Early America
This religious group settled in New England and sought to purify the Church of England.
Puritans
This 1776 document, largely written by Thomas Jefferson, announced the American colonies’ separation from Britain.
The Declaration of Independence
These first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution protect individual freedoms like speech, religion, and assembly.
The Bill of Rights
This 19th-century belief held that the United States was destined to expand across the North American continent.
Manifest Destiny
He was the 16th president of the United States and led the country during the Civil War.
Abraham Lincoln
This religious group, known for pacifism and tolerance, founded Pennsylvania under William Penn.
Quakers
This 1773 protest saw American colonists dump British tea into the harbor to oppose taxation without representation.
The Boston Tea Party
In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson doubled the size of the United States by buying this vast territory from France.
This route was used by settlers in the 1800s to travel west from Missouri to the Pacific Northwest.
The Oregon Trail
This term means to formally withdraw from a political union, such as when Southern states left the United States before the Civil War.
Secede
This was the first permanent English settlement in North America, established in 1607.
Jamestown
This group of Americans remained loyal to Britain during the Revolution.
Loyalists
This was the first constitution of the United States, creating a weak central government and giving most power to the states.
This 1836 battle in Texas saw a small group of Texan defenders hold out against the Mexican army before being defeated, becoming a symbol of resistance.
The Alamo
Ratified in 1868, this amendment granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States and guaranteed equal protection under the law.
The 14th Amendment
This trade network connected Europe, Africa, and the Americas, exchanging goods, enslaved people, and raw materials.
The Triangle Trade
These 1774 laws were passed by Britain to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party and tighten control over the colonies.
The Intolerable Acts
This term describes a two-house lawmaking body, like the one established by the U.S. Constitution.
Bicameral Legislature
This term describes someone in the 19th century who actively worked to end slavery in the United States.
Abolitionist
This term describes the enforced separation of racial groups in public places, especially common in the South after Reconstruction.
Segregation
This Italian explorer’s name was used for the continent of the Americas.
Amerigo Vespucci
This treaty officially ended the American Revolution in 1783.
The Treaty of Paris
This inventor is credited with creating the cotton gin in 1793, which revolutionized cotton production in the South.
Eli Whitney
This term refers to the right to vote, which was a major focus of movements in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Suffrage
These state and local laws, enacted after Reconstruction, enforced racial segregation and restricted the rights of African Americans in the South.
Jim Crow Laws