APUSH: Semester 1

Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus

man who sailed from Spain to find a faster route to Asia from the Old World. He is credited with ‘discovering America’ even though it was by accident in 1492. He enslaved Native Americans and is seen as a hero by some, but as a person who would ultimately wipe out many Natives by disease.

Encomienda System

Spanish labor system where Indians were exploited by the Spanish. Indians had to pay tributes to Spanish representatives in exchange for military protection. Often times, it was very similar to a system of slavery.

Pueblo Revolt

1680 revolt of Native Americans in the American Southwest against the Spanish. The Natives revolted when they felt their religious practices were being infringed on by Catholics. After the Spanish took back over, they became a little more tolerant.

Columbian Exchange

spread of goods, animals, disease, crops, and ideas from the Old World to the New world and vice versa.

Mercantilism

Economic policy or belief that all economic activity should support the whole country or empire. It created competition between imperial powers in Europe, especially with regards to colonies in America.

Predestination

religious, Calvinist idea that people’s fates were determined. Some would go to heaven or hell, and the belief was that people’s behavior was evidence of their fate.

Puritans / Puritanism

Religious group or belief that the Church of England needed to be purer. Some extreme people in this group believed they had to separate from the Church of England.

Jamestown

first permanent British settlement in North America. Its founders originally sought gold, but later shifted to cultivating tobacco.

Joint Stock Company

the term for an investment company in colonial times that would pool multiple investors’ money to invest in founding a new colony.  The Virginia Company is an example of this.

Powhatan

native American tribe near Jamestown colony. They had conflict with the settlers of Jamestown. Pocahontas was a member of this tribe.

John Smith

Jamestown leader who pushed his people to work harder to survive after many died off from being too lazy or not creating a solid enough settlement with adequate food sources.

Starving Time

Term to describe winter of 1609-1610 in Jamestown where many died from cold and hunger in Jamestown.

John Rolfe

Planter in Jamestown who introduced a strain of tobacco that made the tobacco industry explode and highly profitable.

Headright System

Fifty-acre grants of land that encouraged new settlers to Jamestown or to have people bring others or families with them.

House of Burgesses

The first elected legislature in what would later be the United States of America. It first met in 1619.

Pocahontas

Powhatan woman and chief’s daughter, kidnapped by Virginia Company men who tried to get a ransom. When the chief refused, she converted to Christianity and married John Rolfe and was sent to England to be shown off.

Act of Toleration

1649 religious law in Maryland that allowed all Christians to practice their religion. It was designed to help protect the Catholics there.

Bacon’s Rebellion

1675-1677 rebellion in Virginia of Western farmers against the colonial government in Jamestown. The farmers complained they were not protected against Native Americans and their voices were not heard. It was a result of a large number of poor, landless whites who used to be indentured servants. It marked a turning point from indentured servitude to African slavery.

Chesapeake Colonies

British North American colonial region made up of the Virginia and Maryland areas.  It was characterized by its cultivation of tobacco.

Pilgrims

Puritans seeking religious freedom who sailed to Plymouth Colony in 1620.

Mayflower Compact

Document signed by most male passengers before they settled at Plymouth in 1620.  It set up the ideas of hard work, religion, and self government.

John Winthrop

Puritan religious and political leader who helped grow Massachusetts Bay Colony. He went on to be its governor for many years. He is also famous for his “City on a Hill Speech”.

“City Upon a Hill” / Arbella Sermon

Speech and sermon by John Winthrop in 1630.  In it, he envisioned a city where people would work hard an be an example of a Christian community to the whole world.

Roger Williams

This man founded Rhode Island after being banished from Massachusetts for his view. He established the idea there of separation of church and states.

Anne Hutchinson

Outspoken Puritan woman who challenged the teachings of the time. She believed people could make their own connection with God, not just through the established churches. After being banished from Massachusetts, she moved to Rhode Island.

