APUSH T&P

John Cabot

First European since the Norse colonization of North America to explore coastal parts of North America

Corporate Colonies

early American settlements, such as Virginia and Massachusetts Bay, established by joint-stock companies under British royal charters

Royal Colonies

English settlements in North America directly administered by the Crown, designed to generate wealth for Britain and establish central authority. By the American Revolution, eight of the thirteen colonies were royal: Virginia, New Hampshire, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia

Proprietary Colonies

17th-century British American settlements created when the monarch granted large land tracts to individuals or groups (proprietors) to manage, develop, and govern with significant autonomy.

Pennsylvania & Maryland

Virginia Company

The Virginia Company, chartered in 1606 by King James I, was a joint-stock company designed to establish English colonies in North America, specifically for profit, to find resources, and to find a passage to the Pacific. Funded Jamestown settlement

Joint-stock Company

a business structure where ownership is divided into shares, allowing multiple investors to buy stock. Limits liability and allowed for expedited funding for colonial exploration

John Smith

saved the Jamestown colony (est. 1607) from early failure

John Calvin

Founded Calvinism which believes in the absolute authority of God and believes in things such as total depravity. Shaped foundation of New England puritan groups.

Separatists

17th-century English Protestants who believed the Church of England was too corrupt to reform and needed to be abandoned

John Winthrop

First governor of Massachusetts bay colony. Gave City Upon a Hill sermon

City Upon a Hill

Sermon given by John Winthrop in which signifies the Puritan goal to create a model, godly community in Massachusetts Bay, which established the precedent for American exceptionalism.

Great Migration (colonial era)

(1620–1640) was the mass movement of over 20,000 English Puritans to the Massachusetts Bay Colony

Act of Toleration

1649 Maryland act which granted religious freedom to all Christians. Its significance lies in being the first colonial statute to guarantee religious rights, setting a vital precedent for the eventual separation of church and state and the First Amendment in the U.S. Constitution

Roger Williams

Founded Rhode Island (1636) based on principles of radical religious freedom, separation of church and state, and fair treatment of Native Americans.

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

1639 - The first written constitution in the Western world, establishing a representative government based on the "free consent" of the governed rather than religious affiliation.

James Oglethorpe

Founder of Georgia colony (1732) which was used as a refuge for English debtors and buffer against Spanish Florida.

House of Burgesses

Established in Jamestown: the first elected legislative assembly in the American colonies

Mayflower Compact

1620 document by puritans which was the first to establish self-government in the English colonies.

Navigation Acts

Mercantilist acts forcing American colonies to trade primarily with England to maximize British state power. Ended salutary neglect but were largely ignored, especially since disputes were settled in colonial courts.

Mercantilism

economic ideology aiming to maximize a nation's wealth and power by exporting more than it imports, heavily relying on colonies for raw materials and captive markets.

Salutary Neglect

Period of British leniency over colonial affairs and trade.

Glorious Revolution

Overthrow of James II by William and Mary which initiated period of salutary neglect.

Metacom’s war

1675-1678 war where allied group of Natives led by Metacom (King Philip) of the Wampanoag tribe against the puritans in New England. Iroquois confederacy allied with colonists leading to colonial victory.

Bacon’s Rebellion

1676 (colonial era) Virginia uprising by slaves and indentured servants by lack of protection from Natives and inequality. Lead to the end of reliance on indentured servitude and greater reliance of African American slaves.

Pueblo Revolt

1680 Native American revolution in New mexico caused by religious persecution and forced labor. Successful at removing Spanish for 12 years.

Headright System

a land-grant policy, initiated in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1618, that provided 50 acres of land to settlers who paid for their own or another person's passage to the colonies.

Johnathan Edwards

Congregationalist preacher during the first great awakening who emphasized God’s wrath: ‘fire and brimstone’ sermon about hell.

Second Great Awakening

1790-1840 religious revival which empowered the "common man," boosted women's roles, and drove antebellum reform movements like abolition, temperance, and public education. Rejected Calvinist ideals such as predestination of first great awakening.

