Princeton Review Apush Periods 1 and 2

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering major peoples, events, ideas, and systems from early Native cultures through colonial development and imperial policies (1491-1754).

Pre-Columbian Era

Period in the Americas before Christopher Columbus’s arrival in 1492.

Bering Land Bridge

Former land connection between Siberia and Alaska that allowed the first migrants into the Americas.

Maize

Corn; staple crop domesticated in Mesoamerica that supported population growth and complex societies.

Pueblo Peoples

Native groups of the Southwest famous for multistory stone dwellings and advanced irrigation.

Chinook

Pacific Northwest tribe that relied on hunting, fishing, and foraging.

Iroquois Confederacy

Powerful alliance of northeastern tribes; early contact group with Europeans.

Algonquian

Large Native language group along the Atlantic seaboard; first encountered by English settlers.

Contact Period

Era beginning with Columbus’s voyages when sustained interaction between Europe and the Americas began.

Columbian Exchange

Transatlantic transfer of plants, animals, people, diseases, and ideas after 1492.

Encomienda System

Spanish labor system granting colonists authority over Native labor and conversion in exchange for protection.

Mestizo

Person of mixed Spanish and Native American ancestry in the Spanish colonial caste system.

Zambo

Individual of mixed Native American and African ancestry in Spanish colonial society.

Spanish Armada

Powerful 16th-century Spanish navy defeated by England in 1588, opening North America to other Europeans.

Smallpox

European disease that devastated Native populations lacking immunity.

Sextant

18th-century navigation instrument that made trans-Atlantic voyages safer and more accurate.

Joint-Stock Company

Business entity with shareholders established to fund and govern colonial ventures (e.g., Virginia Company).

Virginia Company

Joint-stock company that founded Jamestown in 1607.

Jamestown

First permanent English settlement in North America, located in Virginia (1607).

Powhatan Confederacy

Group of Algonquian tribes surrounding Jamestown; alternated between trade and conflict with settlers.

Starving Time

Winter of 1609-1610 when nearly 90 % of Jamestown colonists died of starvation/disease.

John Rolfe

Jamestown settler who married Pocahontas and introduced tobacco cultivation as a cash crop.

Tobacco

Labor-intensive cash crop that saved Virginia’s economy and spurred plantation expansion.

Chesapeake

Colonial region around Chesapeake Bay—Virginia and Maryland—defined by tobacco and mixed economies.

Indentured Servitude

Labor system in which migrants worked 4–7 years for passage, then gained freedom and land.

Headright System

Virginia policy awarding 50 acres to anyone who paid a laborer’s passage, encouraging immigration.

House of Burgesses

1619 representative assembly in Virginia; first elected legislature in English America.

Quebec City

First permanent French settlement in North America (1608).

Jesuits

Catholic missionaries who sought to convert Natives, especially in French colonies.

Coureurs du Bois

French “runners of the woods” who trapped and traded furs with Native tribes.

Edict of Nantes (1598)

French decree granting religious tolerance to Huguenots, reducing incentive to emigrate to New World.

Pilgrims

Separatist Puritans who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620 for religious freedom.

Mayflower Compact

Plymouth agreement establishing self-government based on consent of the governed.

Squanto (Tisquantum)

Patuxet Native who taught Pilgrims farming techniques and served as interpreter.

Massachusetts Bay Colony

Large Puritan colony founded in 1629 by Congregationalists; envisioned as a “city upon a hill.”

Great Puritan Migration

Mass movement (1629-1642) of Puritans from England to New England under John Winthrop.

“City upon a Hill”

John Winthrop’s sermon on the ship Arabella envisioning Massachusetts Bay as a moral example for the world.

Covenant Theology

Puritan belief that society had a collective agreement with God and among its members.

Roger Williams

Minister banished from Massachusetts; founded Rhode Island with religious freedom and separation of church and state.

Rhode Island

Colony (1636) allowing full religious liberty and universal male suffrage without church membership.

Anne Hutchinson

Puritan dissenter advocating antinomianism; banished from Massachusetts for challenging clergy authority.

Antinomianism

Belief that faith and grace, not moral law, ensure salvation.

Interregnum

Period (1649-1660) of Puritan rule under Oliver Cromwell when Puritan migration to New England slowed.

Proprietorship

Colony owned by one person granted land by the king (e.g., Maryland, Pennsylvania).

Fundamental Orders

usually considered the first written constitution in British North America.

Act of Toleration (1649)

Maryland law guaranteeing religious freedom to all Christians.

New Netherland

Dutch North American colony (1614-1664) including New Amsterdam (later New York).

Duke of York

James II; seized New Netherland from Dutch and renamed it New York.

Quakers

Pacifist, egalitarian Protestant sect; founded Pennsylvania under William Penn.

Pennsylvania

“Holy Experiment” colony (1681) promoting religious freedom, civil liberties, and fair Native relations.

