APUSH Unit 1 Key Terms

Native Americans

1. original Americans
2. migrated to America via Siberian Land Bridge during ice age (following megafuana and fish)
3. mostly of Mongolian (?) descent

Land Bridge

1. span of land connecting Siberia to North America during the ice age
2. allowed "Native" Americans to migrate to Americas

Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)

1. created by the pope
2. gave all American land, except Brazil, to Spain (Brazil was claimed by Portugal)

Hernando Cortés

1. Spanish conquistador
2. 1518- led small military expedition against Aztecs... lost, but exposed them to smallpox
-won with second attempt
3. considered one of the most brutal conquistadors

Christopher Columbus

Italian navigator who discovered the New World in the service of Spain while looking for a route to China (1451-1506)

Aztec

- major city: Tenochtitlán
- in Mexico
- succeeded Mayans
- elaborate administrative, education, and medical systems; harsh religion

Inca

- major cities: Cuzco and Machu Pichu
- in Peru
- complex government; paved road system; bridges spanning HUGE gaps

Maya

- major cities: Mayapan
- Central America and Yucatan Peninsula
- sophisticated culture, written language, numerical system, accurate calendar, advanced agricultural system

Conquistadors

Spanish conquerors
(see also: Francisco Pizarro, Hernando Cortes)

Fransisco Pizarro

1. Spanish conqueror
2. conquered Incans in 1538

St. Augustine, Florida

Spanish fort founded 1565

Encomiendas

1. legal system employed by Spanish in America
2. granted a specific number of natives to each Spanish citizen

Maize

corn

Mestizos

1. part Spanish, part Native
2. not accepted by either group

Mercantilism

"economics of empire building"
- basis for creation of colonies and how mother country treated them
- colonies exist to give raw materials to mother country and buy manufactured goods back

The Protestant Reformation (1517)

challenging power of Roman-Catholic Church
(see also: Martin Luther, John Calvin, Anglican)

Martin Luther

1. sparked Protestant Reformation with 95 thesis
2. started Lutheran sect
-purify church, rid of corruption

John Calvin

1. part of Protestant Reformation after Martin Luther
2. created Calvinism

The English Reformation

start of Anglican Church, Puritans, and Separists

Anglican Church (Church of England)

1. started because pope would not give King a divorce
2. placed king as head of church

New Amsterdam

1. 17th century Dutch capital of New Netherlands
2. becomes New York, NY

Joint-Stock Company

A company made up of a group of shareholders. Each shareholder contributes some money to the company and receives some share of the company's profits and debts.

Jamestown

1. first successful English colony
2. founded by Virginia (alias London) Company in 1607 under contract/charter from King James I
3. Anglican like Virginia's namesake, Queen Elizabeth
4. producer of tobacco
5. 1619- women, Africans, House of Burgesses
6. Pocahontas fiasco

Virginia Company

1. aka London Company
2. founded Jamestown with a 1606 charter from James I
- charter revoked 1624

Roanoke

1. failed colony
2. founded 1585, people left Spring 1586
3. second try 1587- supplies delayed b/c of war in England- found Roanoke empty upon return 3 yrs. later
- no trace except "Croatoan" carved on a post
-never found

Royal Colony

colony founded and controlled by the King (or Queen)

Proprietary Colony

colony founded and run by proprietor(s)

Charter Colony

colony founded by a company charter, usually for commercial gain

Captain John Smith

came to VA in Jan. 1608, took charge and imposed order

John Rolfe

1. tries to cultivate tobacco in 1612, started a cash crop
2. marries Pocahontas 1614
3. killed 1622 in Powhatan raid

The "Headright" System

- 50 acre plots
- if already in VA, receive 2; if new to VA, receive 1; if paying for others passage, receive 1 upon arrival

Virginia House of Burgesses

1st colonial representative assembly, founded 1619

Lord Baltimore

1st is George Calvert, 2nd is son, Cecilius Calvert
- proprietor of the Maryland colony for Catholics

1649 Act of Toleration

religious tolerance among Christians in Maryland
-Calvert were Catholic, but England was Anglican

Sir William Berkeley

royal governor of VA during Bacon's rebellion
-dominates politics
-largely ignores "Backcountry"
-restricts HoB votes to rich and limits number of elections

"Backcountry"

settlers west of Blue Ridge Mountains

Nathaniel Bacon

wealthy landowner who leads backcountry against Sir William Berkeley

Puritans and Pilgrims

- founded Masssachusetts Bay and Plymouth, repectively
- similar, but tension between them

Plymouth

- settlement in New England founded by Puritan Separists (aka Pilgrims)
-landed farther N than planned
- Thanksgiving
- Trade: Fish and Furs

The Mayflower Compact (1620)

an agreement by the "saints" on the Mayflower to make and obey laws for their colony; first self-rule by American colonists

