Chapter 1:

Key Terms/People/Places/Events:

Archaic Period: Human history in the Americas between 8,000 BC and 3,000 BC. 2
parts:
1. Most people lived by hunting and gathering, using stone tools like those brought
over from Asia earlier. Some large animals hunted by humans became extinct,
spears used for hunting.
2. New activities amongst population groups; new tools. Fishing nets and hooks
developed, traps for smaller animals that were beginning to be hunted, baskets for
gathering. Later, farming began in some groups. Corn was an important crop, as
were beans and squash. Agricultural areas developed settlements, from which
civilizations were borne.

Inca:
 Lived in Peru, largest of ancient American civilizations
 Began small in Cuzco; leader Pachacuti added to empire, spanning nearly 2,000
miles
o Not all additional land was gained by conquering; Pachacuti (1400s) sent
agents to neighboring civilizations to explain the benefits of being part of
his empire. Most neighboring leaders agreed to form alliances with the
Incas
 Sustained by a creative government and a web of paved roads
Olmec:
 Lived in Mexico/Central America
 Began in 1,000 BC
 Considered the first really complex civilization in the Americas
Mayans:
 Lived on the Yucatán Peninsula (in Mexico) and in parts of Central America
 Began around 500 AD
 Advanced civilization; created:
o Numerical system
o Advanced farming system
o Written language
o Accurate calendar
o Valuable trade routes to reach other parts of North America
Mexica (Aztec):
 Built a city Tenochtitlan around 1300 AD (where Mexico city is). Tenochtitlan
had:
o Schools for all young boys
o A medical system
o Coordinated military
o A workforce of slaves from conquered tribes
 Mecotiza—great emperor???
  By 1500 had a population of 100,000, largest in the Americas
 Built aqueducts to get water across the region
 Dominated most of central Mexico through demanding hefty taxes, which the
military enforced
*Like other civilizations in the area, the Mexica believed their gods required sacrifice.
Unlike other societies, who fulfilled this requirement with mostly nonfatal sacrifices,
the Mexica believed their gods required human hearts. Therefore they sacrificed
people—young men captured in combat—in huge quantities.

Black Death: Epidemic o the bubonic plague that began in Constantinople in 1347 and
killed more than a third of Europe’s population. This had a detrimental effect on the
already limited economy of Europe. Population decrease had to be naturally remedied
before overseas exploration began.

Cahokia: Native American city near St. Louis. Result of large numbers of people living
in the forests of the eastern third of what is now the US (greatest food resources of any
area in the continent). Lots of tribes lived in these wooded areas (called woodland
Indians), and the tribes hunted, farmed, gathered and fished. In the south, trading
networks of corn and other grains developed, and Cahokia was one of the cities that
emerged as a result of trade. Had a population of 10,000 people at its peak in 1200 AD

Christopher Columbus: From Genoa, Italy, Christopher Columbus had gotten most of
his experience in the service of Portugal. Columbus wanted to reach Asia by sailing west,
not east. Portugal wouldn’t finance him, so he turned to Spain. King Ferdinand and
Queen Isabella agreed to finance the trip (with money made from exiling Jews and
Muslims). Columbus, however, had several misconceptions:
 He thought the globe was much smaller than it really is
 He thought the eastern portion of Asia expended each much more than it does
*Got these misconceptions from the Bible and Ptolemy. It never crossed his mind that
there might be something between Europe and Asia
Instead of reaching Japan, Columbus’s 3 ships landed in the Bahamas. Two voyages
later, Columbus reached the mainland of North America
 Though he finally realized he had reached a separate continent, not Asia,
Columbus believed until the day he died that he had explored the edge of the Far
East

Clovis People: Came from a Mongolian people, pursued wooly mammoth, imperial
mammoth, and caribou with new spears and other hunting instruments which made
hunting across such a wide area possible. Followed game from Asia to North America,
crossing land bridge over the Bering strait 11,000 years ago, then traveled down to
nonglacial lands farther south.

