AP US History Unit One

Subsistence agriculture

When farmers produce enough for themselves and their families but not enough for trade or profit for the farmer

Christopher Columbus

Italian explorer sent by Spain to find a new route to the Indies. Considered to have "discovered" the Americas in 1492

Conquistadors

an adventurer (especially one who led the Spanish conquest of Mexico and Peru in the 16th century)

Pueblo

a communal village built by Indians in the southwestern United States; a member of any of about two dozen Native American peoples called pueblos by the Spanish because they live in villages built of adobe and rock. Rebelled against Spanish rule in 1680.

Dutch West India Company

The private joint-stock company which was given control of the Hudson River region for economic gain...

Henry VIII

Broke away from the Catholic Church to form the Church of England after the Pope denied him a divorce.

James I

King of England who gave the charter to the Virginia Company of London which established the first permanent settlement in 1607.

fur trade

Form of commerce that developed between the French and the American Indians in the St. Lawrence River Valley and the Great Lakes. Led to a more positive relationship between the French and the American Indians.

Merchant capitalism

wealth in the form of money or property owned by a person or business and human resources of economic value

mercantilism

an economic system (Europe in 18th C) to increase a nation's wealth by government regulation of all of the nation's commercial interests

Martin Luther

German theologian who led the Reformation. Wrote the 95 Thesis.

John Calvin

Swiss theologian (born in France) whose tenets (predestination and the irresistibility of grace and justification by faith) defined Presbyterianism (1509-1564)

English Reformation

The establishment of the Church of England. Began under the rule of Henry VIII. Resulted in the persecution of Catholics in England.

Calvinist Puritans

the beliefs and practices characteristic of Puritans (most of whom were Calvinists who wished to purify the Church of England of its Catholic aspects)

Church of England

Also known as the Anglican Church. Protestant church established during the English Reformation. The monarch is the head of the Church of England.

Separatists

an advocate of secession or separation from a larger group (such as an established church or a national union) specifically -- a group that wanted to completely separate themselves from the Church of England rather than just "purify" it of Catholic practices. A.K.A. The Pilgrims

Spanish Armada

a large power fleet of ships that helped Spain to dominate the Atlantic Trade i the 1500s. Defeated by the English navy in 1588 which eventually opened up the possibility of English colonization of North America.

Tribal Societies

Societies based on kinship.

Mayans

a member of an American Indian people of Yucatan and Belize and Guatemala who had a culture (which reached its peak between AD 300 and 800) characterized by outstanding architecture and pottery and astronomy

Aztecs

a member of the Nahuatl people who established an empire in Mexico that was overthrown by Cortes in 1519

Cahokia

The largest permanent settlement of the mound-building cultures of the Great Plains. It once held as many as 30,000 inhabitants.

Missionaries

someone sent on a mission--especially a religious or charitable mission to a foreign country. The Spanish and the French sent missionaries to North America to Christianize the American Indians.

African slave trade

The middle passage of the triangular trade routes between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Dominated by the Portuguese and then the English.

Enclosure movement

The process in England of "enclosing" lands once held in common for planting and grazing. It had the effect of pushing people off of the land thus motivating them to move to the colonies as indentured servants.

Jamestown

First permanent English settlement in the new world. Founded in 1607 by the Virginia Company of London

John Smith

English explorer who helped found the colony at Jamestown, Virginia. His leadership helped the colony to survive the first year. "He who shall not eat, shall not work."

Virginia Company

Joint-stock company given a charter to establish a permanent settlement in Virginia.

Tobacco

Jamestown's "gold"; cash crop of the Chesapeake colonies that helped the first settlement to thrive and spread.

Headright system

Policy of enticing colonial settlers by offering land grants (50 acres) to each immigrant who paid for his own voyage with additional grants if they paid for someone elses' voyage.

Indentured Servants

A person who was bound by contract to work for someone who paid their passage to the new world. Generally contracts lasted 7 years & servants were not allowed to marry.

Powhatan Indians

Confederacy of tribes in eastern Virginia. Led by Chief Powhatan.

