APUSH ID Terms

Pueblo

An indigenous American group originating in what is now the southwestern United States. They were a sedentary group with a highly organized society. They used complex irrigation systems and built their homes into cliffsides.

Columbian Exchange

The exchange of ideas, crops, diseases, food, and livestock from Afroeurasia to the Americas and vice versa, initiated by Christopher Columbus’ “discovery” of the Americas.

Encomienda

A grant by the Spanish monarchy to a Spanish colonist in America giving them the right to demand tribute from indigenous people and force them into labor.

Bartolome de las Casas

A Spanish clergyman who attempted to expose and abolish the use of slavery in the Americas. He was shut down by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain.

Mestizo

A person of mixed Spanish and indigenous descent.

Conquistadores

Spanish conquerors of Central and South America.

Popé’s Rebellion

An indigenous man led a revolt against Spanish settlers and their religious conversion in 1680, killing over 400 of them and driving 2,000 south.

Virginia Company

A joint-stock company that started new settlements in Virginia under the approval of King James I (the gay one).

John Smith

An English explorer and one of the founders of Jamestown. Said to have been saved by Pocahontas, the 10-year-old daughter of an indigenous chief.

Powhatan Wars

Three wars fought between the English settlers and Algonquin Native Americans, primarily caused by the colonists encroaching on Algonquin hunting grounds.

House of Burgesses

An assembly of elected representatives in Virginia. They helped to dictate colonial Virginian legislature.

Iroquois Confederacy

Alliance of five separate indigenous nations, The Mohawks (or Kanienkehaka), the Onondaga, the Cayuga (like the ship), the Oneida, and the Seneca.

Puritans

A group of English Protestants who wanted to simplify and regulate worship methods. Known for being highly discriminatory, they are most famous for their role in the Salem Witch Trials.

Mayflower Compact

A written agreement between the Pilgrims and other migrants on the Mayflower. The document dictated their fundamental rights as settlers, and detailed the government they had formed over the course of their journey.

John Winthrop

The first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, an English Puritan laywer, and a leading founder of New England.

Anne Hutchinson

A spiritual leader in the Massachusetts Bay Colony who challenged gender roles by preaching to gender diverse audiences and questioning Puritan beliefs about salvation. She was banished from the colony and later became one of the founders of Rhode Island.

Roger Williams

A political and religious leader best known for founding Rhode Island and advocating for the separation of church and state.

King Philip’s War

A final attempt by indigenous people to drive the colonists of New England out of indigenous land. This attempt failed, with the colonists winning the war.

Dominion of New England

An administrative union of all New England and Mid-Atlantic colonies (except Pennsylvania and Delaware). It was created by King James II as a way to gain more control over the colonies.

Navigation Laws

Acts passed by the British Parliament to crack down on salutary neglect and cement the mercantile nature of the English colonies. The laws restricted trade in the colonies to be to and from England only.

Salutary neglect

The unofficial British policy that allowed laws for the colonies to be very loosely enforced or even not at all.

Quakers

Members of the Religious Society of Friends, a Christian movement founded by George Fox in 1650. They have no set form of worship and are known for being extremely accepting.

Indentured servants

Poor young people agreed to work for a certain amount of time in exchange for passage to the colonies

Headright System

Land grant system that gave ownership of land and all natives on said land to colonial investors

Bacon’s Rebellion

The first colonial uprising in the American colonies. It was an unsuccessful attempt at overthrowing the governor of Jamestown.

Middle Passage

The name for the voyage that slaves were forced to make between the African coast and colonial America.

Chattel

A piece of property, often used to refer to slaves

Salem Witch Trials

A series of investigations and persecutions of people (mostly women) accused of witchcraft from 1692-1693.

