STUDY GUIDE US HISTORY MIDTERM
People and Places:
1. Philadelphia—the largest city in the colonies for a time; had 25,000 people by 1760.
2. Cambridge—a town near Boston; home of Harvard College (founded in 1636); named after Cambridge, England.
3. John Eliot—Puritan missionary called the “Apostle to the Indians”; translated the Bible into the language of the Algonquin Indians.
4. Benjamin Franklin—prominent American statesman who encouraged the founding of libraries in America; also perhaps the best-known American scientist of the colonial era.
5. John Peter Zenger—German printer and editor of a New York newspaper; his trial in 1734 set an important precedent for freedom of the press in America.
6. Copley, West, Stuart, and Peale—distinguished American portrait painters who were active during the colonial period.
7. William Billings—the first professional musician and the first notable composer born in America.
8. Sir Isaac Newton—English scientist known for his discovery of several important physical laws of the universe.
9. Bartram, Garden, and Colden—colonial Americans who made extensive studies of the plant life of North America.
10. Carolus Linnaeus—Swedish scientist known for his extensive classification of plants and animals.
11. John Winthrop IV—American astronomer who twice observed the transit of Venus across the sun, enabling English astronomers to measure the earth’s distance from the sun with 98% accuracy.
12. David Rittenhouse—American astronomer who constructed the first mechanical model of the solar system.
13. Benjamin Banneker—American astronomer who successfully predicted an eclipse in 1789.
14. Cotton Mather—Puritan theologian and scientist who helped introduce the smallpox vaccine in America.
15. Daniel Boone—American frontiersman who explored the Appalachian Mountains and blazed the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap; helped other pioneers establish settlements and protect their new homes.
16. Boonesborough—a fort Daniel Boone had built to protect the settlers from the Indians.
Terms:
1. Scots-Irish—people of Scottish descent who migrated to Northern Ireland in the 1600s.
2. aristocracy—the upper class of American colonists; included wealthy southern plantation owners, great landholders, prosperous merchants, and professionals.
3. “bread colonies”—a name for the middle colonies, which produced an abundance of grain.
4. indigo—a plant used to make blue dye; an important crop in South Carolina and Georgia.
5. quitrent—a small fixed annual fee paid to the proprietor of a colony in recognition of his sovereignty.
6. headright system—a parcel of land was given to each settler or to the one who paid for the settler’s passage to the New World.
7. domestic system—manufacturing done in the home.
8. triangular trade routes—ships sailing from the New England colonies usually stopped at two distant ports before returning to New England.
9. Harvard College—founded by the Puritans of Massachusetts in 1636.
10. Ole’ Deluder Satan Act—required all towns of at least 50 families to hire a teacher to teach their children to read and write.
11. hornbook—a paddle-shaped board to which was attached a printed sheet containing the alphabet and usually the Lord’s Prayer or a Scripture verse.
12. New England Primer—the most widely used textbook in colonial America; contained word lists, poems, prayers, Bible stories, and other character-building stories.
13. Philadelphia Academy—most famous of the academies; founded by Benjamin Franklin; later became the University of Pennsylvania.
14. subscription libraries—only those who contributed to their support could borrow books.
15. Poor Richard’s Almanac—published by Ben Franklin; contained meteorological and astronomical information, simple proverbs, and sound advice couched in good humor.
16. Boston News-Letter—first regularly published weekly newspaper (1704); published by the colonial government.
17. New-England Courant—first privately published newspaper in America (1721); published by James and Ben Franklin.
18. Moravians—German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, and Georgia; produced the most notable music in colonial America.
19. deism—the belief that God created the universe and then abandoned it to operate purely by natural law.
20. Wilderness Road—the trail that Daniel Boone and a group of frontiersmen cleared through Cumberland Gap.
21. post roads—roads which connected larger cities; used by mail carriers.
22. bicameral—composed of two houses.
23. upper house and lower house—upper house members were appointed by the Crown or by a proprietor; lower house members were elected by qualified voters.
24. town meeting system—the local citizens assembled periodically to become chief lawmaking body.
25. county—the primary unit of local government in the Southern colonies.
