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Christopher Columbus

A Genoese explorer tasked by the King and Queen of Spain, who accidentally discovered the West Indies in 1492 during his voyage across the Atlantic Ocean.

Conquistadores

Sixteenth-century Spaniards, spanning from Colorado to Argentina, ultimately conquered the Aztec and Incan empires in the Americas including Cortés and Pizarro who led the conquest of powerful native empires.

Three-sister farming

The agricultural system, utilized by North American Indians from around 1000 CE, involved planting maize, beans, and squash together for increased productivity.

Columbian Exchange

A transfer of goods, crops, and diseases between the Old and New World after the Spanish discovery of America in 1492.

Noche Triste

The "Sad night" refers to the Aztec attack on Hernán Cortés and his forces in their capital, Tenochtitlán, leading to the downfall of the Aztec empire and the beginning of three centuries of Spanish rule in Mexico.

Encomienda System

A Spanish policy where the government granted Indigenous people to colonists in exchange for their promise to Christianize them, used to subdue Indian tribes in the West Indies and North America.

Spanish Armada

Refers to the fleet sent by King Philip II of Spain, which was defeated in the English Channel in 1588, marking the onset of the decline of the Spanish Empire.

Jamestown

Established in 1607 by the Virginia Company, marked the beginning of English colonization in North America, sparking a wave of subsequent colonies and charters during the Great English Migration.

Virginia Company

Chartered to establish the first English colony of the New World, finance investors with resources, profit shareholders, and produce essential cash crops, mainly tobacco.

Powhatan Confederacy

Alliance of Native American tribes in Virginia led by Chief Powhatan, encountered by the Jamestown settlers.

John Rolfe

English colonist who, through his marriage to Pocahontas in 1614, secured peace during the First Anglo-Powhatan War in early American history.

The Great English Migration

Mass migration with various types of English Christians escaping their dissatisfaction with the Church Of England and looking to make a new Christian settlement in the New World.

Mayflower Compact

The first self-governing contract made at Plymouth, reflecting the future English pursuit of law and religious liberty.

House of Burgesses

Representative parliament assembly for governing Virginia, and an inspiration to other English colonies.

Plantations

A large agricultural business primarily growing cash crops using forced labor, often slaves, established by European settlers in Africa, South America, the Caribbean, and the American South.

Indentured servitude

A labor system in which individuals contracted to work for a specified period of time (usually seven years) in exchange for passage to the New World, food, clothing, and shelter, contributing to labor shortages in the early American colonies.

Middle Passage

Transatlantic voyage of enslaved Africans from Africa to the Americas as part of the Atlantic slave trade.

Joint-Stock Companies

A business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders, often used to finance colonial ventures.

Mercantilism

Economic theory and practice that dominated European economic policies during the period of colonization, emphasizing the accumulation of wealth through trade and the establishment of colonies as sources of raw materials and markets.

Triangular Trade

A system of trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas, involving the exchange of goods, slaves, and raw materials, shaping the economies of the colonial Americas and the Atlantic world.

Canadian Shield

First part of the North American landmass to emerge above sea level

Incas

Ancient civilization (1200-1500AD) that was located in the Andes in Peru

Aztecs

Also known as Mexica, they created a powerful empire in central Mexico (1325-1521 C.E.). They forced defeated peoples to provide goods and labor as a tax.

nation-states

those societies in which political legitimacy and authority overlay a large degree of cultural commonality

Cahokia

Mississippian settlement near present-day East St. Louis, home to as many as twenty-five thousand Native Americans.

caravel

Small regular vessel with a high deck and three triangular sails. Caravels could sail more closely into the wind, allowing European sailors to explore the western shores of Africa, previously made inaccessible due to prevailing winds on the homeward journey.

Treaty of Tordesillas

Signed by Spain and Portugal, dividing the territories of the New World. Spain received the bulk of territory in the Americas, compensating Portugal with titles to lands in Africa and Asia.

capitalism

Economic system characterized by private property, generally free trade, and open and accessible markets. European colonization of the Americas, and in particular, the discovery of vast bullion deposits, helped bring about Europe's transition to capitalism.

mestizos

People of mixed Indian and European heritage, notably in Mexico.

