APUSH Unit 1/2 Vocab

Iroquois Confederation

A powerful alliance of Native American tribes (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca) in the northeastern U.S.

Protestant Reformation

Religious movement in Europe challenging Catholic authority, leading to the spread of Protestantism.

Treaty of Tordesillas

1494 agreement between Spain and Portugal dividing newly discovered lands outside Europe.

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of goods, crops, animals, and diseases between the Americas, Europe, and Africa post-Columbus.

Capitalism

Economic system emphasizing private ownership, investment, and profit.

Conquistadores (Cortés/Pizarro)

Spanish conquerors of the Aztec and Inca empires in the 16th century.

Encomienda system

Spanish labor system giving settlers the right to tax or demand labor from Native Americans in exchange for protection.

Asiento system

Spanish agreement permitting the importation of African slaves to the Americas.

Slave trade/Middle Passage

The forced transport of Africans to the Americas as part of the Atlantic slave trade; the brutal sea voyage.

Father Bartolomé de Las Casas

Spanish priest who advocated for the rights of Native Americans and criticized the encomienda system.

Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda

Spanish scholar who argued in favor of the encomienda system and against Las Casas.

New Laws of 1542

Spanish laws meant to end the abuse of Native Americans under the encomienda system.

Joint-stock company

Business entity where shareholders invest in a company and share profits and losses (e.g., the Virginia Company).

Corporate colony

A colony established by a joint-stock company for profit.

Royal colony

A colony directly controlled by the English crown.

Proprietary colony

A colony governed by private owners under the crown (e.g., Maryland).

Captain John Smith

Leader who helped save Jamestown, Virginia, through strict discipline and relations with Native Americans.

John Rolfe

Jamestown settler who introduced tobacco cultivation and married Pocahontas.

Headright system

Land grant system encouraging immigration to the colonies by providing land for settlers and laborers.

Separatists/Pilgrims

English Protestants who sought to separate from the Church of England; settled Plymouth in 1620.

John Winthrop

Leader of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, famous for the "City upon a Hill" sermon.

Act of Toleration (Cecil Calvert)

1649 Maryland law granting religious freedom to all Christians, especially Catholics.

Roger Williams (RI)

Founder of Rhode Island, championed separation of church and state.

Anne Hutchinson/Antinomianism

Puritan dissenter who challenged religious orthodoxy in Massachusetts, advocating personal revelation over church teachings.

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (Thomas Hooker)

Early colonial constitution that established a democratic government in Connecticut.

Halfway Covenant

Puritan church policy allowing partial church membership for the unbaptized descendants of church members.

Frame of Government (William Penn)

Established a democratic system with an elected assembly, a council, and a governor. The goal was to create a government that allowed political participation and safeguarded individual liberties

Charter of Liberties (William Penn)

It guaranteed broader personal freedoms, including freedom of worship for all Christians, and strengthened the representative assembly's powers. Expanded civil liberties and empowered the assembly.

House of Burgesses

The first legislative assembly in the American colonies (Virginia, 1619).

Mayflower Compact

Agreement among Pilgrims to form a government based on majority rule, signed aboard the Mayflower in 1620.

Triangular Trade

Trade system between Europe, Africa, and the Americas involving slaves, raw materials, and manufactured goods.

Navigation Acts

British laws controlling colonial trade for England's benefit.

Mercantilism

Economic policy where colonies exist to benefit the mother country by providing raw materials and consuming finished goods.

Salutary neglect

British policy of loosely enforcing laws in the American colonies, allowing for colonial self-government.

King Philip's War

Conflict between Native Americans and New England colonists (1675-1676), led by the Wampanoag leader Metacom.

Bacon's Rebellion

1676 revolt in Virginia led by Nathaniel Bacon against Governor Berkeley, protesting Native American policies and government corruption.

Slave laws

Laws defining the status of slaves and their rights, or lack thereof, in the colonies.

Great Awakening (Edwards/Whitefield)

Religious revival movement in the 1730s-1740s emphasizing personal faith and emotional preaching.

Sectarian/Nonsectarian

Religiously affiliated institutions/Institutions without religious ties.

John Peter Zenger

Printer whose trial in 1735 helped establish freedom of the press in the colonies.

Effects of Enlightenment

Intellectual movement emphasizing reason, science, and individual rights, influencing democratic principles and revolutionary ideas.