DC USH Fall Midterm Review

Columbian Exchange

The global exchange of people, animals, plants, and microbes after Columbus's voyages. Brought deadly diseases (smallpox, measles, etc.) that killed up to 90% of Native Americans, carried American crops like potatoes and tomatoes to Europe, and brought pigs and horses to the Americas

Three Sisters

Corn, beans, and squash, the three main crops grown in the Eastern Woodlands that supplied the nutrition needed to sustain large communities

Matrilineal

A kinship system where family and clan identity pass through the mother's line. In many Native cultures fathers joined the mother's family, and women held great influence locally

Native American beliefs about property

Natives felt personal ownership of items they actively used (tools, weapons, land, crops), and groups could exclude others from land, but the right to use land did not mean permanent ownership of it

Hernan Cortes

Spanish conquistador who invaded Mexico in 1519 with about 600 men. Using the translator Doña Marina (La Malinche) and thousands of Native allies, he captured Montezuma and conquered Tenochtitlán in 1521

Prince Henry the Navigator

Portuguese prince who funded exploration research and technology from Sagres, leading to improvements in the astrolabe (for latitude) and the caravel (an ocean-going ship)

Crusades

Religious wars that connected Europe to Asia's wealth and knowledge. They helped spark the Renaissance and created European demand for Asian goods, fueling later expansion

Reconquista

Centuries of Christian warfare in Iberia that ended in 1492 when Spain expelled Muslim Moors and Jews, the same year Columbus sailed

Sugar cultivation

A difficult, labor-intensive luxury crop first grown on a large scale by the Portuguese on Atlantic islands (Madeira, Canaries, São Tomé) using enslaved Africans; the model for Atlantic plantation slavery

Christopher Columbus

Italian-born sailor funded by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. He underestimated the earth's size, landed in the Bahamas in 1492, enslaved Arawaks (Taíno), and promised Spain gold and enslaved laborers

Encomienda

Spanish labor system in which the crown granted a colonist land plus a set number of Native laborers. It was brutal; after Las Casas's protests it was abolished in 1542 and replaced by the repartimiento, which kept many of the same abuses

Bartolomé de Las Casas

Spanish priest who witnessed and wrote about Spanish atrocities against Native people (The Destruction of the Indies). His writings helped end the encomienda and were later used to create the Black Legend

Tenochtitlán

Aztec capital founded in 1325 on islands in Lake Texcoco; home to perhaps 200,000 to 250,000 people, fed by chinampas (artificial farming islands). Mexico City was built on top of it

Aztecs

Militaristic migrants who built the largest empire in the New World from Tenochtitlán, ruling subject peoples who paid tribute. Resentment among those subjects helped Cortés conquer them

Inca

Andean empire ruled from Cuzco stretching from Ecuador to Chile, with mountain terraces and about 1,000 miles of roads. Weakened by smallpox and civil war, it was conquered by Francisco Pizarro with 168 men in 1533

Santa Fe

Founded in 1610; the first permanent European (Spanish) settlement in the Southwest. Few Spaniards moved there because it was far from Mexico City and dry

Black Legend

The idea, spread by Spain's rivals using Las Casas's writings, that the Spanish were uniquely cruel in the New World. Rivals used it to justify their own colonization

Northwest Passage

A mythical water route through North America to Asia. The French and Dutch (Henry Hudson) searched for it, leading to settlement along the St. Lawrence and Hudson Rivers

Iroquois

A powerful Native confederacy in the Northeast. Their pressure pushed Algonquian peoples toward the French, and they were key fur-trade allies of the Dutch at Beverwijck (Albany)

Middle ground

A cross-cultural space in the Great Lakes region where Natives and the French negotiated and accommodated each other; French traders adopted Native gift-giving customs

Franciscans

Spanish Catholic missionary order; the advance guard of Spanish colonization. They brought Native people into enclosed missions along the Rio Grande and in California

Jesuits

French (and Portuguese) Catholic missionaries who, unlike the Franciscans, usually lived with or alongside Native people to convert them

Dutch in New Netherland

Profit-focused colony built on the fur trade (wampum for beaver pelts). Claimed through Henry Hudson; Manhattan 'bought' from the Munsee in 1626; used the patroon system and enslaved Africans to build New Amsterdam

England's 'Golden Age'

The era under Elizabeth I (from 1558) with growing trade and exploration, mercantilism, and writers like Shakespeare and Marlowe

