APUSH ALL KEY TERMS Periods 1-9

Letters from an American Farmer

A book published in France in 1782 by Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, in which he popularized the idea of the United States as a melting pot.

Caravel

A 15th century European ship capable of long distance travel. These ships allowed for exploration of new trade routes and into the New World.

Bartolomé de Las Casas

A Dominican priest who wrote A Very Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies where he criticized Spanish colonists' treatment of Indians and believed that Indians were human beings who deserved to be treated equally. His portrayal of Spain as a uniquely cruel colonizer lead to the Black Legend which changed how other Europeans in the New World treated Indians and diminished Spain's national glory.

Tobacco Colony

A colony in which growing tobacco was the main source of profit; tobacco farming in Virginia resulted in a growing demand for field labor and a distinct class hierarchy. Virginia became a dispersed community with little social unity, working mainly towards profit.

One-House Legislature

A legislature in which power was concentrated in a single house (more democratic than "balanced governments"); after independence, Pennsylvania instituted a one-house legislature comprised of men over the age of twenty-one who were elected annually.

Ninety-Five Theses (1517)

A list of criticisms of the Catholic Church written in 1517 by German priest Martin Luther. His criticism lead to a rise in Protestant Churches which made religious tensions in Europe. The fact that Protestants were not welcome in many parts of Europe lead to their immigration into Dutch America.

Free Trade

A market system in which the government does not regulate prices, with the idea that the economy can regulate itself.

Thomas Paine and Common Sense

A pamphlet written by this radical English immigrant attacked the English principles of hereditary rule and monarchical government, and called for American independence from Britain; the pamphlet was written clearly and directly, so all people (not just educated elite) could get involved in political affairs.

Flushing Remonstrace (1657)

A petition created by a group of English settlers in 1657 arguing against the Dutch governor's orders to bar Quakers from Flushing, Long Island. Though it had little effect during the time, Flushing is now seen as a landmark of religious liberty.

Headright System (1618)

A policy first announced by the Virginia Company in 1618, by which the company granted 50 acres of land to any colonist who paid for his own or another's passage to Virginia.

Coverture

A principle in English and American law that a married woman lost her legal identity, which became "covered" by that of her husband, who therefore controlled her person and the family's economic resources.

Virginia Company

A private business that founded the first permanent British colony in the Americas, Jamestown, in Virginia.

George Washington

A prominent Virginian and well-known military commander who was appointed as the Commander of the Second Continental Congress's army

The ⅗ Clause

A provision signed into the Constitution in 1787 that three-fifths of the slave population would be counted in determining each state's representation in the House of Representatives and its electoral votes for president.

Pueblo Revolt (1680)

A revolt in 1680 organized by Popé where Indian tribes of New Mexico united in order to successfully (but temporarily) drive Spanish colonists out of the region; the Indians revolted due to forced labor and Catholicism implemented by the Spanish colonists. Though Spain reconquered the area, they learned their lesson and became more tolerant of religious practices and required less forced labor.

Indentured Servant

A settler who signed on for a temporary period of servitude (usually five to seven years) to a master in exchange for passage to the New World and "freedom dues," which often included some money and/or land (if one survived his/her term of service despite the high death rate). Nearly two thirds of all English settlers came as indentured servants.

Abolition

A social movement of the pre-Civil War era that advocated the immediate emancipation of the slaves and their incorporation into American society as equal citizens.

republic

A system of government in which authority rests on the consent of the governed, with no king or hereditary aristocracy.

Treaty of Greenville

A treaty signed in 1795 as a direct result of the Battle of Fallen Timbers; in this treaty, twelve Indian tribes ceded most of Ohio and Indiana to the federal government, and the system of annuity was established. The "Annuity" system was a system of yearly grants of federal money to Indian tribes that institutionalized continuing government influence in tribal affairs and gave outsiders considerable control over Indian life.

"Virtual Representation"

A widely accepted theory which held that each member of Parliament represented the entire empire, not just his own district. Many colonists began to reject "virtual representation" and demand "actual representation," by which they meant electing colonists of their own choosing to go to Parliament to represent the colonists.

Iroquois League (Great League of Peace)

An alliance created in the 15th century between five Indian tribes in modern day Pennsylvania and New York. This alliance created relative peace within the region and was the first form of central authority between Indian tribes.

