APUSH Period 1 & 2 Terms

Enlightenment

A European intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries in which ideas concerning God, reason, nature, and humanity were synthesized into a worldview that gained wide assent in the West and that instigated revolutionary developments in art, philosophy, and politics. Central to this movement. thought were the use and celebration of reason, the power by which humans understand the universe and improve their own condition. The goals of rational humanity were considered to be knowledge, freedom, and happiness.

Salem Witch Trials

Began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft. As a wave of hysteria spread throughout colonial Massachusetts, a special court convened in Salem to hear the cases; the first convicted witch, Bridget Bishop, was hanged that June. Eighteen others followed Bishop to Salem's Gallows Hill, while some 150 more men, women and children were accused over the next several months. By September 1692, the hysteria had begun to abate and public opinion turned against the trials.

joint-stock company

A business entity where different stocks can be bought and owned by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by his or her shares (certificates of ownership).

Peter Zenger Trial

A case where Peter Zenger, a printer and journalist, was tried for libel against colonial governor William Cosby but was defended by Philadelphia lawyer, Alexander Hamilton. This became the first victory for the right of freedom of the press.

Headright system

A legal grant of land to settlers. These grants are most notable for their role in the expansion of the thirteen British colonies in North America; the Virginia Company of London gave these to settlers, and the Plymouth Company followed suit.

Puritans

A religious reform movement in the late 16th and 17th centuries that sought to "purify" the Church of England of remnants of the Roman Catholic "popery" that the this group claimed had been retained after the religious settlement reached early in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. This group of people became noted in the 17th century for a spirit of moral and religious earnestness that informed their whole way of life, and they sought through church reform to make their lifestyle the pattern for the whole nation. Their efforts to transform the nation contributed both to civil war in England and to the founding of colonies in America as working models of the Puritan way of life.

Trade and Navigation Acts

A series of laws designed to restrict England's carrying trade to English ships, effective chiefly in the 17th and 18th centuries. The measures, originally framed to encourage the development of English shipping so that adequate auxiliary vessels would be available in wartime, became a form of trade protectionism during an era of mercantilism.

Great Puritan Migration

Began when religious sects, primarily the Puritans, undertook the 3000 mile sea voyage and migrated to the New World in search of religious freedom. The Puritans believed that they would be able to establish a pure church in the colonies, in the lands known as New England, that would offer a model for the churches in England and reform the Anglican Church and cleanse it of any vestiges of the hated Catholic religion.

King Philip's War

Also called Great Narragansett War, (1675-76), in British American colonial history, war that pitted Native Americans against English settlers and their Indian allies that was one of the bloodiest conflicts (per capita) in U.S. history. Historians since the early 18th century, relying on accounts from the Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth Colonies, have referred to the conflict as this war. Metacom, sachem (chief) of a Wampanoag band, was a son of Massasoit, who had greeted the first colonists of New England at Plymouth in 1621. However, because of the central role in the conflict played by the Narragansetts, who composed the largest Native American group than in southern New England, some historians refer to the conflict as the Great Narragansett War.

Pueblo Revolt

Also known as Popé's Rebellion — was an uprising of most of the indigenous Pueblo people against the Spanish colonizers in the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México, present day New Mexico.

French and Indian War

Also known as the Seven Years' War, this New World conflict marked another chapter in the long imperial struggle between Britain and France. When France's expansion into the Ohio River valley brought repeated conflict with the claims of the British colonies, a series of battles led to the official British declaration of war in 1756. Boosted by the financing of future Prime Minister William Pitt, the British turned the tide with victories at Louisbourg, Fort Frontenac and the French-Canadian stronghold of Quebec. At the 1763 peace conference, the British received the territories of Canada from France and Florida from Spain, opening the Mississippi Valley to westward expansion.

Pequot War

An armed conflict between the Pequot tribe and an alliance of the English colonists of the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies and their Native American allies (the Narragansett and Mohegan tribes) which occurred between 1634 and 1638. The Pequots lost the war. At the end, about seven hundred Pequots had been killed or taken into captivity.

