APUSH Early American History Vocabulary

A list of vocabulary flashcards featuring key historical figures, events, and concepts from APUSH early American history notes.

Christopher Columbus

Italian explorer who sailed for Spain in 1492, beginning sustained European contact with the Americas and the Columbian Exchange.

Bartolomé de las Casas

Spanish priest who defended Native Americans and criticized the mistreatment and exploitation caused by Spanish colonization.

Cortés

Spanish conquistador who conquered the Aztec Empire in 1519–1521 with Native allies.

Francisco Pizarro

Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire in South America.

Prince Henry the Navigator

Portuguese royal who supported exploration of the African coast and helped advance European exploration and navigation.

Anne Hutchinson

Puritan woman who challenged Massachusetts religious leaders and was banished for her beliefs. She later helped establish Rhode Island.

Jonathan Edwards

Preacher during the Great Awakening, known for powerful sermons emphasizing personal religious conversion.

John Smith

Leader of Jamestown who helped stabilize the colony and encouraged settlers to work.

John Winthrop

Puritan leader and governor of Massachusetts Bay who described the colony as a "city upon a hill."

Roger Williams

Religious dissenter who founded Rhode Island and supported religious freedom and separation of church and state.

William Penn

Quaker who founded Pennsylvania as a colony based on religious tolerance.

James Oglethorpe

Founder of Georgia, originally intended as a place for debtors and a buffer against Spanish Florida.

Thomas Hooker

Puritan minister who helped establish Connecticut and supported broader political participation.

Cotton Mather

Puritan minister and writer who promoted Puritan beliefs and supported the Salem witch trials.

John Peter Zenger

Printer whose 1735 trial helped establish the importance of freedom of the press.

Jemmy

An enslaved African who led the Stono Rebellion in South Carolina in 1739.

William Bradford

Pilgrim leader and longtime governor of Plymouth Colony.

John Rolfe

Jamestown colonist who developed a successful tobacco crop, making Virginia economically successful.

Pocahontas

Powhatan woman associated with early English-Native relations; she married John Rolfe.

Powhatan

Powerful Native leader who controlled a confederacy of tribes around Jamestown.

Lord Baltimore

English Catholic who received the charter for Maryland, which became a refuge for Catholics.

William Berkeley

Governor of Virginia during Bacon’s Rebellion; his policies favored wealthy planters.

Miles Standish

Military leader of the Plymouth Colony who helped defend the Pilgrims.

John Locke

Enlightenment thinker who argued that people have natural rights and governments exist through the consent of the governed.

Benjamin Franklin

Enlightenment-influenced colonial writer, scientist, printer, and politician who represented ideas of reason, self-improvement, and civic participation.

God, Gold, Glory

Three major motivations for European exploration: spreading Christianity, gaining wealth, and increasing national power/prestige.

Treaty of Tordesillas

1494 agreement dividing newly claimed lands between Spain and Portugal.

Columbian Exchange

Exchange of plants, animals, diseases, people, and goods between the Americas and Europe/Africa after 1492.

Mestizo

Person of mixed European and Native American ancestry, especially in Spanish colonies.

Northwest Passage

A hoped-for sea route through or around North America to reach Asia.

Roanoke

Failed English colony known as the "Lost Colony."

Encomienda System

Spanish labor system that gave colonists control over Native labor and tribute, often leading to exploitation.

Black Legend

Anti-Spanish idea that Spain was especially cruel and brutal toward Native Americans.

Pueblo Revolt/Pope’s Rebellion

1680 Native uprising led by Pope against Spanish rule in New Mexico; temporarily drove the Spanish out.

Caste Systems

Spanish colonial social hierarchy based largely on ancestry and racial background.

Act of Toleration

Maryland law protecting Christian religious freedom, especially for Catholics.

Anglican Church

Church of England; the official established church in England and several English colonies.

Bacon’s Rebellion

1676 Virginia rebellion by Nathaniel Bacon and followers against Governor Berkeley, partly over Native policy and political/economic inequality.

Puritans

Protestants who wanted to reform the Church of England.

Mayflower Compact

Agreement in which Plymouth settlers created a government based on self-rule and majority decision-making.

Mercantilism

Economic system in which colonies supplied resources and markets to benefit the mother country.

Navigation Acts

British laws regulating colonial trade to benefit Britain and limit trade with competing countries.

Salutary Neglect

Britain's loose enforcement of colonial regulations, allowing colonies greater economic and political independence.

Quakers

Religious group that emphasized equality, peace, and personal faith; William Penn founded Pennsylvania as a refuge for them.

Pequot War

1630s conflict between English colonists/allied Native groups and the Pequot; resulted in major Pequot losses.

Metacom’s War

1675–1676 conflict between New England colonists and Native groups led by Metacom; severely weakened Native resistance in New England.

Pilgrims

Separatists who left England and established Plymouth Colony in 1620.

Separatists

Protestants who wanted to completely separate from the Church of England.

City Upon a Hill

John Winthrop's idea that Massachusetts should be a model Christian community for the world.

Halfway Covenant

Puritan policy allowing children of church members to receive partial church membership despite not having experienced conversion.

King William’s War

North American part of a European war between England and France, 1689–1697.

Queen Anne’s War

North American part of the War of Spanish Succession, fought between England and France/Spain.

King George’s War

North American part of the War of Austrian Succession, fought between Britain and France.

Old Lights vs. New Lights

Old Lights opposed the emotional Great Awakening; New Lights supported revivalism and emotional religious experiences.

Jamestown

First permanent English settlement in North America, founded in Virginia in 1607.

House of Burgesses

First representative legislative assembly in English America, established in Virginia in 1619.

Headright System

System giving land to settlers who paid for their own or another person's passage to the colonies.

Chesapeake

Region including Virginia and Maryland, characterized by tobacco agriculture and plantation society.

New Amsterdam

Dutch colony on Manhattan that was taken by the English in 1664 and renamed New York.

Triangular Trade

Trade network connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas involving goods, enslaved people, and colonial products.

Middle Passage

Brutal Atlantic voyage that transported enslaved Africans to the Americas.

Iroquois Confederacy

Alliance of Native nations in the Northeast that worked together politically and militarily.

Great Awakening

1730s–1740s religious revival emphasizing personal faith and conversion.

The Enlightenment

Intellectual movement emphasizing reason, science, natural rights, and questioning traditional authority.

Poor Richard’s Almanack

Benjamin Franklin's popular publication containing advice, sayings, and information about daily life.

Deism

Belief that God created the universe but generally does not intervene directly in human affairs; associated with Enlightenment thinking.

Chattel Slavery

System in which enslaved people were treated legally as property, with status generally passed from mother to child.

Stono Rebellion

1739 slave uprising in South Carolina led by Jemmy; contributed to stricter slave laws.

Indentured Servitude

Temporary labor in exchange for passage to the colonies, usually ending after a set number of years.