The APUS midterm is a bit away. Put together all of the keywords from the first semester, from the book '5 Steps to a 5: 2012 to 2013 Edition.'
Terms : Hide Images
| 298434658 | Puritans | A group of religious dissidents who came to the New World so they would have a location to establish a "purer" church than the one that existed in England. | |
| 298434659 | Separatists | A religious group that also opposed the Church of England; this group first went to Holland, and then on to the Americas. | |
| 298434660 | Indentured Servants | Individuals who exchanged compulsory service for free passage to the American colonies. | |
| 298434661 | Mercantilism | Economic system practiced by European powers in the late seventeenth century stating that economic self-sufficiency was crucial; as a result, colonial empires were important for raw materials. | |
| 298434662 | Navigation Acts | Acts passed in 1660 by the British parliament increasing the dependence of the colonies of the English for trade; these acts caused great resentment in the American colonies but were not strictly enforced. | |
| 298434663 | Triangular Trade System | Complex trading system that developed in the era from 1650-1750 between Europe, Africa, and the colonies; Europeans purchased slaves in Africa and sold them to the colonies, raw materials from the colonies went to Europe, while European finished products were sold in the colonies. | |
| 298434664 | Middle Passage | The voyage taken by African slaves on horribly overcrowded ships from Africa to the Americas. | |
| 298434665 | Salem Witch Trials | Trials in 1672, after which 19 people were executed as witches; historians note the class nature of these trials. | |
| 298434666 | Salutary neglect | Early 18th-century British policy relaxing the strict enforcement of trade policies in the American colonies. | |
| 298434667 | French and Indian War | Also know as the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), a conflict between the British and the French that also involved Native Americans and colonial militias. French defeat in this war greatly decreased their influence in the colonies. | |
| 298434668 | Stamp Act | Imposed by the British in 1765, this act dictated that all legal documents in the colonies had to be issued on officially stamped paper. This act created strong resentment int he colonies, and was later repealed. | |
| 298434669 | Townshend Acts | British legislation that forced colonies to pay duties on most goods coming from England; These duties, implanted in 1767, were fiercely resisted and finally repealed in 1770. | |
| 298434670 | Boston Massacre | Conflict between British soldiers and Boston civilians on March 5, 1770; five colonists were killed, and six wounded. | |
| 298434671 | Sons of Liberty | Radical group that organized resistance against British policies in Boston int he 1760s and 1770s. This was the group that organized the Boston Tea Party. | |
| 298434672 | Committees of Correspondence | Created first in Massachusetts, and then in other colonies, these groups circulated grievances against the British to towns within their colonies. | |
| 298434673 | Boston Tea Party | In response to British taxes on tea, Boston radicals disguised as Native Americans threw 350 chests of tea into Boston harbor on December 16, 1773; important symbolic act of resistance to British economic control of the colonies. | |
| 298434674 | First Continental Congress | 1774 meeting in Philadelphia at which colonists vowed to resist further efforts to tax them without their consent. | |
| 298434675 | Second Continental Congress | 1775 meeting that authorized the creation of a Continental Army; many delegates still hoped that conflict could be avoided with the British. | |
| 298434676 | Common Sense | 1776 pamphlet written by Thomas Paine attacking the system of government by monarchy; this document was very influential throughout the colonies. | |
| 298434677 | Battle of Yorktown | 1781 battle, with the defeat of the British in Virginia, ending their hopes of wining the Revolutionary War. | |
| 298434678 | Treaty of Paris | 1783 treaty ending the Revolutionary War; by this treaty Great Britain recognized American independence and gave Americans the territory between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. | |
| 298434679 | Articles of Confederation | Document ratified in 1781, establishing the first government of the United States; the federal government was given limited power and the states much more. | |
| 298434680 | Northwest Ordinances | 1784, 1785, and 1787 bills authorizing the sale of lands in the Northwest Territory to raise money for the federal government; bills also laid out procedures for these territories to eventually attain statehood. | |
| 298434681 | Virginia Plan | During debate over the Constitution, the plan proposing bicameral legislature with representatives determined by proportional representation. | |
| 298434682 | New Jersey Plan | During debate over the Constitution, the plan proposing one legislative body for the country, with each state having one vote. | |
| 298434683 | Great Compromise | Connecticut plan that stated that one house of the Congress would be based on population (the House of Representatives) while in the other house all states would have equal representation (the Senate). | |
| 298434684 | Electoral College | Procedure for electing the president and vice-president of the United States, as outlined in the Constitution; electors from each state, and not the popular vote, ultimately elect the president. | |
| 298434685 | Three-Fifths Compromise | As the Constitution was being created, the plan that stated that slaves would be counted as three-fifths of a free person; this was used to determine eventual membership in the House of Representatives. | |
| 298434686 | Federalists | Party in the first years of the republic that favored a larger national government; was supported by commercial interests. Federalists were opposed by Jeffersonians, who wanted a smaller national government. | |
| 298434687 | Alien and Sedition Acts | Proposed by President John Adams, gave the president power to expel "dangerous" aliens and outlawed "scandalous" publications against the government. | |
| 298434688 | Marbury vs. Madison | 1803 critical Supreme Court decision that established the principle of judicial review, stating that the Supreme Court had the right to review all federal laws and decisions and declare whether or not they are constitutional. | |
| 298434689 | Louisiana Purchase | 1803 massive land purchase from Emperor Napoleon of France that virtually doubled the size of the United States. | |