King Philip’s War

War fought from 1675-1676 between New England colonists and neighboring tribes including the Wampanoag and Narragansett tribes. It was sparked after three Wampanoag men were executed. The war was costly on both sides, but it led to further white expansion west.

New England Colonies

the term for the colonies in the American northeast. They were largely settled initially for religious reason and were made up of families and small farms.

Quakers

The Religious Society of Friends, a Christian group who were pacifists. They were persecuted in Britain and eventually many came to the colonies. Eventually they settled into Pennsylvania and had peaceful relations with their natives.

William Penn

Wealthy English Quaker who founded Pennsylvania in as a colony that embraced religious tolerance. 

Navigation Acts

1650s and 1660s laws intended to increase British colonial dependence on British goods and decrease other foreign trade. It is an excellent example of mercantilism.

Dominion of New England

1686 merging of numerous northeastern colonies after Massachusetts ignored Britain’s laws. It put a royal governor in charge of this group of colonies. This was meant to punish the colonies for not following the Navigation Acts.

Middle Colonies

Most diverse colonial region in America, made up of diverse religions, merchants, and farmers. It was the most religiously tolerant region as well. It was known as the breadbasket region because of its grain cultivation.

Southern Colonies

British North American Colonies that featured plantations, crops and cash crops like rice, sugar, and indigo, and were closely onnected with the Caribbean Sea.  Life expectancy was lower in these areas.

Salutary Neglect

An unofficial policy of Great Britain where they didn’t enforce the Navigation Acts in the late 1600s and first half of the 1700s.

Albany Plan of Union

1754 meeting and plan that wasn’t approved by the colonies. It was a plan to unite the colonies under a governing body for the purpose of defense against some native tribes and the French, and to preserve relationships with the Iroquois. It was the first attempt of uniting the colonies.

Benjamin Franklin

Inventor, leader at the Albany Conference in 1754, a diplomat to France during the Revolutionary War, and member of the Constitutional Convention.

French and Indian War

War between Britain and the colonists versus the French and some Native American tribes from 1754

Treaty of Paris, 1763

This treaty ended the Seven Years’ War, also known as the French and Indian War. It gave Britain land in the West up to the Mississippi River.

William Pitt

This British Secretary of State took command of British and colonial troops, and adopted a more aggressive approach during the French and Indian War, helping lead to victory.

King George III

This British monarch came to power in 1760 and was King throughout the years leading up to and through the American Revolution.

Pontiac’s Rebellion

An uprising of Native American Indian tribes following the French and Indian War that led to the passage of the Proclamation of 1763 and the British decision to establish a permanent standing army in North America

Proclamation of 1763

In response to settlers moving to Ohio River Valley, the British passed this ruling, forbidding settlers from advancing beyond a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains.

Sugar Act (1764)

This 1764 law attempted to end the illegal sugar trade between the colonies and French and Spanish West Indies. Furthermore, it established offices in the colonies to try to prevent smuggling.

Stamp Act (1765)

This 1765 law imposed a tax on most printed documents in the colonies such as newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets, deeds, wills and licenses. It affected most of the colonists.

Patrick Henry

This outspoken Patriot made a fiery speech in 1765, in response to the Stamp Act, that the King might lose his head. He also introduced the Virginia Resolves.

Virginia Resolves

A set of resolutions introduced in Virginia stating that they should not pay taxes except those voted on by the Virginia assembly, among other declarations.

Stamp Act Congress

Meeting of delegates from nine colonies which petitioned the king and two houses of Parliament. They acknowledged British power, but stated that the colonies should only pay taxes through their provincial (colonial) assemblies.

Sons of Liberty

This group formed in 1765 terrorized stamp agents and burned stamps. They were later responsible for the Boston Tea Party and tarring and feathering British officials.

Declaratory Act

As Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, they immediately passed this law, which asserted Parliament’s authority over the colonies “in all cases whatsoever”.

