Unit 3 Study Guide
1. Before the French and Indian War, how were the
American colonies organized? Did they function as
individual colonies or a united colony?
Each colony was in dependently governed and functioned
as their own sovereign land. There was a complete lack of
unity between them
2. Troops under what general started the Seven Years
War (French and Indian War)?
LTC George Washington
3. What was the purpose of the Albany Congress in
1754? What did it achieve?
To bring the Colonies together for discussion to
immediately insure the Iroquois Confederacy remained
loyal to Britain
4. Explain Benjamin Franklin’s “Join, or DIE” political
cartoon.
Franklin’s idea that “what happens to one of us, effects all
of us”. The idea was ultimately rejected by the Colonies as
a whole
5. What did the Treaty of Paris of 1763 accomplish?
List the stipulations under the treaty.
Ended the French and Indian War.
-Forcibly removed all French controlled territories from
North America
-Established Britain as the dominant colonial power in
North America
6. Why did the British Parliament start to enforce the
1651 Acts of Trade and Navigation after the French
and Indian War?
To increase taxes on the American colonies in an attempt
to pay off their war debt from the French & Indian War
7. What was Britain trying to accomplish with
mercantilism?
Re-establish firm control over their colonies and pay off
their war debt from the French & Indian War. They also
wanted to monopolize American markets to benefit only
Britain (an increase in prosperity)
8. What was the Proclamation of 1763?
It restricted American settlement west of the Appalachian
Mountains (reserving the land between the Appalachians
and Mississippi River for Native Americans)
9. What was the Sugar Act? What was the Stamp Act?
How did they differ?
Sugar Act placed a tax on sugar in the Colonies. Stamp Act
placed a tax on anything paper in the colonies. When
Americans began to protest the Sugar Act by refusing to
purchase sugar the Stamp Act was put in place to continue
collecting revenue internally from the Colonies
10. How did the crisis caused by the Stamp Act lead to
the American Revolution?
The Stamp Act (which was much harder to boycott) lead to
increasing tensions between America and Britain and
caused a series of civil unrest and responses to that unrest
would eventually lead to the outbreak of the Revolution
11. What purpose did the Stamp Act Congress
accomplish? Why was this significant?
An arrangement for representatives from the 13 colonies
to come together and discuss a unified protest in the
American Colonies against the Stamp Act.
12. How did the British Parliament respond to the
American claim of “no taxation without
representation?”
Britain refused to give representation by allowing
representation under the guise that Parliament members
represented the interests of all British subjects
13. What were the Townshend Acts? How did the
colonist respond to them?
A series of new laws on the Colonies that raised taxes on
paint, glass, and tea
Colonists increased protests (mainly through the Sons and
Daughters of Liberty and the Committees of
Correspondence organizations) which would eventually
lead to the Boston Massacre
Bostonian Colonists angry at the increasing taxes being
placed by Parliament organized a protest of British military
presence around the city. During the protest the crowd
began to turn increasingly violent toward the British
soldiers and eventually the soldiers (in a panic) fired into
the crowd killing 5 Americans. The British had spilled first
blood
14. Explain the events of the Boston Massacre.
15. What was the Tea Act? How did colonist respond to
it?
The continuation of the tax on tea in the Colonies despite
the repeal of the Townshend Acts. Colonial resistance to
the tax culminated in the Boston Tea Party
16. Explain the significance of Thomas Paine’s essay
Common Sense.
Common Sense was meant to encourage colonists to rebel
against Britain in the wake of all the new taxes and events
such as the Boston Massacre and Boston Tea Party
17. What was the significance of the Battle of
Saratoga?
18. List 5 achievements of George Washington during
the American Revolution.
19. List the terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1783.
Saratoga was a key American victory against John
Burgoyne’s British Army and their attempted invasion from
Canada to cut the Colonies into 2 sections and “divide and
conquer” which failed. This battle becomes the turning
point of the American Revolution and secures an alliance
between American and France
1. Maintained morale even at Valley Forge
2. Isolated Cornwallis’s British Army at Yorktown
3. Lead a surprise attack on Hessian forces at Trenton
4. Was able to attain provisions for his army despite
the reluctance of Continental Congress
5. Kept the revolution going
1.
2.
3.
4.
