APUSH Birth of the Republic 1763-1789 – Flashcards
Unlock all answers in this set
Unlock answersquestion
Proclamation of 1763
answer
declared the trans-Appalachian region to be "Indian Country". It required specific authorization of the crown to buy any protected Indian lands. The settlers in North America were not pleased with this proclamation.
question
Sugar Act
answer
Initiated in 1764, an attempt to receive revenue to pay war debts by taking the colonies. Britain placed a tariff on sugar imported into the colonies; colonists (merchants and artisans) viewed this as a threat to their livelihoods and publically protested.
question
Stamp Act
answer
Issued in 1765, this legislation required the purchase of specially embossed paper for all newspapers, legal documents, licenses, insurance policies, ship's papers, and even dice and playing cards. Coupled with stagnant economies, this created widespread colonial discontent.
question
Thomas Whately
answer
One of Grenville's subordinates who defended the British right to tax the colonies, saying that the colonists had "virtual representation" (every member in Parliament was there to represent the whole empire). He also said that though the colonists were not actually represented in the house of Commons (they could not vote for representatives), neither could most British subjects at home.
question
Daniel Dulany
answer
a Maryland lawyer who developed the best selling pamphlet of 1765 (Considerations on the Propriety of Imposing Taxes in the British Colonies). He argued that virtual representation could not be applied to the whole empire but only to Great Britain, where the people who had no right to vote had interests otherwise similar to those of the people who did not vote.
question
Andrew Oliver
answer
commissioned to administer the unpopular Stamp Act in 1765. Though he was privately against the act, he told people was in favor of it, and this led to colonist to revolt against him. He was hanged in effigy from Boston's Liberty Tree in a protest organized by the "Loyal Nine", which was a precursor to the Sons of Liberty. His house was ransacked by an angry crowd, and he was compelled to publicly resign his commission.
question
Sons of Liberty
answer
an organization formed by Samuel Adams in 1765 which was located in Massachusetts, where resistance to British taxation was particular intense. They are best known for undertaking the Boston Tea Party in 1773.
question
Stamp Act Congress
answer
first organized in 1765 by James Otis, it was a meeting of delegates from 9 colonies. It passed moderate resolutions against the Stamp Act, asserting that Americans could not be taxed without their consent, given by their representatives. They called for the repeal of the Stamp and Sugar Acts. This showed that representatives of the colonies could work together and gave political leaders in the various colonies a chance to become acquainted with each other.
question
Declaratory Act
answer
issued by the British government after the repeal of the Stamp Act; affirmed Parliament's full authority to make laws binding the colonies "in all cases whatsoever". The notion of absolute parliamentary supremacy over colonial matters was basic to the British theory of imperial governance.
question
Quartering Act
answer
required the colonies in which British troops were stationed to pay for their maintenance; Americans had never before been required to support a standing army in their midst. They argued that this was also taxation without representation, because they essentially were taxing themselves when they had to put up soldiers, and they could not refuse. This was the worst in New York, where the legislature was suspended for non-compliance with this act by Townshend.
question
Townshend Duties
answer
taxes that were passed under Charles Townshend in 1766; it was a program of taxes on items imported into the colonies. Townshend thought that Americans would accept this method while rejecting the use of direct internal taxes; these acts also used the admiralty courts to try those accused of violations, writs of assistance, and paying customs officials out of the fines they levied.
question
John Dickinson
answer
a Philadelphia lawyer who wrote an anonymous pamphlet entitled "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania". He pointed out in moderate terms that the Townshend Acts violated the principle of no taxation without representation an that if Parliament could suspend the New York legislature it could to the same to others. He deduced that those who can be taxed without representation are essentially slaves.
question
Letters from a PA Farmer
answer
a pamphlet written by John Dickinson that argued the Townshend Acts violated the principle of no taxation without representation and was a threat to American liberty and freedom.
question
Board of Customs Commissioners
answer
created in 1767, it raised the number of customs officials, construction a colonial coast guard, and providing money to pay informers. Its purpose was to tighten supervision of colonial trade in America. Defendants were assumed guilty until they could prove otherwise, and informers were awarded one-third of all goods and ships confiscated from smugglers, so there was an incentive to falsify charges and report shippers who committed even the slightest of offenses.
