APUSH Exam Review

Tenochtitlan

The Aztec capital in Mexico made a complex system of canals, bridges, and dams as it was located in the middle of a body of water.

Cahokia

A city in present-day St. Louis where Mound Builders of the Mississippi River flourished after their decline. It was the largest settlement in the present-day country until New York City in 1800.

Iroquois League (Great League of Peace)

A group of five different Iroquois people that met each year to discuss how they would behave towards outsiders.

Animism

The belief of spiritual power in any living and nonliving thing such as water, wind, trees, animals, and plants.

Matrilineal societies

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Societies where women had the most power, women would lead religious events and could divorce their husbands and own their own land. Children would join their mother’s tribe and the men would be elected as tribal leaders and move in with the mother’s family.

“Christian Liberty”

The idea that freedom isn't a political or social status but a religious one. It involved the idea of people having freedom once they could follow Christ and abandon sin.

“Coverture”

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The rule that anything a woman owned or any political individuality would transfer to her husband’s control once she was married.

Zheng He

A Chinese admiral who led several large naval expeditions in the Indian Ocean, exploring eastern Africa and navigating new trade routes to expand the power of the Chinese empire.

Caravel

A type of ship meant for long voyages. Used for trade and expeditions.

Batholomeu Dias

A Portuguese mariner who reached the Cape of Good Hope in an effort to move towards southern Africa.

Vasco de Gama

Another mariner who sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and reached India.

Christopher Columbus

A mariner from Genoa, Italy, who sailed west instead of east in an effort to prove a new trade route to China and India.

Reconquista

The reconquest of the Spanish from the African Muslims who settled in the Iberian Peninsula.

Hispaniola

An island off the coast of the New World that Columbus attempted to settle on.

Nicolas de Ovando

A Spanish explorer who established the first permanent base for the Spanish in America.

Amerigo Vespucci

An Italian explorer who informed everyone that a new continent that has never been touched by Europeans existed, and that groups of natives existed that were not related to those of the East Indies.

Johannes Gutenberg

 A German craftsman who invented the printing press and made news of the New World spread much faster.

John Cabot

 A Genoese merchant that reached Newfoundland in 1497.

Pedro Cabral

 A Portuguese sailor that claimed Brazil for Portugal in 1500.

Vasco Nunez de Balboa

The first European to witness the Pacific Ocean after crossing Panama.

Ferdinand Magellan

Led the first expedition around the world in an effort to confirm Columbus’ theory on the size of Earth. Was killed in the Philippines but his crew finished the job after his death.

Hernan Cortes

The first to find a major American civilization, the Aztecs in Tenochtitlan.

Francisco Pizarro

Conquered the Inca Empire in Peru after capturing their king and received a ransom for him, although he did kill the king anyways.

Columbian Exchange

The transatlantic exchange of goods and even people, spread new resources around the world but also disease.

Criollos

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People born in the colonies of Spain and who were of European descent.

Haciendas

Large scale farms that captured Natives were forced to work on for the Spanish.

Peninsulares

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People of European birth that stood at the top of the social hierarchy.

Mestizos

 People of mixed origin that made up most of the population in the Spanish civilizations in America.

Bartolome de Las Casas

A Dominican priest that published *A Very Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies* stating the damage done to the native population. He advocated for the rights and protection of the natives as he did not see them as barbarians but as people.

Encomienda

A system abolished by Spain that used to give settlers the ability to have authority over conquered native lands and people.

Repartimento

The system that replaced Encomienda where native villagers were legally free and could earn wages, although they were required to do a certain amount of work each year.

Black Legend

 The perspective that Spain was a uniquely brutal and exploitative colonizer.

Juan Ponce de Leon

 Conquered Puerto Rico and went to Florida for slaves, wealth, and the fountain of youth but was kicked out by local natives.

Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo

Explored the west coast up to Oregon and then went on a search with other explorers for another Mexico and Peru.

Francisco Vasquez de Coronado

An explorer that led expeditions through the Gulf and Southwest regions in search of another Mexico or Peru. He went further inland and became the first European to see the herds of Buffalo in the Great Plains.

Pedro Menendez de Aviles

A Spanish Nobleman that led a colonizing expedition in Florida that was once occupied by French colonists before 500 of them were massacred by him.

