APUSH Review Sheet 1. During the late 16th century and into the 17th century, European nations rapidly colonized the newly discovered Americas. England in particular sent out numerous groups to the eastern coast of North America to two regions. These two regions were known as the Chesapeake and the New England areas. Later, in the late 1700's, these two areas would bond to become one nation. Yet from the very beginnings, both had very separate and unique identities. These differences, though very numerous, spurred from one major factor: the very reason the settlers came to the New World. This affected the colonies in literally every way, including economically, socially, and politically. The Chesapeake and New England attracted different types of settlers and, by 1700, the populations differed enormously. In New England, the population was almost entirely English and white, with the Congregational Church formerly established. Devoutly religious families, including Puritans, Quakers, and Catholics made up a large percentage of the population. It was due to the reputation the New England colonies had as a place of religious freedom that these people came. In the Chesapeake, however, the population was a majority black-slave, that is. The religion of the two areas differed greatly as well. Because New Englanders came to escape religious persecution, one would think that it would become a land of complete tolerance. This was not the case, though. The New Englanders were very religious-based, and claimed that they "were far more godly than all other colonists." Religion was family-based and with extreme piety, there was one clergyman for every 600 people, the highest in the New World. In the Chesapeake, religion was much less severe. The established church was the Anglican Church, but only became so after 1692. The religious tone was low-church, and many people (mostly slaves) did not participate in the Anglican Church. Yet another major difference caused by the founding purposes was the economy of the two. As mentioned previously, the Chesapeake economy revolved around the tobacco industry, which paved the way for other industries as well. Slave trade relied fully on the tobacco plantation owners as a market to sell the slaves to. In addition, the tobacco raised enough to finance the importation of indentured servants, who would then go to work the tobacco, increasing the production further. It became a cycle, with the result being the ever-increasing production and sale of the tobacco. New England did not "have all of its eggs in one basket" quite like the Chesapeake. The economy was based on fishing, shipbuilding, and farming. 2. As the new nation became settled, slavery became a part of it.  Many of the new settlements were large areas where slaves became an essential part of maintaining and developing these areas.  While Europeans came to the new world to establish their claim to new land, people of color were needed to maintain and tend these areas.  As economies of scale began to emerge in the new world with the discovery of crops such as tobacco, the profit generated helped to develop more lands and more slaves. Up until 1676, indentured servants were the primary source for labor in the New World.  Slavery, as noted, had begun almost as soon as the English colony of Virginia began to be settled, but slaves were a poor source for labor -- they were very expensive and they usually died within 7 years of arriving. Indentured servants were much cheaper; they too usually died within 7 years of arrival, but their sponsor was out much less money, as it was cheaper to pay for an indentured servant's passage across the Atlantic than it was to purchase a slave for life. Tobacco became the primary export; its cultivation was labor intensive. Slavery began in earnest after Bacon's Rebellion, in 1676.  The indentured and newly freed servants and small poor white farmers stormed various plantations and destroyed what they could in protest against the abusive practices of the large scale farmers.  The rebellion was put down, but afterwards racism was legally enshrined in a series of acts that were designed to give the poor white farmers more of a stake in the agrarian economy by excluding black farmers. Conditions had improved so that life expectancy was greater; slaves, rather than troublesome indentured servants, became the mainstay labor force for nearly the next 200 years; racism upheld the social and political structures in the South and has finally rapidly diminished in our own time. 3. Under mercantilism, colonies provided one raw material for two market goods. Manufacturing was reserved for Great Britain and the crown restricted trade, which created hardships. Fortunately many of these restrictions were not strictly enforced. This disregard for the policy is called salutary neglect. A problem with salutary neglect is that for a colony to be self-sufficient, it must export more than it imports. Because America was unable to do this, it was unable to become self-sufficient easily. This also demonstrates a way in which Great Britain was able to maintain control over its colonies. When Britain began to realize the extent of salutary neglect, it began to instate more and stricter policies. Some of these included the Navigation Act of 1651, 1660, and 1663. The Navigation Act of 1651 stated that all trade with the colonies was required to take place on an English ship. The Act of 1660 contained a list of enumerated articles that could only be sold to Great Britain at set prices. Finally, the Navigation Act of 1663 said that all ships transporting goods bound for English colonies were required to land at an English port before they could proceed to the colony. These Acts were also known as the Intolerable Acts. There were several benefits for the colonies that resulted from mercantilism. Some of these included an increase in shipbuilding, a monopolized and guaranteed tobacco market, and protection of the colonies by the English military. During King William’s War, 1689 to 1697, Queen Anne’s War, 1702 to 1713, King George’s War, 1740 to 1748, and the French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, the colonists were especially fortunate to have British protection. Negative aspects of mercantilism included the fact that colonial manufacturing was limited, farmers received low prices for their crops, and colonists paid high prices for English goods. 