Battle of Acoma

Fought between Spaniards under Don Juan de Oñate and the Pueblo Indians in present-day New Mexico. Spaniards brutally crushed the Pueblo peoples and established the territory as New Mexico in 1609.

Pueblo Revolt

Pueblo Indian revolt that drove Spanish settlers from New Mexico. The Spanish left behind some 1500 horses that became the ancestors of the horse herds that spread across the continent and transformed the lives of many Plains Indians.

Black Legend

False notion that Spanish conquerors did little but butcher the Indians and steal their gold in the name of Christ.

Protestant Reformation

Movement to reform the Catholic Church launched in Germany by Martin Luther. Reformers questioned the authority of the Pope, sought to eliminate the selling of indulgences, and encouraged the translation of the Bible from Latin, which few at the time could read. The Reformation was launched in England in the 1530s when King Henry VIII broke with the Roman Catholic Church.

Roanoke Island

Sir Walter Raleigh's failed colonial settlement off the coast of North Carolina.

First Anglo-Powhatan War

Series of clashes between the Powhatan Confederacy and English settlers in Virginia. English colonists torched and pillaged Indian villages, applying tactics used in England's campaigns against the Irish.

Second Anglo-Powhatan War

Last-ditch effort by the Indians to dislodge Virginia settlements. The resulting peace treaty formally separated white and Indian areas of settlement.

Iroquois Confederacy

Bound together five tribes—the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas, and the Senecas—in the Mohawk Valley of what is now New York State.

Captain John Smith

(1580-1631) English adventurer who took control of Jamestown in 1608 and ensured the survival of the colony by directing gold-hungry colonists toward more productive tasks. He also established ties with the Powhatan Indians through the chief's daughter, Pocahontas, who had "saved" him from a mock execution the previous year.

Pocahontas

(ca. 1595-1617) Daughter of Chief Powhatan, she "saved" Captain John Smith in a dramatic mock execution and served as a mediator between Indians and the colonists. In 1614, she married John Rolfe and sailed with him to England, where she was greeted as a princess and where she passed away shortly before her planned return to the colonies.

Lord De La Warr

(1577-1618) Colonial governor who imposed harsh military rule over Jamestown after taking over in 1610. A veteran of England's brutal campaigns against the Irish, De La Warr applied harsh "Irish" tactics in his war against the Indians, sending troops to torch Indian villages and seize provisions. The colony of Delaware was named after him.

Act of Toleration

Passed in Maryland, it guaranteed toleration to all Christians but decreed the death penalty for those, like Jews and atheists, who denied the divinity of Jesus Christ. Ensured that Maryland would continue to attract a high proportion of Catholic migrants throughout the colonial period.

Barbados slave code

First formal statute governing the treatment of slaves, which provided for harsh punishments against offending slaves but lacked penalties for the mistreatment of slaves by masters. Similar statutes were adopted by southern plantation societies on the North American mainland in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

squatters

Frontier farmers who illegally occupied land owned by others or not yet officially opened for settlement. Many of North Carolina's early settlers were squatters, who contributed to the colony's reputation as being more independent-minded and egalitarian than its neighbors.

Calvinism

Dominant theological credo of the New England Puritans based on the teachings of John Calvin. Calvinists believed in predestination—that only "the elect" were destined for salvation.

Fundamental Orders

Drafted by settlers in the Connecticut River valley, this document was the first "modern constitution" establishing a democratically controlled government. Key features of the document were borrowed for Connecticut's colonial charter and, later, its state constitution.

King Philip's War

Series of assaults by Metacom, King Philip, on English settlements in New England. The attacks slowed the westward migration of New England settlers for several decades.

New England Confederation

Weak union of the colonies in Massachusetts and Connecticut led by Puritans for the purposes of defense and organization; an early attempt at self-government during the benign neglect of the English Civil War.

Navigation Laws

Series of laws passed, beginning in 1651, to regulate colonial shipping; the acts provided that only English ships would be allowed to trade in English and colonial ports and that all goods destined for the colonies would first pass through England.

