AP U.S. History Period 2 Comprehensive Study Guide

Key Overviews of AP U.S. History Period 2

• European Empires in the Seventeenth Century:

  • During the seventeenth century, several European powers—specifically the Spanish, French, Dutch, and British—competed for control over North America.
  • Each empire possessed distinct priorities, goals, cultural assumptions, economic systems, social structures, and traditions.
  • Colonization patterns were heavily influenced by environmental factors, competition for resources among European rivals, and interactions with diverse American Indian groups.

• Distinct Regions of the Thirteen British Colonies:

  • Although the thirteen colonies in British North America shared overarching similarities, four distinct regions emerged:
  • New England colonies
  • Middle colonies
  • Chesapeake colonies
  • Lower South and West Indian colonies
  • The social, political, and economic characteristics of each region were directly shaped by specific geographic and environmental features.

• Expansion of the Atlantic Economy:

  • During the late 1600s and 1700s, an Atlantic economy emerged, defined by an intensified exchange of commodities and labor.
  • Colonial economies centered on exporting raw commodities to Europe and acquiring new labor forces.
  • The growth of Atlantic trade led to the expansion of colonial economies, severe devastation and forced adaptation for American Indian groups, a surge in the use of enslaved African labor, and shifts in British mercantilist policies.

• Escalation of Colonial Conflicts:

  • Conflict escalated during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries between rival European empires, as well as between colonists and American Indian populations.
  • The primary driver of conflict in colonial North America was competition over natural resources, particularly land and furs.

• Evolution of Slavery in British North America:

  • The institution of slavery in British North America developed in response to specific economic, demographic, and geographic factors.
  • Enslaved Africans were present from the early colonial period; in 1619, twenty Africans arrived in Virginia, likely as slaves.
  • Slavery did not become the central economic foundation of the southern colonies until the latter half of the seventeenth century.

• Transatlantic Exchanges and Growing Imperial Tensions:

  • Political, cultural, and economic exchanges between Great Britain and its North American colonies initially fostered stronger bonds and reshaped colonial worldviews.
  • Over time, the priorities and economic interests of the thirteen colonies diverged from those of Great Britain, creating structural tensions and colonial resistance.

Patterns of European Colonization

• Spanish Colonization and Labor Exploitation:

  • Encomienda System: The original foundation of Spain's empire in the Americas, under which early Spanish settlers were granted legal rights to extract labor from local American Indian populations. This system resulted in widespread abuse and severe brutality toward native inhabitants, leading Spain to formally abandon it by 1550.
  • Repartimiento System: Introduced to replace the encomienda system. It prohibited outright Indian slavery and mandated that American Indian laborers receive wages. Despite these reform provisions, Spanish colonial operations remained highly exploitative of native labor.
  • Viceroyalty of New Spain: Established as the northern administrative division of Spain's American empire, headquartered in Mexico City.
  • Viceroyalty of Peru: Formed as the southern administrative unit encompassing Spanish territorial holdings across South America, headquartered in Lima.

• French Colonization and Intercultural Relations:

  • Early Settlements: The French established their initial permanent North American settlements at Port Royal in 1605 (located in present-day Nova Scotia) and Quebec in 1608 (founded by Samuel de Champlain).
  • Métis Population: Due to the widespread presence of French fur traders across vast inland territories, intermarriage between French colonists and American Indian women became common. The offspring of these unions were known as Métis, an old French word meaning "mixed" or "mixed-blood."

• Dutch Colonization and Territorial Transfers:

  • Settlement of New Amsterdam: New Amsterdam served as the administrative capital and primary settlement of New Netherland. Established in 1624 on present-day Governor's Island in New York Harbor, construction on Fort Amsterdam began in 1625 at the southern tip of Manhattan, with a permanent town growing around it. It developed into a major commercial seaport and trade hub for beaver furs.
  • Transfer to English Control: King Charles II of England targeted the "Dutch wedge"—the Dutch territory separating England's northern and southern North American colonies. In 1664, Charles II sent a fleet of warships; Director-General Peter Stuyvesant, outgunned and outnumbered, surrendered New Amsterdam without firing a shot.
  • James, Duke of York: King Charles II granted the acquired Dutch colony to his brother James, the Duke of York, who renamed it New York.
  • Treaty of Breda: The formal transfer of New Amsterdam to England occurred in 1667 under the Treaty of Breda following the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665–1667). In exchange, the Dutch secured recognized control over the South American colony of Surinam (which British settlers had originally colonized in the 1650s before a Dutch military expedition captured it in 1667).