question
John Hancock
answer
the wealthiest of all Boston merchants who became the target of customs officials. His sloop, the Liberty, was seized by customs agents on a perjured charge in 1768. A crowd of angry Bostonians formed, and tried to prevent the towing of the ship. They were unsuccessful, so they assaulted the custom agents in charge. The growing mob drove all the revenue inspectors from the city. Charges against Hancock were dropped in fears that he would appeal to England, where honest officials would recognize the custom officer's deceit; this led to British government reform of the corrupt customs service by 1770.
question
Lord North
answer
the prime minister of England in 1770. He favored eliminating most of the Townshend duties to prevent a further split between the colonies and mother country. Lord North insisted on maintaining the profitable tax on tea.
question
Boston Massacre
answer
an event taking place in Boston, Massachusetts, where friction between British soldiers and Boston citizens led to an incident in which five Bostonians were killed. This incident spread fear within the colonies that they were going to be oppressed.
question
Thomas Hutchinson
answer
a pro-British Governor in Boston who was extremely unpopular with the colonists. He was wrongly suspected of instigating the Stamp Act in 1765, and a Boston mob destroyed most of his house. In 1772, he announced that he would be paid by the king - this frightened the colonists because they lost power of the purse.
question
Samuel Adams
answer
a leader of British resistance who founded the organization known as the Sons of Liberty. He also coined the name for the incident between the British soldiers and American colonist in Boston that is now known as the "Boston Massacre"; the name is a main contributor to the sparking of a colonial reaction. He was also part of an American negotiating team that worked on the Treaty of Paris (1783).
question
Committee of Correspondence
answer
formed by the colonial assemblies and various lesser arms of local government; these groups were responsible for taking the sense of their parent body on a particular issue, committing it to a written form and then dispatching that view to other similar groups.
question
Tea Act
answer
established in 1773 by Parliament that was created in order to help the East India Company get out of dire financial straits and to sneakily get Americans to accept Parliament's right to tax them. Even though the British tea would be cheaper than the smuggled Dutch tea, most colonies resisted the acts. This eventually led to the Boston Tea Party.
question
East India Company
answer
a financially struggling British company that obtained concessions from Parliament that allowed it to ship tea directly to the colonies rather than only by way of Britain. They were in desperate financial condition partially due to the fact that Americans were buying smuggled Dutch tea rather than the taxed British product.
question
Boston Tea Party
answer
when Thomas Hutchinson forced a confrontation by ordering Royal Navy vessels to prevent the tea ships from leaving the harbor until the cargo was unloaded and paid for. In 1773, Bostonians boarded the ships and threw the tea into the harbor. Even though many Americans thought the destruction of private property was going too far, the reaction of the British Empire united Americans in support of Boston.
question
Coercive (Intolerable) Acts
answer
The British response to the Boston Tea Party; there were four parts (The Boston Port Act, the Massachusetts Government Act, the Administration of Justice Act, and the Quartering Act). In effect, the port of Boston was closed until local citizens would pay for the lost tea, the royal governor's power was increased at the expense of the legislature, royal officials accused of crimes could be tried elsewhere, and troops could be quartered anywhere. These acts angered and alarmed Americans, and united them in support of Boston against Britain.
question
Quebec Act
answer
passed at an extremely inconvenient time, this added to the anger and fear in Americans. It extended the province of Quebec to the Ohio River, established Roman Catholicism as Quebec's official religion, and set up Quebec for a government without a representative assembly. This served as a constant threat of "what was next" for the colonists.
question
First Continental Congress
answer
a meeting of colonists sparked by the Coercive Acts; it first met in Philadelphia in September 1774. It petitioned Parliament for relief but also passed the Suffolk Resolves. The committee also rejected a plan submitted by Joseph Galloway that called for a union of the colonies within the empire and a rearrangement of relations with Parliament.
question
Suffolk Resolves
answer
passed in the First Continental Congress in September, 1774 that were named after the original town in which they were passed in Massachusetts. It denounced the Intolerable Acts and called for strict nonimportation and rigorous preparation of local militia companies in case the British should resort of military force.
