APUSH Unit 2 1607-1754 Key Concepts in Early American History and Colonial Society

Huguenots

French Protestants who fought for religious liberties and were heavily persecuted during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in the predominantly Catholic nation of France.

Colonization

The process of settling and controlling an already inhabited area for the economic benefit of the settlers, or colonizers.

Calvinism

Developed in Switzerland by John Calvin, a version of Protestantism in which civil judges and reformed ministers ruled over a Christian society.

Iroquois Confederacy

A group of allied American Indian nations that included the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and later the Tuscarora.

Protestant Reformation

Widespread break from the Roman Catholic Church due to its perceived abuses of power throughout the sixteenth century. It spurred the creation of many Protestant religions and was a source of conflict throughout Europe and North America during the seventeenth century.

Pilgrims

Also known as Separatists, a group of English religious dissenters who established a settlement at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620. Unlike more mainstream Protestants, the Pilgrims aimed to cut all connections with the Church of England.

Theologians

People who study religious beliefs or theology.

Indulgences

Payments to the Catholic Church as penance in exchange for the forgiveness of sins.

Predestination

Religious belief that God has pre-determined who is worthy of salvation, and thus it could not be earned through good works or penance.

Puritans

Radical English Protestants who hoped to reform the Church of England. The first Puritan settlers in the Americas arrived in Massachusetts in 1630.

Mayflower Compact

Written agreement created by the Pilgrims upon their arrival in Plymouth. It was the first written constitution adopted in North America.

Puritan Migration

The mass migration of Puritans from Europe to New England during the 1620s and 1630s.

Anglicization

Adoption of English customs and traditions. This shaped colonial culture and politics in eighteenth-century North America.

Common Law

Law established from custom and the standards set by previous judicial rulings.

Patriarchal Family

Model of the family in which fathers have absolute authority over wives, children, and servants.

Pequot War

1636-1637 conflict between New England settlers, their Narragansett allies, and the Pequots. The English saw the Pequots as both a threat and an obstacle to further English expansion.

Metacom's War

1675-1676 conflict between New England settlers and the region's American Indians. The settlers were the eventual victors, but fighting was fierce and casualties on both sides were high.

Dominion of New England

The consolidation of Northeastern colonies by King James II in 1686 to establish greater control over them, resulting in the banning of town meetings, new taxes, and other unpopular policies.

Glorious Revolution

1688 rebellion that forced James II from the English throne and replaced him with William and Mary.

King William's War

1689-1697 war that began as a conflict over competing French and English interests on the European continent but soon spread to the American frontier. Both sides pulled American Indian allies into the war.

Household Mode of Production

A system of exchange, managed largely through barter, that allowed individual households to function even as they became more specialized in what they produced.

Inflation

Market-wide increase in prices, leading to the devaluation of currency.

Enclosure Movements

The privatized use of common land for personal or financial gain by noblemen, who evicted commoners who relied on the land for subsistence.

Indentured Servitude

Servants contracted to work for a set period of time without pay. Many early migrants to the English colonies indentured themselves in exchange for the price of passage to North America.

Joint-Stock Companies

Companies in which large numbers of investors own stock. They were able to quickly raise large amounts of money and shared risk and reward equally among investors.

Powhatan Confederacy

Large and powerful confederation of Algonquian-speaking American Indians in Virginia.

Cash Crop

A crop produced for profit rather than for subsistence.

Headright System

Created in Virginia in 1618, it rewarded those who imported indentured laborers and settlers with fifty acres of land.

House of Burgesses

Local governing body in Virginia established by the English crown in 1619.

Veto

The right to block a decision made by a governing body.

Church of England

National church established by King Henry VIII after he split with the Catholic Church in 1534.

Act of Religious Toleration

1649 act passed by the Maryland Assembly granting religious freedom to all Christians.

English Civil War

(1642-1651) Series of civil wars fought to determine who should control England's government.

Slave Code

Laws restricting enslaved peoples' rights, largely due to slaveholders' fears of rebellion.

Bacon's Rebellion

1676 uprising in Virginia led by Nathaniel Bacon.

Imperialism

A policy of expanding the border and increasing the global power of a nation, typically via military force.

Subsistence Farmers

Farmers who grow crops for their own needs rather than for profit.

Leisler's Rebellion

1689 class revolt in New York led by merchant Jacob Leisler.

Redemptioners

Immigrants who borrowed money from shipping agents to cover the costs of transport to America, loans that were repaid, or 'redeemed,' by colonial employers.

Walking Purchase

1737 treaty that allowed Pennsylvania to expand its boundaries at the expense of the Delaware Indians.

Mercantilism

Economic system centered on maintaining a favorable balance of trade for the home country, with more gold and silver flowing into that country than flowed out.

Navigation Acts

Acts passed by Parliament in the 1650s and 1660s that prohibited smuggling, established guidelines for legal commerce, and set duties on trade items.

Consumer Revolution

A process through which status in the colonies became more closely linked to financial success and a refined lifestyle rather than birth and family pedigree during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Middle Passage

The brutal second leg of the forced journey of enslaved Africans from Africa to the Americas.

Slave Laws

A series of laws that defined slavery as a distinct status based on racial identity and which passed that status on through future generations.

Gang Labor

A particularly harsh labor system that forced enslaved Africans and African Americans to work at a continuous pace throughout the day.

Stono Rebellion

1739 uprising by enslaved Africans and African Americans in South Carolina.

Anglo-Powhatan Wars

Series of conflicts in the 1620s between the Powhatan Confederacy and English settlers in Virginia and Maryland.

Tuscarora War

War launched by Tuscarora Indians from 1711 to 1715 against European settlers in North Carolina and their allies.

Yamasee War

A pan-American war from 1715 to 1717 led by the Yamasee who intended, but failed, to oust the British from South Carolina.

Queen Anne's War

1702-1713 war over control of Spain and its colonies; also known as the War of the Spanish Succession.

Treaty of Utrecht

1713 treaty that ended Queen Anne's War.

King George's War

1739-1748 war between France, Spain, and England fought in North America.

Original Sin

Christian belief that all humans are born into sin because of the biblical sin of Adam eating the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden.

Enlightenment

European cultural movement spanning the late seventeenth century to the end of the eighteenth century emphasizing rational and scientific thinking over traditional religion and superstition.

New Light Clergy

Colonial clergy who called for religious revivals and emphasized the emotional aspects of spiritual commitment.

Old Light Clergy

Colonial clergy from established churches who supported the religious status quo in the early eighteenth century.

Pietists

German Protestants who criticized the power of established churches and urged individuals to follow their hearts rather than their heads in spiritual matters.

Methodism

A form of Protestantism based on Pietist ideas, founded by Englishman John Wesley.

Great Awakening

Series of religious revivals in colonial America that began in 1720 and lasted to about 1750.

Impressment

The forced enlistment of civilians into the army or navy.

Seditious

Behavior or language aimed at starting a rebellion against a government.

Libel

A false written statement designed to damage the reputation of its subject.