APUSH terms

Christopher Columbus

An Italian navigator who was funded by the Spanish Government to find a passage to the Far East. He is given credit for discovering the "New World," even though at his death he believed he had made it to India. He made four voyages to the "New World." The first sighting of land was on October 12, 1492, and three other trips until the time of his death in 1503.

Encomienda System

A system whereby the Spanish crown granted the conquerors the right to forcibly employ groups of Indians; it was a disguised form of slavery.

Christopher Columbus

An Italian navigator who was funded by the Spanish Government to find a passage to the Far East. He is given credit for discovering the "New World," even though at his death he believed he had made it to India. He made four voyages to the "New World." The first sighting of land was on October 12, 1492, and three other trips until the time of his death in 1503.

Encomienda System

A system whereby the Spanish crown granted the conquerors the right to forcibly employ groups of Indians; it was a disguised form of slavery.

Pueblo Revolt

1680, revolt of indigenous laborers led by shaman named Pope'. Killed colonists and priests and got Spanish out of modern-day New Mexico for 12 years.

Columbian Exchange

An exchange of goods, ideas and skills from the Old World (Europe, Asia and Africa) to the New World (North and South America) and vice versa.

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

Predestination

The belief that what happens in human life has already been determined by some higher power. Adopted by John Calvin.

Puritans

English Protestant dissenters who believed that God predestined souls to heaven or hell before birth. They founded Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629.

Jamestown

The first permanent English settlement in North America, found in East Virginia.

Joint Stock Company

An association of individuals in a business enterprise with transferable shares of stock, much like a corporation except that stockholders are liable for the debts of the business.

Powhatan

Chief of the Powhatan Confederacy and father to Pocahontas. At the time of the English settlement of Jamestown in 1607, he was a friend to John Smith and John Rolfe. When Smith was captured by Indians, Powhatan left Smith's fate in the hands of his warriors. His daughter saved John Smith, and the Jamestown colony. Pocahontas and John Rolfe were wed, and there was a time of peace between the Indians and English until Powhatan's death.

Act of Toleration (1649)

Passed in Maryland, it guaranteed toleration to all Christians but decreed the death penalty for those, like Jews and atheists, who denied the divinity of Jesus Christ. Ensured that Maryland would continue to attract a high proportion of Catholic migrants throughout the colonial period.

Bacon's Rebellion (1676)

Armed rebellion in Virginia against Governor William Berkeley, who had the support of the British government. Forces from England came to Virginia to suppress the resistance and reform the colonial government to one that was more directly under royal control.

Chesapeake Colonies

Term for the colonies of Maryland and Virginia.

Pilgrims

Group of English Protestant dissenters who established Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts in 1620 to seek religious freedom after having lived briefly in the Netherlands.

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

Puritan leader who became the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

City Upon a Hill

A phrase that is associated with John Winthrop's sermon "A Model of Christian Charity," given in 1630. Winthrop warned the Puritan colonists of New England who were to found the Massachusetts Bay Colony that their new community would be a "city upon a hill," watched by the world.

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.

Anne Hutchinson

A Puritan woman who was well learned that disagreed with the Puritan Church in Massachusetts Bay Colony. Her actions resulted in her banishment from the colony, and later took part in the formation of Rhode Island. She displayed the importance of questioning authority.

King Philip's War

1675 - A series of battles in New Hampshire between the colonists and the Wompanowogs, led by a chief known as King Philip. The war was started when the Massachusetts government tried to assert court jurisdiction over the local Indians. The colonists won with the help of the Mohawks, and this victory opened up additional Indian lands for expansion.

New England Colonies

The term for the colonies of Massachusetts bay, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire.

Quakers

A form of Protestantism in which the believers were pacifists and would shake at the power of the word of the Lord.

William Penn

A Quaker that founded Pennsylvania to establish a place where his people and others could live in peace and be free from persecution.

Navigation Acts

Laws that governed trade between England and its colonies. Colonists were required to ship certain products exclusively to England. These acts made colonists very angry because they were forbidden from trading with other countries.

Dominion of New England

An administrative union of English colonies in the New England region of North America.

Middle Colonies

New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware

Southern Colonies

North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia

Indentured Servitude

A contractual system in which someone sells his or her body (services) for a specified period of time in an arrangement very close to slavery, except that it is voluntary entered into.

Middle Passage

A voyage that brought enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to North America and the West Indies.

Slave Codes

Laws that controlled the lives of enslaved African Americans and denied them basic rights.

Planters

Large-scale farmers who held more than 20 slaves.

Triangular Trade

A three way system of trade during 1600-1800s Africa sent slaves to America, America sent Raw Materials to Europe, and Europe sent Guns and Rum to Africa.

Stono Rebellion

a 1739 uprising of slaves in South Carolina, leading to the tightening of already harsh slave laws.

Halfway Covenant (1662)

A Puritan compromise that allowed the unconverted children of Puritans who had fallen away from the church to become halfway members of the church. The Covenant allowed these halfway members to baptize their own children even though they themselves were not full members of the church because they had not experienced full conversion. Massachusetts ministers accepted this compromise and it signified a drop in the religious zeal or mission that had characterized Massachusetts in its change in the religious character of New England Society.