Miami Confederation

An alliance of Indian tribes in the Ohio Valley that waged open warfare, under the leadership of Little Turtle, on American forces in the 1790s.

John Smith

An early leader in Jamestown with a military background that lead him to run the colony harshly; started a forced labor regime and said "He that will not work shall not eat."

Ethnic Nationalism

An ideology that defines the U.S. nation as a community based on a shared ethnic heritage, language, and culture.

Civic Nationalism

An ideology that envisions the U.S. nation as a community open to all those devoted to its political institutions and social values.

Ladies Association of Philadelphia

An organization that raised funds to assist American soldiers, showing how the Revolution propelled women into new forms of political activism.

Uprising of 1622

An uprising by the Powhatan Confederacy against the Virginia colony led by Powhatan's brother, Opechancanough, that wiped out a quarter of the settler population; the remaining settlers responded by massacring scores of Indians and devastating their villages.

Republican Motherhood

And idea that developed during the Revolution that women have a patriotic duty to raise children to be proper citizens of a republic. While it reinforced traditional gender roles, it also opened up educational opportunities for women and increased their value in society.

Freedom Petitions

Arguments for liberty presented to New England's courts and legislatures in the early 1770s by enslaved African-Americans.

House of Burgesses (1618)

As the first elected assembly in colonial America, it was established in 1618 by the Virginia Company and first convened in 1619; only landowners had voting rights and the company retained the right to nullify any measure adopted.

The Federalist (aka The Federalist Papers)

Collection of eighty-five essays that appeared in the New York press in 1787-1788 in support of the Constitution; written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay and published under the pseudonym "Publius."

Loyalists

Colonists who remained loyal to Great Britain during the War of Independence.

The Stamp Act of 1765

British Parliament required that revenue stamps be affixed to all colonial printed matter, documents, and playing cards. The Stamp Act was the first direct tax on the internal economic activity within the colonies, and it managed to offend a broad range of colonists. The Stamp Act Congress met to formulate a response, and the act was repealed the following year.

Boston Massacre

Clash between British soldiers on March 5th, 1770 where 5 Americans were killed (including Crispus Attucks - the first casualty of the war for Independence); Paul Revere's famous propagandistic engraving depicted the event as armed British soldiers firing into an unarmed and peaceful group of civilians which increased anger and a revolutionary zeal throughout the colonies.

"Three sisters" (corn, beans, and squash)

Crops that formed the basis of agriculture in the Western Hemisphere about 9000 years ago. These crops provided the Indians of the Western Hemisphere with food and began their agricultural knowledge.

The Declaration of Independence

Document adopted on July 4, 1776, that made the break with Britain official; drafted by a committee of the Second Continental Congress, including principal writer Thomas Jefferson. The document listed colonial grievances after first stating fundamental, "self-evident" truths: "all men are created equal and they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Jamestown (1607)

Established in 1607, Jamestown was the center of the Virginia Colony and the first permanent British colony in North America.

"Empire of Liberty"

Established through the Northwest Ordinance, this phrase refers to the practice of admitting a territory's population as equal members of the American political system, rather than ruling over the West as a colonial power.

The Intolerable Acts (1774)

Four parliamentary measures in reaction to the Boston Tea Party that forced payment for the tea lost in the Boston Tea Party, disallowed colonial trials of British soldiers, forced their quartering in private homes, and reduced the number of elected officials in Massachusetts.

Committees of Correspondence

Groups of colonists that exchanged ideas and information about resistance against British rule, communicating with other colonies to encourage opposition to the Sugar and Currency Acts.

Shays' Rebellion

Massachusetts farmer Daniel Shays and 1,200 compatriots, seeking debt relief through the issuance of paper currency and lower taxes, attempted to prevent courts from seizing property from indebted farmers. The event convinced many (Federalists) that the nation needed a stronger national government, and it led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

Olive Branch Petition

In July 1775, Congress addressed the Olive Branch Petition to King George III, reaffirming Americans' loyalty to the crown and hoping for a "permanent reconciliation." King George rejected it.

Cousinocracy

In Virginia, the upper class was so tight-knit and intermarried that the colony was said to be governed by a "cousinocracy".

