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History of the Americas
Explore questions in the History of the Americas category that you can ask Sparky!
- Statements that argued that states were the final arbiters of whether the federal government overstepped its boundaries and could therefore nullify, or refuse to accept, national legislation they deemed unconstitutional.
- Revolutionary War general and first president of the United States. A Virginia-born planter, Washington established himself as a military hero during the French and Indian War. He served as commander in chief of the Continental army during the War of Independence, securing key victories at Saratoga and Yorktown. Unanimously elected president under the new national Constitution in 1788, Washington served two terms, focusing primarily on strengthening the national government, establishing a sound financial system, and maintaining American neutrality amidst the escalating European conflict.
- Ten-month period of brutal repression when some forty thousand individuals were executed as enemies of the French Revolution. While many Jeffersonians maintained their faith in the French Republic, Federalists withdrew their already lukewarm support once the Reign of Terror commenced.
- Acts passed by a Federalist Congress raising the residency requirement for citizenship to fourteen years and granting the president the power to deport dangerous foreigners in times of peace.
- Enacted by the Federalist Congress in an effort to clamp down on Jeffersonian opposition, the law made anyone convicted of defaming government officials or interfering with government policies liable to imprisonment and a heavy fine. The act drew heavy criticism from Republicans, who let the act expire in 1801.
- It proclaimed America's formal neutrality in the escalating conflict between England and France, a statement that enraged pro-French Jeffersonians.
- War incited by a slave uprising in French-controlled Saint Domingue, resulting in the creation of the first independent black republic in the Americas.
- In a show of strength and resolve by the new central government, who put down the rebellion with militia drawn from several states?
- Also known as "St. Clair's Defeat," battle in the Northwest Territories between an American military expedition and a coalition of Native Americans led by Little Turtle of the Miamis. The lopsided Indian victory caused alarm in Washington and a larger invasion two years later.
- Decisive battle. British forces refused to shelter the routed Indians, forcing the latter to attain a peace settlement with the United States.
- Payment of debts, such as government bonds, at face value. In 1790
- Popular term for the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The amendments secure key rights for individuals and reserve to the states all powers not explicitly delegated or prohibited by the Constitution.
- who proposed that the federal government pay its Revolutionary War debts in full in order to bolster the nation's credit?
- Organized the federal legal system, establishing the Supreme Court, federal district and circuit, courts, land, the office of the Attorney General.
- Did Union soldiers or confederate soldiers have better access to food?
- African Americans who fought in the civil war were discriminated against in terms of which of the following...?
- Although the civil war was primarily targeted on issues related to slavery, southerners were also concerned about what?
- The historical importance of Ulysses S. Grant Campaigns at Shiloh and Vicksburg could best be described as:
- When the confederate troops saw the African Americans were fighting within the Union army, they:
- What event officially begins the civil war?