Pocahontas

a Powhatan woman (the daughter of Powhatan) who befriended the English at Jamestown and is said to have saved Captain John Smith's life (1595-1617)

Royal Colony

Colony ruled directly by the King of England. By the mid-1700s, all colonies were royal colonies.

Proprietary Colony

A colony owned by an individual or a group of individuals. The first proprietary colony was Maryland which was given to George Calvert, Lord Baltimore. Pennsylvania (William Penn) and South Carolina (8 Lord Proprietors) were also proprietary colonies.

Charter Colony

The king granted a royal charter to the colonial government establishing the rules under which the colony would be governed.

Bacon's Rebellion

1676 rebellion by former indentured servants on the frontier of Virginia. Led by Nathaniel Bacon against Governor William Berkeley. The rebels were frustrated by the perceptions that Governor Berkeley would not provide defense against hostile Indians. They attacked the capital, drove out the governor, and burned it to the ground.

Plymouth Plantation

a town in Massachusetts founded by Pilgrim Seperatists in 1620

Mayflower Compact

A covenant signed by all male members of the Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower in 1620. By signing, they agreed to work in a "body politic" for their mutual progress and to follow the laws of God.

William Bradford

First governor of the Plymouth Colony.

John Winthrop

Leader of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Taught that the colony should be a model of Christian society a.k.a. a "city upon a hill."

Massachusetts Bay Colony

Joint-stock company chartered by a group of Puritans escaping James I and the religious upheaval in England. Established in 1630.

Theocracy

the belief in government by divine guidance used in the New England colonies. Rulers in the colony were leaders in the church.

Roger Williams

A Puritan preacher who was forced to flee MA Bay after his views on religious observance became to extreme for the colonial leaders. Taught that each individual should examine his/her own conscience to determine what was the best way to live faithfully, and not just do what the church leaders told them to do. (freedom of conscience). Established Rhode Island in 1636

Anne Hutchinson

Banished from the MA Bay colony in the 1630s because of her antinomian teachings (salvation is attained through faith and divine grace and not by rule of law.) Claimed to have heard the voice of God. Fled to Rhode Island.

Pequot War

War between the English settlers in Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook and their American Indian allies and the Pequot Indians between 1637 and 1638. About 700 Pequots were killed or taken into captivity

King Phillip's War

1675-1676, a vicious war between the Wampanoags, led by Chief Metacom (King Phillip), and the English settlers in New England. Thousands of American Indians and English settlers were killed. Defeat of the Wampanoags opened up western lands in New England for settlement by the English.

English Civil War (Puritan Revolution)

Struggle between King Charles I and the English Parliament (Parliament's members were mostly Puritans.) Wealthy nobles tended to support Charles I (called "Cavaliers".) Supporters of the Puritans were known as "Roundheads." Charles I was beheaded. Oliver Cromwell became the Lord Protectorate in 1653.

New York Colony

A Restoration Colony established after the British conquered the Dutch lands held in America. Given to James, Duke of York by his brother King Charles II

Carolina Colonies

Restoration Colonies. King Charles II rewarded loyal noblemen (8 lord proprietors) with lands after the Puritan revolution in England. Large groups of colonists came from the West Indies bringing slavery with them. Became royal colonies in 1729.

Quakers

the theological doctrine of the Society of Friends characterized by opposition to war and rejection of ritual and a formal creed and an ordained ministry, a Christian sect founded by George Fox about 1660, opposed slavery and favored decent treatment of American Indians

William Penn

Englishman and Quaker who founded the colony of Pennsylvania (1644-1718)

Pennsylvania Colony

Founded by William Penn as a refuge for his fellow Quakers. Widely advertised in Europe. A "Holy Experiment" that included a representative assembly and full religious freedom.

Georgia Colony

Founded by James Oglethorpe in 1732 as a buffer between Spanish Florida and the valuable Carolina colonies. Settled by many English "debtors" who were released from debtors prisons.

Dominion of New England

1686-1689. An administrative body created by King James I that oversaw British colonies in the New England region. Meant to implement the Navigation Acts and defend against American Indians. Very unpopular because of the Governor-in-chief, Edmund Andros.

Navigation Acts

Part of the system of mercantilism in which all commerce (trade) had to go through British ports and all products had to be carried on British ships.

