UNIT 1 A-E, HIST 1483 U-Z, HIST 1483 P-T, HIST 1483 K-O, HIST 1483 F-J

Bancroft, George

(1800-1891) Historian and statesman who became one of the most influential historians in US history and served as a public servant in several capacities (collector of the port of Boston, Secretary of the Navy [1845-1846], US Minister to Britain [1846-1849], US Minister to Germany [1867-1874]). As one of the first professional historians trained in Germany (PhD, University of Goettingen, 1820) and as a product of the Age of Romanticism and Jacksonian Democracy, Bancroft helped create the filio-pietistic school of historical thought. The term filio-pietistic suggests reverence for one's forefathers, and Bancroft, as was true of Romanticist historians in other countries, emphasized national history and glorified his nation's past. He presented the history of the US as the culmination of the movement in western civilization toward liberty and progress, and he expressed the rising ethnic nationalism of the 19th century by asserting that these developments were in accord with the destiny of Americans because as Anglo-Saxons, they were a superior race and bound to advance civilization and spread it to the rest of the world. Bancroft thereby promoted the idea that the US stands for all that is good, always promotes liberty, equality, justice, and morality, and has a mission--a God-given purpose to create and spread democracy and the free society. These contentions became the basis for some of the most popular and most strongly held views about the US, views which contribute to a national myth of the US as a unique nation, superior to others and dedicated to advancing the cause of liberty and the triumph of good over evil.

Act of Toleration

A 1649 act in Maryland which established religious toleration in the colony. Acts of Toleration were also passed by the assemblies of other colonies to grant religious toleration (or limited toleration) to persons not affiliated with established churches. For example, in 1644 Rhode Island conferred freedom of religion, in 1682 the Pennsylvania charter allowed religious liberty to those who believed in God (except Jews and Catholics), and the Quakers provided for religious freedom in Jersey in 1681 and 1683.

Protestant Reformation

A movement to cleanse the Roman Catholic Church of corrupt practices and return it to the purer ways of "primitive" Christianity.

Caravel

A new kind of ship built by the Portuguese in the 1400s, it had two principal characteristics distinguishing it from the previously dominant kind of ship, the galley which was a flat bottomed vessel propelled by oars and sails and dating to ancient Rome. The caravel had high sides making it capable of carrying large cargoes and withstanding heavy seas, and it had two kinds of sails--square sails on the forward mast and lateen rigging on the other two masts. This combination of sails made it possible for the Portuguese to sail larger ships anywhere, anytime. The lateen rigging, borrowed from the Arabs by the Portuguese in 1434, included a yard which crossed the mast diagonally so that the lateen sail had the form of a triangle. This shape allowed the Arabs and then the Portuguese to sail against the wind which was necessary to conduct trade with India during the Monsoon season. By combining the lateen and square rigging with high sides, the Portuguese and others could change voyages of reconnaissance around Africa into trading missions with eastern Asia. The caravel represents the new technology which made it possible for the Europeans to move out of the Mediterranean into the Atlantic, become the most dynamic society, and begin to dominate world trade in the 16th century.

Crusades

A series of holy wars undertaken by European Christians primarily against Muslims for control of the Holy Lands. These military campaigns, usually sanctioned by the Pope, took place from the late 11th through the 13th centuries. The Crusades exposed Europeans to new ideas and material goods, which they came to crave. Efforts to find better trade routes to the sources of these goods led to exploration and ultimately colonization.

Wars for Empire

A series of world-wide wars between England and France for control of North America as well as dominance in Europe and elsewhere such as India. These wars, which involved the colonies, occurred in two phases. The first phase lasted from 1689 to 1763 and involved four major wars--the War of League of Augsburg (1689-1697, known as King William's War in the colonies), the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1713, Queen Anne's War), the War of Austrian Succession (1740-1748, King George's War), Seven Years War (1756-1763, French and Indian War). The second phase lasted from 1776 to 1815 and involved the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic Wars. These wars are significant because the British (England became the United Kingdom of England and Scotland in 1707, hence, British) prevailed in most of them and after the victory in 1763 which gave Britain control of North America, the British empire was substantially changed, an alteration which contributed to the revolution of 1776. The British victory also led the French to seek revenge, and they therefore came to the colonists' aid in 1778 and thereby made it possible for the colonists to gain their independence and establish the United States. These wars also reveal that the colonists, contrary to their arguments preceding the revolution, had an interest in these wars and took part in them.

Walking City

A term for cities which were characterized by small size plus mixed populations and no zoning. Descriptive of most cities in the colonies and the new US before the mid-19th century, the term "walking city" refers to the fact that these urban societies were microcosms of the larger hierarchical society in which there was a sense of community based on face-to-face relationships. People of different classes lived in the same neighborhoods and often in the same houses (as apprentices and journeymen artisans before becoming masters with their own shops), and because places of business were often in homes, there was no separation of residential and commercial or manufacturing areas.

Virtual Representation

A theory of indirect representation in government, practiced in England and the colonies, which argues that every subject of the crown in the British Empire (whether that individual can vote for Members of Parliament or not) is represented by the Members of Parliament because that individual lives (by virtue of living) in the empire. The colonists practiced this theory in the colonies, as did the British, because not everyone could vote, but the colonists, in arguing that only the colonial assemblies should levy taxes ("no taxation without representation"), were beginning to argue for actual representation although they did not apply it to all in the colonies. Women, slaves, Native Americans, and men without sufficient property (and sometimes proper moral standing or religious convictions) could not vote. This is significant because it suggests that the colonists' legal case for revolution was not strong.

Board of Trade

Agency established in 1696 by the British government to improve the management of the colonies.

Peonage

An economic and social state defined by perpetual indebtedness and, therefore, social subordination. A serf-like condition, peonage obligates the indebted person to work for his patron to pay off a never-ending debt. After officially discontinuing the encomienda in the mid-1500s, the Spanish kept the Amerindians working in virtual bondage by making loans to them but never paying them enough to pay off the loans. This is significant for representing the Spanish--and European--inclination to be ethnocentric, meaning Europeans are superior and non-Europeans are dispensable, and placing profits above legal or religious or moral considerations. The Spanish maintained a forced labor system through economic and social means even after the crown and the church objected and the crown ruled out the legal means of encomienda.

evangelicalism

An emotional form of Christianity which emerged in the 18th century and stressed personal rebirth and salvation.

Consensus Theory

An overarching theory of U.S. history which argues that the American people and therefore the history of the U.S. are characterized more by agreement than disagreement. Americans, the theory postulates, share basic objectives and expectations and therefore agree on fundamentals even though they might disagree on methods for achieving these goals. This is possible, according to representative historians such as Daniel Boorstin, Louis Hartz, and Richard Hofstadter, because the American experience has emphasized what is practical and material and therefore, as Boorstin says, the American people are non-ideological. Hence, the U.S. could be seen as politically moderate and naturally resistant to the extremes of the political Right (e.g., Fascism) and Left (e.g., Communism). Originating after World War II (1939-1945) during the beginning years of the Cold War (1947-1989), this theory dominated during the 1950s, representing the anxiety created by the Cold War and the desire to provide a united front against the U.S.S.R. and the threat of Communist expansion and subversion. It also represents the loss in the late 20th Century of the 19th Century idealistic belief in the possibility of fundamentally changing, even perfecting, society. Moreover, as Richard Hofstadter suggests, if this theory is correct, then the U.S. has never had much of a liberal tradition favoring the reform of society for the benefit of all. Also, the theory symbolizes one of the fundamental paradoxes of U.S. history and society; that is, Americans are united by a belief in freedom and individual rights which are naturally divisive. So, what holds the country together simultaneously threatens to pull it apart--hence, perhaps, part of the perceived need for a Consensus Theory to unite Americans.

Calvinism

Belief system, central to Protestantism, created by the French protestant Jean Cauvin or John Calvin (1509-1564) as expressed in his theological masterpiece, Institutes of the Christian Religion (first published 1536). Central to Calvinism is the idea that, because God is all-powerful and humans are weak, knowledge of God is crucial and therefore Calvinism emphasizes learning and self-discipline over revelation and feeling good. While restating Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli's fundamental positions on the primacy of faith over good works, on Biblical over papal authority, and on personal appeals over priestly intercession with God, Calvin went farther. Although allowing (perhaps inadvertently) for a range of religious views from Antinomianism and a religion of inner spirituality to Arminianism and a religion of good works and social justice, Calvinism takes Luther's doctrine of salvation by grace to its ultimate conclusion and argues that humans, as hopelessly sinful, can do nothing to achieve salvation. It is strictly a gift of God. Hence, Calvin makes the doctrine of predestination (traceable to St. Augustine of Hippo [354-430 C.E.]) central to his theology, arguing that God as omniscient and omnipotent determines the fate of each person before birth and selects some to be among the "elect." No one can know for certain who has been saved, but signs of salvation were thought to include living lives of inward spirituality and outward righteousness according to God's laws. There were at least two major effects of this belief system--one political, one economic. Politically, Calvinism led to support for both authoritarian regimes and revolution. Because Calvinists believed that they as a community, like the ancient Israelites, had a covenant with God (the Covenant Theology under which if they would keep God's laws, He would keep them and they would become His chosen people), then each church member had a duty to impose God's will on himself and all others. This could create societies of conformity, even oppression, as in Calvin's Geneva and John Winthrop's Boston. Simultaneously, this loyalty to God's law promoted the idea that if a government was in violation of God's law (or was so judged), then Calvinists should disobey and even overthrow that government. Economically, Calvinism promoted the development of modern capitalism. According to the German sociologist Max Weber, Calvinism helped to create the Protestant Ethic which says that material success in this life is a glorification of God and a sign of salvation. Moreover, the personal characteristics of hard work, self-discipline, and asceticism promoted by Calvinism dove-tailed with the need of capitalism for hard work, saving, and re-investment. Calvinists would tend to condemn spending one's immediate earnings on some amenity as placing personal wishes before God's wishes, leading to re-investing and creating larger and larger amounts of capital which is the key to capitalism.

covenant of works

Belief that individuals gained salvation through pure lives and good deeds or religious rituals.