Conquistadores: After a while, America became less of a way to get to Asia and more
of a potential source of riches to the Spanish explorers. Because Columbus discovered it,
Spain claimed the entire New World (except modern day Brazil, which the Pope reserved
for Portugal) and by the mid 1599s, the Spanish had begun to build a substantial
American Empire.
 Hernando Cortés: led about 600 conquistadores into Mexico in search of treasure.
The Aztecs resisted, as did Montezuma, their king, but during and early and
(fairly) peaceful trip to Tenochtitlan, the Conquistadors exposed the Natives to
smallpox
A smallpox epidemic ensued, weakening the Aztec resistance and enabling the Spanish
to conquer
*Cortés is remembered as the most brutal of the conquistadors, because he violently
oppressed the surviving natives
More and more conquistadors descended upon Mexico when they heard news of silver
being found:

Francisco Pizarro: Conquered Peru

Hernando de Soto: once a deputy of Pizarro, first known white to cross the Mississippi
River

Francisco Coronado: helped open the southwest part of US to Spanish settlement while
searching for treasures

Coureurs de Bois: Adventurous French trappers and fur traders—went far into forest
and intermarried with Native Americans. Became one of the supports of the French
colonial economy.

Encomienda:

Henry Hudson: Dutch. In 1609, he sailed up what is now the Hudson River, thinking
he had found a path to the Pacific Ocean. This, though wrong, led the Dutch to claim land
in North America.

Jamestown: Named after King James of England. Rich people (1%) came to
Jamestown. Didn’t know how to work. 2 motives:
1. Gold
2. Passage to the East
Was toing to fail, but…
1. John Smith Introduced discipline:
-Organized raids on Indians
-“He who does not work does not eat”
2. John Rolfe allowed private ownership of land:
-Before all was company land, people going to work harder on their own land
3. John Rolfe introduced a better strand of tobacco—cash crop
-exhausts the soil, needs to move around; expanded settlement.

Matrilineal:
Mercantilism: Economy where a nation exports more than it imports. System believes
there is a set amount of resources, which must be snatched up for a country. Falsely
believed a country’s wealth could be measured by national gold. Economic system
almost all European nation states in 1500s and 1600s, which put nation states in direct
competition. Made overseas colonies a desirable way to get resources so they wouldn’t
need to be bought from another country. Benefited merchant capitalists, whose overseas
ventures were deemed worthy of government assistance because they were beneficial to
the nation.

Meso-Americans: Natives who lived in what is now Mexico and much Central
America. Olmec, Maya, and Mexica (Aztec)

Mestizos: People of mixed Spanish and Native American race. Result of intermarriage
between Spanish men and native women, a result of many more Spanish men in the
Americas than Spanish women.

Protestant Reformation: Challenging of Catholic Church led to a birth and strength of

Protestantism.

Puritans: most devoted of Protestants. Known as Puritans because they wished to

“purify” the Church of England. Believed in predestination—Calvinist theory that it was
decided when you were born if you would go to heaven or not (along with everything
else you did during your life). Kind acts showed you were part of the “elect” and going to
heaven. Money and charity meant elect. Freedom to Puritans meant freedom from church
of England, not individual freedom. Still, the religion stayed with the Church of England;
didn’t separate, just wanted to reform. Congregational church, elected ministers and
voted on new members of church. Elected ministers and general court. No bishops. Saw
Bible as direct link to God—high literacy rate, education emphasized. First Generation
automatically part of church—subsequent needed conversion experience. Before
compromise of 1662, non-members couldn’t have kids baptized, unbaptized kids couldn’t
go to heaven.

Roanoke: Lost colony of England; no one knows what happened. Sir Walter Raleigh
had the grant, Sir Richard Grenville led first expedition in 1585, but colonists suffered so
much that they fled on the first ship to bring supplies and reinforcements. Raleigh sent
another expedition in 1587. These settlers had vanished by 1590, with no trace of their
whereabouts but “Croatoan” carved onto a post.

Samuel de Champlain: Founded Quebec. Attacked a group of Mohawks during

tensions between the French and the Iroquois, because the French had developed an
alliance with the Algonquins and some other tribes.

Separatists: Most radical of Puritans. Wanted separate from the church of England and
form their own religious group, even though England had band the meeting of
unauthorized religious groups, made subjects attend Anglican services, and taxed people
to support Anglican churches. Separatists were pilgrims?
Seigneuries: French agricultural estates in North America. Along St. Lawrence River?

Sir Humphrey Gilbert: Given extensive rights to settle a colony in North America by
Queen Elizabeth. Settled in Newfoundland. Lost at sea when a storm sank his ship, which
was sailing south along the coast to find a good place to build a military fort that could
become a profitable colony.