Jamestown

Founded in 1607 by the Virginia Company; the first permanent English colony in North America. Poor site, disease, and the 1609 to 1610 'starving time' nearly destroyed it until tobacco saved it

Tobacco

Cash crop John Rolfe began growing in Virginia in 1616 to 1617. It saved Jamestown, drew huge numbers of settlers and indentured servants, and created a demand for labor

Headright Policy

1618 Virginia policy giving 50 acres to anyone who migrated to the colony, plus 50 more acres for each person whose passage they paid; created to fix the labor shortage

Curse of Ham

A religious claim that God cursed Ham, Noah's son, and doomed Black people to permanent slavery; used by Europeans to justify African enslavement

Powhatan Confederacy

About 10,000 Algonquian-speaking people in the Chesapeake led by Powhatan (Wahunsenacawh). They traded with and kept Jamestown alive at first; his successor Opechancanough attacked the colony in 1622

Piracy

England's most profitable early New World venture: state-sponsored privateering by 'Sea Dogges' like Francis Drake and John Hawkins against Spanish ships and towns; helped provoke the 1588 Spanish Armada

Treaty of Tordesillas

1494 treaty, with the pope's involvement, dividing the New World along a line: land east went to Portugal (Brazil), land west to Spain

Joint-stock Companies

Ancestors of modern corporations that pooled investors' money, shared profits, and spread risk to fund colonization, such as the Virginia Company (1606)

Puritans

English Calvinists who wanted to 'purify' the Church of England of Catholic practices; believed in predestination. About 20,000 moved to New England in the Great Migration (1630s) to build a 'City on a Hill'

Native American slaves

Natives enslaved by colonists, mostly as war captives (Pequot War, King Philip's War) or through slave raids; 24,000 to 51,000 were enslaved in the southern colonies from 1670 to 1715, many shipped to the Caribbean

Spain in Florida

Held St. Augustine and built Castillo de San Marcos after Charleston was founded. The 1693 Decree of Sanctuary freed enslaved people fleeing English colonies if they became Catholic and swore loyalty to Spain

Middle Passage

The ocean voyage (1 to 6 months) of enslaved Africans to the Americas, the middle of three legs (march to the coast, the voyage, then 'seasoning'). About 11 to 12 million were forced across and about 2 million died at sea

British West Indies

Caribbean sugar colonies like Barbados and Jamaica, far more valuable to Britain than the mainland colonies; where many enslaved Africans landed and were 'seasoned'

English Civil War

1640s war between Charles I and Parliament. Parliament won, Charles I was executed in 1649, and Oliver Cromwell ruled. Colonies stayed mostly neutral

Navigation Acts (British North America)

Starting in 1651, Parliament required colonial goods to be shipped directly to England in English ships, binding the colonies to England and keeping the Dutch out

Glorious Revolution

1688 overthrow of Catholic James II, replaced by Protestant William and Mary. Colonists overthrew the Dominion of New England and celebrated the 1689 English Bill of Rights

Dominion of New England

Created by James II in 1686 to combine New England, New York, and New Jersey under one governor (Sir Edmund Andros). Colonists hated losing their separate governments and overthrew it in 1689

Maryland

Founded 1632 to 1634 by Cecilius Calvert (Lord Baltimore) as a haven for Catholics; a tobacco colony where most settlers were actually Protestants. Became a royal colony after the Glorious Revolution

Connecticut

Founded 1636 when Thomas Hooker led settlers from crowded Massachusetts to the Connecticut River Valley (Hartford). The strictly Puritan New Haven Colony was later absorbed into it

Rhode Island

Founded 1636 by Roger Williams (Providence) after his banishment from Massachusetts; Anne Hutchinson followed. Known for religious toleration (Quakers, Jews) and banned chattel slavery in 1652

New York

Formerly Dutch New Netherland, taken by England in 1664 and named for the Duke of York. Dutch colonists resisted English culture for decades

William Penn

Quaker founder of Pennsylvania, a diverse 'holy experiment' with religious freedom. He insisted Native land be bought rather than taken by force

Carolina

Founded 1670 by eight Lords Proprietor using settlers from Barbados (Charles Town). Offered large land grants (counting enslaved people as family members), leading to rice and indigo plantations; North Carolina split off in 1691

Pequot War

1636 to 1637 war in which New England Puritans and their Native allies (Mohegan, Narragansett) destroyed the Pequot, including the Mystic massacre; survivors were sold into slavery

