APUSH 1st Semester Benchmark #1 Study Guide Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, historical events, figures, and concepts from the APUSH 1st Semester Benchmark #1 study guide.

Maize

A central crop that allowed Native American societies to build permanent sedentary settlements and develop social diversification, spreading North and East from Mexico through trade.

European Views of Native Culture

European perspective viewing Native Americans as uncivilized due to non-Christian religious practices, different political structures, and a failure to respect Native sovereignty.

Old World Diseases

Diseases including smallpox, measles, and influenza introduced by Europeans that wiped out 90% of the Native population lacking immunity.

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of animals, foods, and diseases between the Old World and the New World. It introduced horses and crop-destroying pigs to Natives, while bringing corn and potatoes to Europe to boost health and population.

Encomienda System

A system involving the exploitation of Native Americans for labor under the guise of converting them to Christianity.

Pueblo Revolt / Pope's Rebellion

A revolt by the Pueblo people led by Pope in the southwestern U.S. against Spanish rule under the encomienda system. The Spanish were forced out for 12 years and could no longer use the encomienda system upon returning.

Spanish Motives for Exploration

Exploration and conquest focused on Florida, the Southwest, Mexico, Central America, and South America driven by God, Glory, and Gold.

Maryland Colony

A Chesapeake Bay and Southern colony founded as a "Catholic Safe Haven" that allowed Catholics and all Christians to settle via the Maryland Toleration Act.

Manifest Destiny

The belief in a God-given right to move west.

European-Native Relationships

Interactions categorized as worst with the Spanish due to the encomienda system, best with the French due to the fur trade, and complicated with the British due to western expansion taking Native land.

Jamestown Settlement

The early English settlement led by John Smith situated on land owned by the Powhatan Confederation, marked by starvations, high death rates, and rocky relations with Natives due to ignoring Virginia Company instructions and settling in a swamp.

Indentured Servants

Laborers who received free passage across the Atlantic Ocean in exchange for working a set number of years, who were promised freedom dues upon contract completion.

Bacon's Rebellion

A rebellion of former indentured servants in the backcountry who burned down Jamestown after being denied promised freedom dues and defense against Native attacks by Governor Berkeley and the House of Burgesses. It accelerated the decline of indentured servitude.

Stono Rebellion

A South Carolina slave uprising along the Stono River where enslaved individuals attempted to escape to Spanish Florida, resulting in their execution and the passage of strict slave codes.

Slave Codes

Laws established to restrict the rights of enslaved people.

Mercantilism

An economic system where colonies supply raw materials and resources to the mother country to ensure exports exceed imports, primarily benefiting the mother country.

Chesapeake Cash Crop

Tobacco, which was grown on large plantations in Virginia and smaller farms in Maryland.

Headright System

A policy granting 50 acres of land to anyone who paid for an indentured servant's transportation to the New World.

Salutary Neglect

The British policy of non-enforcement of strict regulations, allowing American colonies to self-govern due to geographic distance.

Georgia Colony

A colony founded for charity, economics, and defense.

Roger Williams

Religious dissenter banished from Puritan Massachusetts for opposing church elders, who subsequently founded Rhode Island to establish religious freedom.

Join, or Die

A political cartoon of a severed snake created by Ben Franklin during the French and Indian War to encourage colonial unity against France.

Common Sense

A pamphlet published by Thomas Paine on Feb. 14, 1776, emphasizing British injustice and encouraging colonists to seek independence.

The City Upon a Hill

John Winthrop's vision for Puritan Massachusetts to serve as a model Christian society for the rest of the world.

First Great Awakening

A religious revival characterized by fire and brimstone preaching meant to inspire conversions, leading to a split between Old Lights and New Lights.

Proclamation of 1763

A British decree forbidding colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains following Pontiac's Rebellion in the Ohio River Valley to prevent Native conflicts.

Enlightenment

An intellectual movement that inspired American colonists to think critically and independently.

Patrick Henry

Colonial figure famous for declaring, "Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death!"

No Taxation without Representation

The political principle that colonists should not be taxed by Parliament without actual representation, rejecting British claims of virtual representation.

Sugar Act

A British tax imposed on foreign sugar and molasses that primarily impacted merchants.

Quartering Act

A law requiring American colonists to provide housing and accommodations for British troops.

Stamp Act Congress

An assembly formed by American colonists to voice concerns to Great Britain and successfully petition for the repeal of the Stamp Act.

Townshend Acts

British taxation laws that placed duties on imported glass, lead, paper, paint, and tea.

Tea Act

A law that lowered the price of tea while granting a monopoly to the British East India Company, sparking colonial protests such as the Boston Tea Party.

Intolerable Acts

A series of punitive measures passed by Britain to punish the colonists of Boston for the Boston Tea Party.

First Continental Congress

A meeting of delegates that produced a Declaration of Rights to petition Britain, focused on seeking address for grievances rather than independence.

Lexington & Concord

The location of the first military engagements of the American Revolution ("the Shot Heard 'Round the World"), occurring a year prior to the Declaration of Independence.

Agrarianism

A social or political philosophy centered around an agricultural society.

Anglicization

The process of adopting English culture and making things more English-like.

Divergent

To develop or evolve in different ways.