AMSCO APUSH Periods 1 & 2: Native Societies, Exploration, Colonization, and Early American Society

Maize Cultivation

The cultivation of corn; its spread from Mexico into North America allowed Native populations to grow and some societies to establish permanent settlements.

Great Basin

A dry region where Native peoples generally lived in small, mobile groups because limited resources made large permanent settlements difficult.

Great Plains

Region where many Native groups lived by hunting buffalo and farming; lifestyles varied depending on geography and available resources.

Southwest

Region where groups such as the Pueblo developed permanent settlements and irrigation systems to farm in a dry climate.

Pueblo

Native peoples of the Southwest who lived in permanent adobe settlements and relied heavily on agriculture and irrigation.

Mississippi River Valley

Region with fertile land that supported large, complex Native societies based on agriculture and trade.

Cahokia

Large Mississippian settlement near present-day St. Louis; demonstrates that complex, organized Native societies existed before European arrival.

Iroquois Confederacy

Political alliance of Native nations in the Northeast; created cooperation and increased political and military power.

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of plants, animals, diseases, people, and ideas between the Americas and Europe/Africa after Columbus's voyages.

Christopher Columbus

Italian explorer sailing for Spain who reached the Americas in 1492, beginning sustained contact between Europe and the Americas.

Smallpox

European disease to which Native Americans had little immunity; caused catastrophic population declines.

Horses

Reintroduced to the Americas by Europeans; transformed transportation, hunting, and warfare for many Native groups, particularly on the Great Plains.

Encomienda System

Spanish system that granted colonists the right to demand labor or tribute from Native Americans in exchange for supposed protection and Christian instruction.

Bartolomé de las Casas

Spanish priest who criticized the mistreatment and enslavement of Native Americans and advocated for reforms.

Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda

Spanish scholar who argued that Spain was justified in conquering Native peoples and forcing them to accept Spanish civilization and Christianity.

Valladolid Debate

Debate over Spain's treatment of Native Americans; Las Casas defended Native humanity while Sepúlveda defended Spanish conquest.

Conquistadors

Spanish soldiers and explorers who conquered Native civilizations and claimed territory for Spain.

Hernán Cortés

Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztec Empire with the help of Native allies, weapons, and disease.

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire.

Aztec Empire

Powerful civilization centered in present-day Mexico that was conquered by Cortés and his allies.

Inca Empire

Large South American empire conquered by Pizarro.

Spanish Colonization

Focused heavily on acquiring wealth, spreading Catholicism, establishing settlements, and controlling Native labor.

Mestizo

A person of mixed European and Native American ancestry; evidence of racial and cultural mixing in Spanish colonies.

Mercantilism

Economic theory that colonies existed to increase the wealth and power of the mother country by supplying raw materials and purchasing finished goods.

Northwest Passage

A hoped-for water route through North America to Asia; the search encouraged French and English exploration.

French Colonization

Focused heavily on the fur trade and generally involved fewer permanent European settlers than Spanish or English colonization.

Fur Trade

Major economic activity of the French in North America that encouraged trading relationships and alliances with Native peoples.

European Motives for Exploration

God, gold, and glory: spreading Christianity, gaining wealth, and increasing national power.

Treaty of Tordesillas

1494 agreement dividing newly explored lands outside Europe between Spain and Portugal.

Atlantic Slave Trade

Forced transportation of Africans across the Atlantic; expanded as Europeans sought labor for plantations and colonial economies.

Jamestown

Founded in Virginia in 1607; the first permanent English settlement in North America.

Virginia Company

Joint-stock company that received a charter to establish Jamestown with the goal of making a profit.

John Smith

Jamestown leader who imposed discipline and helped the struggling colony survive during its early years.

John Rolfe

Developed profitable tobacco cultivation in Virginia, helping Jamestown become economically successful.

Tobacco

Cash crop that made the Chesapeake colonies profitable while increasing demand for land and labor.

Headright System

System that granted land to settlers who paid for their own or another person's passage to Virginia; encouraged immigration and plantation expansion.

Indentured Servants

People who agreed to work for a set number of years in exchange for transportation to the colonies; important early source of Chesapeake labor.

House of Burgesses

Established in Virginia in 1619; first representative legislative assembly in the English colonies.

Bacon's Rebellion

1676 uprising of Virginia settlers led by Nathaniel Bacon against Governor William Berkeley; exposed tensions between wealthy elites and poorer colonists and contributed to greater reliance on enslaved African labor.

Chesapeake Colonies

Virginia and Maryland; economies were based largely on tobacco plantations and initially relied heavily on indentured servants.

Maryland

English colony founded partly as a refuge for Catholics and developed an economy based heavily on tobacco.

