Bill of Rights

separation of powers

Articles of Confederation

annuity system

empire of liberty

gradual emancipation

Shay’s Rebellion

Notes on the State of Virginia

A.

A set of amendments that protect such rights as trial by jury and freedom of speech and the press.

B.

The constitutional assignment of authority to different parts of the government. The president was charged with enforcing the law and commanding the military. Congress was empowered to levy taxes, borrow money, regulate commerce, declare war, deal with foreign nations and Native Americans, and promote the “general welfare.” The Judiciary was given the task of resolving disputes concerning federal law as well as between states.

C.

The first written constitution of the United States. This constitution sought to balance the need for national coordination of the War of Independence with widespread fear that centralized political power posed a danger.

D.

Yearly grants of federal money to Native American tribes that institutionalized continuing government influence in tribal affairs and gave outsiders considerable control over Native American life.

E.

A series of essays that argued that the Constitution was not a threat to Americans’ liberties but instead protected those freedoms. 

F.

A section of the Constitution that determined African American slaves were to be counted as persons for the purpose of the census so as to ascertain each state’s representation in the House of Representatives and its electoral votes for president, but that each African American slave would count less than a free individual.

G.

An uprising by debt-ridden farmers in which they closed the courts in western Massachusetts in order to prevent the seizure of their land for failure to pay taxes. The participants believed they were acting in the spirit of the Revolution. The governor dispatched an army to put down the uprising.

H. A book written by Thomas Jefferson and in which he suggested that peoples from Africa were? less intelligent than whites and, for this reason, emancipation of African American slaves would be difficult.

I.

A law approved by congress that established stages of self government for the West.

J.

A law approved by congress that regulated land sales in the region north of the Ohio River.

K.

A constitutional proposal that would create a single-house Congress in which east state cast one vote.

L.

A series of essays that insisted that the Constitution shifted the balance between liberty and power too far in the direction of the latter.

M.

The relationship between the national government and the states, one that strengthened national authority over the state governments.

N.

The manner in which the Constitution seeks to prevent any branch of the national government from dominating the other two.

O.

A constitutional proposal that would create a two-house legislature with a state’s population determining its representation in each. Smaller states dissented as they feared that the more populous states would dominate the new government.

P.

A basic principle that the United States would admit the West’s population as equal members of the U.S. political system instead of ruling over the west as a colonial power.

Q.

A law approved by congress that called for the eventual establishment of from three to five states north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi.

R.

A gathering of some of the most prominent Americans with the purpose of drafting a new guiding document for the United States.

S. An agreement in which twelve Native American tribes ceded most of Ohio and Indiana to the federal government.

T.

Laws in the northern states that assumed that former slaves would remain in the country, and not be colonized abroad.

U.

A law that permitted most white Europeans to acquire American citizenship.

V.

A book published in France that illustrated the process of exclusion of African American slaves from the political process.

War of 1812

Haitian Revolution

Federalists and Republicans

Embargo Act

Whiskey Rebellion

Jay’s Treaty

Judith Sargent Murray

Marbury v. Madison

A.

A conflict in which President James Madison, dissatisfied with President Thomas Jefferson’s economic methods, attempted to use the American navy to stop Great Britain from waylaying American merchant ships and from impressing American sailors into the British navy.

B.

An uprising in which a slave population, spurred by the language of freedom espoused by the Americans and the French during their wars, achieved liberty through the use of arms. Their victory inspired the hopes for freedom among slaves in the United States. 

C. The two increasingly coherent political parties that appeared in Congress.

D.

A law that banned American vessels sailing for foreign ports. Although designed to create a trade war with Great Britain and to increase trade among the colonies, the law revived memories of the Intolerable Acts of 1774, with the navy sealing off ports and seizing goods without warrants and the army arresting accused smugglers.

E.

An uprising that broke out when backcountry Pennsylvania farmers sought to block collection of a new tax on distilled spirits. The dissidents invoked the symbols of the Revolutionary War and took up arms against the federal government. President Washington dispatched 13,000 militiamen and led them part of the way to the scene of the disturbances.

