APUSH Chapter 2 Vocabulary

Jamestown

1st permanent English settlement in North America in 1607.

John Smith

A captain famous for world travel. As a young man, he took control in Jamestown. He organized the colony and saved many people from death the next winter and coined the phrase "he who shall not work, shall not eat". He also initiated attacks on Natives.

John Rolfe

He was one of the English settlers at Jamestown (and he married Pocahontas). He discovered how to successfully grow tobacco in Virginia and cure it for export, which made Virginia an economically successful colony. Eventually, he was killed in a Pequot attack.

Pocohontas

An American Indian princess who saved the life of John Smith and helped form more peaceful relations with the Powhatan when she married John Rolfe but died of smallpox in England on a visit to Rolfe's family. Her remains are still there as the English government refuses to send her remains back to North America.

Mayflower Compact

1620 - The first agreement for self-government in America. It was signed by the 41 men on the Mayflower and set up a government for the Plymouth colony

John Winthrop

As governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, Winthrop (1588-1649) was instrumental in forming the colony's government and shaping its legislative policy. He envisioned the colony, centered in present-day Boston, as a "city upon a hill" from which Puritans would spread religious righteousness throughout the world.

Puritans

A religious group who wanted to purify the Church of England. They came to America for religious freedom and settled Massachusetts Bay.

Pilgrims

English Puritans who founded Plymouth colony in 1620

Massachusetts Charter

Allowed Puritans to take a charter with them and establish their own government in the New World.

Loss of Massachusetts Charter

Revoking of Mass. Charter by King George II due to the colonists refusal to obey by the Navigation Acts leading to anti-British feeling in the New England region.

New Amsterdam

A settlement established by the Dutch near the mouth of Hudson River and the southern end of Manhattan Island as a trade port for the Dutch trade empire.

Great Migration of Puritans

1630s- 70,000 refugees left England for New World increasing population of New England.

New York

It was founded by the Dutch for trade and furs and became an English Colony in 1664, when the English were determined to end Dutch trade dominance, and took over the colony by invading New Amsterdam without having to fire a shot.

Peter Stuyvesant

The governor of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, hated by the colonists. They surrendered the colony to the English on Sept. 8, 1664.

House of Burgesses

1619 - The Virginia House of Burgesses formed, the first legislative body in colonial America. It was made up of two representatives from teach town voted on by men who owned property. Later other colonies would adopt the Houses of Burgesses concept creating self-governing bodies in the colonies.

Headright system

Headrights were parcels of land consisting of about 50 acres which were given to colonists who brought indentured servants into America. They were used by the Virginia Company to attract more colonists.

Indentured servants

Colonists who received free passage to North America in exchange for working without pay for a certain number of years

Bacon's Rebellion

1676 - Nathaniel Bacon and other western Virginia settlers were angry at Virginia Governor Berkley for trying to appease the Doeg Indians after the Doegs attacked the western settlements. The frontiersmen formed an army, with Bacon as its leader, which defeated the Indians and then marched on Jamestown and burned the city. The rebellion ended suddenly when Bacon died of an illness.

King Phillip's War

1675-1678- Under the leadership of Metacom, or King Phillip, the Wampanoag destroyed colonial towns, the colonists destroyed native farms, leading to the most deadly of Indian Wars. The war was disastrous for the natives leading to few surviving the war, and those that did left New England.

royal colony

A colony ruled by governors appointed by a king

proprietary colony

English colony in which the king gave land to proprietors in exchange for a yearly payment

town meetings

A purely democratic form of government common in the colonies, and the most prevalent form of local government in New England. In general, the town's voting population would meet once a year to elect officers, levy taxes, and pass laws.

Salem Witch Trials

1692- outbreak of witchcraft accusations in a Puritan village marked by an atmosphere of fear, hysteria, and unfounded accusations in courts with Puritan ministers who served as judges. 19 women were executed.

Roger Williams

A dissenter who clashed with the Massachusetts Puritans over separation of church and state and was banished in 1636, after which he founded the colony of Rhode Island to the south.

Intolerant

Not willing to accept ways of thinking different from one's own. The expansion of colonies in New England was a direct result of Puritan intolerance as dissenters were exiled and created new settlements.

Anne Hutcheson

One of the dissenters in Puritan Massachusetts held bible studies at her house and believed in a personal relationship with god. She moved to New Hampshire where she died along with her children from an Indian attack.

