AP U.S. History: Periods 1 and 2 (1491-1754) Review Flashcards

Flashcards covering Period 1 (1491-1607) and Period 2 (1607-1754) of the AP U.S. History curriculum, focusing on Native societies, European exploration, regional British colonies, labor systems, and colonial developments.

How did Native societies in the Southwest adapt to their arid environment before 1492?

They developed irrigation systems for settled agriculture, building Pueblo communities with adobe towns and cultivating maize.

What were the primary features of Native societies in the Great Basin and Great Plains prior to European contact?

They inhabited a dry interior and grasslands, leading nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyles following seasonal resources, and later adopted horse culture after European contact.

What economic and social structures characterized Native communities in the Mississippi Valley and Southeast?

Fertile river systems supported intensive maize agriculture, allowing for large towns, chiefdoms, and mound building such as Cahokia.

What was the Spanish encomienda system?

A coerced labor system in which Spanish grantees demanded Indigenous labor or tribute.

What was the Spanish repartimiento system?

A colonial labor system that required Indigenous communities to supply labor to the Spanish for limited periods.

What items were brought to the Americas from Europe, Africa, and Asia during the Columbian Exchange?

Horses, cattle, pigs, wheat, sugar, guns, and manufactured goods.

What crops were introduced to Europe, Africa, and Asia from the Americas during the Columbian Exchange?

Maize, potatoes, tomatoes, tobacco, and cacao.

What four factors contributed to the success of the Spanish conquest in the Americas?

Epidemic diseases (smallpox, measles, influenza), Spanish military advantages (steel weapons, firearms, horses), exploitation of existing Native political divisions, and the capture of Native leaders to redirect tribute systems.

What was the Casta system in Spanish colonial society?

A social hierarchy that classified people based on their ancestry and legal status, introducing terms such as mestizo and mulatto.

What was the significance of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680?

It demonstrated significant and effective Native resistance to Spanish colonial rule in the Southwest.

How did French colonial goals differ from British colonial goals in North America?

France focused primarily on commercial trade (especially fur) and strategic alliances with smaller settler populations, whereas Britain established larger settler migrations and permanent agricultural colonies.

What characterized the economy and society of the New England colonies?

Settled by religious communities (Puritans and Separatists) in family units; driven by small farms, fishing, timber, shipbuilding, and commerce; governed by town meetings with high literacy rates.

What were the major cash crops and labor systems in the Chesapeake colonies (Virginia & Maryland)?

Tobacco was the primary cash crop, initially relying heavily on European indentured servants and increasingly transitioning to African chattel slavery.

What was the Headright System?

A policy that granted land to individuals who paid for laborers' passage to the colonies, which encouraged migration and concentrated land ownership among elites.

What crops dominated the economy of the Lower South (Carolinas & Georgia), and what distinct culture emerged there?

Rice and indigo produced by enslaved labor dominated the economy, and Black majorities in some areas fostered the distinct Gullah Geechee culture.

What was mercantilism and how did Britain enforce it through the Navigation Acts?

Mercantilism was the economic theory that colonies exist to enrich the mother country; the Navigation Acts were British laws regulating colonial trade to ensure profits benefited England.

What were two early foundational examples of colonial self-government created in 1619 and 1620?

The Virginia House of Burgesses (1619) and the Mayflower Compact (1620).

What was salutary neglect, and how did it influence British colonial political development?

Britain's loose enforcement of imperial regulations prior to 1763, which allowed the colonies significant political and economic autonomy and fostered habits of self-governance.

What were the causes and consequences of Bacon's Rebellion (1676)?

It was driven by class tensions and frontier conflict in Virginia, resulting in a shift away from indentured servitude toward an increased reliance on chattel slavery.

What was the Stono Rebellion of 1739?

An uprising of enslaved Africans in South Carolina that led to the enactment of harsher slave codes.

What was the Covenant Chain?

An alliance formed between the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the English colonies.

What was the First Great Awakening (1730s-1740s), and how did it affect colonial society?

A transatlantic Protestant revival movement emphasizing emotional conversion that challenged traditional clergy, divided congregations into New Lights and Old Lights, and built intercolonial connections.

What was the historical significance of the John Peter Zenger trial (1735)?

It established an early precedent that encouraged a freer press in the American colonies.