APUSH Period 2 (1607-1754)

Europeans and American Indians maneuvered and fought for dominance, control, and security in North America, and distinctive colonial and native societies emerged.

What were obstacles that Jamestown faced during its early years of settlement?

Malaria, the settlement was built on a swamp. Initial settlers refused to do manual labor. Food shortages from droughts and late crop planting. Conflicts with the Powhatan Confederacy.

What were the solutions to the obstacles mentioned above that plagued Jamestown?  Who was responsible for imposing those solutions, thus “saving” the Jamestown settlement?

Implementation of martial law, forced labor, and structured defense. Captain John Smith controlled the colony. Enforced the rule that “He that will not work shall not eat.”

What was the “Starving Time” and why did it happen?

The Starving Time was a period between the winter of 1607-1610 where 80% of 500 settlers died from starvation and disease. After John Smith left, the Powhatan Confederacy prevented the English from hunting, foraging or trading for food.

Who is John Rolfe? What was the impact on the development of tobacco on the Jamestown settlement?

An English settler who arrived in 1610. He introduced tobacco to Jamestown, which became the colonies first highly profitable cash crop, saving the colony from financial ruin.

What was the Mayflower Compact?  What did it represent for the Pilgrims?

A document signed in 1620 by 41 male passengers aboard the Mayflower before getting to Plymouth. It was a social contract establishing a civic body politic to enact just and equal laws. It represented an early, critical step towards self government and majority rule democracy in North America, allowing them to govern themselves legally outside of their original Virginia charter boundaries.

What is a proprietary colony?  Who was the first proprietary colony in North America?  Why is this significant? 

A proprietary colony is a colony granted by the British Crown to an individual or small group (proprietors) who held full governing rights and treated the land like private property. The first one was Maryland, granted to Lord Baltimore/Cecilius Calvert in 1632. It served as a refuge for English Catholics and led to the passage of the Maryland Toleration Act of 1659, protecting religious freedom in the New World.

What was the cause(s) of King Philip’s War?  What did it represent?

English territorial expansions onto Native American lands, the destruction of Native crops by colonial livestock, and the hanging of three Wampanoag men by Plymouth authorities for the murder of a Christian converted Native informant, John Sassamon. It represented the last major, coordinated Native American resistance. It resulted in the near total destruction of Native sovereignty in the region, and deepened the racial divide.

What was the Pueblo Revolt and what did it represent?

A successful uprising led by the Pueblo religious leader Pope, which drove Spanish colonizers completely out of modern day Mexico for nearly a decade. It represented the most successful indigenous resistance movement against European colonialism in North American history, temporarily halting Spanish subjugation and forcing the Spanish to show greater cultural and religious tolerance toward Pueblo customs on their return.

Who was Nathaniel Bacon? What did he try to prove in Virginia? What effect did Bacon’s Rebellion have on Virginia?

A planter who led Bacon's Rebellion in 1676 against William Berkeley. He was trying to prove that the colonial government was corrupt and failing to protect the poor frontier settlers from Native American attacks. He argued that the political elite protected Native trade interests at the expense of ordinary colonists. It exposed class tensions between wealthy planters and poor. This rebellion accelerated the transition away from white indentured servants and towards the permanent racial slavery of Africans.

What was the Glorious Revolution? Who was affected positively?  Who was affected negatively?

The overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians and the Dutch prince William of Orange, who took the throne as William III alongside his wife, Mary II. It established the supremacy of Parliament over the monarchy. Positively affected the Protestants, English Parliament, and wealthy merchants. Negatively affected Catholics, King James II, and initially American colonists.

Who is John Locke? What did argue/claim within his writing, the Second Treatise on Government?

John Locke was an enlightenment philosopher. He argued that all individuals are born free and equal with natural rights to life, liberty, and property/ He posited a social contract where citizens give up some freedom to a government in exchange for the protection of these rights. If a government fails to protect said rights, the citizens have a legitimate right to revolution and to overthrow and replace it.

What is the Middle Passage?

A forced voyage of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World. It was the middle leg of the triangular trade network. Conditions aboard slave ships were notoriously horrific.

Who is Olaudah Equiano? What does his ‘narrative’ represent?

An enslaved African who purchased his freedom, became a prominent abolitionist in England, and authored an autobiography in 1789. His narrative is an account of the horrors of the Middle Passage and the brutality of chattel slavery. He represents millions of enslaved Africans who were silenced and provided moral ammunition for the early anti-slavery movement.

What was the Salem Witch Trials? What were all the underlying causes that led up to it?

A series of hearings and prosecutions of the people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts, resulting in the execution of 20 people. Underlying causes include oppressive Puritan religious extremism and fear of the devil, anxiety from the Native American frontier Wars, social and economic tensions, and mass hysteria.

What were the causes for the growth of cities like Boston, New York and Charleston and the impact growth had afterwards?

These cities served as Atlantic seaports. They became hubs for accumulation of wealth, intellectual exchange, newspapers, and printing, that spread Enlightenment ideas.

What were the Navigation Acts? What were they created to do?

English laws passed beginning in 1651 designed to regulate colonial trade. Created to enforce mercantilism by restricting colonial trade so that tobacco, sugar, and indigo could only be exported to England.

What was the Great Awakening? How did it impact the American colonies?

A Christian religious revival in colonies through the 1730s and 1740s. It stressed personal guilt and individual salvation. It fostered a spirit of independence and anti-authoritarianism, and created new religious denominations.

Who are Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield? What did they preach/encourage?

They were two famous itinerant preachers of the Great Awakening. Edwards preached the absolute authority of God and the terrifying reality of hell, Whitefield claimed that individuals could be saved without relying on traditional church hierarchies.

What was the effect(s)/impact(s) of the wars fought between European rivals (Spanish, French, and the English) from 1689 to 1815?

They forced American colonists to fight alongside British imperial forces against French, Spanish and Native allies, but led Britain to impose heavy taxes on the colonies, like the Stamp Act, ultimately triggering the American Revolution.

What did Benjamin Franklin hoped to achieve/create with his Albany Plan of Union?

He wanted to create a unified, centralized colonial government consisting of a Grand Council and a President General. It was designed to coordinate common defense against the French and Native American threats. It was the first proposal to unite the colonies.