HIST 2111 Study guide for Test #1
Chapter 1:
Bering Strait
• Hypothesis of how people came to America: “Through the land bridge that connected
Asia to North America.”
• Early scientists felt the "primitives" they discovered in the Americas did not have the
technology to have sailed the oceans. So, they decided that Indians had reached North
America by this bridge.
• The Bering Strait was a land bridge during the peak of the last ice age.
Cahokia
• Center of a major North American Native American civilization (Adena-Hopewell), near
present-day St. Louis
• Located by the Mississippi river.
o Important because of agriculture, fertile soil
• Population (12th century): about 30,000
• Was the first known civilization that became to be known in the USA.
• Cahokia became a center of religious devotion, building, and trade.
• The largest Mound Builder settlement
Reasons why English/Europeans came to the “New World”
• Greed and imagination
• They wanted the riches of the East, particularly spices
• Due to population growth, there was a competition for natural resources & land
• For them, land=power
• After the bubonic plague, the population tripled
• As a result, they needed resources, were scarce
• God, gold, and glory
• For the satisfaction of curiosity, the pursuit of trade, the spread of religion (conversion to
Catholics because of Martin Luther’s thesis), and the desire for security and political
power
Christopher Columbus
• Navigator, obsessive, religious, stubborn, arrogant, charming, and egotistical
• Thought he should sail west around the globe until he hit Asia
• Wanted gold from the East indies, spices, silk
• Asked for support from Spain’s government
o They accepted 6 years later because they thought risking it would be an
opportunity to gain wealth and to rise over other countries
Reasons why Europeans were able to conquer Native Americans (Indians)
• They, the English and Spanish, found that the easiest way to deal with the Native
Americans was to shove them aside or to kill them
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•
Main reasons:
o Technology: firearms, gun powder, steel blades
o Domesticated animals: horses: transportation, “war tanks”
o Disease (most important): the Native Americans weren’t immune to all European
sicknesses.
Hence, Europeans had many advantages in contrast to North Americans
Roanoke Island
• Has to do with the English colonization of the New World
o They wanted to catch up to the rest (Spain1, French 2, English 3)
• Roanoke Island was the site of the 16th-century Roanoke Colony, the first English colony
in the New World
• Sir Walter Raleigh “discovered” Roanoke Island (off NC’s Outer Banks) in 1584
• The settlers, who arrived in 1587, disappeared in 1590, leaving behind only two clues:
the words "Croatoan" carved into a fort's gatepost and "Cro" etched into a tree.
• Theories about the disappearance have ranged from an annihilating disease to a violent
rampage by local Native American tribes.
• Described as the “lost colony,” the English were doing bad at conquering.
• 20 years passed and nothing happened, so King James called “we have to do something.”
Virginia Company
• Funded the Jamestown expedition.
• The Virginia Company was formed both to bring profit to its shareholders and to
establish an English colony in the New World
Jamestown (English)
• Expedition funded by the Virginia Company of London
• First settlers left England at end of 1606 (105 men) on three ships
• Arrived in Jamestown in May 1607
• From London, England to Jamestown Virginia (about 6 months)
• Took a long time, so there were high mortality ratesà “the starving time”
• Key to Jamestown’s growth and success:
o John Rolfe’s cultivation of tobacco (1612-16)
o Permission from England to establish a general assembly (limited selfgovernment), 1619
o “Headright” system 1618
Headright system
• Free land for those who paid for themselves or others (indentured servants) to come to
Jamestown
• It was used as a way to attract new settlers to the region and address the labor shortage.
With the emergence of tobacco farming, a large supply of workers was needed. New
settlers who paid their way to Virginia received 50 acres of land.
Indentured servitude
• Indentured servants were individuals who bargained away their labor for a period of four
to seven years in exchange for passage to the New World.
• In the 17th century, indentured servants made up the mass of English immigrants to
the Chesapeake colonies and were central to the development of the tobacco economy.
