AP US History Unit 1 Vocabulary Flashcards
Joint-Stock Company
- Business entity of shareholders
- Stock was sold to high net-worth investors who provided capital
The pooling of money amongst merchants and investors to create a pool of enough capital to invest in a costly business enterprise. This sort of financial arrangement was new in Europe and helped to drive European exploration and expansion.
Separatists
- English Protestants who occupied Puritanism
- Wished to separate from the Church of England
The Pilgrims were a group of this Sect of Puritans who wanted to separate from the Church of England and not just purify it of Catholic vestiges, thus starting a tradition of breaking with England altogether.
Puritans
- Group of people who were unhappy with the Church of England
- Wanted to reform religious, moral, and societal reforms
- Escaped persecution of the church to the Americas
Lost colony of Roanoke
- Arrival of settlers of the island of Roanoke
- John White sailed back to England to retrieve supplies
- Caught in a naval war between England and Spain
- His return to the colony in 1590 led to finding of no trace of the colony
- The word “Croatoan” was carved in a wooden post was left
Virginia Company
- English joint stock company
- Formed from a charter from King James I in 1606
- Had to power to appoint the Council of Virginia and governors
- Chartered was revoke in 1624
Captain John Smith
- Founder of Jamestown
- Sailed to Virginia in 1606 with 105 settlers
- Involved with plans of the Virginia Company since he was granted a charter from King James I
- Helped ambush indians in 1607
- Saved the colony through starvation and diseases
Early English adventurer who landed in Jamestown and took control of the colony during the “Starving Time.” He imposed martial law and enforced a policy of “he who does not work, will not eat” in order to ensure the survival of Jamestown.
John Rolfe
- Introduced tobacco was a commercial crop to colonists
- Enabled expansion economic incentive and further expansion to the New World
Englishman who was the first to start tobacco cultivation in Jamestown. Previous to his arrival, colonists were scratching around in the dirt for gold which did not exist.
Headrights
- Legal grant of land to settlers
- Notable for expansion in the thirteen colonies
Economic policy that states that your nation must produce more than it buys from other nations in order to accumulate gold and silver. This system encouraged nations to build colonies to harvest natural resources and to create new markets for finished products.
Plymouth
- First permanent English settlement
- English Separatist Church sailed on the Mayflower
- More than half the settlers died
- Survivors secured peace treaties with neighboring Native American tribes
Mayflower Compact
- 1620 agreement that bounded settlers together upon their arrival in New England
- Need to maintain order and and establish a civil society
- Written framework of government
John Winthrop and “A Model of Christian Charity”
- Written aboard the Arbella as members of the Massachusetts Bay Colony sailed towards New England
- Delivered the sermon articulating the Puritan’s mission
- Led to the creation of “a city upon a hill” created a godly community
Roger Williams
- Founder of Rhode Island
- Advocate of religious freedom and separation of the church and state in colonial America
- Banished from the Massachusetts colony because he believed that the government must not interfere with religious beliefs or church attendance in 1653
- Rhode Island became the first to practice religious tolerance
Anne Hutchinson
- Expelled from the Massachusetts colony for meddling in theology and questioning clergy’s authority
- Migrated to Rhode Island
Halfway Covenant
- Adopted in 1662 by New England Puritans
- Declining church membership necessitated the compromise
- Allowed children of baptized and unconverted church members to be baptized and have political rights
- Practice was banned from churches in the 18th century when Edwards and leaders of the Great Awakening taught that church membership should be given to convinced believers
King Philip’s War
- From 1675-1676
- Last effort by Indians to drive out English settlers
- One of the most devastating wars of the country
- War ended when Metacomb was captured
- Puritan victory making the remaining Indians face servitude and disease
Indentured Servants
- Originally whites from England who were sent to the colonies to do cheap labor
- Signed contracts which said that they would gain their freedom after 4-7 years
- Many died before they could live out their contracts (disease, labor, etc.)