Salem Witch Trials

1629 outbreak of witchcraft accusations in a puritan village marked by an atmosphere of fear, hysteria and stress.

First Great Awakening

Religious revival in the colonies in 1730s and 1740s; George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards preached a message of atonement for sins by admitting them to God. The movement attempted to combat the growing secularism and rationalism of mid-eighteenth century America. Religious splits in the colonies became deeper.

Johnathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

An American theologian and congregational clergyman whose sermons stirred the religious revival (Great Awakening); known for sinners in the hands of an angry god sermon.

Enlightenment

A philosophical movement which started in Europe in the 1700's and spread to the colonies. It emphasized reason and the scientific method. Writers of the enlightenment tended to focus on government, ethics, and science, rather than on imagination, emotions, or religion. Many members of the Enlightenment rejected traditional religious beliefs in favor of Deism, which holds that the world is run by natural laws without the direct intervention of God.

Salutary Neglect

An English policy of relaxing the enforcement of regulations in its colonies in return for the colonies' continued economic loyalty.

Albany Plan of Union

Ben Franklin's plan to unite the colonies under one government to defeat France.

Benjamin Franklin

American intellectual, inventor, and politician He helped to negotiate French support for the American Revolution.

French and Indian War

War between 1754-1763 fought in the colonies between the English and the French for possession of the Ohio Valley area. The English won.

Treaty of Paris 1763

Ended French and Indian War, France lost Canada, land east of the Mississippi, to British, New Orleans and west of Mississippi to Spain.

William Pitt

The Prime Minister of England during the French and Indian War. He increased the British troops and military supplies in the colonies, and this is why England won the war.

King George III

King of England during the American Revolution.

Pontiac's Rebellion

A 1763 conflict between Native Americans and the British over settlement of Indian lands in the Great Lakes area.

Proclamation of 1763

An order in which Britain prohibited its American colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains.

Sugar Act of 1764

An act that raised tax revenue in the colonies for the crown. It also increased the duty on foreign sugar imported from the West Indies.

Stamp Act of 1765

Placed a tax on almost all printed materials in the colonies.

Patrick Henry

A leader of the American Revolution and a famous orator who spoke out against British rule of the American colonies. "Give me liberty or give me death."

Virginia Resolves

In response to the 1765 Stamp Act, Patrick Henry persuaded the Virginia House of Burgesses to adopt several strongly worded resolutions that denied Parliament's right to tax the colonies. Known as the Virginia Resolves, these resolutions persuaded many other colonial legislatures to adopt similar positions.

Stamp Act Congress

A meeting of delegations from many of the colonies, the congress was formed to protest the newly passed Stamp Act It adopted a declaration of rights as well as sent letters of complaints to the king and parliament, and it showed signs of colonial unity and organized resistance.

Sons of Liberty

A group of colonists who formed a secret society to oppose British policies at the time of the American Revolution.

Declaratory Act

Act passed in 1766 after the repeal of the Stamp Act; stated that Parliament had authority over the the colonies and the right to tax and pass legislation "in all cases whatsoever."

Townshend Duties

Popularly referred to as the Townshend Duties, the Revenue Act of 1767 taxed glass, lead, paper, paint, and tea entering the colonies. The colonists objected to the fact that the act was clearly designed to raise revenue exclusively for England rather than to regulate trade in a manner favorable to the entire British empire.

Boston Massacre (1770)

The colonials hated the British soldiers in the colonies because the worked for very low wages and took jobs away from colonists. On March 4, 1770, a group of colonials started throwing rocks and snowballs at some British soldiers; the soldiers panicked and fired their muskets, killing a few colonials. This outraged the colonies and increased anti-British sentiment.

Samuel Adams

American Revolutionary leader and patriot, Founder of the Sons of Liberty and one of the most vocal patriots for independence; signed the Declaration of Independence.

Virtual Representation

British governmental theory that Parliament spoke for all British subjects, including Americans, even if they did not vote for its members.

Parliament

Britain's law-making assembly

Gaspee Incident

In June, 1772, the British customs ship Gaspée ran around off the colonial coast. When the British went ashore for help, colonials boarded the ship and burned it. They were sent to Britain for trial. Colonial outrage led to the widespread formation of Committees of Correspondence.

Tea Act

1773 act which eliminated import tariffs on tea entering England and allowed the British East India Company to sell directly to consumers rather than through merchants. Led to the Boston Tea Party.

Daughters of Liberty

This organization supported the boycott of British goods. They urged Americans to wear homemade fabrics and produce other goods that were previously available only from Britain. They believed that way, the American colonies would become economically independent.

Boston Tea Party

A 1773 protest against British taxes in which Boston colonists disguised as Mohawks dumped valuable tea into Boston Harbor.

Coercive Acts/Intolerable Acts

This series of laws were very harsh laws that intended to make Massachusetts pay for its resistance. It also closed down the Boston Harbor until the Massachusetts colonists paid for the ruined tea. Also forced Bostonians to shelter solidiers in their own homes.