Paxton Boys

Group of Scots-Irish men who marched on Philadelphia in 1764 to protest the leniency that the Quakers had on indigenous people

Regulator Movement

North Carolina colonists, opposing the taxation and fee system, led a movement that escalated to a battle between them and the colonial militia in 1771

Stono Rebellion

A slave revolt in 1739. The largest enslaved rebellion in the Southern colonies, with 25 colonists and 35-50 slaves killed.

Triangular trade

The exchange of goods, crops, livestock, diseases, and slaves between the Americas, Africa, and Europe.

Molasses Act

A law that restricted and taxed importation of sugar and molasses into the colonies

Great Awakening

Revival of religious fervor, started by religious leaders including George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards

John Peter Zenger

A journalist accused of seditious libel by the governor of New York. Though eventually acquitted, his trial laid the foundations for the right to free speech.

Albany Congress

Intercolonial congress summoned in 1754 to devise a plan to keep the Iroquois Confederacy on the American side of the Seven Years’ War and unite the colonies against France. Only 7 of the 13 delegates showed up, and the end result left colonists wanting more freedom and Parliament wanting less freedom.

Join or Die

Political cartoon created by Benjamin Franklin depicting the colonies as portions of a snake. It was used to call for the unification of the colonies.

Pontiac’s Uprising

An indigenous uprising in 1763 that led to the Proclamation Line being drawn

Proclamation Line of 1763

A boundary dictating that the colonists could not settle past the Appalachian mountains, drawn by the British government in the hopes of avoiding a repeat of the Seven Years’ War.

Sugar Act

Tax set by British that caused large amounts of molasses smuggling

Stamp Act

Tax set by British on all printed materials

Virtual Representation

The idea that the British Parliament members represented the colonists, even though they were never directly in the colonies.

Sons and Daughters of Liberty

Gendered groups of American colonists in support of the Revolution

Boston Massacre

Deadly altercation between colonists and British soldiers in Massachusetts during March of 1770

Boston Tea Party

Sons of Liberty dressed as indigenous people threw tons of tea into the harbor in response to the Boston Massacre

Intolerable Acts

A series of laws passed by the British in response to the Boston Tea Party. Meant to squash rebellion, but only stoked the flames higher

Lexington and Concord

Two battles that began the Revolutionary War

Common Sense

Pamphlet published by Thomas Paine that encouraged revolution based on Enlightenment ideals

Abigail Adams

Wife of John Adams who pushed (unsuccessfully) for women’s rights

Battle of Saratoga

Turning point of the war that lifted American morale and encouraged defeat of the British

Battle of Yorktown

Last major battle of the Revolutionary War. General Cornwallis surrendered soon after being defeated by the Americans

Republican Motherhood

Idea that it was women’s job to educate young people who would go on to become the future of America

Northwest Ordinance

Established a government for the Northwest territory, created the process of gaining statehood, and guaranteed that new states would be on the same power level as the original 13

Shays’ Rebellion

A rebellion by farmers in Massachusetts against Boston creditors. Led by a former captain in the Revolutionary War, farmers literally defended their land against foreclosure with pitchforks and other weaponry

Great Compromise

Each state would have two senators in the House of Representatives, no matter the population of the state

Three-Fifths Compromise

Counted each slave as 3/5 of a person for the purpose of taxes and representation

Federalist Papers

A series of 85 essays that promoted the ratification of the Constitution, John Jay got sick after writing 5, James Madison wrote 29, Hamilton wrote the other 51

Funding at Par

Proposal by Hamilton that the federal government would pay off its debts at face value plus interest

Assumption

The government pays the debts of the states itself

Bank of the United States

A central bank established in 1791 by Hamilton

Whiskey Rebellion

An uprising of farmers in western Pennsylvania in response to Hamilton’s excise tax on whiskey

Neutrality Proclamation

A formal statement declaring the US’ neutrality in the conflict between Britain and France

Treaty of Greenville

1795 treaty that gave America control over all of Ohio

Jay’s Treaty

Treaty that ended impressment (abduction of sailors by the British Navy and forcing them to be part of the navy)

