Politics & Power
A British law that banned colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains to avoid conflict with Native Americans.
Proclamation of 1763
Britain’s earlier policy of loosely enforcing colonial laws, which ended after the French and Indian War.
Salutary Neglect
An economic system in which colonies existed to benefit the mother country through trade and resource extraction.
Mercantilism
Western areas where settlers moved, often creating conflict with Native Americans.
Western Frontier
The principle that government should not establish or favor a religion.
Separation of Church and State
A British tax requiring printed materials in the colonies to carry a tax stamp; it angered colonists because it was direct taxation without representation.
Stamp Act 1765
A major American victory that convinced France to support the United States.
Battle of Saratoga 1777
A tax on domestic goods, such as Hamilton’s tax on whiskey.
Excise Tax
Land north of the Ohio River organized by the national government for future settlement and statehood.
Northwest Territory
John Locke’s idea that all people are born with rights such as life, liberty, and property.
Natural Rights
Punitive British laws passed after the Boston Tea Party to punish Massachusetts.
Intolerable Acts / Coercive Acts 1774
A law establishing a process for creating new states from western territories and banning slavery north of the Ohio River.
Northwest Ordinance 1787
Hamilton’s proposed Bank of the United States, created to stabilize the economy and manage federal funds.
National Bank
A disputed region that helped trigger the French and Indian War.
Ohio River Valley
The idea that government exists because people agree to give it power in exchange for protection of their rights.
Social Contract Theory
An uprising of farmers in Massachusetts protesting debt and taxes; it showed the weakness of the Articles of Confederation.
Shays’ Rebellion 1786–1787
A treaty with Spain that gave Americans navigation rights on the Mississippi River.
Pinckney’s Treaty 1795
A comprehensive economic program aimed at stabilizing the new U.S. government by establishing national credit, fostering industrialization, and centralizing power.
Hamilton's Financial Plan
A law that created a system for surveying and selling western lands.
Land Ordinance of 1785
The belief that women played an important role in the republic by educating children in civic values.
Republican Motherhood
A proposal for a strong central government with representation based on population.
Virginia Plan
A treaty with Britain that avoided war but was unpopular with many Americans.
Jay's treaty 1794
A protest by western farmers against the whiskey tax; Washington’s response showed federal authority under the Constitution.
Whiskey Rebellion 1794
A Native American uprising against British control in the Great Lakes region after the French and Indian War.
Pontiac's Rebellion 1763
A law written by Thomas Jefferson that protected religious liberty and influenced the First Amendment.
Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom 1786