Powhatan
• Powhatan was the paramount chief of Tsenacomoco, the local Native Americans, in the
late 1500s and early 1600s
• During his lifetime, he was responsible for uniting dozens of tribes into a single, powerful
alliance
• He was the highest authority in the region when English colonists arrived and
built Jamestown fort in 1607
• Gave food to the colonists
• Powhatan people were farmers
Introduction of slavery at Jamestown
• England allowed a Dutch warship to bring 20 slaves to Jamestown 1619
Puritans
• Puritans were intensely devout, evangelical Christians who believed that all people were
born evil and that only the predetermined grace of God could save them
• Thought they were god made people
• They believed that Jamestown was the place to launch their new England, a refuge for
persecuted Protestants
• In the 1620s and 1630s, several hundred Puritan men and women emigrated from
England and settled in Virginia
• Puritans protested the retention of certain Catholic practices in the Church of
England and sought religious reform
• As the Crown began to enforce conformity to the established church, English Puritans
looked to Virginia both as a land of opportunity and as a haven where they could form
godly communities of fellow believers and worship in churches without what they
perceived as extraneous ceremony
• The impact of the Puritan society in New England was huge
Plymouth Colony (Pilgrims, Separatists)
• Plymouth Colony was the first permanent English colony in New England from 1620 to
1691 and the second permanent English colony in America, after the Jamestown Colony.
• First settlers were 102 men, women, and children led by William Bradford aboard the
Mayflower in Sept. 1620--“Separatist” Puritans
Mayflower Compact
• First governing document written by colonists in North America
• Established the principle that the legitimacy of a government rests upon the consent of
the governed
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•
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Basically, an agreement that bound the signers to obey the government and legal system
established in Plymouth Colony
Becomes the Puritan’s governing document
Was far from perfect since there were no rights for women
Massachusetts Bay Colony (Puritans, Non-separatists)
• Chartered 1629, settled by non-Separatist Puritans (led by John Winthrop) in 1630.
o Non-separatists kept their beliefs quieter than the Puritans
• The Massachusetts Bay Colony established the first bicameral (two-house) legislature in
colonial North America in 1644.
• Puritans did not believe in the separation of church and state
• The Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded by the Puritans, a religious group in
England
• They founded their colony to escape religious persecution and hoped to build a model
religious community in the Americas
• The Massachusetts constitution influenced numerous other state constitutions
John Winthrop
• Was an English Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in founding the
Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England following
Plymouth Colony
• He was the 1st Governor of The Massachusetts Bay Colony
Chapter 2:
Roger Williams
• Established religious freedom for all settlers in Rhode Island 1644
• Also known for founding the state of Rhode Island and advocating separation of church
and state in Colonial America
• The founder of the first Baptist church in America
William Penn
• Quaker that was tolerant of different religions & cultures, including Native Americans
1681
• Founded the province of Pennsylvania
Maryland
• Was founded by Catholics in 1634 but granted religious toleration to all its settlers in
1649, with the notable exceptions of Jews & atheists
Dutch Colony
• Henry Hudson (an English sea captain) sailed to present-day New York for the Dutch
East India Co. in 1609, had slaves on the ship
•
•
The Dutch established the colony of New Netherland in 1626 and controlled it until the
English took it over in 1664 and renamed it New York.
“Sale” of Lower Manhattan (Lenape)
o The Dutch bought the land for about $24, paid with items, not money
Mercantilism/mercantile system
• Mercantilism: commercialization between the mainland and its colonies
• Wealth was seen as natural resources (gold, manmade things, cotton- the biggest textile
industry at the time)
• The colonies sent raw materials/natural resources to England, and the colonists bought
English manufactured goods
Navigation Acts
• Intended to maintain mercantilism by requiring colonists to buy certain manufactured
goods only from England and to sell certain raw materials or natural resources (such as
tobacco) only to England (1651-1696)
• It promoted the self-sufficiency of the British Empire by restricting colonial trade to
England and decreasing dependence on foreign imported goods
• English Board of Trade sent Edward Randolph to investigate enforcement of the Acts in
Boston (1676).
• King Charles II revoked the Mass. Bay Colony’s charter in 1684.
Edmund Andros
• In 1686 King James II placed all the colonies north of Pennsylvania, plus New Jersey,
under the unified rule of General Governor (or Royal Governor) Edmund Andros.
• The colonial assemblies (i.e., self-government) of all these individual colonies were
dissolved.