Internal vs. External Taxes

Internal taxes, like the Stamp Act, taxed economic activity within the colonies, and many colonists believed Parliament had no right to enact internal taxes. External taxes, or revenue raised through the regulation of trade with the colonies, such as the Navigation Acts, were viewed by many colonists as legitimate.

Dunmore's Proclamation (1775)

Issued in November 1775 by the earl of Dunmore, the British governor and military commander in Virginia, the proclamation offered freedom to any slave who escaped to his lines and bore arms for the king.

Gradual Emancipation and Free Blacks

Most Northern states adopted these policies in which children of slaves born after a certain date would be freed when they reached adulthood. These laws assumed that former slaves would remain in the country, not be colonized abroad. Non-enslaved black people formed free communities with their own schools, churches, and leaders, and who, in some states, could even vote.

The Tea Act and the Boston Tea Party

On December 16, 1773, the Sons of Liberty, dressed as Indians, dumped hundreds of chests of tea into Boston Harbor to protest the Tea Act of 1773, under which the British exported to the colonies millions of pounds of cheap tea (still taxed) thereby undercutting the price of tea for smugglers and merchants. The British were trying to import cheap tea to save the East India Company from collapsing because they had invested in it.

Writs of Assistance

One of the colonies' main complaints against Britain, the writs allowed unlimited search warrants without cause to look for evidence of colonial smuggling.

Sons of Liberty

Organizations formed by Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and other radicals in response to the Stamp Act that encouraged many lower class individuals to get involved in public affairs

The Sugar Act of 1764

Parliament's tax on refined sugar and many other colonial products.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Passed by the Congress under the Articles of Confederation, this act created the Northwest Territory (area north of the Ohio River and west of Pennsylvania), established conditions for self-government and statehood there, included a Bill of Rights, and permanently prohibited slavery in that region.

The Proclamation Line of 1763

Passed on the heels of the Seven Years War, the British Parliament created this law prohibiting colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains in order to prevent conflict with the Indians and the expense of having to defend them.

Mestizos

Persons of mixed origin due to the intermarriage of Indians and colonizers. They caused Spanish America to evolve into a hybrid culture. The marriage between Indians and colonizers indicated somewhat more equal status than in the British colonies.

John Adams' Thoughts on Government (1776), and "Balanced Government"

Published by John Adams in 1776, in which he insisted that the new constitutions should create "balanced governments" whose structure would reflect the division of society between the wealthy (represented in the upper house) and ordinary men (who would control the lower).

Notes on the State of Virginia

Published by Thomas Jefferson in 1785, the book compared the white and black races, claiming that blacks lacked the qualities that made freedom and loyalty to the nation possible—the capacity for self-control, reason, and devotion to the larger community.

The First and Second Continental Congresses

Representatives of the colonies met first in Philadelphia in 1774 to formulate actions against British policies; the Second Continental Congress (1775-1789) conducted the war and adopted the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation.

Engagés

Settlers in the French colonies of North America who agreed to serve a master for a certain amount of time in exchange for a passage to the New World; Indentured servants populated the New World, reshaping the population of the Americas.

Patroons

Shareholders in the Dutch West India Company who agreed to transport tenants for agricultural labor. This attracted Europeans to come to New Netherlands.

Treaty of Paris, 1783

Signed on September 3, 1783, the treaty ending the Revolutionary War and recognizing American independence from Britain also established the border between Canada and the United States, fixed the western border at the Mississippi River, and ceded Florida to Spain.

Matrilineal Societies

Societies where the children of a marriage become part of the mother's family. The difference between European and Indian gender roles caused the Europeans to view the Indians as "backwards" and in need of fixing. They viewed Indian women as mistreated and men as weak when in reality the Indian women had many more rights than European women.

Conquistadores

Spanish explorers who travelled to the New World motivated by wealth, national glory, and the desire to spread Christianity. They reshaped the New World by conquering, converting, and killing natives.

Enclosure Movement

The 16th and 17th century process in which English landlords evicted small farmers and fenced in "commons" (communal farm and grazing land previously open to all). This process created many landless men who became interested in migrating to America.

