Studied by 52 PeopleTags & Description
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.
Roanoke Island Colony
1st attempt by the English the create a colony in the new world settled by Sir Walter Raleigh. Settlers disappeared around 1588.
Jamestown Colony
First permanent English settlement in America. It was founded in 1607 for the purpose of finding gold. Gold was never found, however. Jamestown became successful because of their cash crop, tobacco. John Smith
Columbian Exchange
An exchange of goods, ideas and skills from the Old World (Europe, Asia and Africa) to the New World (North and South America) and vice versa.
Plymouth
Colony settled by the Pilgrims. It eventually merged with Massachusetts Bay colony.
King Philip's War
1675 - A series of battles in New Hampshire between the colonists and the Wompanowogs, led by a chief known as King Philip. The war was started when the Massachusetts government tried to assert court jurisdiction over the local Indians. The colonists won with the help of the Mohawks, and this victory opened up additional Indian lands for expansion.
Anne Hutchinson
A Puritan woman who disagreed with the Puritan Church in Massachusetts Bay Colony. Her actions resulted in her banishment from the colony, and later took part in the formation of Rhode Island. She displayed the importance of questioning authority.
Deluder Act
First groundbreaking education law that mandated Puritans to attend schools in order to learn how to read the bible. If families did not educate their children or hire someone to do so, they would have to pay a fine. - Began to shape the modern day form of community education. This requirement for education may have also influence the religious tolerable way of thinking. If someone wanted to get away from mandated laws, they could go worship another form of christianity freely since this law was focused on puritans.
VA House of Burgesses
First Representative government in which land owning males could vote; it was moved to Williamsburg in 1705; it lead to our current representative government
Headright System
A way to solve the labor shortage in the early stages of the North American Colonies. Depending on wealth, you could by a number of 50 acre plots. These plots grew tobacco and accelerated the growth in the new world. - When wealthy people bought servants a passage, they were granted plots. This increased farming, jobs, and workers. It gave people a reason to work hard for their individual success/future. This most likely had an indirect influence on the 1622 uprising.
Great Awakening
Religious revival in the American colonies of the eighteenth century during which a number of new Protestant churches were established.
Salutary Neglect
An English policy of relaxing the enforcement of regulations in its colonies in return for the colonies' continued economic loyalty.
Navigation Act
British regulations designed to protect British shipping from competition. Said that British colonies could only import goods if they were shipped on British-owned vessels and at least 3/4 of the crew of the ship were British.
Mercantilism
Sole purpose of the Colony is to make money for the mother country. Nations measure their wealth by hard currency (Gold, Silver). Nations measure their power by empire/land holdings. More land/more $$$/ more power. Mother countries do this to maintain their treasuries.
New England Colonies
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire. Pilgrims - separatists - Plymouth. Puritans - purify - Mass. Bay (Boston (Harbor)). Seek religious freedom, didn't always give it. Ship building, fishing, trade, whaling. Religious leaders are most important and Church and village is center of life.
Middle Colonies
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware. English, Dutch (NY), German (Pennsylvania Dutch), Swedes (Delaware). Market towns, trade, farming (Oats, Wheat, Pigs, Cows). Port cities, Deep/Wide rivers (Hudson, Delaware, Susquehanna). Moderate winters. Many religions (Anglican, Quakers (PA), Jews(NY), Mennonites, Dunkards. Villages and cities.
Southern Colonies
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia. Large landowners, indentured servants - new life, cavaliers - escape civil war, African slaves - work on large plantations. Hot/humid, coastal plains (Very fertile land), App. Mount. in west, Slow moving rivers (Navigable), Charles Town (Major Port). Plantation owners were Governors, Mayors, Lawyers. Few cities. Outdoorsmen, harsh laws on slaves.
Fort Necessity
A hastily built British fort where Washington attempted to defeat the French. However, the French took the fort and forced Washington to surrender.
Start of F&I War
1754, French set up trading posts on St. Lawrence river and Ohio river valley. Iroquois allied with English, rarely attack French. French allied with other Natives. English settled on coast and pushing into Ohio territory. Ohio company of VA established in 1747.
Treaty of Paris 1763
Ended the French and Indian War and effectively kicked the French out of North America. All land east of Mississippi River and Canada go to England. All land west of Mississippi and New Orleans go to Spain. French surrender, Native allies fight on.
Proclamation of 1763
A proclamation from the British government which forbade British colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains, and which required any settlers already living west of the mountains to move back east. Most ignore and have conflict with the Natives.
Bacon's Rebellion (Led by Nathaniel Bacon)
1676 - Western Virginia settlers were angry at Virginia Governor Berkeley for trying to appease the Doeg Indians after the Doegs attacked the western settlements. The frontiersmen formed an army, with Bacon as its leader, which defeated the Indians and then marched on Jamestown and burned the city. The rebellion ended suddenly when Bacon died of an illness.
