Apush Vocab Ch. 1-5

Front 1

Mesoamerica

Back 1

The region of Central America where the Maya, the Aztecs and other ancient cultures existed.

Front 2

Mayas

Back 2

Ancient Mesoamerican civilization that thrived from about A. D. 300 to A. D. 900.

Front 3

Toltec

Back 3

Warrior people who conquered Maya but who "withdrew" before the rise of the Aztecs.

Front 4

Aztecs

Back 4

Mesoamerican civilization that thrived in the 14th and 15th Centuries A. D.

Front 5

Adena-Hopewell culture

Back 5

Northeastern culture that thrived from 800 B.C.-A.D. 600 in the Ohio Valley and surrounding areas of the current United States.

Front 6

Mississippian culture

Back 6

Culture of the central Mississippi River Valley of the current United States, which thrived from A. D. 600 to A. D. 1500.

Front 7

Anasazi culture

Back 7

Southwestern culture that began in the 5th B.C., involved permanent pueblo settlements.

Front 8

Christopher Columbus

Back 8

Self-taught Italian mariner who in the late 15th C A.D. sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean in search of the Indies.

Front 9

Treaty of Tordesillas

Back 9

Treaty between Spain and Portugal defining the Spanish claim on exploration and settlement west of the Cape Verde Islands.

Front 10

Amerigo Vespucci

Back 10

Italian explorer who first suggested that South America was a new continent.

Front 11

maize

Back 11

Also called 'Indian Corn', maize was one of the staples of the New World.

Front 12

Ferdinand Magellan

Back 12

Portuguese sailor (worked for Spain) who first sailed around the world while looking for way around S. America.

Front 13

Hernando Cortes

Back 13

Ruthless leader of the conquistadores, destroyed Aztec civilization under Montezuma.

Front 14

Montezuma

Back 14

Aztec emperor who became a puppet of Cortes and allowed his civilization to fall.

Front 15

encomienda

Back 15

Feudal-esque system used by the conquistadores, whereby favored officers became privileged landowners who controlled Indian villages or groups of villages.

Front 16

Bartolomeo de Las Casas

Back 16

Catholic missionary and Bishop in Mexico who wrote A Brief Relation of the Destruction of the Indies (1552), favoring Indians.

Front 17

hacienda

Back 17

A great farm or ranch.

Front 18

Council of the Indies

Back 18

Arm of Spanish government in charge of extending central control over the Americas.

Front 19

Spanish borderlands

Back 19

Area of the southern United States formerly claimed by Spain.

Front 20

Juan Ponce de Leon

Back 20

Governor of Puerto Rico, and first known explorer of Florida.

Front 21

St. Augustine

Back 21

Spanish outpost in Florida, became first European town in present-day US.

Front 22

presidio

Back 22

A fort where soldiers who were sent to protect Spanish missions were housed.

Front 23

Juan de Onate

Back 23

Brutal New Mexico governor ousted by Pope's Rebellion.

Front 24

Pope (Indian leader)

Back 24

Pueblo leader who organized a rebellion, which resulted in driving the Spaniards out of New Mexico.

Front 25

Pueblo Revolt

Back 25

AKA Pope's Rebellion, most effective native resistance against Mexican colonization.

Front 26

Martin Luther

Back 26

German monk who protested abuses in the Catholic church by posing his 'Ninety-five Theses.' Founder of the Lutheran church.

Front 27

Ninety-five Theses

Back 27

Martin Luther's criticisms of the Catholic church arguing against indulgences and for a direct relationship to God.

Front 28

Calvinism

Back 28

"Stern Protestantism" founded by John Calvin, based on the doctrine of predestination and "the elect".

Front 29

Defender of the Faith

Back 29

Title given by the pope to England's Henry VIII prior to England's break from the Catholic church.

Front 30

Church of England

Back 30

The Anglican church, which unites church and state under the monarchy.

Front 31

Francis Drake

Back 31

English privateer who led British fleet against the Spanish Armada.

Front 32

galleon

Back 32

Heavy ship used by the Spanish Armada.

Front 33

Sir Walter Raleigh

Back 33

English founder of Roanoke, the lost colony.

