HSTR 161 Exam Review: Chapters 1-11

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards focused on European exploration, colonization, the road to revolution, and the foundation of the United States government based on lecture and primary sources.

Three Major Motivations for Exploration

God (spread Christianity), Gold (wealth, spices, trade), and Glory (national power and prestige).

Columbus’s Voyage

Sailed in $1492$, sponsored by Spain, intended to reach Asia but instead encountered the Americas.

Columbian Exchange

The widespread transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and people between the Eastern Hemisphere and Western Hemisphere after $1492$.

Most Important Consequence of the Columbian Exchange

Old World diseases, especially smallpox, which devastated Native Americans and killed millions.

Europe → Americas Exchange Items

Includes horses, cattle, wheat, sugar, smallpox, and measles.

Americas → Europe Exchange Items

Includes corn, potatoes, tomatoes, tobacco, and chocolate.

Northwest Passage

A searched-for water route through North America to Asia that was never found.

Roanoke ($1585$)

The first English colony, which failed and disappeared; known as the “Lost Colony.”

Jamestown ($1607$)

The first permanent English settlement, which survived due to tobacco and John Smith’s leadership.

Trading-post colony

One of the four colony types emphasizing trade, alongside settlement, plantation, and dependency colonies.

Atlantic Slave Trade

Expansion driven by labor shortages, plantation agriculture, and profits from sugar and tobacco.

Middle Passage

The brutal Atlantic crossing for enslaved people characterized by extremely high death rates.

Mercantilism

An economic system where colonies existed to benefit the mother country by supplying raw materials.

Puritans

A group that wanted to “purify” the Church of England and believed in hard work, strict morality, and religious community.

“City upon a Hill”

John Winthrop’s vision for Massachusetts to become a model Christian society for the world to watch.

Covenant

The Puritan belief in a special agreement with God where faithfulness leads to blessings and failure leads to punishment.

Mayflower Compact ($1620$)

An agreement among settlers that established self-government and majority rule.

Roger Williams

Founder of Rhode Island who advocated for religious freedom and the separation of church and state.

William Penn

Quaker founder of Pennsylvania who promoted religious tolerance and peaceful relations with Native Americans.

First Great Awakening

A religious revival involving Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield that emphasized personal faith and challenged traditional authority.

French and Indian War ($1754$–$1763$)

Conflict where Britain defeated France, resulting in British control of Canada but leading to a huge war debt.

Proclamation of $1763$

An order forbidding colonists from settling west of the Appalachians to avoid conflict with Native Americans.

Stamp Act ($1765$)

A tax on printed materials that sparked the colonial argument: “No taxation without representation.”

Common Sense

Thomas Paine’s influential pamphlet arguing for independence, the replacement of monarchy with a republic, and universal liberty.

Declaration of Independence ($1776$)

Document authored by Thomas Jefferson based on John Locke’s ideas of natural rights, equality, and the consent of the governed.

Saratoga ($1777$)

The turning point of the Revolutionary War that convinced France to provide a navy, soldiers, and money.

Yorktown ($1781$)

The final major battle where Washington trapped Cornwallis, leading to a British surrender.

Articles of Confederation

The first national government, which lacked a president, a national court, and the power to tax or regulate trade.

Virginia Plan

A proposal for the new Constitution that wanted representation based on population, benefiting large states.

Three-Fifths Compromise

An agreement to count enslaved people as $3/5$ of a person for the purposes of representation and taxation.

Federalists

Supporters of a stronger national government and the Constitution, including Hamilton, Madison, and Jay.

Bill of Rights

The first $10$ amendments to the Constitution, designed to protect individual freedoms.

Marbury v. Madison

The Supreme Court case that established Judicial Review, letting the Court declare laws unconstitutional.

Louisiana Purchase ($1803$)

Jefferson's purchase of territory from France that doubled the size of the United States.

Lewis & Clark Expedition Objectives

Explore Louisiana, map rivers, find a route to the Pacific, study plants and animals, and improve relations with Native Americans.

Meeting the Shoshone

Crucial event where the Corps obtained horses and a guide to cross the Rocky Mountains.