Poor Richard's Almanack

Benjamin Franklin's annual guide to weather, useful information, and adages reflecting the rising secular culture.

American Slavery, American Freedom

Book (1975) by Edmund S. Morgan which argues principally, first, that racism (hence, ideology in general) can have different effects at different times depending on circumstances and, second, that slavery and freedom in early America were not, in the minds of the colonists, contradictory but complementary. In order to unite whites behind the existing social order, the leaders of the southern colonies (especially Virginia) argued that colonial society stood for freedom and equality for all (meaning all white males) and proved it by enforcing slavery for blacks--thereby giving all whites a common, unifying distinction based on race and on a professed commitment to republican principles (while excluding all non-whites). Morgan denies that racism or a pre-existing English prejudice against blacks was enough by itself to bring about slavery, because slavery developed slowly during the 1600s. But when combined with the shortage of labor in the colonies, the colonists' willingness to succeed by any means, the English attitude that manual laborers are inferior people, and the elite's fears of lower class uprisings after Bacon's Rebellion, circumstances favored its development.

Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690)

Book by John Locke (1632-1704) which expresses his theory that human knowledge is derived from sense experience (not innate ideas) plus the organization of that experience into meaningful patterns by the human faculty of reason. This contributed to the Enlightenment in at least three ways. First, it supported the idea of examining the natural world (the source of sensory stimuli) and therefore favored empiricism and inductive reasoning (reasoning from the particular to the general) rather than accepting traditional authority. Second, if human beings are not born with innate ideas but with minds which are initially a tabula rasa or blank slate, then "all men are created equal" and perhaps humans are not inherently sinful. Third, if a person's environment is decisive in shaping that person, then each individual and the world can be changed for the better by educating all and by reforming institutions. Locke and this theory contributed to the Enlightenment ideas that people and societies can be changed and improved, that ignorance and dogmatism are the enemies of mankind, and that reason and science should be applied to understand the world and improve people's lives.

Pitt, William

British prime minister who led Great Britain to victory in the Seven Years War.

Body of Liberties

Code of law for Massachusetts Bay drawn up by Nathaniel Ward and adopted by the General Court (legislature) in December 1641. An attempt to base the government on written law, the code reflects the demands of that element in the colony which wanted more rights for non-Puritans and fewer restrictions according to Puritan doctrine. The Body of Liberties modified but did not end the power of the magistrates such as Governor John Winthrop to exercise discretionary power and decide public issues in favor of Puritans and Puritan doctrine partly because the Body of Liberties was based partially on Mosaic Law. Charges of civil and religious discrimination, such as those of Robert Child in 1646, continued, and the law code was broadened in 1648. But the Puritan leadership maintained control and even denied that the colony had to abide by the common law of England because it was a separate society. The Body of Liberties is significant because it represents both the determination of the first generation of Puritans to maintain their goal and the mounting, and ultimately successful, pressure by those who wanted a more liberal and open society. The history of the Body of Liberties reveals that, in so far as the Puritans can be said to have laid the groundwork for democracy, it was inadvertent and the result of a struggle on the part of the many against the few.

Duke's Laws

Code of laws for New York adopted in 1665 in the name of the proprietor, James the Duke of York, and thereafter used as a basis for conducting an autocratic government. Compiled by Governor Richard Nicolls who James had sent in 1664 to seize New Netherlands from the Dutch after receiving a charter in 1664 for the area from his brother, Charles II, the code reflected the desire of James to rule according to the theory of divine-right or absolute monarchy. The code allowed Nicolls to govern and set taxes without an elected assembly, but in order to keep the Dutch settlers and attract more from New England, the laws provided for freedom of worship, guaranteed existing land titles, and allowed elected town governments. Although protests mounted, reforms were delayed by James ascension to the throne as James II in 1685. New Yorkers received a new charter in 1692 after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 overthrew James II. The Duke's Laws reveal some of the reasons that New York did not grow rapidly in the early years--autocratic government and the continuation of a feudalistic land distribution system favoring a few. The Laws also show that the colonies were different and could have developed in different ways.

Albany Congress

Convention held in 1754 by colonial governments in an effort to arrange an alliance with the Iroquois and to establish a plan of colonial union in preparation for the upcoming war. Resulted in the Albany Plan of Union.

Balance of Trade

Difference between the value of the exports and imports of any nation and a problem for the English colonies in the 18th century. The English colonies in the 1700s had a growing negative balance of trade with Britain so that by the 1760s the value of their exports was about 1 million Pounds Sterling but their imports from Britain amounted to about 13/4 million Pounds Sterling. This adverse balance of trade drew off all the hard money (gold and silver) in the colonies and therefore contributed to another basic problem of the colonies, an inadequate money supply. The expanding colonial population needed more money to buy farms and fund new businesses, but the deflationary conditions, brought by having too little money in circulation, made loans more expensive and increased the difficulties of the immigrants, the poor, and the young. These economic factors contributed to a broadening gap between rich and poor, a growing number of poor, and a rising frustration with British policies.

Ptolemy (127-151 C.E.)

Egyptian astronomer, geographer, and mathematician of Greek ancestry from Alexandria, Egypt who summarized and augmented the work of Aristotle and the Hellenic scholars in astronomy and geography in his two works, the Almagest (on astronomy) and Geography. On astronomy, Ptolemy accepted and strengthened the interpretation of the universe as revolving about the earth, subsequently referred to as the Ptolemaic Universe, to be first systematically critiqued by Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) whose Copernican System placed the sun at the center and had the earth move, a theory later supported by the Italian mathematician Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). On geography, Ptolemy estimated the circumference of the earth and modified the findings of the Hellenic Greek, Eratosthenes (276-195 B.C.E.), by making the earth about 1/4 too small. This had major consequences after the Europeans rediscovered Ptolemy's work through the Arabs in 1410 and even more after it was printed 1483. His Geography was influential for another two hundred years, and Columbus, who read it, might not have sailed west to the reach the East if he had not accepted Ptolemy's underestimate. So, Ptolemy represents the importance of rediscovered or new knowledge as a stimulus for the European expansionism.

Covenant Colonies

English colonies founded initially without a charter from the king and therefore had governments and societies based on their theology (such as the Covenant) and ideas of church organization. These colonies included Plymouth (1620), Connecticut (1635-36), Rhode Island (1636), and New Haven (1638-39). These colonies represent a basic dilemma faced by the Puritans and by the US generally--that is, can a society, founded on the principle or right of separation, survive? Can it form a coherent, lasting social organization or will separatism lead to unending splintering into smaller and smaller units? Separatists established Plymouth, and the other colonies were founded largely by people who had left Massachusetts Bay. People settling Connecticut left voluntarily because Massachusetts was too strict concerning certification of conversion and church membership: the founders of New Haven left because Boston was too lenient. Rhode Islanders were often banished because of their independent ways or beliefs. This is part of the larger human problem of providing for individual rights and interests while maintaining society's needs. The dilemma of separatism culminated in early US history in the Civil War.

"Wild Irish"

English derogatory term for the Irish which suggests that they are not civilized and cannot be civilized and which therefore acts as a justification for English conquest using any means. When the English, led by west country gentry such as Sir Humphrey Gilbert and later Sir Walter Raleigh, fought to re-establish control over Ireland in the late 1500s, they used brutal tactics which violated normal English ethical standards and set a precedent (as Vasco da Gama and the Portuguese had in the Indian Ocean) for identifying other people--the Irish and non-Europeans--as barbarous and even as less than human and, therefore, as people to be repressed and destroyed if they resisted the advance of civilization (European-style). Resistance by the Irish, and later others such as the Amerindians, was proof of their incorrigibility as wild men and therefore, as Edmund Spencer wrote in 1596 in his A View of the Present State of Ireland, unlimited force was justified to bring the Irish "from their delight of licentious barbarism unto the love of goodness and civility." "Wild Irish" is significant because it symbolizes the English and general European attitude that Africa, the Americas, and Asia were all beyond the bounds of civilization, meaning that the standards of civilized life recognized in Europe, including warfare, did not apply. The Irish and Amerindians and others would have rights--property, political, civil--only after civilization had been established, and that meant European control.

"Errand Into the Wilderness"

Essay by Perry Miller (1954) about the Puritans and their sense of themselves which argues that all of the sermons after 1660 expressing a sense of decline and engaging in self-flagellation were not signs of despair but efforts at atonement (a reconciliation with God by a confession of sins) which would free the Puritans to lead a different life than the one the founders had designated. Miller thinks the Puritans played on the two meanings of the word errand and thereby gave themselves a different purpose. Their initial errand in 1630 was one of acting on behalf of England by creating a "City on a Hill" which would be a model for reforming and saving England. After 1660 and the Restoration, saving England became increasingly unlikely so they changed to the sense of errand meaning acting for oneself--finding a purpose for themselves in America. The intimation is that the Puritans, and by implication all Americans, were then in a position to justify self-interested action by moralistic principles.

Council of the Indies

Governmental institution established in 1524 to govern the Spanish colonies from Seville, Spain in the name of the crown. Holding executive and legislative power for the empire (although the king had ultimate power), the Council issued all the laws for the empire. These decrees passed through a hierarchical system to the two viceroys in the Americas (New Spain in North America and New Granada in South America), to the seven audiencias (royal courts), to the presidencias (administrative subdivisions), to the cabildos (municipal corporations). The Council is representative of the centralized and bureaucratic nature of the Spanish empire, a factor contributing to the development of a political culture which showed little interest in self-government and which seemed reconciled to authority coming from the top down.

Potlatch

Feast usually given by one chief of the Amerindians of the Pacific northwest for another. This is an example of how a cultural practice can be perverted so that an act which was initially intended to be beneficial could become highly detrimental. Amerindians placed more value on sharing than on acquiring goods, but among the tribes of the Pacific northwest, which enjoyed a higher standard of living and a more developed social and political organization because of the natural wealth of their region, sharing was not a necessity. Instead, because of easy wealth, giving away goods became a means of gaining status and potentially ruining a competitor. Hence, a potlatch was a feast in which one chief tried to give away more than the other chief and the gifts might involve not only food and copper plates but also slaves and the killing of slaves. If the second chief could not give away more, then he was ruined socially.

