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Who was Amerigo Vespucci?
He was an Italian explorer who first recognized that the Americas were a separate continent from Asia.
Who were King Ferdinand and Queen Elizabeth and why were they significant?
They were catholic monarchs who, after completing a Reconquista of Spain from Muslims, they funded Chistopher Columbus' voyage.
What were indentured servants? How did they make it to the Americas?
Peope who had agreed to work for established planters for a fixed term before being granted their freedom along with some land to farm independently. Established Virginia plantation owners had a “headright system” in order to bring indentured laborers to the colony. The headright system involved a planter paying the passage fares for an indentured laborer from England, and for the payment of this passage, the planter would be granted an additional fifty acres to add to his existing landholdings.
What is an Amerindian? How did they get that name?
A term for the indigenous people of the Americas. The early explorers thought they had reached a part of India and called these people Indians. Now historians use the term Amerindian or Native American to describe them.
Who was Queen Elizabeth the First? Why was she significant?
What was the purpose of the Virginia Company?
The Virginia Company was a joint stock company that received a charter from King James I to create new profitable settlements in America.
What was the Toleration Act (1649)?
The Toleration Act gave all Maryland Christians (regardless of denomination) the right to practice their brand of the faith, both in private and in public.
Who was Christopher Columbus? Did he come before or after Amerigo Vespucci?
Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer and he was the first person to make it to the Americas, thinking he had reached a part of India. Christopher Columbus came before Amerigo Vespucci.
What was the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)?
A treaty between Spain and Portugal that leaned heavily in Spains favor. This treaty split the Western Hemisphere, giving Spain control over most the lands in South America, while the Portuguese kept their colonies in Brazil and the Cape Verde Islands.
Who was George Washington and what was his role in colonial America?
Explain the Colombian Exchange.
The Columbian exchange was the exchange of goods and people between the Old World and the New World. It is important because it led to increased trade and food production, but it also had a negative impact with disease and slavery.
What was Pueblo's Revolt? Was it successful?
A major native revolt in 1680 (in the what is today the American state of New Mexico) where an indigenous man known as Popé inspired tens of thousands of his people from villages around the Spanish presidio, or fortress, to rise up, kill a number of missionaries, and force the Spaniards out of the settlement of Santa Fe. This uprising was somewhat successful because it took the Spanish almost fifteen years to regain total control of this area.
What are Puritans and what did they believe?
The Puritans were a Protestant Christian group that emerged in England, and followed the theological teachings of the Swiss Protestant reformer, John Calvin. Like Calvin, the Puritans believed in predestination, or the predetermined salvation of the elect believers chosen by God to achieve eternal salvation.
What was the Mayflower Compact?
The Pilgrams aboard the Mayflower were traveling with a religious purpose and they gained access to a zone of land near the mouth of the Hudson River, and disembarked from Plymouth, England. While sailing across the Atlantic, Mayflower Compact was an agreement written by William Bradford with Pilgr that bound the signers to obey the government and legal system established in Plymouth Colony.
The Mayflower was the ship that carried pilgrims (or people traveling with a religious purpose) across the Atlantic to the new land they acquired in the Americas, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The Mayflower Compact was an agreement written by William Bradford with the Pilgrams while on the trip. It bound everyone who signed to obey their new government and legal system that was established for the Plymouth colony.
Explain the Salem Witch Trials.
Religious abuse in Puritan society reached a peak with the Salem Witch Trials. In 1692, allegations of witchcraft in the Massachusetts town of Salem led to the trial 130 people, some of whom were jailed and others of whom were executed by hanging. The Salem Witch Trials demonstrated the lengths that the Puritan religious establishment would go to use paranoia and fear to make accusations against those they believed could compromise their dominance.
What was Bacon's Rebellion?
Nathaniel Bacon was a recent English immigrant to Virginia, who was unable to settle lands on the coast due to the concentrated presence of English settlers already dominating the best lands. Bacon and his supporters, of many of whom were former indentured servants looking to make their own ways in the Americas, demanded that Virginia’s royal governor, William Berkeley, give them the authority to form an armed militia that could fight against the Native American tribes in Virginia’s interior.
What did the Proclamation of 1763 say?
After the English victory of the French and Indian War, they also realized that their military victory came with the price of native rebellions. So, England’s government issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763. This proclamation forbade further white settlers from moving west of the Appalachian mountains, a decree that many land-hungry American colonists ignored.
What was the purpose of a Halfway Convent?
To lure people back into the folds of Puritan practice, different churches in New England began offering what became known as the “Halfway Covenant.” The Halfway Covenant was simply an allowance by Puritan churches to baptize any children whose parents had been baptized, even though full church membership could not be bestowed until an individual confessed to experiencing an individual relationship with Jesus Christ when he or she came of age.
What was one effect of the French and Indian War?
Answers may vary.
Debt.
Explain one cause of the French and Indian War?
England and France conflicting over the ownership of territories and waterways.
What effect did the Great Awakening have on people?
The Great Awakening altered the religious climate in the American colonies. Ordinary people were encouraged to make a personal connection with God, instead of relying on a minister.
What was the Albany Plan of Union and why was it a failure?
The Albany Plan of Union was a plan suggested by Benjamin Franklin that aimed to unify eleven of the thirteen American colonies, with the opportunity for more colonies to join in the future. The plan failed because it was rejected by the British and American colonies.
Explain the difference between French relationships with the Amerindians and Spanish relationships with the Amerindians.
French colonists often engaged in cooperative relationships with Native Americans, while their Spanish counterparts seemed more interested in controlling and enslaving large groups of Native Americans.
Explain the First Great Awakening.
This was a period of religious revival promoted by religious leaders such as George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards. It was characterized by corporate prayer, doctrine, emotionalism, music, open air meetings, testimonies, emphasis on the Holy Spirit, and social action.
Explain the Age of Enlightenment.
Europe’s “Age of Enlightenment” was a two and half century long period starting in the middle of the sixteenth century during which people across the European continent began exploring new ways of viewing people, authority, faith, and reason. In 1687, the English scientist Sir Isaac Newton conducted experiments on gravity, while in 1690, his compatriot John Locke, a political philosopher, wrote about the natural rights of man and the duties of government towards citizens.