Pinckney’s Treaty

Treaty between the US and Spain that gave the US the ability to trade on the Mississippi river

Alien Act

Made it more difficult for immigrants to become US citizens and vote, escalated waiting period from 5 years to 14 years

Sedition Act

Made it a crime to speak out against the government

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions

Political statements by Virginia and Kentucky legislatures that declared the Alien and Sedition acts unconstitutional

Marbury v. Madison

Court case that established that courts could overturn laws and/or government actions that violated the Constitution

Impressment

British abducted American sailors and forced them to become part of the British Navy

Embargo Act of 1807

America couldn’t trade with Europe during the Napoleonic War

War Hawks

A group of young Democratic-Republicans, led by Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun, who were from frontier states and pushed for war

Tecumseh

A Shawnee indigenous leader who fought against American expansion in the midwest

Battle of New Orleans

The final battle of the War of 1812

Hartford Convention

Meeting held in Connecticut by New England Federalists to address the damage done to their trade economy

American System

Federal economic policy meant to promote economic growth and development, including infrastructure improvement, national banking, and tariffs

Era of Good Feelings

Period that reflected a rise in American nationalism in the 1810s and 1820s

Missouri Compromise

Maine got its statehood as a non-slave state and Missouri got its statehood as a slave state so that the amount of free and slave states would be balanced

Daniel Webster

Secretary of State for 3 presidents, one of the Whig leaders with John C. Calhoun and Henry Clay

Adams-Onis Treaty

1819 treaty that bought eastern Florida in order to establish a boundary between Louisiana and Mexico

Monroe Doctrine

Policy set by James Monroe that basically stated that any more European colonization in the Western Hemisphere would be considered a hostile act

Corrupt Bargain

If Henry Clay helped John Quincy Adams win the election, Adams would make Clay his Secretary of State

Spoils System

political tactic of nepotism

John C. Calhoun

Andrew Jackson’s VP, part of Henry Clay’s group, Whig leader

Maysville Road

Andrew Jackson vetoed a bill for road construction in Kentucky because the government wouldn’t be able to pay for it with constitutional laws

Henry Clay

Kentucky senator who advocated for the American System and was a War Hawk for the War of 1812, Speaker of the House, Whig leader, he haunts Dr. Bramucci’s classroom

Force Bill

Act passed by Congress in 1833 that gave the president (Andrew Jackson) the ability to use the military to enforce the tariff in South Carolina

Trail of Tears

Forced relocation of 5 indigenous nations from the southeast, made them move westward

Specie Circular

Jackson took money from the Bank of the US and gave it to state banks, also required that in order to purchase public land, payment had to be made in gold or silver

Whigs

A party that strongly opposed Jackson’s strong-arming

Sam Houston

Commander in Chief of Texas forces, fought for Texan independence from Mexico

Alamo

First battle between Texicans and Mexican army, all rebel men were killed and became subsequent martyrs for the cause

Tammany Hall

Powerful political organization in New York that gave social services to immigrants in return for those immigrants voting for them

Know-Nothings

A political party active in the North during the 1850s that opposed immigration and Catholic influence, avoided questions about the party by saying “I know nothing”

Cotton Gin

Machine invented by Eli Whitney in 1793 that revolutionized the process of making textiles

Lowell Girls

Nickname for the women who worked in the textile factories in Lowell, Massachusetts, were given long hours with few breaks and dangerous conditions

Cult of Domesticity

The belief that women should be confined to domestic circles as mothers, wives, and teachers only

McCormick Reaper

A device invented by Cyrus McCormick to cut grain quickly, greatly increased productivity

Cumberland Road

First major improved highway to be built by the federal government, connected Potomac and Ohio Rivers and made a path westward for many settlers

Erie Canal

Waterway between Albany and Buffalo that allowed western farmers to ship to the North and northern manufacturers to ship to the West