Front 34

common law

Back 34

English tradition of basing laws on judicial precedents, designed to limit arbitrary noble power.

Front 35

law of primogeniture

Back 35

English law that gave the birthright of inheritance to the oldest son.

Front 36

joint stock companies

Back 36

Company owned by multiple shareholders, who share both the risks and rewards. Some of the largest were granted royal charters that gave them land monopolies.

Front 37

enclosure movement

Back 37

Policy to fence off farmlands for more efficient grazing, displaced peasants.

Front 38

divine right

Back 38

Theory promoted by James I of England, by which monarchs answered only to God for their actions.

Front 39

Oliver Cromwell

Back 39

Took over after unpopular Catholic Charles I was deposed.
Ruled Britain like military dictator, arbitrary policies ignored the colonies.

Front 40

The Restoration

Back 40

1660, the British monarchy was restored under Charles II.

Front 41

Glorious Revolution

Back 41

Parliament freed itself from Catholic James II's control by replacing him with his cousin Mary and her husband William of Orange.

Front 42

Toleration Act of 1689

Back 42

Extended a degree of freedom of worship to all Christians except Catholics and Unitarians, but dissenters still had few political rights.

Front 43

Jamestown

Back 43

Intended as the first permanent British colony, settled in 1606 on the banks of the James River in Virginia.

Front 44

Powhatan

Back 44

Charismatic chief of numerous Algonquian-speaking towns in eastern Virginia, interacted with Jamestown.

Front 45

John Smith

Back 45

Instrumental leader in settlement of Jamestown + survival of first years of hardship by imposing strict discipline.

Front 46

headright policy

Back 46

Virginia Company gave 50 acres to shareholding settlers + 50 more for anyone they brought with them.

Front 47

Sir William Berkeley

Back 47

Elitist Governor of Virginia, appointed by Charles I.

Front 48

Bacon's Rebellion

Back 48

Nathaniel Bacon led frontier farmers against Gov. Berkeley, who wanted to fortify frontier instead of invade Indian lands.

Front 49

King Philip's War

Back 49

Puritans executed 3 Wompanoags, causing Indian counterattack on Mass. that was repelled.

Front 50

Tuscarora/Yamasee War

Back 50

British allied with Yamasee and others to quell Tuscarora attacks, then pushed out/enslaved weakened Yamasee.

Front 51

proprietary colony

Back 51

Colony owned by an individual, rather than a joint-stock company.

Front 52

separatists

Back 52

AKA Pilgrims, rigorously devout Puritans who had severed all ties with the Church of England.

Front 53

Mayflower Compact

Back 53

Formal agreement made by 41 Pilgrim leaders prior to landing at Plymouth to abide by laws of their own devising.

Front 54

William Bradford

Back 54

Leader of the Mayflower Pilgrims and Governor of the Plymouth colony.

Front 55

Puritans

Back 55

Congregationalists who settled New England in search of religious freedom (for themselves) and a strictly religious community.

Front 56

John Winthrop

Back 56

Puritan leader and Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, sought to build a "city on a hill."

Front 57

Roger Williams

Back 57

Dissenter vs. Winthrop, formed Rhode Island colony based on separation of church + state, INDIVIDUAL covenant with God.

Front 58

Anne Hutchinson

Back 58

Female Boston dissenter who was banished from Mass. Bay.

Front 59

William Penn

Back 59

Established Pennsylvania colony as Quaker settlement, encouraged new immigrants via pacifism and tolerance.

Front 60

slash and burn

Back 60

Technique used by New England Indians to flatten dense forests into fields or hunting grounds.

Front 61

Pequot War

Back 61

Mass. Bay + Plymouth burned down Pequot village, defeated counterattack, and pushed Indians out of their land.

Front 62

Maryland Toleration Act

Back 62

Lord Baltimore's Maryland promised religious toleration to Puritans.

Front 63

matrilineal descent

Back 63

System found in Southeastern Indian nations, in which authority and property descended through the maternal line.

Front 64

New Netherland

Back 64

Dutch colony conquered by the English to become four new colonies New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.