Sir Walter Raleigh: Half brother of Gilbert. Received the grant to explore and
permission to settle Virginia, but no money to do so, Roanoke was (temporarily) settled
in Virginia.

Tenochititlán: An Mexica city. Had: Schools for all young boys

 A medical system
 Coordinated military
 A workforce of slaves from conquered tribes

Key Ideas:

How did contact between he European arrivals and the native people of the Americas
affect both groups?

How did Spanish settlements in America differ from that of the English, Dutch, and
French?

What were the effects of the importation of African slaves into the Americas?

What is mercantilism and what did it have to do with the European colonization of
North America?

How did the English experience at colonization in Ireland affect English colonies in
America?

What awoke Europe’s interest in overseas exploration?

Chapter 2:
Key Terms/People/Places/Events:

Ann Hutchinson: Argued that Massachusetts Bay clergymen had no right to office;
they weren’t “elect” and had had no conversion experience. She had, she said, so she
was above the law. Eventually challenged all ministers in the colony, and stirred up
ignoring assumptions about the role of women in Puritan societies. Developed a
large following: women, young men, merchants, and other dissidents who thought
the colonial government was too oppressive. Governor Winthrop tried her for
heresy; Hutchinson showed great knowledge of theology, embarrassing her
accusers. Banished from the colony as “a woman not fit for our society”; moved with
her family and some followers to Rhode Island and later to New Netherland
(present day NY), where she was murdered during an Indian Uprising. As a result of
Hutchinson, the role of women in Massachusetts within congregations was limited,
causing more of her followers to leave colony.

Antinomianism: Greek word that means “hostile to law”. Critics of Ann

Hutchinson condemned her teachings (that clergymen weren’t elect and couldn’t be
clergymen because they had had no conversion experience) as antinomianism.

Bacon’s Rebellion: Nathaniel Bacon, part of backcountry gentry, led an uprising in

1676 in response to:
 Piedmont area underrepresented in the House of Burgesses
 Unhappy with the way contact with the Indians was being handled:
o Governor Berkeley was trading with Indians attacking people in
Piedmont
The rebellion can be seen in the context of several fights:
 Rich vs. Poor
 West vs. East
Bacon and his followers:
 Burned Jamestown
 Showed social insecurity: set a president for the right to vote
Impact on slavery: Wealthy landowners saw that indentured servants can’t be
controlled when released, so slavery increased
*At this point Ninean Beall owned the land that is now Woodley

Dominion of New England: Charles II was unhappy that Massachusetts was

behaving as an independent nation. He wanted to show his authority, so he
separated New Hampshire from Massachusetts (to weaken Massachusetts’
power), creating a new colony, and appointed a governor. Later, Charles
revoked Massachusetts’ charter and made it a royal colony. His successor,
James II, created the Dominion of New England, which combined all colonial
governments. He eliminated the governing assemblies, and appointed Sir
Edmund Andros to rule as a single governor over the entire New England from
Boston.

George and Cecilius Calvert: George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore had
recently converted to Catholicism and was a shrewd Businessman. He wanted to
create a colony as a retreat for English Catholics who were oppressed by
Anglican government in England. He died before he could get a charter, but his
son, Cecilius, the second Lord Baltimore, received a charter that not only gave
him right to the land, but right to almost sovereign power. The only
acknowledgement to the king required was an annual fee. Otherwise, Cecilius
and his heirs could rule as “absolute lords”. St. Mary’s city (named after the
 queen) was built on this land and were befriended by Indians, thus avoiding a
starving time. Marylanders had religious toleration (Catholics knew they would
always be a minority), free worship to all Christians. Still, Catholics were a
minority and Protestants were a majority, which hurt the politics of the colony
of Maryland.

Glorious revolution:

Headright: Land grants. Those who already lived in a colony when the system
was put into place got a large piece of land. New settlers received a headright.
Those who paid for someone else’s passage to the New World would receive a
headright for each person. This encouraged people to migrate as a family and
pay for other migrations, expanding the population of the colonies. First
implemented in Virginia.

