Revolution and Civil War History

• Stamp Act of 1765


  Levied on only the American colonies, this tax was on all printed materials.
• Nativists


  Americans opposing immigration and immigrant influence.
• Worcester v Georgia


  A ruling by the Supreme Court in 1832 that said the Cherokee nation was a distinct community
• Sugar Act of 1764


  A tax enacted on all British colonies by Parliament on sugar, textiles, coffee, wine, and indigo.
• Bill of Rights


  The first ten amendments to the Constitution which protected legal rights and civil rights of individuals. Created in 1791.
• Second Continental Congress


  Issued the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776
• Quartering Act of 1765


  Required colonists to provide room and board to British soldiers
• Thomas Paine


  An English-born American political activist and newspaper editor. Wrote "Common Sense," a pamphlet urging the colonists to be totally independent from Britain.
• 10th Amendment


  The last amendment in the Bill of Rights, the 10th Amendment limits the power of the federal government and protects the rights of the states and the people by reserving powers not delegated to the federal government to the states or to the people.
• Battle of Saratoga


  Fought in New York, the American victory is often called the turning point of the Revolutionary War. 1777
• 5th Amendment


  Amendment to the US Constitution which protects against unsupported accusations of wrongdoing, self-incrimination, and double jeopardy (being charged for the same crime twice)
• 6th Amendment


  Amendment to the US Constitution which protects the right to a fair, speedy, and public trial; the right to a lawyer, the right to confront accusers, and the right to an impartial jury
• Robert E. Lee


  commander of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War
• Andrew Jackson


  Won fame by defeating the British in the War of 1812; later became president of the US
• Sons of Liberty


  An underground resistance organization that was formed in 1765 in opposition to the Stamp Act. In the decade leading up to the start of the Revolution, the group continued to resist all other forms of British taxation including orchestrating the Boston Tea Party in 1773 to protest the Tea Act.
• Nullification Doctrine


  The belief that states had the right to nullify, or reject, any federal law that they deemed unconstitutional.
• Moses Austin


  planned and secured approval for the settlement of what is now Austin, Texas
• William B. Travis


  A lieutenant colonel in the Texas Army who fought and died in the battle of the Alamo
• Eli Whitney


  Invented the cotton gin in 1794
• Battle of Gettysburg


  The Union defeat of the South's army which was led by General Robert E. Lee, in 1863, and which served as a turning point of the war.
• Trail of Tears


  The mass relocation of Native Americans from East of Mississippi and the south to territories in Oklahoma. The Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole, and Cherokee people were moved.
• Henry Clay


  American lawyer and statesman. Masterminded the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. Sometimes called the Great Pacificator or the Great Compromiser.
• Louisiana Purchase / Louisiana Territory


  The contract between President Thomas Jefferson and Napoleon that acquired the land from the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains for $15,000,000.
• Sectionalism


  Favoring the interests of one region or section over the interests of the entire country.
• Forty Acres and A Mule


  a program in which farmable land and a mule were given to black former slaves
• Plan of Iguala


  plan to guide Mexico after it gained independence from Spain in 1821

  1) the official adoption of Catholicism 2) the equality and unity of all Mexican citizens 3) the creation of a constitutional monarchy
• Quartering Act of 1765


  Required colonists to provide room and board to British soldiers
• Thomas Paine


  An English-born American political activist and newspaper editor. Wrote "Common Sense," a pamphlet urging the colonists to be totally independent from Britain.
• 10th Amendment


  The last amendment in the Bill of Rights, the 10th Amendment limits the power of the federal government and protects the rights of the states and the people by reserving powers not delegated to the federal government to the states or to the people. Example.Many classic federal vs. states rights arguments hinge on the 10th amendment.
• Battle of Saratoga


  Fought in New York, the American victory is often called the turning point of the Revolutionary War. 1777
• 5th Amendment


  Amendment to the US Constitution which protects against unsupported accusations of wrongdoing, self-incrimination, and double jeopardy (being charged for the same crime twice) Example. You can "plead the fifth" to avoid testifying in a case against yourself
• 6th Amendment


  Amendment to the US Constitution which protects the right to a fair, speedy, and public trial; the right to a lawyer, the right to confront accusers, and the right to an impartial jury
• Robert E. Lee


  commander of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War
• Andrew Jackson


  Won fame by defeating the British in the War of 1812; later became president of the US
• Sons of Liberty


  An underground resistance organization that was formed in 1765 in opposition to the Stamp Act. In the decade leading up to the start of the Revolution, the group continued to resist all other forms of British taxation including orchestrating the Boston Tea Party in 1773 to protest the Tea Act.
• Nullification Doctrine


  The belief that states had the right to nullify, or reject, any federal law that they deemed unconstitutional.
• Moses Austin


  planned and secured approval for the settlement of what is now Austin, Texas
• William B. Travis


  A lieutenant colonel in the Texas Army who fought and died in the battle of the Alamo
• Eli Whitney


  Invented the cotton gin in 1794
• Battle of Gettysburg


  The Union defeat of the South's army which was led by General Robert E. Lee, in 1863, and which served as a turning point of the war.