U.S. History (MCQ) Study Quide

The Maya

One Mesoamerican culture with strong ties to Teotihuacan. Introduced pictoglyphic writing and created the concept of 0. Decline theorized to be from competition. (200-900 A.D)

Calendar Round

Calendar system, has a 52 year cycle; widespread not only among the Maya, but among other Mesoamerican cultures too. The calendar was based on a ritual cycle of 260 named days and a year of 365 days.

The Aztecs

Also known as Mexica, they created a powerful empire in central Mexico (1325-1521 C.E.). They forced defeated peoples to provide goods and labor as a tax.

Norsemen

Settlers from Northern Europe (Scandinavia) who were the first to venture west and set foot in the Americas. (Leif Erikson 1000 A.D)

Muhammad

Arab prophet (570-632 A.D) who received divine revelation that founded Islam and created the Qur'an. Followers of Allah (God).

The Crusades

A series of holy wars from 1096-1270 AD undertaken by European Christians to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims. Caused wide-scale persecution of Jews and expanded maritime trade between the East and the West.

Cristoforo Colombo (Christopher Columbus)

Italian navigator who discovered the New World in the service of Spain while looking for a route to China (1451-1506)

La Isabela

The first European town in North America is discovered by Cristoforo Colombo and is now the Dominican Republic.

Hernando Cortez

Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztecs and conquered Mexico. (1485-1547)

Martin Luther

German Catholic monk who took issue with the Catholic Church's practice of selling indulgences. In 1517, he wrote 95 theses, or statements of belief attacking the church practices.

Calvinism

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

King Henry VIII

(1491-1547) King of England, he split with the Catholic Church and declared himself head of the Church of England, or Anglican Church.

Elizabeth I

(1533-1603) Queen of England and Ireland between 1558 and 1603. She established a new Church which had Catholic ceremony and Protestant doctrine.

Spanish Armada

"Invincible" group of ships sent by King Philip II of Spain to invade England in May 28, 1588. The clash of both England and Spain was called the Battle of Gravelines. English victory marked the beginning of English naval dominance and exposed Spanish vulnerability.

Matowaka

(Known as Pocahontas switched to Rebecca) Daughter of Powhatan headman Wahunsonacook, was captured by English settler, Cheif Warr, and married John Rolfe after converting to Christianity. Was used as an example of converting the Powhatan to Christianity.

Indentured Servants

Immigrants who received passage to America (mainly through the Virginia Company) in exchange for a fixed term of labor.

Anne Hutchinson

"A woman who challenged a male dominate society." Exiled from Massachusetts in 1637 to a Dutch colony. Her followers (the Antinomianists) founded the colony of New Hampshire in 1639. She was killed in August 1643 by local Native Americans.

Roger Williams

A dissenter who clashed with the Massachusetts Puritans over the separation of church and state and was banished in 1636, after which he founded the colony of Rhode Island to the South.

Peter Minuit

Dutch colonist who bought Manhattan from the Native Americans (using tools and materials) for the equivalent of $24 (1580-1638)

Articles of Capitulation

Dutch colony surrendered New Amsterdam in 1664 to the British. British promised Dutch colonists would not be displaced and retained property. (Renamed to New York)

The Quakers

Members of a new Protestant denomination called the Society of Friends who shook when "Inner Light" moved them.

Holy Experiment

William Penn put his Quaker beliefs to the test in his colony, Philadelphia (Established Oct. 1682) in Pennsylvania. This experiment allowed all from different religions to stay in land with no persecutions. Colony prospered.

William Penn

A Quaker and a member of a new Protestant denomination called the Society of Friends who was bestowed a proprietary grant (1681) after his father's death.

African Slave Trade

Roughly 12 million African peoples were captured and taken as slaves to South America (sugar cane plantations) and North America (cotton plantations). Began around the 1400s by the Portuguese.

Great Wagon Road

An early Pioneer route through the Appalachians; this main North-South trail stretched from Pennsylvania to North Carolina causing a growth in intercoastal trading.

American Enlightenment

Influenced by the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century, this event emphasized the power of reason gained and applied it to human nature and society. Stressed the importance of humanism and reason, removing the power of Church and placing more power in the hands of the individual, a mark of the modern age.

Benjamin Franklin

Printer of the Pennsylvania Gazette, publisher, scientist, and politician who was famous for his Silken Kite Experiment and stood as the embodiment of the Enlightenment.

Great Awakening

An eighteenth-century Protestant revival that emphasized individual, experiential faith over church doctrine and the close study of scripture. Touched the lives of thousands on both sides of the Atlantic and provided a shared experience in the eighteenth-century British Empire. (Notably spread by George Whitefield, Anglican minister)

Jonathan Edwards

American theologian whose sermons and writings stimulated a period of renewed interest in religion in America (1703-1758). One of his best-known sermons, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," led an explosion of evangelical passion.

Edward Braddock

British commander during the French and Indian War who attempted to capture Fort Duquesne (1755). He was defeated by the French and the Indians. At this battle, he was among the 900+ British men who were killed/wounded.

Treaty of Paris 1763

February 10, 1763 ended French and Indian War, France lost Canada, land east of the Mississippi, to British, New Orleans and west of Mississippi to Spain. Allowed the spread of the British empire.