Unit I - IV Early American History and European Imperialism

Flashcards testing core concepts, historical figures, and political/economic developments across Units I through IV of early American history.

What were the three primary motives for Atlantic exploration by European powers?

God (spread Christianity), Glory (gain power, land, and prestige), and Gold (obtain wealth and trade goods).

Which major West African empires existed prior to European contact, featuring powerful governments, large cities, and extensive trade networks?

Ghana, Mali, and Songhai.

Why did European plantation owners in the Americas increasingly rely on enslaved Africans rather than Indigenous labor?

Indigenous populations were devastated by disease, warfare, and exploitation; plantation owners wanted a large, controllable labor force; and colonizers developed racist systems that treated Africans as property.

What central belief defined Calvinism during the Protestant Reformation?

Predestination, which is the belief that God had already determined who would be saved.

What was the main religious goal of the English Puritans regarding the Church of England?

To 'purify' the Church of England from remaining Catholic traditions.

What cash crop became extremely profitable in the Chesapeake colonies of Virginia and Maryland?

Tobacco.

How did French colonization in North America differ from English colonization?

The French focused heavily on the fur trade, built alliances with Native peoples, and had fewer settlers, whereas the English established larger numbers of permanent settlements, took more agricultural land, and had a rapidly expanding population.

Which Native American nations were listed as important groups in relation to early European contact?

Powhatan Confederacy, Wampanoag, Iroquois/Haudenosaunee, Pequot, Narragansett, and Wabanaki.

What were indentured servants in the context of early colonial labor?

Europeans who agreed to work for a set number of years in exchange for passage, food, shelter, or the possibility of land afterward.

What major conflict over political authority and taxation led to the execution of King Charles I in 1649?

The English Civil War.

Who ruled England during the period known as Cromwell's Interregnum, when England was a republic/Commonwealth?

Oliver Cromwell.

What political changes resulted from the Glorious Revolution of 1688–1689 in England?

King James II was removed, William III and Mary II were brought to the throne, Parliament became more powerful, and the English Bill of Rights limited royal authority.

What royal institution did King James II create to consolidate several colonies under stronger royal control?

Dominion of New England.

What primary political concern led Virginia's elite to shift toward African racial slavery after Bacon's Rebellion in 1676?

Fear of class conflict and the possibility of poor European laborers uniting against the elite.

Who led the Native American coalition during King Philip's War (1675–1676) against New England colonists?

Metacom, whom the English called King Philip.

What was the purpose of the British mercantile system and the Navigation Acts?

Mercantilism ensured colonies existed to benefit the mother country by providing raw materials, purchasing British manufactured goods, and increasing British wealth; the Navigation Acts attempted to control colonial trade.

What was the effect of Britain's policy of Salutary Neglect on the American colonies?

Because Britain loosely enforced its colonial regulations, colonies developed strong local governments, economic independence, and experience with self-government.

Which Enlightenment philosopher argued that people possessed natural rights and that government exists to protect those rights?

John Locke.

What political effect did the Great Awakening revivals of the 1730s–1740s have on colonial society?

It encouraged people to question traditional authority, choose their own religious communities, and think more independently.