Act of Toleration

1649 Maryland law granting religious freedom to Christians who believed in the Trinity; an early example of limited religious toleration.

Pilgrims

Separatists who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620 seeking religious independence.

Mayflower Compact

Agreement created by Plymouth settlers establishing a government based on the consent of the governed.

Puritans

English Protestants who wanted to reform the Church of England; established Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Massachusetts Bay Colony

Puritan colony founded in 1630; hoped to create a model Christian society.

John Winthrop

Puritan leader and governor who described Massachusetts Bay as a 'city upon a hill.'

City Upon a Hill

Winthrop's idea that the Puritan colony should serve as a model Christian community for the world.

Great Migration

Movement of thousands of Puritans from England to New England during the 1630s.

Town Meetings

Form of local government common in New England in which eligible community members participated directly in political decisions.

Roger Williams

Puritan dissenter who supported religious freedom and separation of church and government; founded Rhode Island.

Anne Hutchinson

Puritan dissenter who challenged religious authorities in Massachusetts and was banished.

Rhode Island

Colony known for greater religious toleration and separation of church and government.

Thomas Hooker

Puritan minister who helped establish Connecticut and supported broader political participation.

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

Early written plan of government in Connecticut that established representative government.

New England Colonies

Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire; economy included small farms, fishing, trade, shipbuilding, and commerce.

Middle Colonies

New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware; known for ethnic and religious diversity, grain production, and commerce.

William Penn

Quaker who founded Pennsylvania as a 'holy experiment' emphasizing religious toleration.

Quakers

Religious group that emphasized equality, pacifism, and an individual's direct relationship with God.

Pennsylvania

Colony founded by William Penn; known for religious toleration, fertile farmland, and relatively peaceful early relations with Native Americans.

Southern Colonies

Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia; agriculture and plantation economies became especially important.

Cash Crops

Crops grown primarily for sale and profit, including tobacco, rice, and indigo.

Rice and Indigo

Important cash crops in South Carolina and Georgia that contributed to the growth of plantation slavery.

Slavery

Permanent system of forced labor that became increasingly important to the colonial economy, especially in plantation regions.

Middle Passage

Brutal voyage across the Atlantic that transported enslaved Africans to the Americas.

Triangular Trade

Atlantic trading networks connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas through the exchange of goods and enslaved people.

Slave Codes

Laws that restricted the rights and movement of enslaved Africans and made slavery a permanent, hereditary racial system.

Stono Rebellion

1739 uprising by enslaved people in South Carolina; led to stricter slave laws and controls.

Salutary Neglect

Britain's relatively loose enforcement of colonial trade laws and supervision, allowing colonists to develop traditions of self-government.

Navigation Acts

English laws intended to control colonial trade and ensure that colonial commerce benefited England.

Dominion of New England

Attempt by King James II to combine several colonies under tighter royal control; colonists strongly resisted it.

King Philip's War

1675-1676 conflict between New England colonists and Native peoples led by Metacom; resulted in devastating losses and weakened Native resistance in New England.

Metacom

Native leader also called King Philip who led resistance against expanding New England settlements.

Pueblo Revolt

1680 uprising led by Popé against Spanish rule in present-day New Mexico; temporarily drove the Spanish out of the region.

Popé

Pueblo religious leader who organized the Pueblo Revolt against Spanish colonial rule.

First Great Awakening

Religious revival of the 1730s and 1740s emphasizing emotional faith and individual religious experience.

Jonathan Edwards

Great Awakening preacher known for emphasizing human sinfulness and dependence on God's grace.

George Whitefield

Popular Great Awakening preacher who traveled throughout the colonies and attracted enormous crowds.

Effects of the Great Awakening

Challenged established religious authority, encouraged new denominations, and created shared experiences among colonists.

Enlightenment

Intellectual movement emphasizing reason, science, natural rights, and questioning traditional authority.

John Locke

Enlightenment philosopher who argued that people possess natural rights to life, liberty, and property and that government derives power from the consent of the governed.

Natural Rights

Rights people possess inherently; Locke identified life, liberty, and property as fundamental natural rights.

Social Contract

Idea that government exists because people agree to give it authority in exchange for protection of their rights.

Benjamin Franklin

Colonial printer, scientist, inventor, and Enlightenment thinker who represented growing intellectual and cultural connections among the colonies.

Zenger Trial

1735 trial of newspaper publisher John Peter Zenger; his acquittal helped establish the principle of freedom of the press.

Colonial Self-Government

Tradition developed through colonial legislatures, town meetings, and Britain's salutary neglect; helped colonists become accustomed to governing themselves.