All APUSH Terms

Aztec & Incan Empires

Large empires in central & south America respectively that rivaled European powers in size and influence

Cahokia

Large city near modern day St. Louis that was the center of trade. It had labor, wealth and class differentiation.

Maize

Corn production meant that Indian societies could stay in one place longer and not need as much land as hunting & gathering societies. Allows for urbanization to grow.

Clovis Technology

Use of flint for arrowheads. Allows for hunting of big game.

Compass

New tech to gauge direction, this helps Euros travel farther

Sugar

Cash crop that caused Euros to want to expand

Caravel

New kind of ship that could sail into the wind easier

Sextant

Device that allowed navigators to keep track of their global positioning

Absolute Monarchs

Rulers who had absolute power and competed with other monarchs

Capitalism

Free market economics, part of Euro expansion is the need for resources and wealth

Henry VIII

King of England who brings about the protestant reformation

Protestant Reformation

Started by Luther who believed that you could get to heaven by faith alone. Also people critical of the corruption in the Catholic Church, like indulgences.

Martin Luther

Brings about the protestant reformation

John Calvin

Swiss Theologian who wrote about pre-destination

Encomienda

Spanish labor system that used Native people for labor for a short period of time

role of the Catholic Church; Many Catholics believed in “civilizing” native people, which essentially meant treating them inferior and justified using some as slaves. Many reformists also came from the Catholic Church.

Mercantilism; Economic system where colonies were used to enrich the mother country. Colonies were required to produce raw materials and buy back finished goods.

Triangular Trade

Trade between Africa, Europe & the new world. Africa sold the labor, Colonies provided raw material & the mother country produced finished goods.

Headright System

Gave 50 acres of land to property owners who brought over indentured servants. This created a large landed aristocracy.

Freedom Dues

Land (25-50 acres) given to Indentured Servants after their indenture was up.

Jamestown

First permanent settlement in English America. Began to prosper with the introduction of tobacco.

Indentured Servitude

Predominant form of labor in the colonies in the 1600s. People would agree to serve 5-7 year indentures in exchange for passage to America

Bacon’s Rebellion

1676 rebellion in Virginia that saw frontier settlers march on Jamestown and burn it down. They felt ignored by the colonial government. This helped grow slavery because elites in Virginia began to fear mob rule.

Slavery

Labor system that emerged in the western hemisphere. In the 1600s in British America. Chattel slavery stripped slaves of all rights.

Cash crops

Crops grown on a large scale in the south that could fetch heavy profits (tobacco & sugar especially, but also indigo, cotton in the 1800s)

Maryland

Catholic colony that eventually was overrun by protestants

Slave Codes

Developed in the 17th century, they restricted the rights of black slaves by taking away civil and economic rights.

Stono Rebellion

Rebellion in 1739 in South Carolina that caused colonies in the south to further limit freedoms for slaves, especially literacy and movement.

Pilgrims

Puritan separatists, they were the first to come to the colonies

Puritans

Most Puritans wanted to purify the Anglican Church, not get rid of it. Believed in pre-destination and getting rid of any remnants of Catholicism.

Half-Way Covenant

Puritans agreed to baptize young people into the church without communion or full membership in 1662. Shows them losing their grip on their conformity.

Salem Witch trials

Sign that society had deep conflict and was changing. Was more prosperous and growing away from their original religious mission and deeply conflicted.

John Winthrop

First Governor of Massachusetts Bay, he wanted to make it a “Shining City Upon a Hill”

Rhode Island

Colony founded by Roger Williams that became a bastion for dissenters

Anne Hutchinson & Roger Williams

Religious dissidents in Mass Bay who left for Rhode Island

Quakers

Settled in Pennsylvania & other middle colonies. Practiced tolerance & golden rule.

Religious toleration

William Penn had been persecuted for his beliefs so he believed in religious toleration.

Commerce

Two largest ports in the colonies (Philly & NY) were in the middle colonies. They exported food, cash crops, etc…

House of Burgesses

Assembly in Virginia, it was the first democratic institution in the new colonies, helping set a precedent for democratic rule.

Town Meetings

Direct democracy practiced in New England, probably most democratic in the world

Mayflower Compact

Agreement between colonists on the Mayflower to live by a set of rules. Helps set precedent for Constitutional government.

