KEY TERMS IN CONTEXT
In 1774, colonial representatives met in response to the Intolerable Acts to coordinate resistance against British policies.
→ What is the term for this assembly?
Continental Congress
Under the Articles of Confederation in the 1780s, Congress lacked the power to tax and regulate interstate commerce.
→ What specific 1786–1787 uprising exposed these weaknesses?
Shays’ Rebellion
I was the first president of the United States and helped establish executive departments and precedents for leadership.
→ Who am I?
George Washington
The colonies declare independence in 1776.
→ What major governing document is created soon after to organize the new nation?
Articles of Confederation
The American victory at Saratoga in 1777 convinced a major European power to support the colonies.
→ Which country formally allied with the United States after this victory?
France
In 1789, the new federal government passed legislation to organize a system of courts, including district and Supreme Courts.
→ What is this law called?
Judiciary Act of 1789
The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 made cotton processing far more efficient.
→ What specific economic system expanded significantly in the South as a result?
Plantation economy
I was a system that helped enslaved people escape to freedom through secret routes and safe houses before the Civil War.
→ What am I?
Underground Railroad
The Constitution is ratified in 1788.
→ What set of amendments is added shortly after to protect individual rights?
Bill of Rights
The Great Compromise (1787) resolved a major dispute during the Constitutional Convention.
→ What specific legislative structure did it establish?
Bicameral legislature
In 1798, amid fears of foreign influence and political opposition, the federal government passed laws restricting immigrants and limiting criticism of officials.
→ What are these laws known as?
Alien and Sedition Acts
After Nat Turner’s rebellion in 1831, Southern states feared further revolts.
→ What type of laws did they strengthen to control enslaved populations?
Slave codes
During Andrew Jackson’s presidency in the 1830s, the idea of expanding democratic participation influenced government practices.
→ What policy of replacing government officials with loyal supporters became associated with this era?
Spoils System / rotation in office
A group of Northern Republicans in Congress started pushing for stricter Reconstruction policies and civil rights protections after the Civil War.
→ Who were they?
Radical Republicans
Industrialization in the late 1800s led to dangerous working conditions and low wages.
→ What specific type of worker organization formed to demand better conditions?
Labor unions
In 1868, Congress passed an amendment guaranteeing citizenship and equal protection under the law to formerly enslaved people.
→ Which amendment is this?
14th Amendment
The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) introduced popular sovereignty in the territories.
→ What specific violent regional conflict emerged directly from this decision?
Bleeding Kansas
I was a violent white supremacist organization that used intimidation and terror to resist Reconstruction policies in the South.
→ What am I?
Ku Klux Klan
The Civil War ends in 1865.
→ What amendment is passed immediately after to abolish slavery?
13th Amendment
The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) allowed settlers to decide on slavery through popular sovereignty.
→ What earlier compromise did this law effectively overturn?
Missouri Compromise
In 1867–1877, a federal agency provided food, education, and legal support to formerly enslaved people in the South.
→ What was this agency called?
Freedmen’s Bureau
The Compromise of 1877 resolved the disputed presidential election of 1876.
→ What specific federal action in the South ended as part of this agreement?
Withdrawal of federal troops from the South
In 1859, a radical abolitionist led a small, independent raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry without broad political or party support.
→ Who am I?
John Brown
I was a Supreme Court case in 1857 that ruled African Americans were not citizens and that Congress could not ban slavery in the territories.→ What was this case?
Dred Scott v. Sanford (or the Dread Scott Decision)
In the late nineteenth century, fears about Chinese labor and radical political ideas influenced national policy.
→ What 1882 federal law restricted immigration from China?
Chinese Exclusion Act