APUSH Midterm

Three Sisters

Corn, Beans, Squash

Tenochtitlan

Aztec Metropolis in present-day Mexico

Cahokia

Civilization near present-day St. Louis with ten-thirty thousand residents at its peak

Vasco de Gama

1498 → first European to India via Cape of Good HopePri

Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal

Portuguese; sponsored the voyages around the Cape of Good Hope

Causes of the Age of Exploration

Improvements in Technology; Religious Conflict; Trade, Wealth, and Power

Potatoes

Vegetable cultivated by the Incas in the Andes Mountains; allowed for quicker calorie delivery and healthier people

Smallpox

90 percent of Native died within 150 years of exposure to this European disease

Catholic Kingdoms

Spain, Portugal, and France

Protestant Kingdoms

Holland and England

Encomienda

a grant by the Spanish Crown to a colonist in America conferring the right to demand tribute and forced labor from the Indian inhabitants of an area.

Bartolome De Las Casas

a Spanish Dominican friar who became famous for his defense of the rights of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. His brave stand against the horrors of the conquest and the colonization of the New World earned him the title “Defender of the Indigenous peoples."

Treaty of Tordesillas (1493)

A signed agreement that moved the pope’s line of demarcation a few degrees to the west.

Protestant Reformation

the widespread religious, cultural, and social upheaval of 16th-century Europe that broke the hold of the medieval Church, allowing for the development of personal interpretations of the Christian message and leading to the development of modern nation-states.

Conquistadores

Spanish conquerors

Henry Hudson

an English sea explorer and navigator hired by the Dutch during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the northeastern United States

Christopher Columbus

an Italian explorer and navigator who completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, opening the way for the widespread European exploration and colonization of the Americas.

What was unique about the Dutch settlements?

They did not seek religious conversion and were religiously tolerant.

Dutch West India Company

Private Company chartered for economic gain that did not seek to conquer but profit.

Roanoke Island (1587)

the “Lost Colony”

Richard Hakluyt

an English writer known for promoting the English colonization of North America through his works

Jamestown, VA 1607

The first permanent English colony in the New World; almost failed but tobacco farming was discovered

Joint Stock Company

a type of business organization wherein the risk and cost of doing business is mitigated through the sale of shares.

Virginia Company

an English trading company chartered by King James I on April 10, 1606 with the object of colonizing the eastern coast of America

Headright System

a land grant system that gave land to investors who paid for immigrants to move to Colonial America. It was created by the Virginia Company and first used in Jamestown in 1618.

Indentured Servitude

Indentured servitude is a form of labor where an individual is under contract to work without a salary to repay an indenture or loan within a certain timeframe.

Where did enslavement of Africans first begin?

In the Caribbean (specifically Jamaica, Barbados, Leeward Islands, Grenada, and St. Vincent) for the harvesting of sugar cane.

Three factors that increased the demand for slave labor

Reduced migration to the Americas, dependable workforce, and cheap labor

Royal African Company (1672)

**an English mercantile (trading) company** set up in 1660 by the royal Stuart family and City of London merchants to trade along the west coast of Africa; held a monopoly on slave trade for English merchants

Triangular Trade Route

A triangle shaped trading route that consisted of The Colonies slaves, Europe materials, Africa rum, manufactured materials, and The Indies

Middle Passage

journey from Africa to America that brought slaves to caribbean

Separatists

Group that wished to be completely separate from the Anglican Church; were forced out by King James I; fled to Netherlands - referred to as Pilgrims; left Netherlands for New World - established Plymouth Colony (MA) in 1620

Puritans

Led by John Winthrop; hoped to purify the Anglican church from the inside; persecuted by King Charles I; established the Massachusetts Bay Company in 1629; left for America in 1630 and established the city of Boston

Corporate Colony

Company or group of shareholders granted colony by monarchy; Ex. Jamestown (1607) - The Virginia Company chartered by King James I

Proprietary Colony

Crown grants charter to one person or one family; Ex. Maryland - chartered by George Calvert, Lord of Baltimore (1632) and Pennsylvania - chartered to Quaker William Penn (1681)

Royal Colony

in the absence or revocation of a private or proprietary charter came under the direct, everyday governmental control of the English monarchy. It is important to emphasize that the Crown and not Parliament held sovereignty over these; Virginia - lost charter and was seized by English Crown (1624); New York - Seized from Dutch control by England (1664)

What made an “eligible” voter?

