Unit 2 APUSH Vocab

Atlantic Slave Trade

Atlantic Slave Trade

Systematic importation of African slaves from their native continent across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World, fueled by rising demand for sugar, rice, coffee, and tobacco

Middle Passage

Hellish and deadly middle leg of the Triangular trade. European ships brought goods to Africa in exchange for slaves which went to the Americas. From the 16th to 19th century 12 million Africans were transported, unknown millions died en route

Yeoman farmers

Small landowners who farmed their own land and usually did not own slaves

Stono Rebellion

Slave uprising in 1739 in South Carolina that led to a severe tightening of the slave code and the temporary imposition of a prohibitive tax on imported slaves

Republicanism

Political theory in the 18th century England and America that celebrated active participation in public life by economically independent citizens as central to freedom

Liberalism

Political philosophy that emphasized the protection of liberty by limiting the power of government to interfere with the natural rights of citizens; in the 20th century, belief in an activist government promoting greater social and economic equality

Salutary neglect

Informal British policy during the first half of the 18th century that allowed the American colonies considerable freedom to pursue their economic and political interests in exchange for colonial obedience

Enlightenment

Revolution in thought in the 18th century that emphasized reason and science over the authority of traditional religion

Deism

Enlightenment thought applied to religion; emphasized reason, morality, and natural law

Great Awakening

Fervent religious revival movement in the 1720s through the 1740s that was spread throughout the colonies by ministers like New England Congregationalist Jonathan Edwards and English revivalist George Whitefield

Father Junipero Serra

Founded the first California mission, in San Diego, in 1769 and administered the mission network until his death in 1784

Middle ground

A borderland between European empires and Indian sovereignty where various native peoples and Europeans lived side nu side in relative harmony

Seven Years’ War

The last-and most important-of four colonial was fought between England and France for control of North America east of the Mississippi River. AKA French and Indian War

French and Indian War

The last-and most important-of four colonial was fought between England and France for control of North America east of the Mississippi River. AKA Seven Years’ War

Pontiac’s Rebellion

An Indians attack on British forts and settlements after France ceded to the British its territory east of the Mississippi River, as part of the Treaty of Paris in 1763, without consulting France’s Indian allies.

Neolin

A Native American religious prophet who, by preaching pan-Indian unity and rejection of European technology and commerce, helped inspire Pontiac’s Rebellion

Proclamation of 1763

Royal directive issued after the French and Indian War prohibiting settlement, surveys, and land grants west of the Appalachian Mountains; caused considerable resentment among colonists hoping to move west

Albany Plan of Union

A failed 1754 proposal by the seven northern colonies in anticipation of the French and Indian War, urging the unification of the colonies under one crown-appointed president

Metacom

Chief of Wampanoags, who colonists called King Philip. Resented conversion efforts waged war and was killed

King Philip’s War

Multiyear conflict that began in 1675, Indians uprising against colonists. Resulted in broadened freedom for New Englanders and the dispossession of Indian lands

Mercantilism

Policy of Great Britain and other imperial sates of regulating the economies of the colonies to benefit the mother county

Navigation Act

Law passed by English parliament to control colonial trade and bolster mercantile system 1650-1775; led to growing resentment by colonists

Covenant Chain

Alliance formed in the 1670s between English and the Iroquois nations

Yamasee Uprising

Revolt of the Yamasee and Creek Indians, aggravated by rising debts and slave traders’ raids, against Carolina settlers. Resulted in expulsion of Indians to Florida

Society of Friends (Quakers)

Religious group in England and America whose members believed all persons possessed the “inner light” or spirit of God; Early slave abolitionists and equal rights

Plantation

Large agricultural enterprise the used unfree labor to produce a crop for the world market

Bacon’s Rebellion

Unsuccessful 1676 revolt led by planter Nathaniel Bacon against Virginia governor William Berkeley’s administration because of go. corruption and because Berkley had failed to protect settlers from Indian raids and did not allow them to occupy Indian lands

Glorious Revolution

Coup in 1688 engineered by a small group of aristocrats the led William of Orange taking the British throne in place of James II

English Bill of Rights

Laws enacted in 1689 that inscribed the rights of Englishmen into law and enumerate parliamentary powers such as taxation

Lords of Trade

English regulatory board established to oversee colonial affairs in 1675

Dominion of New England

Consolidation of the the New England colonies-later New York and New Jersey-by royal governor Edmund Andros in 1686;reverted to separate individual colonies 3 years later

English Toleration Act

1690 act of parliament that allowed all English Protestants to worship freely

Salem Witch Trials

Crisis of trials and executions in Salem Massachusetts, in 1692 that resulted from anxiety over witchcraft

Redemptioners

Indentured families or persons who received passage to the New World in exchange for a promise to work their debt off in America

Walking Purchase

Infamous 1737 purchase of Indian land in which Pennsylvania colonists tricked the Lenni Lanape Indians. the Lanape agreed to cede land equivalent to which a man could walk in 36 hours, but the colonists marked out the area using runners

Backcountry

Area stretching from central Pennsylvania southward through the Shenandoah valley of Virginia and into upland North and South Carolina

Staple Crops

Important cash crops; for example, cotton or tobacco

Virginia Company

Joint-stock enterprise that King James I chartered in 1606. Was to spread Christianity to the New World and make profit

Anglican Church

Establish state Church of England, formed by King Henry VIII after the pope refused to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon

Roanoke colony

English expedition of 117 settlers, including Virginia Dare (1st English child born in the New World). The colony disappeared between 1587 and 1590

Enclosure movement

Legal process that divided large farm fields in England that were owned by groups of peasants into smaller, individually owned plots

John Smith

One of Jamestowns first leaders. Imposed forced labor. His successors continued his iron rule

Headright system

Land-grant policy that promised fifty acres to any colonist who could pay for voyage, as well as fifty more for any accompanying servants

House of Burgessess

First elected assembly in colonial America, established in 1619 in Virginia. Only wealthy landowners could vote

Uprising of 1622

Unsuccessful uprising of Virginia Native Americans that wiped out one-quarter of the settler population

Dower rights

The right of a widowed woman to inherit one-third of her deceased husbands property

Puritans

English religious group that sought to purify the Church of England. Founded by John Winthrop in 1630

John Winthrop

Founded the Puritans in 1630

Pilgrims

Puritan separatists who broke completely with the Church of England and sailed to the New World aboard the Mayflower, founded Plymouth Colony on Cape Cod in 1620

Mayflower Compact

Document signed in 1620 aboard the Mayflower before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. Document committed the group to majority-rule

Great Migration 1630

Migration of approximately 21,000 English Puritans to the Massachusetts Bay Colony

Dissenters

Protestants who belonged to denominations outside of the Anglican Church

Captivity narratives

Accounts written by colonists after their time in Indian captivity, often stressing the captives religious convictions

Pequot War

Armed conflict in 1637 that led to the destruction of one of New Englands most powerful Indian groups

Half-Way Covenant

1662 religious compromise that allowed baptism and partial church membership to colonial New Englanders whose parents were not among the Puritan elect

English liberty

Idea that English people were entitled to certain liberties, including trial by jury, habeas corpus, and the right to face one’s accuser in court. Even the English King subject to the rule of law

Act Concerning Religion or Maryland Toleration Act

1649 law that granted free exercise of religion to all christian denominations in colonial Maryland