Massachusetts Bay Colony

colony founded on 1629 charter by Puritans

John Winthrop

leader of Massachusetts Bay colonists

"City on a Hill" (Boston)

-religion based theocracy
-capital of Massachusetts Bay Colony

Thomas Hooker

founder of Hartford, against the wishes of Massachusetts government in 1635

The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

-1st written Constitution in America
-adopted 1639

Roger Williams

- argued MA should sever ties with England
- colonial gov't wanted to deport him, but he escaped first
- 1644 he created Rhode Island after buying land from Natives and obtaining a charter

Anne Hutchinson

-argued faith alone was necessary for salvation
-banned for heresy and sedition in 1638
-dies 1643 with family during native uprising

King Philip's War (1675)

-a conflict between New England colonists and Native American Groups allied under leadership Wampanoag chief Metacom
-whites won with help of Mowhawk indians

English Civil War

- pushes ~15000 to colonies
- Charles I repeated dissolves and recalls Parliament
- Cavaliers (king) v. Roundheads (Parliament)
- tried and executed Charles I (only monarch to ever be tried)

Oliver Cromwell

Leader of the Roundheads who takes over England following Charles' execution

Fundamental Constitution for Carolina

written by Anthony Ashley Cooper and John Locke, created a system of land distribution and utopian social order; ideas largely based on Carribbean, esp. Barbados

The Society of Friends

- Quakers who founded Pennsylvania (w/ Philadelphia as capital)
- 1702 Charter of Liberties

William Penn

- Quaker leader
-son of Pennsylvania's namesake
- namesake died, King owed him a favor and therefore gave land to son, William w/ stipulation it must be called "Pennsylvania"

Charter of Liberties (1702)

- written in Pennsylvania
- limited proprietor's authority
- established representative assembly
- permitted lower counties to each have own representative assembly

Presidos

Spanish forts, non-religion based

New Mexico

Spanish colony in Western North America

James Oglethorpe

-founded Georgia with the King
-very controlling

Georgia

- colony founded as military border between Carolinas and Spanish Florida
- only colony the King directly governs
- penal colony for criminals (debters)
- founded 1732
- economy: small farms
- no Catholics or Black (may run to Spanish land) and no rum

The Navigation Acts (1651)

forced mercantilism
-shipments from Europe to English colonies must be shipped through England first.
-any exports to England from the colonies had to be on ships built and owned by British subjects
-manufactured goods were subsidized to undercut European competitors

Dominion of New England

The result of King James II combining all New England colonies into a single unit
- highly contested

Sir Edmund Andros

Governor of the Dominion of New England from 1686 until 1692, when the colonists rebelled and forced him to return to England

William and Mary

King and Queen of England in 1688. With them, King James' Catholic reign ended. (invited to England b/c subject were unhappy with James II)
- 1st as limited monarchy

The Glorious Revolution

William & Mary land in England with their army, James II flees

Indentured Servant

- set term of servitude (usually ~7yrs)
- supposed to leave w/ clothes, tools, sometimes land
-rarely did
-often ended up poor w/ no home or family

Subsistence Farming

farming that provides for the basic needs of the farmer without surpluses for marketing
-seen in North

The Middle Passage

name used for slave passage to Americas (middle of triangle trade)

Slavery & Chattel Slavery

-owning a person as a worker
-chattel is the type of slavery in America where slaves are treated as cargo

Slave Codes

rules regarding slavery in America

"Pennsylvania Dutch"

German-speaking Protestants who settled in Pennsylvania (dutch- Americanized version of "deutsch", meaning German)

Triangular Trade

trade between Americas, Europe, and Africa

Stono Rebellion

- 20 slaves take control of musket house- 80 more join
- plan to escape to Spanish Florida
- all caught and executed
-RESULT: limited slave actions

Town Meetings

- common in Northern colonies
- limited to rich, old, white men for the most part

Salem Witch Trials

-1680s and 1690s
-many women killed on false accusations of being witches (little they could do to disprove)

The Great Awakening

-brining people back to church
-revivals, emotions in church

John and Charles Wesley

Powerful evangelists of the Great Awakening. The helped spread the message of the revival and founded Methodism. The two visited Georgia and other colonies in the 1730s.

George Whitefield

Credited with starting the Great Awakening, also a leader of the "New Lights."

Jonathan Edwards

major New Light preacher of the Great Awakening who spoke of the fiery depths of hell.

New Lights

revivalist preachers & congregations during the Great Awakening

Old Lights

traditional preachers and congregations in the Great Awakening

The Enlightenment

rise of scientific knowledge
(know: John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Jean Jacques Rousseau)

Natural Law

God's or nature's law that defines right from wrong and is higher than human law

John Locke

Enlightenment thinker from England who believed in the natural & inherent good in people

Deism

God built the universe and let it run. Clockmaker theory.

Poor Richard's Almanac

one of the first almanacs, written by Benjamin Franklin