White male property owner

Established (state) church

a church recognized by law as the official church of a state or nation and supported by civil authority

1661 VA Slave Laws

Children “inherit” enslaved status for life

Where were Congregationalists (Puritans) primarily?

New England colonies

Where were most Reformers?

Dutch settlers in NY/NJ

Where did Quakers and Mennonites settle?

PennsylvaniaWher

Where did most Anglicans settle?

Southern colonies; dominantly VA

What religious group was prominent in MD?

Catholics

Where did Jews settle?

RI, Boston, Philadelphia

The Great Awakening

A religious movement beginning in the 1730’s in colonial North America characterized by fervent expressions of religious feeling among masses of people

Hernan Cortes

Overthrew Aztecs and built a Catholic Cathedral on top of an Aztec temple; renamed Tenochtitlan Mexico City

Repartimiento

A lesser form of encomienda; natives still worked in the service of their conqueror, but the conqueror would teach them Christianity

John Winthrop

an English Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England following Plymouth Colony

Mercantilism

An economic policy which relied upon trade, colonies, and accumulation of wealth as a basis for a country’s military and political strength

The Enlightenment

A literary and philosophical movement of the 18th century whose followers believed that “darkness” of past ages could be corrected by using human reasoning to solve problems

Natural Law

the idea or concept that human beings have rights simply because they are human; these rights are not dependent on government granting them to you; government must protect such rights

Three Major Natural Rights

Life, Liberty, Estate (property)

Popular Sovereignty

The principle that the authority of a state and its government are created and sustained by the consent of its people, through their elected representatives (Rule by the People)

Social Contract Theory

Citizens give their consent to be governed by representatives; representatives use their power to protect natural rights

Right to Revolution

The right or duty of the people of a nation to overthrow a government that acts against their common interest or threatens the safety of the people without a cause

Consumer Culture

Needing to purchase products the convey a certain level of status; luxury goods purchases (not necessities)

Mercantilism

An economic policy which looks upon trade, colonies, and the accumulation of wealth as a basis for a country’s political and military strength

Two Key Elements of Mercantilism

Governments should regulate trade so that it becomes self-sufficient; Colonies should provide raw materials to enrich the parent country

Acts of Trade and Navigation (1650-1673)

Trade to and from the colonies could be carried only on English ships; All goods important into the colonies had to pass through English ports; Specific or “enumerated” goods from colonies could be exported to England only

Salutary Neglect

avoiding the strict enforcement of parliamentary laws, especially trade laws, as long as British colonies remained loyal to the government and contributed to the economic growth of their parent country, England

The French and Indian War

a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes.

Albany Plan of Union (1754)

a rejected plan to create a unified government for the Thirteen Colonies at the Albany Congress on July 10, 1754 in Albany, New York

Proclamation Line of 1763

created an imaginary line along the Appalachian Mountains that prohibited European settlement beyond the crest of the mountain

Peace of Paris (1763)

The Treaty that ended the French and Indian War


1. Great Britain acquired French Canada (Quebec) and Great Lakes region
2. Great Britain also acquired Spanish Florida and western PA, OH, MI
3. France ceded all of their territory west of the Mississippi River to Spain


1. Britain became the dominant European power of North America

Stamp Act (1765)

Required all paper goods to be stamped; tax paid by consumer

Quartering Act (1765)

Required colonists to feed and house British troops

Stamp Act Congress (1765)

9 to 13 colonial leaders met to discuss policy

Committees of Correspondence

Colonial leaders sent letters to one another

Sons of Liberty

A group of violent men who intimidated tax agents, destroyed revenue stamps, and tarred and feathered people

Townshend Acts (1767)

New taxes on imports of tea, glass, and paper; allowed British homes to search for smuggled goods; British soldiers did NOT need a warrant to search homes

Boston Massacre (1770)

