APUSH Notes: European Colonization & Early English Colonies; Protestant Reformation & Religious Conflict

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and definitions from Protestant Reformation, English religious conflicts, and early Virginia/Spanish colonization topics.

Protestant Reformation

16th-century reform movement that rejected Catholic rituals and the elaborate church hierarchy; salvation by faith alone.

Luther

German monk who rejected Catholic rituals and hierarchical church structure; promoted salvation by faith alone.

Calvin

French theologian who emphasized God's omnipotence, total submission to God, and predestination (the elect).

Predestination

Belief that salvation is predetermined by God, with church membership limited to the ‘elect.’

Elect

In Calvinism, those whom God has chosen for salvation.

Elizabeth I (1558–1603)

Queen who tolerated diverse Protestant practices as long as she remained head of the Church of England.

Puritans

English group seeking to purify the Church of England of remaining Catholic practices.

Separatists

English group that wanted to leave the Church of England entirely.

Presbyterianism

Church governance by presbyteries (clerics + laymen), with no bishops; adopted in Scotland.

Divine right of kings

Doctrine that monarchs derive authority from God and must be obeyed as God’s representatives.

Virginia Company (1606)

Joint-stock company that funded the Jamestown settlement.

Jamestown (1607)

First permanent English settlement in Virginia, located near the Chesapeake Bay.

Starving Time (1609–1610)

Winter in Jamestown with extreme famine and high mortality.

Powhatan

Leader of the Powhatan Confederacy; interactions with Jamestown shaped early colonial relations.

Pocahontas

Algonquian woman who aided Jamestown and later married John Rolfe, aiding temporary peace.

John Rolfe

English settler who cultivated tobacco (Caribbean strain) and helped stabilize relations through Pocahontas’s marriage.

Headright system (1617)

Policy granting 50 acres of land per settler to attract laborers to Virginia.

House of Burgesses (1619)

First representative assembly in colonial Virginia; early form of self-government.

Virginia becomes royal colony (1624)

Charter revoked; Virginia comes under Crown; headrights persist and assembly is reinstated.

Opechancanough

Powhatan leader who led major attacks on Jamestown in 1622 and 1644.

Tobacco Boom

Introduction of high-yield tobacco (Rolfe’s Caribbean strain) leading to massive exports and land pressure.

Tsénakommacah (Tsenacommacah)

Powhatan homeland around Jamestown.

Acoma Pueblo (1599)

Spanish expedition under Juan de Oñate; hundreds killed; survivors enslaved or mutilated; brutal suppression.

Pueblo Revolt (1680)

Native uprising that expelled the Spanish from New Mexico for over a decade.