question
Lexington and Concord
answer
colonists in Massachusetts, who had been declared in rebellion, had begun to store arms such as gunpowder incase the British resorted to military force. 700 British troops set out to destroy these arms in April, 1775. Americans found out about this by the spread of news through dispatch riders (Paul Revere and William Dawes); Captain John Parker and around 70 minutemen awaited the British. When the British approached, a shot was fired even though the minutemen had turned to file off the village green, and the British started open fire and charged (most Americans were shot in the back). The British could not find the military supplies (they had been moved); they were continually attacked by growing numbers of Minutemen, so they eventually retreated to Boston with the help of a relief force. This event inspired colonists, and also destroyed the myth of British invincibility. Open warfare had begun.
question
Second Continental Congress
answer
a meeting of colonists in Philadelphia in May, 1775 led by John Dickinson of Pennsylvania. The committee was split into two groups: one, mostly New Englanders, who leaned toward declaring independence from Britain, and the other, mostly Middle Colonies, who were not ready to go that far. At this meeting, the New England Army was adopted (commanded by George Washington and troops supplied by other colonies), they wrote a "Declaration of the Causes and Necessity for Taking up Arms", and adopted the "Olive Branch Petition".
question
George III
answer
the King of England during the revolutionary period (1760-1820) who dismissed Grenville and appointed Rockingham, which later resulted in the Declaratory Act. He also ignored the Olive Branch Petition and declared that the colonies were no longer protected by him. His reign was characterized by political instability that was largely created from the aftermath of the 7 Years War.
question
Olive Branch Petition
answer
adopted by the Second Continental Congress that pleaded King George III to intercede with Parliament to restore peace; this was ignored by Britain and the King gave his approval to the Prohibitory Act that declared the colonies in rebellion and no longer under his protection.
question
Thomas Paine & Common Sense
answer
an influential American colonist during the pre-revolutionary era; wrote an important document that called for immediate independence and declared that it is a natural right to have our own government in America.
question
Declaration of Independence
answer
a document primarily written by Thomas Jefferson. It was a restatement of political ideas by then commonplace in America that showed why the former colonists felt justified in separating from Great Britain. It was formally adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776.
question
General William Howe
answer
Arrived on American soil in May 1775 to fight off the revolutionaries. His strategy was to move slowly by using powerful forces to cow the Americans into signing loyalty oaths. This allowed Washington to escape the Battle of Long Island in 1776; another critical error was when he decided to wait until spring to finish annihilating Washington's army. This led eventually to the turning point in the American Revolution.
question
Saratoga
answer
October of 1777, American forces converge at Saratoga and force Burgoyne to surrender his army of 6,000 men, a critical American victory, shows foreign powers that the British won't necessarily win, helps bring in the French on the side of the Americans
question
General John Burgoyne
answer
a British general, led British troops during the Revolutionary War, was supposed to come down from Canada but surrendered at Saratoga
question
French Alliance
answer
France had an interest in the American fight for independence due to France's humiliating defeat during the Seven years War at the hands of their ancient enemy, England. After the Americans won at Saratoga, the French agreed to align with them against British forces. This was critical in winning independence.
question
Lord Cornwallis
answer
a British General, landed in the South and worked his way northward until he was stuck on a peninsula at Yorktown
question
George Rogers Clark
answer
led the Continental Army in the Ohio River Valley, America can claim these lands in peace negotiations
question
Yorktown
answer
Cornwallis and his army need supplies and reinforcements, French navy wins control of the Chesapeake Bay for critical 2 weeks, Washington and Rochambeau surround Cornwallis and he surrenders, independence is a foregone conclusion
question
Peace of Paris (1783)
answer
negotiated by John Adams and John Jay and Benjamin Franklin, we make our own treaty with Britain, northern boundary is by the Great Lakes, western boundary is the Mississippi River, southern boundary is the 31st parallel, supposed to compensate the loyalists that fled.
question
Loyalists
answer
American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain (and the British monarchy). They opposed the Patriots, or those against the British. Roughly 20% fled to other parts in the British Empire, Britain, or elsewhere in British North America (places where British were still occupying).
