Period 1 (1491–1607)
The crop (corn) cultivated by Indigenous societies that supported large, settled populations across North America.
What is Maize?
Laborers who bound themselves to a master for a fixed term of service (usually 4–7 years) in exchange for passage to the New World.
Who are Indentured Servants?
The 1754–1763 war between Great Britain and France that ended British "salutary neglect" and led to colonial taxation.
What is the Seven Years' War (or French and Indian War)?
The 1776 document drafted primarily by Thomas Jefferson declaring the 13 colonies free from British rule.
What is the Declaration of Independence?
The political party led by Alexander Hamilton that favored a strong central government, a national bank, and dynamic industrial growth.
What is the Federalist Party?
The massive transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, and diseases between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres after 1492.
What is the Columbian Exchange?
The economic doctrine advocating that colonies exist solely to enrich the mother country by supplying raw materials and consuming finished goods.
What is Mercantilism?
American colonists who actively supported resistance against British rule and favored independence.
Who are Patriots?
America's first national constitution, which created a decentralized government with a weak central legislature and no executive branch.
What are the Articles of Confederation?
The early political party led by Jefferson and Madison that championed states' rights, strict interpretation of the Constitution, and agrarian society.
What are the Democratic-Republicans?
The Spanish labor system that granted conquistadors control over Native American labor and land in exchange for converting them to Catholicism.
What is the Encomienda system?
English Protestants who sought to "purify" the Church of England and established the Massachusetts Bay Colony
Who are the Puritans?
Colonists who remained loyal to the British Crown throughout the American Revolutionary War.
Who are Loyalists?
The 1787 landmark ordinance establishing a process for admitting new Western states and banning slavery north of the Ohio River.
What is the Northwest Ordinance?
The belief that women were responsible for raising enlightened, virtuous sons to preserve the democratic republic.
What is "Republican Motherhood"?
Businesses formed by investors who pooled capital to fund colonial settlements in North America, such as the Virginia Company.
What are Joint-Stock Companies?
The 1680 uprising of Indigenous people in present-day New Mexico that temporarily expelled the Spanish from the region.
What is the Pueblo Revolt?
The Pennsylvania Enlightenment thinker, publisher, and diplomat who negotiated the critical French alliance during the Revolution.
Who is Benjamin Franklin?
The first ten amendments added to the U.S. Constitution to protect individual civil liberties and satisfy Anti-Federalist concerns.
What is the Bill of Rights?
Powers explicitly granted to the national government under Article I of the U.S. Constitution.
What are Enumerated Powers?
The racial hierarchy established in Spanish America that classified people based on their heritage (e.g., Peninsulares, Mestizos).
What is the Caste System?
The major religious revival that swept the British American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s, emphasizing emotional preaching and personal faith.
What is the Great Awakening?
Thomas Paine's 1776 widely circulated pamphlet that made a clear, logical argument for American independence from British monarchy.
What is Common Sense?
A collection of 85 essays written by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay to persuade New York voters to ratify the Constitution.
What are the Federalist Papers?
George Washington's 1796 address warning the nation against permanent foreign military alliances and factional political parties.
What is Washington's Farewell Address?