APUSH Vocab Ch 1-4

Treaty of Tordesillas

What: In 1494 it divided the New World lands between Spain and Portugal, with Spain having most of the land.

Significance: This encouraged the Spaniards to settle and take over lands in the New World, acting as a general beginning of western colonization.

Encomienda System

What: In the early 16th century, the Spanish government allowed colonists to have power over Native Americans in order to “Christianize” them. Really, it was a form of enslavement to get labor for new plantations.

Significance: This started the colonization of the New World, and the early Spanish dominance. The encomienda system supplied workers for the new agricultural systems, and when they died this spurred the trade of African slaves. Along with disease, this basically decimated the Native American population.

Colombian Exchange

What: 1492, Exchange of food & items between the Old and New Worlds

Significance: American plants revolutionized global diets, horses changed native lifestyles, Europeans brought diseases like smallpox that decimated Native American populations

Mestizos

What: 1600s, The “new race” made from the marriage of the Spanish race and the Native Americans of Central & South America.

Significance: Combination of culture, populating of the South American continent.

Black Legend

What: Late 17th century, false idea popularized by Spain’s rivals that they nearly tortured & butchered natives & stole their gold

Significance: Covered up the achievements the Spanish had in the New World, blamed them for misdoings not other colonies

Pope’s Rebellion

What: 1680, Pueblo rebels destroyed every Catholic Church in the province & killed many priests & Spanish settlers in New Mexico

Significance: It took decades for the Spanish to fully retake back the land, and it stands as an example of successful resistance to colonization, if temporary.

Joint Stock Companies

What: Early 1600s, forerunner of modern cooperation, where several people pool money to limit personal risk

Significance: They allowed people to have the finances for English colonization, as well as creating many of the early colonial efforts.

Anglo-Powhatan War

What: 1610-1614, tense relationships mainly over food culminated when Lord De La Warr basically declared war against the natives in Jamestown, with the peace sealed by the marriage of Pocahontas to John Rolfe

Significance: This led to the first known interracial marriage in Virginia, and led to further conflict between Natives and colonists. In retaliation, the English launched raids that forced the Native Americans ever farther west.

Iroquois Confederacy

What: An alliance between 5 nations: the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, & Senecas; founded in late 1500s, vied with neighboring tribes for territory, then with the colonies for control of the fur trade.

Significance: There was a preexisting strong military power in North America

Indentured Servitude & Headright System

What: Europeans with little opportunity volunteered themselves as indentured servants, in exchange for passage to the New World. The Headright system supported this by providing land to whoever brings over an indentured servants.

Significance: This allowed some ambitious middle-class men to profit greatly, and provided the labor necessary to create large plantations. This also encourages Bacon’s Rebellion

Puritans and Seperatists

What: A small group of dedicated Puritans who broke off of the Anglican Church, who traveled to the New World searching for a place to form their own way of life

Significance: They formed the Mayflower Compact, an agreement to a form of majority government, and had specific ideals for their community.

Fundamental Orders

What: 1639, A modern constitution, established by colonists in the Connecticut River Valley

Significance: Influenced the Connecticut state constitution, 1st constitution written without outside influence

Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson

What: Puritan practices, who challenged parts of the faith, committing hearsay. They were both eventually banished for spreading their ideas.

Significance: They founded areas that were more open to religious differences, and sparked the movement toward accepting religious differences

Great Migration

What: 1630, about 7,000 refugees left England for North American colonies, mainly Puritans. Many went to the West Indies.

Significance: The new settlers helped colonize the New World, and establish colonies with the Puritan values and principles that lay a foundation for further developments.

Quakers

What: 1600s, Religious group that refused to support the Anglican Church and had simple meetings where people spoke up, and viewed all as equals

Significance: They advocated for religious & civic freedoms, and helped found Pennsylvania

Salutary Neglect

What: A period when the Navigation Laws were only weakly enforced

Significance: This encouraged early self-governance and economic freedom

Maryland Act of Toleration

What: 1649, the Catholics supported this act that granted toleration to all Christians, though the death penalty for non-Christians.

Significance: Many Roman Catholics thus went to Maryland than any other English colony in the New World. This also laid the basis for further religious toleration & general democracy.

Bacon’s Rebellion

What: 1676, a thousand Virginians of ordinary, frontier people, attacked Native Americans and destroyed the capital, upset about Berkley’s lax treatment of the Natives and lack of support

Significance: It shook the foundation for traditional authority, encouraging new restrictions on the lives of Africans, and caused a shift away from indentured servants as the preferred workforce

Slave Codes

What: 1662, Began in Virginia, stated the iron conditions of slavery for Africans, making slavery inheritable

Significance: Colonists conformed their slaves to Christianity, led to racial discrimination including laws and customs, allowed for greater plantation growth

Southern Planter Class

What: Small group of wealthy plantation owners who dominated English colonies, had most of the economic power in the Virginia area

Significance: To grow wealth, they encouraged the production of Tobacco using African slaves, and shaped social & political forms by early dominance

Puritanism and the Half-Way Covenant

What: 1662, new agreement in Puritan church allowed for baptism, as in those baptized can join

Significance: This lowered the distinction of the Puritan community, strict religious purity was sacrificed for wider religious participation