Vespucci, Amerigo (1451-1512)

Florentine merchant, adventurer, and cosmographer whose name, in its Latinized version (Americus Vespucius), was given to the Western Hemisphere after he wrote letters describing his voyage of 1501-02 with the Portuguese along the coast of Brazil. Because these Sodorini Letters were published, Europeans learned of the Western Hemisphere from him rather than from Columbus, and in 1507 in an introduction to a reprint of Ptolemy's Geography, the German geographer Martin Waldseemuller proposed that the "New World" be named for Vespucci. Vespucci represents the second way in which the Western Hemisphere was important to the explorers; that is, it was not the East but a previously unknown land mass and therefore a "new" world blocking the way to the East.

Chattel Slavery

Form of slavery which defines slaves as objects and denies them their humanity and therefore any rights or recognition. Although not the dominant form of slavery at most times in most societies, it was adopted in the Americas as a result of a combination of factors. First, the restraints on slavery which have contributed to slaves being considered human in most societies and which flow from being a member of a society or of a known society as in debtors sold into slavery or war captives had been weakened in Africa because of long distance trade routes extending from East Africa to the Middle East and from sub-Saharan West Africa to the Mediterranean. Second, the Europeans developed the idea (rationalization for conquest ?) that the standards of civilization (legal and ethical) practiced in Europe do not apply in Africa, the Americas, and Asia because those places are uncivilized and their peoples inferior barbarians who are less than human. Third, Africans and Amerindians were easily distinguishable physically from Europeans so that they could not blend in. Fourth, Europeans, certainly the English, had negative stereotypes about the color black which identified it with evil. Fifth, the Atlantic slave trade was extremely profitable and involved many different countries so that there was no united legal or moral approach. A turning point marking the beginnings of chattel slavery may have been 1510 when the Portuguese began shipping people to the Americans to be sold into slavery by general auction as if they were cattle rather than to specific individuals upon request. This is significant because slavery in the Americas becomes a particularly harsh, uncaring system based on legal and racial factors causing long-term social divisions and stereotyped thinking.

Writs of Assistance

General search warrants (similar to court orders) which authorized customs officials and revenue officers to search any ships or buildings for smuggled goods. Although used in England and in the colonies since at least the Navigation Act of 1696, these writs were controversial because they did not require any proof of probable cause and because they often led to the search of people's homes (the merchants conducting business out of their houses). When the writs had to be approved at the beginning of the reign of George III in 1760, the merchants of Boston hired James Otis to argue before the Massachusetts supreme court in 1761 that the writs were unconstitutional. The court, led by Chief Justice (later Governor) Thomas Hutchinson, ruled against the merchants, but Otis had laid out an argument which became fundamental to the colonists' subsequent justification of revolution. Otis made a clear statement of the Natural Rights argument that certain rights of Englishmen, as Locke's social contract theory suggests, exist anterior to government and cannot be rightfully or constitutionally denied by government. The Writs of Assistance, Otis said, were contrary to those fundamental rights of Englishmen. This is significant as an example of how the colonists presented a matter of self-interest (being able to smuggle goods which during the war years was not only illegal but treasonous) as a matter of principle.

Balanced Government

Governmental arrangement, thought to the be ideal by the British in the 18th century, which limits power by distributing it among three parts of the government--monarch, House of Lords, and House of Commons. By dividing power among these three institutions, which were also thought to represent the three parts of society--royalty, aristocracy, and commons--balanced government would supposedly promote the good aspects of government and society and diminish the unfortunate aspects. It is significant because it represents the emphasis which the British placed on order and balance in the 18th century. Also known as mixed government, it was praised as the best form of government by the French scholar and Anglophile, Baron de Montesquieu, in his Spirit of the Laws (1740s). This governmental ideal was also adopted in the colonies and, later, by the framers of the Constitution for the new United States.

County Courts

Governmental body at the local level in the southern colonies which reflected the nature of southern colonial society as rural and dispersed (in contrast to New England's townships). Modeled on the English system which had county courts as the second level of local government (above the parish vestry boards), these courts were manned in England and the colonies by the leading local land holders who served voluntarily with the title of Justice of the Peace. But while in England these courts tended to represent and strengthen the king's interests at the local level, in the colonies they became an instrument for reducing the king's control, promoting representative government, and separating the colonies from England. These courts (the first two of which were established by the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1624 with the formation of two new counties) were to enforce the acts of the House of Burgesses on the local level and gradually gained jurisdiction over all civil cases. The justices serving on these courts, especially after 1660, began to see their interests in conflict with those of the governor who usually spoke for the Tidewater and the king. This development would mean that the Virginia landed class would divide into two groups--an "imperial," Tidewater group connected to the governor and the empire and the major land owners in the counties who were led by the justices on the county courts. The county courts represent the desire on the part of the landed gentry to control their own affairs at the local level.

Encomienda

Grant of authority over a set of people by the Spanish crown allowing the recipients (encomenderos) to extract labor or tribute from people (Native Americans in the Western Hemisphere) who often became virtual slaves. In return for this grant of authority, the encomendero promised to protect their charges and convert them to Christianity. As a result, using the justifications of spreading Christianity and civilization and of using the land properly and effectively, the Spanish almost immediately upon their arrival began to exploit the labor and resources of the Americas for their own benefit. This is an example of how the Americas became important to the Europeans as a source of wealth which they extracted in any way they could using religion and references to civilized behavior as justifications for inhumane and deadly treatment of others who did not share their ideas concerning religion and civilization.

Protestant Association

Group of 250 Maryland Protestants under the leadership of John Coode who, after hearing news of the Glorious Revolution and the declaration of war on France (May 1689), overthrew the proprietary government of Lord Baltimore and thereby ended Roman Catholic control of Maryland and the legal protection for the Catholic minority against discrimination. This overthrow of the proprietary government (actually deputy governor William Joseph) was the culmination of a series of protests and uprisings (those of 1676 and 1681 had been crushed) as a result of rising dissatisfaction from falling tobacco prices, Indian raids, nepotism, absentee rule, and anti-Catholic sentiment on the part of the Protestant majority. The removal of the Catholic James II and his replacement with the Protestant monarchs William and Mary gave the uprising the promise of success, and the new monarchs granted a new charter in 1691. The capital was moved from Catholic St. Mary's to Protestant Annapolis, and the Protestant assembly reflected the pent-up anti-Catholicism by passing legislation denying Catholics the right to hold public office, have church schools, or hold public church services. This is significant because it reverses one of the first attempts to provide religious toleration in the colonies, and it serves as an example of how giving power to the majority can deny rights to individuals and the minority. Efforts designed to force what is right according to one set of beliefs, in the name of ending privileges and immorality in society, can deny equal rights and individual freedom

Prince Henry the Navigator

Infante Don Henrique (1394-1460), a younger son of King John I of Portugal. Not an actual sailor or navigator himself, Prince Henry had that title attributed to him by the English because he became the chief sponsor of the first major European overseas voyages of exploration--by the Portuguese. In 1419 he established an observatory and a school of geography at Sagres in southwestern Portugal and from there sent out mariners to find a sea route around Africa to the East Indies and especially around the Muslim societies of North Africa. The route around Africa was not discovered until long after his death, but he began the voyages and established a Portuguese presence in the islands of the Atlantic and on the coast of West Africa and a trade in ivory, gold, and slaves. Prince Henry is also representative of how the early explorers were motivated by a range of considerations from medieval and religious to early modern and economic. The early expeditions were partially extensions of the crusade against the Muslims or Moors of the Iberian Peninsula, finally defeated at Granada in Spain in 1492. One of Prince Henry's unrealized goals was to defeat the Muslims by outflanking them and joining forces with Prester John, the legendary Christian ruler of Ethiopia. Because Prince Henry was also interested in gaining knowledge and engaging in trade with Eastern Asia, he is a transitional figure, representative of the Late Middle Ages and the early Renaissance.

Enlightenment

Intellectual movement identified with the 18th century which is therefore also known as the Age of Reason. From approximately 1687 to 1789 (and especially after 1740), this movement, led by public intellectuals known as the philosophes, emphasized reason as a means to reform society and promote the interests of mankind. The Enlightenment therefore sought to end ignorance, religious intolerance, superstition, and the absolutism of church and state. Stimulated by a revulsion against absolutism following Louis XIV, by a new freedom to publish and therefore public discussion of issues, and by the Scientific Revolution and especially the work of Sir Isaac Newton and John Locke, the advocates of the Enlightenment wanted freedom of press and thought so that individuals could question authority, debate ideas, worship freely (or not) and, as Immanuel Kant said, cast "light into the dark corners of mind." A wide range of people--from Voltaire to Madame du Chatelet to Mary Wollstonecraft to Benjamin Franklin--could be called philosophes (with Catherine the Great of Russia and Frederick the Great of Prussia as admirers). Some were radicals, but most were moderates who favored gradual change until the masses were educated and an ordered freedom imposed on social and political institutions. In the English colonies, other influences included the low-church Anglicanism of John Tillotson, Archbishop of Canterbury until 1694. He advocated a latitudinarian theology which rejected rigid doctrine and the idea of a wrathful God in favor of flexibility, a role for humans, and a merciful God--hence, Arminianism and salvation by good works. Tillotson's approach (taken up by the faculty at Harvard) and Newton's theory of a "clockwork universe" (it operates like a clock according to laws of nature devised by God) encouraged the development of an intellectual, unemotional religion according to which God rarely intervened in daily life. These ideas of all men being able to understand the universe and control their own affairs played a major role in bringing and shaping the American Revolution (1776) and the French Revolution (1789). The founders of the US, because they grew up during the Enlightenment, incorporated into the new US government many Enlightenment ideas.

black codes

Laws passed by colonial legislatures to control and limit the rights and activities of blacks.

Winthrop, John

Leader of the Puritans who became governor of Massachusetts Bay Company in an effort to found a Puritan utopia in New England.

enumerated list

List of colonial products which could be shipped only to England or to other English colonies.

