Period 1 and 2 Terms APUSH

Juan de Sepúlveda

Spanish humanist who defended the encomienda system and argued that Native Americans were “natural slaves.” His views in the Valladolid Debate (1550–51) justified Spanish conquest and exploitation of Indigenous peoples.

Coureurs de bois

French fur traders who lived among Native Americans, often intermarrying. They strengthened French alliances and sustained the fur trade economy, giving France influence in North America.

Seigneuries

Feudal-style land grants in New France given to seigneurs along the St. Lawrence River. They structured colonial settlement and reflected France’s hierarchical society.

Mestizos

People of mixed Spanish and Indigenous ancestry in New Spain. They formed an important social class in the casta system and acted as cultural intermediaries, showing the blending of European and Native societies.

Bartolomé de Las Casas

Spanish priest who denounced Spanish mistreatment of Native Americans and wrote A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies. He influenced reforms that limited the encomienda system and exposed the brutality of colonization.

Juan de Oñate

Spanish conquistador who colonized New Mexico and brutally suppressed the Acoma Pueblo (1599). His actions symbolized Spain’s violent conquest and provoked long-term Native resistance in the Southwest.

Enclosure Movement

English process of fencing off common lands for private use, often for sheep grazing. It displaced farmers, fueling poverty but also migration to the Americas, helping populate colonies.

John White

English artist and governor of the Roanoke Colony who documented Native life. Returning to find the colony deserted (“Lost Colony”), his experience showed the challenges of early colonization.

Glorious Revolution

1688 overthrow of King James II, replacing him with William and Mary. In the colonies, it spurred resistance to royal authority (e.g., Leisler’s Rebellion) and reinforced traditions of self-rule.

John Peter Zenger

New York printer tried in 1735 for criticizing the governor (William Cosby). His acquittal established an early precedent for freedom of the press, strengthening colonial traditions of liberty.

English Civil War

1642–1651 conflict between Parliament and King Charles I. It distracted England, giving colonies more autonomy and setting precedents for limiting monarchy.

Encomiendas

Spanish labor system granting colonists authority over Native labor in exchange for “Christianizing” them. It enabled exploitation, fueled wealth from the Americas, and contributed to Native population collapse.

Antinomianism

Belief that faith alone ensures salvation. Associated with Anne Hutchinson in Massachusetts, it challenged Puritan authority and revealed limits on religious dissent and women’s roles in the colony.

Joint Stock Company

Business model where investors pooled money for ventures like colonization. It funded Jamestown (1607), showing how colonization was tied to private profit motives.

Headright System

Virginia/Maryland system granting 50 acres per settler (or for sponsoring others). It promoted migration and plantation growth, but entrenched indentured servitude and African slavery.

Jacob Leisler / Leisler’s Rebellion

German immigrant who seized control of New York in 1689 after the Glorious Revolution. His rebellion exposed deep class and ethnic tensions in colonial society.

Act of Toleration

1649 Maryland law granting religious freedom to all Christians. It reflected colonial diversity and was an early, though limited, step toward religious liberty.

Dominion of New England

1686 royal consolidation of several colonies to enforce mercantilism. It limited self-rule and angered colonists, fueling resistance to royal control

• created by King James II

• governed by Sir Edmund Andros

• ended New England Confederation

Sir Edmund Andros

Royal governor of the Dominion of New England who restricted assemblies and enforced Navigation Acts. Hated by colonists, he was overthrown after the Glorious Revolution, showing colonial resistance to centralized power.

House of Burgesses

Virginia’s elected assembly (1619), the first representative government in America. It set precedents for colonial self-rule and later democratic traditions.

Anne Hutchinson

Puritan woman who promoted antinomianism and challenged religious authority in Massachusetts. Banished in 1637, her trial showed the limits of religious freedom and women’s roles in Puritan society.

Bacon’s Rebellion

1676 Virginia uprising led by Nathaniel Bacon against Governor Berkeley’s policies toward Native Americans and elites. It exposed class tensions and hastened the shift from indentured servitude to African slavery.

Huguenots

French Protestants persecuted in Catholic France, some of whom fled to the colonies. They added to colonial religious diversity and weakened Catholic control in New France.

Phillis Wheatley

Enslaved African woman in Boston who became the first published African American poet (1773). She highlighted both the intellectual contributions of enslaved Africans and the contradictions of slavery in a society valuing liberty.

Primogeniture

English custom where eldest sons inherited all property. It drove younger sons to seek opportunities in the colonies, fueling settlement.

Cotton Mather

Prominent Puritan minister known for his involvement in the Salem Witch Trials and for supporting smallpox inoculation. He reflected both the intensity of Puritan religiosity and early interest in science.

Stono Rebellion

1739 slave revolt in South Carolina where enslaved Africans tried to escape to Spanish Florida. The largest colonial slave uprising, it led to harsher slave codes and restrictions.

Enlightenment

18th-century intellectual movement emphasizing reason, science, and individual rights. It influenced colonial leaders like Franklin and Jefferson and laid foundations for revolutionary thought.

Great Awakening

1730s–40s religious revival led by preachers like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield. It emphasized personal conversion, challenged established churches, and encouraged religious pluralism and democratic ideals.

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

1639 constitution establishing a representative government in Connecticut. Considered the first written constitution in America, it set a precedent for later colonial and U.S. governance.