Important Things To Know Flashcards
(57 cards)
Encomienda System
A 16th-century Spanish colonial labor system granting settlers the right to extract forced labor and tribute from indigenous peoples in exchange for Christian instruction and protection.
Joint-Stock Companies
Business entities where investors pooled capital by buying shares; profits (and risks) were distributed proportionally—key to funding early English colonization (e.g., the Virginia Company).
Pueblo Indians
Indigenous peoples of the American Southwest known for adobe dwellings (“pueblos”) and agricultural practices; resisted Spanish missions in the 1680 Pueblo Revolt.
Asiento System
A Spanish government contract granting merchants the monopoly to supply African slaves to Spanish colonies.
Roanoke
The “Lost Colony” of Roanoke, established in 1585 off the coast of North Carolina; colonists vanished, fate unknown.
House of Burgesses
The first elected legislative assembly in English North America, established in Virginia in 1619.
Mercantilism
Economic theory that national power depended on accumulating wealth (gold and silver) by exporting more than importing; colonies served as sources of raw materials and markets.
Cash Crops
Crops grown primarily for sale rather than subsistence, such as tobacco, cotton, and sugar.
Triangular Trade
Three-legged Atlantic trade network: European manufactured goods to Africa, enslaved Africans to the Americas, and American raw materials back to Europe.
Order of Colonization of Colonies
Chronological order of colony foundations: Virginia (1607), Plymouth (1620), Maryland (1634), Rhode Island (1636), Connecticut (1636), Carolinas (1663), Pennsylvania (1682), Georgia (1733).
Bill of Rights
The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1791, guaranteeing individual liberties.
Boston Massacre
A 1770 clash in Boston where British soldiers killed five colonists, fueling revolutionary sentiment.
Boston Tea Party
A 1773 protest in which colonists dumped British tea into Boston Harbor to oppose the Tea Act.
Checks and Balances
A constitutional principle ensuring that each branch of government (executive, legislative, judicial) can limit the powers of the others.
The Constitution
The supreme law of the United States, drafted in 1787, outlining the national government’s structure and powers.
Declaration of Independence
A 1776 document declaring the thirteen American colonies independent from Britain, drafted primarily by Thomas Jefferson.
Sons of Liberty
A secret society of American patriots formed to protest British policies through direct action and intimidation, active from 1765 onward.
Embargo Act
An 1807 law enacted under Jefferson that banned U.S. trade with foreign nations, intended to avoid war but harmed American merchants.
War of 1812
A war fought between the United States and Great Britain from 1812 to 1815 over maritime rights and frontier expansion.
Hartford Convention
A 1814-1815 meeting of New England Federalists in Hartford, Connecticut, to discuss grievances and possible secession, diminishing the Federalist Party’s influence.
Tariff of Abominations
An 1828 protective tariff that favored Northern manufacturers and angered Southern planters, contributing to the Nullification Crisis.
Cult of Domesticity
A 19th-century cultural ideal emphasizing women’s roles at home: piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity.
Monroe Doctrine
An 1823 U.S. policy warning European powers against further colonization in the Western Hemisphere.
Marbury v. Madison
The 1803 Supreme Court case in which Chief Justice John Marshall established the principle of judicial review.