Powhatan Confederation

Loose grouping of some two dozen Algonquian-speaking tribes along the Chesapeake organized in the first decade of the 1600s by the Pamunkey tribe's chief (cacique or werowance) whose name and/or title as main chief was Powhatan. The confederation is symbolic of the interaction between Amerindians and Europeans each of whom have a developed culture and their own reasons for interacting. The confederation itself could have been the result of that interaction because the Spanish claimed the area and Spanish Jesuits had established a short-lived mission in 1570-71 at Ajacan north of Jamestown. It was massacred in 1571 which brought a Spanish punitive attack in 1572. The Spanish then withdrew, and when the English arrived in 1607 Powhatan did not try to destroy them because he was interested in trade and in obtaining an ally in his effort to build the confederacy and defeat his enemies. After 1609 when the English, desperate for food, raided the tribal food stores, Powhatan accused the English of wishing to "possess his country" and tried to starve the English out. In 1614 he signed a treaty of peace, and his daughter Pocahontas married John Rolfe. In 1618, after news arrived of Pocahontas' death in England, Powhatan died, and in 1621 his brother Opechancanough became the Powhatan or main chief with a new name, Massatamochtnock. Even more familiar with the Europeans, having been taken to Spain and converted to Christianity as a young man and then having returned to his tribe when the Jesuits arrived and probably having led the massacre on Ajacan, Massatamochtnock responded to English demands for more land by trying to eliminate the English entirely with a bloody assault on Good Friday, 1622. A ten year war of attrition followed. In 1644, Massatamochtnock, perhaps 100 and unable to walk, orchestrated another surprise attack on the English. He was captured and shot, the confederacy was defeated, and the treaty of 1646, while promising to respect tribal lands, removed the confederacy tribes from the land between the James and York Rivers. The Powhatan Confederation reveals how the history of the time is the story of the interaction of Amerindians and Europeans and how the Amerindians had customs and interests of their own and, although they adopted specific European artifacts when it suited their purposes within their own culture, they did not view the European ways as superior. Powhatan sought to use the English just as they sought to use him.

Edwards, Jonathan

Minister and theologian, renowned for his "hell and brimstone" sermons, who led a revival in Northampton, Connecticut.

Enclosure Movement

Movement in England, beginning in the Late Middle Ages and reaching a peak in the late 18th century, to redefine (through legislation in Parliament), as private property, land and facilities which had been held in common during the Middle Ages. The landed elite, well represented in Parliament, could override age-old manorial arrangements and enclose the land with hedges or fences and run sheep to take advantage of the profits to be gained from wool. The small farmers and tenants generally could not survive without access to the commons, and therefore the movement produced a large, displaced population which created social instability, crime, a growing urban population, and a sense that England was overpopulated and needed to send the excess abroad. The enclosure movement also helped to create a large population of unskilled people who could provide an inexpensive labor source for the industrial revolution. This development is again indicative of the importance of commerce (e.g., in wool) for England and how economic change and profit-seeking often lead to social disruption and suffering.

Ceuta

Muslim seaport in North Africa (present-day Morocco) across the Straits of Gibraltar from the Iberian Peninsula. The Portuguese took Ceuta in 1415 and while this action was initially an extension of the crusade against the Moors, it marked the transformation of that crusade from a medieval, anti-Moorish endeavor in the Iberian peninsula to an exploration of the world to expand trade and conquer territory as well as spread Roman Catholicism. Ceuta is representative of how Portuguese and Spanish empire-building was initially an extension of the Reconquista and expressed many of the characteristics inculcated into the Portuguese and Spanish by the Reconquista.

Charter of 1606

Patent issued by James I on April 20, 1606 which granted the right to plant and operate colonies in North America to two joint-stock companies--the London Company and the Plymouth Company. Each received the right to 50 miles north and south of its first settlement and 100 miles into the interior. The London Co. could settle between 34 degrees N. latitude (Cape Fear) and 41 degrees (New York City), and the Plymouth Co. between 38 degrees (Washington D.C.) and 45 degrees (Bangor, Maine). These companies and the colonies were business enterprises which meant the crown would not be actively involved in their maintenance but would expect them to operate according to certain standards including royal prerogative. Among other things, the grant reflected English assumptions about land ownership and property rights which included control under rights of conquest. Also, although under English law the ultimate owner of the land was the king, the colonists received property ownership under free and common socage meaning that there were no feudal obligations on the land. The London Company proceeded to establish the first lasting English colony in North America at Jamestown in Virginia in 1607.

Zenger, John Peter (and case)

New York court case in 1733 in which a printer, accused of seditious libel, was acquitted, reinforcing the notion that government was the people's servant and that public criticism could keep the government responsible to the people.

Proprietary Colonies

One of the four kinds of English colonies (in addition to joint-stock companies, covenant communities, and royal colonies). Proprietary colonies were owned by the proprietor who had received a grant of land from the king and therefore had total control over the colony, its government, and terms of settlement. These colonies were semi-feudal estates granted by the king to an individual or group to whom the king owed some debt. They included Caribbean islands (1627), Maryland (1634), the Carolinas (1663), New York and New Jersey (1664). They are symbolic of how the Americas were viewed in different ways and how some of the colonies began as restricted societies with land holdings and laws favoring the few or established for a select group such as Roman Catholics in Maryland.

Providential School

One of the oldest bases for interpreting history, this school of historical thought maintains that historical events are signs of God's will and therefore history is teleological--it unfolds by design. That idea led to the conviction that there is direction and progress in history. Often traced to the ancient Israelites or, at least, to Augustine of Hippo (354-430 CE) or St. Augustine, it is also referred to as a form of metaphysical determinism, meaning events are determined in advance by forces beyond the physical world. This view of history will be the dominant basis for interpretation in the West during the Middle Ages and beyond, until ca. 1700. The Puritans and Pilgrims wrote their histories according to it, an outlook which corresponded to their sense of themselves as God's Chosen People who were on a mission to create in the Americas God's kingdom on earth. This could also be seen as contributing to the idea that Americans were special, as agents of God, and that their enemies (the Amerindians or Communists or terrorists) are evil, as agents of the Devil, and worthy of destruction.

Agrarian-minded

One of two mentalities or outlooks which began to clash in 18th century colonial society partly as a result of the effects of the Financial Revolution. The agrarian-minded people (as opposed to the commercial-minded) were more traditionalist because they generally were connected to or engaged in agriculture, living away from the coast or cities, and who identified with the assumptions of the hierarchical society and therefore ascribed status, self-contained and homogeneous communities with mutual interests, and values emphasizing ethical behavior within a social order of face-to-face relations. These people tended to reject the developments associated with the Financial Revolution and therefore the ideas (adopted by the commercial-minded) of earned status, self-reliance within a mobile society, and freedom to act according to self-interest and opportunity. These differences would contribute to conflicts over social policy and governmental principles into the early 19th century.

Commercial-minded

One of two mentalities or outlooks which began to clash in 18th century colonial society partly as a result of the effects of the Financial Revolution. The commercial-minded people (as opposed to the agrarian-minded) identified with the Financial Revolution and therefore were generally engaged work connected to commerce, living usually in or near cities along the coast and who identified with the ideas of earned status, self-reliance within a mobile society, and freedom to act according to self-interest and opportunity. This mentality was part of the general economic change which emphasized using paper securities, banks, paper money and giving individuals the freedom to act thereby potentially setting themselves outside the community and becoming free moral agents, under the justification that pursuing one's own self-interest will redound to the benefit of all. Promoted by the boundless opportunity of North America, this outlook marked the movement of the colonists away from the traditional world view--that of restrictions and limited goals and set communities--to a world view of boundlessness which would really take hold in the US after 1815.

Bull Romanus Pontifex

Papal edict of 1455 issued by Pope Nicholas V (1447-1455) which gave papal approval for Portuguese overseas expansion, commended King John II for his crusading spirit, granted the kings of Portugal a monopoly on trade with all newly discovered lands, and called upon the Portuguese to convert to Catholicism or bring into the service of the holy church all "strangers" encountered. The latter could be and was interpreted to mean that the Portuguese and other Catholics were justified, for religious reasons, in enslaving all people who were not Christian, European, and white.

Cartesian Dualism

Philosophical position attributed to Rene Descartes (1596-1650), one of the principal contributors to the development of the Enlightenment, which says that the cosmos has two characteristics--one material, one spiritual. Expressed in his opus, Discourse on Method (1637), this dualism bridged the gap between the medieval world and Descartes' own religious training and the modern world. A French philosopher and mathematician, Descartes invented analytic geometry and, as a rationalist, advocated the use of deductive reasoning--deriving the truth by drawing conclusions from self-evident certainties or axioms. One of the main results of Cartesian Dualism, intended or not, was that people were able to separate the religious and moral side of life from the secular and material side. Moreover, this dualism contributed to the idea that evil is external to or alien to the individual so, even if evil gains access and has to be exorcised, the individual will then be free of it. Self-control and self-denial are not necessary. Hence, by the 1700s people had generally adopted a dualist philosophy which allowed them to treat their religious and economic lives as distinct entities, governed by different laws. Hence, ethical standards could be divorced from economic activity, and the controls on greed and ambition which religion had provided were substantially removed. Combined with the Protestant Ethic, this freed people from moral or religious scruples to pursue monetary success by any means possible, and, as R.H. Tawney says in Religion and the Rise of Capitalism, financial gain became the sole object without regard to method or effect.

