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The Enlightenment was a new movement that helped colonist think for themselves. It introduced individualism and made them question the British monarchy.

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Separation of Powers was introduced by Montesquieu. It was created so that the three branches could keep each other in check. Also so that one person didn't have so much power. 

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The Declaration of Independence allowed the colonist to separate themselves from the British rule and showcases the rights of the people.

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John Locke stated that all men were created equal and they have natural rights. The Declaration was based off of this philosophy and is the First Amendment. We have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

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The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution for the country, it was ratified in 1781 and a new one was made because this one made the country weak.

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Federalism was a system for the government, it divided the national government and the federal government. This kept the government in check with the power that they had, so that no one abused their power like the British monarchy

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Government was able to use this to help pass laws into Congress to decide if that law is worthy to be in constitutional or not. This helped keep things that were unjust to the colonists.

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The Monroe Doctrine prevented European nations from further colonization or puppet monarchs. This was delivered by President James Monroe in December of 1823

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The Nullification Theory stated that the state has the right to nullify, or invalidate, any federal law which that state has deemed unconstitutional with respect to the Constitution. This theory was used by Southern planters and slaveholders to protect the institution of slavery.

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The mormons were mostly harassed by the colonists as soon as their founder founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They moved to Utah because they were being harrassed so much by the colonists and their leader was killed.

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While the First Great Awakening started with religious revivals, the Second Great Awakening brought on new movements such as temperance (no alcohol), abolition (end to slavery), and women's rights (equality for women).

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The abolitionist people started this movement because they believed that all men were created equal including the slaves. They wanted an immediate end to slavery throughout all the colonies

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The Reconstruction Era was after the Civil War and the colonies were trying to deal with former confederates and the now newly freed slaves. This didn't settle well with a lot of the Southerners. This was an important moment in the history of American civil rights.

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When elections started to take place many people had to pay a tax just to vote, this prevented African Americans from voting seeing as they could not pay for this tax. This didn't give them much freedom as they were hoping for, it kept them disenfranchise.

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Our Bill of Rights are our first 10 amendments, that we use mostly to this day. These were added to the Declaration of Independence to protect our personal freedoms. These rights also resulted in the ratification of our Constitution.

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This was added in the First Amendment that Congress couldn't ban any establishment of religion or any free-exercise of the kind. This was different than in England because there you could only practice on religion and that was the king's religion. In America, you weren't discrimited of your practice or choice of religion, which made a lot of settlers want to come to America in the first place.

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Our First Amendment in the Declaration of Independence or the Bill of Rights, is some of our basic rights to freedom of religion, to assemble, press, petition, and speech. These are important because they are our protection for democracy.

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The 13th Amendment was added on January 31st, 1865 where it stated that slavery was banned in all the colonies, except as a form of punishment. This was passed because Lincoln realized that the Emancipation Proclamation wasn't going to be enough considering that it only freed slaves in 11 Confederate states. He wanted to make sure that it was banned forever.

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The 14th Amendment was passed on June 13, 1866 and it stated that all slaves were to be granted citizenship. This is an important mark in history because it showed that any person born or naturalized in the United States was in equal protection of the law. This included the slaves.

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Another amendment that helped the slaves was the 15th Amendment, passed on February 3, 1870, that gave the right to any citizen of the United States the right to vote, no matter the color of their skin. This helped the slaves because before this they had to take a literacy test, pay a poll tax, and had to follow the Grandfather Clause. But that is no more thanks to this Amendment that allowed them the right to vote.