APUSH Week 2 Vocab + Dates

1765

Stamp Act

1770

Boston Massacre

1775

Battles of Lexington and Concord

1776

Declaration of Independence

1777

Articles of Confederation

1781

Battle of Yorktown

1786

Shay’s Rebellion

1787

Constitutional Convention

Joint-stock company

A company made of a group of shareholders, with each shareholder contributing some money to the company, and receiving some share of both of the company’s profits and debts. Sig- signifies the transition from state-sponsored funding for exploration, such as Spains, to privately sponsored funding.

Puritans

A religious group who desired to purify the Church of England, coming to America for religious freedom and settling in Massachusetts Bay. Sig- Represented the pursuit of faith through religious reform.

Pilgrims

Group of English Protestant dissenters who established Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts(1620), seeking religious freedom after having living briefly in the Netherlands. Sig- Represented the pursuit of faith through religious separation.

Virginia Company

English joint-stock company that received a charter from King James l that allowed it to found the Virginia colony. Sig- The company’s later creation of the House of Burgesses an early example of democratic governing in the US.

Indentured Servitude

A worker bound by a voluntary agreement to work for a specified period of years often in return for a free passage to an overseas destination. Sig- Was the dominant labor form early on in the Chesapeake before slavery expanded.

John Winthrop

Puritan governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony and speaker of “City upon a hill”. Sig- his leadership helped institutionalize a theocratic government in Massachusetts, blending civil and religious authority.

Mayflower Compact

A legal contract in which the pilgrims agreed to have fair laws to protect the general good. Sig- early example of self governance in the colonies.

Half-way covenant

A puritanical church document; In 1662, the half way covenant allowed partial membership rights to people not yet converted into the Puritan church, lessening the difference between the “elect members of the church” from the regular members, with women soon making up a larger portion of Puritan congregations. Sig- Reflected compromise/religious tolerance within colonies.

Maryland Toleration Act

Act that was passed in Maryland that guaranteed toleration to all Christian’s, regardless of sect but not to those who did not believe in the divinity of Jesus, though it did not sanction much tolerance. Sig- Although limited to Christian’s, it set a precedent for religious tolerance in the Americas.

Middle colonies

New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Sig- known for diversity, religious tolerance, and exporting economies.

New England colonies

Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. Sig- known for Puritanism, diverse colonial economy, and frequent town meetings.

Southern colonies

Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Sig- planted based economy, heavily reliant on enslaved labor and cash crops.

Rodger Williams

A dissenter who clashed with the Massachusetts Puritans over separation of church and state and was banished in 1636, afterwards founding the colony of Rhode Island to the south. Sig- coined the idea of separation between the state and the church, a concept that would later be advocated heavily for in American politics.

Anne Hutchinson

A Puritan women who was well learned that disagreed with the Puritan church in Massachusetts Bay colony, with her actions resulting in her banishment from the colony and later taking part in the formation of Rhode Island. Sig- displayed the importance of questioning authority and became a symbol of religious dissent.

Bacon’s Rebellion

A rebellion led by Nathaniel Bacon with backcountry famers to attack Native Americans in an attempt to gain more land and transitioned to slave labor. Sig- revealed tensions between poor famers and elites and accelerated the shift to African slavery due to elities fear of increasing indentured servitude rebellion.

Slave Codes

Laws that controlled the lives of enslaved African Americans and denied them basic rights. Sig- institutionalized racial slavery and shaped southern society.