Mercantilism

An economic theory and practice common in Europe from the 16th to the 18th century that promoted governmental regulation of a nation's economy for the purpose of augmenting state power at the expense of rival national powers. It was the economic counterpart of political absolutism. Its 17th-century publicists—most notably Thomas Mun in England, Jean-Baptiste Colbert in France, and Antonio Serra in Italy—never, however, used the term themselves; it was given currency by the Scottish economist Adam Smith in his Wealth of Nations (1776).

John Rolfe

Arrived in Jamestown along with 150 other settlers in 1610, as part of a new charter organized by the Virginia Company. He began experimenting with growing tobacco, eventually using seeds grown in the West Indies to develop Virginia's first profitable export. In 1614, he married the daughter of a local Native American chieftain, Matoaka (better known by her childhood nickname, Pocahontas), who had been taken captive by the English settlers and converted to Christianity. The couple sailed to England with their infant son in 1616; seven months later, Pocahontas died as they prepared to travel home. He returned to Virginia, remarried and served a prominent role in the economic and political life of the colony until his death in 1622.

John Smith

Colonizer and publicist. During his two years in America, he was principally responsible for the survival of England's first permanent colony in the New World. His bold leadership, military experience, and determination brought a measure of discipline to the dissolute colonists; his negotiations with the Indians prevented starvation; and his dispersal of the colony from unhealthy Jamestown lowered mortality. After his return to England, his promotional writings contributed significantly to English efforts for an American empire.

Virginia Company

Commercial trading company, chartered by King James I of England in April 1606 with the object of colonizing the eastern coast of North America between latitudes 34° and 41° N at Jamestown. Its shareholders were Londoners, and it was distinguished from the Plymouth Company, which was chartered at the same time and composed largely of men from Plymouth.

Iroquois Confederacy

Confederation of five (later six) Indian tribes across upper New York state that during the 17th and 18th centuries played a strategic role in the struggle between the French and British for mastery of North America. The five Iroquois nations, characterizing themselves as "the people of the longhouse," were the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca. After the Tuscarora joined in 1722, the confederacy became known to the English as the Six Nations and was recognized as such at Albany, New York(1722).

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

Considered to be the first written Constitution in the Western tradition, and many of its ideas are seen in the American Constitution. Perhaps the most important point in the is the first, which lays out the method for electing the officials of the Colony, and the duties of these officials.

Encomienda System

Consisted of a grant by the crown to a conquistador, soldier, official, or others of a specified number of Indians living in a particular area. The receiver of the grant, the encomendero, could exact tribute from the Indians in gold, in kind, or in labour and was required to protect them and instruct them in the Christian faith. This system did not include a grant of land, but in practice the encomenderos gained control of the Indians' lands and failed to fulfill their obligations to the Indian population.

Bartolome De Las Casas

Early Spanish historian and Dominican missionary who was the first to expose the oppression of native peoples by Europeans in the Americas and to call for the abolition of slavery there. His several works include Historia de las Indias (first printed in 1875). A prolific writer and in his later years an influential figure of the Spanish court, he nonetheless failed to stay the progressive enslavement of the indigenous peoples of Latin America.

William Penn

English Quaker leader and advocate of religious freedom, who oversaw the founding of the American Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a refuge for Quakers and other religious minorities of Europe.

John Locke/ Thomas Hobbes

English philosopher and political theorist that (1632-1704) laid much of the groundwork for the Enlightenment and made central contributions to the development of liberalism. In his "Essay Concerning Human Understanding," he advanced a theory of the self as a blank page, with knowledge and identity arising only from accumulated experience. His political theory of government by the consent of the governed as a means to protect "life, liberty and estate" deeply influenced the United States' founding documents. His essays on religious tolerance provided an early model for the separation of church and state. / Viewed government primarily as a device for ensuring collective security. Political authority is justified by a hypothetical social contract among the many that vests in a sovereign person or entity the responsibility for the safety and well-being of all. In metaphysics, he defended materialism, the view that only material things are real. His scientific writings present all observed phenomena as the effects of matter in motion.

Maize

Known in some English-speaking countries as corn, is a large grain plant domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times.