Metacom

Wampanoag leader, called King Philip by the English, who led Native resistance against New England in King Philip's War (1675 to 1676); killed in August 1676

Bacon's Rebellion

1676 Virginia uprising led by Nathaniel Bacon. Frontier settlers attacked Native people and turned against Governor Berkeley and the elite planters; it pushed Virginia planters toward enslaved African labor

King Philip's War

1675 to 1676 war between New England colonists and Native peoples led by Metacom. Thousands died, and it permanently broke Native power in New England

Yamasee War

1715 war in which the Yamasee, Carolina's former allies, nearly destroyed the colony. Carolina survived through its Cherokee alliance, and the Native slave trade declined afterward

Walking Purchase

1737 deal where the Delaware agreed to sell land a man could walk in a day and a half. The Penns hired trained runners, taking about 1,200 square miles and pushing many Delaware west

Consumer Revolution

18th century trend where better manufacturing, transportation, and credit let ordinary colonists buy British goods that were once luxuries; buying goods became a sign of respectability

Commodity money

Goods used as money because colonies lacked coins, such as tobacco in Virginia or wampum; tobacco warehouse notes also traded as money

Currency Acts

Laws (1751 and 1763/1764) restricting colonial paper money because it lost value quickly and British merchants disliked accepting it

Caribbean exports

The Caribbean sugar islands mainly exported sugar (and mahogany). By 1680 Barbados's sugar exports were worth more than all mainland colonies' exports combined; the mainland sent food, lumber, and livestock in return

Navigation Acts (Colonial Society)

Taxes and rules on trade meant to send profits to Britain. Before 1763 they were weakly enforced, so smuggling and bribery of customs officials were common

Colonial cities

About 1 in 20 colonists lived in cities by 1775. Largest: Philadelphia (about 40,000), New York (25,000), Boston (16,000), Charleston (12,000), plus Newport. Highly stratified: laborers, middling sort, merchant elites; enslaved people worked in trades and homes

Gang system

Labor system on large Chesapeake (tobacco) plantations where enslaved people worked in groups from dawn to dusk under close watch by an overseer or driver

Task system

Labor system on South Carolina rice plantations where enslaved people were given specific daily tasks and could use leftover time for their own gardens, giving them more autonomy

Slavery (colonial numbers, locations, culture)

Legal in every colony by 1750. Virginia: about 100,000 enslaved (40% of population). South Carolina: only colony with an enslaved majority; Gullah/Geechee culture kept African traditions. New York City was over 40% enslaved by 1700; only about 2% in Massachusetts

Quaker antislavery

Quakers were the first group to turn against slavery because of their pacifism and belief in the equality of souls. Germantown Quakers protested in 1688; Pennsylvania Quakers disowned slave traders by 1758

Slave trade

The transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans. About 450,000 were brought to British North America; New England ports like Newport, Rhode Island were heavily involved

Provincial colonies

Most tightly controlled by the Crown; the king appointed the governor, who could veto the assembly (New Hampshire, New York, Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia)

Proprietary colonies

Governor appointed by a lord proprietor who owned the rights to the colony; often more freedoms (Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland)

Charter colonies

Formed by a charter dividing power among branches; colonists elected their own governors (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut)

Companionate ideal

New view of marriage as an emotionally fulfilling, loving relationship rather than only an economic partnership

Print culture

The making and use of books, newspapers, and pamphlets. Discouraged in early Virginia, respected in Puritan New England, and centered in Philadelphia by 1770 thanks to Benjamin Franklin and German-language printers

Great Awakening

Wave of religious revivals from the 1730s to the 1750s (Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield) calling for a personal relationship with God; split churches into New Lights and Old Lights and taught colonists to question authority

George Whitefield

Most famous itinerant preacher of the Great Awakening; a former actor with a dramatic style who drew huge outdoor crowds (once over 20,000 in Philadelphia) and urged people to be born again

Seven Years' War

1754 to 1763 war (French and Indian War) between Britain and France and their allies; began with George Washington's skirmish in the Ohio country. Britain won but gained a huge debt

Treaty of Paris 1763

Ended the Seven Years' War; Britain gained Canada and much of North America from France, creating an empire larger than it could easily control

Neolin

Delaware (Lenape) prophet who in 1761 preached, from a vision of the Master of Life, that Native people must reject European goods and alcohol, return to tradition, unite, and drive out the British