question
State Constitutions
answer
written constitutions, contained bill of rights defining individual liberties, abolished hereditary offices, many bicameral legislature, some reduced property requirements for voting, some abolished the slave trade or (in the North) slavery, many abolished establish churches (except in New England)
question
Articles of Confederation
answer
decentralized government that gave more power to the states and less to the national government, national government comprised of Congress but no executive, national government had delegated powers (relations with foreign countries, including the determination of war and peace, disputes between the states, coining money and establishing weights and measures, trade with Indians and internationally)
question
John Jay
answer
a founding father and the first Chief Justice of the United States. He served as the president of the Continental Congress from 1778 to 1779, secured favorable peace terms with Great Britain (Jay's Treaty and the Peace of Paris), and co-wrote the Federalist papers with Alexander Hamilton and James Madison.
question
Critical Period
answer
the period in which the Articles of Confederation were put in place. Some historians describe it as a dark time; however, Morgan sees it as a time that enabled growth
question
Basic Land Ordinance of 1784
answer
creates the territory of Ohio which is divided into townships using a grid system, sell land for a dollar an acre with the money going to the federal government, one of the few major accomplishments under the Articles of Confederation is this structured sale of western lands
question
Northwest Land Ordinance of 1787
answer
applied to the territory north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River, established governmental structure for the territorial stage and a process for becoming a state (population of 60,000) no slavery, English common law, freedom of religion
question
Jay-Gardoqui Treaty
answer
also known as the Liberty Treaty with Spain, was made in 1789 between the US and Spain that gave Spain the exclusive right to navigate the Mississippi for 30 years. The treaty was not ratified under the Articles of Confederation.
question
Barbary Pirates
answer
men who worked along the Barbary Coast in North Africa. Until the Declaration of Independence, the British had protected the Americans from the threat of the pirates (who stole merchant ships and kept the men, only to release them with the payment of huge ransoms). Merchant ships were first seized in 1784 (by Morocco, who was the first independent state to recognize the US in 1777). This threat was the reason the United States created a Navy in 1794.
question
Navigation of the Mississippi
answer
limited to Spain
question
British forts in the NW
answer
British forces still retained forts in the Northwest after the Revolutionary War: this exemplified the government's inability to enforce treaties which stemmed from the weak central government in the Articles of Confederation.
question
Shays' Rebellion
answer
farmers in western Massachusetts were hopelessly in debt so Daniel Shays got a group to keep the court from meeting, the Massachusetts militia barely put it down, and the federal government was powerless to stop it (exemplifies the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation)
question
Post-War Depression
answer
each state ran its own economy (different currencies, tariffs on interstate imports, different weights and measures, etc.) so inflation occurred because we printed money to pay for the war, lacked trade with Britain
question
Charles Beard's thesis
answer
written in An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States, it states that the structure of the Constitution was motivated primarily by the personal financial interests of the Founding Fathers. He contends that the Constitutional Convention was attended by, and the Constitution was therefore written by, a "cohesive" elite seeking to protect its personal property (especially bonds) and economic standing.
question
Federalists
answer
supporters of the Constitution
question
Federalist Papers
answer
a collection of 85 newspaper articles that contain the most significant writings in support of the Constitution; written by Alexander Hamilton (most written), James Madison (second most), and John Jay (least)
question
Federalism
answer
a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant with a governing representative head. The term is also used to describe a system of government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units (like states or provinces). It is a system based on democratic rules and institutions in which the power to govern is shared between national and provincial/state governments, creating what is often called a federation. Proponents are often called federalists.
question
Republicanism
answer
the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. It stresses liberty and inalienable rights as central values, makes the people as a whole sovereign, supports activist government to promote the common good, rejects inherited political power, expects citizens to be independent in their performance of civic duties, and vilifies corruption.
question
Antifederalists
answer
opponents of the Constitution
question
Antifederalism
answer
a movement that opposed the creation of a stronger US federal government and which later opposed the ratification of the Constitution of 1787. the previous constitution, called the Articles of Confederation, gave the state governments more authority. Led by Patrick Henry of Virginia, anti-federalists worried (most importantly) that the position of the president, then a novelty, might evolve into a monarchy.
question
Antifederalist Papers
answer
published after the Federalist papers, argued for the Articles of Confederation