New England Confederation

In British American colonial history, a federation of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Haven, and Plymouth established in May 1643 by delegates from those four Puritan colonies. Several factors influenced the formation of this alliance, including the solution of trade, boundary, and religious disputes, but the principal impetus was a concern over defense against attacks by the French, the Dutch, or the Indians. Because of their divergence from accepted Puritan precepts, settlements in what later became Rhode Island and Maine were refused admission to the confederation.

Anne Hutchinson

Known chiefly for her role in the antinomian controversy in Massachusetts Bay Colony,she was a New England religious leader and midwife, this Puritan woman (1591-1643) was born in England, and later followed Puritan leader John Cotton to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1634. She brought attention to Cotton's spirit-centered theology through biweekly meetings, championing him and her brother-in-law John Wheelwright as true Christian ministers. A ministerial synod cleared Cotton from the charge of heresy, but the radical Hutchinson was punished with banishment by the General Court of Massachusetts and excommunication by the Church of Boston.

Chinook

Original people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. They live in present-day Washington and Oregon.

Salutary neglect

Policy of the British government from the early to mid-18th century regarding its North American colonies under which trade regulations for the colonies were laxly enforced and imperial supervision of internal colonial affairs was loose as long as the colonies remained loyal to the British government and contributed to the economic profitability of Britain. This policy contributed involuntarily to the increasing autonomy of colonial legal and legislative institutions, which ultimately led to American independence.

Thomas Hooker

Prominent British American colonial clergyman and a founder of Hartford, sometimes called "the father of American democracy" that would also found Connecticut.

Halfway Covenant

Religious-political solution adopted by 17th-century New England Congregationalists, also called Puritans, that allowed the children of baptized but unconverted church members to be baptized and thus become church members and have political rights. Early Congregationalists had become members of the church after they could report an experience of conversion. Their children were baptized as infants, but, before these children were admitted to full membership in the church and permitted to partake of the Lord's Supper, they were expected to also give evidence of a conversion experience. Many never reported a conversion experience but, as adults, were considered church members because they had been baptized, although they were not admitted to the Lord's Supper and were not allowed to vote or hold office.

Roger Williams

Remembered for founding the state of Rhode Island and advocating separation of church and state in Colonial America. His views on religious freedom and tolerance, coupled with his disapproval of the practice of confiscating land from Native Americans, earned him the wrath of his church and banishment from the colony. He and his followers settled on Narragansett Bay, where they purchased land from the Narragansett Indians and established a new colony governed by the principles of religious liberty and separation of church and state. Rhode Island became a haven for Baptists, Quakers, Jews and other religious minorities. Nearly a century after his death, his notion of a "wall of separation" between church and state inspired the founders of the United States, who incorporated it into the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Pocahontas

Reputedly the favorite daughter of the Algonquian chief Powhatan, she contributed significantly to the early survival of the Jamestown colony and played a brief but dramatic role in English imperial propaganda. Her untimely death in 1617 cut short her successful mediation between the Powhatan Indians and the colony. Both before her intercession and long after her death, Jamestown-the first permanent English outpost in North America-was precarious, largely because of Indian hostility to the colony and its expansion.

Proprietary, Royal, Charter colonies

Royal colonies were owned by the king./ In a Proprietary Colony, an individual, or small elite group, essentially owned the colony, controlling all of the actions and institutions of government, for which they would receive political or financial favors. The governors of the proprietary colonies reported directly to the king./Charter Colonies were generally self-governed, and their charters were granted to the colonists via a joint-stock company.

Mayflower Compact

Signed by 41 English colonists on the ship Mayflower on November 11, 1620, was the first written framework of government established in what is now the United States. The compact was drafted to prevent dissent amongst Puritans and non-separatist Pilgrims who had landed at Plymouth a few days earlier.

Algonquian

The Natives inhabiting the coastal region of Virginia. 1st Native Americans to encounter the British; Leader: Powhatan.

House of Burgesses

The first elected legislative assembly in the New World established in the Colony of Virginia in 1619, representative colony set up by England to make laws and levy taxes but England could veto its legislative acts; it set a precedent for future parliaments to be established

Anglicization

The process of converting anything to more "English" norms.

Powhatan Indians

These Native Americans were a Native American confederation of tribes in Virginia. It may also refer to the leader of those tribes, commonly referred to as Chief Powhatan.