- Britain began taking Africans from Africa to the colonies to become indentured servants
- Originally Africans were treated like servants
- Laws became more oppressive and white colonists began enslaving Africans
Bacon’s Rebellion
- Occurred in 1676
- Burning down of Jamestown by poor farmers led by Nathaniel Bacon after they killed a village of Native American children, men, and women
- Caused by tensions between Native Americans vs. Europeans for land, frontier farmers (freed indentured servants) vs. coastal elites (royal government, rich planters) because farmers wanted protection from Indians and the coastal elites would not provide it (too expensive), and Nathaniel Bacon (rich fur trader) vs. William Berkley (royal governor)
- Militia’s mission was to kill Native Americans
William Penn and the Quakers
- Outsider religious group in England
- William Penn bought and established state of Pennsylvania (Penns Woods) as Quaker state
- Believed in women’s rights
- Hated slavery (believed it was immoral)
- Treated Native American’s fairly well
- Unicameral legislature
- Believed everyone had the light of God inside of them
Royal Colony
- Royal governor was appointed to rule over colony by the king
Proprietary Colony
- Colonies owned by proprietor
- Agreements between king and rich land owners
- Business transaction, person who buys colony can decide on the type of government and how to run the colony
Sir Edmond Andros and the Dominion of New England
- Royal government made New England into one colony called Dominion of New England
- Andros was royal governor who had absolute authority
Glorious Revolution
- 1688-1689
- James II’s pro-Catholic actions led to a revolution
- Resulted in pulling King James II from the throne and giving it to King William III and Queen Mary II
- Massachusetts’s new charter issued governors to be selected by the crown rather than elected tolerating power with Anglicans
Mercantilism and the Navigation Acts
- Mercantilism was the pooling of money amongst merchants and investors to create a pool of enough capital to invest in a costly business enterprise
- Navigation Acts:
1. Only British ships could transport imported and exported goods from the colonies.
2. The only people who were allowed to trade with the colonies had to be British citizens.
3. Commodities such as sugar, tobacco, and cotton wool which were produced in the colonies could be exported only to British ports.
The pooling of money amongst merchants and investors to create a pool of enough capital to invest in a costly business enterprise. This sort of financial arrangement was new in Europe and helped to drive European exploration and expansion.
Stono Rebellion
- Occurred during the 1730s
- Slave uprising (first one)
- Africa slaves get pointy pieces of metal and gun and run to Spanish Florida
- Spanish Empire had conflict with America Received amnesty by Florida
- Significant because of massive hysteria and first African slave revolt
- More oppressive conditions on black people (slaves and freed)
- White population becomes afraid of them
Era of Salutary Neglect
- Although Britain ruled over the colonies, they did not strongly enforce their laws
- Looked the other way when the colonies did something or broke laws they weren’t so suppose to
- Proclamation line of 1763 began end of Era of Salutary Neglect
- Ended with French and Indian War
The policy that lasted until the end of the French and Indian War in which the British Government did not enforce its Mercantilist policies. After the French and Indian War, George III began enforcing strict control over politics and economics infuriating many of the merchants, planters, artisans, and manufacturers.
The Enlightenment
- John Locke, political philosopher who thought of the idea to create social contracts
- Social contracts (and government) formed to protect people’s life, liberty, and property
- Led to creation of the Articles of Confederation
- Government was formed based on Enlightenment thoughts
Benjamin Franklin
- Proposed the Albany plan
- DISCOVERED ELECTRICITY
- Elected into Second Continental Congress
- Helped draft Declaration of Independence (one of the founding fathers)
Great Awakening
- Proposed by George Whitefield
- Period of religious revivalism
- Led by Christian Evangelical preachers who believed that connection with God could be achieved through religious fervor
Period of religious revivalism. Led by Christian Evangelical preachers who emphasised a personal connection with God and Jesus could be obtained and that religious fervor and conviction were the paths salvation. Many new sects of Christianity appeared during this time as Christianity splintered into many different interpretations.
Middle Passage
- Sea journey slave ships would travel from West Africa to the West Indies (Caribbean, Bahamas)
George Whitefield
- Created part of “The Great Awakening”
- Traveled the length of the colonies, speaking in every city or town of any size, often preaching two or three times a day
- Religious tour
- Tour became the catalyst for a new phase of development
Albany Plan of Union
- Occurred in 1754
- Proposed by Benjamin Franklin
- Created in Albany New York
- It was to unite some of the colonies into a military alliance
- Unite the Iroquois Nation (confederation of several tribes) to British colonists
- Unite for the purpose to protect themselves from the French
- Never came to a fruition because some colonies were afraid to lose autonomy
Proposed by Ben Franklin as an alliance of the Northern Colonies and the Iroquois Nation against the French who were threatening to come down from Canada; it never came to fruition because the colonies were unwilling to give up any autonomy.
