Giant AHA Review

Why did England begin colonizing North America in the 1600s?

Overcrowding, competition with Spain and the Dutch, economic opportunity, and religious conflict after the Protestant Reformation motivated colonization.

What was the Roanoke Colony?

An unsuccessful English colony founded by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1587 that mysteriously disappeared and became known as the “Lost Colony.”

What was the Virginia Company?

A joint-stock company chartered by James I in 1606 to establish colonies in North America for profit.

Why was Jamestown founded?

Jamestown was founded in 1607 in Virginia to search for gold, find trade routes, and create profit for investors.

Why did Jamestown struggle early on?

Drought, disease, poor sanitation, starvation, bad location, and colonists unwilling to do manual labor caused massive death rates.

What was the mortality rate in early Jamestown?

About 90% of the first colonists died.

Who were the Powhatan Confederacy?

A group of Algonquian tribes led by Powhatan who initially helped the Jamestown settlers survive.

Why did relations between settlers and Powhatans worsen?

Cultural misunderstandings, English expansion, land disputes, and the kidnapping of Pocahontas damaged relations.

What was the House of Burgesses?

The first representative assembly in the English colonies established in Virginia in 1619.

What saved Jamestown economically?

Tobacco cultivation beginning in 1611 created a profitable cash crop economy.

Why did tobacco increase settlement expansion?

Tobacco exhausted soil quickly, forcing colonists to seek more land.

What happened in the Powhatan attack of 1622?

Powhatan’s successor attacked settlements along the James River and killed about one-fourth of colonists.

What happened to the Virginia Company in 1624?

James I revoked its charter and Virginia became a royal colony.

Why was Maryland founded?

Lord Baltimore founded Maryland as a refuge for English Catholics.

What was significant about Maryland’s religious policy?

Maryland offered religious toleration to all Christians.

What was the headright system?

A system granting 50 acres of land to settlers or anyone paying for another person’s passage to America.

What was indentured servitude?

A labor system where workers exchanged several years of labor for passage to America and eventual freedom dues.

Why did indentured servitude decline after 1670?

Land became scarce and planters increasingly turned to African slavery.

Who were the Pilgrims?

Separatists who believed the Anglican Church was too corrupt and founded Plymouth Colony in 1620.

What was the Mayflower Compact?

An agreement establishing self-government and a “Civil Body Politic” in Plymouth Colony.

What was the Puritan goal in Massachusetts Bay?

To create a model Christian society or “city upon a hill.”

Who was John Winthrop?

The Puritan governor of Massachusetts Bay who promoted communalism and moral responsibility.

What was the Pequot War?

A conflict in 1637 where English settlers and allies destroyed the Pequot tribe in Connecticut.

How was New England society different from the Chesapeake?

New England emphasized religion, towns, family life, and equality while the Chesapeake relied on plantations, tobacco, and dispersed settlements.

Who was Roger Williams?

A Puritan dissenter exiled from Massachusetts who founded Rhode Island promoting religious freedom and separation of church and state.

Who was Anne Hutchinson?

A religious dissenter banished from Massachusetts for challenging Puritan authority.

What were the Restoration Colonies?

Colonies founded after the restoration of Charles II including New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the Carolinas.

How did England gain New York?

The English seized New Amsterdam from the Dutch in 1664 and renamed it New York.

Why was Pennsylvania founded?

William Penn founded Pennsylvania as a haven for Quakers and promoted religious toleration.

What were Quaker beliefs?

Equality, pacifism, simplicity, and rejection of formal clergy.

Why did Carolina split into North and South Carolina?

Differences in settlement patterns and economies created two distinct regions.

What crops dominated South Carolina?

Rice and indigo cultivated using enslaved African labor.

What caused King Philip’s War?

Colonial expansion and land pressure led Metacom (King Philip) to attack English settlements in 1675.

What was the result of King Philip’s War?

The power of New England tribes was broken and many Native Americans were enslaved.

What caused Bacon’s Rebellion?

Frontier settlers angry over Indian policy and lack of land rebelled against Governor Berkeley in 1676.

Why was Bacon’s Rebellion significant?

It accelerated the shift from indentured servitude to African slavery.

Why did slavery expand in the colonies after 1670?

Indentured servants became less available and planters wanted a permanent labor force.

What was the Middle Passage?

The brutal Atlantic voyage transporting enslaved Africans to the Americas.

How did slavery differ in the North and South?

The South relied heavily on plantation slavery while Northern slavery was smaller-scale and often urban or domestic.

What was triangular trade?

A transatlantic trading system exchanging rum, slaves, molasses, and manufactured goods between Europe, Africa, and the Americas.

What was mercantilism?

The belief that colonies existed to benefit the mother country economically through trade and raw materials.

What were the Navigation Acts?

Laws regulating colonial trade to benefit England by restricting trade with foreign nations.

Why were the Navigation Acts difficult to enforce?

Widespread smuggling and weak enforcement made compliance difficult.

What was the Dominion of New England?

A British attempt to consolidate New England colonies under tighter royal control in 1686.

Who was Sir Edmund Andros?

The royal governor of the Dominion of New England who angered colonists with strict control.

What caused the Salem Witch Trials?

Fear, social tensions, political instability, and religious extremism led to accusations of witchcraft in 1692.

What was the Enlightenment?

An intellectual movement emphasizing reason, science, and natural laws.

How did John Locke influence colonial thought?

He argued governments derive power from the people and protect natural rights.

What was the Great Awakening?

A series of religious revivals emphasizing emotion, personal faith, and salvation.

Who was Jonathan Edwards?

A preacher during the Great Awakening known for “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”

Who was George Whitefield?

A famous revivalist preacher who spread the Great Awakening throughout the colonies.

How did the Great Awakening affect colonial society?

It increased religious diversity, challenged authority, and encouraged individualism.

What was the Zenger trial?

A 1733 case establishing precedent for freedom of the press after John Peter Zenger was acquitted of libel.

What was the Stono Rebellion?

A 1739 slave uprising in South Carolina where enslaved people attempted to flee to Florida.

Why was the French and Indian War significant?

It united colonists, increased British debt, and led Britain to tighten control over the colonies.

What was the Albany Congress?

A 1754 meeting attempting colonial unity and alliance with the Iroquois.

What did Britain gain from the Treaty of Paris 1763?

France lost all major North American territories to Britain.

What was the Proclamation of 1763?

A British law preventing settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains.

Why did colonists resent the Sugar Act?

It aimed to raise revenue and crack down on smuggling during economic depression.

What did the Stamp Act tax?

Printed materials including newspapers, legal documents, and pamphlets.

What was the colonial argument against taxation?

“No taxation without representation” because colonists lacked elected representatives in Parliament.

What was virtual representation?

The British belief that Parliament represented all British subjects equally regardless of location.

Who were the Sons of Liberty?

A colonial protest group resisting British taxation and organizing demonstrations.

What did the Declaratory Act state?

Parliament had full authority to legislate for the colonies “in all cases whatsoever.”

What were the Townshend Acts?

Taxes on imports like glass, paper, tea, and paint used to raise revenue.

What happened at the Boston Massacre?

British soldiers killed five colonists during a confrontation in Boston in 1770.

What was the Tea Act?

A law giving the East India Company monopoly rights to sell tea cheaply in the colonies.

What happened during the Boston Tea Party?

Colonists dumped British tea into Boston Harbor in protest of taxation in 1773.

What were the Intolerable Acts?

Punitive laws passed after the Boston Tea Party that restricted Massachusetts self-government.

Why did the Quebec Act anger colonists?

It expanded Quebec territory and protected Catholicism, alarming Protestant colonists.