• In April 1689 Bostonians waged a revolt against Andros (Boston Rebellion)
• In July 1689, after England’s Glorious Revolution, King William and Queen Mary called
Andros and his assistant’s home, and restored the colonial governments of New England
Pequot War
• (1636-37, New England)
• A conflict between the Native American Pequot tribe and the English immigrants who
had established settlements in New England
• The primary cause of the Pequot War was the struggle to control trade
• English efforts were to break the Dutch-Pequot control of the fur and wampum trade,
while the Pequot attempted to maintain their political and economic dominance in the
region
• Burned the village and slaughtered 600 people
King Philip’s War (Metacom)
• (1675-76, New England)
• Metacomà A Native American chief
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•
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The war is seen as a final attempt to drive out the colonists and is considered the deadliest
war American has ever seen.
It was the Native Americans' last-ditch effort to avoid recognizing English authority and
stop English settlement on their native lands
The colonist army burned villages as they went, killing women and children.
The underlying cause of the war was the colonists unrelenting desire for more and more
land, but the immediate cause for its outbreak was the trial and execution of three of
Metacom's men by the colonists.
Bacon’s Rebellion
• Revolt by a group of colonists in Virginia led by Nathaniel Bacon against the Royal
Governor, William Berkeley
• Causes:
o Rebels wanted war against local Indians, and Berkeley did not, he refused Bacon's
request to drive Native American Indians out of Virginia
o Class conflict among colonists
Salem “witch craze” or “witch hunt” of 1692
• The Salem witch trials were a series of prosecutions (often hangings) due to the belief
that the certain people possessed magical traits
• During these times, anyone who was accused of being a 'witch' or suspected of 'practicing
witchcraft' was sentenced to death
• Nineteen convicted “witches” were hanged and many other suspects were imprisoned in
Salem Village in the Massachusetts Bay Colony
• Possible causes:
o 1) Initially, racial prejudice
o 2) Prejudice against independent, self-sufficient women
o 3) Jealousy by non-landowning citizens toward those who did own land
o 4) Longstanding feuds and conflicts within the village community
James Oglethorpe
• Named after King George II, who granted the land in 1732 to a board of trustees led by
Gen. James Oglethorpe.
• Founder of the colony of Georgia
• In 1733, Oglethorpe led an expedition of 120 colonists who arrived at and established
Savannah.
• The colony was not a haven for convicts as many believe.
• Slavery and rum were both illegal in GA until 1753, and Catholic settlers were forbidden.
• However, he opposed slavery and allowed people of all religions to settle in Savannah
even though the charter stated that Catholics and Jewish people were not allowed (he
allowed 42 Jewish settlers into Georgia in 1733)
• The Creeks were the largest tribe in pre-colonial Georgia.
• At least 10,000 of them were living in the boundaries of present-day Georgia
Great Awakening
• Religious revival movement that began in New England
• Helped promote education
• Helped unify the colonies
• Led to the development of new denominations & the construction of new churches
• Offered women more of a voice in church affairs
• Great Awakening preachers were usually not racially prejudiced: they converted Native
Americans and African Americans, including slaves
Chapter 3:
Benjamin Franklin
• The purpose of the cartoon 1775 is to symbolize that if there is no union in between the
nations, there is no connection and no function
• “Join or die”
French and Indian War
• The French and Indian War was fought between Great Britain and France and their
colonists, as well as Native American tribes
• The 13 colonies fight against the french
• Most native americans were in favor of the french
• They fought over territories and expansion throughout North America
• The French had built forts west of the Appalachian Mountains
• Causes:
o Precipitated by skirmishes between the French and the English for control of the
Ohio River Valley
o Began with a clash between Major George Washington of the Virginia colonial
militia and company of French scouts near the site of present-day Pittsburgh
o King George II then decided to wage war against France for control of colonial
North America
o In 1756, Great Britain and France also went to war in Europe (the Seven Years’
War)
• Women participated in the war: Native Americans/Indians had a more matriarchal
society, and some tribal leaders were women
• Blacks also participated in the war
o Small numbers of Black men, free and slaves, fought on the side of the English
colonists
o Some of the slaves gained their freedom as a result, while others were re-enslaved
o In the French territory of Louisiana, Black men and mulattoes helped defend
against Native American/Indian attacks
• The Treaty of Paris Marked the end of French power in North America
• Results:
o Restored good feelings on the part of the colonists towards the British, but:
§ The British government expected colonists to repay some of the costs of
the war in the form of new taxes.
§
Benjamin Franklin, the Pennsylvania colony’s agent in London, began
contacts with French foreign ministers who sought revenge against the
British.
