Period 2 APUSH

Vocabulary-style flashcards spanning terms from colonial America, religious reform, Enlightenment thinkers, and early American political/legal developments, including key figures and events like Zenger.

Inflation

Rise in the general price level that reduces purchasing power; in the colonial era, often tied to commodity prices and silver flows.

Privy Council

A council advising the British crown and functioning as a core executive body in colonial governance.

Enclosure movement

The consolidation of scattered landholdings into larger farms and the fencing off of common land, driving rural migration.

Church of England

The Anglican church, established as the state church of England and its colonies.

Indentured servitude

A work contract in which a person agrees to work for a set number of years in exchange for passage, room, and board.

Act of Religious Toleration

1649 Maryland law granting Trinitarian Christians the right to worship, with restrictions against non-Christians.

Joint stock company

A business entity where investors buy shares of stock to fund colonization and share profits.

English Civil War

Conflict (1642–1651) between Parliament and King Charles I, leading to temporary republican rule under Cromwell.

Powhatan Confederacy

A network of Algonquian-speaking tribes led by Chief Powhatan in Virginia.

Slave code

Legal statutes defining the status of enslaved people and restricting their rights.

Cash crop

A crop produced for sale rather than for personal use (e.g., tobacco, sugar).

Bacon’s Rebellion

1676 uprising led by Nathaniel Bacon against Governor Berkley’s policy toward Native Americans and frontier settlers.

Headright system

Granting 50 acres of land to settlers or to sponsors who financed a settler’s passage.

imperialism

Policy of extending a nation’s power and influence through colonization or economic dominance.

House of Burgesses

The first representative legislative assembly in the English colonies (Virginia).

subsistence farmers

Farmers who grow only enough food to meet their family’s needs, with little surplus.

Veto

Executive power to reject a proposed law.

Nathaniel Bacon

Frontier planter who led Bacon’s Rebellion in Virginia in 1676.

Sir William Berkeley

Governor of Virginia during Bacon’s Rebellion who faced the rebellion’s charges.

Cecilius Calvert

Founder and proprietor of Maryland; also known as Lord Baltimore.

Oliver Cromwell

English general and statesman who led the Commonwealth after the Civil War; Lord Protector.

King Charles I

King of England who was executed after the Civil War; his deposition intensified colonial conflicts.

King Charles II

Restoration king; his reign saw expansion and consolidation of colonies.

Pocahontas

Pocahontas, daughter of Chief Powhatan, who aided John Smith and helped ease tensions between colonists and Native Americans.

Chief Powhatan

Leader of the Powhatan Confederacy and father of Pocahontas.

John Smith

English explorer and leader at Jamestown whose leadership helped stabilize the colony.

Protestant Reformation

16th-century religious reform movement that split from the Catholic Church and led to Protestant churches.

Common Law

A legal system based on court decisions and precedent rather than solely on statutes.

Pilgrims

Separatists who left England for religious freedom and settled Plymouth in 1620.

patriarchal family

Family structure in which the father is the head and primary authority.

Theologians

Scholars who study and interpret religious doctrines.

Pequot War

1636–1638 conflict between Puritan settlers and the Pequot tribe in New England.

Indulgences

Catholic practice of granting remission of punishment for sins; criticized by reformers.

Metacom’s War

Also King Philip’s War (1675–1676), a major Native American-led resistance against English colonists.

Predestination

Calvinist belief that God has already determined who will be saved.

Dominion of New England

1686–1689 royal administrative union of northeastern colonies under centralized control.

Puritans

Religious reformers seeking to purify the Church of England; settled colonies in New England.

Glorious Revolution

1688 overthrow of James II in favor of William III and Mary II, confirming Protestant succession.

Mayflower Compact

1620 self-government agreement signed by the Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower.

King William’s War

1688–1697 North American war as part of the larger European conflict, affecting colonies.

Puritan Migration

Migration of Puritans to New England during the 1620s–1640s.

household mode of production

An economy where households produce most goods for their own use; limited market exchange.

Anglicanization

Process by which colonists adopted English cultural practices and institutions.

John Calvin

French theologian whose teachings formed the basis of Calvinism.

Anne Hutchinson

Puritan dissenter who challenged church authority and was banished from Massachusetts.

