TAXES
This 1754–1763 conflict left Britain in major debt and led them to tax the colonies to recover war costs.
French & Indian War.
He wrote most of the Declaration of Independence and drew on Enlightenment ideas like natural rights and social contract theory.
Who is Thomas Jefferson?
This early plan of government gave more power to the states than to the national government.
What are the Articles of Confederation?
This economic system said colonies existed to benefit the mother country through trade and wealth.
What is mercantilism?
This term describes England’s policy of loosely enforcing laws in the colonies as long as they stayed loyal and profitable.
What is Salutary Neglect?
This 1763 agreement ended the French and Indian War and gave Britain control of most of North America.
The Treaty of Paris of 1763,
This alliance, secured through the diplomacy of Benjamin Franklin, helped the colonies win by providing money, troops, and naval support.
The French Alliance
These two ordinances under the Articles set rules for surveying and settling western lands, outlawed slavery in the Northwest Territory, and promoted public education.
What are the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787?
The trans-Atlantic trade that exchanged raw materials, manufactured goods, and enslaved Africans was known as this.
What is the Triangular Trade?
This horrific leg of the Triangular Trade forcibly brought enslaved Africans to the Americas under brutal conditions.
What is the Middle Passage?
Colonists protested this 1763 law that banned them from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains.
The Proclamation of 1763.
This harsh winter encampment tested Washington’s troops but, with training from Baron von Steuben, turned them into a disciplined army.
What is Valley Forge?
This farmers’ uprising in Massachusetts exposed the weakness of the Articles of Confederation and pushed leaders to call for a stronger central government.
Shay's Rebellion
These colonies, Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia, grew cash crops like tobacco and rice, relied on enslaved labor, and had warm climates.
The Southern Colonies
Enslaved Africans influenced colonial life through these cultural contributions—seen in crops like rice, foods like okra and gumbo, and architectural styles.
What the African Contributions to the American Society?
These groups organized boycotts and spread information about British abuses through letters and protests.
Who were the Sons and Daughters of Liberty and the Committees of Correspondence?
This final major battle, where British General Cornwallis surrendered after being trapped on a peninsula, ended the war.
What is the Battle of Yorktown?
This compromise created a two-house Congress, one based on population and one with equal representation.
What is the Great Compromise?
Founded mainly for religious freedom, these colonies had rocky soil, small farms, shipbuilding, and strong Puritan communities.
Southern Colonies
This religious revival movement of the 1730s–1740s emphasized emotional faith over ritual and helped unite colonists across regions.
What is the Great Awakening?
This pamphlet convinced many colonists that breaking away from Britain was not only necessary but common sense.
What is Thomas Paine’s Common Sense?
The 1783 agreement that officially ended the war recognized U.S. independence and granted land from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River.
What is the Treaty of Paris (1783)?
To win ratification, Federalists promised to add this set of amendments protecting individual rights and freedoms.
What is the Bill of Rights?
Known as the “breadbasket” colonies, this region was diverse in people and economy, featuring fertile soil and port cities like New York and Philadelphia.
The Mid-Atlantic Colonies
Colonial assemblies like Virginia’s House of Burgesses and town meetings in New England showed early forms of this political tradition.
What is Self Governance?