Jacob Leisler: Prosperous merchant, German immigrant, was never accepted

into New York ruling class. Led ted New York dissidents of New York Governor
Sir Edmund Andros, who was ruling through Captain Francis Nicholson.
Nicholson was supported by wealthy merchants and fur traders, who had the
power in the colonies. Less powerful colonists didn’t like Andros. Leisler saw
this as a chance to challenge the elite. He raised a militia, which captured the
city fort, driving Nicholson into exile. Leisler then declared himself New York’s
new head of government. Ruled for two years, trying and failing to stabilize
power in New York, while facing strong rivalry. When William and Mary
appointed a new governor in 1691, Leisler conceded, but hesitated long enough
to be charged with treason by political enemies. “Leislerians” and “anti-
Lislerians” controlled New York politics for years after.

James Oglethorpe: Founded Georgia in 1734, veteran of Queen Anne’s War.

Military and philanthropic motives in founding the colony:
 Military:
o Military buffer with Spanish colonies south.
 Philanthropic:
 A place for English poor (debtors) and other castoffs to begin again
Very strict governor:
 No rum—feared effect on both colonists and Indians
 No slaves—could escape and ally with Spanish
 No Catholics—could ally with Spanish
 Limits on personal land (easier to watch over and defend)
*Did not prosper until harsh rules were removed. Then the main cash crop
was rice, which was enabled by slavery.

John Smith: Introduced discipline to the failing Jamestown colony. Became president
of Jamestown and organized raids on Indians to obtain food, and declared “He who does
not work does not eat.”
John Winthrop: First governor of Massachusetts Bay Company. Organized a journey
of Puritans to the New World largest single migration of the 1600s. “City a Hill”,
meaning Puritans could be a model for the rest of the world. Dominated colonial politics.

King Philip’s War: Longest and most deadly war between Indians and settlers. Indian
Revolt. King Philip (Metacomet, leader of the Wampanoag tribe), resisted the English in
response to English colonists going onto Indian land and meddling in Indian affairs.
Recently 3 Wompanoags had been hanged in Plymouth for killing another Indian. The
Wompanoags terrorized the Massachusetts colonists by destroying towns and killing as
many as a thousand people, weakening both the economy and society of Massachusetts.
The Mohawk tribe, an enemy of the Wompanoags, spied for an guided the colonists, and
it was Mohawks who ambushed Metacomet, killed him, and brought his head to the
settlers. The head was displayed in the Boston commons as a warning to other Indians
(where the little duck statue is now). Metacomet’s family was then sold into slavery in
the West Indies. Puritans had better technology in the war, though Indians adapted well.
High casualties were a result of both sides using the new flintlock riffles.

Massachusetts Bay Company: Puritan merchants organized the company to take

economic advantage of opportunities in America, and got a grant for land in New
England. Set up a colony in the New World. After a while, some of the Puritans began to
think about emigrating from England to the colony, to create a colony, a safe place for
Puritans.

Mayflower Compact: They Mayflower sighted New World land in November, when it
was too late to go any further. However, they ended up on Cape Cod, rather than their
original destination, which was presumably the mouth of the Hudson River. This territory
on Cape Cod was outside the London Company’s territory; there was no legal basis for
the colonists to settle there. Therefore, 41 male passengers signed the Mayflower
Compact, which was in many ways the first constitution of the United States of America.
In the document, they promised to cooperate with each other under God. They
established a government and declared their allegiance to the King in the Mayflower
Compact before stepping ashore.

Metacomet: Leader of the Wompanoags, a tribe that terrorized the Massachusetts

colony during “King Philip’s” War.

Middle Ground: Along boarders of English colonies, often neither colonists nor
Indians could establish dominance, so they learned to coexist. While there were often
conflicts, each society learned and benefited from the other. The Natives had mixed
feelings about Europeans. Looked to them as fathers, wanted them to help settle conflicts
between hem, but also fought them ferociously. Greatest Middle ground was between the
Mississippi River and Great Lakes in the Ohio Valley. Here lived the British, the French
and the 5 Iroquois nations.
Navigation Acts: Charles II wanted to regulate colonial commerce more strictly than it
was being controlled. Passed 3 Acts:
1. Colonial trade had to be transported in British ships (built in England or colonies).
Some goods the colonies produced could only be traded with Britain (i.e.:
Tobacco)
2. Goods shipped to colonies from Europe had to pass through England (to be
taxed).
3. Duties imposed on costal trade among English colonies, and appointed officials to
enforce the Navigation Acts.
Helped the colonists by encouraging them to increase the shipbuilding industry in the
colonies. England wanted to get as many things as possible from their own colonies,
so American production of English-needed goods such as lumber, iron, and silk
increased. Though colonists complained, the Acts helped both England and the
colonies through most of the 1700s.

