US history studyguide

Beringia – Theory that explains how the world was populated.

Tenochtitlan – Ancient capital of the Aztec Empire.

Reconquista – Military conflict between Christians and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula.

Treaty of Tordesillas – Papal decree that divided exploration and conquest between Spain and Portugal.

Spanish Armada – Its defeat marked the beginning of British dominance of the Atlantic.

Cahokia – Commercial and political hub of the Mississippian civilization of North America.

Encomienda – Land and labor grant given to Spanish conquistadors in the Americas.

Bartolomé de Las Casas – Spanish missionary who criticized Spanish treatment of Indigenous people in the Americas.

Black Legend – Propaganda campaign that sought to portray the Spanish as uniquely brutal colonizers.

Columbian Exchange – Uneven transfer of people, plants, animals, and diseases between the "Old" and "New" Worlds after 1492.

Seven Years' War – Conflict between Britain and France over the Middle Ground in North America.

Peace of Paris, 1763 – Ended the Seven Years' War.

Pontiac's Rebellion – Post-Seven Years' War Native American attacks on the British and colonists that revealed pan-Indian unity.

Proclamation of 1763 – British policy that prohibited white expansion west of the Appalachian Mountains.

Salutary Neglect – Period of relative independence enjoyed by British colonists in North America.

Stamp Act – British colonial policy that imposed a tax on all printed material.

Public Sphere – Space where political debate takes place outside of the government.

Common Sense – Pro-independence pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1776.

Treaty of Paris, 1783 – Recognized U.S. independence.

Christian Republicanism – Deist set of moral standards promoting a republic over monarchy.

Republicanism – Alternative to monarchy that relies on citizens' participation in government.

Articles of Confederation – First national constitution of the U.S.

Shays’ Rebellion – Uprising of indebted farmers against economic policies.

Bill of Rights – First ten amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

Three-Fifths Clause – Stated that a slave counted as less than a person for representation purposes.

Slave Trade Clause – Compromise over slavery between North and South.

Coverture – Legal and economic dependence of women on their husbands.

Rhetoric vs. Reality – Contradiction between what is being said and what is being lived in society.

Haitian Revolution – Slave uprising in the Caribbean that turned into an independence movement.Louisiana Purchase – U.S. acquisition of a large French territory in 1803.