Townshend Duties

1767 taxes on lead, paint, paper, and tea, meant to raise revenues in the colonies. They were also viewed by colonists as taxation without representation.

Boston Massacre

This 1770 event left several dead in Boston after British soldiers were harassed by a colonial mob. It led to a trial of the soldiers and the news of it spread across the colonies.

Samuel Adams

Outspoken Boston man, argued Britain has become sinful and corrupt and spoke at public meetings in Boston. He proposed committees of correspondence in Boston to publicize the grievances of the British throughout the colonies.

Virtual Representation /Actual Representation

The British argued that through this idea, the colonists were in fact represented in Parliament, because they claimed that the Parliament represented all British subjects, even if the subjects didn’t get to vote for them.

Parliament

The British legislature.

Gaspée Incident

1772 event where a British ship that was enforcing Navigation Acts and other laws was attacked, boarded and burned. It heightened tensions between the colonists and Britain.

Tea Act

This was a 1773 ‘tax’ on the colonists by Britain which aimed to help the near

Daughters of Liberty

An informal women’s organization which helped organize boycotts in the colonies. Famously they had written “that rather than Freedom, we’ll part with our Tea”.

Boston Tea Party

Event on Dec 16, 1773 where Sons of Liberty men dressed as Mohwaks boarded three ships and threw tea into the Boston Harbor.

Coercive Acts / Intolerable Acts

Laws passed by the British to limit self government of Massachusetts, closed the port of Boston, allowed for trials in England and furthered the quartering of troops.  These were in response to the Boston Tea Party.

First Continental Congress

Sept 1774 meeting of colonists in Philadelphia. This group endorsed statement of grievances to Britain, while remaining loyal to the King. It also made preparations for the defense of Boston if attacked and organized boycotts of British goods. Finally, this group agreed to meet again the next year.

Lexington and Concord

Sites of first shots of American Revolution outside of Boston where British army encountered militia men as they searched for colonial weapon stores. This is where the “shot heard ‘round the world” was fired.

Second Continental Congress

1775 meeting of colonial representatives, just weeks after the first shots at Lexington and Concord. They agreed to support the war, but debated on purpose, whether it was independence or to address grievances. They issued the “Olive Branch Petition” and the “Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms”.

John Dickinson

A moderate at the Continental Congress from Pennsylvania, who argued against independence on the basis that he viewed it as illegal.

Olive Branch Petition

A last ditch effort letter directly from the Second Continental Congress to the King with a plea for peace, acknowledging the loyalty of the colonists to Britain, but also emphasized their rights as British citizens.

Thomas Paine / Common Sense

Name of Author and/or Pamphlet that convinced many in early 1776 that Independence was the way ahead for the colonies. It used simple logic and Enlightenment ideas to make its points.

Thomas Jefferson

Author/penner of the Declaration of Independence, who was later the nation’s second Vice President and third President.

Declaration of Independence

Document that established the United States as a separate country. Its goal was also to attract alliances in Europe.

Articles of Confederation

The United States’ first written national constitution, written in 1777 and ratified in 1781. It created a weak central government and left many powers with the states. It is known for its weaknesses.

George Washington

Man who helped spark the Seven Years’ War. He later was commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolution, the President of the Constitutional Convention, America’s First President, and an icon of American identity.

Battle of Bunker Hill

Battle between militia and British army on June 17, 1775, where the militia held off the British’s first two advances, but later had to retreat. It was a British victory, but was a morale booster for the Americans as they’d held their ground against the best army of the world.

Battle of Saratoga

Important 1777 ‘turning point’ battle of the American Revolution. This American victory in New York helped give confidence to the French to join the war on the American side, helping in the overall war effort.

Loyalists

Americans who sided with the British during the Revolutionary War, either due to ideological beliefs, wealth, or other connections.

Patriots

Americans who fought or supported the fight for independence against the British during the American Revolution.