People:
1. John and Charles Wesley—English ministers who founded the Methodist denomination.
2. Jonathan Edwards—Congregationalist minister in Northampton, Massachusetts, who sparked the Great Awakening; colonial America’s foremost theologian and one of America’s greatest intellects.
3. George Whitefield—English evangelist remembered as the most powerful voice of the Great Awakening.
4. Phillis Wheatley—the first black female writer in America.
5. David Brainerd—the best-known missionary to the Indians.
6. Governor Dinwiddie—governor of Virginia during the French and Indian War.
7. George Washington—young surveyor and officer in the Virginia militia; fought alongside British troops in the French and Indian War.
8. Benjamin Franklin—proposed the Albany Plan.
9. General Braddock—English general who tried to fight the French and Indians in a European manner against Washington’s advice and died in a failed attempt to capture Fort Duquesne.
10. William Pitt the Elder—became prime minister of England in 1757; his leadership brought victory for the British in the French and Indian War.
11. General James Wolfe—led British troops to victory at the Battle of Quebec.
Terms:
1. Halfway Covenant—permitted descendants of church members to become church members with full privileges, except for participation in Communion.
2. Methodist Revival—revival of Biblical Christianity in England between 1730 and 1760; begun by John and Charles Wesley.
3. Great Awakening—revival of Biblical Christianity in America between 1730 and 1760; begun by Jonathan Edwards.
4. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God—the most famous sermon Jonathan Edwards preached.
5. Fort Duquesne—French fort at the fork of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers.
6. Albany Plan—called for a union of the colonies; proposed by Ben Franklin.
7. Peace of Paris—officially concluded the French and Indian War in 1763.
People:
1. Pontiac—Ottawa chief who led a confederation of tribes in a bloody uprising against England.
2. Patrick Henry—American lawyer who addressed the House of Burgesses with a plea for the colonies to fight for their freedom.
3. George 111—became king of England in 1760; ruled during America’s War for Independence.
4. George Grenville—became prime minister of England in 1763; instituted a program of new taxes and stricter trade regulation for the colonies.
5. James Otis—Boston lawyer who published “The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved.”
6. Samuel Adams—led the protest against the Stamp Act in Massachusetts; organized the Sons of Liberty and helped form the first Committee of Correspondence.
7. William Pitt the Elder—one of Parliament’s most respected members; rejected the idea of “virtual representation” for the colonies.
8. Edmund Burke—Irish statesman who defended the colonies before Parliament.
9. Charles Townshend—became Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1767; responsible for the Townshend Acts, which included the infamous tea tax.
10. John Dickinson—Pennsylvania lawyer who drafted the resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress; wrote the pamphlet entitled “Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies.”
11. General Thomas Gage—replaced Hutchinson as royal governor of Massachusetts.
12. Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Dr. Samuel Prescott—rode through the night of April 18, 1775 to warn their countrymen of the British march on Lexington.
13. Lemuel Haynes—black American patriot who fought with the Massachusetts minutemen at Lexington.
14. Ethan Allen—formed a frontier militia known as the “Green Mountain Boys”; captured Fort Ticonderoga.
15. John Hancock—elected president of the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia in May 1775.
16. George Washington—appointed commander in chief of the colonial army.
Places:
1. Lexington—where the first shot was fired in the War for Independence on April 19, 1775.
2. Concord—where the British proceeded after they left Lexington.
3. Fort Ticonderoga—British fort on the shores of Lake Champlain; guarded the main road between Canada and New York; captured by Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys.
4. Bunker Hill—one of two hills overlooking the city of Boston; location of the first major battle of the War for Independence.
People:
1. Thomas Paine—English philosopher who published the pamphlet Common Sense in 1776, encouraging Americans to declare their independence.
2. Richard Henry Lee—American statesman who presented a resolution to Congress in 1776 calling for the colonies to declare their independence.
3. John Locke—English political thinker who promoted the “social contract” theory of government; believed that the law of nature is reason; his works, particularly his Two Treatises on Government, greatly influenced the American colonists.