4. There were several benefits for the colonies that resulted from mercantilism. Some of these included an increase in shipbuilding, a monopolized and guaranteed tobacco market, and protection of the colonies by the English military. During King William’s War, 1689 to 1697, Queen Anne’s War, 1702 to 1713, King George’s War, 1740 to 1748, and the French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, the colonists were especially fortunate to have British protection. Negative aspects of mercantilism included the fact that colonial manufacturing was limited, farmers received low prices for their crops, and colonists paid high prices for English goods. Because colonists had to pay taxes, but were not properly represented in parliament, they felt this was tyranny. The British government claimed that the colonies had virtual representation. 5. During the seventeenth century, the thirteen British colonies developed separately and distinctly.  The large cities of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston had more contact with London than they did with each other.  At the close of the colonial period, Philadelphia was the largest, boasting a population of around 30,000—second only to London in the British Empire.  New York was the second largest city in North America with around 25,000 people. Boston’s population was 16,000, while Charleston’s numbered 12,000. Despite the fact that fewer than 10 percent of all colonials lived in cities, cities set the tone for commerce, politics, and culture, serving as religious, economic and cultural centers.  Society was rigidly stratified during the period:  merchants at the top of the order, craftsmen, retailers, and innkeepers followed, with sailors, unskilled workers, and small artisans at the bottom.  Over time, class stratification became more pronounced and wealth became concentrated among a few.  But all colonials became consumers, wanting luxury items that made life more pleasant and that reminded them of England. Boston was the economic center of New England.  Bostonians worked in shipyards, engaged in fishing, as well as logging, iron works, and wool processing.  Of these shipbuilding was the most important of Boston’s industries.  By the eighteenth century, Boston maintained fifteen shipyards. Most of Boston’s skilled workers were involved directly or indirectly in the shipbuilding trade, which bolstered other industries like timber, sawmills, sail manufacturing, and rope making. New York, known for its diverse population, was important as a source of foodstuffs for England’s colonies in the West Indies.  Wheat and corn were produced and sold in exchange for goods from England or the West Indies. Lumber and wood products from the thick surrounding forests were also important exports. Philadelphia also had a bustling shipbuilding industry, supplemented by the production of wood products from the area’s extensive forests, sail manufacturing, and rope for sea-bound ships.  This port city also processed the important staples of flour and meat for export to other colonies. The Southern port city of Charles Town (now Charleston) focused its economy on nearby agricultural products.  Warm temperatures and a long growing season meant that South Carolina could produce large quantities of foodstuffs for export.  Rice and indigo were grown on plantations and sold to Europe or the West Indies.  England’s busy sugar colonies also relied on Charleston for shipments of meat and firewood.  The sale of deerskins proved another lucrative aspect of the city’s economy. 6. The concept of virtual representation held that people like the American colonists did not need to be able to elect their own representatives to Parliament.  The theory held that the members of Parliament already represented everyone in the British Empire.  They did not just represent the people who elected them.  Instead, they had the interests of all the people in mind.  Therefore, it didn't matter who elected them or where they were from because they would govern in a way that kept everyone's interests in mind, no matter where they lived or whether they could vote.  The American colonists rejected this idea, helping to lead to the Revolutionary War. 7. Revivalism in the colonies did not form around a complex theology of religious freedom, but nevertheless the ideas it produced opposed the notion of a single truth or a single church. As preachers visited town after town, sects began to break off larger churches and a multitude of Protestant denominations sprouted. The older groups that dominated the early colonies – the Puritans and the Anglicans – eventually began a drastic downward trend in popularity. Although they accounted for about 40% of American congregations as late as 1760, that number eventually dropped to under 2.5% by 1790. The social effect of multitudes of new denominations was not, however, a fracturing of communities, but a unifying drive which helped to create a “national consciousness”. The effect of Great Awakening unity was an attitude that went against the deferential thinking that consumed English politics and religion. Rather than believing that God’s will was necessarily interpreted by the monarch or his bishops, the colonists viewed themselves as more capable of performing the task. The chain of authority no longer ran from God to ruler to people, but from God to people to ruler. The children of revivalism later echoed this radicalism and popular self-righteousness in the American Revolution, when self-assertion turned against the tyrannical ways of George III. It was not to any church that the signers of the Declaration of Independence appealed to, but directly to the “Supreme Judge of the World”. It was through the revivalism of the first half of the Eighteenth Century that the colonists were finally able to step out from under the protectorate of the established Christian churches and assert religious control over their own nation’s destiny. 