King Henry VIII

English king who broke with the Catholic Church and established the Church of England.

King James II

Catholic king deposed in the Glorious Revolution; his ouster strengthened parliamentary power.

John Locke

English philosopher whose ideas on natural rights and government influenced the Enlightenment.

Martin Luther

German monk who initiated the Protestant Reformation with his 95 Theses.

Mary II

Co-ruler with William III after the Glorious Revolution; Protestant monarch.

Chief Massasoit

Massasoit, leader of the Wampanoag people, who allied with the Pilgrims.

Queen Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I; established Protestant church in England and supported exploration.

William of Orange

William III of England, Dutch stadtholder who ruled jointly with Mary II after the Glorious Revolution.

Roger Williams

Puritan dissenter who founded Rhode Island and advocated religious freedom and separation of church and state.

John Winthrop

Leader of the Massachusetts Bay Colony; governor and proponent of the “City upon a Hill.”

Leisler’s Rebellion

1689–1691 New York uprising against the Dominion of England and colonial elites.

Mercantilism

Economic theory that a nation strengthens itself by accumulating gold and exporting more than it imports.

Redemptioners

Indentured servants who earned passage by agreeing to work until debts were paid.

Navigation Acts

Colonial trade laws restricting imports/exports to English ships and duties to England.

Walking Purchase

1737 land trick where settlers claimed more land by manipulating a Lenape deed and distance.

Consumer Revolution

Increase in availability and consumption of consumer goods in the colonies.

Benjamin Franklin

Colonial writer, scientist, and statesman; key figure of the Enlightenment in America.

William Penn

Founder of Pennsylvania and advocate for religious liberty and fair governance.

Middle Passage

Forced transatlantic voyage of enslaved Africans to the Americas.

Slave laws

Colonial statutes restricting enslaved people’ rights and defining their status.

“Gang” labor

System of organizing enslaved workers into work gangs under supervision.

Stono Rebellion

1739 slave uprising in South Carolina that led to harsher slave codes.

Anglo- Powhatan Wars

Series of conflicts (early 1600s) between English settlers and Powhatan Confederacy.

Covenant Chain

Diplomatic alliance between Iroquois Confederacy and English colonies.

Tuscarora War

1711–1715 conflict in North Carolina between colonists and Tuscarora people.

Yamasee War

1715–1717 Native uprising in South Carolina against settlers.

Queen Anne’s War

War of the Spanish Succession in North America (1702–1713).

Treaty of Utrecht

1713 treaty ending the War of the Spanish Succession; expanded British territory in North America.

King George’s War

1744–1748 North American theater of the War of Austrian Succession.

Enlightenment

18th-century intellectual movement emphasizing reason, science, and rights.

Original sin

Christian doctrine that humanity inherits sin from Adam and Eve.

New Light

Revivalist preachers who supported the Great Awakening and challenged old ministers.

Clergy

Religious leaders within a church.

Old Light Clergy

Conservative clergy who resisted revivalist impulses during the Great Awakening.

Pietist

Religious reform movement emphasizing personal piety and devotion.

Methodism

Religious revival movement founded by John Wesley focusing on personal holiness.

Great Awakening

Mid-18th-century religious revival in the American colonies.

Impressment

Forced recruitment of sailors into military service, notably by the British Navy.

Seditious Libel

Criminal charge for publishing statements that incite rebellion; used to suppress dissent.

William Cosby

Colonial governor of New York accused of corruption and mismanagement.

James Davenport

Preacher associated with the Great Awakening; a prominent Old Light figure.

Jonathan Edwards

Leading Great Awakening preacher known for fiery sermons and theological works.

Andrew Hamilton

Lawyer who defended John Peter Zenger in a landmark freedom of the press case.

Immanuel Kant

German philosopher of the Enlightenment; influential in epistemology and ethics.

Baron de Montesquieu

French Enlightenment thinker who argued for separation of powers.

Lewis Morris

Colonial politician from New York; signer of the Declaration of Independence.

John Wesley

Founding figure of Methodism and promoter of evangelical revival.

George Whitefield

Influential itinerant preacher who spurred the Great Awakening.

Voltaire

French Enlightenment writer and critic of absolute authority and the church.

John Peter Zenger

New York printer whose trial established the principle of freedom of the press in America.