Revolutionary Ideas
These supporters of the 1787 Constitution believed in a strong central government, opposing the fears of the Antifederalists.
What are Federalists?
This treaty, signed in 1783, marked the end of the Revolutionary War and recognized American independence.
What is the Treaty of Paris of 1783?
This document served as the first constitution of the United States, defining a weak central government from 1781 to 1788.
What are the Articles of Confederation?
This was the decision to have slaves count as ⅗ of a person in a state’s population – but NO enslaved people could vote.
What is the 3/5ths Compromise?
Colonists — primarily middling merchants and artisans — who banded together to protest the Stamp Act and other imperial reforms of the 1760s. The group originated in Boston in 1765 but soon spread to all the colonies.
Who were the Sons of Liberty?
The Enlightenment-influenced belief that God created the universe and then left it to run according to natural laws. They relied on reason rather than scripture to interpret God's will.
What is Deism?
British act that lowered the existing tax on tea and granted exemptions to the East India Company to make their commodity cheaper in the colonies and entice boycotting Americans to buy it.
What is the Tea Act of May 1773?
This 1777 battle in New York was pivotal for American diplomacy, leading to a military alliance with France after the surrender of Burgoyne.
What is the Battle of Saratoga?
British law that lowered the duty on French molasses and raised penalties for smuggling. New England merchants opposed both the tax and the provision that they would be tried in a vice-admiralty court.
What is the Sugar Act of 1764?
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.
What is the XYZ Affair?
The rights to life, liberty, and property. John Locke argued that political authority was not given by God to monarchs but instead derived from social compacts that people made.
What are Natural Rights?
Adopted on July 4, 1776, this document outlined grievances against Britain and asserted the colonies' right to self-governance.
What is the Declaration of Independence?
Drafted by James Madison, this plan proposed a strong national government with representation based on population.
What is the Virginia Plan?
This was 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.
What is Shay's Rebellion?
The 1803 purchase of French territory west of the Mississippi River that stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada and nearly doubled the size of the United States. The purchase required President Thomas Jefferson to exercise powers not explicitly granted to him by the Constitution.
What is the Louisiana Purchase?
An eighteenth-century philosophical movement that emphasized the use of reason to reevaluate previously accepted doctrines and traditions and the power of reason to understand and shape the world.
What is Enlightenment?
British law imposing a tax on all paper used in the colonies. Widespread resistance to this Act prevented it from taking effect and led to its repeal in 1766.
What is the Stamp Act of 1765?
Why did colonists reject taxes such as the Stamp Act and the Tea acts?
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.
What are the Bill of Rights?
This was the decision to have two chambers in Congress (“bicameral legislature”): the Senate and the House of Representatives
What is the Great Compromise?
September 1774 gathering of delegates in Philadelphia to discuss the crisis caused by the Coercive Acts. This group issued a declaration of rights and agreed to a boycott of trade with Britain.
What is the Continental Congress?
The 1781 battle where combined French and American forces trapped the British under Cornwallis, leading to negotiations for peace.
What is the Battle of Yorktown?
This political affiliation wanted power to go to the states and wanted less central governmental power, and were for the Bill of Rights.
Who are the Anti-Federalists?
A 1794 uprising by farmers in western Pennsylvania in response to enforcement of an unpopular excise tax on whiskey.
What is the Whiskey Rebellion?
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. For the first time, the Supreme Court assumed legal authority to overrule acts of other branches of the government.
What is Marbury v. Madison (1803)?