Juan de Onate

Led a group of soldiers, colonists, and missionaries to northern Mexico to establish settlements. But his nephew and some soldiers were killed by Acoma citizens in New Mexico. But he wanted revenge and killed half of Acoma and conquered the city. He was punished by Spain for his treatment of the natives.

Pope

Organized an uprising to drive the Spanish out of their settlement and reestablish the natives traditional autonomy. He was a part of the Pueblo Indians that was publicly whipped as punishment and started to lead more attacks against the Spanish until they had to abandon the area.

The Pueblo Revolt

 The only full expulsion of European settlers in native territory. Led by Pope and originated from the oppression of the pueblos by the Spanish.

Northwest Passage

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A sea-route from the Atlantic to the Pacific that the French were searching for in the New World, but did not exist.

Samuel de Champlain

Founded Quebec after being sponsored by a French fur-trading company.

Jacques Marquette & Louis Joliet

Located the Mississippi River.

Rene-Robert Cavalier

Claimed the entire Mississippi Valley area for France.

Metis

Guides, traders, and interpreters who were the offspring of native women and French traders.

Henry Hudson

Him and his crew were the first people to sail up the Hudson River in search of the Northwest Passage. He came across natives willing to trade fur for European goods and claimed the New York area for the Netherlands aftering being employed by the Dutch East India Company.

Joint-stock Company

A method of pooling financial resources and risking maritime voyages which became vital to modern capitalism.

Flushing Remonstrance

A landmark of religious liberty, a petition made by English settlers protesting the order of barring Quakers from Flushing, Long Island.

Patroons

Shareholders that agreed to transport people in exchange for physical labor on their farms.

Jamestown

One of the first English settlement locations in the Chesapeake area, located near a swamp that spread malaria.

The Virginia Company

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An English trading company funded by the crown given the purpose to colonize the Chesapeake area.

Walter Raleigh

Attempted to settle down in Roanoke Island with 100 other colonists but failed.

Roanoke Colony

 After Raleigh’s group returned to England another group of 100 settlers attempted Roanoke Island but abandoned it and disappeared.

Indentured servants

 People who voluntarily gave up their freedom for certain periods of time in exchange for transportation to America.

“Freedom Dues”

A payment at the end of the serving period for indentured servants granting them their freedom.

John Smith

The Jamestown colony’s first leader that led a work-for-food way of living.

Headright system

A system granting a colonist 50 acres of land if they paid for their own passage or another’s passage to America.

House of Burgesses

The first elected assembly in colonial America established after charters of grants and liberties were issued.

Powhatan

The leader of the nearby tribes in the Jamestown colony area and started trade with the colonies. Wanted to establish that he had the power and that the colonists shouldn’t overstep their boundaries.

Pocahontas

The daughter of Powhatan and acted as a translator and interpreter between the natives and the colonists. Became a hostage once fighting broke out between the two groups and was sent to marry John Rolfe and became a symbol of Anglo-Indian harmony.

John Rolfe

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An English colonist that married Pocahontas. He introduced tobacco from the West Indies to Virginia that rocketed the economy and crop production of the colony.

Uprising of 1622

An attack led by Powhatan’s brother, Opechancanough, that killed 300 colonists. However the colonists fought back and devastated the native population and villages, which led to the colonists vowing to drive the natives out of their colonized land.

Opechancanough

The brother of Powhatan that led the Uprising of 1622, but was unsuccessful.

Dower rights

The right that women could claim one third of their husband’s property if he died before her. But when the woman died after her husband, the property would go to her male heirs.

Proprietary colony

A colony under a grant of land and governmental authority towards a single person.

Cecilius Calvert

The son of a friend of King Charles I that was granted authority to Maryland. He disliked representation and required landowners to pay him for their land in exchange for their rights as Englishmen.

Puritanism

Those who saw themselves as true protestants that were not satisfied with the protestant reformation. Believed the Church of England followed Catholicism too much.

Congregationalists

Puritans who believed local congregations were the right method of appointing clergymen and methods of worship.

John Calvin

Swiss theologian that believed the world was divided into two groups, the elect and the damned. He stated that God had already decided who was to prosper and who was to suffer and that no amount of worship could change that.