Albany Plan of Union
Plan proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1754 that aimed to unite 11 colonies for trade, military, and other purposes with a president appointed by the monarch; the plan was turned down by the colonies and the Crown.
Writ of Assistance
A search warrant enabling customs officers to enter any location to look for evidence of smuggling.
Sons of Liberty
A radical political organization for colonial independence which formed in 1765 after the passage of the Stamp Act. They incited riots and burned the customs houses where the stamped British paper was kept. Boycotted British goods and destroyed homes of tax collectors. After the repeal of the Stamp Act, many of the local chapters formed the Committees of Correspondence which continued to promote opposition to British policies towards the colonies. The Sons leaders included Samuel Adams and Paul Revere.
Sugar Act
1764 - Law passed by the British Parliament setting taxes on molasses and sugar imported by the colonies.
Stamp Act
1765 - Law that taxed printed goods, including: playing cards, documents, newspapers, etc.
Quartering Act
Required colonists to house British soldiers in private houses. Colonists had to pay for the soldiers upkeep. Made the colonists unhappy.
Boston Massacre
The first bloodshed of the American Revolution (1770), as British guards at the Boston Customs House opened fire on a crowd killing five Americans.
Boston Tea Party
A 1773 protest against British taxes in which Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawks dumped valuable tea into Boston Harbor.
Coercive Acts aka Intolerable Acts
1774 - 5 acts forcing MA to pay for the Boston Tea Party and to submit to imperial authority. Passed by parliament. Boston Port Bill- Closes Boston Port until East India Company is paid for Dartmouth cargo Quartering Act Administration of Justice Act- Royal officials charged in the colonies will be tried in England Massachusetts Government Act- Takes away MA's self-governance (Appointed by king) Quebec Act - Changed gov. in Canada. No representative assembly and no right to trial by jury.
1st Continental Congress
The beginning forms of government and military for the United States. Meeting of government leaders from 12 of the 13 colonies. Put pressure on British crown to reverse the Intolerable Acts. - Boycott british goods, formed army and navy, established a post office, and created a common currency amongst the colonists. Organized and created similarities between the colonists to unite them against the British.
George Washington
1st President of the United States; commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolution (1732-1799). Fought in f&I war.
Lexington and Concord
April 8, 1775: Gage leads 700 soldiers to confiscate colonial weapons and arrest Adam and Hancock; April 19, 1775: 70 armed militia face British at Lexington (shot heard around the world); British retreat to Boston, suffer nearly 300 casualties along the way (Concord).
Valley Forge
Place where Washington's army spent the winter of 1777 and 1778, 1/4 of troops died here from disease and malnutrition, Steuben comes and trains troops. 1778 - Washington inoculates soldiers for smallpox (experimental vaccine).
Thomas Paine
American Revolutionary leader and pamphleteer (born in England) who supported the American colonists fight for independence and supported the French Revolution (1737-1809). Wrote Common Sense.
Daniel Morgan
Continental Colonel of regular army and some militia. Master of guerilla warfare. Given credit for winning the Battle of Cowpens.
Francis Marion
South Carolina militia leader nicknamed the "Swamp Fox" for his hit-and-run attacks on the British during the American Revolution.
Saratoga
A battle that took place in New York where the Continental Army defeated the British. It proved to be the turning point of the war. This battle ultimately had France to openly support the colonies with military forces in addition to the supplies and money already being sent.
Yorktown
1781 - During the American Revolution the British, under Cornwallis, surrendered after a siege of three weeks by American and French troops.
Treaty of Paris 1783
This treaty ended the Revolutionary War, recognized the independence of the American colonies, and granted the colonies the territory from the southern border of Canada to the northern border of Florida, and from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi River.
Declaration of Independence
The document recording the proclamation of the second Continental Congress (4 July 1776), asserting the independence of the colonies from Great Britain.
Articles of Confederation
1st Constitution of the U.S. 1781-1788 (weaknesses-no executive, no judicial, no power to tax, no power to regulate trade).
Shay's Rebellion (Led by Daniel Shay)
Rebellion of farmers in western Massachusetts in 1786-1787, protesting mortgage foreclosures. It highlighted the need for a strong national government just as the call for the Constitutional Convention went out.
Constitutional Convention
Meeting in 1787 of the elected representatives of the thirteen original states to write the Constitution of the United States.
Federalist v. Anti-Federalist
Federalist = supported the constitution; favored strong national government
Anti-Federalist- wanted a weaker national government and stronger state government. (BILL OF RIGHTS!!!)