Pequot War: 1675. Settlers and the Pequot Tribe competed for land and trading with
the Dutch in New Netherland. Settlers aligned with the Narragansett and Mohegan tribes
(Pequot Rivals) in the war. The English were bloody and the most savage in the war.
Captain John Mason set a Pequot stronghold afire, killing hundreds of Indians either by
burning, or killing them as they tried to escape. Survivors were sold as slaves, virtually
eradicating the Pequot tribe.

Plymouth Plantation: Though it was illegal to leave England without the King’s
Permission, a Separatist congregation from Scooby left a few at a time for Leyden,
Holland so they could worship freely. Here, however, they were forced to take menial
jobs, and they resented the tolerant society. They wanted a strict Christian society, so
they got the Virginia Company’s permission to settle in British America and the king told
them he would not hurt their colony, as long as it acted peacefully (this was notable, as it
opened the English America to other dissenting Protestants). The Puritans landed at Cape
Code, dubbed “Plymouth” by Captain John Smith, where smallpox had killed off most of
the natives before the Pilgrims arrived. There, they had a terrible first winter, but the
colony survived. They raised domestic animals such as horses, hogs, cattle, and ship.
They grew new crops (barely, oats, and wheat, among others), and ate Native foods (such
as corn, peas and potatoes) which they brought back to Europe, and set up a plantation
colony, with help from Indians, such as Squanto, who helped form an allegiance between
the Puritans and the Wompanoags. The first Harvest saw the Pilgrims inviting the Indians
for a feast, but the good relationship did not last, because the English settlers introduced
the Natives to Smallpox, killing off a large number of them.

Powhatan: Leader of the Powhatan tribe, which the English oppressed as they
expanded. Had 100 wives, making him very powerful. Wanted to use the whites to attack
the Nacotchank confederacy of Indians. Sir Thomas Dale led constant assaults against the
Powhatans for two years, even kidnapping Powhatan’s daughter, Pocahontas (her later
marriage to John Rolfe when her father refused to ransom her was the first recorded
interracial marriage in American history, Wikipedia). When his daughter died, Powhatan
stopped attacking the English, whom he was attempting to resist, because the odds were
so far from in his favor. His brother Openchancanough, though, began resisting the
English again when Powhatan died and Openchancanough was made chief.

Quakers: Society of Friends was founded by George Fox and Margaret Fell. Named
Quakers because George Fox told them to “tremble at the name of the Lord”. Pacifists;
Quakers didn’t fight in wars. They also didn’t recognize bishops. They believed that
everyone could speak directly to god, so they didn’t have clergy. They spoke in meeting
as they were moved to. Didn’t believe in predestination and original sin. Believed
everyone has an “inner light” inside him or her, which would guide him or her through
life. Women had positions in church equal to men. Most democratic and anarchistic of all
protestant sects of the time. Spoke to each other as “thee” and “thou” to show that no
person was valued above another. Prosecuted in England and New England, so they, with
the help of influential convert William Penn, created the colony of Pennsylvania.

Quitrent: The founders of the Carolina colonies made money from the colony by
collecting annual payments (called “quitrents”) from the settlers.

Roger Williams: Lived in Massachusetts. Extremely separatist, forward thinking, first

to express ideas of ending slavery, and was a popular young minister. Believed in
separation of Church and state. Believed the land belonged to the Indians, and had to be
purchased from them. Thrown out of Salem, took refuge with Indians, and ended up
founding Rhode Island, a religiously tolerant colony.

Sir William Berkeley: Appointed by King Charles I as governor of Virginia. Popular,

at first, sent explorers to the interior Blue Ridge Mountains to open up the land. Defeated
an Indian uprising, gaining lots of land. In return, he agreed to stop white settlers from
claiming land west of an agreed line. This failed, because the population of Virginia was
growing so quickly. After a while, Berkley had become a virtual autocrat. Restricted
voting rights, rare elections. Limited representation of the people, Backcountry
underrepresented, led to Bacon’s Rebellion.

