Lecture Flashcards: Wagy Notes on Exploration, Slavery, Puritans, and the Enlightenment

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from the lecture notes on exploration, slavery, Puritans, and Enlightenment.

Leif Erikson

Viking who established a Vinland fishing camp around 1000; not credited with the European discovery of America due to little lasting impact.

Vinland

Area in North America where Vikings set up a fishing camp around 1000; their contact did not have lasting effect.

Columbus (1492 voyage)

Voyage that led to lasting contact between Europe and the Americas; credited with the discovery of America in Western history.

Crusades

Religious wars that exposed Western Europe to new libraries, fabrics, spices, perfumes, and other goods.

Corporate society

Middle Ages Western Europe organized into corporate communities under the Catholic Church; independence often forbidden.

Catholic Church

Institution providing the corporate structure and governance for Western Europe in the Middle Ages.

Secularism

Principle of separating religion from government and public life.

Niccolò Machiavelli

Renaissance thinker associated with secular, pragmatic approaches to governance.

Caravel

Small, fast sailing ship that could sail against the wind, enabling longer European voyages.

Gutenberg printing press

Printing press that allowed faster, cheaper book production and spread of ideas across Europe.

Mercantilism

Economic theory that colonies exist to enrich the mother country through controlled trade and wealth.

Favorable balance of trade

Trade where exports exceed imports, increasing a nation's wealth.

Navigation Acts

Parliamentary laws enforcing mercantilism by channeling colonial trade to England.

Salutary neglect

British policy of lenient enforcement of trade laws in the colonies, fostering autonomy.

Enlightenment

Intellectual movement emphasizing reason, natural rights, and social progress.

Natural rights

Basic rights—life, liberty, and property—that governments should protect.

All men are created equal

Enlightenment idea asserting universal equality (contextualized in debates about slavery).

Western Europe and Western Africa (cultural streams)

Two major cultural influences on the founding of the United States: European religious/political traditions and West African social organization.

Extended family

West African family structure with broad kin networks and shared land and resources.

Kinship units

West African political/social groups based on family ties; could organize into larger empires.

Animism

Traditional West African belief that spirits exist in natural objects and forces.

Oral traditions

West African method of preserving history and literature through stories, songs, and proverbs.

Plural marriage

Polygamy; typically constrained by wealth.

Traditional West African livelihoods

Farming, fishing, local trade, agriculture, and herding as primary activities.

Religious system in West Africa (Animism/ancestor worship)

Religious practices centered on spirits, ancestors, and rituals led by spiritual leaders.

Reciprocal duties

Mutual obligations between slaves and masters; both owed duties to each other.

Speculum oris

Device used to force enslaved people to open their mouths and eat during transport.

Barracoon

Enclosure where enslaved people waited temporarily before being transported.

Middle Passage

Transatlantic voyage for enslaved Africans; long, disease-prone, about 50 days.

Tight packing

Cramping as many enslaved people as possible onto a ship.

Loose packing

Sailing with fewer enslaved people and more room in the hold, hoped to improve survival.

Dancing the slaves

Forced movement on deck to keep enslaved people alive and prevent disease buildup.

Fixed melancholy

Deep depression among enslaved people that could lead to refusal of food and death.

Amistad uprising

1839 slave-ship revolt where Africans seized control of the Amistad and gained freedom.

Smallpox

One of the most feared diseases encountered during the Middle Passage.

1619 Jamestown

(Note in lecture) First arrival of enslaved Africans in the British colonies at Jamestown.

Cash crops (tobacco, rice)

Labor-intensive crops that drove slavery in the Southern colonies.

Northern colonial slavery

Fewer enslaved people in the North; worked as household servants, carpenters, and laborers; harsher laws were less common due to smaller numbers.

Race as justification for slavery

Idea that race determined who could be enslaved and justified the system.

Family as survival mechanism

Family networks helped enslaved people endure and cope with slavery.

Slave marriages

Marriage among enslaved people; sometimes supported by owners but undermined by exploitation.

Sexual exploitation in slavery

Sexual abuse by white men that weakened family bonds among enslaved people.

Age of field labor start

Slave children began field work around age 12.

Dark to dark

Working from sunrise to sunset with little rest.

Domestic servants advantages

Better living conditions, lighter labor, and access to food/clothing.

Domestic servants disadvantages

Less privacy and greater exposure to abuse, plus isolation from slave communities.

Music as communication

Songs and rhythms used to convey feelings, stories, and secrets.

African diaspora pastimes

Storytelling, music, dancing, and religious practices carried from Africa.

Biblical stories and slavery

Masters sometimes opposed teaching enslaved people biblical stories that could inspire rebellion.

Ephesians 6:5 (Servants, be obedient to masters)

Biblical verse cited in defense of slavery by some masters.

Reciprocal duties (revisited)

Ongoing mutual obligations between enslavers and enslaved people.

Psychic reward of slavery

White people's belief that slavery conferred status, wealth, and power.

Bible Commonwealth

A society/government organized around biblical laws often associated with Puritans.

Puritans

Religious group seeking to reform the Church of England from within; founded Massachusetts Bay.

Separatists

Radical Puritans who believed the Church of England could not be reformed and sought independent congregations.

Congregationalists

Puritans with self-governing local churches and no bishops.

Quakers (Society of Friends)

Religious group emphasizing direct experience of God; no clergy or formal services.

Robert Browne / Brownists

Early Separatists calling for Church separation from English remnants; Reform without delay.

Pilgrims

Scrooby Separatists who migrated to America seeking religious freedom.

Mayflower Compact

Agreement signed by forty-one men to establish a government and obey laws for the colony.

Squanto

Native American who helped the Pilgrims survive by teaching agriculture and survival skills.

John Winthrop

Leader of Puritans to New England; founded Massachusetts Bay Colony; promoted a model 'city upon a hill'.

Arbella

Winthrop's ship carrying Puritans to New England; symbol of their voyage.

City upon a Hill

Metaphor for a godly, exemplary community meant to model others.

Theocracy

Government guided by religious leaders and principles; Puritans used this model in Massachusetts.

Covenant

Agreement among members to live by shared religious/moral rules.

Town meeting

A gathering of qualified voters to determine local policies.

Covenant of Works

Belief that faith is demonstrated through deeds and duties; part of Puritan ideas.

First successful English colony

Jamestown (1607), founded for profit, contrasting with the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Bible Commonwealth (Puritan vision)

A theocratic-like society governed by biblical laws and virtue.

Olive Branch Petition

Request to King George III for peace from the Continental Congress; part of early Revolutionary efforts.

Second Continental Congress

Governing body that coordinated the colonial push toward independence and drafted key documents.

Consent of the governed

Idea that governments derive their authority from the people.

Right to rebellion

Idea that people may rebel when a government fails to protect natural rights.

Declaration of Independence significance

Document articulating natural rights and justifying independence from Britain.

John Locke influence

Enlightenment thinker whose ideas about natural rights influenced Jefferson.

Olive Branch Petition significance

Effort to avert war by appealing to the King; rejected, leading toward independence.

Isaac Newton

Scientist who described the natural world as a machine operating under natural laws.

Hobbes vs. Locke

Hobbes: strong centralized power; life before social contract was 'nasty, brutish, short.' Locke: government should protect natural rights and can be rebelled against if it fails.

Social contract (Hobbes)

Agreement in which people give up some freedoms for security and order.

Consent of the governed (Locke)

Legitimacy of government rests on the consent of the people it governs.

Enlightenment social scientists’ goal

Use reason to understand and improve human society.

Declaration of Independence (Jeffersonian influence)

Frame of natural rights like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; government must protect them.