Whig Ideology

Political belief originating in England which held that concentrated power was the enemy of liberty and the best defenses against concentrated power were balanced government, elected legislatures, prohibition of standing armies, and eternal vigilance by the people to forestall corruption. It argues that the history of England is the story of progress and the realization of liberty principally as a result of the Whigs (the political party led by the great landowners and organized in the 1600s to oppose absolute monarchy) acting through Parliament to establish a government of laws (not men), constitutional rights, the right to vote, freedom of religion, and the end of slavery. This theory reached its apex in the early 19th century when Whig historians such as Thomas Babbington Macaulay saw the victories against absolute monarchy in the 17th and 18th centuries as Whig accomplishments, one of the greatest of which was the Glorious Revolution of 1688 which brought the Whigs to power so that they dominated most of the 18th century and in the process, partly because of the weak Hanoverian kings George I and George II, created the cabinet system of government with Robert Walpole becoming the first Prime Minister. This is significant because the colonists identified with the Whig theory and Whig ideas and applied them in colonial politics. Among other things, that meant they thought the colonial assemblies should have the same kind of power in the colonies as Parliament had in England.

de Albuquerque, Alfonso

Portuguese commander who after 1506 led the successful Portuguese effort to control the sea routes for trade in southern and eastern Asia and laid the foundation for Western dominance of Eastern Asia. After defeating the Arabs at sea in 1509, de Albuquerque made the Portuguese dominant on the high seas. In 1510 he took Goa in India (making it a naval base) and the Straits of Hormuz (entering the Persian Gulf) and the island of Socotra (at the entrance to the Red Sea). In 1511 he obtained control of Malacca and the sea route between Malaysia and Sumatra leading to the Spice Islands of present-day Indonesia, and in 1513 he visited China which led to the establishment of the Portuguese colony of Macao near Canton. De Albuquerque (like Pedro Alvares Cabral and Vasco da Gama before him) is representative of the Portuguese (and Western) use of force and terrorism to succeed rather than peaceful commercial competition and of the West's dismissal in Asia (and in Africa and the Americas) of moral considerations or international rules such as were used in Europe on the grounds that non-Europeans were uncivilized and inferior beings.

Protestant Ethic

Principle of right conduct (ethic) identified with Protestantism which argues that, because each person is called to a particular vocation by God, hard work and material success in this world are ways of glorifying God and of indicating one's membership in the "elect" (the few whom God, under the doctrine of predestination, has chosen for salvation). Hence, the acquisition of wealth in the US has a religious justification, and the failure to succeed materially carries a connotation of moral turpitude and Godly condemnation. This idea is closely connected to the theory of the German sociologist Max Weber who in his The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904) popularizes the term "Protestant Ethic" and argues that Protestantism, especially Calvinism, promoted the rise of modern capitalism. The characteristics identified as virtues by Calvinists such as hard work, thrift, and simple living were characteristics which would correspond to the behavior needed for the success of capitalism--industriousness, self-discipline, saving to accumulate capital (rather than spending on luxury items), investing profits, and re-investing to build more capital. Once fortunes were made, as in the late 19th century, the Protestant Ethic suggesting wealth was a sign of God's favor became popular in congregations of successful industrialists or striving businessmen. The Protestant Ethic is also significant as an example of how the Puritans influenced the character of the US in both good ways and bad. The Protestant Ethic is a US middle class or bourgeois value often attributed to the Puritan influence, and the word "bourgeois" carries a connotation of not only hard work and thrift but also complacency, greed, provincialism, narrow-mindedness, and self-righteousness.

Penn, William

Prominent Quaker leader who founded a colony in North America for people of all religions and nations based on toleration, representative government, and peaceful relations with the Indians.

Quakers

Protestant sect whose formal name was the Society of Friends, founded in England by George Fox and Margaret Fell ca. 1647. Inspired by the pietists of Germany who believed in living according to a simpler, more spiritual Christianity, the Quakers practiced a form of Antinomianism in that their central belief was that the divine spirit--or "Inner Light"-- dwelled in every human being. That idea made the Quakers social, political, and religious radicals because they advocated equality for all including women (allowing women to speak in and lead church services) and undermined the hierarchical society, they questioned authority by refusing to take oaths or pay taxes for the Church of England or doff their hats, they opposed war and became pacifists refusing to serve in the army, and they objected to the use of ministers, abandoned the sacraments, and seemed to make inconsequential original sin, predestination, and the Trinity. Persecuted for their views and behavior, they sought a religious refuge in the Delaware Valley where between 1675 and 1690 some 10,000 Quakers founded the colonies of West New Jersey (1674), Pennsylvania (1681) and then bought East New Jersey (1681), and settled in Delaware (1680s). Because of Quaker egalitarian beliefs, the Jerseys and Pennsylvania became some of the most liberal, open societies of the time attracting a wide variety of people by offering freedom of religion, government based on the consent of the governed, and open land laws.

covenant of grace

Puritan belief that individuals could be saved only as a result of God's will.

Reconquista

Reconquest: the seven hundred year crusade by Christians (ca. 790s C.E. to 1492 C.E.) to regain control of the Iberian peninsula (later Spain and Portugal) from the Moors (Muslims). This extended effort shaped Spanish and Portuguese culture. After a period of military balance and of cultural mixing, tolerance, and learning (ca. 1050 to 1212--corresponding to the 12th Century Renaissance) in which religious fanaticism was less important than personal honor (as revealed by the legendary El Cid), the Christians pushed the Muslims back so that after 1252, the Muslims held only Granada. After that, intolerance and religious absolutism increased (as it did in Europe generally during the Late Middle Ages), creating among Spaniards and Portuguese an identification with Roman Catholicism and the idea of the ideal lifestyle as that of a warrior-land owner-aristocrat who would seek the glory of God and country and independent status as feudal lord while avoiding the demeaning activities of commerce or labor. Those attitudes promoted overseas explorations both as religious crusades and as adventures for gold and glory. They also stimulated the crown in Spain to establish an absolute monarchy with a colonial empire under a centralized government.

Covenant Theology

Religious doctrine, developed initially by the Hebrews or Israelites and adopted by the Puritans of New England, which maintains, based on Exodus 19: 3-6, that the Israelites (and Puritans) have a special arrangement or contract with God whereby if they keep His laws, then He will keep them (i.e., they will be His "chosen people" and be a holy nation). The Puritan adoption of this idea suggests that they had developed a modified Calvinism which gave them, as a community, some assurance of receiving God's grace. This is also significant because it reveals the importance which the Puritans placed on community. The covenant was with the whole community, and therefore if anyone broke the covenant, then the whole Puritan effort in Massachusetts Bay would be weakened, even jeopardized. Puritan leaders expected each individual to exercise self-discipline but also thought the community needed to re-enforce that discipline. This is one of the reasons why the Puritans did not take the Protestant belief in individual conscience and inner spirituality all the way to pietism and antinomianism and, hence, the rejection of all authority both from God (as in scripture) and man (as in laws). To abide by the covenant, one needed to know God, especially by studying the scriptures and by following the dictates of the church. This reflects the effort of Calvinism to restore order and Godliness to the post-Renaissance, post-Reformation culture of individualism, secularism, and experimentation. The Puritans placed great emphasis on the community, a value re-enforced by their belief in a hierarchical society and the difficulty of surviving in the wilderness of North America.

Williams, Roger (ca. 1603-1683)

Religious leader, founder of Rhode Island (1636), and first advocate in the future US of the principle of freedom of religion (meaning everyone in a society, as a matter of principle, is free to believe or not as he wishes as opposed to one group seeking freedom to worship as they wish and establishing a society and religion in accordance with their ideas of what is acceptable). After migrating to Massachusetts Bay in 1631, Williams questioned the power of the Puritan civil authorities over religious matters and the legitimacy of the charter and the Puritan acquisition of Indian land. The authorities banned him in 1635 after which he established Providence in Rhode Island, obtained charters for the colony in 1644 and in 1663, worked to hold together the four disparate communities composing Rhode Island before and after he was president, and called for religious and political freedom in such works as The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution [sic] (1644) and The Bloudy Tenet Yet More Bloody [sic] (1652). Williams is symbolic of the divisions within Massachusetts Bay and how its early history is the story of a struggle among people with three points of view--most of the leaders who wanted a virtual oligarchy, a set of purists such as Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson who sought a more individualistic, more spiritual society, and the majority of people who were more worldly and wanted more economic opportunity and political rights. At left, Williams receives deed for Providence area.

Deism

Religious philosophy or belief most often associated with the Enlightenment. Deists rejected institutional religion as manipulative and oppressive and called for a religion more in tune with human dignity and science. They believed, as had Martin Bucer, a 16th century leader of the Adiaphorists of Strasbourg, that God had created the universe and its Natural Laws (of physics) and acted as a Prime Mover to put the laws of nature into effect thereby making divine intervention in the world unnecessary and unlikely. Prayer, sacraments, and ritual were unavailing. People had free will and therefore could make decisions and take action which would affect the world and their lives. Deists therefore believed in living according to a moral code, based on reason, which God would reward. Deism reflected the greater tolerance of the Enlightenment and the latitudinarianism of the 18th century, an example of an intellectual religion with an impersonal God which appealed to the upper classes and the well-educated but not to the masses whose hardships created a yearning for an emotional, mystical religion with a personal God who would intervene in their lives.

Puritans

Religious reformers who wished to cleanse the Church of England of Catholic vestments and rituals. The Puritans settled the colony of Massachusetts Bay and most of the remainder of New England. They differed from the Separatists who settled the Plymouth Colony in that they originally wanted to reform the Church of England from within rather than leave it.

Berkeley, Sir William

Royal governor of Virginia whose policies favored the colonial elite and thus angered frontiersmen, leading to Bacon's Rebellion.

Pilgrims

Separatists who came to New England on the Mayflower in 1620 and established Plymouth colony in an effort to live a pure, primitive, and Godly life apart from the corruption of Europe.

Privatism

Set of ideas calling for greater control of enterprises and institutions by private parties (rather then government) and, hence, more individual freedom to pursue wealth but, in the 18th century, within the hierarchical society. An aspect of the commercial-minded mentality, privatism had a social, political, and philosophical component. Socially, it meant that the individual had little loyalty to society at large, only to himself and his immediate family. Politically, it meant the government should focus simply on maintaining an orderly environment in which the individual is free to pursue his interests. Philosophically, it assumed that there is no conflict between private interests, honestly pursued, and the public welfare. Three factors promoted privatism--the opportunities offered by North America, the personal nature of work, and the open and mixed nature of society. Privatism was an expression of the rising challenge to the more traditional societal concepts of community, ascribed status, and sociability. In New England, these ideas manifested themselves in the transformation of Puritans into Yankees as the drive, intensity, and self-discipline used to seek religious salvation were redirected to acquire material goods and worldly success.