Front 65

indentured servant

Back 65

Cheap labor system, colonists brought workers who signed 5-7 year contracts in exchange for passage and eventual freedom.

Front 66

sex ratio

Back 66

Ratio of women to men in the early American colonies, typically 2 or 3 men for every woman.

Front 67

"invisible" charges

Back 67

Various British tariffs/expenses imposed on Southern traders to offset unfavorable balance of trade.

Front 68

triangular trade

Back 68

Means by which exports to one country or colony provided the means for imports from another country or colony.

Front 69

promissory note

Back 69

Used in lieu of hard currency, an “I.O.U.” issued by colonists and colonial treasuries as an early form of paper money.

Front 70

covenant theory

Back 70

Central to Puritanism – a voluntary union for the common worship of God and for the purposes of government.

Front 71

John Peter Zenger

Back 71

New York newspaper publisher who was imprisoned for openly criticizing New York's royal governor.

Front 72

the Enlightenment

Back 72

Revolution in thought begun in the seventeenth century that emphasized reason and science over the authority of traditional religion.

Front 73

heliocentric universe

Back 73

A sun-centered universe postulated by Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.

Front 74

Isaac Newton

Back 74

Author of Principia, which founded Enlightenment idea of mathematical, rationally determinable universe.

Front 75

Deist

Back 75

Followers of Sir Isaac Newton's idea of natural law, reducing God to the position of a remote Creator.

Front 76

Benjamin Franklin

Back 76

Boston-born American who epitomized the Enlightenment. A printer by trade, he went on to become a publisher, inventor, and statesman.

Front 77

Great Awakening

Back 77

Religious reaction to materialism + the cold, unfeeling Enlightenment. Emphasized piety and renouncing of sin.

Front 78

Jonathan Edwards

Back 78

Spread Great Awakening in New England by using fear in his sermons.

Front 79

George Whitefield

Back 79

Spellbinding English evangelist who advanced the Great Awakening by touring America and preaching an emotional religion.

Front 80

Privy Council

Back 80

The British king's first agency of colonial supervision.

Front 81

mercantilism

Back 81

Limitation and exploitation of colonial trade by an imperial power.

Front 82

enumerated goods

Back 82

Raw goods like cotton, tobacco, fur, that the Colonies could only ship to England/her colonies.

Front 83

Dominion of New England

Back 83

Failed attempt by Andros to consolidate all New England colonies + New York into one.

Front 84

Sir Edmund Andros

Back 84

Royal governor of the Dominion of New England.

Front 85

contract theory of government

Back 85

Lockean idea that people established governments to protect their natural rights, and could abolish a gov't that denied these ends.

Front 86

Navigation Acts

Back 86

Laws passed by England to force colonies to use English workers and goods.

Front 87

writs of assistance

Back 87

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

Front 88

admiralty courts

Back 88

Courts wherein the cases were decided by judges appointed by the governors, rather than by a colonial jury.

Front 89

Board of Trade

Back 89

British overseer of all matters pertaining to colonial trade and laws.

Front 90

salutary neglect

Back 90

Policy where the Board of Trade became lax in its regulation/enforcement of colonial trade.

Front 91

Acts to Prevent Frauds and Abuses

Back 91

England tightens trade laws and gives colonial governors more power.

Front 92

mestizo

Back 92

People of mixed Indian and European ancestry.

Front 93

Samuel de Champlain

Back 93

French explorer and governor of New France until his death in 1635.

Front 94

Acadians

Back 94

French settlers of the easternmost areas of Canada.

Front 95

King William's War

Back 95

First (1689-97) of four colonial wars between England and France.

Front 96

asiento

Back 96

Contract for supplying Spanish America with 4,800 slaves granted to the British by Spain.

Front 97

Albany Congress

Back 97

Colonial representatives gathered in Albany, NY to discuss defense against French + Indians.

Front 98

French and Indian War

Back 98

American front of Seven Years' War, colonists + British vs. French + Indians, British won control of land east of Mississippi.

Front 99

William Pitt

Back 99

British administrator who sent soldiers to the colonists and win the French + Indian war.

Front 100

annus mirabilis

Back 100

"Miraculous year" 1759, during which Great Britain secured an empire "on which the sun never set."