British troops stationed to protect stamp agents; Guards protecting customs house fired on crowd; five people killed and dubbed a massacre by the Sons of Liberty

Boston Tea Party (1773)

Britain imposed tax on tea; colonists boycotted; some Bostonians boarded ships in Boston Harbor and threw the tea into it

Coercive (Intolerable) Acts (1774)

Closed port of Boston, prohibiting trade in or out; severely limited power of Massachusetts Colonial legislature; British officers could not be tried for crimes committed in colonies; expanded Quartering Acts to apply to all colonists

First Continental Congress (September 1774)

12 Colonies send delegates to Philadelphia to address Coercive Acts; delegates wanted to protest parliamentary action; most colonists did not want to break free; agreed to meet again in May 1775 if their rights were not recognized

Bunker Hill (June 17, 1775)

First true battle between the Colonists and British troops; considered a draw; British took the high ground, but suffered heavy losses

Marquis de Lafayette

a French aristocrat, freemason and military officer who fought in the American Revolutionary War, commanding American troops in several battles, including the siege of Yorktown.

Yorktown (1781-1783)

Final major battle of the Revolutionary War

Treaty of Paris in 1783

Britain would recognize US as independent nation; Mississippi River would be the far western boundary of US territory

Articles of Confederation (1781)

the original constitution of the US, ratified in 1781, which was replaced by the US Constitution in 1789; One house (unicameral) legislature; each state had one vote; no chief executive or national judiciary

Northwest Ordinance (1787)

Process for admitting new states (OH, MI, IL, MN, WI); slavery prohibited in NW Territory

Virginia Plan

Drafted by James Madison; Two-house (bicameral) legislature; both houses based on state population

New Jersey Plan

Drafted by William Patterson; keep one-house, single vote

Connecticut Plan

Drafted by Roger Sherman; “Great Compromise”; bicameral legislature; House of Representatives based on state’s population; senate - equal representation

Three-Fifths Compromise

For every five slaves in a state, three would count towards population

Missouri Compromise (1820)

the U.S. Congress admitted Missouri to the Union as a state that allowed slavery

Compromise of 1850

series of compromise measures passed by the U.S. Congress in an effort to settle several outstanding slavery issues and to avert the threat of dissolution of the Union; Brokered by Senator Henry Clay


1. Admit CA to Union as a free state
2. Split Mexican Cession (UT and NM) - allow popular sovereignty
3. Ban slave trade in Washington DC
4. Tougher Fugitive Slave Law

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1856)

a territorial organic act that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska by splitting the Nebraska Territory; followed popular sovereignty; Proposed by Senator Stephen Douglas (IL)

Federalists

Supporters of the Constitution (George Washington, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin); Strong government needed to maintain and preserve the Union; Most common amongst Atlantic coast and big cities

Anti-Federalist

Opponents of Constitution (George Mason, Patrick Henry); Strong government was dangerous; New government would limit states’ rights; Most common amongst farmers and settlers on western frontier

The Federalist Papers

Persuasive essays written in defense of Constitution; Authors were Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay; 85 essays in total-appeared in newspapers across the states

George Washington

Military superhero who was elected as 1st President by Electoral college

Alexander Hamilton

Federalist, strong central government; banking, shipping, manufacturing economy; loose interpretation of Constitution; First Secretary of the Treasury

Thomas Jefferson

Anti-Federalist, shared decentralized power; farming and agriculture economy; strict interpretation of Constitution; First Secretary of State

Hamilton’s Debt Plan

1. National government would assume all state war debts
2. Establish a National Bank to manage debt and issue bank notes

Jay Treaty

Britain agreed to evacuate military posts on western US frontier; did NOT address British seizure of American vessels; Narrowly passed Senate; deeply unpopular with American citizens

What did the Anti-Federalists change their party name to?

Democratic-Republicans

What did Washington warn in his 1796 Farewell Address?

1. Not to get involved with European affairs
2. Avoid “permanent alliances” with foreign nations
3. Not to form political parties


1. Not to fall into sectionalism

John Adams

Succeeds Washington as 2nd POTUS in 1796; names Jefferson as his VPOTUS; is a Federalist

XYZ Affair

France attempts to extort money from the US