4. William Blackstone—English political thinker who believed that the law of nature is the will of God; his Commentaries on the Laws of England also had an important influence on the American colonists.
5. George Washington—led the colonial army to victory; presided over the Constitutional Convention; served as the first President of the U.S.
6. Marquis de Lafayette—French general who became a close and valuable aid to General Washington.
7. Baron von Steuben—Prussian general who helped Washington drill his troops into a disciplined army.
8. Sir William Howe—British general who captured New York City in 1776.
9. Admiral Lord Richard Howe—William Howe’s brother; aided his brother in the capture of New York.
10. Nathan Hale—young American schoolteacher who was hanged by the British for spying.
11. General Cornwallis—British general who surrendered to Washington at Yorktown.
12. General John Burgoyne—British general who surrendered to patriot general Horatio Gates at Saratoga.
13. Molly Pitcher—nickname for Mary Ludwig, who took her husband’s place at a cannon in the Battle of Monmouth after he fell.
14. Joseph Brant—Mohawk chief who helped the British in the American War for Independence.
15. John Paul Jones—American naval hero and captain of the Bonhomme Richard; known for his famous reply, “1 have not yet begun to fight.”
16. Francis Marion—patriot leader called the Swamp Fox; led Southern militiamen against the British.
17. General Thomas Sumter—patriot general called the Fighting Game Cock; led Southern militiamen.
18. General Nathanael Greene—American general called the Fighting Quaker; regained the South for the patriot cause.
19. Benedict Arnold—patriot leader who turned traitor and plotted to surrender the fort at West Point.
Terms:
1. Olive Branch Petition—petition sent by the Continental Congress in July 1775 appealing to King George III to come to reasonable terms.
2. Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms—declaration sent by the Continental Congress in July 1775 to King George III stating their resolve to take up arms to defend American liberty.
3. Prohibitory Act—act of Parliament in December 1775 which prohibited all trade with the colonies and provided for the confiscation of their ships.
4. Hessians—German mercenaries from the state of Hesse hired by George III to fight the colonists.
5. Common Sense—pamphlet published by Thomas Paine in January 1776; encouraged Americans to declare their independence.
6. Declaration of Independence—America’s official declaration of independence from Britain; issued July 4, 1774, by the Continental Congress; considered the most important human statement of political principles in the history of the world.
7. Whigs—nickname for patriots; borrowed from those in Britain who opposed a strong monarchy.
8. Loyalists—also called Tories; those who remained loyal to the king.
9. Battle of Saratoga—(1777) patriot victory in which American troops under General Gates defeated British troops under General Burgoyne in New York; considered the turning point in America’s War for Independence.
10. Battle of Monmouth—took place in New Jersey when Washington tried to stop Sir Henry Clinton before he reached New York City.
11. privateers—private vessels commissioned by Congress or the state governments and equipped with gun to attack British ships.
12. Battle of King’s Mountain—(1780) patriot victory which prevented a British invasion of North Carolina.
13. Battle of Yorktown—(1781) patriot victory in which General Cornwallis surrendered to General Washington and American independence was secured.
16. Treaty of Paris—officially ended the American War f or Independence in 1783.
Places:
1. Trenton and Princeton—Washington captured 1,000 Hessian troops at Trenton in December 1776, and he defeated British troops at Princeton in January 1777.
2. Brandywine—(Pennsylvania) where Washington attempted to stop Howe’s army before it captured Philadelphia in September 1777.
3. Germantown—(Pennsylvania) where Washington tried again to overcome Howe’s army in October 1777 but was defeated.
4. Valley Forge—(Pennsylvania) where Washington and his men spent the winter of 1777—1778.
5. Stony Point—(New York) American fort recaptured by patriots under General “Mad Anthony” Wayne in 1779 in one of the most daring moves of the war.
6. Yorktown—( Virginia) where Cornwallis surrendered to Washington in October 1781, virtually assuring American independence.
