US History Unit 1

Vocabulary for Unit 1 of US History.

Eurocentricity

the assumption of the supremacy of European Americans and their values and traditions

Mercantilism

An economic policy under which nations sought to increase their wealth and power by obtaining large amounts of gold and silver and by selling more goods than they bought

Benjamin Franklin

Printer, author, inventor, diplomat, statesman, and Founding Father. One of the few Americans who was highly respected in Europe, primarily due to his discoveries in the field of electricity.

Charter colonies

colonies based on a grant of land by the British Crown to a company or a group of settlers

Enlightenment

A movement in the 18th century that advocated the use of reason in the reappraisal of accepted ideas and social institutions.

First Great Awakening

Religious revival in the colonies in 1730s and 1740s; George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards preached a message of atonement for sins by admitting them to God. The movement attempted to combat the growing secularism and rationalism of mid-eighteenth century America. Religious splits in the colonies became deeper.

Great Awakening

\
Religious revival in the American colonies of the eighteenth century during which a number of new Protestant churches were established.

House of Burgesses

the first elected legislative assembly in the New World established in the Colony of Virginia in 1619, representative colony set up by England to make laws and levy taxes but England could veto its legistlative acts.

Indentured Servants

Colonists who received free passage to North America in exchange for working without pay for a certain number of years

Jamestown

The first permanent English settlement in North America, found in East Virginia

Joint Stock Company

\
A business in which investors pool their wealth for a common purpose, then share the profits.

Mayflower Compact

1620 - The first agreement for self-government in America. It was signed by the 41 men on the Mayflower and set up a government for the Plymouth colony.

Mercantilism

An economic policy which held that a country's ultimate goal was self-sufficiency and that all countries were in a competition to acquire the most gold and silver.

Middle passage

A voyage that brought enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to North America and the West Indies

Natural Rights

the idea that all humans are born with rights, which include the right to life, liberty, and property

Navigation Acts

Acts passed in 1660 passed by British parliament to increase colonial dependence on Great Britain for trade; limited goods that were exported to colonies; caused great resentment in American colonies.

New Amsterdam

a town located on the south end of Manhattan Island. It was built next to a harbor where the Hudson River flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

New England

a region of northeastern United States comprised of four original colonies - New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut and later adding Maine and Vermont

Parliament

the lawmaking body of British government

Pennsylvania Settlement

both religious toleration & economic opportunity \n William Penn - founder 1682 \n promise: self-governed, religious freedom, reasonably priced land \n orderly growth of farming villages, harmony with Indians, \n rapid growth and prosperity

Pilgrims

Group of English Protestant dissenters who established Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts in 1620 to seek religious freedom after having lived briefly in the Netherlands.

Puritans

A religious group who wanted to purify the Church of England. They came to America for religious freedom and settled Massachusetts Bay.

Plantation System

A system of agricultural production based on large-scale land ownership and the exploitation of labor and the environment. This system focused on the production of cash crops and utilized slave labor.

Powhatan

\
a group of Native American peoples that lived in eastern Virginia at the time of the first English settlements there

Quakers

member of the Society of Friends, a religious group persecuted for its beliefs in 17th Century England

Religious Dissent

\
Disagreement with the Anglican Church. One of the most common reasons people came to North America, in addition to wealth.

Representative Government

a system by which people elect delegates to make laws and conduct government

Rhode Island Settlement

founded by religious dissenters from Massachusetts who were more tolerant of different religious beliefs

Rogers Williams

Puritan separatist who was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635 for preaching that government and religion should be separate and the settlers should compensate Native Americans for their land, rather than taking it. He settled the colony of Providence Rhode Island where all religions were welcome.

Royal Colonies

A colony under the direct control of the English Monarch

Slavery

A system of enforced servitude in which some people are owned by other people.

Tobacco

Cash crop that made a profit and saved Jamestown

Triangular slave trade

the transatlantic system of trade in which goods and people, including slaves, were exchanged between Africa, England, Europe, the West Indies, and the colonies in North America

Virginia Company

Joint-Stock Company in London that received a charter for land in the new world. Charter guarantees new colonists same rights as people back in England.