APUSH periods 1-2

Q: How did Indigenous people first migrate to the Americas?

A: They crossed a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska, which later submerged to form the Bering Strait.

Q: What major crop did the Aztec, Maya, and Inca civilizations all cultivate?

A: Maize.

Q: Describe the Ute people.

A: They were nomadic hunter-gatherers from the Great Plains region, organized into kinship bands, and primarily hunted bison.

Q: Describe the Iroquois people.

A: They lived in the Northeast/Great Lakes region, farmed "Three Sisters" crops, lived in longhouses, formed a political confederacy, and were involved in trade and diplomacy.

Q: Describe the Pueblo people.

A: They lived in the Southwest, farmed maize with advanced irrigation systems, built multileveled masonry homes, and had highly organized towns and cities.

Q: Describe the Chinook people.

A: They lived in the Pacific Northwest, built sedentary plank houses, fished, hunted, and foraged, and developed complex social structures.

Q: What was the Columbian Exchange?

A: The transfer of goods, ideas, and diseases between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Notable transfers include smallpox, horses, and rice from Europe; maize, potatoes, tomatoes from the Americas.

Q: What was the Spanish Encomienda system?

A: A system where colonists were given authority over Native labor in exchange for protecting and converting them.

Q: Who was Bartolome de Las Casas?

A: A Spanish priest who advocated for better treatment of Native Americans.

Q: Who was Juan Gines de Sepulveda and what argument did he make regarding Native Americans?

A: He was a Spanish scholar who argued that Native Americans were inferior and benefited from being enslaved and subjected to Spanish rule.

Q: What was the Pueblo Revolt of 1680?

A: Pueblo Indians revolted against Spanish colonial rule and forced religious conversions, killing around 400 Spaniards and burning churches, ultimately achieving a temporary victory for Native resistance.

Q: What was France's main interest in North America?

A: The fish and fur trade. Sometimes, French colonists even married Native women to secure trading ties.

Q: What was the nature of Dutch colonization in the Americas?

A: It was primarily focused on economic and trade goals, especially the fur trade, with little interest in conquest or religious conversion. They established trading posts like New Amsterdam along the Hudson River.

Q: Why did British peasants seek to move to North America?

A: British peasants were pushed to migrate due to economic hardship caused by the enclosure movement, which privatized common land and displaced many small farmers. Combined with overpopulation, inflation, famine, disease, and poverty, many peasants saw North America as an opportunity for land ownership, economic improvement, and a fresh start. Some were also motivated by the promise of religious freedom and the ability to escape rigid class structures.

Q: What cash crop saved the Jamestown colony, and who discovered it?

A: Tobacco, discovered by John Rolfe.

Q: What labor system allowed people to work for passage to the colonies?

A: Indentured servitude, in which indentured servants signed 7 year labor contracts in exchange for their freedom and a plot of land in the Americas.

Q: What was Bacon’s Rebellion?

A: A rebellion by frontier farmers against Native Americans and the colonial government.

Q: What was the Mayflower Compact?

A: An agreement formed by the Pilgrims onboard the Mayflower to form a self-governing colony based on majority rule. Notably, it emphasized the consent of the governed.

Q: What was the Halfway Covenant?

A: A Puritan policy allowing partial church membership to unconverted descendants of church members.

Q: What was the primary crop of Caribbean colonies?

A: Sugarcane.

Q: What were the Navigation Acts?

A: A series of British laws designed to enforce mercantilist policies by controlling colonial trade. They required that all goods imported to or exported from the American colonies be carried on English ships, and that certain "enumerated goods" like tobacco, sugar, and cotton could only be exported to England or English colonies. Colonists were also restricted from importing goods directly from foreign nations — they had to go through England first. Protective tariffs were imposed to make British goods cheaper than foreign competitors. Enforcement was backed by vice-admiralty courts, which had no juries and cracked down on smuggling.

Q: What was the Middle Passage?

A: The brutal sea journey of enslaved Africans to the Americas.

Q: What was the Stono Rebellion?

A: A 1739 South Carolina slave uprising in which a small group of enslaved men stole weapons from a store then killed the store owners. Joined by other enslaved men, they marched along the Stono river, burning plantations and killing white people. While the rebellion was eventually squashed, it resulted in stricter slave codes and increased fear of slave rebellions.

Q: What was "chattel slavery"?

A: A system where slaves were considered property.

Q: What was salutary neglect?

A: Britain's policy of loosely enforcing colonial regulations.

Q: Who was John Locke and what were his ideas?

A: An Enlightenment thinker who advocated natural rights and limited government.

Q: What was the First Great Awakening?

A: A religious revival movement emphasizing emotional faith.

Q: Who was Jonathan Edwards?

A: A preacher known for his fiery sermons during the First Great Awakening. He blended Enlightenment ideas about rationality with deeply emotional religious appeals. He preached fire-and-brimstone sermons that emphasized human sinfulness and the horrors of hell, the most famous being "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."

Q: Who was George Whitefield?

A: An English Anglican preacher who became one of the most influential figures of the First Great Awakening. He traveled throughout all thirteen colonies, attracting massive crowds with his emotional and theatrical preaching style. Whitefield emphasized personal salvation, emotional faith, and a direct relationship with God rather than reliance on church hierarchy.

Q: What was Metacom’s War (also known as King Philip’s War)?

A: Metacom’s War, fought between 1675 and 1676, was a conflict between Native American tribes (led by Metacom, also called King Philip, of the Wampanoag) and English colonists in New England. Tensions arose as colonists expanded into Native lands and attempted to impose English laws and Christianity. Metacom formed a multi-tribal alliance to resist. The war was brutally violent, with many towns burned and heavy casualties on both sides. It ended with Metacom’s death, devastating Native power in New England, leading to widespread land loss and harsh repression of Native peoples.

Q: What was mercantilism?

A: Mercantilism was the dominant economic theory of the 17th and 18th centuries, based on the idea that a nation's power depended on its wealth, especially its stockpile of gold and silver. According to mercantilism, there was a fixed amount of wealth in the world, so nations had to maximize exports and minimize imports to achieve a favorable balance of trade. Colonies played a crucial role in this system by providing raw materials to the mother country and serving as captive markets for manufactured goods. Mercantilist policies often restricted colonial economic activity to benefit the parent country, leading to growing resentment in the colonies over time.

Q: What were the main characteristics of the New England colonies?

A: Small towns, commerce and shipbuilding economy, strong religious focus (Puritanism), emphasis on education, and a relatively egalitarian social structure. Subsistence farming.

Q: What were the main characteristics of the Middle Colonies?

A: The Middle Colonies relied heavily on agriculture, especially the cultivation of cereal crops like wheat, barley, and oats. However, the abundance of rivers and streams also supported the growth of major port cities and an export economy, allowing them to trade agricultural products and manufactured goods both locally and internationally.

Q: What defined the Southern colonies’ economy and social structure?

A: Plantation agriculture (tobacco, rice), heavy reliance on enslaved labor, and a hierarchical, aristocratic society. Note: 90% of Southern farmers were subsistence farmers!

Q: Besides violent rebellion, how did enslaved Africans resist their conditions?

A: They used covert resistance such as breaking tools, working slowly, maintaining cultural practices, and running away.

Q: How was Britain’s management of its American colonies organized before 1754?

A: Britain maintained a loose and decentralized management system, allowing for considerable colonial autonomy under "salutary neglect."

Q: How did the Atlantic trade system affect colonial cities?

A: It led to the growth of major port cities like Boston, New York, and Charleston, and created a wealthy merchant elite.