Period 1 main ideas

Spanish Colonization Goals

Focused on extracting wealth, subjugating native populations, converting them to Christianity, and incorporating them into Spanish colonial society.

French & Dutch Colonization Patterns

Relied on trade alliances, fur trading, and intermarriage with American Indians rather than large

English Colonization Pattern

Attracted large numbers of migrants seeking social mobility, economic prosperity, and religious freedom through settler farming.

Chesapeake Colonies & Tobacco

Grew prosperous exporting tobacco, initially relying on white indentured servants before transitioning to enslaved Africans.

Bacon's Rebellion (1676)

Trigger event in Virginia that accelerated the shift in the Chesapeake from white indentured servitude to race

New England Colonies

Settled largely by Puritans in close-knit towns with family farms, developing a mixed economy of agriculture, fishing, and commerce.

Middle Colonies Economy & Society

Supported a flourishing wheat export economy and featured high cultural, ethnic, and religious diversity and tolerance.

Southern Plantations & West Indies

Developed plantation economies exporting staple crops like rice, indigo, and sugar, heavily dependent on brutal enslaved African labor.

Salutary Neglect

Britain's lax enforcement of imperial trade policies that enabled the colonies to develop unusually democratic, self-governing institutions.

Mercantilism & The Navigation Acts

Economic system where colonies exported raw materials to Britain; Navigation Acts enforced this trade, though frequently evaded via smuggling.

The Beaver Wars

Conflicts fought by the Iroquois Confederation to control the lucrative fur trade and European trade networks.

King Philip's War (Metacom's War)

Major armed conflict in New England between colonists and Native Americans resisting colonial expansion.

Pueblo Revolt (1680)

Successful Native American uprising in the Southwest that forced the Spanish to tolerate certain aspects of indigenous culture.

First Great Awakening

18th-century religious revival that sparked anti-authoritarianism, emotional preaching, and the growth of new Protestant denominations.

European Enlightenment in America

Intellectual movement emphasizing reason; John Locke's social contract and natural rights heavily shaped colonial political thought.

Anglicization

The gradual process whereby British colonies developed autonomous political and cultural institutions modeled after Great Britain.

Chattel Slavery Legalization

Colonial laws (such as in Virginia) establishing hereditary, race-based slavery where slave status followed the mother.

Stono Rebellion (1739)

Major slave rebellion in South Carolina that demonstrated overt resistance to the dehumanizing plantation system.

Slave Resistance Strategies

Enslaved Africans used both overt methods (rebellions) and covert tactics (working slowly, sabotage, preserving culture) to resist slavery.