George Whitefield

Lead first great awakening revival. Used emotional, open air preaching and was a key founder of Methodism.

French and Indian (Seven Years) War

War between Britain and the French and their Indian allies in which Britain gained control of Canada and US Midwest. Led to British imposing taxes on colonies to pay for it.

Albany Plan of Union

Plan proposed by Benjamin Franklin to make central government among 13 colonies for defense in French and Indian war. Join or die

Peace of Paris

1763 Peace of Paris ended French and Indian war while 1783 ended revolutionary war.

Pontiac’s Rebellion

Native Americans revolted because Britain ended French gift giving and because of colonial encroachment after French and Indian war.

Proclamation of 1763

British decree which forbade colonists from settling West of Appalachian. Angered colonists.

Sugar Act

British act which raised price on sugar

Quartering Act

Laws requiring colonists to quarter and feed British soldiers.

Stamp Act

Britain enforced a stamp on all paper in US

Patrick Henry

Give me liberty or give me death

Sons of Liberty

Formed in 1765 to fight British tyranny led by Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and John Hancock. Led the Boston Tea Party

Daughters of Liberty

Informal patriotic women’s group which boycotted British good, supported Home industry, and supported the Sons of Liberty

Declaratory Act

1766 Act which stated that Britain had the authority to impose all laws on colonists.

Townshend Acts

1767 acts which taxed imports (glass, lead, paint, paper, tea) into American colonies

Writ of Assistance

Warrants which allowed British officials to search anywhere for smuggled goods.

Boston Massacre

British shot into American crowd. Angered crowd.

Bartolomé de las Casas

Spanish Dominican friar who spoke out against abuse of Natives. ‘Destruction of the Indies’ 1542

Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda

Argued against Bartolome de las Casas, claiming that the strong Spanish had right to rule over weak natives. Valladolid debate 1550-1551

Alexis de Tocqueville

Wrote democracy in America

Democracy in America

Novel which serves as a primary contemporary observation of the transformation of American culture and society into a participatory democracy during the 1830s.

Battle of Little Big Horn

Temporary victory for Lakota, Sioux, and Cheyenne native in 1876 due to broken treaties as US expanded West.

Massacre at Wounded Knee

The 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre was the brutal killing of roughly 150–300 Lakota men, women, and children by the U.S. 7th Cavalry in South Dakota, marking the end of armed Native American resistance. Spurred by fears of the ghost dance movement.

Dawes Act

1887 act which authorized president to break up Native lands into small, private allotments for Native American individuals. Assimilated Natives by forcing them into farming.

Election of 1896

Republican McKinley beat Democrat populist William Jennings Bryan. Ended populist influence due to defeat and fusion of Democrat and Populist parties.

Booker T. Washington

African American civil rights leader who made the Atlanta Compromise urging African Americans to learn vocational skills to eventually achieve economic and social equality. Ideals challenged by WEB Dubois

Ida B Wells

Muckraking journalist who exposed lynching as a form of racial control. co-founded the NAACP, championed women's suffrage, and challenged Jim Crow, making her a seminal figure in both the Progressive Era and the civil rights movement

Enconmienda System

Spanish system of coerced labor over Natives which granted Spanish colonists control over certain Native groups.

Anglicanization

18th-century process where British North American colonies increasingly adopted English cultural, social, political, and economic practices

“A plea for religious liberty”

Roger Williams treatise on religious and political liberty.

Common Sense

Thomas Paine pamphlet which promoted independence in the colonies

Northwest Land Ordinance

Success of the articles of confederation. Created process for creation of new states left of Appalachian, prohibited slavery in that region, and set aside land for schools.

Federalists

Party who supported strong central government, ratification of constitution and loose interpretation. Opposed Democratic republicans and anti-federalists. Notable figures include Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, John Jay, James Madison, George Washington, and John Marshall

Democratic Republicans

Anti Federalist party who opposed ratification of constitution and strict interpretation, favoring the yeoman farmer. Opposed national bank and successfully pushed for Bill of Rights. Lead by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

Whigs

Mid 19th century party formed to oppose Andrew Jackson. Led by Henry Clay, Whigs championed the American System, pushing for stronger federal government including natl bank.