The Seven Years War
- Aka the French and Indian War; 1754-1760
- Union of Indian tribes, armed and supported by the French
- Massive military campaign against the British colonies
- British: more firepower; more soldiers; suffered many defeats at the beginning of the war (guerilla warfare)
- French started off winning the war, but indians began to join sides of the British for fear of French domination
- William Pitt took control of war effort; became a hero in the Colonies; supported the British
- Ended in North Americas in 1760
The Treaty of Paris (French and Indian War treaty not Revolution)
- Officially ended the French and Indian War in North America
- French gave up all the land east of the Mississippi River (except New Orleans) to England.
- England occupied Spanish owned Cuba in exchange for returning Cuba to Spain
- Spain gave up Florida to the British
- French gave Spain the Louisiana territory (west of Mississippi to Texas) because French didn’t want england to have it
Pontiac’s Rebellion
- Inspired by a religious leader named Neolin and led by war chief Pontiac
- A pan-Native American alliance that rose up in the Great lakes region and Ohio river
- Disadvantage for the British; 12 forts captured, surrounded by armed forces, or destroyed in the Spring and Summer of 1763
- Smallpox epidemic brought by British officers by handing blankets at a peace conference to Native Americans took a turn in favor of the British.
- Not a military success for the Native Americans
Proclamation of 1763
- Aka The Proclamation Line; began in 1763
- Issued by King George III
- Declared that British Colonists would no longer be able to settle west of the Proclamation Line drawn down the center of the App. Mountains
- Made colonists mad; believed that they worked hard enough to have that land from the French; saw it as breaking the law on what should be the Colonists’ land
- Seen as the end of the Age of Salutary Neglect
This was a line drawn after the French and Indian War and Pontiac’s Rebellion. Anglo-Americans were moving into Indian territory west of the Appalachians causing conflict, so the British Government stated that no colonists could move west of the Appalachians. One of the main causes leading to the American Revolution.
The Currency Act (1764)
- Colonies were not allowed to make their own colonial currency any more and use England Pounds
The Sugar Act (1764)
- In 1733 england implied heavy taxes on molasses (usually used for rum) that came into the colonies
- Illegal for the colonists to buy from French or Spain, but they did it anyway ‘cause it was cheaper to buy it untaxed
- 1764 England lowered the tax to ‘reasonable’ and vigorously enforced the law; stopped and searched every ship that went through Boston, New York City and Philidelphia
- Even after the lowering of the tax colonists still bought in the black market; complained of slowing commerce with England’s method; (created tensions btwn colonists and Crown; revealing end of the Age of Salutary Neglect
The Quartering Act (1765)
- 1766-1767
- Declared that colonial assemblies (legislatures) had to raise revenue to buy inexpensive things needed for British soldiers stationed in the colonies (candles, mattresses straw, window panes etc.)
- Not a direct tax
- One of the colonial legislatures would have to collect and then pass on to British governors in the colonies.
- Colonists saw it as an infringement on their rights and rejected act
- Led to New York Suspending Act 1767: suspended the New York assembly until the tax was paid.
- New York assembly raised the tax money before its assembly was suspended; parliament was willing to infringe on an ideal that the colonists held in the highest regard: Self Governance!
The Stamp Act (1765)
- 1765-1766
- Direct tax from British Parliament; somewhat elected by the colonists
- Parliament and Crown passed the Stamp Act
- Forced colonists to put a stamp (purchased by British tax officials) to all newspapers, legal documents, business contracts, wills, playing cards etc. to raise revenue for British Empire and offset military expenses in North America.
- Major economic change btwn the Parliament and colonists
Virtual Representation
- In 1765, the Parliament and Crown passed the Stamp Act .
- Was a DIRECT tax from the British Parliament on colonists
- A MAJOR change in the economic relationship between the Parliament and the colonists.
- Colonists argued that if they were to be taxed as British subjects were, then they should be allowed to elect representatives from the colonies to represent the colonies in the British Parliament in England.
- “No taxation, without representation”
- Several colonial legislatures wrote petitions to Parliament and the Crown expressing their desire to be rid of the taxes.
Patrick Henry
- American attorney
- Founding Father
- Served first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia (1776-1779 and 1784-1786)
- Led opposition of Stamp Act
- “Give me liberty, or give me death!”
- Leader of Anti-federalists in Virginia
- Opposed U.S. Constitution
- Helped gain adoption of the Bill of Rights
- Supported president John Adams and federalists
