History Key Terms TEST 1

Beringia

an ancient land bridge linking Asia and North America

chattel slavery

a system of servitude in which people are treated as personal property to be bought and sold

Crusades

a series of military expeditions made by Christian Europeans to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries

Inquisition

a campaign by the Catholic Church to root out heresy, especially among converted Jews and Muslims

Quipu

an ancient Incan device for recording information, consisting of variously colored threads knotted in different ways

Reconquista

Spain’s nearly eight-hundred-year holy war against Islam, which ended in 1492

Calvinism

a branch of Protestantism started by John Calvin, emphasizing human powerlessness before an omniscient God and stressing the idea of predestination

Columbian Exchange

the movement of plants, animals, and diseases across the Atlantic due to European exploration of the Americas

Encomienda

legal rights to native labor as granted by the Spanish crown

joint stock company

a business entity in which investors provide the capital and assume the risk in order to reap significant returns

Mercantilism

the protectionist economic principle that nations should control trade with their colonies to ensure a favorable balance of trade

Pilgrims

Separatists, led by William Bradford, who established the first English settlement in New England

Privateers

sea captains to whom the British government had given permission to raid Spanish ships at will

Protestant Reformation

the schism in Catholicism that began with Martin Luther and John Calvin in the early sixteenth century

Puritans

a group of religious reformers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries who wanted to “purify” the Church of England by ridding it of practices associated with the Catholic Church and advocating greater purity of doctrine and worship

Roanoke

the first English colony in Virginia, which mysteriously disappeared sometime between 1587 and 1590

Separatists

a faction of Puritans who advocated complete separation from the Church of England

House of Burgesses

the first democratically elected legislative body in British North America, established in colonial Virginia in 1619

headright system

a system in which parcels of land were granted to settlers who could pay their own way to Virginia

Indenture

a labor contract that promised young men, and sometimes women, money and land after they worked for a set period of years

Middle Passage

the perilous, often deadly transatlantic crossing of ships carrying captured Africans from the African coast to the New World

The Negro Act of 1740

a harsh and comprehensive set of slave codes enacted in the Province of South Carolina on May 10, 1740, in direct response to the Stono Rebellion of 1739

Enlightenment

an eighteenth-century intellectual and cultural movement that emphasized reason and science over superstition, religion, and tradition

First Great Awakening

an eighteenth-century Protestant revival that emphasized individual, experiential faith over church doctrine and the close study of scripture

French and Indian War

the last eighteenth-century imperial struggle between Great Britain and France, leading to a decisive British victory; this war lasted from 1754 to 1763 and was also called the Seven Years’ War

Navigation Acts

a series of English mercantilist laws enacted between 1651 and 1696 in order to control trade with the colonies

Dunmore's Proclamation

the decree signed by Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia, which proclaimed that any enslaved or indentured servants who fought on the side of the British would be rewarded with their freedom

Stamp Act

imposed an internal tax on almost every type of printed paper colonists used, including newspapers, legal documents, and playing cards.

Declaratory Act of 1766

to assert its complete authority to make laws binding the American colonies "in all cases whatsoever"

Daughters of Liberty

well-born British colonial women who led a non-importation movement against British goods

Intolerable Acts

the name American Patriots gave to the Coercive Acts and the Quebec Act

Salutary Neglect

the laxness with which the English crown enforced the Navigation Acts in the eighteenth century

Deism

an Enlightenment-era belief in the existence of a supreme being—specifically, a creator who does not intervene in the universe—representing a rejection of the belief in a supernatural deity who interacts with humankindEnd of search result

Republicanism

a political philosophy that holds that states should be governed by representatives, not a monarch; as a social philosophy, republicanism required civic virtue of its citizens

Loyalists

colonists in America who were loyal to Great Britain

Patriots

an American colonist who opposed British rule and fought for independence during the Patriot (American Revolution)

Boston Massacre

a confrontation between a crowd of Bostonians and British soldiers on March 5, 1770, which resulted in the deaths of five people, including Crispus Attucks, the first official casualty in the war for independence

Proclamation Line

a line along the Appalachian Mountains, imposed by the Proclamation of 1763, west of which British colonists could not settle

Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history and culture, gave name to the Elizabethan era

Powhatan

refers to both the prominent Powhatan Indigenous people of eastern Virginia and their paramount chief

Pocahontas

(also called Matoaka), the daughter of a Powhatan headman named Wahunsonacook, and gave her in marriage to Englishman John Rolfe.

John Winthrop

John Winthrop was an English Puritan lawyer and a leading figure in the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led the first large wave of colonists from England in 1630 and served as governor for 12 of the colony's first 20 years.

John Smith

John Smith was an English soldier, explorer, admiral of New England, and author. He was knighted for his services to Sigismund Báthory, Prince of Transylvania, and his friend Mózes Székely

Ben Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was an American polymath active as a physicist, philosopher, statesman and inventor who was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was a drafter and signer of the Declaration of Independence, and the first postmaster general.