Indenture system

A system of temporary servitude. Young men and woman bound themselves to masters for a fixed term of servitude (usually around 4-5 years). In exchange they received passage to America, food, and shelter.

Birth and death rates

New arrivals in new colonies expected hardships, but as time elapsed conditions did improve gradually. From 1700 to 1780 the population increased 10 fold plus.

Patriarchal society

Puritans placed a very high value on the family, which was the principal economic and religious unit within all communities. Despite this woman were not carried very high. Men dominated the society, woman were expected to be weak and inferior.

Middle Passage

This was a horrific passage to the new world. Slaves were forced like toothpicks into ships shoulder to shoulder for months at a time. They were brought into the new world to be sold in the booming slave trade. Because of the horrible conditions many would actually die on there way to the new world alone, which ended up encouraging slave traders to bring even more at a time.

Royal African Company of England

the Royal African Company was formed in 1672. It was formed to give the new world proper labor supplies because only English ships could be in the ports which minimized other ways of trading for slaves/ cheap labor.

Slave codes

These were laws that were being passed to limit the rights of slaves. It was slowly ensuring absolute authority of there white masters.

Germans

a branch of the Indo-European family of languages

Huguenots

a French Calvinist of the 16th or 17th centuries. after 1685 many began to leave France, up to 300,000 in the following decades.

Scotch-Irish

They pushed out to the edges of the European settlement. They occupied land without any regard to who claimed it was theirs. They were ruthless with there displacement and suppression of the Indians, just like they were with the native Irish Catholics.

Catholics

a member of a Catholic church.

Triangular trade

A large scale trading route between the new world, Europe, Africa, and the west indies. They traded everything from raw materials to disease.

Plantation economy

A plantation economy consisted of a large scale farm or plantation that produced a few select crops usually for money. Ex. tobacco. The farms usually had a wealthy white land owner and up to hundreds of slaves working on the farm.

Plantation slavery

Life as a slave was very difficult in most places. Long working hours and being subject to cruelty made life very difficult for some. However, in some cases the master and slave treated each other with kindness. Being a slave was hereditary, even to the mulatto children.

Stono Rebellion

In South Carolina, 1739, about 1000 Africans rose up and attempted to escape to Florida. The Whites quickly crushed the rebellion and hung most of its participants.

Puritan community

New distinctively American life where each person entered a covenant amongst the entire settlement which bonded them socially and religiously. Most members in Puritan communities lived in a town setting.

Primogeniture

right of inheritance belongs exclusively to the eldest son

Salem witch trials

Adolescent girls told of witchcraft by some West Indies servants. The hysteria spread through the town and many people were killed (mostly women). After it was over in 1692 the girls admitted they had made the whole thing up.

The Great Awakening

Began in the 1730s and reached its climax in the 1740s; the Great Awakening brought a new spirit of religious fervor to the colonies.

Enlightenment

a movement in the 18th century that advocated the use of reason in the reappraisal of accepted ideas and social institutions

Almanacs

an annual publication containing tabular information in a particular field or fields arranged according to the calendar of a given year

Literacy rates

The percent of the population which is able to read and write. Literacy rates dramatically increased during this period in time.

Harvard

American philanthropist who left his library and half his estate to the Massachusetts college that now bears his name (1607-1638)

Benjamin Franklin

Franklin, Benjamin (1706-90), American statesman, inventor, and scientist. He was the only individual to sign all three principal documents of the new nation: the Declaration of Independence, the treaty with Great Britain that ended the American Revolution, and the U.S. Constitution. His main scientific achievements were the formulation of a theory of electricity, which introduced positive and negative electricity, and a demonstration of the electrical nature of lightning, which led to the invention of the lightning conductor.

Cotton Mather

During a smallpox outbreak in Boston, Cotton Mather, a theologian, continued European scientistic study that if a small dose of the virus was injected it prevented people from getting the smallpox disease. It proved to be very effective.

John Peter Zenger

Criticized the European government(which was illegal) and was then put to trial. The case resulted in the court deciding that criticisms of the government were not libelous if they were factually true. This allowed for greater freedom of the press.