Métis

People of mixed French and Native ancestry in Canada and the northern U.S.

Barbados

West Indian island whose slave-based sugar economy influenced South Carolina plantation slavery.

Royal Colony

Colony controlled directly by the Crown after revoking a proprietary or company charter.

Powhatan Wars

Series of conflicts (1610-1677) between Virginia settlers and Powhatan Indians over land.

Pequot War

1636-1638 conflict in Connecticut Valley; English and Narragansett allies nearly exterminated the Pequot tribe.

Beaver Wars

Iroquois-Algonquian conflicts (1628-1701) over fur trade, intensified by European firearms.

King Philip’s War

1675-1678 Wampanoag-led uprising against New England settlers; ended major Native resistance in region.

Pueblo Revolt

1680 uprising in New Mexico that expelled Spanish for over a decade.

Chickasaw Wars

Deadly 1721-1763 battles between Chickasaw (British-backed) and Choctaw (French-backed) for Mississippi control.

Catawba Decline

18th-century population loss of Catawba tribe due to disease and warfare.

Stono Uprising

1739 South Carolina slave rebellion prompting stricter slave codes.

Middle Passage

Brutal Atlantic voyage transporting enslaved Africans to the Americas.

Triangular Trade

Three-legged Atlantic exchange of goods, slaves, and raw materials among Europe, Africa, and the Americas.

Salutary Neglect

British policy (c. 1650-1750) of minimal colonial interference, fostering self-government.

Mercantilism

Economic theory valuing colonies as sources of raw materials and markets to ensure favorable trade balance.

Navigation Acts

1651-1673 British laws restricting colonial trade to English ships and ports.

Wool Act (1699)

Law banning export of colonial wool and import of wool from other British colonies.

Molasses Act (1733)

High tax on French West Indian sugar to protect British planters; encouraged smuggling.

New England Confederation

1643 alliance of northeastern colonies for mutual defense and dispute resolution.

Bacon’s Rebellion

1676 Virginia uprising of frontier farmers against Governor Berkeley; highlighted class tensions and led to harsher racial laws.

Black Codes

Early laws restricting African American rights, partly a reaction to multiracial alliances like Bacon’s Rebellion.

Dominion of New England

1686-1689 royal super-colony abolishing assemblies; collapsed after Glorious Revolution.

Halfway Covenant

1662 policy allowing partial church membership for Puritan descendants lacking a conversion experience.

Great Awakening

1730s-1740s wave of Protestant revival emphasizing emotion and personal faith.

Jonathan Edwards

Great Awakening preacher famous for fiery sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”

George Whitefield

Itinerant minister whose emotional sermons spread Great Awakening fervor across colonies.

Enlightenment

18th-century intellectual movement stressing reason and science over tradition and faith.

Benjamin Franklin

Colonial polymath who embodied Enlightenment ideals; author, inventor, diplomat, and founder of civic institutions.

Bread Colonies

Middle colonies known for grain production—New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey.

Cash Crop

Agricultural product grown for sale rather than subsistence (e.g., tobacco, rice, indigo).

Plantation System

Large-scale agricultural estates in the South relying on enslaved labor for cash crops.

Subsistence Farming

Small-scale agriculture aimed at family consumption rather than market sale.

City upon a Hill

Ideal of moral example set by Massachusetts Bay, articulated by John Winthrop on the ship Arabella.

Puritan Work Ethic

Belief that hard work and discipline were signs of God’s favor.

Triangular Trade – Leg 1

Manufactured goods sailed from Europe to Africa.

Triangular Trade – Leg 2

Middle Passage transporting enslaved Africans to Americas.

Triangular Trade – Leg 3

Raw materials shipped from colonies to Europe.

Slave Codes

Colonial laws defining the status of slaves and the rights of masters.

Royal Governor

King-appointed executive of a colony, often limited by colonial assemblies’ control of finances.

Bicameral Legislature

Two-house lawmaking body modeled after Parliament; common in colonies.

Power of the Purse

Legislative authority over taxation and government salaries, limiting governors’ power.

City Growth Factors

Ports, trade, and immigration drove colonial urbanization despite poor sanitation.

Harvard College

First colonial college (1636), established mainly to train Puritan clergy.

Yale College

1701 New England institution founded to educate Congregationalist ministers.

College of William & Mary

1693 Virginia college established in the South for Anglican clergy training.

The Lost Colony

England’s First Attempt to Settle North America in 1587. Sir Walter Raleigh sponsored a settlement on Roanoke Island. This colony disappeared in 1590.

Calvanist

an adherent of the Protestant theological system of John Calvin and his successors

Puritans

English Protestants who sought to purify the Church of England from what they perceived as remaining Catholic influences

Who was Maryland granted to?

Cecilius Calvert, Lord Baltimore.