Founding Father

Political leaders and statesmen who participated in the American Revolution by signing the Declaration of Independence, taking part in the American Revolution, establishing the United States Constitution, or by some other key contribution.

Constitutional Convention A meeting held in Philadelphia with representatives from 12 of

the 13 of the states (Rhode Island was absent) to determine what the laws for governing the United States would be.

Declaration of Independence

Act of Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, declaring the 13 British colonies in North

America no longer belonged

to the British Empire.

Embargo A government prevents trade with a particular country.

EmpireA large group of states and peoples united and ruled either by a monarch, emperor, empress or a small,

usually corrupt, group of people.

GovernorA person appointed to govern a province or colony. The elected

head of any state of the United States.

Democratic Republican Party

American political party founded in the early 1790s by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

Louisiana PurchaseAcquisition by the United States of America of 828,800 square

miles (2,147,000 km2) of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803.

Lewis and Clark Expedition-(1804–1806)

First United States journey to explore the land between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Coast It was led by

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.

Embargo Act Laws

American laws restricting American

ships from engaging in foreign trade between the years of 1807 and 1812 with Britain and

France. They led to the War of 1812 between the U.S. and Britain.

War with Britain in 1812

Military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire.

Jeffersonian Democracy

Named for Thomas Jefferson. This party did not want the Federal Government to have a lot of power. They

represented the common man.

U.S. ConstitutionSupreme law of the United States of America. The

Constitution is a set of laws that explains how our country is to be set up and governed.

Slave Trade Refers to the trade in slaves that took place across the

Atlantic Ocean from the sixteenth through to the nineteenth centuries.

Secretary of StateA title for the person who represents their government to other

governments around the world.

George WashingtonFirst president of the United States. He was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of

America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Britain in the American Revolutionary War.

Second Continental CongressConvention of delegates from Twelve of the Thirteen

Colonies that met beginning on May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after the fighting at Lexington

and Concord.

American Revolution

A war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America for

independence from Great Britain (1775-1783).