Land Ordinances of 1784 and 1785

The 1784 ordinance divided the Northwest Territory into districts that were initially governed by Congress and eventually admitted to the Union as member states. The 1785 ordinance directed surveying of the Northwest Territory into townships (of thirty-six square mile sections each), the sale of the sixteenth section of which was to be used to finance public education.

Battle of Fallen Timbers

The 1794 defeat of the Miami Confederacy by 3,000 American soldiers led by Anthony Wayne.

The Fugitive Slave Clause

The Constitution didn't mention the word "slave" or "slavery," but along with the 3/5ths Clause, and the protection of the Atlantic slave trade until 1808, this clause was one of the protections of slavery in the Constitution. It said that enslaved people who run away are not free but shall be returned to their owners.

English Liberty

The English idea that the English king was subject to the rule of law and that all free persons should enjoy security of person and property. English liberty consisted of a set of privileges rather than entitlements.

The right to vote ("suffrage") during the Era of the American Revolution

The Revolution led to a great expansion of the right to vote. While some states' constitutions retained property qualifications for voting and officeholding, the most democratic new constitutions moved toward the idea of voting as an entitlement rather than a privilege, though they generally stopped short of universal suffrage, even for free men. By the 1880s, a large majority of adult white males could meet voting requirements. In the popular understanding of the era, "freedom" and an individual's right to vote had become increasingly synonymous.

Religious freedom during the Era of the American Revolution (Jefferson's "wall of separation")

The Revolution led to an expansion of religious tolerance in America. Diests such as Thomas Jefferson called for a "wall of separation" between church and state so that politics and the exercise of intellect could be free from religious control. Additionally, France's support for the colonists led to a decrease in anti-Catholicism. Most states disestablished their churches, and the establishment clause of the First Amendment enshrined religious freedom in the Constitution.

Repartimiento System (1550)

The Spanish system that replaced the encomienda system in 1550 where Indians were required to do a certain amount of labor each year but were recognized as free and deserving wages. This system increased Indians' status and removed slavery. Though they still served the Spanish colonizers, their status was growing closer to equal.

Deference

The assumption among ordinary people that wealth, education, and social prominence carried a right to public office.

"no taxation without representation"

The belief that Britain had no right to tax colonists, since Americans were unrepresented in the House of Commons.

American Exceptionalism

The belief that the United States has a special role and serves as a refuge from tyranny, a symbol of freedom, and a model for the rest of the world

Cahokia

The central city of Indian culture in the Mississippi River Valley (1200 AD); the largest city in the present day United States until 1800. Cahokia was a significant civilization for Indian culture.

Métis

The children of marriages between French traders and Indian women who often became guides or translators. Compared to the British, the French viewed the Indians as relatively equal to them which lead to their intermixing in marriages. They encouraged Indians to join their society, contrasting their treatment as slaves by Spanish colonists.

Federalism (aka "Division of Powers"

The distribution of political power between the state and federal governments under the U.S. Constitution.

Animism

The idea that sacred spirits can be found in inanimate objects such as water, plants, and wind. This was a very common belief of many Native American tribes. When the Europeans saw that their religions differed in many ways, they believed that the natives were worshipping the devil or were heathens who needed to be saved with Christianity.

Daughters of Liberty

The female counterparts of the Sons of Liberty; led the homespun movement

Roanoke Colony (1585)

The first English settlement in North America, founded by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1585 off the coast of North Carolina; the first settlement was abandoned in 1586; the second settlement, established in 1586, was found mysteriously abandoned in 1590.

The Articles of Confederation

The first constitution, ratified in 1781, whose primary goal was to preserve the independence and sovereignty of the states, created a very weak central government composed only of a one-house legislature that did not have the power to tax, regulate trade, or raise troops (the "three-Ts"). After Shays' Rebellion and calls for a stronger central government, this frame of government was replaced by the Constitution of the United States in 1789.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1791 to guarantee individual rights against infringement by the federal government.

The Black Legend

The idea that Spanish colonizers in the New World were uniquely cruel compared to other European colonizers. It was spread by Las Casas's depiction of Spanish America, and was used to justify English imperial expansion. It led to intense criticism of the Spanish and lessened their national glory. It also further deteriorating their relationship with the Indians.