Pontiac’s Rebellion
• Native Americans quickly grew disenchanted with the British
• The British exhibited little cultural sensitivity, traded unfairly, and failed to stop
encroachments on Indian land. Settlers had been moving into western Pennsylvania in
defiance of a treaty.
• This unrest culminated in a rebellion by Pontiac, a Native American leader who united
various tribes with the goal of expelling the British.
• The uprising lasted from 1763 to 1766 (3 yrs)
• Massacres and atrocities occurred on both sides- most notably, British General Jeffrey
Amherst gave the Native Americans blankets infested with smallpox.
Proclamation of 1763
• After the Seven Years War, Great Britain was heavily in debt
• So, King George III wished to avoid further fighting with Native Americans
• Therefore, he issued a proclamation declaring that the Appalachian Mountains to be
temporary western boundary for all the colonies
• Colonial governors were forbidden to grant land to settlers west of this boundary without
the King’s permission
• This angered the colonists, especially those who owned shares in land companies, while
others saw this as an infringement of their basic rights
• In summary, it prohibited American colonists from settling west of Appalachians
Currency Acts
• Prohibited all the colonies from issuing paper money, since British creditors did not want
“depreciated” colonial paper money
• This damaged the colonial economy → basically a recession
Sugar Act (also known as Revenue Acts of 1764)
• Placed new tariffs on sugar, wine, coffee, and various kinds of cloth
• These tariffs (taxes) were to be paid by colonial shippers
• Met by colonists with boycotts (esp. in Boston) & claims of “taxation without
representation”
• The revenue raised from the Sugar Act was much less than what the British thought
Stamp Act
• Required a revenue stamp to be bought and attached to all printed matter: newspapers,
playing cards, almanacs, and even legal documents
• Met w/ boycotts by the Sons of Liberty and led to the Stamp Act Congress in NYC
• Stamp Act riot, NYC 1765
o About 200 colonists
o Fire was set
•
Repeal of the Stamp Act
o March 1766: King George III signed legislation repealing the Stamp Act
Sons of Liberty
• A loosely organized, clandestine, sometimes violent, political organization active in the
Thirteen American Colonies founded to advance the rights of the colonists and to fight
taxation by the British government
Quartering Acts
• Required the colonies to provide housing for British troops stationed in the colonies, and
to supply those troops with food and other basic necessities (1765).
• When New York refused to comply, Parliament suspended New York’s colonial
assembly.
Declaratory Acts
• The Declaratory Act, passed by Parliament on the same day the Stamp Act was
repealed, stated that Parliament could make laws binding the American colonies "in all
cases whatsoever"
• In other words, it stated that the British Parliament’s taxing authority was the same in
America as in Great Britain
• This was a new threat to their independence
Townshend Acts
• They were a series of measures, passed by the British Parliament in 1767, that taxed
goods imported to the American colonies.
• Taxes on glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea
• But American colonists, who had no representation in Parliament, saw the Acts as an
abuse of power and decided to boycott British goods
• This money would be used to pay British debts from the Seven Years War
• In 1770, all Townshend duties were repealed except for the tax on the tea
Boston Massacre
• British troops fired into a mob in Boston; five colonists were killed, including a runaway
slave named Crispus Attucks
• The massacre turned public opinion in the colonies against the British
Samuel Adams
• Created the Committees of Correspondence
• Was one of Boston's most prominent revolutionary leaders
• He was known for his ability to harness popular resentment against Parliament's authority
to tax the colonies in a productive manner
• Kept the colonies in the road for independence
• Americas first truly great politician
Committees of Correspondence
• Created as a result of the Boston Massacre by Samuel Adams in Massachusetts (1772)
• Patriots created committees to communicate about problems with England
• Result: colonists were better informed, more united
Tea Act
• Gave the British East India Co. (which was nearly bankrupt) a monopoly on the colonial
tea market
• Would make tea available to colonists more cheaply, but would also hurt the business of
many colonial tea wholesalers, plus this tea was taxed, unlike smuggled tea
• Cheaper tea, but had tax
Boston Tea Party
• In protest of the Tea Act, colonial rebels dumped 342 chests of British tea into the Boston
Harbor
“Intolerable” Acts
• As a result of the Boston Tea Party, the port of Boston was closed until all the tea had
been paid for
• Dissolved the Massachusetts assembly
• Forced the colonies to quarter more soldiers
Continental Congresses
• Assembled in Philadelphia on Sept. 5, 1774
• Attended by 56 delegates from 12 colonies (all but Georgia)
• Issued a declaration and resolution declaring 13 Acts of Parliament towards the colonies
since 1763 to be illegal
• Was the governing body by which the American colonial governments
coordinated their resistance to British rule during the first two years of the American
Revolution
• Pledged to end all colonial trade with England until the Intolerable Acts were repealed
• Urged the formation of local militia units throughout the colonies
Lexington and Concord
• This battle was as a result of the fact that Royal Governor Thomas Gage (MA) sent 700
British soldiers to arrest Sam Adams & John Hancock and seize the colonial militia depot
• Paul Revere & other colonists learned of the plan and warned the MA Minutemen, who
were ready for action
• As the British passed by Lexington on their way to Concord, the colonists fired
• The battle considered the famous 'shot heard 'round the world'
• It marked the start of the American War of Independence (first official battle of the
American Revolution)
• Americans won
Chapter 4:
Battle of Bunker Hill
• 1st major battle of the Revolutionary War
• Misnamed
• A “pyrrhic” victory (came with a great cost) for the Brits: captured the high ground but
lost more than 1,000 troops.