First Continental Congress

September 1774, delegates from twelve colonies sent representatives to Philadelphia to discuss a response to the Intolerable Acts.

Lexington and Concord

The first battle of the American Revolution on April 19, 1775.

Second Continental Congress

Convened in May 1775, the Congress opposed the drastic move toward complete independence from Britain. In an effort to reach a reconciliation, the Congress offered peace under the conditions that there be a cease-fire in Boston, that the Coercive Acts be repealed, and that negotiations begin immediately. King George III rejected the petition.

John Dickinson

Conservative leader who wrote "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania"; advocated for colonial rights but urged conciliation with England & opposed the Declaration of Independence; helped to write the Articles of Confederation.

Olive Branch Petition

On July 8, 1775, the colonies made a final offer of peace to Britain, agreeing to be loyal to the British government if it addressed their grievances (repealed the Coercive Acts, ended the taxation without representation policies). It was rejected by Parliament, which in December 1775 passed the American Prohibitory Act forbidding all further trade with the colonies.

Thomas Paine and Common Sense

A British citizen, he wrote Common Sense, published on January 1, 1776, to encourage the colonies to seek independence. It spoke out against the unfair treatment of the colonies by the British government and was instrumental in turning public opinion in favor of the Revolution.

Articles of Confederation

1st Constitution of the U.S. 1781-1788. Weaknesses were: no executive, no judicial, no power to tax, no power to regulate trade.

George Washington

1st President of the United States; commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolution (1732-1799).

Battle of Bunker Hill

First major battle of the Revolutions. It showed that the Americans could hold their own, but the British were also not easy to defeat. Ultimately, the Americans were forced to withdraw after running out of ammunition, and Bunker Hill was in British hands. However, the British suffered more deaths.

Battle of Saratoga (1777)

Decisive colonial victory in upstate New York; considered to be the turning point of the American Revolution. Caused France to openly support the colonies with military forces in addition to the supplies and money already being sent.

Loyalists

Colonists who supported the British government during the American Revolution.

Patriots

American colonists who fought for independence from Great Britain during the Revolutionary War.

Battle of Yorktown

Last major battle of the Revolutionary War. Cornwallis and his troops were trapped in the Chesapeake Bay by the French fleet. He was sandwiched between the French navy and the American army. He surrendered October 19, 1781.

Treaty of Paris 1783

This treaty ended the Revolutionary War, recognized the independence of the American colonies, and granted the colonies the territory from the southern border of Canada to the northern border of Florida, and from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi River.

Abigail Adams

John Adam's wife, she appealed to her husband to protect the rights of women. "Remember the ladies".

Republican Wife and Mother

Women represented oneself of strong moral fiber by setting that example and raising their sons in a household with those values.

Homespun

Domestic; made at home. A form of protest during the American Revolution where colonists made their own clothing.

Republicanism

A philosophy of limited government with elected representatives serving at the will of the people. The government is based on consent of the governed.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Created the Northwest Territory (area north of the Ohio River and west of Pennsylvania), established conditions for self-government and statehood, included a Bill of Rights, and permanently prohibited slavery.

Critical Period

Refers to the 1780s, a time right after the American Revolution where the future of the newly formed nation was in the balance.

Shay's Rebellion (1786)

Daniel Shays, a veteran of the Continental Army, led a rebellion of poor farmers in Massachusetts who demanded debt relief, lower taxes, and protections against property seizures.

Alexander Hamilton

1789-1795; First Secretary of the Treasury. He advocated creation of a national bank, assumption of state debts by the federal government, and a tariff system to pay off the national debt.

Philadelphia Convention

Beginning on May 25, 1787, the convention recommended by the Annapolis Convention was held in Philadelphia. All of the states except Rhode Island sent delegates, and George Washington served as president of the convention. The convention lasted 16 weeks, and on September 17, 1787, produced the present Constitution of the United States, which was drafted largely by James Madison.

James Madison

"Father of the Constitution," Federalist leader, and fourth President of the United States.

Virginia Plan

Virginia delegate James Madison's plan of government, in which states got a number of representatives in Congress based on their population

New Jersey Plan

The proposal at the Constitutional Convention that called for equal representation of each state in Congress regardless of the state's population.

3/5 Compromise

The decision at the Constitutional convention to count slaves as 3/5 of a person for the purpose of deciding the population and determining how many seats each state would have in Congress.

Great Compromise

Compromise made by Constitutional Convention in which states would have equal representation in one house of the legislature and representation based on population in the other house.

Separation of Powers

Constitutional division of powers among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, with the legislative branch making law, the executive applying and enforcing the law, and the judiciary interpreting the law.

Checks and Balances

A system that allows each branch of government to limit the powers of the other branches in order to prevent abuse of power.

Federalism

A system in which power is divided between the national and state governments.

Ratify/Ratification

Sign or give formal consent to (a treaty, contract, or agreement), making it officially valid.

Federalists

A term used to describe supporters of the Constitution during ratification debates in state legislatures.

Antifederalists

Opponents of ratification of the Constitution and of a strong central government.

Federalist Papers

A collection of 85 articles written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison under the name "Publius" to defend the Constitution in detail.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the Constitution.