1. Government
  2. Principles of the Constitution
  3. Federalism – nation and state government
  4. Limited government – government must obey the law
  5. Checks and balances – one branch has the power to stop or “check” another
  6. Separation of Power – 3 separate branches each with their own role
  7. Popular Sovereignty – People rule
  8. Individual rights – rights of the people (Bill of Rights)
  9. Republicanism – representative government
  10. Constitution/Bill of Rights
  11. 1st – 5 Freedoms RAPPS
  12. 2nd – right to bear arms
  13. 3rd – quartering troops
  14. 4th – search and seizure
  15. 5th – rights of the accused
  16. 6th – speedy trial and right to counsel
  17. 7th – jury of peers (civil cases)
  18. 8th – cruel and unusual punishment
  19. 10th – Federalism (rights of the states)
  20. Branches of Government
  21. Executive
  22. President
  23. Enforces Laws
  24. Signs bills into law
  25. Legislative
  26. Congress
  27. House of Representatives – number based upon population
  28. Senate – equal vote for each state (2/state)
  29. Creates bills that will become laws
  30. Responsible for money
  31. Judicial
  32. Supreme Court
  33. Interprets the Constitution
  1. Constitutional Convention
  2. Held in Philadelphia – 1787
  3. George Washington President of the Convention
  4. Virginia Plan – Proposed by James Madison
  5. Three branches of government
  6. Executive
  7. Legislative
  8. Judicial
  9. Two houses in Legislative based upon state population
  10. Gave advantage to larger states
  11. New Jersey Plan
  12. Much like Articles of Confederation
  13. Single house and equal votes for each state
  14. Favored smaller states
  15. Great Compromise
  16. Three branches of government
  17. Executive
  18. Legislative
  19. House of Representatives – number based upon population
  20. Senate – equal vote for each state (2/state)
  21. Judicial
  22. Three-fifths Compromise
  23. Determined how slaves would be counted for representation and taxation
  1. Articles of Confederation
  2. Government of the United States through the Revolutionary War until adoption of the Constitution
  3. One branch of government
  4. Legislative
  5. Each state had equal vote
  6. States held all the power– Taxation
  7. Created a weak central government
  8. Created two positive laws
  9. Land Ordnance – surveyed the new land between the ApplachianMtns and Mississippi River creating townships
  10. Northwest Ordnance – created a process where new land could become territories and then states
  1. Important Documents
  2. Magna Carta – 1215
  3. Limited Government
  4. Jury of peers
  5. English Parliament – 1258
  6. Representative Government
  7. Virginia House of Burgesses - 1619
  8. First Representative Government in America
  9. Mayflower Compact – 1620
  10. Established the idea of Popular Sovereignty
  11. Fundamental Orders of Connecticut – 1639
  12. First constitution in America
  13. Created the idea of individual and equal voting rights
  14. English Bill of Rights – 1689
  15. Idea of individual Rights
  16. Albany Plan of the Union – 1763
  17. First plan to unite the colonies
  18. Declaration of Independence (1776)
  19. Written by Thomas Jefferson
  20. Declares the colonies independent
  21. Unalienable rights
  1. Regions and geography
  2. North/New England Colonies – economy based upon trade, fishing, whaling. Poor soil, cool cold climate subsistence farming
  3. Middle Colonies – economy based upon trade, fishing, and farming. Good soil, moderate climate
  4. Southern Colonies – economy based upon commercial farming (cash crops/plantations using slaves). Very good soil, warm climate.
  5. Appalachian Mountains – first natural boundary of the colonies
  6. Mississippi River – second natural boundary of the colonies and first western boundary of the United States.
  7. Louisiana Purchase – land gained from France from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains (except Texas)
  8. Oregon Territory – land originally claimed by Britain, Spain, US, and Russia that makes up what is now the states of Oregon and Washington
  9. Mexican Cession – land gained from the Mexican-American War that included California
  10. Gadsden Purchase – land in what is now lower Arizona and New Mexico that was purchased from Mexico and completes Manifest Destiny
  1. Important Court Cases
  2. Marbury v. Madison (1803) – Judicial Review
  3. McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) – Balance of power between federal and state government (federalism)
  4. Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) – Interstate Commerce controlled by federal government
  5. Worcester v. Georgia (1832) – supported Indian removal
  6. Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) – definition of citizenship. Declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional
  1. Important Acts/Laws/Treaties
  2. Road to Revolution - taxes or acts to pay for the French and Indian War
  3. Proclamation of 1763 – prevented settlement west of the Appalachians
  4. Sugar Act (1764) – tax on sugar
  5. Quartering Act (1765) – quartered British soldiers in colonial homes
  6. Stamp Act (1765) –required a tax and stamp on all legal and commercial documents.
  7. Townshend Acts (1767) – Suspended New York Assembly and placed a tax on various goods. Repealed after the Boston Massacre (1770)
  8. Tea Act (1773) – tax on tea and limited sales to the British East India Co.
  9. Intolerable Acts (1774) – Response to Boston Tea Party (1773). Closed Boston Port, reinstated the Quartering Act, reinstated numerous other taxes and gave colonial land to Canada.
