Colonial America
This colony, founded by William Penn, was known for religious tolerance and attracted many Quakers.
Pennsylvania
This 1765 law placed a tax on printed materials like newspapers and legal documents.
Stamp Act
America’s first national government, which created a weak central government, was called this.
Articles of Confederation
In 1803, President Jefferson doubled the size of the United States with this purchase from France.
Louisiana Purchase
This 1820 compromise admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state.
Missouri Compromise
The first permanent English settlement in North America was founded in 1607 in this colony.
Jamestown
The slogan “no taxation without representation” protested Britain’s taxing of colonists without this.
Colonial representation in Parliament
This 1786–1787 rebellion convinced many leaders that the national government needed to be stronger.
Shays’ Rebellion
This Supreme Court chief justice strengthened federal power in cases like McCulloch v. Maryland.
John Marshall
This 1857 Supreme Court case ruled that African Americans were not citizens and Congress could not ban slavery in the territories.
Dred Scott v. Sandford
This cash crop helped make the Virginia colony profitable in the early 1600s.
Tobacco
The 1773 protest involved colonists dumping British tea into Boston Harbor
Boston Tea Party
This compromise at the Constitutional Convention created a bicameral legislature with equal Senate representation and proportional House representation.
Great Compromise
This war between the U.S. and Britain (1812–1815) increased American nationalism.
War of 1812
Abraham Lincoln issued this 1863 order freeing enslaved people in rebelling states.
Emancipation Proclamation
These laws restricted colonial trade so that it benefited Britain
Navigation Acts
These laws passed by Britain in response to the Boston Tea Party
Intolerable Acts
These essays, written by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay, supported ratification of the Constitution.
The Federalist Papers
This transportation project connected the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean and boosted trade in New York.
Erie Canal
This Union victory in July 1863 is often called the turning point of the Civil War.
Battle of Gettysburg
The 1676 uprising in Virginia, led by former indentured servants, showed tensions between poor settlers and colonial elites.
Bacon’s Rebellion
Thomas Paine wrote this pamphlet in 1776 arguing that the colonies should declare independence.
Common Sense
The first ten amendments to the Constitution are known by this name.
Bill of Rights
This invention by Eli Whitney increased the profitability of short-staple cotton and expanded slavery in the South.
Cotton gin
This period after the Civil War focused on rebuilding the South and integrating formerly enslaved people into society.
Reconstruction