Study Notes — Units 1–3 (Early America to Colonial Institutions)

Unit 1: Pre-Columbian Societies, Exploration, and Early Colonial Encounters

• African slave trade — Forced transport of Africans to the Americas for labor; foundational to the Atlantic slave system and the development of racialized labor hierarchies in the Americas.

• Algonquian — Native language group along the Atlantic coast; part of broader Algonquian-speaking networks influencing trade, diplomacy, and resistance strategies with Europeans.

• Cahokia — Large Mississippian trade city near St. Louis with mound structures; example of complex Indigenous urbanism and long-distance trade pre-contact with Europeans.

• Catholic missions (Spanish) — Settlements to convert Natives to Catholicism; part of Spain’s colonization approach in the Americas (missionary and territorial expansion).

• Christopher Columbus — Italian explorer who reached the Americas in 1492; initiated sustained European contact and subsequent waves of colonization.

• Conquistadores — Spanish conquerors of Native empires; roles included military campaigns that toppled states such as the Aztec and Inca empires, enabling colonial administration and resource extraction.

• Corn (maize) cultivation — Key Native crop that supported large civilizations; central to the agricultural base of many Indigenous societies and later to European colonial economies in the Americas.

• Encomienda — Spanish system forcing Natives to labor and pay tribute; a key mechanism for extracting labor and resources, leading to significant Native population decline and resistance.

• Iroquois — Northeastern confederation of tribes with strong alliances; played a major role in regional diplomacy and power dynamics as Europeans arrived.

• Matrilineal — Descent and inheritance traced through the mother’s line; affected kinship, political authority, and land tenure in various Indigenous societies.

• Meso-Americans — Indigenous peoples of Mexico and Central America; civilizations with sophisticated political, agricultural, and calendrical systems (e.g., Maya, Aztec, Zapotec) documented in the pre-contact era.

• Mestizos — People of mixed European and Native ancestry; emerged in colonial Americas as a demographic and social category shaping identity, law, and labor relations.

• Pueblo Revolt — 1680 Native uprising that drove out the Spanish in New Mexico; a pivotal instance of Indigenous resistance and a shift in colonial policy.

• Racial hierarchy — Spanish colonial system ranking Europeans highest; layered social orders encompassing natives, Africans, mixed-race groups, and Europeans, with legal and cultural implications.

• Smallpox — European disease that killed large numbers of Natives; a devastating factor in Indigenous population decline and a driver of demographic and power shifts in the Americas.

• Tenochtitlan — Aztec capital city in present-day Mexico City; symbol of centralized power, urbanization, and the grandeur of pre-Columbian civilizations encountered by Europeans.

• Columbian Exchange: Transfer of crops (e.g., maize), diseases (e.g., smallpox), and technologies between Old and New Worlds, reshaping societies on both sides of the Atlantic.

• Colonial aims and labor systems: Encomienda and later plantation economies relied on coerced Native and African labor; produced enduring racial hierarchies and resistance movements (e.g., Pueblo Revolt).

• Indigenous political structures and adaptation: Alliances (e.g., Iroquois), matrilineal practices, and urban centers (Cahokia) influenced how Indigenous groups engaged with European powers.

• Cultural contact and conflict: Catholic missions, Conquistadores, and the spread of European ideas intersected with Native spirituality, governance, and resistance.

Unit 2: Early Colonialism, Atlantic World, and Colonial Societies (17th Century)

• Anne Hutchinson — Puritan dissenter banished for challenging church leaders; embodies religious tensions and debates over church authority, contributing to patterns of religious liberty and intolerance in colonial New England.

• Atlantic World — Network of trade and culture linking Europe, Africa, and the Americas; foundational to material exchange, slavery, and cross-cultural encounters that shaped colonial economies and societies.

• Bacon’s Rebellion — 1676 Virginia revolt against Governor Berkeley; exposed class tensions between frontier settlers and colonial authorities and highlighted dynamics between frontier defense, taxation, and Native policy.