Colonial legislatures

democratically elected lower houses of colonial governments. In most colonies they levied taxes and paid officials, giving them enormous power.

Royal Governor

Typically appointed by the King and was chief executive for a colony

Council

Upper house of legislature as well as the Court in some colonies. Many times appointed by the Governor.

3 Branches of Government

Most colonies believed in dividing government between 3 branches.

First Great Awakening: Less emphasis on predestination and more on personal salvation through Jesus Christ and repentance of ones sin.

George Whitefield

British minister who came to America and helped spread the Awakening.

Expansion of higher education

Colonists saw an increase in church membership and a need to train more ministers so they formed more universities. The Awakening was also questioning existing doctrine, which helped set the precedent for questioning Royal authority later.

new religious sects

Baptist, Methodists, other older denominations like Prebyterians and Congregationalists split over the Awakening.

Old & New Lights

Old Lights rejected the evangelical nature of the Awakening and New Lights embraced it.

Ft. Duquesne

French fort in modern day Pittsburgh. Both Britain & France were interested in controlling the trade in the area.

Fall of Quebec

British victory that helps turn the tide in the war.

Louisbourg

Capture of Louisbourg, mostly by Americans, gave colonists a sense of pride in helping with the war.

Proclamation of 1763

After the war Americans hoped to head west for new land but the Proclamation said they could not go. Americans resented this as they saw the land as being bought with their blood.

Pontiac’s Rebellion

Indian rebellion in the Great lakes region that convinced the British to pass the Proclamation of 1763 to stop settlers from going over the mountains.

Stamp Act

1765. Tax on printed items in the colonies. Affected everyone and was passed without colonists consent. Also, sending violators to Admiralty courts was seen as a miscarriage of justice

Sugar Act

1764. Act for raising revenue in the colonies who paid little in taxes. Taxed molasses and impacted mostly merchants, but passed without colonial consent and Admiralty courts applied here too

Quartering Act

Forced colonial communities to house and feed British soldiers. Standing armies were seen a instruments of tyranny and were resented by colonists

Stamp Act Congress 1765- Colonial response to the Stamp Act. Argued against taxation without representation and said only external taxes were acceptable. Colonies resisting together.

Townshend Duties 1767

External tax on glass, paper, tea, etc… American colonists resisted this as well as a tax passed without their consent

Boston Massacre

1770 shooting of colonists that is portrayed as a massacre by American propaganda, in order to show the British as tyrants.

Boston Tea Party

1773 Following the passage of the Tea Act, Colonists dumped the tea into the Harbor in opposition to a British monopoly. This leads to the passage of the Coercive Acts.

Intolerable Acts

1774: Closing of Boston Port, shutting down government in Massachusetts, and a new Quartering Act was confirmation to many colonists that the British were out to take away their liberties and rights as Englishmen.

Opposition thinkers

British thinkers who believed that there was a conspiracy in the British government to take away the liberties of common people through taxation and increased bureaucracy. Saw taxes as a way to take property from people, therefore it required their consent. Argued that direct, not virtual, representation was the only acceptable way to tax people.

Enlightenment

Ideological movement that embraced science, reasoning & rationality. It influenced the founders view of government.

John Locke

Scottish philosopher who believed in the consent of the governed and that taxation could only come from representatives directly elected by the people.

Consent of the Governed

Government had to come from the votes of the people. Majority rule.

Committees of Correspondence

Committees in the colonies that communicated with each other in order to resist together.

Continental Congress

Most colonies sent representatives to the CC which advocated for moderation until 1776. This is the colonies coming together to resist the British.

Quebec Act

1774. Took away representative government in formerly French Canada & made Catholicism official. Horrified the colonists as another example of the conspiracy to crush their liberties.

Admiralty Courts

Courts of the empire that colonists despised because they were not representative of the their ideas about juries of their peers.

Declaration of Independence

Formally declared America’s independence using the argument of the consent of the governed

Saratoga

American victory in 1777 that convinced France to join the war on our side

Franco-American Alliance

The French were instrumental in helping the US win the war. They provided, money, men, arms and ships to the US cause.

Yorktown

US laid siege to Yorktown and forced Cornwallis to surrender, convincing the British to sue for peace.