Front 101

Treaty of Paris

Back 101

Ended French + Indian War, France gives Louisiana to Spain, who don't use it, Spain loses Florida, Americans encroach across Mississippi River.

Front 102

George III

Back 102

British monarch during last years of British control of colonies, tried to consolidate power over colonies.

Front 103

Proclamation Line

Back 103

British decree after French + Indian War to bar colonists from expanding into new land west of Appalachians.

Front 104

Sugar Act

Back 104

Parliament's tax designed solely to raise British revenue by taxing colonial products like sugar.

Front 105

Stamp Act

Back 105

Parliament forced colonists to buy royal stamps on all publications/contracts, backlash by upper class caused it to be repealed.

Front 106

Quartering Act

Back 106

Parliamentary act requiring colonies to house and provision British troops.

Front 107

virtual representation

Back 107

Unpopular policy by Grenville that said Parliamentary representatives also represented the colonies.

Front 108

nonimportation agreement

Back 108

Colonial boycott of the importation of British products.

Front 109

Townshend Acts

Back 109

Parliament suspends New York assembly for defying Quartering Act, creates customs offices + admiralty courts.

Front 110

John Dickinson

Back 110

Philadelphia lawyer who said that Parliament had no right to levy taxes solely for revenue.

Front 111

Samuel Adams

Back 111

Massachusetts assembly member, founding organizer of the Sons of Liberty, and distant cousin of John Adams.

Front 112

Sons of Liberty

Back 112

Secret organizations formed by Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and other radicals in response to the Stamp Act.

Front 113

Boston Massacre

Back 113

Clash between British soldiers and a Boston mob protesting Townshend Acts, March 5, 1770, in which five colonists were killed.

Front 114

Crispus Attucks

Back 114

Runaway slave killed in the Boston Massacre.

Front 115

Green Mountain Boys

Back 115

Group led by Ethan Allen, who fought for the land that became Vermont.

Front 116

Paxton Boys

Back 116

Vengeful Pennsylvania frontiersmen who in protest of a perceived lack of frontier protection massacred local Indian tribes.

Front 117

Regulators

Back 117

Groups of backcountry Carolina settlers who protested colonial policies and took their protection into their own hands.

Front 118

Gaspee Commission

Back 118

Parliament bypassed courts of Rhode Island after British ship Gaspee was looted by colonists.

Front 119

Committees of Correspondence

Back 119

Committees between colonies to organize and mobilize public opinion against British injustices.

Front 120

Boston Tea Party

Back 120

Sons of Liberty destroyed shipments of East India company tea to protest Tea Acts, which forced colonists to buy taxed tea from monopoly.

Front 121

Coercive Acts

Back 121

AKA Intolerable Acts in response to Tea Party, gave British troops extraterritoriality, quartering in private homes, and set up military gov't.

Front 122

First Continental Congress

Back 122

Representatives of a loose confederation of colonies met to call for economic self-sufficiency and armament of defenders.

Front 123

Battle of Lexington and Concord

Back 123

First shots of Rev. War, British forced to retreat from attack on colonial ammunition depot, colonial victory.

Front 124

Battle of Bunker Hill

Back 124

First major battle of the Rev. War, pyrrhic victory for British.

Front 125

Second Continental Congress

Back 125

Meeting of colonial representatives who adopted Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and carried out Revolutionary War.

Front 126

Olive Branch Petition

Back 126

Written by John Dickinson and adopted by Second Continental Congress, moderate colonial stance pleading for peaceful resolution of issues.

Front 127

Thomas Paine

Back 127

Author of Common Sense, which was a huge hit in the colonies: INDEPENDENCE OR BUST.

Front 128

Thomas Jefferson

Back 128

Third President of the United States and drafter of the Declaration of Independence.

Front 129

Declaration of Independence

Back 129

Document adopted on July 4, 1776, that made the official break with Britain; drafted by a committee of the Second Continental Congress including principal writer Thomas Jefferson.

Front 130

George Washington

Back 130

Charismatic American hero of French + Indian war, appointed Commander in Chief by 2nd Cont. Congress.