8. Both the Boston Tea Party and Bacon’s Rebellion were significant in the sense that they did an extremely good job at showing the British crown how much opposition there was due to the implemented rules and regulations. Bacon’s Rebellion was a response to the favoring of the loyalist gentry class in society in New England as opposed to the plantation farmers who were poor, and the Boston Tea Party occurred in response to the symbolic tax on a common good found in the region of Boston which was tea. These two events successfully showed the true opposition of the colonists towards the British crown and their desire for autonomy and freedom from the British control. 9. Halfway Covenant - Half-Way Covenant, religious-political solution adopted by 17th-century New England Congregationalists, also called Puritans, that allowed the children of baptized but unconverted church members to be baptized and thus become church members and have political rights. Early Congregationalists had become members of the church after they could report an experience of conversion. Their children were baptized as infants, but, before these children were admitted to full membership in the church and permitted to partake of the Lord’s Supper, they were expected to also give evidence of a conversion experience. Deism - The belief that God has created the universe but remains apart from it and permits his creation to administer itself through natural laws. Deism, thus rejects the supernatural aspects of religion, such as belief in revelation in the Bible, and stresses the importance of ethical conduct. Iroquois Confederation - a historically powerful and important northeast Native American confederacy. They were known during the colonial years to the French as the "Iroquois League" and later as the "Iroquois Confederacy", and to the English as the "Five Nations" (before 1722) and later as the "Six Nations", comprising the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora nations. The Iroquois have absorbed many other peoples into their cultures as a result of warfare, adoption of captives, and by offering shelter to displaced nations. House of Burgesses - With its origin in the first meeting of the Virginia General Assembly at Jamestown in July 1619, the House of Burgesses was the first democratically-elected legislative body in the British American colonies. Mayflower Compact - The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by separatist Congregationalists who called themselves "Saints". Later they were referred to as Pilgrims or Pilgrim Fathers. They were fleeing from religious persecution by King James of England. Albany Plan of Union - The Albany Plan of Union was a plan to place the British North American colonies under a more centralized government. On July 10, 1754, representatives from seven of the British North American colonies adopted the plan. Although never carried out, the Albany Plan was the first important proposal to conceive of the colonies as a collective whole united under one government. Colombian Exchange - The Columbian Exchange refers to a period of cultural and biological exchanges between the New and Old Worlds. Exchanges of plants, animals, diseases and technology transformed European and Native American ways of life. 10. The growth of tobacco, rice, and indigo and the plantation economy created a tremendous need for labor in Southern English America. Without the aid of modern machinery, human sweat and blood was necessary for the planting, cultivation, and harvesting of these cash crops. While slaves existed in the English colonies throughout the 1600s, indentured servitude was the method of choice employed by many planters before the 1680s. This system provided incentives for both the master and servant to increase the working population of the Chesapeake colonies. Virginia and Maryland operated under what was known as the “Headright System.” The leaders of each colony knew that labor was essential for economic survival, so they provided incentives for planters to import workers. For each laborer brought across the Atlantic, the master was rewarded with 50 acres of land. This system was used by wealthy plantation aristocrats to increase their land holdings dramatically. In addition, of course, they received the services of the workers for the duration of the indenture. This system seemed to benefit the servant as well. Each Indentured Servant would have their fare across the Atlantic paid in full by their master. A contract was written that stipulated the length of service — typically five years. The servant would be supplied room and board while working in the master's fields. Upon completion of the contract, the servant would receive "freedom dues," a pre-arranged termination bonus. This might include land, money, a gun, clothes or food. On the surface it seemed like a terrific way for the luckless English poor to make their way to prosperity in a new land. Beneath the surface, this was not often the case. 11. The puritans who settled New England in 1630 were not coming to America to promote religious freedom for all, but to achieve for themselves a freedom from the church and civil officials in England who had prevented them from pursuing their faith as they believed God wanted them to. The settlement of Massachusetts presented the colonists with their first opportunity to decide what views and actions were acceptable and to prohibit what was not. Virtually all puritans believed that they had been born again through God’s grace, bestowed upon them despite their unworthiness. Their reaction to this experience differed, however. Massachusetts governor John Winthrop was typical of puritans who never lost awareness of the fact that they were unworthy of God’s love and still imperfect in their understanding. Others believed that because God had blessed them, their views on what was to be believed and practiced were beyond question. These differences were key as the colonists sought to establish the perimeter fence that would define their society. 