• Barbados Slave trade — Harsh Caribbean plantation system relying on enslaved Africans; influenced slaveholding patterns, labor regimes, and social structures in both the Caribbean and mainland colonies.

• Congregational Church — Puritan church government where each congregation ruled itself; foundational to local governance, religious autonomy, and church-state relations in New England towns.

• Dominion of New England — 1686 royal union of colonies under Edmund Andros; collapsed after Glorious Revolution; illustrated crown control and subsequent colonial resistance.

• English Caribbean — Colonies like Barbados focused on sugar and slave labor; influenced the South and shaped Atlantic economic networks and racialized labor systems.

• Fundamental Constitution for Carolina — 1669 plan for a feudal society; largely ignored by settlers, revealing tensions between noble ideals and frontier realities.

• George and Cecilius Calvert — Lords Baltimore, founders of Maryland as a Catholic refuge; exemplify the search for religious toleration and strategic settler colonies.

• Glorious Revolution — 1688 overthrow of James II; strengthened Parliament and inspired colonial uprisings and reorganizations (e.g., resistance to centralized authority).

• Jamestown — First permanent English colony (1607); survived with tobacco economy and Powhatan aid; emblematic of early English colonial ventures and governance challenges.

• John Calvin — Protestant thinker who taught predestination; helped shape Puritan beliefs and the theological foundation for colonial religious culture.

• John Smith — Jamestown leader who imposed order and secured food from Natives; critical in sustaining early settlement.

• John Winthrop — Puritan governor of Massachusetts Bay; urged a “city upon a hill” as a model of moral and social order for Puritans.

• King Philip’s War — 1675–76 conflict where Natives led by Metacomet fought New England colonists; one of the bloodiest wars in colonial America and a turning point in Native-white relations.

• Massachusetts Bay Company — Joint-stock company that founded Puritan Massachusetts in 1630; pivotal for governance, religious settlement, and colonial expansion.

• Mayflower Compact — 1620 agreement for self-government at Plymouth; early step toward self-rule and social contract thinking in English America.

• Mercantilism — Economic theory that colonies exist to enrich the mother country; drove imperial policies, trade restrictions, and colonial economic strategies.

• Metacomet — Wampanoag chief (“King Philip”) who led war against colonists; symbol of Indigenous resistance to colonial expansion.

• Middle Ground — Areas where Natives and Europeans coexisted and negotiated power; dynamic spaces of diplomacy, trade, and cultural exchange.

• Navigation Acts — English trade laws enforcing mercantilism on colonies; aimed to ensure that colonial trade benefited Britain.

• Headright System — Land grant program giving settlers 50 acres per new arrival; used to attract settlers and accelerate land ownership.

• New Amsterdam — Dutch colony on Manhattan; seized by English and renamed New York; example of shifting colonial control in the Atlantic world.

• Jacob Leisler — Led 1689 rebellion in New York after Glorious Revolution; executed; illustrates colonial political turmoil and local power struggles.

• Pennsylvania, founding of — 1681 colony founded by William Penn as a Quaker refuge; emphasis on religious liberty, fair dealing with Native peoples, and representative governance.

• James Oglethorpe — Founder of Georgia; envisioned a buffer colony and debtor refuge; reflects penal reform ideas and strategic imperial planning.

• Pequot War — 1637 conflict where English settlers destroyed the Pequot tribe; demonstrates violent colonial expansion and Native decline.

• Plymouth Plantation — Pilgrim colony founded in 1620 with Native help; early example of religious colonization and enduring settlement history.

• Powhatan — Chief who led tribes near Jamestown; sometimes aided colonists; key figure in early colonial-Native relations and interdependence.

• Praying Indians — Christianized Natives living in missionary towns in New England; illustrates missionization and cultural change in colonial spaces.

• Puritans — English Protestants who sought to purify the Church of England; foundational to New England religious culture and governance.