• British won
Battle of Saratoga
• Gen. Horatio Gates (with aid from field general Benedict Arnold) defeats British General
John Burgoyne, killing or capturing over 7,000 British troops.
• Americans won
• After news of the American victory at Saratoga reached France, B. Franklin (shown here)
and J. Adams were able to negotiate French aid for the United States.
o France provided monetary support, clothes, weapons, and ammunition.
o The French Army sent 12,000 soldiers.
o 63 French Navy ships with 22,000 personnel also came over.
Women’s roles in the Revolutionary War
• Some women followed their husbands’ Army camps and served as cooks, laundresses,
and nurses.
• A few of these women participated in combat.
• Nancy Hart of Georgia
o Was a rebel heroine of the American Revolutionary War, noted for her exploits
against Loyalists in the northeast Georgia backcountry.
o She is characterized as a tough, resourceful frontier woman who repeatedly
outsmarted Tory soldiers, and killed some outright.
Blacks, slaves, and the Revolutionary War
• About 9,000 Black men served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.
Battle of Yorktown
• Victory for General George Washington (with assistance from French troops and naval
forces) over British General Lord Cornwallis
• The last major battle of the Revolutionary War
• Great Britain began peace negotiations in March 1782
• America won
Loyalists or Tories
• In Nov. 1775 Virginia Royal Governor Lord Dunmore issued a proclamation offering
freedom to all slaves who would leave their masters and join the Loyalist (i.e. British)
Army
• Loyalists were those in the colonies who remained loyal to the British crown during the
American war for independence
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•
This proclamation greatly damaged planter support for the British in the South
Loyalists constituted about one-third of the population of the American colonies during
that conflict and were mainly wealthy, educated, older, and Anglican
Common Sense (Paine)
• Thomas Paine was the “father of the American Revolution”
• His pamphlet “Common Sense” was written and swarmed through the houses of the
literate
• In this pamphlet, he wanted to convey a sense of resentment to the Crown
• He was advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies.
• This document became a key player in the events of starting the American Revolution
Benedict Arnold
• American-born military officer who served during the American Revolutionary War
• Traitor
• He betrayed the Continental Army to the British when he made secret overtures to British
headquarters in May 1779 and, a year later, informed the British of a proposed American
invasion of Canada.
Treaty of Paris (1793)
• Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States of America with the
Treaty of Paris
• All British troops remaining within the boundaries of the USA were to leave (although
they could go to Canada, which remained a British territory).
• The Mississippi River would remain open to navigation by US and British ships.
• The land rights of Native Americans within US boundaries were ignored in the treaty.
• 13 colonies + west side expansion: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island,
Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia
Declaration of Independence
• Was drafted by Roger Sherman
• Was the founding document of the United States that was approved by the Continental
Congress on July 4, 1776
• Announced the separation of 13 North American British colonies from Great Britain.
George Washington (roles in French & Indian War, Revolutionary War, and as first US
President)
• French and Indian War:
o During the French and Indian War, George Washington was serving as a British
emissary to the French frontier in America. Commissioned into the military as a
lieutenant colonel despite having no combat experience, the 22-year-old,
inexperienced Washington stumbled into his role as the instigator of the conflict.