Thomas Hooker

A Puritan minister who led about 100 settlers out of Massachusetts Bay to Connecticut because he believed that the governor and other officials had too much power. He wanted to set up a colony in Connecticut with strict limits on government. He wrote the first written constitution "The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut". This would become a cherished ideal of the colonial settlers that laws were written not arbitrary.

Sir William Berkeley

The royal governor of Virginia. Adopted policies that favored large planters and neglected the needs of recent settlers in the "backcountry." One reason was that he had fur trade deals with the natives in the region. His shortcomings led to Bacon's Rebellion

William Penn

Established the colony of Pennsylvania as a "holy experiment". Freemen had the right to vote, provided leadership for self- government based on personal virtues and Quaker religious beliefs. His colony was religiously tolerant leading to diversity in the region.

James Oglethorpe

Founded colony of Georgia as a chance for poor immigrants who were in debt to have a second chance at a comfortable life

Lord Baltimore

1694- He was the founder of Maryland, a colony which offered religious freedom, and a refuge for the persecuted Roman Catholics.

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

It has the features of a written constitution, and is considered by some as the first written Constitution. The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut is a short document, but contains some principles that were later applied in creating the United States government. Government is based in the rights of an individual, and the orders spell out some of those rights, as well as how they are ensured by the government. It provides that all free men share in electing their magistrates, and uses secret, paper ballots. It states the powers of the government, and some limits within which that power is exercised.

Halfway Covenant

A Puritan church document; In 1662, the Halfway Covenant allowed partial membership rights to persons not yet converted into the Puritan church; It lessened the difference between the "elect" members of the church from the regular members; Women soon made up a larger portion of Puritan congregations.

Dominion of New England

1686 - The British government combined the colonies of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut into a single province headed by a royal governor (Edmund Andros). The Dominion ended in 1692, when the colonists revolted and drove out Governor Andros.

Acts of Trade and Navigation

Three acts that regulated colonial trade: 1st act: closed the colonies to all trade except that from English ships, and required the colonists to export certain goods, such as tobacco, to only English territories, 2nd act: (1663) demanded that everything being shipped from Europe to the colonies had to pass through England so they could tax the goods. 3rd act: 1673, was a reaction to the general disregard of the first two laws; it forced duties on the coastal trade among the colonies and supplied customs officials to enforce the Navigation Acts.

Mercantilism

An economic policy under which nations sought to increase their wealth and power by obtaining large amounts of gold and silver and by selling more goods than they bought.

Triangular Slave Trade

A practice, primarily during the eighteenth century, in which European ships transported slaves from Africa to Caribbean islands, molasses from the Caribbean to Europe, and trade goods from Europe to Africa.

Middle Passage

A voyage that brought enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to North America and the West Indies. The conditions on the ships from Africa to the west led to the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives.

Social mobility

Movement of individuals or groups from one position in a society's stratification system to another

Ben Franklin

A colonial businessman and scientist who was an example of American social mobility and individualism. He was a delegate from Pennsylvania in colonial meetings, and proposed the "Albany Plan of the Union" as a way to strengthen the colonies in the French and Indian War. He was a leading figure in the movement toward revolution, and as a diplomat to France to get help during the American Revolution

Great Awakening

(1730s and 1740s) Religious movement characterized by emotional preaching (Jonathan Edwards & George Whitefield). It established American religious precedents such as camp meetings, revivals, and a "born again" philosophy. The first cultural movement to unite the thirteen colonies. It was associated with the democratization of religion, and a challenge to existing authorities and was an influence leading to the American Revolution.

Jonathan Edwards

A leading minister during the Great Awakening, he delivered the famous sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" promising that evildoers would pay a price on judgement day.

African American Culture

Slave communities were rich with music, dance, basket-weaving, and pottery-making. Enslaved Africans brought them the arts and crafts skills of their various tribes.

George Whitfield

English preacher who led the Great Awakening by traveling through the colonies

French & Indian War

1754 - 1763; conflict between France and Great Britain over land in North America in the Ohio River Valley.

Ohio River Valley

Controversial land that led to the French and Indian War; British win war and claim this land; region where British fur traders went; rich soil for farming.

Albany Plan of Union, 1754

Plan proposed by Benjamin Franklin that sought to unite the 13 colonies for trade, military, and other purposes; the plan was turned down by the colonies & the Crown.