Colonial America
time period from 1690-1763 where Britain left the American colonists alone (they were allowed to levy their own taxes and bolster their colonial governments)
What is Salutary neglect?
Enlightenment philosopher who stated that man had three natural rights- life, liberty and property
Who is John Locke?
created a bicameral legislature, upper house (Senate) based on equal representation and the lower house (House of Representatives) based on a state’s population
What is the Great Compromise?
gives Congress the power to pass all laws needed to execute its listed (enumerated) powers
What is the necessary and proper clause?
were four laws passed in 1798 during John Adams's presidency, when fear of war with France and anxiety about foreign influence ran high. The Alien Acts gave the government power to deport noncitizens it considered dangerous and made it harder for immigrants to become voting citizens. The Sedition Act went further and criminalized "false, scandalous, and malicious" criticism of the federal government. In practice, that meant Democratic-Republican newspaper editors could be fined or jailed for attacking Federalist policies.
What are the Alien and Sedition Acts?
phrase coined by John Winthrop which said that the Puritans were a community or nation that serves as a conspicuous, moral example—or a beacon of hope—for the rest of the world to see and emulate
What is "city on a hill"?
written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776, it formally declared American independence by noting the grievances against King George III.
What is the Declaration of Independence?
political faction that arose during the Constitutional Convention; wanted to secure civil liberties with a Bill of Rights added to the Constitution
Who is the Antifederalists?
one of America's first two political parties, founded in the early 1790s by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison to oppose Alexander Hamilton's Federalist program.
Who are the Democratic Republicans?
refers to the U.S. Supreme Court led by Chief Justice John Marshall from 1801 to 1835, which transformed the judicial branch into a co-equal branch of government and consistently expanded federal power over the states
What is the Marshall Court?
established in Jamestown, VA in 1619 as the first form of representative legislative assembly in the colonies
What is House of Burgesses?
pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in common everyday language to urge colonists to get on board with the American Revolution
What is Common Sense?
a system of government divided between the national and state governments
What is federalism?
view point that powers not expressed in the Constitution are rights to the states
What is strict interpretation of the Constitution?
(1803) was a landmark land deal in which the United States acquired approximately 828,000 square miles of territory west of the Mississippi River from France for $15 million, nearly doubling the size of the young republic
What is the Louisiana Purchase?
plan by Benjamin Franklin in 1754 to advocate for colonial unity before the onset of the French and Indian War; “Join, or Die.”
What is the Albany Plan of Union?
armed farmer uprising led by Daniel Shays in Massachusetts to rebel against being jailed for debt following the Revolutionary War; showed the weakness of the Articles of Confederation
What is Shays' Rebellion?
a 19th-century uprising of western Pennsylvania farmers protesting Alexander Hamilton's federal excise tax on distilled spirits; showed the strength of the Constitution
What is the Whiskey Rebellion?
included creation of the Bank of the United States, protective tariffs, excise tax on whiskey, and assumption of state debt
What is Hamilton's Economic Plan?
were political statements passed by those two state legislatures in 1798 and 1799. They argued that the Constitution was a compact among the states, so when the federal government overstepped its powers, states had the right to declare those laws void within their borders.
What are the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions?
non-separatists who left England for religious freedom and settled in Massachusetts Bay (were not religiously tolerant)
Who are the Puritans?
series of legislative and executive bodies that acted as the de facto and official government of the Thirteen Colonies (and later the United States) from 1774 to 1789 through the American Revolutionary War and the Articles of Confederation
What is the Continental Congress?
plan set forth during the Constitutional Convention to appeal to smaller states; unicameral legislature and equal representation
What is the New Jersey Plan?
warned of political parties and foreign entanglements
What is Washington's Farewell Address?
1807 was a law passed by Congress and signed by President Thomas Jefferson that banned all American ships from sailing to foreign ports, halting U.S. exports in an effort to use "peaceable coercion" to force Britain and France to respect American neutrality during the Napoleonic Wars
What is the Embargo Act?