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UNIT 2
U.S History-Standards 4 & 5
| Benjamin Franklin | ambassador who secured alliance with France during Revolution |
| John Adams | ambassador to the Netherlands during the Revolution & later second US President |
| George Washington | Leader of the Continental Army during the revolution; later president of the Constitutional Convention & first US president |
| Thomas Jefferson | Primary author of the Declaration of Independence; later served as the third US President |
| Committee of Five | group of people tasked with drafting the Declaration of Independence (Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, & Robert Livingston) |
| Declaration of Indpendence | the ideological explanation for America's independence written by Thomas Jefferson |
| John Locke | a British philosopher who believed that all individuals naturally possess certain rights regardless of status; developed Social Contract Theory |
| Natural Rights | the right to life, liberty, and property that everyone is born with |
| Social Contract Theory | People give the government power and in return the government protects people's natural rights. People have the right to overthrow an abusive government |
| Continental Army | Army led by George Washington that represented the colonies during the Revolutionary War |
| Patriots | a person who wanted the colonies to become independent from Great Britain |
| Loyalists | a person who wanted to remain loyal to Great Britain |
| Articles of Confederation | the original US government from 1777-1787 (WEAK) |
| Baron von Steuden | Prussian commander who helped organize and train troops at Valley Forge-later commanded troops |
| Marquis de LaFayette | French nobleman who assisted training troops at Valley Forge; later commanded troops |
| Valley Forge | encampment in Pennsylvania where the Continental Army spent a difficult winter in 1777-1778 |
| Battle of Trenton | Important victory where the American forces under Washington's command surprise attack hired Hessians soliders on Christmas 1776. |
| Battle of Saratoga | 1777 Revolutionary War battle considered to be a turning point because a Patriot win convinced the French to ally officially with the US |
| Battle of Yorktown | last battle of the Revolutionary War where the British surrendered to George Washington & the Continental Army |
| 1783 Treaty of Paris | treaty that ended the Revolution. US became a country (indpendence) and gained all land to the Mississippi River. |
| Land Ordinance of 1787 | a law that designed a system for managing and settling lands in the Northwest Territories |
| Northwest Ordinance of 1787 | a law that established the method by which new territories would be admitted to the U.S. as states |
| Shay's Rebellion | farmer's rebellion against high taxes in Massachusetts; showed the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation |
| Constitution | replaced the Articles of Confederation and established the setup of the U.S. government, which went into effect in 1788 |
| Great Compromise | a compromise that settled the debate of representation between large and small states. Bicameral (2) legislature, Senate (equal representation), and House of Representatives (population count in representation) |
| Limited Governemt | a principle stating that the government has only as much authority as the people give it, so its power is limited |
| 3/5 Compromise | a compromise that allowed states to count three-fifths of their slaves when calculating their entire population |
| Anti-Federalist | opposed ratification of the Constitution because they believed the national government would be too powerful |
| Federalist | favored ratification of the Constitution |
| The Federalist Papers | essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison that laid out a series of arguments to persuade people to ratify the Constitution |
| Alexander Hamilton | Federalist who believed in a strong central government that could stabilize the nation and economy |
| James Madison | a Federalist known as the "father of the Constitution" who later became the fourth U.S. president |
| Bill of Rights | the first ten amendments to the Constitution that protect individual rights |