John Winthrop

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Former Massachusetts governor that stated there were two kinds of liberty, “Natural Liberty”, as in the ability to act and behave without restraint, said the natives followed, and “Moral Liberty” which followed Christian beliefs and freedom to do what is good. Suggested that true liberty depended on authority.

Pilgrims

The first Puritans to reach America that settled in the Cape in Plymouth.

Mayflower

The boat that the Pilgrims used to travel to America along with 150 other settlers.

Plymouth Colony

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The colony the Pilgrims established once they reached America in the Cape.

Mayflower Compact

A contract most Pilgrim men signed vowing to follow “just and equal laws'' under proper representation of their own choice. It became the first written government document in the modern day US.

Squanto

The local leader of the Patuxet tribe of natives that escaped the Spanish and helped the Pilgrims survive by teaching them where to hunt, fish, and farm.

Massachusetts Bay Company

A company founded by London merchants who hoped to enforce the Puritan way and start trade with the local natives.

Great Migration

Established stable society for the Pilgrims and Puritans by providing trade and economic opportunities.

Roger Williams

A minister that insisted church and state be separated by separating the congregations in Massachusetts and the Church of England in an effort to provide more liberty to the people in case of religious differences.

Anne Hutchinson

A midwife and the daughter of a clergyman who held a large following and spoke out against religious issues involving the faultiness of the church for basing religious importance based on church attendance and not inner morals.

The Pequot War

A massacre led by Connecticut and Massachusetts soldiers after a fur trader was killed by a Pequot native. 500 Pequot natives were killed after their village was set on fire. Established colonial power over the natives.

Half-Way Covenant

Allowed people to be baptized and have a half-way membership for the grandchildren of those who migrated during the Great Migration. It was an effort to expand the influence of the Congregational Church and withhold some religious purity.

Magna Carta

A series of liberties granted by King John in 1215 in an effort to stop the barons from fighting for the crown. Some of the liberties included protection against unjust imprisonment and protection of one’s land.

Habeas corpus

 A rule under the Magna Carta which ensured someone could not be imprisoned without a legal charge.

The Levellers

The first Democratic Political Movement that proposed the Agreement of the People and the abolition of the monarchy and House of Lords in an effort to spread democracy.

Quakers

A group of people who believed in Anne Hutchinson’s ideas of religious fate being decided upon your inner morals, they were whipped and killed for their ideas.

George III

King of Great Britain during the time of the revolutionary war (Assumed throne in 1760).

“Virtual Representation”

The idea that all of the people’s interests under the British crown would be taken into consideration and cared for.

Writs of assistance

a writ allowing any British officer to be able to search a colonists home for smuggled goods.

Proclamation of 1763

A proclamation prohibiting the ability of colonists to settle further west of the Appalachian mountains.

Sugar Act

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Reduced the tax of sugar goods but caused widespread smuggling by colonists to end.

Stamp Act

Required colonists to buy stamps and put them on any paper document.

“No taxation without representation”

The argument made by the colonists that the British shouldn’t be able to tax them without the colonies having proper representation in parliament.

Patrick Henry

Said that the colonies deserved the same “liberties, privileges, franchises, and immunities” as those back in Britain.

Stamp Act Congress

a group of 27 colonists from nine colonies that met in New York and devoted themselves to the “Crown of Great Britain” but then argued that the people should consent to the taxation before having it forced upon them.

Committees of Correspondence

A group of colonial leaders who encouraged opposition to the Parliament’s Sugar and Currency Acts.

Sons of Liberty

Tenants in New York that stopped paying rent and started seizing land, they opposed the Stamp Act.

Declaratory Act

The repeal of the Stamp Act, however rejected the idea of only Americans electing representatives levying taxes.

Regulators

A group of wealthy residents from South Carolina that protested underrepresentation of western areas in the legislature of the colonies.

Ethan Allen & the Green Mountain Boys

A group that rebelled against the New York landlords, they gained control of the area which later became known as Vermont.

Townshend Acts

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Charles Townshend came up with more acts in an effort to impose more taxation onto the colonies and to create a new board of commissioners and to prevent smuggling.

*Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania*

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An essay by John Dickinson that argued for forgiveness from Britain, but also asked for the colonists to receive the same rights as those back in the UK.