APUSH Unit 1 - Chapter 2 Vocab and Key Concepts

Columbian Exchange

An exchange of plants, people, animals, and diseases between the New World and Europe following the discovery of America in 1492

• New World crops had a dramatic effect on the European diet

• Old World domesticated animals changed life in the New World

• Allowed for a significant increase in agricultural yields and population growth in other continents

Outwork

A system of manufacturing that was used extensively in the English woolen industry in the 16-17th centuries.

• Wool was bought by merchants, who then hired landless peasants to spin and weave it into cloth in order to sell

• England’s economy flourished due to their expansion of commerence and manufacturing

Jamestown

A settlement in Virginia where King James I’s all-male group resigned in

• Many voyagers passed away and did not receive the riches they were looking for (no gold)

• Wanted to dominate the inhabiting Indian population; Stopped by Powhatan

• Powhatan intended to form an alliance with the English, however, they could not decide who was in debt to whom (tension and eventual war)

House of Burgesses

An organization of government in colonial Virginia with an assembly of representatives elected by the colony’s inhabitants (1619)

• Could make laws and levy taxes

• England and governor can veto acts

Royal Colony

Charted by the crown

• The colony’s governor was appointed by the crown and served accordingly to the instructions of the Board of Trade (Managed trade and oversaw American colonies—make colonies profitable)

• Legal establishment of the Chruch of England in the colony

• King and his Privy council must ratify all legistlation (law creation)—House of Burgesses was retained

Development of Tobacco

Tobacco cultivation made the British colonies in the Chesapeake region economically viable

• 1700s: Tobacco was the most valuable cash crop produced in southern States

• Indentured servants played a key role in the tobacco plantations

• Slaves increased dramatically during this era

• Variant discovered by John Rolfe

• Spurred migration and taxes on exports bolstered the royal treasury

Lord Baltimore

A Catholic aristocrat who was granted lands bordering the vast Chesapeake Bay by King Charles I (Maryland)

• Turned Maryland into a refugee for Catholics who were subject to persecution in England

• Imported artisans and offered ample lands to wealthy migrants

Maryland Toleration Act

An act that granted all Christians the right to follow their beliefs and hold church services

• The crown imposed toleration on Massachusetts Bay in its new royal charter of 1691.

• Suggested by Lord Baltimore

Social Development

• African slaves lost their social mobility by the 1660s

• Blacks outnumbered whites in Barbados

• Racial categories began to form —slavery began to become hereditary

• Shift from religion (Christian-Pagan) to Color (white-black)

African Labor

Due to the sugar production demand, more slaves and indentured servants were needed

• Slavery became hereditary

What did white slave owners do to control the black majority?

Practiced a code of terror and force while also maintaining high sugar production.

What factor played in the loss of social mobility for black individuals?

The collapse of the tobacco industry and increasing political power of the gentry.

What were the three colonies?

1. Tribute colonies—to rely on the wealth and labor of the land

2. Plantation colonies—produce cash crops (sugar and other sub/tropical crops)

3. Neo-Europeans—The practice of replicating familiar economic and social structures

Encomiendas

Grants given and re-partitioned among prominent men and leading conquistadors

• Allowed for control of vast resources and the monopolization of Indian labor

What did the monopolization of Indian labor and mita-system lead to?

An enhanced discovery of gold and silver

• Triggered a ruinous inflation

• Allowed for economic flourished, however, economy soon declined in 1598

Mita-system

A system co-opted by Spanish officials to expedite the supply of gold and silver

• forced Indian workers

What did the Spanish do once they conquered the vast territories of the Americas?

• Repressed native ceremonies and texts

• Reinforced their beliefs

Why did Spain’s economy falter while England’s flourished?

• Spain’s economy fell due to the rate at which gold and silver were being produced (inflation) and costly war (religious animosity)

• England’s economy flourished due to the practice of outwork—or, mercantilism.

What caused Spain’s dominance in the New World to diminish?

The rise of plantation colonies + Spain’s economic decline.

Why did African slaves begin to be incorporated into agricultural/plantation labor?

Due to the trade of diseases, many of the indigenous people supplying labor perished, resulting in African slaves being used as substitutes

• later lead to a social shift

What is tobacco and how did it help English colonists to conquer the Indian lands in Virginia?

A cash crop that fetched for a high price in England

• Spurred migration rates from England

• Taxes on imported tobacco bolstered the royal Treasury—both Maryland and Virginia profited off the crop (alike in social and economic systems)

What did the Virginia Company allow?

For settlers to own land of 100 acres or more to those who imported servants—Women were then imported to those areas.

• laws mimicked those in England

• 1622: land ownership, self-government, and a judicial system had formed.

What did the Headright System do to land ownership?

Extended land ownership by granting 50 acres of land to anyone who paid the passage of a new immigrant to the colony.

• Large planters amassed greater claims of land

• Brought in more immingrants—greater population/workers

In what ways were indentured servants disadvantaged?

They were perceived as valuable cargo rather than people

• Contracts were extended in trials

• Women indentured servants were abused

• Labor was exploited (Tobacco Boom)