Units 1-3 SPICE Chart

S

• The casta system established a racial hierarchy topped by the Peninsulares (white people born in the Iberian Peninsula), then Criollos (white people born in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies), people of mixed race, and lastly indigenous and black people

• The middle colonies were characterized for their diversity; they were home to many races, nationalities, and religious groups (British, Dutch, French, African slaves, indigenous peoples, Catholics, Quakers, Puritans, etc.)

P

• Bacon’s Rebellion was an armed rebellion in 1676 by Virginia settlers led by Nathaniel Bacon against the governor, fueled by frontier land disputes and disagreements over Native American policy

• The Seven Years’ war was a large-scale conflict between Britain and France, as well as their allies, fueled by a desire for control over the Ohio River Valley; it raged across North America, Europe, and India (the North American portion was known as the French and Indian War)

• Issues the colonists faced after the British victory in the Seven Years’ War:

  • Proclamation of 1763

    • A decree by the King that banned colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains, allocating that land to the Native Americans to avoid conflict and maintain positive diplomatic relations with the tribes

  • Massive debt

  • Crackdown on smuggling

  • Troops on American soil

  • Sugar Act (direct tax)

    • The Sugar Act taxed sugar in order to make revenue to help pay off debt accumulated from the French and Indian War

  • End of salutary neglect

    • Salutary neglect was a British policy of loose enforcement of parliamentary laws and trade regulations on its American colonies that lasted until after the French and Indian War

• The Loyalists were loyal to the Crown & wanted to maintain the status quo as colonists of Great Britain, while the Patriots were in favor of revolution against the British (and later in favor of establishing an independent country)

• The Boston Massacre occurred because a group of colonists rioted against, taunted, and harassed a group of British soldiers due to an increased divide due to increased taxation, resulting in shots being fired and the deaths of 5 colonists (along with many others getting injured)

• The Revolutionary War was triggered by the Battle of Lexington and Concord in 1775, where British troops marched into Lexington & Concord, Massachusetts, to seize military supplies from the Patriots; then, colonial militiamen gathered against the troops and shots were fired in the towns

• Despite considerable loyalist opposition, as well as Great Britain’s apparently overwhelming military and financial advantages, the Patriots succeeded in the Revolutionary War because of the actions of colonial militias and the Continental Army, George Washington’s military leadership, the colonists’ ideological commitment and resilience, and assistance sent by European allies like troops by France

• Thomas Paine’s Common Sense persuaded reluctant Americans to abandon the goal of reconciliation with Britain & accept that independence was the only option for preserving their liberty; he also emphasized the special position America had (“city on a hill” in political terms) & that the colonists needed to take advantage of that, forming the first democratic republic in the world

• The Declaration of Independence was ratified by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776 (but signed later on), establishing that the colonies were independent from Great Britain and their own country (despite lacking recognition by Britain or other countries) and listing grievances against the British government (the reasons why the colonies sought independence)

• The Treaty of Paris, which ended the Revolutionary War & recognized the United States as a sovereign country, was signed into effect in 1783 by American and British delegates, with Spain and France also involved in the peace process

I

• In the West, the climate & natural resources varied intensely, creating microenvironments home to unique tribes & cultures (Mono, Yana, Wintu, etc.)

• Hunting, gathering, & fishing for sustenance by Native Americans in the West

• Natives in the Southwest, Northeast, and Southeast were agriculturally productive societies that depended on grown crops for sustenance

• Salmon dominated Native American trade networks that extended to the Plains to the Pacific Ocean

• In the arid climate, the Ancestral Pueblos developed complex irrigation systems

• Northeast Natives relied on “three sister” farming of squash, beans, and corn in the Ohio River Valley

• Northeast Natives lived in permanent wooden housing called longhouses, similar to the sedentary Southwest Natives but different from the nomadic Plains Natives

C

• The Spanish came to the New World to spread Catholicism, expand their empire, and amass gold

• The Puritans settled in New England in hope of religious freedom and established societies that reflected their religious ideals, different from the Church of England’s followers in Britain

• The Great Awakening was a period of religious revival in the American colonies during the 18th century, emphasizing individual spiritual experience and challenging established religious authority

E

• The Spanish established the encomienda (indigenous peoples provided labor in exchange for protection from the Spaniards and conversion to Christianity) and hacienda (large landed estate for profit-producing activities like mining, cattle ranching, agriculture, etc.) systems in their New World colonies

• The Columbian Exchange was a widespread exchange of ideas, goods, animals, plants, and diseases between the Old and New World (the two regions become economically linked for the first time) through the Atlantic Ocean

• The French colonies (south to north from Louisiana to the Midwest to Quebec) were sparsely settled and mainly existed for participating in the profitable fur trade with the Native Americans (this trade caused most Native American tribes to side with the French in the French and Indian War)

• The Chesapeake & North Carolina colonies grew prosperous from exporting tobacco

• The New England colonies developed around small family farms, commerce, & agriculture

• The Middle Colonies had an export economy based on cereal crops

• The southern colonies were plantation-based (grew mainly sugar & indigo until the cotton gin was invented when these colonies became states of the U.S.) and relied heavily on slave labor

• In order to pay off debts accumulated during the French and Indian War, the British charged heavy taxes on the colonists through acts like the Sugar Act (1764), Stamp Act (1765), the Townshend Acts (1767), and the Tea Act (1773)