master doc of terms apush

Tenochtitlán

The capital of the Aztec empire

Aztec

An empire in what today is Mexico with a centralized government and grandeur, including a great temple, royal palace, and central market.

Great League of Peace

An alliance between five Iroquois peoples for stability in New York and Pennsylvania.

Caravel

A 15th-century European ship for long-distance travel.

Reconquista

The reconquest of Spain from the Moors in 1492.

Conquistadores

Spanish explorers who traveled to the New World for wealth, glory, and spreading Christianity.

Columbian Exchange

Transatlantic flow of goods and people after Columbus's voyages in 1492.

Creoles

People of European ancestry born in Spanish colonies.

Hacienda

Large-scale farms where Spanish landlords forced Indians to work for the Spanish empire's wealth.

Mestizo

People of mixed European and native origin.

Ninety-five Theses

Accusations by Martin Luther in 1517 against church abuses.

Bartolomé de las Casas

A Dominican priest advocating for the fair treatment of natives by Spain.

Repartimiento System

A labor system in Spanish colonies replaced by the Encomienda system in 1550.

Black Legend

Image of Spain as a brutal colonizer.

Pueblo Revolt

1660 uprising by Pueblo Indians against Spanish colonists.

Indentured Servants

Foreign workers in French Canadian colonies.

Métis

Children of French traders and native women.

Borderland

Meeting place of peoples with unclear borders.

Virginia Company

Private business organization for English colonization.

Roanoke Colony

The first English settlement in the New World.

Enclosure Movement

Landlords evicting small farmers for sheep farming.

John Smith

Helped found and govern Jamestown.

Headright System

Land parcels given to colonists bringing indentured servants.

House of Burgesses

First assembly in America authorized by the London Company.

Uprising of 1622

Powhatan Indians' attack on English colonists.

Dower Rights

A woman's claim to her husband's property.

Puritans

English religious group founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

John Winthrop

Led English Puritans to the New World.

Pilgrims

Puritan Separatists founding Plymouth Colony.

Mayflower Compact

First self-government agreement in America.

Great Migration

Migration of southern blacks to the North.

Dissenters

Individuals criticizing the church or government.

Captivity Narratives

Narratives by those captured by Indians.

Pequot War

Conflict between white settlers and Pequot Indians.

Half-way Covenant

Allowed partial church membership for grandchildren.

English Liberty

Compromise allowing partial church membership.

Act Concerning Religion

Maryland's 1649 law for religious toleration.

Metacom

Known as King Philip, leader of the Wampanoag people.

King Philip’s War

Broadened freedom for white New Englanders.

Mercantilism

Economic theory for national power.

Navigation Act

Aimed to control world trade from the Dutch.

Covenant Chain

Alliance between English and Indians.

Yamasee Uprising

Enslaved Florida Indians' rebellion.

Society of Friends

Quakers, a refuge for coreligionists.

Plantation

Large farm, main income source in Southern colonies.

Bacon’s Rebellion

1661 uprising by Virginia indentured servants.

Glorious Revolution

Established parliamentary supremacy in England.

English Bill of Rights

Listed parliamentary powers and individual rights.

Lords of Trade

Established in 1675 to oversee colonial affairs.

Dominion of New England

Combined colonies ruled by Sir Edmund Andros.

English Toleration Act

1690 law allowing Protestant Dissenters to worship freely.

Salem Witch Trials

1692 trials for witchcraft accusations.

Redemptioners

Indentured families.

Walking Purchase

1737 fraudulent land deal in Pennsylvania.

Backcountry

Area with German and Scotch-Irish settlers.

Staple Crops

Tobacco and rice produced by plantations.

Atlantic Slave Trade

Transported 7.7 million slaves to the New World.

Middle Passage

Trip for Atlantic slaves from Africa to America.

Yeoman Farmers

Small landowners who didn't own slaves.

Stono Rebellion

1739 slave uprising in South Carolina.

Republicanism

Celebrated active public participation by citizens

Boston Tea Party

Incident in 1773 where Sons of Liberty dumped tea in Boston Harbor to protest the Tea Act.

Intolerable Acts

Four measures in response to the Boston Tea Party, including forced payment for the tea and quartering of soldiers.

Continental Congress

First meeting in 1774 to plan actions against British policies.

Battles of Lexington and Concord

First shots of the Revolutionary War in 1775 near Boston.

Battle of Bunker Hill

First major battle of the Revolutionary War in 1775.

Continental Army

Authorized in 1775 to fight the British, led by General George Washington.

Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation

Offered freedom to slaves who fought for the British in 1775.

Common Sense

Pamphlet by Thomas Paine in 1776 criticizing hereditary rule and monarchy.

Declaration of Independence

Document in 1776 declaring independence from Britain, drafted by Thomas Jefferson.

Hessians

German soldiers paid to fight for the British in the Revolutionary War.

Battle of Saratoga

Major defeat of British troops in 1777.

Benedict Arnold

American commander who planned to betray West Point to the British.

Battle of Yorktown

Last battle of the Revolutionary War in 1781.

Treaty of Paris

Ended the Revolutionary War in 1783, recognized American independence.

Republic

Political system where citizens elect representatives to make decisions.

Suffrage

Right to vote.

Inflation

Increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money.

Free Trade

Economic development through exchange of goods without government interference.

The Wealth of Nations

1776 work by Adam Smith advocating for free market principles.

Loyalists

Colonists loyal to Great Britain during the War of Independence.

Steamboats

Paddlewheelers that could travel both up- and down-river in deep or shallow waters, becoming America's first inland freight and passenger service network.

Cotton Kingdom

Region from North Carolina to Louisiana relying on slave labor, producing cotton.

Cotton gin

Invention by Eli Whitney that separated cotton seed from fiber, leading to the expansion of slavery in the South.

Erie Canal

Most important canal of the 1820s, connecting Great Lakes to the East Coast, boosting New York City's port.

American system of manufactures

Production system using interchangeable parts for standardized products, pioneered by Eli Terry and Eli Whitney.

Mill girls

Women working in textile mills during the Industrial Revolution, experiencing new freedoms.

Nativism

Anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic sentiment prominent in the 1830s-1850s.

Dartmouth College v

1819 Supreme Court case upholding the college's charter against state interference.

Gibbons v

1824 Supreme Court decision reinforcing federal regulation of interstate commerce.

Manifest Destiny

Belief urging American expansion to the West and justification for an American empire.

Transcendentalists

Mid-19th-century New England writers emphasizing personal and intellectual self-reliance.

Second Great Awakening

Religious revival movement in the early 19th century, leading to Baptist and Methodist dominance.

Individualism

Emphasis on personal advancement and private fulfillment without external interference.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Religious sect founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith, later led by Brigham Young to Utah.

Cult of domesticity

19th-century ideology emphasizing "virtue" and "modesty" as essential to womanhood.

Family wage

Concept that male workers should earn enough to support their families without wives working outside the home.

The Dorr War

Movement in Rhode Island against property qualifications for voting, led by Thomas Dorr.

Democracy in America

Works by Alexis de Tocqueville on American democracy, emphasizing American life and culture.

Franchise

The right to vote.