AP US History Key Terms & Concepts: Exploration to Revolution
First Continental Congress
All colonies except Georgia sent representatives to this congress in Philadelphia in 1774 to respond to the Intolerable Acts.
Articles of Confederation
The first constitution of the United States (1781-1789). It lacked an executive branch, a judicial branch, the power to tax, and the power to regulate trade.
Aztec
A Mesoamerican civilization with a capital city at Tenochtitlan. They were known for their advanced civilization, including their engineering, agriculture, and religious practices, which included human sacrifice.
Boston Tea Party
In 1773, American colonists disguised as Indians boarded British ships in Boston Harbor and dumped tea overboard to protest the Tea Act.
Bank of the U.S.
(Add information about the Bank of the U.S.)
General Edward Braddock
A British commander during the French and Indian War. In 1755, he attempted to capture Fort Duquesne but was defeated and mortally wounded.
Battle of Bunker Hill
A battle in 1775 in which the British captured Breed’s Hill and Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts, near Boston. Despite their victory, the British suffered heavy losses.
Pedro Álvares Cabral
A Portuguese explorer who claimed Brazil for Portugal in 1500.
Cahokia
A major pre-Columbian city located near present-day East St. Louis, Illinois. It was the largest and most influential settlement of the Mississippian culture, known for its large earthen mounds.
Jacques Cartier
A French explorer who explored the St. Lawrence River and laid claim to the region for France (1491-1557).
Samuel de Champlain
A French explorer who sailed to the West Indies, Mexico, Panama, and the St. Lawrence River region, where he founded Quebec City in 1608.
Columbian Exchange
The widespread transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the Eastern Hemisphere following Christopher Columbus’s voyages.
Christopher Columbus
An Italian explorer sailing for Spain who reached the Americas in 1492 while searching for a western sea route from Europe to Asia.
Conquistadores
Spanish explorers and soldiers who conquered and explored civilizations in the New World.
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado
A Spanish conquistador who explored the American Southwest in the 1540s.
Hernán Cortés
A Spanish conquistador who defeated the Aztecs and conquered Mexico (1485-1547).
Vasco da Gama
A Portuguese explorer. In 1497-1498, his expedition from Europe to India led to Portuguese control of the spice trade.
Daniel Shays
A Revolutionary War veteran who led Shays’ Rebellion in 1786-1787, an armed uprising of farmers in Massachusetts protesting against economic injustice and debtor’s prisons.
Marquis de Lafayette
A French nobleman and military officer who fought in the American Revolutionary War alongside the colonists. He was a close friend of George Washington and played a key role in securing French support for the American cause.
Hernando de Soto
A Spanish explorer who is credited with being the first European to cross the Mississippi River.
Declaratory Act
An act passed by the British Parliament in 1766, asserting Parliament’s supreme authority over the colonies”in all cases whatsoever”
Bartolomeu Dias
A Portuguese explorer who in 1488 led the first expedition to sail around the southern tip of Africa from the Atlantic, opening the way for a sea route to India.
Fort Duquesne
A French fort located at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, the site of modern-day Pittsburgh. It was the site of the first major battle of the French & Indian War.
Encomienda System
A labor system instituted by the Spanish crown in the American colonies. Under this system, Spanish conquistadors and settlers were granted land and the labor of Native Americans living on that land.
Federalists
Supporters of the United States Constitution during the ratification debates. They favored a strong central government and believed the Constitution provided necessary protections against tyranny.
Funding and Assumption
A key component of Alexander Hamilton’s financial plan, in which the federal government assumed the debts incurred by the states during the Revolutionary War.
George Washington
The first President of the United States (1789-1797) and the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.
Great Compromise
Also known as the Connecticut Compromise, this agreement reached at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 resolved the issue of representation in Congress by creating a bicameral legislature with the House of Representatives based on population and the Senate with equal representation for each state.
Henry Hudson
An English explorer who explored for the Dutch East India Company. He claimed the Hudson River around present-day New York and called it New Netherland. The Hudson Bay is also named for him.
Inca
A pre-Columbian civilization in the Andes Mountains of South America. They were known for their advanced engineering, road systems, and agricultural practices, which included the cultivation of potatoes.
Intolerable Acts
A series of laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 in response to the Boston Tea Party. These acts were intended to punish Massachusetts and assert British authority.
