APUSH Period 2 (1607-1754) Key Terms and Vocabulary

Flashcards covering key people, terms, and events from APUSH Period 2 (1607-1754).

George Calvert & Cecil Calvert (Lords Baltimore)

George received the Maryland grant from Charles I in 1632. His son Cecil, the 2nd Lord Baltimore, founded Maryland in 1634 as a haven for Catholics, creating the first proprietary colony and securing passage of the 1649 Act of Toleration.

John Rolfe

Jamestown settler who, with his wife Pocahontas, developed a tobacco variety popular in Europe, providing Virginia with a profitable cash crop.

John Smith

Colonial leader who helped Jamestown survive its first five years.

Anne Hutchinson

Puritan dissenter who taught antinomianism (salvation by faith alone without reliance on traditional moral laws). She was banished from Massachusetts Bay and founded Portsmouth in 1638.

Antinomianism

The belief that salvation is achieved by faith alone, meaning individuals are not bound by traditional moral laws.

Roger Williams

Puritan dissenter who held that individual conscience is beyond civil or church authority. Banished from Massachusetts, he founded Providence in 1636, established a Baptist church, and obtained a charter in 1644 uniting Providence and Portsmouth into Rhode Island.

Thomas Hooker

Puritan minister who led Boston Puritans to found Hartford in 1636.

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639)

The first written constitution in America, establishing a representative government with an elected legislature and governor.

John Winthrop

Puritan leader who led about 1,000 Puritans to Massachusetts Bay in 1630 and founded Boston.

City upon a Hill

Concept from John Winthrop's sermon expressing the Puritan mission to build a model Christian society for the world to watch.

William Penn

Quaker who received Pennsylvania in payment for a debt owed to his father and conducted a 'Holy Experiment' featuring religious freedom, fair treatment of Native Americans, and liberal political frames.

James Oglethorpe

Leader of the philanthropists who founded Georgia (Savannah, 1733) as a refuge for debtors and a buffer against Spanish Florida, initially banning rum and slavery.

Colonial charters

Official authorization grants for colonies, classified as Corporate (run by joint-stock companies), Royal (under direct rule of the king), or Proprietary (owned by individuals).

Joint-stock company

A business entity where investors pool money to finance risky colonial ventures and share profits; the primary English method for financing early colonies.

Headright system

A system offering 50 acres of land to any immigrant paying their own passage or to any planter paying for another person's passage, mostly benefiting wealthy landholders.

Jamestown

The first permanent English colony in America, chartered in 1607 to the Virginia Company, which survived disease and starvation through John Smith's leadership and tobacco cultivation.

Powhatan Confederacy

Alliance of Algonquian peoples surrounding Jamestown led by Chief Powhatan whose relations with English settlers shifted between trade and violent conflict.

Act of Toleration (1649)

Maryland statute granting religious freedom to all Christians, but decreeing the death penalty for anyone who denied the divinity of Jesus.

Virginia Company

Joint-stock company chartered by King James I that established Jamestown; its bankruptcy led to the revocation of its charter in 1624, making Virginia a royal colony.

Virginia House of Burgesses

Established in 1619, the first representative assembly in British America, dominated by wealthy planters.

Congregational Church

The dominant Puritan church model in New England in which individual congregations governed themselves; church membership was required for men to vote in Massachusetts Bay.

Covenant

The Puritan concept of a solemn binding agreement with God and within the community to maintain a godly society.

Mayflower Compact

A 1620 agreement made by the Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower to make decisions by majority rule, representing an early form of colonial self-government.

Massachusetts Bay Colony

Puritan colony chartered in 1629 and settled in 1630 as part of the Great Migration (~15,000 settlers in the 1630s), known for small towns, family farms, and strict religious conformity.

New England Confederation

A 1643–1684 military alliance among Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and New Haven formed for mutual defense against Native Americans and rival European powers.

Plymouth Plantation

Pilgrim settlement established in 1620, governed by William Bradford, where initial winter losses were overcome with aid from local Native Americans.

Praying Indians

Native Americans who converted to Christianity and resided in designated 'praying towns' organized by Puritan missionary John Eliot.

Puritans

English religious dissenters who wished to reform ('purify') the Church of England from within, establishing communities in New England centered on strict religious devotion and education.

Wampanoags

Native people of southeastern New England who assisted the Pilgrims; their chief Metacom (King Philip) later led an alliance against colonists in King Philip's War.

Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina

A 1669 framework co-written by John Locke proposing a rigid aristocratic hierarchy for Carolina, which failed to match the region's actual development as a frontier plantation society.

New Amsterdam

Dutch West India Company settlement on Manhattan seized by the Duke of York in 1664 and renamed New York.

Quakers

The Religious Society of Friends; believers in individual inner divine authority who advocated equality, pacifism, and religious tolerance.

Restoration colonies

Colonies founded following the 1660 restoration of the English monarchy under Charles II, including Carolina, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.

Triangular trade

A transatlantic trade route moving rum from New England to West Africa, enslaved persons to the West Indies via the Middle Passage, and sugar/molasses back to New England.

Dominion of New England

A 1686 administrative union of New England, New York, and New Jersey created by King James II under Governor Edmund Andros to increase imperial control.

Navigation Acts

Mercantilist trade laws (1650–1673) mandating that colonial goods be shipped only on English/colonial vessels, imports enter through English ports, and 'enumerated' items be sent strictly to England.

Bacon's Rebellion (1676)

An uprising of frontier farmers led by Nathaniel Bacon against Virginia Governor William Berkeley, resulting in the burning of Jamestown and prompting planters to shift from indentured servants to enslaved African labor.

Starving Time

The winter of 1609–1610 at Jamestown during which severe famine killed most of the original colonists.

King Philip's War (Metacom's War)

A 1675–1676 conflict in New England where Metacom united local tribes against expanding English settlements; colonial victory effectively ended Native resistance in the region.

Pequot War

A 1636–1637 conflict in Connecticut where English settlers and Native allies destroyed the Pequot tribe over land and trade disputes.

Salutary neglect

The unofficial British policy of loose enforcement of colonial trade laws due to distance and internal distractions, allowing self-government and smuggling to flourish.

Glorious Revolution (1688)

The overthrow of King James II of England, replaced by William and Mary, which caused the collapse of the Dominion of New England and restored separate colonial charters.

John Coode's Rebellion

A 1689 Protestant uprising in Maryland that overthrew the Catholic proprietor's government, leading to the repeal of the Act of Toleration and disenfranchisement of Catholics.