Theocracy: a society in which church and state are not separate (such as early Puritan
Massachusetts.

Virginia House of Burgesses: Met for the first time in 1619 in Jamestown church, with
representatives from the various communities in the Virginia Company. First meeting of
elected legislature in the land that would become the United States.

William Bradford: Governor of Plymouth, elected again and again. He was the one
who broke communal land into private property plots. This kept everyone working hard;
people work their own land harder than communal land, and no one else is going to work
their land for them.

William Penn: Quite wealthy, educated, great student athlete. Became a Quaker,
founded Pennsylvania (hated Quakers needed someone influential to help them establish
a colony). Pennsylvania attracted more people than other colonies, because it was very
accepting/tolerant. Pennsylvania Charter of Liberties limited property of power and
rreated a hone house representative. Pennsylvania and Penn had good relations with
Indians, best/most fertile land of all the colonies, and Penn advertised well in different
languages. Sent brochures to other countries.

Key Ideas:

Compare patterns of settlement and expansion in the Chesapeake with those in New
England. What were the major differences? Where there any similarities?

What were the reasons for the revolts and rebellions the revolts in the colonies of
Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts and New York between 1660 and 1700? How were
these rebellions resolved?

How did the institution of slavery in England’s Atlantic seaboard colonies differ from
slavery in the Caribbean? What accounted for these differences?

What were the middle grounds, and how did conditions there differ from conditions in
the colonies along the Atlantic seaboard?

How did the Glorious Revolution in England affect England’s North American
colonies?

Chapter 3:
Key Terms/People/Places/Events

Cotton Mather: Began smallpox immunization in America. Heard from his slave a
practice of infecting people with mild smallpox so their bodies could build up an
immunity. Heard it was relatively successful in England. Though he believed that disease
was a punishment for sin, he urged fellow Bostonians to be inoculated during an
epidemic of smallpox in the 1720s, which was successful.

Covenant: Confined residents to a social and religious promise to get along within the
community.

George Whitefield: Open air preacher of Christianity throughout the colonies during
the Great Awakening. Worked for a time with the Wesleys.

Great Awakening: Beginning in the 1730s and peaking in the 1740s, people in the
colonies began worrying that religion was declining. This resulted in extra-piousness;
people were encouraged to begin a new relationship with God. Particularly appealing to
younger sons of later-generation settlers and women, as they weren’t inheriting anything
and had no certainty in their futures.

Gullah: An early slave language in South Carolina, a hybrid of African languages and
English.
Huguenots: The earliest non-English European immigrants. French Calvinists. Edict of
Nantes of 1598, which had allowed Huguenots large liberty in France, was repealed, and
Huguenots bean leaving France. A small number of the 300,000 who left France came to
the English colonies.

Indentured Servitude: People would agree to work for a master for a set number of
years (usually four or five years) and in exchange the master would pay for their passage
to the New World and for Food and shelter. Men were supposed to receive benefits with
which to start an independent life (clothes, tools, occasionally land) but often left empty
handed, unequipped to live independently. Because there were so many more men than
women in the colonies, women usually married when their terms expired. Sometimes
convicts and other people undesirable to England—orphans, paupers, and vagrants—
were sent to the New World, as were prisoners of wars with Scotland and Ireland, and
victims of kidnapping. Indentured Servitude provided a workforce for the colonies—
especially after it became evident that the Indians would not—and proved very appealing
to employers. The servants often came to escape troubles in England, or to establish
themselves, but often were not able to. As a result, young, single, formerly indentured
men without families would travel, often in groups, around the colonies, looking for land
and work, and were a potential, and at times an actual source of social unrest.

Indigo: A cash crop in South Carolina. Eliza Lucas discovered that the high ground of
South Carolina—which was not suitable for rice growing—worked well for indigo. In
addition, the indigo harvest was during the rice-growing season. Indigo, became a
popular import in England (blue dye) and an important compliment to rice in the
economy.

Jeremiad: Puritan ministers preach these Sabbath sermons warning of wandering of

and disapproving of relenting and wandering piety.

John and Charles Wesley: Founded the Methodist sect of Protestantism. English
preachers who helped spread the revival of religion in the 1730s in Georgia and other
colonies.