  10. Treaty of Paris (1783) – Ended the Revolutionary War
  11. US is independent
  12. Created US boundaries
  13. Fishing rights off Canada coast
  14. New Republic thru Sectionalism
  15. Land Ordnance (1785) – surveyed the new land between the AppalachianMtns and Mississippi River creating townships
  16. Northwest Ordnance (1787) – created a process where new land could become territories and then states
  17. Judiciary Act of (1789) – Created the court system
  18. Jay’s Treaty (1796) – Ended British raids on US ships
  19. Pinckney’s Treaty (1795) – Opened the Spanish port of New Orleans to the US
  20. Alien and Sedition Acts (1789) – targeted aliens and speaking out against the government.
  21. Judiciary Act of 1801 – midnight judges (last minute appointments by Adams)
  22. Adams-Onis Treaty (1819) – US got Florida from Spain and Spain released claim to the Oregon Territory
  23. Missouri Compromise (1820) – balanced free and slave state representation
  24. Monroe Doctrine ((1823) – US closes foreign colonization of the Americas by European countries.
  25. Indian Removal Act (1830) –authorized the government to move Indians to land west of the Mississippi River
  26. Compromise of 1850 – California entered the US as a free state, Congress could not legislate slavery in the remaining Mexican Cession.
  27. Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo (1848) –Ended the Mexican-American war and gave all the land from the Rocky Mountains to California to the US.
  28. Fugitive Slave Act (1850) – required all states to return runaway slaves
  29. Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) – allowed voters to determine pro or anti-slavery in the new territories
  30. Major Eras
  31. Colonial Era – from the exploration of America thru the French and Indian War
  32. Revolutionary Era – following the French and Indian War, to the Road to Revolution, and thru the Revolutionary War and Declaration of Independence
  33. Early Republic – From the Declaration of Independence through Washington and Adams Presidency
  34. Jeffersonian Era – From President Jefferson thru President Monroe
  35. Jacksonian Era – Presidency of Andrew Jackson (Indian Removal/Trail of Tears)
  36. Westward Expansion – Manifest Destiny from the Louisiana Purchase through the Mexican Cession and Gadsden Purchase
  37. Industrial Revolution – Early 1800’s
  38. Sectionalism – 1820s thru 1850s (the nation growing apart and leading to the Civil War)
  1. Terms
  2. Triangular Trade – trade route between the Americas-Europe-Africa
  3. Mercantilism – system where the home country (England) gets rich by exploiting its colonies (America)
  4. Salutary Neglect – policy of limited interference by Britain with the colonies
  5. Great Awakening – period of spiritual revival throughout the country
  6. Enlightenment – period emphasizing science and logic
  7. Sons of Liberty- secret society opposing British policies
  8. Committees of Correspondence – organization formed to keep colonists informed
  9. 2nd Continental Congress - declared independence from Britain
  10. Shay’s Rebellion – uprising that prompted the Constitutional Convention
  11. Federalist papers – series of essays supporting ratification of the Constitution
  12. Anti-Federalist – people who opposed ratification of the Constitution
  13. Neutrality – policy of not joining or allying with other countries
  14. XYZ Affair –attempt by French agents to get American bribes
  15. Tariff – tax on imported goods
  16. Judicial review – Supreme Court authority to interpret the Constitution
  17. Louis and Clark Expedition – exploration of the Louisiana Purchase and Oregon Territory by Meriwether Louis and William Clark
  18. War Hawk – westerners who called for war against Britain in the early 1800’s
  19. War of 1812 – war fought with Britain. No clear winner; however, it led to US
  20. 2nd Great Awakening – another period of spiritual revival in the US. People began to look at problems in society like slavery, women’s rights, and alcoholism
  21. Suffrage – voting rights
  22. Abolition – movement to free slaves
  23. Temperance – movement to make alcohol illegal
  24. Industrial Revolution – period where factories and machines replace hand tools and cottage industries
  25. Gold Rush – Period where gold was found in California leading to a major increase in population
  26. 49er – people who went to California during the Gold Rush
  27. Sectionalism – loyalty to a region or section of the country
  28. Jacksonian Democracy – idea of power spread to the common man
  29. Trail of Tears – Indian movement west of the Mississippi
  30. Doctrine of nullification – ability of the state to ignore federal law
  31. Secession – a state withdrawing from the Union
  32. Oregon Trail – settler’s trail from Independence, MO to Oregon
  33. Manifest Destiny – idea the United States should own all the land between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
  1. Important People
  2. Abigail Adams – wife of John Adams
  3. John Adams – Second President, First President to serve from Washington, D.C.
  4. Wentworth Cheswell – served in the Revolutionary War and 1st African-American to serve in public office
  5. Samuel Adams – leader of the Sons of Liberty
  6. Mercy Otis Warren – political writer during the Revolutionary War
  7. James Armistead – spy for George Washington and Marquis de Lafayette during the Revolution
  8. Benjamin Franklin – Enlightenment thinker, inventor, Founding Father of the US
  9. Crispus Attucks – African/American killed in the Boston Massacre
  10. Haym Salomon – Jewish American who financially supported the Colonial Army during the Revolution
  11. Patrick Henry – Anti-Federalist politician (“Give me Liberty or Give me death”)
  12. Thomas Jefferson – wrote the Declaration of Independence, 3rd President
  13. Marquis de Lafayette – French officer and noble who supported and served during the American Revolution
  14. Thomas Paine – wrote “Common Sense” which called for American Independence
  15. George Washington – Commander of the Continental Army, President of the Constitutional Convention, 1st President of the US, warned against Political Parties and foreign alliances.
  16. Henry Clay – “The Great Compromiser”. Help create the Missouri Compromise and Compromise of 1850 in an effort to resolve the slavery issue in the US and prevent a Civil War
  17. John C. Calhoun –politician and Vice President under Jackson who supported the Doctrine of Nullification
  18. Alexander Hamilton – leader of the Federalists and Federalist Party. First Secretary of the Treasury. Proposed the first Bank of the United States
  19. John Marshall – one of the longest serving Supreme Court Justices. Chief Justice during Marbury v. Madison
  20. Sacagawea – guide and interpreter for Louis and Clark

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