Patriarchy

Social grouping such as a family, household (including apprentices and journeymen workers), or clan in which the father (pater in Latin) or male head of the group rules. Based on social custom (traceable to ancient Rome and beyond), belief in the hierarchical society, religious convictions, and English common law, the patriarchal family was standard in England and all the English colonies, but it was particularly in evidence in New England because of both the strong religious orientation of the Puritans and the generally stable society created by life in towns. Life in the Chesapeake Bay area was much harsher and shorter which reduced the traditional authority of men there. Generally and especially in New England, women and children were subordinant to husbands and fathers. Women had no political rights, and according to English law, a woman, once married, lost legal rights (such as the power to own property and sue in court) and became a femme covert (covered woman) because she was under the legal guardianship of her husband. Puritans considered instilling obedience in children a religious duty, the first step in making them aware of Original Sin and moving them toward salvation. Criticizing a parent in Massachusetts was punishable by death. Children could be apprenticed to or sent to live with or put up for adoption with another patriarch by the father or step-father (people usually remarried quickly when death took a spouse). Sons had to wait to marry until the father agreed to give them enough land to support a family. In New England, having an extended family, with married sons or daughters living with the parents, was unusual. Patriarchy represents the belief in a hierarchical society in the colonies, the lack of equality and freedom for a majority of the population, and, especially in New England, how religious beliefs reflect the society and culture of which they are a part.

Bacon's Rebellion

Social upheaval in Virginia in 1675-76 in which the frontier or upcountry element of recently arrived planters (such as Nathaniel Bacon in 1674) and less-well-to-do farmers, artisans, and former indentured servants expressed their frustration and greed by conducting a war first against the Native Americans who they saw as obstacles and threats and second against Governor William Berkeley and his allies, the coastal elite, who controlled the colony politically and pursued policies which served their self-interest and opposed the upcountry interests. The rebellion reflects the growing tensions within the colonial community and between the colonists and the Amerindians as the colonists' population expanded and success became more difficult (tobacco prices had fallen, coastal lands become unavailable, Amerindian resistance increased). One of several conflicts between Amerindians and Europeans in the 1670s (King Philip's War [1675], Bacon's Rebellion [1676], the Southern Indian Wars [1670s-1720s], Pope's Rebellion [1680]), Bacon's Rebellion became a conflict among colonials as a result of political disagreements, especially over Indian policy (Berkeley wanted a defensive policy with forts and opposed indiscriminant attacks on the Native Americans). Although the rebels did pass some reform legislation (known as Bacon's Laws although Bacon had little to do with their passage) when they gained control of the House of Burgesses following new elections in 1676, Bacon's Rebellion was chiefly a vicious lashing-out at all opposition to the perceived self-interest of the frontier. The rebels wanted more opportunities in the interior including the chance to take land, dominate the fur trade, and pillage Indian villages and kill and enslave Indians without regard to whether they were friendly or not. They also wanted more political power in comparison to the Tidewater elite. The uprising began when a county militia, in the course of pursuing some Doegs who had killed a planter over a debt he owed, attacked some friendly Susquehannock who, after another incident in which four of their chiefs were killed under a flag of truce, killed 34 colonists in January 1676. The frontiersmen then took action, without authority, under the leadership of Bacon but killed some friendly Occaneechee who had attacked some Susquehannock for the Virginians. When Berkeley called new elections, Bacon was elected, whereupon Berkeley had him arrested. Later released, Bacon raised his followers and forced Berkeley to give him a commission to fight the Indians. Berkeley fled to the eastern shore, and the government and public order collapsed that summer as Virginians, in a state of anarchy, pillaged and killed the Indians and each other. When Berkeley retook Jamestown, Bacon returned in September and burned it to the ground before dying of dysentery in October. Berkeley then regained control and hanged 23 of the rebels. The results included a reduction in the authority of the governor, an expansion of the settlement thereby appeasing the frontier, and the increased use of Africans as slaves to reduce the indentured servants who, when free, had proven to be a potentially violent, anti-social element.

Conquistadors

Spanish conquerors who overwhelmed the natives of the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and the west coast of South America in the first half of the 16th century and made these areas part of the Spanish Empire. Conquistadors included individuals such as Cortez, Pizarro, and Coronado.

actual representation

The form of representation practiced in the United States under which a person in a legislative body directly represents those who elected him. In the colonial era, Americans came to urge actual representation rather than the British practice of virtual representation, rejecting the notion that every representative in Parliament represented the interests of every subject in the empire. Americans instead said that only those individuals they elected could represent them and thus in order to be taxed by Parliament, the colonists should have actual legislators they selected in Parliament.

Cortés, Hernán (1485-1547)

Spanish conquistador who between 1519 and 1521 against heavy odds conquered the empire of the Mexica (Aztecs) (ca. 1325-1521) and added present-day Mexico to the Spanish empire as New Spain. Cortes succeeded in taking the capital, Tenochtitlan, and making the elected chief Montezuma II a hostage and later reconquering the city after Montezuma's death as a result of a number of factors including Mexican religious beliefs identifying Cortes with Quetzalcoatl, the nature of the Mexican empire which allowed outlying tribes to be autonomous and join with the Spanish, the linguistic talents of Malinche (the Indian girl who translated for Cortes and became his mistress), the Spanish horses and guns which the Mexica had never seen before, and the arrival of small pox among the Mexica. Cortes is representative of the character, background, and behavior of the conquistadores who were generally hidalgos--lesser landholders whose status depended on having landed estates when, after 1492 and the defeat of the Moors, land in Spain became scarcer and whose background in the Reconquista had taught them that holy war against infidels was a legitimate and desirable means to wealth and power. Daring and ruthless, these conquistadores sought opportunity in the Americas and established with the sword a new empire with their own personal fiefdoms.

"Catholic Monarchy"

Spanish ideology that the Spanish monarchs (and by extension all people under their rule) had a special mission from God to defend and spread Catholicism and therefore act as the military and missionary arm of the papacy to defeat Protestantism and convert unbelievers. This provided a justification for empire and led the Spanish to undertake not only conquests abroad but also numerous military efforts in Europe. These efforts, despite the influx of wealth from the Americas, by the late 1500s threatened Spain with bankruptcy, and that led to a dilemma. If Spain continued to act in accord with this ideology and fight wars, it would be ruined and probably lose everything; if Spain stopped the wars and thereby surrendered the ideology, then it would no longer have one of the main forces holding the empire together and probably lose everything. This ideology also meant that the Spanish rulers, who in the 16th century particularly (Charles V and Philip II) were highly religious, tried to govern the empire according to religious principles which were sorely tested by circumstances such as distance and policies such as the encomienda so that there was an ongoing struggle over how to treat the Native Americans during the 16th century. In practice, the principles and the Native Americans tended to lose. The debate ultimately created two contending interpretations of the Spanish empire--the White Legend arguing the Spanish effort was basically good bringing Christianity and building societies and the Black Legend arguing the Spanish effort was basically bad bringing exploitation and destroying people, societies, and species.

Pax Mongolica

The "Mongolian Peace" of order and security which extended from the Pacific Ocean (China) to Eastern Europe and Mesopotamia thereby increasing international trade and travel across the whole Eurasian continent in the 13th and 14th centuries. This was the result of the Mongolian conquest, beginning in 1206 under Temujin (known as Genghis Khan), of northern China in 1215, Central Asia in 1220, Russia in 1240, Hungary in 1241, Southwest Asia and the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad in 1258, and southern China in 1279 (the latter ending the Song Empire and establishing, under Kublai Khan, the Mongol or Yuan Empire in China, 1279-1368). The decline of this order in the 1300s contributed to disasters in Europe ending the Middle Ages as travel routes to the East were closed, disease spread, and the Seljuk Turks, forced into the Anatolian Peninsula by the Mongols and then Tamerlane, undermined the Byzantine Empire, began conquering the Balkans in 1352, and opened the way for the Ottoman Turks to conquer Constantinople in 1453. The Mongols, before their decline, came close to conquering all of Europe and the Islamic world. The Pax Mongolica reveals that the 12th Century Renaissance in Europe was partly the result of developments elsewhere and that, even in the 13th century, Europe was not the most dynamic society.

Zheng He

The Muslim eunuch, admiral, and servant of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) emperor Zhu Di who, as commander of a series of Chinese expeditionary forces by sea between 1405 and 1435, led the successful effort to expand not Chinese religion but Chinese trade, political influence, and nautical, biological, and cultural knowledge through southern Asia. China gained virtual control of the whole Indian Ocean, visited the Red Sea and eastern Africa. With some continuity the Chinese could have sailed around Africa to Europe, but after Zhu Di's death in 1433, the Chinese turned inward and isolationist. Zheng He is symbolic of the secondary status of Europe, even as it was beginning to show signs of expansion as with the efforts of Portugal's Prince Henry the Navigator.

American Paradox

The US's apparently contradictory but true characteristic that what unites the US constantly threatens to divide it. This uniting and dividing factor is the American belief in liberty and individual rights. This belief in these ideals and the institutions which support and protect them is one of the major ties holding together an otherwise pluralistic society with no long history or common culture or ethnicity rooted in a certain soil. But the ideals of liberty and individual rights, by their very nature, are divisive, and therefore there is a tension in American society between commitment to individual rights and to the society which makes those individual rights possible. Staying united while maintaining individual freedoms has been an ongoing challenge, generally better served by flexibility and tolerance than by dogmatism and demands for purity and absolute answers. The struggle has taken various forms including religious separatism as in colonial New England, the demand for self-rule prior to the American War for Independence, the issue of states rights under federalism which helped bring the Civil War.

power of the purse

The authority to initiate money bills which specified how much money should be raised by taxes and how such money should be spent. The body that possessed this power therefore had substantial control over the government.

Polytheism

The belief in a spirit power dwelling throughout nature, hence the belief in a multitude of gods.

communal property

The ownership of land by the society or tribe or community as a whole rather than by an individual. Under this practice, followed by most North American Indian tribes, tribal members could use the land as needed. However, the tribe as a whole owned or controlled the land. Individuals could own improvements on the land (barns, mills, houses, etc.) but could not own the land itself. This often led to tension between Indians and Europeans.

Asiento

The privilege of supplying African slaves to the Spanish empire in the Amerces which was gained by the English as a result of the Peace of Utrecht.