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•
Revolutionary War:
o George Washington appointed Commander-in-Chief of Continental Army, June
19, 1775
o Despite having little experience in commanding large, conventional military
forces, his leadership presence and fortitude held the American military together
long enough to secure victory at Yorktown and independence for his new nation
in 1781.
US First President: April 1789, NY
o Helped shape the office's future role and powers, as well as set both formal and
informal precedents for future presidents.
Articles of Confederation
• Ratified on March 1, 1781
• Included the perpetual union between the states
• Confederation: a collection of independent states that can suggest rules to each other but
not force individual citizens to do anything
• Powers granted with the A.o.C:
o Congress could raise armies
o Could declare war
o Could sign treaties
• Powers withheld by th A.o.C:
o Congress could not raise revenue through taxes
o Could not regulate trade an collect tariffs
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
• Established a government for the Northwest Territory, outlined the process for admitting
a new state to the Union, and guaranteed that newly created states would be equal to the
original thirteen states
• It created the Northwest Territory, the new nation's first organized incorporated territory
o Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota
• When 5000 free males of voting age settled in an area, it became self-governing
• When the population reacted 60,000 free citizens, the area could apply for statehood
• Slavery was outlawed
Shays’ Rebellion
• Rebellion in western Massachusetts over taxation and other financial issues, helped lead
to the Constitutional Convention
• After the America Revolution, there was a lot of debt and this caused economists to be
unfair towards farmers
• As a result, the community joined together and started to organize armies
• Led by Daniel Shays
Constitutional Convention (and VA and NJ Plans and the “Great Compromise”)
• On Feb. 21, 1787, the Confederation Congress passed a resolution calling for a
convention to be held “for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of
Confederation.”
• The convention began on May 25 in Philadelphia and lasted until mid-Sept.
• 55 delegates came from 12 states
o All except Georgia
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Virginia: James Madison
New Jersey: William Paterson
Federalists and Anti-Federalists (and conflicting views of Hamilton & Jefferson)
• Federalists: Alexander Hamilton
o Those who supported the Constitution and a stronger national republic
o Were dominated by businessmen and merchants in the major cities who supported
a strong national government
o The party was closely linked to the modernizing, urbanizing, financial policies of
Hamilton
• Anti-Federalists: Thomas Jefferson
o Those who opposed the ratification of the Constitution in favor of small localized
government
o Were concerned about excessive power of national government
o Included small farmers and landowners, shopkeepers, and laborers
Federalist Essays (or Federalist Papers)
• Series of newspaper essays written by Hamilton, Madison, and John Jay, 1787-88
• Argued in favor of ratifying the Constitution, explaining its potential benefits while
trying to placate the fears of the Anti-Federalists.
“Three-fifths” compromise
• Three out of every five slaves was counted when determining a state's total population for
legislative representation and taxation
• Argued that the importation of slaves would be banned in 1808
• They had questioned if slaves should be counted in determining a state’s congressional
(House) representation, but then established this
Bill of Rights
• It spells out Americans' rights in relation to their government
• The First Ten Amendments of the US Constitution
1. Freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition
2. Right to bear arms
3. Quartering of soldiers
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Arrest and searches
Right of persons accused of crimes
Rights of persons on trial for crimes
Jury trials in civil cases
Rights kept by the people
Power kept by the states or the people
Whiskey Rebellion
• A revolt if settlers in western Pennsylvania against a federal excise tax on whiskey
• The "whiskey tax" was the first tax imposed on a domestic product by the newly formed
federal government
• It was suppressed by the militia that was called out by President George Washington
• Establishes the authority of the federal government
Jay’s Treaty of 1794
• An agreement by the United States and Great Britain that helped avert war between the
two nations
• The US wanted British out of the Northwest Territory
• The British agree to leave forts, but stay for fur trades
• Democratic-Republican and Federalists argue over British
• France gets angry with the fact that the US made a treaty with Great Britain
XYZ Affair
• An incident in which French agents attempted to get a bribe and loans from US diplomats
in exchange for an agreement that French privateers would no longer attack American
ships.
• Cause: The signing of the Jay Treaty between the US and Great Britain
• It led to an undeclared war between the two countries.
• It involved an American peace delegation in France, three agents of the French Foreign
Minister (labeled as X, Y, and Z in President John Adams' initial communications with
Congress), and the French Foreign Minister's demand for a bribe from the American
delegation