American History Key Terms: From Colonization to the Constitution

Posted on Oct 5, 2026 in History

Native Americans and Early European Colonization

  • Bering Strait: Ice Age land bridge between Siberia and Alaska; early migration route into North America (15,000+ years ago).
  • Cahokia: Large mound-building Native city near modern St. Louis (c. 600–1300); proof of sophisticated precolonial societies.
  • Reasons Europeans came to the “New World”: Wealth/resources, competition for empire, Asian trade routes, conversion, and religious refuge → distinct colonies and economies.
  • Christopher Columbus: Italian sailing for Spain reached Caribbean in 1492 while seeking Asia; launched sustained European colonization.
  • Reasons Europeans conquered Native Americans: Disease (especially smallpox), firearms, horses, and Indigenous rivalries/alliances accelerated conquest and displacement.
  • Roanoke Island: Failed 1580s English attempt off North Carolina (“Lost Colony”); shows settlement challenges.
  • Jamestown: 1607 Virginia Company settlement; tobacco made it profitable. First permanent English colony; representative assembly in 1619.
  • Powhatans: Chesapeake Indigenous confederation near Jamestown; trade and land disputes with English led to wars.
  • Indentured servitude: Workers exchanged years of labor for passage. Major early plantation labor supply.
  • Introduction of slavery at Jamestown: Captive Africans arrived in Virginia in 1619; beginning of African labor in English mainland colonies and eventual hereditary racial slavery.
  • Headright system: Virginia (1618): land grants to those financing migrants’ passage; promoted immigration and plantations.

Religion and Colonial Development

  • The Separatists: English Protestants who left Church of England; founded Plymouth in 1620.
  • The Puritans: Protestants seeking to reform Church of England; built Massachusetts Bay (1630) with restricted religious/political rights.
  • Plymouth Colony: Separatists founded Plymouth in 1620; their Mayflower Compact exemplified early consent-based colonial governance.
  • Mayflower Compact: Signed 1620 by Mayflower men; early model of governance by consent of governed.
  • Massachusetts Bay Colony: Puritan colony (1630), led by Winthrop; bicameral assembly by 1644 but restricted political inclusion.
  • John Winthrop: Puritan governor of Massachusetts Bay; envisioned community as “city upon a hill.”
  • Roger Williams: Banished dissenter who helped found Rhode Island; advocated religious freedom and church/state separation.
  • Anglo-Powhatan Wars (1622–1646): English expansion and land conflict caused 1622–1646 warfare; diminished Powhatan autonomy.
  • Pequot War: 1636–37 English and Indigenous allies vs. Pequots; massacre highlighted violence and Native alliances.
  • William Penn: Quaker founder of Pennsylvania (1681); “Holy Experiment” welcomed religious dissenters.
  • King Philip’s War: 1675–76 Wampanoag Metacom vs. New England settlers; devastating conflict over expansion and Native sovereignty.

Colonial Economy and Conflict

  • Mercantilism: Colonies supplied raw materials and bought English goods → British economic control and later trade disputes.
  • Navigation Acts: Trade restrictions starting 1651 implemented mercantilism; smuggling and enforcement clashes followed.
  • Bacon’s Rebellion: Nathaniel Bacon rebelled against Berkeley (1676) over frontier policy and class/economic grievances; exposed colonial inequality.
  • Edmund Andros: James II’s Dominion governor (1686); dissolved colonial assemblies, prompting opposition to royal control.
  • Salem “witch hunt” of 1692: 1692 Massachusetts accusations/trials and 20 executions; illustrated Puritan social and religious tensions.
  • James Oglethorpe: Founded Georgia (1733); envisioned opportunities for modest settlers and buffer against Spanish Florida.

Road to the American Revolution

  • French and Indian War: Britain vs. France and Indigenous allies, 1754–1763; British victory brought territory plus debt → taxes on colonies.
  • Pontiac’s Rebellion: 1763 Native resistance to postwar British expansion around Great Lakes/Ohio; helped prompt settlement restrictions.
  • Currency Acts: 1751/1764 restrictions on colonial paper currency to protect British creditors; angered colonists.
  • Proclamation of 1763: British barred colonial settlement west of Appalachians (1763); colonists resented lost western land access.
  • Sugar Act: 1764 import duties and enforcement; sparked boycotts and “no taxation without representation” protests.
  • Stamp Act: 1765 tax stamps on printed goods; Sons of Liberty protests and Stamp Act Congress; repealed 1766.
  • Sons of Liberty: Colonial protest network, including Samuel Adams; organized anti-tax demonstrations and boycotts.
  • Quartering Acts: British required colonial support/housing for troops; NY resistance led Parliament to suspend assembly.
  • Declaratory Act: Passed with Stamp Act repeal (1766); Parliament claimed power to legislate for colonies “in all cases whatsoever.”
  • Townshend Acts: 1767 import duties (tea, glass, etc.); boycotts and British troop presence worsened colonial tensions.
  • Boston Massacre: 1770 British troops killed five in Boston; Patriot propaganda fueled anti-British anger.
  • Samuel Adams: Massachusetts Patriot leader; organized Sons of Liberty and correspondence networks.
  • Committees of Correspondence: Intercolonial information networks; coordinated anti-British resistance.
  • Tea Act: 1773 aided East India Company and kept disputed tea tax; angered colonial merchants/protesters.
  • Boston Tea Party: 1773 protesters dumped company tea in Boston Harbor; triggered British punishment.
  • Coercive / “Intolerable” Acts: 1774 punitive acts including Boston port closure; catalyzed colonial unity and First Congress.
  • Continental Congresses: First (1774) organized joint resistance; Second (1775) ran war, appointed Washington, approved independence.