John Peter Zenger: New York publisher. On trial for publishing something bad about
William Cosby, English-appointed governor of NY and people who worked with him.
Charged with “seditious libel” (treasonous slander). Would have been convicted in
England, but acquitted in America. Defended by Andrew Hamilton, who declared that if
it was true, it wasn’t seditious libel (a principle displayed in first amendment).

Jonathan Edwards: Preacher during the Great Awakening. Puritan, can’t earn your way
to heaven. Said that the “roads of hell are paved with the skulls of unbaptized infants” to
get people to religiously have their babies baptized. Most famous sermon “Sinners in the
hands of an angry God” Said spiders hanging by fragile thread are the flames of Hell.
Wrote an essay on flying spiders at the age of 12 (Wikipedia, 17?)
Middle Passage: Horrendous path that slave ships took from the coast of Africa to the
Americas. Tight packers and lose packers (some slave traders just wanted to get as many
slaves over as possible, regardless of how many died. Others acknowledged that it was
important to take care of their cargo. Sharks followed the trails of vomit and waste
seeping out of the hold all the way across the Atlantic.

Primogeniture: An English system where a father passed all his inherited property to
the eldest son. In the colonies, however, a father divided his property amongst all his
farm. Kept the father in control of his sons; many did not move into his own house until
his late 20s. Young women were more mobile then men, as they weren’t inheriting any
set property. This system in the colonies didn’t work because after enough generations
the family wouldn’t have enough land to go around.

Saugus Ironworks: Iron ore had been discovered around Saugus, Massachusetts, and
iron technology was improving quickly in England. Saugus Ironworks was the first
attempt to begin a significant metal industry in the colonies. The company used
waterpower to drive bellows, which regulated the heat in a charcoal furnace. The iron ore
melted and trickled down into molds or to form “sow bars”, and the bars were taken to a
forge to be shaped into sellable things like axes, plows, pots, hoes and other tools. The
Saugus Ironworks was a technological success equal to any iron company in Europe, but
a financial failure, which forced it to close 22 years after it opened.

Scots-Irish: Many came to Pennsylvania—they were Scottish Presbyterians who had

settled in Northern Ireland, but whose long-term leases expired, upon which the English
landlords could raise the rent ridiculously. They were not warmly received at colonial
ports, and pushed out to the boarders of European settlement, land which the occupied
regardless of who actually owned it, be it non-present whites, Indians, or the Colonial
government. Brutally displaced and suppressed the Indians, just as they had done with the
Native Irish Catholics.

Slave Codes: limited the rights of blacks and gave white masters almost absolute
power. Passed in early 1700s by colonial assemblies. Only one factor mattered when
determining if a person was subject to the slave codes: skin color. Any African blood, no
matter how little, made a person black.

Stono Rebellion: Most important slave revolt. South Carolina, 1739. About 100 slaves
rose, took weapons, and killed several whites, and tried to escape to Florida. The uprising
was quickly stopped, and most of the up risers were executed.

Triangular Trade: Not really a triangle: trade between America, Africa, West Indies,
and, to a lesser extent, Europe. West Indies sent sugar to the colonies, which turned the
sugar into rum, which was sent to Africa, which sent slaves both to the colonies, and to
the West Indies. Slaves were needed for backbreaking sugar cane work.

 The Enlightenment: Caused by the Great Awakening. Based in large part on science
and intellectual discoveries. Encouraged thinking for oneself, celebrated human
reasoning and scientific inquiry. Leaders told people they didn’t always have to turn to
God when they needed help. Undermined power of traditional authority, like the great
awakening, but encouraged people to help themselves, to look to themselves, not god for
help. Education and politics emphasized (governments were how society could improve
itself). Did not challenge religion, supported Christianity, but encouraged people to rely
on themselves more. John Lock and Francis Bacon big enlightenment philosophers, but
Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, and Thomas Paine would later
contribute.

Key Ideas:
1. How did patterns of family life and attitudes toward women differ in the northern
and southern colonies?
2. How did the lives of African slaves change over the course of the first century of
slavery?
3. Who immigrated to North America in the seventeenth century, and why did they
come?
4. What was the intellectual culture of colonial America, as expressed in literature,
philosophy, science, education, and law?
5. How and why did life in the English colonies diverge fro life in England?