Dominion of New England

Administrative union created by royal authority, incorporating all of New England, New York, and East and West Jersey. Placed under the rule of Sir Edmund Andros, who curbed popular assemblies, taxed residents without their consent, and strictly enforced Navigation Laws. Its collapse after the Glorious Revolution in England demonstrated colonial opposition to strict royal control.

salutary neglect

Unofficial policy of relaxed royal control over colonial trade and only weak enforcement of Navigation Laws. Lasted from the Glorious Revolution to the end of the French and Indian War in 1763.

Quakers

Religious group known for their tolerance, emphasis on peace, and idealistic Indian policy, who settled heavily in Pennsylvania in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

blue laws

Also known as sumptuary laws, they are designed to restrict personal behavior in accord with a strict code of morality. Blue laws were passed across the colonies, particularly in Puritan New England and Quaker Pennsylvania.

headlight system

Employed in the tobacco colonies to encourage the importation of indentured servants, the system allowed an individual to acquire fifty acres of land if he paid for a laborer's passage to the colony.

Bacon's Rebellion

Uprising of Virginia backcountry farmers and indentured servants led by a planter; initially a response to Governor William Berkeley's refusal to protect backcountry settlers from Indian attacks, the rebellion eventually grew into a broader conflict between impoverished settlers and the planter elite.

middle passage

Transatlantic voyage slaves endured between Africa and the colonies. Mortality rates were notoriously high.

jeremiad

Often-fiery sermons lamenting the waning piety of parishioners first delivered in New England in the mid-seventeenth century; named after the doom-saying Old Testament prophet Jeremiah.

Half-Way Covenant

Agreement allowing unconverted offspring of church members to baptize their children. It signified a waning of religious zeal among second- and third-generation Puritans.

Leisler's Rebellion

Armed conflict between aspiring merchants led by this person and the ruling elite of New York. One of many uprisings that erupted across the colonies when wealthy colonists attempted to re-create European social structures in the New World.

Two-party system

A party system in which two major parties win a majority of votes and control the executive branch of the government

Shays's Rebellion

Armed uprising of western Massachusetts debtors seeking lower taxes and an end to property foreclosures. Though quickly put down, the insurrection inspired fears of "mob rule" among leading Revolutionaries.

articles of confederation

First American constitution that established the United States as a loose confederation of states under a weak national Congress, which was not granted the power to regulate commerce or collect taxes.

Three-fifths compromise

It determined that 3 out of every 5 slaves were counted when determining a state's total population for legislative representation and taxation.

Virginia and Kentucky resolutions

Statements secretly drafted by Jefferson and Madison for the legislatures of Kentucky and Virginia. Argued that states were the final arbiters of whether the federal government overstepped its boundaries and could therefore nullify, or refuse to accept, national legislation they deemed unconstitutional.

Virginia Plan

"Large state" proposal for the new constitution, calling for proportional representation in both houses of a bicameral Congress. The plan favored larger states and thus prompted smaller states to come back with their own plan for apportioning representation.

New Jersey Plan

"Small-state plan" put forth at the Philadelphia convention, proposing equal representation by state, regardless of population, in a unicameral legislature. Small states feared that the more populous states would dominate the agenda under a proportional system.

antifederalists

Opponents of the 1787 Constitution, they cast the document as antidemocratic, objected to the subordination of the states to the central government, and feared encroachment on individuals' liberties in the absence of a bill of rights.

federalists

Proponents of the 1787 Constitution, they favored a strong national government, arguing that the checks and balances in the new Constitution would safeguard the people's liberties.

civic virtue

Willingness on the part of citizens to sacrifice personal self-interest for the public good. Deemed a necessary component of a successful republic.

republican motherhood

Ideal of family organization and female behavior after the American Revolution that stressed the role of women in guiding family members toward republican virtue.

