subtropical products for an international market. Center was in Brazil and the west Indies

squatters

Someone who settles on land he or she does not own or rent. Many 18th-century settlers established themselves on land before it was surveyed and entered for sale, requesting the first right to purchase the land when sales began.

Tribalization

The adaptation of stateless peoples to the demands imposed on them by neighboring states