Loyalists received compensation for losses
US received Canadian fishing rights
American independence was recognized
British overturned Dunmore’s Proclamation
20. What is the concept of Republican Motherhood?
Dealt primarily with women’s rights and the allowance of
women to participate in politics
21. What was the effect of the American Revolution on
African Americans?
Steps began to be taken (especially in the North) to weaken
to reliance on slavery and eventually abolish slavery in the
US
22. What civil liberty that the colonies were struggling
to create since the beginning finally became
important during the late 18th century (1700s)?
Religious freedom
23. What were the economic challenges facing the
early United States?
24. What was the Articles of Confederation? What
were some of the characteristics of government
under it?
-
High taxes
Lack of legitimate currency
Lack of an organized bank
Surplus of tobacco in the South
Established the first government in the US
- A congress allowing one vote per state
- A unanimous requirement to enact any legislation
- No power to regulate commerce between states
- A unicameral legislature
25. Why did the Articles of Confederation fail?
Due to the fact that the Congress could not tax and could
not raise an army
26. What did Shay’s Rebellion highlight about the
Articles of Confederation?
The it was too weak to govern the US due to the economic
problems caused by debt and high taxes
27. What was the Northwest Ordinance of 1787?
Established the rules for a territory to apply for statehood
in the Union
28. What was the original purpose of the
Constitutional Convention? What did they do
instead?
Strengthen the Articles of Confederation by solving foreign
& domestic problems
Instead they proposed a whole new governing document,
the Constitution
29. What were the similarities of most of the delegates
at the Constitutional Convention?
Most were proponents of nationalism and federalism
30. What was the most contested topic during the
Constitutional Convention? How was it solved?
Representation in the legislature
Solved through the adoption of the Connecticut (Great)
Compromise
31. What is the actual name of the Great Compromise?
Connecticut Compromise
32. Which groups of people opposed the ratification of
the Constitution? (Not the antifederalist)
Farmers in isolated areas and anti-Federalist minded
Americans
33. What was the Bill of Rights? What purpose did it
serve?
The first 10 amendments to the Constitution that secure
individual and state rights
Purpose was to secure anti-Federalist and state support for
the Constitution
34. Name of all of George Washington’s cabinet
members and their position.
John Adams (Vice President)
Thomas Jefferson (Secretary of State)
Alexander Hamilton (Secretary of Treasury)
Henry Knox (Secretary of War)
Edmund Randolph (Attorney General)
35. What was the First Bank of the United States?
A private corporation that was chartered by the US
government
36. What is Jay’s Treaty?
Treaty that prevented war and opened more trade
between America and France in the early years of the US
37. What is Pinckney’s Treaty?
38. What was Alexander Hamilton’s plans as Secretary
of Treasury?
Aroused some of the strongest opposition among the
American population to the Washington administration
Established a trade friendship between America and Spain
and established the borders between the US and Spanish
colonies in America
-
Creating a national bank
Collection of a federal excise tax on whiskey
Payment of state debts by the federal government
Tariffs to protect new industries in the US
39. How did most of the Founding Fathers feel about
political parties/faction
Parties were vehicles of ambition and selfish interest that
threaten the existence of a republic
40. What was George Washington’s Neutrality
Proclamation of 1793?
Kept US forces from getting involved in the French
Revolution which dealt a blow to French military and naval
strategies
41. Explain the conflict between Alexander Hamilton
and Thomas Jefferson during the 1790s.
Jefferson took a narrower view of government by sticking
with a more strict interpretation of the Constitution
42. What did Hamilton concede to Jefferson and James
Madison regarding the federal assumption of state
debts?
Support to locate a permanent capital on the Potomac
River
43. What was the Whiskey Rebellion?
A rebellion over the whiskey tax that was put down by
Washington leading the new US Army in a show a force.
Ultimately the Rebellion proved that the new Constitution
worked
44. What was main purpose of George Washington’s
Farewell Address?
To continue America’s commitment to isolationism until
the military is further developed
45. What is the XYZ Affair?
French foreign ministers demand for a bribe before he
would meet with American representatives
46. What is the Alien and Sedition Acts?
Laws mean to silence and punish critics of the Federalists
47. What was the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions?
Proposals to allow states to decide on the constitutionality
of federal laws
48. Explain the States’ Rights Compact theory.
States should be able to declare federal laws
unconstitutional
49. What was President John Adams’ purpose in the
peaceful solution to the Quasi War with France?
Prevent outbreak of a full scale war with France