12. The passengers of the Arbella who left England in 1630 with their new charter had a great vision. They were to be an example for the rest of the world in rightful living. Future governor John Winthrop stated their purpose quite clearly: "We shall be as a city upon a hill; the eyes of all people are upon us." The Arbella was one of eleven ships carrying over a thousand Puritans to Massachusetts that year. It was the largest original venture ever attempted in the English New World. The passengers were determined to be a beacon for the rest of Europe, "A Modell of Christian Charity," in the words of the governor. 13. There was not one single factor that led to Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676 but instead a combination of a lot of factors. The revolt of Virginia farmers against Governor William Berkeley occurred because the Virginia colony was experiencing a lot of problems. There were economic problems. The tobacco prices were low and the taxes were high. There was competition in trade by Maryland farmers. There were also problems caused by bad weather. That year there were a lot of hailstorms, droughts, floods and hurricanes and then in 1675 local Indians began attacking the colonists. Some people thought that Governor Berkeley was not doing enough or anything at all to protect the farmers and they decided to protect themselves against the Indians. They chose Nathaniel Bacon as their leader. Nathaniel Bacon was a wealthy planter that was actually a cousin of the Governor and he had obtained a lot of land and a seat on the council because of his relationship with the Governor. Bacon defeated the Indians and his group won an election held in 1676. The new assembly set up a militia and changed some of the laws. Bacon and his men also defeated Governor Berkeley’s troops and burned the state capital at Jamestown. Bacon became sick and died and the rebellion ended. Governor Berkeley regained power but the effect of Bacon’s Rebellion was important because it was one of the first times in America’s history in which people won their right to vote and had a say in government. 14. Proclamation of 1763 - The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 7, 1763, by King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War, which forbade all settlement past a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains. Stamp Act - an act of the British Parliament in 1756 that exacted revenue from the American colonies by imposing a stamp duty on newspapers and legal and commercial documents. Colonial opposition led to the act's repeal in 1766 and helped encourage the revolutionary movement against the British Crown. Townshend Acts - The Townshend Acts were a series of acts passed, beginning in 1767, by the Parliament of Great Britain relating to the British colonies in North America. The acts are named after Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who proposed the program. Stamp Act Congress - The Stamp Act Congress or First Congress of the American Colonies was a meeting held between October 7 and 25, 1765 in New York City, consisting of representatives from some of the British colonies in North America; it was the first gathering of elected representatives from several of the American colonies to devise a unified protest against new British taxation. Parliament had passed the Stamp Act, which required the use of specially stamped paper for virtually all business in the colonies, and was coming into effect November 1. Sugar Act - Titled the American Revenue Act of 1764. On April 5, 1764, Parliament passed a modified version of the Sugar and Molasses Act (1733), which was about to expire. Under the Molasses Act colonial merchants had been required to pay a tax of six pence per gallon on the importation of foreign molasses. Salutary Neglect - Salutary neglect is an American history term that refers to an unofficial and long-term 17th & 18th-century British policy of avoiding strict enforcement of parliamentary laws meant to keep American colonies obedient to England. 15. I would argue that the colonists were justified in their rebellion, but that it is not really correct to say that England's actions were particularly heinous. The British government caused the rebellion by trying to tax the colonists in ways that had not previously been done and by trying to control the colonies more closely than it previously had.  Neither of these is outrageous - a country has the right to tax its people and to enforce its laws.  No country would, for example, stand idly by and let protestors destroy a huge amount of valuable merchandise as the Americans did in the Boston Tea Party. But the colonists were still justified in their desire to rebel.  They were a large and growing set of colonies that surely had enough population and experience to become their own country.  They deserved to have much more control over their own government than they had.  It was wrong of the British to deny them, for example, direct representation in Parliament. So, even though the British did not do anything unreasonable, it was time for the Americans to break away.  They were clearly capable of ruling themselves and all people have or should have the right to do so.   The rebellion was justified not so much because of what the British did but because of the way in which they did it.  As long as they acted without giving the Americans much of a say in the government, it was justifiable for the Americans to rebel. 16. The most devastating impact was the introduction of European diseases, which wiped out roughly 90% of the native tribes within three decades of contact and made it much easier for European empires to colonize.  Native peoples most times lost their culture, their lands, having been removed from them for plantations and settlers, their ways of life in exchange for European ones, and their religion, usually replaced by Catholicism.  Eventually many would even lose their spoken language as well. Some tribes resisted and were annihilated.  Others were compromising and were annihilated in other ways, to a slightly lesser degree.  But it would be fair to characterize the European effect on Native peoples as the end of their world.  Once colonization had happened and was widespread, nothing would ever be the same for them again. Ansh Gandhi