Democrats

Party of the common man led by Andrew Jackson and favored states' rights, limited federal government, and agrarian interests, opposing the National Bank and Clay’s American System. They expanded suffrage to all white men

Seneca Falls

the first women's rights convention in the United States, officially launching the organized American feminist movement. Declaration of sentiments.

American system

Henry Clay plan to boost US economic dependence. high protective tariffs to promote industry, a national bank to stabilize currency, and federal subsidies for infrastructure improvements (roads/canals)

Henry Clay

Kentucky Whig known as ‘great compromiser’. Championed the American System—a nationalistic economic plan focusing on protective tariffs, a national bank, and internal improvements—and brokered key sectional compromises (1820, 1850) to maintain Union stability

Missouri Compromise (Compromise of 1820)

Admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. It prohibited slavery in the Louisiana Territory north of the 36th parallel, temporarily settling debates on slavery's expansion before its repeal in 1854 and unconstitutionality in Dred Scott v Sanford.

Monroe Doctrine

Nativism

the policy or ideology of favoring native-born Americans over immigrants, often fueled by xenophobia, religious prejudice (anti-Catholicism), and economic fear. anti-immigrant organizations like the Know-Nothing Party and restrictive legislation such as the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Nullification Crisis

South Carolina, led by John C. Calhoun, believed it had the right to nullify the tariff of abominations. Andrew Jackson upheld the tariffs. Conflict resulted in Force Act and compromise tariff.

Currency Act

Intolerable Act

Whiskey Rebellion

Anti-federalists

Virginia Plan

New Jersey Plan

Great Compromise (Connecticut Compromise)

Alexander Hamilton

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions

Battle of Saratoga

Revolutionary battle which secured critical alliance with France.

First Continental Congress

Olive Branch Petition

Treaty of Ghent (1814)

Indian Removal Act

Embargo Act

Panic of 1819

First major peacetime financial crisis in the US ending the era of good feelings. Fueled deep resentment against second Bank of the US.

Monroe Doctrine

1823 foundational foreign policy declaring the Western Hemisphere closed to further European colonization and interference

Election of 1824 (Corrupt Bargain)

Henry Clay dropped out of race to support Whig Quincy Adams leading to his victory. Because of this, Adams appointed Clay secretary of state. Angered Jackson

Oregon Treaty

Marked major victory for manifest destiny, securing the Pacific Northwest for the US.

Midnight Appointments

Last minute judicial appointments made by John Adams. Led to Marbury v Madison due to Madison refusing to deliver commissions.

Trail of Tears

Civil Conservation Corps. (CCC)

New Deal program providing jobs in environmental conservation to young, unmarried men to combat unemployment.

Public Works Administration (PWA)

It spent over 4 billion on major infrastructure projects (dams, bridges, schools) to reduce unemployment, stimulate economic activity, and modernize infrastructure.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corps (FDIC)

insured bank deposits, initially up to $2,500, preventing bank runs and providing stability to the economy during the Great Depression. Stopped cycle of bank failures

Works Progress Administration (WPA)

a massive federal work relief program that employed over 8 million people to build infrastructure, schools, and hospitals

Social Security Act (SSA)

established a permanent federal safety net, providing old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, and aid to the disabled

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

established in 1934 as a New Deal agency to restore investor confidence and regulate financial markets following the 1929 stock market crash. As part of FDR's reform efforts, it enforces securities laws, investigates fraud, and reviews registration statements.

Tennessee Valley Authority

New Deal "relief, recovery, and reform" program designed to modernize the impoverished Tennessee Valley region. It created jobs by building dams for flood control, electricity generation, and economic development, bringing electricity and modernization to rural areas.

National Youth Administration (NYA)

combated high youth unemployment and prevent school dropouts during the Great Depression. It provided part-time jobs, vocational training, and financial aid to over 4 million Americans aged 16–24

National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)/ National Recovery Act (NRA)

New deal act which promoted industrial growth by establishing codes of fair competition, set minimum wages and maximum hours, and guaranteed labor's right to organize