Road to Revolution
This 1763 British policy banned American colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains following the Seven Years' War.
What is the Proclamation Line of 1763?
These April 1775 skirmishes between colonial militia and British redcoats in Massachusetts marked the first battles of the war.
What are the Battles of Lexington and Concord?
Passing major legislation under the Articles of Confederation required 9 states, while amending the Articles required this level of support
What is unanimous consent (13 out of 13 states)?
Unlike loose constructionist Federalists, Thomas Jefferson and Democratic-Republicans advocated for this strict interpretation of constitutional authority
What is strict constructionism?
In his 1796 Farewell Address, George Washington explicitly warned Americans against political factions and this foreign policy risk
What are permanent foreign alliances?
Passed in 1765, this direct tax required colonists to purchase revenue stamps for legal documents and paper goods, triggering widespread resistance
What is the Stamp Act?
The Continental Army suffered severe cold, starvation, and disease during its 1777–1778 winter encampment at this location
What is Valley Forge?
This 1786 armed uprising of impoverished farmers in western Massachusetts highlighted federal weakness under the Articles of Confederation
What is Shays' Rebellion?
Alexander Hamilton relied on this constitutional clause to argue that Congress had implicit authority to establish a national bank
What is the "Necessary and Proper" Clause (Elastic Clause)
The British Royal Navy heightened international tensions by using this practice to forcibly seize American sailors into British military service
What is impressment?
British officials defended taxing colonists without direct election rights by claiming members of Parliament maintained this type of representation for all subjects
What is virtual representation?
This crucial 1777 American military victory served as the turning point of the war by convincing France to form a formal military alliance.
What is the Battle of Saratoga?
This 1787 law created a pathway for western territories to achieve statehood with 60,000 free residents and permanently banned slavery in the Old Northwest
What is the Northwest Ordinance of 1787?
Jeffersonians envisioned a U.S. republic populated primarily by self-sufficient citizens working in this primary economic sector
What is agriculture / agrarian farming?
U.S. representative Thomas Pinckney negotiated a 1795 treaty with Spain that secured free navigation rights along this critical river
What is the Mississippi River?
Enacted to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party, these 1774 laws closed Boston Harbor and suspended colonial self-government
What are the Intolerable (Coercive) Acts?
Combined American and French land forces, backed by a French fleet, trapped British General Cornwallis at this final major battle in 1781.
What is the Battle of Yorktown?
This compromise at the Constitutional Convention created a bicameral legislature featuring a population-based House and equal representation in the Senate
What is the Great Compromise (Connecticut Compromise)?
While Hamiltonians valued British trade stability, Jeffersonians supported this foreign nation during European warfare in the 1790s
What is France?
U.S. relations with France deteriorated into the Quasi-War after French agents demanded bribes from American diplomats in this 1797 incident
What is the XYZ Affair?
Thomas Paine published this popular 1776 pamphlet urging everyday colonists to reject the monarchy and declare independence.
What is Common Sense?
Signed in 1783, this formal treaty secured British recognition of U.S. independence and established western U.S. boundaries at the Mississippi River.
What is the Treaty of Paris (1783)?
Federalists promised to add this collection of 10 amendments to protect individual rights and secure Anti-Federalist ratification support
What is the Bill of Rights?
President Washington led 13,000 state troops to swiftly suppress this 1794 western Pennsylvania uprising against an excise tax on domestic liquor
What is the Whiskey Rebellion?
Passed by Federalists in 1798 during wartime tensions with France, these laws allowed the deportation of dangerous foreigners and criminalized governmental criticism
What are the Alien and Sedition Acts?