Treaty of Paris 1783

Formally ended the war and gave America everything east of the Mississippi and north of Florida

Loyalists

Tories/Loyalists were colonists who remained loyal to Britain. They made up about 20% of the population and many of them were forced out of the US after the war.

Common Sense

Widely read pamphlet printed by Thomas Paine that argued for American Independence in early 1776 as common sense that and island should not rule a continent.

Regulators (east/west conflict)

Regulator movements were westerners who spoke out against the influence of easterners in colonial governments. In many cases they openly rebelled against the colonial government because of grievances. Examples are the Paxton Boys in PA, Shay’s Rebellion in MA, or the Green Mountain Boys in VT.

Whig Principles

Idea that a strong central government in a far away place was dangerous. The Founders believed that smaller government, closer to he people was better.

Republicanism

Belief that leaders needed to sacrifice their own self interest for the good of the whole, or good of the nation. This is “disinterestedness”

Articles of Confederation

First federal government was set up using this. It was founded on Whig Principles where most of the power remained with the states

Shay’s Rebellion

Rebellion of farmers in western Massachusetts that the federal government could not put down. This helped lead to the movement to write a new constitution with a stronger central government

Northwest Ordinance

Passed by the Congress under the Articles of Confederation, it organized the area then considered the NW (OH, MI, WI, IL, IN). It laid out requirements for statehood (all states came in as equals), banned slavery, and required funding for education.

Virginia Plan

Proposed a bicameral legislature with three branches of government where both houses of Congress were based on population. This was approved by big states. It becomes the blueprint for the Constitution.

New Jersey Plan

Counterproposal by small states to have a unicameral legislature where each state was even but give more power to the federal government.

Connecticut Compromise

The compromise that combined the two plans, essentially taking the VA Plan and making the upper house even for all states, which protected smaller states.

Bill of Rights

Anti-Federalists, who opposed the Constitution, thought that putting power in the hands of a strong central government was dangerous and demanded a federal Bill of Rights to protect individual liberties from tyranny.

Federalism

Idea ingrained into US institutions where there are different levels of government that share power. Local, state and federal governments each play a role in governing.

Checks & Balances

The Three branches of government can check the power of each branch. The executive has a veto, the legislative branch consents to nominees or can override the veto, and the judicial branch rules on the constitutionality of laws.

Federalist (political party)

New political party led by Hamilton what believed in a stronger central government and a more commercial economy.

Democratic-Republican

Jefferson’s party that believed in limited government and a stronger agrarian economy because yeoman farmers were the ultimate republicans.

Strict v. Loose Constructionism

Difference of opinion on how to interpret the Constitution. Jefferson believed in strict interpretation, meaning that the federal government could not do anything unless the Constitution gave it permission to do so. Hamilton believed in loose construction, meaning that if the constitution did not prevent something then it was allowed. Hamilton used things like the “Necessary and Proper” clause to justify the Bank of the US.

Jay’s Treaty

Treaty with Britain that does very little to fix issues with the Brits. It does give them preferred trade status and they do leave the forts in the north east, but the treaty is seen as pro-British and is wildly unpopular in the US, especially among Democratic-Republicans. It, along with the French Revolution, helped split the US up into a two party system.

Funding & Assumption

In an attempt to establish credit, Hamilton proposed that the federal government assume all state debts and pay off all US debt at the federal level. This would unify states behind the federal government and help the US establish credit.

1st Bank of U.S.

Part of Hamilton’s Plan, Jefferson argued it was unconstitutional and gave too much power to the federal government. Hamilton wanted a place to put revenue that he brought in to create capital for commercial investments.

XYZ Affair

US diplomats that went to Paris during the Adams Adm. and were snubbed by Talleyrand and the French Government. They came back to the US and the public was outraged calling for war.

Pinckney’s Treaty

Treaty with the Spanish, fearing an alliance with Britain after Jay’s Treaty, that opens up the Mississippi River and New Orleans, as well as ceding territory in the SW to the US

Quasi-War with France

Naval war fought with France during the Adams administration. Adams achieved building a more formidable navy during his presidency.

Alien & Sedition Acts

Federalist feared losing power so they passed the A&S Acts to make it a crime to publish harsh criticisms against the government and also expand the time out to become a citizen so that less immigrants would become D-R’s.