Colonial Regions in British North America

• Chesapeake Colonies (Virginia and Maryland):

  • Jamestown Settlement: Founded in 1607 by settlers funded by the Virginia Company, a joint-stock company chartered by King James I. The settlement nearly collapsed in its initial years because colonists were unprepared to cultivate crops, build infrastructure, or sustain a community.
  • Powhatan Confederacy: The local Algonquian-speaking tribes, led by Chief Powhatan (father of Pocahontas), initially traded corn with Jamestown. When native supplies were insufficient to meet English demands, English colonists initiated violent military raids on Powhatan's villages.
  • Tobacco Cultivation: Tobacco emerged as the economic savior of Virginia following early periods of famine, disease, and conflict. The first commercial shipments reached England in 1617. Due to high demand and addictive properties in Europe, tobacco became extremely popular and lucrative, driving exports past 35 million pounds annually by 1700.
  • Head-Right System: To encourage migration, Chesapeake leaders implemented the head-right system, offering 50 acres of land to any new immigrant who arrived in the region.
  • Indentured Servitude: Wealthy Virginia planters relied on indentured servitude to secure agrarian labor. Immigrants signed contracts binding them to four to seven years of labor in exchange for free transatlantic passage. Agents sold these labor contracts to colonial planters upon arrival.

• New England Colonies:

  • Religious Foundations and Calvinism: New England was settled primarily by Puritans seeking reform from the Protestant Reformation of the early sixteenth century. Inspired by Martin Luther and John Calvin, Puritans adhered to Calvinist theology, believing human salvation was predetermined by a divine plan rather than individual actions.
  • Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony: In 1608, a Separatist faction known as the Pilgrims fled England for the Netherlands to escape religious persecution. Seeking a permanent settlement, slightly over one hundred Separatists sailed aboard the Mayflower in 1620, making landfall at Cape Cod.
  • Mayflower Compact: Recognizing that Cape Cod lay north of their legal patent, the Mayflower passengers drafted and signed the Mayflower Compact in 1620, establishing a self-governing political body based on the consent of the governed. Plymouth struggled initially and, despite achieving a small degree of success by 1630, failed to attract large numbers of mainline Puritans.
  • Massachusetts Bay Company: In 1629, King Charles I granted a colonial charter to the Massachusetts Bay Company. Crucially, the charter did not specify that company headquarters remain in England, enabling Puritan leaders to transfer governance directly to North America, granting the colony significant self-governing autonomy.
  • Salem Witch Trials: In 1692, social tensions in Salem, Massachusetts, culminated in witch trials where over one hundred community members were formally accused of consorting with Satan. The trials highlighted deep social divisions within Puritan society, including deteriorating religious cohesion, generational friction, gender biases (the majority of accused were women), and economic resentment between poorer residents and wealthy elites.

• Middle Colonies:

  • Founding of Pennsylvania and Quakerism: Pennsylvania was established under the religious principles of Quakerism, a movement originating in seventeenth-century England. Quaker theology was radically non-hierarchical, asserting that all human beings were spiritual equals before God.

Transatlantic Commerce and Mercantilism

• Economic Principles of Mercantilism:

  • Mercantilism held that the total amount of global wealth was finite. A nation's geopolitical power depended directly on accumulating wealth and maximizing its share of world resources relative to rivals.
  • Imperial powers viewed colonies primarily as sources of raw materials and captive consumer markets for home-country manufactured goods.

• The Navigation Acts:

  • Passed by the British Parliament from the 1650s up to the American Revolution to enforce mercantilist control over the thirteen colonies.
  • Created a list of "enumerated goods"—designated colonial raw goods that could be shipped exclusively to Great Britain.

• Triangular Trade Network:

  • Transatlantic trade routes structured in the 1700s connected Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
  • European manufactured goods—including firearms, shoes, furniture, and ceramics—were exported to Africa and the American colonies.
  • Human traffickers kidnapped Africans and sold them into the international slave trade to supply plantation labor in the Western Hemisphere.

• The Fur Trade:

  • European interest in lucrative fur trading drew French, Dutch, and English traders into the North American interior, spanning from the Ohio River north to the St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes.
  • Unlike coastal agricultural settlements that routinely displaced or exterminated native populations, fur trading networks required Europeans to forge diplomatic and economic accommodations with local American Indian tribes.

• Joint-Stock Companies:

  • Colonial expansion was funded by joint-stock companies formed by merchants and entrepreneurs, such as the East India Company.
  • Guided by mercantilist theory, the British Crown issued royal charters granting these companies monopoly trading rights over specific global regions.

• Imperial Politics and the Glorious Revolution:

  • In 1688, Protestant members of Parliament led the bloodless Glorious Revolution, deposing King James II and inviting William and Mary to become monarchs.
  • The revolution ended absolute monarchy in England, empowered Parliament, and led to the establishment of the English Bill of Rights, profoundly influencing colonial political thought.

Conflicts Between Europeans and American Indians

• The Beaver Wars:

  • A series of violent conflicts in the mid-to-late seventeenth century caused by trade competition and the introduction of European firearms.
  • By 1645, escalating economic rivalries culminated in open warfare between the Dutch-allied Iroquois Confederacy and French-allied Algonquian-speaking tribes of the Great Lakes region, particularly the Huron.