Iroquois Confederacy
A powerful alliance of six Native American nations (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and later Tuscarora) in what is now the northeastern United States. They played a significant role in the colonial wars and the American Revolution.
James Oglethorpe
A British philanthropist and soldier who founded the colony of Georgia in 1732. He envisioned Georgia as a place where debtors from England could start new lives.
Jamestown
The first permanent English settlement in North America, founded in 1607 in East Virginia.
Jay Treaty
A treaty signed in 1794 between the United States and Great Britain that sought to resolve outstanding issues between the two countries, including trade disputes and British occupation of forts in the Northwest Territory.
John Winthrop
The first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, arriving in 1630. He played a key role in the colony’s early development and is known for his sermon “A Model of Christian Charity.”
René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle
A French explorer who claimed the Mississippi River basin for France in 1682, naming it Louisiana in honor of King Louis XIV.
Treaty of Tordesillas
A treaty signed in 1494 that divided newly discovered lands outside Europe between Portugal and Spain along a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. This treaty gave Portugal control of Brazil and Spain control of most of the rest of South America.
Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore
The founder of Maryland in 1632. He established Maryland as a haven for persecuted Roman Catholics.
Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr
The new governor of Jamestown who arrived in 1610. The state of Delaware was later named after him.
Ferdinand Magellan
A Portuguese explorer who led the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe (1519-1522). He sailed for Spain and is credited with proving the Earth is round.
Massachusetts Bay Colony
A colony founded in 1630 by Puritans seeking religious freedom. John Winthrop served as its first governor.
Maya
A Mesoamerican civilization known for its sophisticated culture, including its architecture, city planning, mathematics, calendar, and hieroglyphic writing system.
Mercantilism
An economic theory prevalent in Europe from the 16th to 18th centuries. It posits that a nation’s wealth is based on its accumulation of gold and silver and that the government should regulate the economy to ensure a favorable balance of trade.
Pinckney’s Treaty
Also known as the Treaty of San Lorenzo, this treaty was signed in 1795 between the United States and Spain. It defined the border between the U.S. and Spanish Florida and granted American navigation rights on the Mississippi River.
Francisco Pizarro
A Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire in 1533.
Plymouth Colony
A colony founded in 1620 by English Pilgrims seeking religious freedom. It later merged with the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Pueblo Peoples
Native American peoples of the Southwestern United States, known for their distinctive adobe architecture and advanced agricultural techniques, including irrigation systems.
Puritans
Protestant Christians who sought to “purify” the Church of England of what they considered Catholic practices. They played a significant role in the founding and development of the New England colonies.
Quakers
Members of the Religious Society of Friends, a Christian group that arose in 17th-century England. They believed in the equality of all people and the importance of direct religious experience. William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, was a Quaker.
Quartering Act
An act passed by the British Parliament in 1765 that required colonists to provide housing and supplies for British troops stationed in the colonies.
Republicans
(Add information about the Republicans during this period.)
Samuel Adams
A leader of the American Revolution, a founder of the Sons of Liberty, and a signatory of the Declaration of Independence.
Sons of Liberty
A secret society formed in the American colonies to oppose British policies. They were involved in protests and acts of resistance, including the Boston Tea Party.
Thomas Jefferson
The principal author of the Declaration of Independence, the third President of the United States (1801-1809), and a key figure in the American Enlightenment.
Thomas Paine
An English-American political activist and writer who wrote “Common Sense” (1776), a pamphlet that argued for American independence from Great Britain.
Triangle Trade
A transatlantic trade route that operated from the late 16th to early 19th centuries. It involved the trade of manufactured goods from Europe to Africa, enslaved Africans to the Americas, and raw materials from the Americas back to Europe.
Baron von Steuben
A Prussian military officer who served as inspector general and major general of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He is credited with training and disciplining the American troops.
Whiskey Rebellion
A 1794 uprising in western Pennsylvania in opposition to a federal tax on whiskey. It was a major test of the authority of the newly formed federal government.
William Penn
A Quaker who founded Pennsylvania in 1682 as a haven for religious freedom and tolerance. He believed in treating Native Americans fairly and established peaceful relations with them.
Siege of Yorktown
The decisive battle of the American Revolutionary War, fought in 1781. General George Washington’s Continental Army, supported by French forces, trapped British General Cornwallis’s army at Yorktown, Virginia, leading to the British surrender and the eventual end of the war.