| 298434690 | Lewis and Clark Expedition | 1804 expedition that discovered much about the western part of the North American continent and the economic possibilities there. | |
| 298434691 | War of 1812 | War between the British and the Americans over British seizure of American ships, connections between the British and Native-American tribes, and other tensions. The British sacked Washington D.C. in 1814. Treating ending the war merely restored diplomatic relations between the two countries. | |
| 298434692 | American System | Plan proposed by Senator Henry Clay and others to make America economically independent b increasing industrial production in the United States and by the creation of a Second National Bank. | |
| 298434693 | Missouri Compromise | 1820 political solution devised to keep the number of free states and slave states equal; Missouri entered the Union as a slave state, and Maine entered as a free state. Potential states in the northern part of the Louisiana territory would also come in as free states in the future. | |
| 298434694 | Monroe Doctrine | 1823 proclamation that countries of the Western Hemisphere "are not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers." | |
| 298434695 | Removal Act of 1830 | Congressional act that authorized the removal of all Native-American tries east of the Mississippi to the west; the trail of Tears and other forced migrations that caused deaths of thousands. | |
| 298434696 | The Liberator | Abolitionist newspaper begun by William Lloyd Garrison in 1831. | |
| 298434697 | Spoils system | A system used heavily during the presidency of Andrew Jackson whereby political supporters of the winning candidate are given jobs in the government. | |
| 298434698 | Nullification | In reaction to tariff legislation passed in 1828, the South Carolina legislature explored the possibility of nullification, by which individual states could rule on the constitutionality of federal laws. Other Southern legislatures later discussed the idea of nullifying federal laws in their own states. | |
| 298434699 | Whig Party | Political party that emerged int he 1830s in opposition to the Democratic Party; Whigs favored policies that promoted commercial and industrial growth. | |
| 298434700 | Manifest Destiny | Concept that became popularized in the 1840s stating that it was the God-given mission of the United States to expand westward. | |
| 298434701 | Mexican-American War | War fought over possession of Texas, which was claimed by both Mexico and the United States; the settlement ending this war gave the United States the northern part of the Texas territory and the territories of New Mexico and California. | |
| 298434702 | Compromise of 1850 | Temporarily ending tensions between the North and South, this measure allowed California to enter the Union as a free state but also strengthened the Fugitive Slave Law. | |
| 298434703 | Fugitive Slave Act | Part of the Compromise of 1850. legislation that set up special commissions in northern states to determine if accused runaway slaves were actually that. Commissioners were given more money if the accused was found to be a runaway than if he/she was not. Many northern state legislatures attempted to circumvent this law. | |
| 298434704 | Kansas-Nebraska Act | 1854 compromise that allowed settlers in Kansas and Nebraska to vote to decide if they would enter the Union as free states or slave states. Much violence and confusion took place in Kansas as various types of "settlers" moved into this territory in the months before the vote in an attempt to influence it. | |
| 298434705 | Dred Scott Case | Critical Supreme Court ruling that stated that slaves were property and not people; as a result they could not seek a ruling from any court. The ruling also stated that Congress had no legal right to ban slavery in any territory. | |
| 298434706 | First Battle of Bull Run | Early Civil War engagement, in 1861, ending in defeat for the Union army; this battle convinced many in the North that victory over the Confederacy would not be as easy as they first thought it would be. | |
| 298434707 | Emancipation Proclamation | January 1, 1863, proclamation that freed slaves in Southern territories was controlled by the Union army; this executive proclamation by President Lincoln also committed the Union to the abolition of slavery. | |
| 298434708 | Battle of Gettysburg | An 1863 battle, which was the bloodiest overall battle, of the Civil War; many historians claim that the Southern defeat was the beginning of the end for the Confederacy. | |
| 298434709 | Appomattox | Virginia courthouse where General Robert E. lee surrendered Confederate forces on April 9, 1865. | |
| 298434710 | Reconstruction Era | (1865-1877) Period after the Civil War during which Northern political leaders created plans for the governance of the South and a procedure for former Southern states to rejoin the Union; Southern resentment of this era lasted well into the twentieth century. | |
| 298434711 | Radical Republicans | Congressional group that wished to punish the South for its secession from the Union; pushed for measures that gave economic and political rights to a newly freed blacks in the South and that made it difficult for former Confederate states to rejoin the Union. | |
| 298434712 | Reconstruction Act | 1867 act placing Southern states under military rule and barring former supporters of the Confederacy from voting. | |
| 298434713 | Carpetbaggers | Northerners who moved to the South during the Reconstruction era; traditional elements of Southern society were deeply resentful of profits made by carpetbaggers during this period. | |
| 298434714 | Scalawags | Term of derision used in the South during the Reconstruction era for white Southern Republicans. | |
| 298434715 | Ku Klux Klan | This group was founded in Tennessee in 1866; its oftentimes violent actions during the Reconstruction era represented the resentments felt by many Southern whites toward the changing political, social, and economic conditions of the Reconstruction era. | |
| 298434716 | Compromise of 1877 | Political compromise ending the disputed presidential election of 1878; by the terms of this compromise Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes was awarded the electoral votes of Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina, thus giving him the presidency; in return, all federal troops were removed from the South, and the Congress promised to stop enforcing much Reconstruction-era legislation concerning the South. |