• King William's War:

  • Represented the North American theater of the Nine Years' War in Europe between France and a European coalition including Great Britain.
  • Conflict stemmed from disputes between British-aligned indigenous groups (such as the Iroquois Confederacy) and French-aligned tribes across New York and Canada, alongside military skirmishes over British encroachments onto French Acadia (encompassing parts of present-day Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Maine north of the Kennebec River).

• Queen Anne's War:

  • Fought along the border with Canada and across the American South.
  • In the North, French forces and the Wabanaki Confederacy executed a destructive raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts. In the South, European powers and their respective American Indian allies battled for territorial control.

• King George's War (1744–1748):

  • Fought across New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Nova Scotia.
  • New England colonial troops launched a successful military siege against the newly built French Fortress of Louisbourg in Nova Scotia, while combined French and American Indian forces destroyed Saratoga, New York.

• The Pequot War:

  • An armed conflict where an alliance between the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth Colony, the Narragansett tribe, and the Mohegan tribe defeated the Pequot nation.
  • The victory virtually eliminated a cohesive American Indian presence from southern New England.

• King Philip's War:

  • Catalyst: In 1675, Plymouth authorities tried and executed three Wampanoag men for the murder of a Christianized Wampanoag individual.
  • Outbreak: Metacomet (known to English settlers as "King Philip"), chief of the Wampanoag, launched coordinated attacks on a series of Massachusetts towns, destroying several settlements and killing over one thousand colonists.
  • Outcome: Colonial forces, allied with the Mohawk tribe (longtime foes of the Wampanoags), launched a brutal counteroffensive. By spring 1676, over 40 percent of the Wampanoag population had been killed. Proportional to population, it stands as the deadliest conflict of European settlement in North America.

• The Pueblo Revolt (Popé's Rebellion):

  • In 1680, severe resentment against Spanish labor exploitation and religious oppression triggered a massive uprising centered in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
  • Pueblo insurgents killed over 300 Spanish settlers and targeted Franciscan priests, temporarily driving Spanish rule out of the region.

Labor Systems and Slavery in British North America

• Indentured Servitude and Colonial Labor Shifts:

  • Early southern labor relied heavily on white indentured servants bound by four to seven-year contracts.
  • Frontier instability and economic changes accelerated a transition toward enslaved African labor in the late seventeenth century.

• Bacon's Rebellion (1676):

  • Escalating frontier tensions between land-hungry poor settlers and American Indian tribes culminated in a widespread revolt in Virginia led by Nathaniel Bacon, a lower-level planter.
  • Bacon mobilized landless frontier farmers and former indentured servants against the colonial leadership, exposing deep social class divides within the Chesapeake colonies.

• The Transatlantic Slave Trade:

  • Driven by high labor demands on Western Hemisphere plantations, human traffickers forcibly transported millions of Africans across the Atlantic under horrific maritime conditions.
  • The slave trade destabilized African regions, exacerbated ethnic and societal tensions, and targeted primarily young males (men outnumbered women two to one).

• The Stono Rebellion (1739):

  • Occurred in Stono, South Carolina, standing as the most prominent colonial slave rebellion of the colonial period.
  • Initiated by 20 enslaved Africans who obtained weapons by attacking a rural store, killed 20 slave owners, and plundered approximately half a dozen plantations.
  • The uprising was quickly put down by militia; captured participants were beheaded, and their severed heads were placed on mileposts along colonial roads as a warning.

Religion, Philosophy, and Culture in Colonial America

• The Great Awakening:

  • In the early 1700s, colonial Protestant leaders faced declining church membership, lessening religious zeal, and intellectual challenges from Enlightenment philosophy.
  • Beginning in the 1730s, several charismatic evangelical ministers led a major religious resurgence known as the Great Awakening, designed to infuse new emotional passion into religious practice.

• Deism:

  • During the 1700s, numerous educated colonists turned away from rigid Calvinist and Puritan doctrines in favor of Deism.
  • Deist cosmology conceived God as a distant creator who established natural physical laws to govern the universe but did not intervene directly in daily human affairs.

• Religious Toleration:

  • The concept of religious toleration—allowing religious groups outside of the official or established religion to practice freely—had European roots and New World manifestations, remaining a central subject of political and theological debate.

• Enlightenment Political Thought and John Locke:

  • Resistance to imperial control was deeply influenced by European Enlightenment ideas.
  • English political philosopher John Locke was widely read throughout the colonies; he insisted that the primary role of government was to safeguard natural rights, specifically life, liberty, and property.

• Commonwealth Radicalism and "Cato's Letters":

  • "Cato" was the shared pseudonym used by British writing team John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, named in honor of Cato the Younger, the Roman statesman who defended republican values against Julius Caesar.
  • Published between 1720 and 1723 in British newspapers and widely reprinted across the American colonies, their essays—later collected in the volume Essays on Liberty, Civil and Religious—condemned corruption within the British political system and warned against tyrannical rule.