American Dilemma

The problem of racism in a society dedicated to liberty and equality.

Anglicanism

The belief system of the Anglican Church or Church of England which Henry VIII established when he broke with the Roman Catholic Church in 1533-34 and replaced the pope with himself (through Parliament with the Act of Supremacy in 1534) as the head of the church in England. England became Protestant, and although the Anglican Church under Henry VIII remained essentially Roman Catholic in dogma and ceremony, the break created divisions within England and ultimately, under Elizabeth I (1558-1603), the English came to identify being English with being Protestant so that Roman Catholics and the Spanish in particular became ideological enemies with whom no compromise was possible. Each saw the other (Spanish and English) as the Devil's instrument, and therefore Anglicanism added an emotional edge to the economic and national competition building between England and Spain. Anglicanism also produced, on the part of some English Protestants who wanted to remove all vestiges of Roman Catholicism from their religion, a desire to emigrate in order to practice their religion as they pleased.

predestination

The belief that men had been predestined from the beginning of time to be either saved (part of the elect) or doomed. Nothing man could do would change his eventual fate, as God knew all from the outset.

Dominion of New England

The centralized, consolidated colonial government established initially in 1686 to replace the government of Massachusetts Bay (after its charter was revoked in 1684) but expanded by 1688 to include Connecticut, both Jerseys, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Plymouth, and Rhode Island. Designed to reduce colonial independent-mindedness and ensure the enforcement of the Navigation Acts (both especially associated with Massachusetts Bay), improve defense, and streamline administration, the Dominion government under Governor Edmund Andros seemed to be an another experiment in authoritarian government similar to that of New York. Andros governed with only an appointed council, imposed religious toleration in Massachusetts, ordered land titles be examined and quitrents paid, limited town meetings to once per year, placed the militia under the control of the governor. After word of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 reached New England in 1689, Andros was placed under arrest in April, and the Dominion government ended. The colonies received new charters, but, for Massachusetts, that meant a major change from a religiously oriented government to one that had a secular basis. It is indicative of the tensions building within the colonies, especially in Massachusetts Bay and New York, in the late 1600s as England tried to impose a theory of empire on the colonies which had been largely free of tight controls during much of the 1600s.

Columbian Exchange

The cultural and biological exchange between the Western and Eastern Hemispheres after the first voyage of Columbus in 1492. Each hemisphere sent microbes and, hence, diseases to the other (such as smallpox to the Western Hemisphere and syphilis to the Eastern Hemisphere), and the people shared ideas, languages, plants. The Amerindians had developed a number of plants which became crucial to expansion of the world population. These included corn (maize), potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, cocoa (chocolate), peanuts, lima and kidney beans, various kinds of squash. The significance of the Columbian Exchange is that the European voyages of exploration did not bring about a one-way introduction of culture and civilization from Europe to the Americas but instead a two-way interchange of culture and products and microbes both enriching and devastating the Eastern and Western Hemispheres--especially the Western as perhaps 90% of the Amerindian population died (including many whole peoples) and an unknown number of plants and animals became extinct. Culturally, the exchange ultimately created new cultures as a result of the interaction and mixing of European, African, and Amerindian ways and peoples. This is symbolic of the fact that one of the chief stories of the early colonial US was the interaction of white, red, and black and how each changed and how the three became a mix as a result.

Commercial Revolution

The economic expansion in Europe, the prime characteristic of which was the creation of a profit-producing economy. Begun during the 12th Century Renaissance and renewed in the 15th, this revolution was stimulated by the growth in population, cities, and trade, especially long-distance trade which promoted commercial activity of all kinds plus specialization, commercial alliances, contracts, investing, and banking. This economic activity contributed to the development of a more expansive, sophisticated, outward-looking culture in the High Middle Ages and to changes which undermined the traditional Middle Ages of feudalism, manorialism, and the three classes of knights, priests, and peasants. The changes included the emergence of a new class of people--merchants in the cities (burgers or bourgeoisie) who created pressure for more change including more support for the king and a more centralized government to provide order and security, the development of a moneyed economy which tended to break down feudalism and give more opportunity to serfs, and the rise of new ideas and attitudes which rejected the medieval assumption that wealth is limited (an economic theory of "zero sum") and that therefore, for the good of all, society needs to divide fairly the existing market and to uphold a "just price." Instead, the new ideas reflected an early capitalist attitude that expansion of wealth is possible, individuals taking risks should be rewarded, and markets should determine prices--a new emphasis on individualism with less regard for the costs to society and the wellbeing of all.

Rationalist School

The school of historical thought which emerged in the 18th century and, as a product of the Renaissance, the Age of Exploration, the Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment, replaced theological theories of historical causation with natural causes. It also expressed an appreciation for the value of the individual, the capability and dignity of humans, and the ability of humans to change the world rather than accepting it as an immutable expression of God's will. The practitioners of this school promoted a belief in progress, expressed a new appreciation for the value of other cultures, and divided history into the three divisions of Ancient History, the Middle Ages, and the Modern World. That last development, however, reflected one of the weaknesses of the Rationalists--they tended to see all historical developments as culminating in their age and often judged earlier periods of history as inferior and less worthy than their own. The Romanticist School of the early 19th century would reverse that tendency and place value on other times and especially the primitive and natural and heroic.

Progressive Theory

The theory of U.S. history identified with the Progressive Movement (ca. 1900-1917) which, in contrast to the Consensus Theory, sees U.S. history as a story of conflict in which the many (ordinary people, minorities, women) in a pluralistic society have struggled against the few (big business, the wealthy, and powerful) to expand democratic practices and realize rights for all and in which the fundamental forces driving events are economic. Representative historians such as Charles A. Beard, Mary R. Beard, Carl Becker, and Vernon L. Parrington see the U.S. as a land of diversity, moral dilemmas, and debate in which democracy and rights have been expanded and will be maintained only as a result of continued effort. These historians also tend to see history as providing lessons which can be applied to the present.

Woodlands Tribes

The tribes of the eastern woodlands of North America which divided into two primary language groups the Muskogean in the southeast and the Algonquian in the northeast. Having undergone a version of the Neolithic Revolution, these tribes generally were sedentary rather than nomadic, relied on farming as well as hunting and gathering, had semi-permanent dwellings, and had political systems and religious beliefs. The significance of this is that the tribes of the eastern US were not uncivilized barbarians or beasts of the woods as the Europeans sometimes pictured them but people with a civilization and culture of their own which was different from that of the Europeans and therefore, to the Europeans, barbaric.

Arminianism

Theological doctrine attributed to the Dutch theologian, Jacob Hermansz (Jacobus Arminius in Latin), which argues for the idea that God is merciful and redemption through Christ is for all souls and for the doctrines of salvation by good works and free will. A theological position at one extreme of the range of views covered by Puritanism, Arminianism rejects the key doctrines of Calvinism--predestination and salvation by grace alone. It contends that grace is conditional, potentially influenced by human acts. These would include not only good works which would be rewarded because God is a loving rather than a wrathful being but also the view that the decision or even mere desire to believe could begin the process of salvation, suggesting that people do not need a conversion experience. Arminianism allows for human beings to play a role in realizing human perfectibility. The Puritans drawn to this theology, declared heretical by some, were called "preparationists" because they believed years of personal effort and church guidance could lead to salvation. This view gained strength in the 18th century because it corresponded to the Enlightenment's emphasis on human rationality, individual freedom, and human ability to improve themselves and society. It became associated with the latitudinarianism of John Tillotson, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1694), which was an aspect of the low-church Anglicanism of the Restoration era and then dominated the Anglican Church during the 18th century. It also influenced John Wesley and his Methodists and became associated with Charles Chauncey and the Congregational Church in the 18th century and contributed to the development of Unitarianism.

Antinomianism

Theological doctrine which means against the law and which is an extreme version of the doctrine of salvation by grace suggesting that true believers (the elect) will, by receiving grace through a revelation, have a direct relationship with God and thereby will not need to abide by the law--neither the law of God as found in scripture nor the law of man as found in legislation and ethical codes. The Puritan most closely associated with this doctrine is Anne Hutchinson who arrived in Massachusetts Bay in 1634, soon denounced the colony for practicing a theology of salvation by good works, advocated a version of antinomianism for which she was tried on charges of sedition and contempt and, found guilty, was banned in 1637 and excommunicated in 1638 after which she went to Rhode Island. She argued that true believers would receive "justification," that is, an infusion of divine grace which would ravish their souls and transform them into the elect. Beyond that mystical union, nothing else mattered--not prayer, not moral conduct, not scripture, not social order. This was an extreme form of individualism and separatism which the Puritan leadership led by Governor John Winthrop found heretical and seditious--a threat to their covenant with God and to the very existence of the colony and, hence, to their attempt to establish a holy commonwealth. This doctrine marks one end of the spectrum of beliefs present in Massachusetts Bay which reaches from this extreme form of salvation by grace to an extreme form of salvation by good works and Arminianism. The fate of Anne Hutchinson suggests that the Puritan leadership in the early 1600s were more in the middle of that spectrum placing an emphasis on community over the individual, on learning over mysticism, on discipline over feeling good. The idea that a person should be free from social and governmental restraints and should rightfully disobey them if that person knows what God wants continues to be a force in US society.

Black Death

This epidemic of the bubonic plague struck Europe in 1347-1351 and reappeared several more times between 1361 and 1480, killing 1/3 to 1/2 of the population of Europe. Partially a result of the breakdown of the Mongolian control of Asia (the Pax Mongolica) from China to Russia and Mesopotamia, the plague was a bacillus carried by fleas on black rats transported by ship from the Crimea to Messina, Sicily in October 1347. Striking hardest in the overcrowded and unsanitary cities, it caused a decline in the population until ca.1480. Without knowledge of bacteria and germs, people blamed a variety of things including divine wrath for sins which led to extremist religious movements and attacks on scapegoats such as Jews, lepers, and sorcerers. an economic depression, a shortage of labor, and a preoccupation with death. More positive results included advances in medicine and the weakening of serfdom and manorialism in western Europe as laborers became fewer and gained influence. This epidemic is symbolic of the collapse of medieval civilization during the Late Middle Ages.