Pontiac's War

1763 to 1766 Native uprising inspired by Neolin and led by the Ottawa leader Pontiac, starting with the siege of Fort Detroit; a reaction to British policies like ending gift-giving (Jeffrey Amherst)

Proclamation of 1763

Royal order made during Pontiac's War setting the Appalachian Mountains as the boundary line; colonists could not settle west of it, which angered them

John Locke

Enlightenment philosopher with the biggest influence on colonists. He said the mind is a blank slate (tabula rasa), stressed education and questioning authority, and helped shape the idea of a social contract

King George III

King from 1760 who brought in Tories with an authoritarian view of empire; issued the Proclamation of 1763 and in 1775 declared the colonies in rebellion

Sugar Act

1764 act that cut the duty on molasses in half but enforced it strictly, with smugglers tried in vice-admiralty courts without juries

Currency Act (1764)

1764 act restricting colonies from printing paper money, hurting colonial trade during a postwar recession

Stamp Act

1765 act; the first direct (internal) tax on colonists, requiring stamped paper for newspapers, legal documents, playing cards, etc. Opposed by the Stamp Act Congress, boycotts, and the Sons of Liberty; repealed in 1766 alongside the Declaratory Act

Townshend Acts

1767 duties on lead, glass, paint, paper, and tea, with stronger enforcement; revenue paid royal governors. Boycotts led to repeal of all except the tax on tea in 1770

Homespun

Simple cloth made at home instead of buying British goods; a symbol of virtue and patriotism, especially through women's spinning clubs during boycotts

Committees of Correspondence

Colonial groups that kept each other informed about resistance efforts, building unity; later sent delegates to the Continental Congress

Boston Massacre

March 5, 1770: British soldiers fired on a crowd in Boston, killing five including Crispus Attucks. John Adams defended the soldiers; Paul Revere's engraving spread anger across the colonies

Boston Tea Party

December 16, 1773: men disguised as Mohawks dumped 342 chests of East India Company tea into Boston Harbor to protest the Tea Act

Coercive Acts

1774 acts (called Intolerable Acts by colonists) punishing Boston: closed the port, put Massachusetts's government under British control, allowed trials in Britain, and allowed quartering soldiers

Continental Congress

The First Continental Congress (1774) issued a Declaration of Rights and Grievances and the Continental Association boycott. The Second (1775) created the Continental Army and named Washington commander

Lexington and Concord

April 19, 1775: the first battles of the Revolution, when British troops tried to seize militia weapons and minutemen fought them back to Boston

George Washington

Virginian named commander of the Continental Army in 1775. He avoided major battles to keep his army intact, won at Trenton, and forced Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown

Common Sense

1776 pamphlet by Thomas Paine arguing for independence in simple language, attacking monarchy and calling it absurd for an island to rule a continent

Alliance with the French

The 1778 Treaty of Amity and Commerce, won by Benjamin Franklin after the victory at Saratoga, turning the Revolution into a global war; French troops and navy helped win at Yorktown

Declaration of Independence

Drafted by Thomas Jefferson and approved July 4, 1776; based on natural rights (life, liberty, pursuit of happiness), consent of the governed, and a list of grievances. A passage blaming Britain for the slave trade was removed

Battle of Saratoga

1777 American victory over British General Burgoyne in New York; the turning point of the war because it convinced France to ally with the U.S.

Battle of Yorktown

1781 siege in Virginia where Washington's army and the French army and navy trapped General Cornwallis and forced his surrender, effectively ending the war

Articles of Confederation

First national government, ratified in 1781. Each state had one vote; Congress could not tax, regulate commerce, or create a federal court system, so it was weak

Loyalist

Colonist who stayed loyal to Britain (often royal officials, Anglican clergy, and merchants trading with Britain). About 60,000 left America, mostly for Canada; thousands of formerly enslaved Black Loyalists also left with the British

Shays' Rebellion

1786 to 1787 uprising of indebted western Massachusetts farmers led by Daniel Shays who closed courthouses to stop foreclosures. It convinced leaders like Madison that a stronger national government was needed

James Madison

Virginian called the Father of the Constitution; wrote the Virginia Plan, co-wrote the Federalist Papers, pushed for the Bill of Rights, and wrote the Virginia Resolution

Constitutional Convention

1787 meeting in Philadelphia of delegates from 12 states (not Rhode Island), sent to revise the Articles but instead wrote a new Constitution; the main issue was the national government's inability to tax