People:
1. John Dickinson—led the committee which drafted the Articles of Confederation and proposed them to Congress in 1776.
2. Daniel Shays—a former military officer who led a rebellion of farmers and debtors in western Massachusetts in 1786.
3. Alexander Hamilton—a delegate of New York who attended the Annapolis Convention and the Constitutional Convention.
4. James Madison—a delegate of Virginia who attended the Annapolis Convention and the Constitutional Convention; remembered as the Father of the Constitution.
5. George Washington—former commander 1 of the colonial army; presided over the
Constitutional Convention; first President of the United States.
6. Benjamin Franklin—great American V statesman who attended the Constitutional Convention.
7. Jonathan Dayton—the youngest delegate to the Constitutional Convention.
8. Edmund Randolph—proposed the Virginia Plan to the Convention.
9. William Paterson—presented the New Jersey Plan to the Convention.
10. Noah Webster—the great American educator who wrote History of the United States.
11. Isaac Backus—a Baptist leader who became the most influential figure in the long battle for religious freedom in Massachusetts.
12. John Leland—the most influential leader of the Virginia Baptists.
13. Alexis de Tocqueville—Frenchman who came to America in 1831; one of the greatest political thinkers of the Modern Age; published Democracy in America in1833.
Terms:
1. Bicameral legislature—a legislature composed of two houses.
2. Articles of Confederation—a plan for union adopted by Congress in November of 1777; had several weaknesses, but did accomplish a successful land policy for the Northwest Territory.
3. confederacy—a voluntary union in which the central government is subordinate to the local governments and has only the powers they grant it.
4. Northwest Territory—the area bound by the Ohio River, the Mississippi River, and the Great Lakes.
5. Land Ordinance—(1785) provided for the entire Northwest Territory to be surveyed and divided into townships.
6. Northwest Ordinance—(1 787) provided for the gradual development of self- government in the Northwest Territory.
7. Shays’ Rebellion—incident in which Daniel Shays and an army of farmers and debtors forced several courts to close down in western Massachusetts in 1786 to prevent any further foreclosures.
8. foreclosure—seizure of property for nonpayment of debts.
9. “Critical Period”—the years (1781—1789) during which the Articles of Confederation served as the basis for America’s national government.
10. Constitutional Convention—a convention held in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 to revise the Articles; produced the Constitution of the United States.
11. Independence Hall—name for the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia; where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed.
12. “Great Decision”—the decision of the Convention delegates to draft a new Constitution.
13. Great Compromise—established a bicameral legislature to satisfy both the large and small states; often called the Connecticut Compromise.
14. Virginia Plan—called for a bicameral legislature with representation based on state population and for the creation of executive and judicial departments; gave a number of specific powers to the national government.
15. New Jersey Plan—called for a unicameral legislature with equal representation for all states and for the creation of executive and judicial branches; in essence, the governmental system would continue as it did under the Articles of Confederation, but the national government would have power to tax and regulate commerce.
16. Connecticut Compromise—the Great Compromise; so-called because Connecticut delegates played an important role in the compromise.
17. Three-fifths Compromise—determined that 3/5 of a state’s slave population would be counted for both taxation and representation.
18. tariffs—fees on imported goods.
19. Commerce and Slave Trade Compromise—granted Congress power to regulate commerce with certain limitations; it could not levy export tariffs; and it could not regulate the slave trade, at least until 1808.
20. Federalists—those who wanted the new Constitution adopted.
21. Anti-Federalists—those who opposed the Constitution.
22. The Federalist—a series of 85 essays which gave sound arguments in favor of the Constitution; helped bring victory to the Federalists in New York.
23. democratic republic—rule by the people with a written constitution to protect the basic rights of the minority from being infringed upon by the majority.
24. elastic clause—necessary and proper clause; added to ensure that Congress should not be bound in any important matters by mere oversights or omissions in the Constitution.
25. Bill of Rights—the first 10 amendments to the Constitution.
26. checks and balances—a system devised to check the power of the various branches of the national government; protects citizens against tyranny.
27. implied powers—powers not specifically mentioned in the Constitution but implied therein.
Essay questions
DISCUSS THE CAUSES, EFFECTS, AND RESULTS OF THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE
DISCUSS THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION
DISCUSS THE CONSTITUTION AND HOW IT WORKS