Peace of Utrecht

Treaty of 1713 ending the War of the Spanish Succession and marking the defeat of the expansionist policies of Louis XIV (the "Sun King"). Britain (led in the field by John Churchill, Lord Marlborough) and its allies prevailed and tried to establish a balance of power in Europe. Spain awarded the asiento to Britain (the contract allowed the South Sea Co. to import into the Spanish colonies 4,800 blacks a year for 30 years) thereby increasing the profitability of the slave trade for the British. France ceded Nova Scotia and Newfoundland to the UK, but France retained control of the St. Lawrence, Canada, the Great Lakes, and the Mississippi, so the French continued to have the advantage in North America. Moreover, Britain and France created an Indian buffer zone in North America. This was a victory for Britain and the empire, but it disappointed the colonists because it did not remove the French and Spanish as threats and it did not open the interior for possible westward movement.

Zenger Trial

Trial of John Peter Zenger (1697-1746) in 1734-35 for seditious libel. His acquittal marked a victory for freedom of the press. Zenger, the editor and publisher of the New York Weekly Journal, began printing articles critical of New York Governor William Cosby accusing him of adopting arbitrary measures in 1633. Cosby ordered Zenger arrested in 1634, held him incommunicado for ten months, and tried him in 1635 for seditious libel--that is, printing criticism (reputedly untrue) of government officials and thereby undermining the government and inciting rebellion (sedition). Zenger's lawyer, one Andrew Hamilton, convinced the court that Zenger was not guilty because the charges were true. This was a victory but not a decisive one for freedom of the press. It is significant as an example of the Enlightenment's emphasis on freedom of expression--the greater latitude or room given to new ideas and religious beliefs, indicating doctrinaire positions were giving way to tolerance of different views. Colonial newspapers, which had begun with John Campbell's Boston News-Letter in 1704, became major conduits for Enlightenment ideas partly because they filled most of their space with English news. Contributing to the broadening of views, the New England Courant of James Franklin (and his brother and apprentice, Benjamin) in the 1720s began reprinting Richard Steele's essays from The Spectator, Joseph Addison's literary pieces from The Tattler, and the Dissident Whig views of John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon from Cato's Letters.

Algonquin-Iroquois Wars

Tribal wars along the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence estuary in which the French became involved after they began trading for furs at Tadoussac in the 1580s with three main tribes: the Montagnais, the Algonquin, and the Huron, all enemies of the Iroquois. The French exploration of Canada under the leadership of Samuel de Champlain between 1609 and 1616 and the establishment of New France (Champlain founded Quebec in July 1608) went forward in conjunction with these wars. In the process of aiding these Algonquin-speaking tribes north of the Great Lakes and thereby maintaining the fur trade which Iroquois advances threatened to end, the French maintained their primary economic interest (the fur trade) and gained knowledge of the major rivers and lakes of the area and the water routes to the interior such as the Ottawa River running across Canada from the St. Lawrence to near Lake Huron. They also developed a strong tie to the Algonquin-speaking people who became their allies in fighting the British. These wars and the French involvement is significant became it symbolizes how the history of North America was the story of the interaction of Europeans and Native Americans and, later, Africans. Hence, while the action of one or more of these groups in isolation was often important, the interaction of these groups was often more important although generally overlooked. Interaction changed each of them, affected what each of them did, and created a new culture incorporating aspects of each plus the effects of their adaptation to each other.

Culpeper's Rebellion

Uprising in Albemarle (North Carolina) in which on December 3, 1677 a group of anti-proprietary settlers under John Culpeper took control of the colony from a pro-proprietary faction led by Thomas Miller who had earlier set aside Governor John Jenkins (accused of arbitrary acts) and attempted to combine the powers of governor and customs collector. Indicative of the rough-and-ready atmosphere in the colony where survival was difficult and one of the principal economic activities was smuggling tobacco, Culpeper's Rebellion reveals that both groups were prepared to take the law into their own hands, revealing that on the frontier legitimate authority was weak and barely recognized. Profits (and survival) came first, so when Miller tried to collect customs, Culpeper accused him and his associates of malfeasance and treason, jailed them, seized the government, and sent charges against them to England. After a series of clashes and a trial in England which acquitted Culpeper, the proprietors regained control but with an agreement to allow certain customary activities. The rebellion is symbolic of the lack of recognized authority on the frontier and the inclination of the frontier element to take violent measures to uphold their self-interests, suggesting a general rejection of the restraints characteristic of society and government.

Popé's Rebellion

Uprising of Pueblo Indians against the Spanish in New Mexico in 1680 led by Pope, a San Juan Pueblo medicine man. Suffering from drought, disease, attacks by marauding Apaches and Navahos, and a declining population, the Pueblo peoples began to turn away from Christianity and return to their traditional beliefs. The missionaries responded by punishing and even executing backsliders. Pope, one of many whipped for his beliefs, moved to Taos pueblo where he organized a carefully planned rebellion which became the most successful Indian revolt in American history. The Pueblos killed some 400 Spaniards and 21 of the 33 missionaries in New Mexico and destroyed most Spanish buildings and desecrated every church. But when the Spanish returned with an armed force in the 1690s, the Pueblos had become badly divided because the return to their traditional beliefs and gods had not solved their problems. The Spanish reconquered Santa Fe in 1693 and restored their power over the Pueblos, but the Hopi people never again submitted to Spanish rule.

Vice Admiralty Courts

Vice-Admiralty courts, which existed throughout the British Empire, had, as their purpose, the resolution of disputes among merchants and seamen. These courts did not use a jury system. Instead, a judge heard all evidence and testimony and handed down a ruling. While these courts originally were concerned only with commercial matters, during the French and Indian War their jurisdiction was expanded to include the condemnation of enemy ships captured by the British and the disposal of their contents. Following the War, when the British decided to step up enforcement of the Trade and Navigation Acts, their authority was further expanded to include the enforcement of customs and anti-smuggling laws. The colonists objected to the Vice-Admiralty Courts in principle because they violated the right to trial by jury and practically because these courts often ruled against them.

Pequot War

War of Massachusetts and Connecticut in 1636-37 to eliminate the Pequot Indians and take the Pequot lands in eastern Connecticut. An example of the competition for land which existed among the Puritans and of their willingness to destroy any Native Americans blocking their advance or threatening their safety in part because they viewed all Amerindians as tools of the Devil, the war has been called attempted genocide. When Puritans began settling the Connecticut River valley, they disagreed among themselves as to whether Connecticut would be independent (as Thomas Hooker wanted) or under Massachusetts Bay (as John Winthrop wanted). When the Pequot resisted intrusion on their land, the Puritans agreed that the Pequot land would belong to the colony which defeated them (if that was Connecticut, it would mean independence). The killing of one John Oldham offered Massachusetts an excuse for declaring war on the Pequots in 1636. In April 1637, the Pequot attacked Connecticut for seizing the land of a tribe allied to them. Massachusetts troops, accompanied by Narragansett, marched on the Pequot but bypassed a village of warriors and attacked a village known as Fort Mystic which housed old men, women, and children. The Narragansett refused to fight, but the Puritans set fire to the village and then slaughtered the Pequot as they tried to escape. The war continued until almost all the Pequot were either killed or captured and sold into slavery. Connecticut then claimed the Pequot lands, and Massachusetts Bay agreed. Five years later the leader of the Narragansett was assassinated, and Massachusetts Bay laid claim to their lands. Indian resistance ended until the 1670s and King Philip's War. The war is significant as an example of Puritan land hunger and self-righteousness. Believing they were God's people on God's errand, the Puritans argued that they were carrying out God's will.

White Over Black

Winthrop Jordan's book, White Over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro, 1550-1812 (1968) describes the development of slavery in the English colonies. Jordan argues that the development of slavery was the result of the debasement of blacks in both legal and social terms simultaneously. In the early to mid 1600s, the development of slavery as a legal arrangement (in accordance with economic interests) and the development of racism (which gave whites a rationalization for seeing blacks as inferior beings who could be enslaved) occurred together and re-enforced each other to create a system of chattel slavery in the English colonies. Jordan says slavery developed in large part because the English, long before they had any meaningful contact with Africans, had developed negative connotations about the color black associating it with evil. The English were culturally predisposed to think the worst of Africans, and their worst inclinations were freed by the fact that Africans were not Christians and not civilized (in a European sense) and therefore, according to English (European) ethnocentrism, did not have to be treated according to the legal and moral standards held in Europe. According to Jordan, because of this cultural background, the enslavement of blacks in the English colonies was an "unthinking decision." In another version of this argument, Carl Degler argues that slavery did not exist initially in the English colonies and that it developed because the English made decisions to enslave some people rather than others because of prejudice which identified blacks as inferior.

People of Plenty Book by the historian David M. Potter in 1954 analyzing the character of the American people and government and arguing that democracy in the U.S. was made possible by abundance. Not liberty or certain religious convictions or English constitutional law but the wealth of natural resources in North America and, therefore, economic opportunity--including the opportunity to develop those resources in a relatively peaceful 19th century--are the keys to American development. As a result of this abundance, Potter says, liberty and equality could exist simultaneously in the U.S. and more people could immigrate to the U.S. and advance economically without unduly threatening the existing elite. This expectation of economic opportunity and advancement continues to characterize American behavior including its materialistic and egalitarian outlook, and it was one of the motivating factors for the early explorers and settlers. Hence, the book is symbolic of the attitudes of the early explorers and therefore of the view that U.S. history is largely an extension of the expansionist phase of European history which began in the mid-1400s. That raises the question

if the underlying assumption supporting democracy in the US is opportunity (provided in part by inexpensive resources) and therefore ever brighter futures and if that opportunity were to be diminished and the future darkened (e.g., by higher prices for oil and natural gas), then would Americans be able to adjust peacefully to such a fundamental challenge to their national mindset or would there be violence? The book is also significant as an indicator of American misperceptions about the world because while the US often seeks to export democratic institutions and practices to other countries, it seems to underestimate or ignore the difference in circumstances in time and place and it rarely tries to provide in those countries the abundance which was key to the success of democracy in the US.