Early American History: Pre-Colonial era to the Civil War

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key terms from pre-colonial Native societies through to the start of the American Civil War.

Haudenosaunee (Iroquois)

An alliance of $5$ nations in the eastern United States.

Three sisters

The agricultural combination of squash, corn, and beans, which were very important for surviving the winter.

Matrilineal system

A social system used by Native Americans where lineage is traced through the mother, unlike the European patrilineal systems.

Animism

The belief that everything has a spirit.

Inclusivists

A religious perspective inclusive of other religions and beliefs.

Bering land bridge theory

The theory that an ice block once existed between Europe and America that people crossed, though many scientists now believe a coastal route was taken.

Cahokia

The first Native American society, which ended due to environmental degradation from tree chopping.

Aztec Empire

A city-on-a-lake empire that created plants growing above water and ended primarily due to European diseases.

Inca Empire

A society in Cuzco, Peru, known for vast trading networks, mountain settlements, engineers, and aqueducts.

Mansa Mousa

The King of Mali, known as the richest person ever.

Reconquista

A period where the Spanish and Portuguese took Muslim war captives and bought slaves from North Africa.

Caravel

A type of ship capable of long distance travel.

Enclosure movement

A legal process in England leading to the eviction of many people and high levels of poverty.

Borderland

A place where geographical and cultural borders are not clearly defined, such as the Netherlands.

Columbian exchange

The trading of commodities between the "old world" (Europe) and the "new world" (America).

Conquistadors

Spanish explorers and conquerors who destroyed Native American civilizations, including Hernan Cortes and Francisco Pizzaro.

Hacienda

A large-scale farm under Spanish control.

Encomienda

A plan that legally allowed conquistadors to demand labor from Native people.

Repartimiento system

A system where Native people were legally free but required to perform a certain amount of yearly work and prohibited from practicing animism.

Pueblo revolt

The $1680$ uprising of Indigenous people against the Spanish.

House of burgesses

Established in $1619$, it was the first government in colonial America.

Bacon's rebellion

A revolt led by Nathaniel Bacon against Governor William Berkeley, resulting in the burning of Jamestown and a shift from indentured servants to slavery.

Mayflower compact

An agreement that established democracy among Pilgrims.

Quakers

A religious group in the middle colonies that did not believe in slavery or violence.

Triangle trade

A trade network between Europe (manufactured goods), Africa (enslaved people), and the Americas (raw materials).

Middle passage

The horrific journey taken via slave ships from Africa to the Americas, during which at least half of the people died.

Stono rebellion

A $1739$ slave revolt in South Carolina led by Jemmy, prompted by the Spanish promise of freedom in Florida.

Haitian revolution

A rebellion starting in $1789$ where slaves successfully overthrew French rule, gaining freedom in $1804$.

Peace of Paris ($1763$)

The treaty ending the Seven Years War, resulting in France giving Canada to Britain.

Proclamation of $1763$

A British rule prohibiting settlements west of the Appalachian mountains and the private purchase of Native land.

Albany Plan of Union ($1754$)

A plan drafted by Ben Franklin proposing a grand council with power over taxes and Native relations.

Virtual representation

The British idea that the colonies were represented in Parliament even without actual delegates.

Stamp Act

A British tax requiring a stamp on all printed materials to help pay off Seven Years War debt.

Daughters of liberty

A women's organization that protested British taxes by making handmade clothes and boycott goods.

Intolerable Acts

A series of punitive laws passed by Britain following the Boston Tea Party, including closing ports and imposing martial law.

Common sense ($1776$)

A revolutionary pamphlet written by Thomas Paine arguing against "monarchical tyranny."

Battle of Saratoga

The $1777$ turning point in the Revolution that persuaded other countries that American victory was possible.

Battle of Yorktown

The final major battle where Washington surrounded Cornwallis, leading to British surrender.

Abolition

The social movement dedicated to freeing slaves.

Bill for religious freedom

A controversial piece of legislation written by Thomas Jefferson to separate church and state.

XYZ Affair ($1797$)

An incident where French officials demanded payments from American diplomats, leading to an undeclared sea war.

Alien and Sedition acts

$1798$ laws that increased residency requirements for citizenship and allowed the prosecution of government critics.

Marbury vs Madison ($1803$)

The Supreme Court decision that established the principle of judicial review.

Judicial review

The right of the Supreme Court to determine if an act violates the Constitution.

Louisiana Purchase ($1803$)

The purchase of territory from France that doubled the size of the United States.

Embargo Act ($1807$)

Jefferson's ban on all US exports in an attempt to protect American ships from interference.

Manifest Destiny

The belief, created in $1845$, that the US has a divine right to occupy all of North America.

The American System

Henry Clay's blueprint for government-promoted economic development involving a national bank, tariffs, and internal improvements.

Missouri Compromise

An $1820$ agreement admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, while prohibiting slavery in part of the Louisiana Purchase.

Monroe Doctrine

An $1823$ policy stating the US would oppose European colonization and not interfere in European wars.

Indian Removal Act

An $1830$ law providing funds for the forced uprooting of Native communities from the east.

Trail of tears ($1838$)

The forced removal route of the Cherokee from Georgia to Oklahoma, resulting in many deaths.

Bank war

The struggle between President Jackson and Nicholas Biddle over the renewal of the Second Bank of the US charter.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

The $1848$ treaty ending the Mexican-American War, confirming the annexation of Texas and ceding several western states.

Wilmot Proviso

An $1846$ proposal to prohibit slavery in all territory acquired from Mexico.

Compromise of $1850$

Legislation that admitted California as a free state, abolished the slave trade in DC, and enacted the Fugitive Slave Act.

Fugitive slave act

A $1850$ law giving the federal government authority in cases of runaway slaves and requiring citizens to assist in their capture.

Kansas-Nebraska act ($1854$)

A law that applied popular sovereignty to Kansas and Nebraska, leading to significant violent conflict known as "Bleeding Kansas."

Know-Nothings

A nativist political group opposed to immigrants and Catholicism.

Dred Scott case

A Supreme Court ruling that slaves were not citizens and that the federal government could not ban slavery in territories.

Battle of Fort Sumter

The first battle of the Civil War, occurring on April $12$, $1861$, in South Carolina.