Lord Baltimore

This man created the colony of Maryland, he formed it based on the ideas of freedom of religion and separation of church and state. Maryland, in fact, became known as a haven for Roman Catholics in the New World. Cecil governed Maryland for forty-two years.

Maryland Act of Toleration

This was a law mandating religious tolerance against all Christians. Passed in 1649 by the local representative government of Maryland. Lord Baltimore wanted to purchase toleration for his worshippers. The Protestants were opposed to this and they threatened to overpower the Catholics and place severe restrictions on them. (England). Because of this, the Catholics of Maryland threw their support behind the famed Act of Toleration.

African chattel

Type of slavery where human beings are considered to be property and are bought and sold as such. It is the kind of slavery that existed before the Civil War in the United States.

James Oglethorpe

Was a British General and member of the house of parliament. He formed the colony of Georgia in 1732 as a place for the poor of Britain to resettle. His ban of slavery made him unpopular and he was regarded by some in the colony as a dictator.

Juan de Sepulveda

Was a Spanish humanist, philosopher and theologian that argued the conquest of the Native Americans was justified.

Glorious Revolution

Was a bloodless coup which led to the overthrow of King James II in 1688 and the establishment of William and Mary as monarchs. This was, also called the English Revolution, the Revolution of 1688, or the Bloodless Revolution. The Glorious Revolution was so-called because it achieved its objective without any bloodshed.

William Bradford

Was a founder and longtime governor of the Plymouth Colony settlement. Born in England, he migrated with the Separatist congregation to the Netherlands as a teenager. Bradford was among the passengers on the Mayflower's trans-Atlantic journey, and he signed the Mayflower Compact upon arriving in Massachusetts in 1620. As Plymouth Colony governor for more than thirty years, Bradford helped draft its legal code and facilitated a community centered on private subsistence agriculture and religious tolerance. Around 1630, he began to compile his two-volume "Of Plymouth Plantation," one of the most important early chronicles of the settlement of New England.

Massachusetts Bay Company

Was a joint stock trading company chartered by the English crown in 1629 to colonize a vast area in New England extending from 3 mi (4.8 km) miles north of the Merrimack River to 3 mi miles south of the Charles River. It was quickly taken over by a group of Puritans, under the leadership of John Winthrop, who wished to establish a religious community in the New World.

Albany Plan

Was a plan to place the British North American colonies under a more centralized government. On July 10, 1754, representatives from seven of the British North American colonies adopted the plan. Although never carried out, this plan was the first important proposal to conceive of the colonies as a collective whole united under one government.

First Great Awakening

Was a series of religious revivals that swept over the American colonies about the middle of the 18th cent. It resulted in doctrinal changes and influenced social and political thought. In New England it was started (1734) by the rousing preaching of Jonathan Edwards.

Bacon's Rebellion

Was an armed rebellion in 1676 by Virginia settlers led by Nathaniel Bacon against the rule of Governor William Berkeley. The colony's disorganized frontier political structure, combined with accumulating grievances (including leaving Bacon out of his inner circle, refusing to allow Bacon to be a part of his fur trade with the Native Americans, and Doeg tribe Indian attacks), helped to motivate a popular uprising against Berkeley, who had failed to address the demands of the colonists regarding their safety.

Phyllis Wheatley

Was the first published African-American female poet. Born in West Africa, she was sold into slavery at the age of seven and transported to North America. She was purchased by the Wheatley family of Boston, who taught her to read and write, and encouraged her poetry when they saw her talent.

John Winthrop

When, in 1629, the Massachusetts Bay Company obtained a royal charter to plant a colony in New England, John Winthrop joined the company, pledging to sell his English estate and take his family to Massachusetts if the company government and charter were also transferred to America. The other members agreed to these terms and elected him governor. He died, age 61, in the spring of 1649.

Jonathan Edwards/ George Whitefield

Yale minister who refused to convert to the Church of England, became concerned that New Englanders were becoming far too concerned with worldly matters./Minister from Britain who toured the American colonies. An actor by training, he would shout the word of God, weep with sorrow, and tremble with passion as he delivered his sermons. Colonists flocked by the thousands to hear him speak.