Great Compromise

The final results of the great debate between the New Jersey and Virginia plans which combined both ideas

The Federalist

A collection of essays written and published by Jay, Madison, and Hamilton during the ratification debate

Alien and Sedition Act

Tightened restrictions on foreign-born Americans and limited speech critical of the government

Tariff Act of 1789

Raised revenue to finance the new central government and to pay the interest payments on Revolutionary War debt

Judiciary Act of 1789

Established the Supreme Court, federal district, circuit courts, the office of the attorney general, and the federal legal system

Federalist Party

Favored a strong national government and argued that checks and balances in the Constitution would protect people's liberties

Compromise of 1790

A deal in which Jefferson agreed to back Hamilton's plan for the federal government to assume all war debts while Jefferson got the location of the capital

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution that secured key rights for individuals

Reign of Terror

Ten-month period of brutal repression when some forty thousand individuals were executed as enemies of the French Revolution. While many Jeffersonians maintained their faith in the French Republic, Federalists withdrew their already lukewarm support once the Reign of Terror commenced.

Farewell Address

George Washington's address at the end of his presidency, warning against "permanent alliances" with other nations. Washington did not oppose all alliances, but believed that the young, fledgling nation should forge alliances only on a temporary basis, in extraordinary circumstances.

XYZ Affair

Diplomatic conflict between France and the United States when American envoys to France were asked to pay a hefty bribe for the privilege of meeting with the French foreign minister. Many in the United States called for war against France, while American sailors and privateers waged an undeclared war against French merchants in the Caribbean.

Neutrality Proclamation

Issued by George Washington, it proclaimed America's formal neutrality in the escalating conflict between England and France, a statement that enraged pro-French Jeffersonians.

Bank of the United States

Created by Congress as a part of Alexander Hamilton's financial program, the bank was able to print paper money and served as a depository for Treasury fund

Whiskey Rebellion

Popular uprising of whiskey distillers in southwestern Pennsylvania in opposition to an excise tax on whiskey

Jay's Treaty

It said that Britain was to pay for Americans ships that were seized in 1793. It said that Americans had to pay British merchants debts owed from before the revolution and Britain had agreed to remove their troops from the Ohio Valley

Pickney's Treaty

1795 - Treaty between the U.S. and Spain which gave the U.S. the right to transport goods on the Mississippi river and to store goods in the Spanish port of New Orleans

Northwest Ordinance of 1784, 1785, and 1787

It established regulations for the sale of land and territorial organization of the Northwest Territory, which would become the foundation for the government's policy toward all western lands acquired in the future

George Washington

First U.S. president, leader of the Constitutional Convention and the Revolutionary War, and founder of the Cabinet

John Jay

American revolutionary and diplomat who negotiated the Treaty of Paris and the Jay Treaty, which averted war with Britain

John Adams

Vice President during Washington's presidency and second president of the U.S.

Alexander Hamilton

Washington's Secretary of Treasury, who aimed to strengthen national credit and created the first Bank of the United States, and was also the Federalist PArty's leader

Thomas Jefferson

Washington's Secretary of State whose political rivalry with Hamilton led to the two-party system

French and Indian War

Nine-year war between the British and the French in North America. It resulted in the expulsion of the French from the North American mainland and helped spark the wider Seven Years' War in Europe and elsewhere.

Proclamation of 1763

A proclamation from the British government which forbade British colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains, and which required any settlers already living west of the mountains to move back east.

Stamp Act 1765

Widely unpopular tax on an array of paper goods, repealing 1766 after mass protests erupted across the colonies. Colonists developed the principle of "no taxation without representation" that questioned Parliament's authority over the colonies and laid the foundation for future revolutionary claims

Sugar Act of 1764

Duty on imported sugar from the West Indies. It was the first tax levied on the colonists by the crown and was lowered substantially in response to widespread protests.

Son and Daughters of Liberty

Patriotic groups that played a central role in agitating against the Stamp Act and enforcing nonimportation agreements.

Declaratory Act of 1766

Passed alongside the repeal of the Stamp Act, it reaffirmed Parliament's unqualified sovereignty over the North American colonies.

Townshend Acts

External, or indirect, levies on glass, white lead, paper, paint, and tea the proceeds of which were used to pay colonial governors, who had previously been paid directly by colonial assemblies. Sparked another round of protests in the colonies.

Boston Massacre

Clash between unruly Bostonian protestors and locally stationed British redcoats, who fired on the jeering crowd, killing or wounding eleven citizens

Tea Act of 1773

Gave the British East India Company a monopoly over the colonial tea trade and was thought by colonists to be forcing compliance with taxation without representation