Battle of Yorktown

1782 American Revolution battle in the south where Lord Cornwallis’ army was trapped between an American army, French army, with its back against the French navy. It resulted in the capture of a large British force and led to an end to the war shortly after.

Treaty of Paris, 1783

Peace treaty that ended the American Revolution. Notably, it forced the British to give up lands all the way west to the Mississippi River, recognize American independence, and also gave Spain Florida from Britain.

Abigail Adams

Revolutionary woman who wrote to her revolutionary husband, reminding him to ‘remember the ladies’.

Republican Wife and Mother

Idea that women in this time period had a critically important role in raising educated kids who would grow to be good citizens, full of American ideals.

Homespun

Clothing that was homemade in the years before the American Revolution and during it, which became fashionable as a symbol of boycotting British goods.

Republicanism / Republic

A representative form of government. In short, it means we elect people who represent the masses. In early American times, this only included typically male, white property owners.

Rad teacher

Mr. Paeth

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Successful law that the government passed under the Articles of Confederation. It determined how territories could apply for statehood, encouraged public education, and outlawed slavery in the Northwest.

Critical Period

The period after teh American Revolution and up to the ratification of the new Constitution, roughly 1783

Shays’ Rebellion

1786 to 1787 uprising of western farmers who rose up to try to prevent the Mass. government from collecting taxes and foreclosing their farms.   It illustrated the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation in that the federal government couldn’t effectively tax the citizens and couldn’t raise a military.

Alexander Hamilton

Revolutionary who worked under Washington during the American Revolution. He later was an author of the Federalist Papers, and served as the nation’s first Secretary of the Treasury. He advocated for a strong federal government by pushing for a national bank and the federal government taking on the debts of the revolution.

Philadelphia (Constitutional) Convention

1787 convention where delegates from 12 states met to revise the Articles of Confederation. After many debates, they ended up making a whole new written plan for the government.

James Madison

This Virginia man is considered the “Father of the Constitution”, for his part in writing much of it. He later would become the 4th President of the United States as a Democratic Republican.

Virginia Plan

This plan, debated at the Constitutional Convention, called for proportional representation in a bicameral legislature. It was known as the “Big State Plan”.

New Jersey Plan

This plan, debated at the Constitutional Convention, called for equal representation in a unicameral legislature. It was known as the “Small State Plan”.

3/5ths Compromise

A plan developed at the Constitutional Convention which stated that enslaved persons would count as 60% of a person in the population count to help Southern states’ population count for the House of Representatives.

Great Compromise

A plan to take parts of the Virginia and New Jersey plans to make a bicameral legislature with one house based on population (House of Representatives) and one based on equal representation (Senate).

Separation of Powers

An idea in the Constitution that no one branch of government has all of the powers of government. In other words, power is split between three branches of government.

Checks and Balances

An idea in the Constitution that each branch of government can limit the powers of the other branches. In other words, if one branch gets too powerful, the others have the power to limit it.

Federalism

An idea about government that both a national government and state governments share/spread powers.

Ratify / Ratification

To approve or the process of approving a constitution.

Federalists

Group who supported states ratifying the Constitution as it was written in 1787. They wanted the federal government to have the power to govern and published letters in newspapers throughout the country.

Antifederalists

Group who opposed states ratifying the Constitution as it was written in 1787. They worried the Constitution gave the government too much power and didn’t protect citizens’ or states’ rights. They published letters in newspapers throughout the country.

The Federalist Papers

Written documents that were published in newspapers throughout the country with the goal of convincing states to ratify the Constitution as it was written in 1787.

Bill of Rights

The first ten Amendments to the US Constitution. They were added as an agreement to states who were hesitant about ratifying the Constitution as written in 1787.

Federalists (political party)

Political party in the 1790s that supported a strong central government and a national bank. It was favored by coastal cities, merchants, businessmen and manufacturers.

Democratic Republicans (political party)

Political party in the 1790s that supported a weaker central government with more power with the states.  They envisioned a country based on small farms and were favored by southern and western.