American History 1 Study Guide

American History I Midterm Study Guide
Terms and People to Know-
Aztecs: the Mexica took the name Aztec from the name of their original homeland, Aztlan. They created a mighty empire by conquering neighboring cities. The Aztec demanded tribute, or payment, from the cities they conquered.

Maize: known in some English-speaking countries as corn, and is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Tribute: a payment by one ruler or nation to another in acknowledgement of submission or as the price of protection

Serf: a person in a condition of servitude, required to render services to a lord, commonly attached to the lord's land and transferred with it from one owner to another; a slave.

Indentured Servant: an individual who contracts to work for a colonist for a specified number of years in exchange for transportation to the colonies, food, clothing, and shelter

Enlightenment:
A: -following logic ideas and reasoning called rationalism, movement in history à started in Europe, used for politics à natural rights

B: -lead to new political ideas and beliefs which will challenge the authority of the king
*wakens people up, challenges the rulings of kings and monarchs à knowledgeable

Crusades: (1090-1270) à Holy wars between the Christians and Muslims; Pope sent European Holy Warriors to Middle East, Europeans want to trade with Middle Eastern Merchants

Iroquois Confederacy: War often erupted among the Iroquoians. In the late 1500s, 5 of the nations in Western NY formed an alliance to maintain peace. This alliance is now called the Iroquois Confederacy. The confederacy was formed to maintain peace and oppose their common enemy.

Mississippian Culture: began in the Mississippian River valley where the rich soil of the floodplains was perfectly suited to the intensive cultivation of maize and beans: Mississippians were great builders

Treaty of Tordesillas: confirmed Portugal’s right to control the route around Africa to India, and also confirmed Spain’s claim to most of the Americas

Protestant Reformation: group of people protesting the Roman Catholic Chruch Proprietary Colony: a colony owned by an individual
Joint-Stock Company: form of business organization in which many investors pool funds to raise large amounts of money for large protects

Mercantilism: the theory that a state’s power depends on its wealth
Great Awakening: Some Americans turned away from a religious world view whereas others renewed their Christian faith. Many Americans embraced a European religious movement called pietism which stressed an individual’s piety and emotional union with god. Throughout the colonies ministers held revivals (large public meetings for preaching and prayer). *In other words, people became more personally religious which then challenged the old way of religion.*

Bacon’s Rebellion: an armed rebellion in 1676 by Virginia settlers led by young Nathaniel Bacon against the rule of William Berkeley: It was the first rebellion in the American colonies in which discontented frontiersmen took part

Roger Williams: a young minister/separatist who believed Puritas corrupted themselves by staying within the Anglican Chrurch à founded Providence

Columbian Exchange: a dramatically widespread exchange of animals, plants, culture, human populations (including slaves), communicable disease, and ideas between the American and Afro-Eurasian Hemispheres following the voyage to the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492
Taino: “Indians” in which Columbus encountered in the Bahamas when he thought he had reached the fabled Indies

Hohokam: built a system of irrigation canals; grew corn, cotton, beans, and squash
Anasazi: Kivas are circular ceremonial rooms built by the Anasazi. Pueblo, Spanish for village, is a term used by early Spanish explorers to denote large housing structures build by the Anasazi.

William Penn: a member of the Quakers (a radical group because they saw no need for ministers and viewed the Bible as less important than each person’s “inner light” from God), founder of the province Pennsylvania

Navigation Acts: required all goods shipped to and from the colonies to be carried on English ships
Pequot War: In 1637 war broke out between the English settlers and the Pequot people of New England. This conflict ended with the near extinction of the Pequot people. In the following decades, however, English settlers and Native Americans lived in relative peace.
Middle Passage: the stage of the triangular trade in which millions of people from Africa were shipped to the New World as part of the Atlantic slave trade

Salutary Neglect: the unwritten British policy for governing the American colonies was referred to as salutary neglect. Under salutary neglect, enforcement of parliamentary law was deliberately lax, with the stated objective of encouraging colonial prosperity. Colonists were, for the most part, left to look after their own affairs.

Proclamation of 1763: After Britain won the Seven Years' War and gained land in North America, it issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which prohibited American colonists from settling west of Appalachian Mountains.

