APUSH Review- Unit 2

Joint Stock Company

company like the British East India Company, which are funded by shareholders. A portion of whatever profit these companies make is given back to the shareholder. Many colonies were started by joint stock companies (ex: Jamestown)

New England Colonies

Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. Characterized by rocky soil, cold climate, and a focus on trade and shipping. Many colonies in this area founded for religious freedoms or other religious purposes (puritans dominated the region). emphasis on education in this region as well.

Middle Colonies

New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Breadbasket colonies!! grew a lot of grains (weather warm enough to grow grains, but not cash crops, so relied on both agriculture and trade for economy). Quakers in Pennsylvania (led by William Penn); Quakers = religiously tolerant

Chesapeake Colonies

Maryland and North Carolina. Opened up to Chesapeake Bay (important trade hub/port and helped fuel economy). Also cultivated tobacco.

Southern Colonies

Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Known for fertile soil and warm climate, these colonies primarily focused on plantation agriculture, producing cash crops such as tobacco, rice, and indigo. They had a significant reliance on enslaved labor. Mostly plantations— no major towns/cities.

Virginia House of Burgesses

The first representative assembly in the American colonies, established in 1619, that allowed colonists to engage in local governance and make laws for the Virginia Colony. Increased Colonial sentiment of self government.

Bacon’s Rebellion

A 1676 uprising in Virginia led by Nathaniel Bacon against colonial governor William Berkeley, protesting against government corruption and failure to protect settlers from Native American attacks.

Jamestown

Founded in 1607 by the Virginia Company. It was the first permanent English settlement in North America, known for its early struggles with starvation and conflicts with Native Americans. Boomed with the introduction of the cash crop tobacco (brought to the colony by John Rolfe).

Plymouth

The second permanent English settlement in North America, founded by Separatist Puritans looking for religious freedom in 1620, known for the Mayflower Compact (social contract) and the first Thanksgiving with Native Americans.

Corporate Colony

A type of colony established primarily for economic purposes, focusing on profit through trade and agriculture, often involving the export of cash crops. Typically granted a charter to stock-hold.

Propriety Colony

A colony owned by an individual or a group granted authority by the crown, where the proprietor had significant control over the settlement and governance, often established for personal profit or the establishment of communities based on specific religious or social ideals.

Royal Colony

A colony that was controlled directly by the monarchy, where governors were appointed by the king, and decisions were made in line with royal interests. These colonies often had less autonomy compared to proprietary or corporate colonies.

Mercantilism

colonies only trade with mother country, and purpose of colonies is to make the mother country rich.

John Winthrop

A Puritan leader and the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, known for his vision of the colony as a "city upon a hill" where the community would serve as a model of moral excellence.

Anne Hutchinson

Advocated for antimonianism and personal salvation/divine revelation. went to trial and was banished from the puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony. She set a precedent that you didn’t need the church, but could make your own, personal religious choices.

Roger Williams

preached religious tolerance. exiled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony and founded Rhode Island.

Salem Witch Trials

A series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts, leading to the execution of twenty individuals and reflecting the period's social and religious tensions. demonstrates the dangers of mass hysteria and paranoia. the ‘death’ of Puritanism

British West Indies

colonized British territories in the Caribbean. cash crops and plantations (sugar = main crop). slaves heavily relied on for labor.

Indentured Servitude

agreement where a laborer gets paid passage to New World and/or debts forgiven in exchange for their labor for a certain number of years. eventually plantation owners turned away completely from this form of labor in exchange for the cheaper and more efficient chattel slavery.

Puritans

dominant religion of New England colonies. Strict followers of the Bible. Church leaders are also the political leaders. Those who disagreed with or contradicted the church or its leaders were exiled.

King Philip’s/Metacom’s War

New England Confederation vs. Wompanogs. Greatly decreased native population in New England.

Headright System

made to attract more settlers to the Virginia colony. every person who payed their own way to the colony was granted 50 acres of land.

First Great Awakening

revival of religion in the colonies. Leaders like George Whitfield and Jonathan Edwards preached a more personal and emotional relationship with God. Old lights vs. New lights. pulled away from established religion, and led to more revolutionary thinking.

The Enlightenment

philosophers like John Locke and Charles Therau had ideas like natural rights or the social contract that led to more revolutionary thinking and the questioning of mother country authority in the colonies.

Anglicization

act of making something more “English." Colonial society increasingly became more anglicized as the time goes on and they become more developed (ex: Virginia House of Burgesses and other forms of legislative, self-governing bodies in the colonies mimic the function of British Parliament)

Salutary Neglect

The British policy of avoiding strict enforcement of parliamentary laws in the American colonies, which allowed them to develop their own governance and economic systems while maintaining loyalty to Britain. Ended in the colonies after the French and Indian War.