Revolutionary War

  • Lexington and Concord: April 19, 1775 first armed clashes of Revolutionary War; “shot heard round the world.”
  • Battle of Bunker Hill: June 17, 1775 British captured position but sustained 1,000+ casualties; costly/Pyrrhic victory.
  • Battle of Trenton: Dec. 26, 1776 Washington surprised Hessians after crossing Delaware; revived Patriot morale.
  • Battle of Saratoga: 1777 American victory persuaded France to ally with the US; turning point enabling aid and eventual Yorktown victory.
  • Battle of Yorktown: 1781 French-American siege compelled Cornwallis’s surrender; final major Revolutionary War battle.
  • Loyalists: Colonists who remained loyal to Britain; demonstrates independence divided Americans.
  • Common Sense (Paine): Paine’s 1776 pamphlet attacked monarchy and popularized independence.
  • Declaration of Independence: July 4, 1776 independence statement, principally drafted by Jefferson; natural rights and consent of governed.
  • Women’s roles in the Revolutionary War: Women maintained farms, made supplies, worked as nurses/camp followers and sometimes fought; vital labor without equal rights.
  • Blacks, slaves, and the Revolutionary War: Both sides recruited Black soldiers; Dunmore offered freedom to enslaved men joining British (1775); 5,000+ Black men served Continental Army.
  • Benjamin Franklin: Franklin’s 1754 “Join, or Die” cartoon advocated colonial unity; as envoy secured crucial French aid.
  • George Washington: Early military career in French and Indian War; commanded Continental Army; first US president (1789), setting presidential precedents.
  • Benedict Arnold: Early Patriot hero at Saratoga who plotted to surrender West Point to Britain (1780); famous defection.

The Creation of a New Nation

  • Articles of Confederation: First US constitution ratified 1781; Congress could wage war and sign treaties but lacked direct taxing/trade powers.
  • Northwest Ordinance of 1787: 1787 territorial framework for new states; barred slavery in Northwest Territory.
  • Shays’ Rebellion: 1786–87 Massachusetts farmer uprising over debts and taxes; exposed governmental weaknesses.
  • Constitutional Convention; Virginia/New Jersey Plans and Great Compromise: Philadelphia, 1787: VA Plan population-based, NJ Plan equal state representation; Great Compromise created House by population + equal Senate.
  • Federalists and Anti-Federalists: Federalists backed Constitution/strong center; Anti-Federalists feared central power and demanded rights protections.
  • Federalist Essays / Federalist Papers: 85 pro-ratification essays by Hamilton, Madison and Jay (“Publius”); explained and defended Constitution.
  • Federalist No. 51: Madison: separation of powers and checks/balances guard against concentrated government power.
  • Three-Fifths Compromise: Counted 3/5 of enslaved population for House representation/direct taxes; increased slave-state political power without enslaved rights.
  • Bill of Rights: First 10 amendments (1791) safeguard civil liberties; answered ratification concerns.
  • Hamilton, Jefferson, and beginnings of parties: Hamilton: national bank, commerce, stronger center → Federalists. Jefferson: agriculture, limited center → Democratic-Republicans.
  • Whiskey Rebellion: 1794 PA farmers resisted spirits excise; Washington’s federal response asserted national enforcement power.
  • Jay’s Treaty of 1794: 1794 treaty with Britain resolved some disputes but angered critics over weak neutral-trade safeguards.
  • XYZ Affair: 1797–98 French intermediaries demanded payments to negotiate; helped trigger Quasi-War.
  • Alien and Sedition Acts: 1798 acts gave federal power over noncitizens and criminalized some anti-government writings; civil-liberties controversy.
  • Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions: 1798–99 Jefferson/Madison statements opposed Alien/Sedition Acts; asserted states’ role in judging federal actions.