French and Indian War: in the 1700s the French and the British fought a series of battles to clam the biggest empire

Sugar Act: “The American Revenue Act of 1764”: raised the tax rates on imports of raw sugar and molasses. It also placed new taxes on silk, wine, coffee, pimento, and indigo.

Stamp Act: taxed almost all printed materials including newspapers, pamphlets, posters, wills, mortgages, deeds, licenses, diplomas, and even playing cards

Letters of Marque: licenses issued by Congress to private ship owners authorizing them to attack British merchant ships

Sons of Liberty: group of protestors
Albany Plan: a proposal developed by a committee led by Benjamin Franklin: the plan proposed that the colonies unite to form a federal government

John Locke: one of the earliest and most influenced enlightenment writers
Samuel Adams: became a leader in the protests against British tax laws because he discovered his talents of speaking out against British tax laws and organizing resistance against them

Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania: a series of essays written by the Pennsylvania lawyer and legislator John Dickinson (1732–1808) and published under the name "A Farmer" from 1767 to 1768. The twelve letters were widely read and reprinted throughout the thirteen colonies, and were important in uniting the colonists against the Townshend Acts.

Coercive Acts: “Intolerable Acts”: a series of Acts passed after the Boston Tea Party in an effort to reassert authority over the colonies

First Continental Congress: (September 5th, 1774, Philadelphia) 55 delegates à moderates wanted compromise and peace with Britain, Radicals wanted to prepare for war à Radicals win:
A. Each colony prepares a militia
B. Non-Importation Agreements against British goods à all colonies
C. Declaration of Rights and Grievances; letter to king à ignores it

Declaration of Independence: declared that the colonies were now each their own independent nation

Virginia’s Declaration of Rights: a document drafted by George Mason in 1776 which guaranteed Virginians freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the right to bear arms, and the right to trial by jury

Battle at Bunker Hill: Helped to build American confidence: it showed that the colonial militia could stand up to one of the world’s most feared armies

Battle at Trenton: took place on December 26, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, after General George Washington'scrossing of the Delaware River north of Trenton, New Jersey. The hazardous crossing in adverse weather made it possible for Washington to lead the main body of the Continental Army against Hessian soldiers garrisoned at Trenton. This battle influenced other people and/or other countries that George Washington was a good leader and other people and/or other countries wanted to help the Americans fight.

2nd Treaty of Paris: signed on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on one side and the United States of America and its allies on the other.

Articles of Confederation: established a very weak central government
Federalism: political system in which power is divided between the national and state governments

Northwest Ordinance: provided the basis for governing much of the western territory. The law created a new territory north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi.

Anti-Federalists: opponents, against the Constitution, farmers, low-middle class, no power
Shay’s Rebellion: Shay's rebellion was an armed uprising in Mass. in 1786 that exposed many deficiencies in the Articles of Confederation and led to more calls for a revision of the Articles and eventually the Constitutional Convention.

Virginia Plan: a plan, unsuccessfully proposed at the Constitutional Convention, providing for a legislature of two houseswith proportional representation in each house and executive and judicial branches to be chosen by the legislature.

Federalist Essays: a series of 85 articles or essays promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay

Key Themes-
1. The beginning of civilization in the Americas and its causes.
Having a steady food supply, not having to travel as much, the formations of many new towns, not having to hunt as often, and having more time to learn new skills led to early civilization in the Americas thousands of years ago. 2. *Main Reasons why the Europeans colonized the New World.* Crusades Protestant Reformation Search for New Trade Routes Rise of Nations Renaissance
3. Differences between European, Native American, and African-American Cultures and Societies in the 16th and 17th centuries. European: Trade for profit, private ownership of land, believe in one god, family is only blood-related, role of women is very traditional: mothers, wives, lack basic rights, takes care of house Native-American: Trade- “gift-giving”, public ownership of land, believe in many gods, considers entire tribe to be family, women are leaders and chiefs, takes women’s last name at marriage 4. Differences between the Jamestown and Plymouth Colonies. 5. Reasons and impact of African slavery in America. 6. *Main reasons why America declared its independence from the British in 1776.*
The colonists requested/declared their independence from Britain due to the extreme taxes that were being imposed upon them. They were being charged extreme amounts of money because they were an ocean away and did not have anyone representing them in Parliament. Being under British rule, those in power felt that they could charge as they chose no matter how far away or unfair it was.