American History Midterm Review: Colonization Through the Early United States

Essential vocabulary terms, historical figures, and governing concepts covering the era from early colonization through the ratification of the U.S. Constitution.

Beringia

A land bridge between Asia and North America.

Afro-Eurasia

The landmass comprised of Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Mesopotamia

An early civilization that developed between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

Tenochtitlán

The capital of the Aztec Empire, located where Mexico City is today.

Hernán Cortés

The Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztec Empire.

Columbian Exchange

The exchange of plants, animals, people, goods, and diseases between the Old and New Worlds.

American Silver

A precious metal that connected the Americas to global trade and increased Spanish wealth.

Spanish Colonization Goals

A colonial strategy centered on gold, silver, Christianity, and conquest.

French Colonization Focus

A colonial effort focused primarily on the fur trade and Native alliances.

Dutch Colonization Focus

A colonial effort focused primarily on trade and profit.

English Colonization Goals

A colonial strategy focused heavily on permanent settlement, agriculture, and acquiring land.

New Amsterdam

A Dutch-controlled settlement that eventually became New York.

Haudenosaunee

A Native confederation in northeastern North America.

Mercantilism

An economic system where colonies benefited the mother country by providing raw materials and enabling it to export more than it imported.

Export

Goods leaving a country to be sold elsewhere.

Middle Passage

The forced Atlantic voyage of enslaved Africans to the Americas.

Bartolomé de Las Casas

A historical figure who criticized Spanish mistreatment of Indigenous peoples.

Cash Crops

Crops grown mainly to sell for profit, such as colonial tobacco.

Virginia Company

The joint-stock company that established the Jamestown colony in 1607.

Jamestown

The first permanent English settlement in North America, established in 1607, which became economically successful through tobacco cultivation.

House of Burgesses

An early representative legislative assembly created in Virginia in 1619.

Indentured Servitude

A contract to work for a set period in exchange for support such as transportation and housing.

Wahunsenacawh (Powhatan)

A powerful Native leader in the Chesapeake region.

Wampanoag

A Native nation closely connected to Plymouth Colony.

Pilgrims

Separatists who wanted to completely separate from the Church of England and established Plymouth Colony in 1620.

Puritans

A religious group who sought to reform the Church of England and established Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Mayflower Compact

An agreement for self-government signed by the Pilgrims in 1620.

John Winthrop

Puritan leader and governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony who described the colony as a "City upon a Hill."

"City upon a Hill"

The Puritan concept articulated by John Winthrop that their colony should serve as an example to the world.

English Liberties

Traditional rights that colonists believed they possessed as English subjects, such as trial by jury.

King Charles I

English king whose conflicts helped contribute to the English Civil War.

1651 Act

Legislation passed to strengthen English control over trade.

Bacon's Rebellion

A 1676 uprising in Virginia where settlers rebelled against the government and attacked Native Americans, exposing tensions between rich elites and poorer colonists and increasing reliance on African slavery.

Roger Williams

The founder of Rhode Island who supported religious freedom and the separation of church and government.

Metacom (King Philip)

Wampanoag leader who fought English colonists during King Philip's War in response to expanding English settlement.

King Philip's War

A conflict driven by growing English settlement and Native resistance.

John Locke

Enlightenment philosopher who argued that people have natural rights to life, liberty, and property, and that government exists primarily to protect those rights.

Natural Rights

Lockean philosophical concept identifying inherent rights as life, liberty, and property.

William Penn

Quaker founder of Pennsylvania who emphasized religious tolerance and equality.

Quakers

A religious group that emphasized religious tolerance and equality.

Scots-Irish

An immigrant group that often settled in the colonial backcountry.

King Charles II

English monarch who ruled following the Restoration.

Triangular Trade

A transatlantic trading network connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas through the exchange of manufactured goods, enslaved Africans, and colonial products.

Benjamin Franklin

A colonial writer, scientist, inventor, printer, and politician.

George Whitefield

A prominent preacher during the Great Awakening known for encouraging emotional and personal religious experiences.

Great Awakening

An 18th-century religious revival across the American colonies that encouraged emotional and personal religious experiences.

Olaudah Equiano

A formerly enslaved African who wrote about his experiences under slavery.

French and Indian War (1754–1763)

A conflict between Britain and France (with Native allies) over control of North America that ended in a British victory, resulted in massive British debt, and prompted increased taxation of the colonies.

Royal Proclamation of 1763

A British decree that limited colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains, angering colonists who wanted access to western lands.

Sugar Act

British legislation that taxed sugar and molasses while strengthening trade enforcement.

Stamp Act

A 1765 British law that taxed printed materials in the American colonies.

"No Taxation Without Representation"

Colonial grievance expressing anger over being taxed by the British Parliament without having seated representatives.

Stamp Act Congress

A meeting of colonial representatives organized to protest the Stamp Act.

Nonimportation Agreements

Boycotts organized by colonists agreeing to stop buying British goods.

Sons of Liberty

A colonial protest group organized to oppose British policies.

Townshend Acts

British laws that taxed imported goods entering the colonies, including glass, paper, tea, and lead.

Boston Massacre

A 1770 confrontation in which British soldiers killed five colonists, later used by Patriots as anti-British propaganda.

Tea Act

A British law that granted the British East India Company distinct advantages in selling tea in the colonies.

Boston Tea Party

A 1773 protest in which colonists dumped British tea into Boston Harbor.

Coercive / Intolerable Acts

Punitive British laws passed to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party.

George Washington

Commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolution.

Lexington and Concord

The opening battles of the American Revolutionary War, fought in 1775.

Common Sense

A pamphlet written by Thomas Paine arguing that the American colonies should declare independence from Britain.

Declaration of Independence

A founding document adopted in 1776, primarily authored by Thomas Jefferson, asserting natural rights and declaring that government derives its power from the people.

Patriots

American colonists who supported independence from Great Britain.

Loyalists

American colonists who supported Great Britain during the Revolutionary War.

Yorktown

The site of the major American victory that helped bring the Revolutionary War to an end.

Treaty of Paris, 1783

The peace treaty that officially ended the American Revolutionary War.

Articles of Confederation

The first national governing framework of the United States, marked by a weak central government unable to manage major national problems.

Shays' Rebellion

An armed uprising of debt-burdened farmers protesting taxes, demonstrating the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and motivating leaders to establish a stronger national government.

Constitutional Convention

The 1787 gathering convened in Philadelphia that replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution.

James Madison

Virginia statesman known as the "Father of the Constitution."

Virginia Plan

A proposal at the Constitutional Convention recommending that legislative representation be based on population.

Connecticut Compromise

An agreement establishing a bicameral Congress consisting of the House of Representatives (representation based on population) and the Senate (two senators per state).

Three-Fifths Compromise

A constitutional agreement determining that three out of every five enslaved persons would be counted for taxation and representation purposes.

Electoral College

The constitutional mechanism established to elect the President of the United States.

Federalists

Supporters of the Constitution and a stronger national government.

Anti-Federalists

Individuals concerned about a strong national government who advocated for greater protections of personal rights, leading to the creation of the Bill of Rights.

Alexander Hamilton

A leading Federalist who strongly advocated for a national bank and an expanded federal government.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, protecting individual liberties such as freedom of speech.