F.

A military battle fought after the U.S. and Great Britain had signed the Treaty of Ghent, a pact that ended the war with the status quo: no territory exchanged hands, nor did any provisions relate to impressment or neutral shipping rights.

G.

The author of “On the Equality of the Sexes,” which argued that women had as much right as men to exercise all their talents and should be allowed equal educational opportunities to enable them to do so. Women’s apparent mental inferiority to men, the author insisted, simply reflected the fact that they had been denied “the opportunity of acquiring knowledge.”

H.

A court decision in which the Supreme Court had assumed the right to determine whether an act of Congress violates the Constitution—a power known as “judicial review.” This right was later extended to state laws.

.

I. The British navy’s practice of kidnapping sailors, including American citizens of British origin, and forcing them to serve in the British navy.

J. an excursion by military individuals and intended to establish trading relations with western Native Americans and to locate a water route to the Pacific Ocean. The participants returned having succeeded in the first and have failed in the second, but also with an immense amount of information about the region as well as numerous plant and animal specimens.

K.

A scandal in which French officials presented American diplomats with a demand for bribes before negotiations could proceed.

L.

A conflict that ended the federal government’s practice of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in ransom and agreeing to paying annual sums to purchase peace. Instead, by using the expanded navy that Adams had criticized, Jefferson was able to set the path toward guaranteeing the freedom of American commerce in the Mediterranean Sea.

M.

Legal opinions on the state level that attacked the Sedition Act as an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment. The opinions called on the federal courts to protect free speech. Many, though, were horrified by the idea of state action that might endanger the Union.

N.An agreement that was supposed to gain British concessions on impressment or the rights of American shipping, but that instead canceled the American-French alliance and recognized British economic and naval supremacy as unavoidable facts of life.

O.

Members of the Shawnee tribe. One was a chief who had refused to sign the Treaty of Greenville and the other was a religious prophet who called for complete separation from whites, the revival of traditional Indian culture, and resistance to federal policies. While the two attempted to revive a pan-Indian alliance, the American military wiped out their followers in the Battle of Tippecanoe.

P.

The acquisition by President Thomas Jefferson of a territory of land that stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada and from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. To take advantage of this opportunity, Jefferson had to abandon his conviction that the federal government was limited to powers specifically mentioned in the Constitution, since the document said nothing about buying territory from a foreign power.

Q.

The peaceful transition of control of the government from the Federalist party to the Democratic Republican party.

R.

A financial establishment proposed by Alexander Hamilton and that would serve as the nation’s main financial agent. This proposal would benefit the manufacturing northern states by increasing financial and trade connections with European nations. The southern states opposed the idea as they believed that the U.S.’s future lay in westward and agricultural expansion.

S.

law passed by Congress for the purpose of silencing critics of the Federalist government. The law authorized the prosecution of virtually any public assembly or publication that was critical of the government. It also extended the period of time that it took for immigrants to acquire American citizenship. These laws thrust freedom of expression to the center of discussions of American liberty.

T.

A meeting of the Federalist part in which the participants called for amending the Constitution to eliminate the three-fifths clause that strengthened southern political power, and to require a two-thirds vote of Congress for the admission of new states, declaring war, and laws restricting trade—all of which were aimed at actions by Democratic Republican presidents Jefferson and Madison. The Federalists could not free themselves from the charge of lacking patriotism. Within a few years, their party no longer existed.

U.

An American military victory in which U.S. forces repulsed a British assault on Baltimore.

V.

American supporters of the French Revolution and critics of the Washington administration. These individuals toasted French and American liberty. Federalists saw these groups as another example of how liberty was getting out of hand.

W.

An uprising in which a slave population, spurred by the language of freedom espoused by the Americans and the French during their wars, attempted to achieve liberty through the use of arms. The participants had hoped to force abolition of all slaves. However, the legislature tightened controls over the African American population.