Christian Liberty

The idea that freedom was a moral state reached when one abandoned a life of sin and embraced the teachings of God. Europeans viewed freedom in terms of Christian Liberty. Since the Indians did not conform to this idea, the Europeans viewed them as savage heathens who needed to be forced into a new religion and way of life. "liberating yourself from sin" using christianity

Mound builders

The name of Indians in the Ohio River Valley given by 18th century settlers due to the fact that they built large, earthen mounds. These large structures represent the technology of the Indians and the structures of their civilizations.

Open Immigration

The nineteenth-century policy of immigration in which almost all white persons were eligible to claim American citizenship, unless they were unwilling to renounce hereditary titles of nobility.

Anglican Church

The official Protestant church of England during the Colonial Era.

Reconquista (1492)

The reconquest of Spain from the Moors (African Muslims) completed by Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand in 1492. The King and Queen funded Columbus because he wanted to spread Christianity similarly to how they forced people living in Spain to convert to Catholicism.

The Age of Revolution

The second half of the 18th century was marked by popular protest and political upheaval that centered on ideas of liberty. Beginning in British North America, such political struggles spread to Europe and the Caribbean, and culminated in the Latin American wars for independence.

Tenochtitlán

The technologically advanced, highly populated capital of the Aztec empire conquered by Spanish colonists. The city was a center of Aztec culture that was destroyed by the Spanish (disease and warfare).

Christian Republicanism

The theory that religious virtue and morals were necessary for a republic to prosper.

Colombian Exchange

The transatlantic flow of people and goods (including plants, animals, diseases) beginning with Columbus's voyages in 1492 which reshaped the lives of Indians and Europeans in terms of diet, lifestyle, colonization, political and social structures, etc.

Federalists and Antifederalists

The two main groups composing the debate over the ratification of the Constitution from 1787 and 1789. The first favored ratification of the Constitution because it would create a stronger national government. The second opposed ratification arguing that the Constitution presented limitations on individual and states' rights; their demands led to the addition of a Bill of Rights to the document.

Effects of the Seven Years War (aka the "French and Indian War")

The war left Britain in tremendous debt, which led to the end of "salutary neglect" and the imposition of new taxes on the colonists

Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations (1776)

This Scottish economist, whose important book on economics was published the same year as the Declaration of Independence; would on he would become known as "the Father of capitalism." In his book, he argued that the "invisible hand" of the free market directed economic life more effectively and fairly than government intervention, and he offered an intellectual justification for those who believed that the economy should largely be left to regulate itself.

Checks and Balances (aka "Separation of Powers")

This is a feature of the U.S. Constitution in which power is divided between executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the national government so that no one can dominate the other two and endanger citizens' liberties.

Inflation

This is when prices go up and the purchasing power of money goes down. During the American Revolution, the shortage of goods and Congress' efforts to finance the war resulted in an enormous increase in prices, inciting debates over whether national authorities should limit inflation.

Bacon's Rebellion (1676)

Unsuccessful 1676 revolt led by planter Nathaniel Bacon against Virginia governor William Berkeley's administration because of governmental corruption and because Berkeley had failed to protect settlers from Indian raids and did not allow them to occupy Indian lands. Bacon's Rebellion caused the Virginia elite to move away from indentured servants and towards a different labor supply that would never gain freedom and demand land on the frontier: enslaved African labor.

Abigail Adams

Wife of John Adams who educated herself and often contributed her opinions on political affairs; she urged Congress to "remember the ladies" and she believed that a husband should not have absolute power over his wife.

Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania

Written by Maryland lawyer John Dickinson, the essays argued for reconciliation with Britain, with the colonists enjoying all the traditional rights of Englishmen. They were first published in a Philadelphia newspaper in 1767 and 1768 and then widely circulated in pamphlet form.

Bill Establishing Religious Freedom

Written by Thomas Jefferson, the Virginian bill was introduced in the House of Burgesses in 1779 and adopted, after considerable controversy, in 1786. It eliminated religious requirements for voting and officeholding and government financial support for churches, and barred the state from "forcing" individuals to adopt one or another religious outlook.

A Discourse Concerning Western Planting (1584)

Written in 1584, Protestant minister and scholar Richard Hakluyt listed various reasons why Queen Elizabeth I should support the establishment of colonies.