• Quakers — Pacifist religious group promoting equality and tolerance; early advocates of religious freedom and fair treatment of Native peoples in some colonies.

• Roger Williams — Banished Puritan who founded Rhode Island for religious freedom; example of religious liberty, toleration, and separation of church and state.

• Sir William Berkeley — Governor of Virginia whose policies sparked Bacon’s Rebellion; illustrates colonial governance tensions and frontier defense challenges.

• Theocracy — Government controlled by religious leaders, common in Puritan colonies; highlights the intersection of church and state in early America.

• Tobacco — Cash crop that saved Virginia’s economy and demanded labor; central to the Virginia colony’s growth, labor systems, and expansion.

• Toleration Act — 1649 Maryland law granting Christian religious freedom; early legal protection for religious liberty in the colonies, albeit limited.

• Virginia House of Burgesses — First elected assembly in America (1619); early step toward representative self-government and colonial political culture.

• Wampanoags — Native tribe that allied with Plymouth before King Philip’s War; key players in early colonial-Native relations and regional diplomacy.

• William Bradford — Long-time governor of Plymouth Colony; helped establish governance, religious community, and survival strategies.

• William Penn — Quaker founder of Pennsylvania who promoted tolerance and good Native relations; model of liberal governance and peaceful settlement.

Unit 3: Colonial Institutions, Economy, and Social Structures (17th–18th Centuries)

• The Navigation Acts (revisited) — English laws enforcing mercantilist practices; aimed to funnel colonial trade through Britain and bolster imperial revenue.

• Headright System (revisited) — Land grants to new settlers; used to attract and retain labor, expand colonial settlements, and incentivize movement to the Chesapeake.

• New Amsterdam to New York transition — Demonstrates changing control in the Atlantic world and implications for governance, trade, and cultural mixing.

• Toleration and religious pluralism — Early legal and social experiments (e.g., Maryland’s Toleration Act; Rhode Island’s religious freedom) shaping religious liberty debates in America.

• Native-colonial diplomacy and conflict — Examples include Metacomet/King Philip’s War, the Powhatan relationships with Jamestown, and the broader “Middle Ground” concept.

• Economic underpinnings of colonization — Plantations (Barbados, Caribbean), cash crops (tobacco), and mercantilist policies that linked colonial economies to European powers.

• Governance and representation — From the Virginia House of Burgesses to colonial charters and settlements that laid groundwork for republican ideas and self-government.

• Ethnic and religious diversity — Puritans, Quakers, Catholics in Maryland, and other groups creating varied colonial social fabrics and conflict dynamics.

• Notable colonial figures and legacies — Bradford, Winthrop, Penn, Berkeley, Leisler, Oglethorpe, Calverts, and others who shaped policies, settlements, and relations with Indigenous peoples.

• The colonial world operated at the intersection of economics, religion, and power; mercantilist logic drove policies like the Navigation Acts and the establishment of plantation economies dependent on enslaved labor.

• Indigenous societies displayed remarkable diversity in governance, kinship, religion, and diplomacy; European colonization disrupted but also engaged in complex alliances (Middle Ground, Powhatan, Iroquois, Wampanoags).

• Religious ideas acted as both motivators for settlement and sources of tension (Puritans’ city on a hill, Roger Williams’s Rhode Island, Anne Hutchinson’s dissent).

• Key dates to remember: 1492, 1607, 1620, 1629–1630 (Massachusetts Bay Company and Puritan settlement), 1649 (Toleration Act in Maryland), 1688–1689 (Glorious Revolution and Leisler’s Rebellion), 1681 (Pennsylvania founding), 1686–1689 (Dominion of New England and its fall), 1754–1763 (later implications for colonial policy—note: not in transcript but good context), and important conflicts like 1637 (Pequot War) and 1675–1676 (King Philip’s War).

If you want, I can reorganize these notes into a printable two-page summary or tailor them to a specific exam outline (e.g., a timeline, a cause-effect chart, or a concept map).