U.S. History
GHSGT
Preparation
SSUSH 1
Virginia Company
• Joint-Stock company
that established
Jamestown.
Jamestown, VA
• 1st Permanent English
settlement
Tobacco
• An agricultural crop
that yielded great
cash for Virginia.
• Called a Cash Crop.
• Helped Jamestown
and Virginia survive.
Powhatan
• Native American tribe
near Jamestown.
• Initially good relations.
• Relations became
hostile and they
warred with
Jamestown settlers.
Bacon’s Rebellion
• Uprising of Virginia
frontiersmen.
• Led by Nathaniel
Bacon.
• Against the VA
government due to
Indian attacks on the
frontier.
• 1st example of class
struggle in America.
House of Burgesses
• Established in Virginia
in 1619
• Elected representatives
helped govern the
colony.
• Example of a
representative
democracy in the
Colonies.
Town Hall Meetings
• Example of Direct
Democracy
• A promising step
toward genuine selfgovernment.
Religious Tensions –
Rhode Island
• Roger Williams was
banished from
Massachusetts.
• Founded Rhode
Island based on
freedom of religious
and political beliefs.
• Separation of Church
and State.
Religious Tensions –
Half Way Covenant
• A compromise made by the
Puritans that allowed the
younger generation of children
to become members of the
Church.
• To expand church membership.
Religious Tensions –
Salem Witchcraft Trials
• Unsettled social &
religious conditions in
a rapidly evolving
Massachusetts.
• Example of how
religion and
government was
mixed with disastrous
results.
French Settlement of Quebec
• Settled to establish a
fur trade with the
Native Americans.
Navigation Acts
• A series of laws enacted by parliament,
beginning in 1651, to tighten England’s control
of trade in its American Colonies.
The Mayflower Compact
• Established a colonial government deriving
power from consent of the governed.
• Example of a direct democracy in the
colonies.
• Present day town meetings are and example
of direct democracy.
SSUSH 2
Mercantilism
• Trade with the colonies was regulated by
Great Britain.
• The British sold expensive manufactured
goods to colonists
• While the colonist sold cheaper raw materials,
such as tobacco and cotton, to the British.
Triangular Trade
• The transatlantic system of trade
• in which goods and people, including slaves,
were exchanged
• between Africa, England, Europe, The west
Indies, and the colonies in North America.
Middle Passage
• The voyage that brought enslaved Africans to
the West Indies and later to North America.
Benjamin Franklin
• An example of Social Mobility
in that he was born in poverty
and through his efforts
become a successful
businessman.
• As ambassador to France was
instrumental in acquiring
French foreign assistance
during the Revolutionary war.
Great Awakening
• A period of dramatic
religious revival in Colonial
history 1730’s
• Influenced politics by
driving colonist to
question authority of
government.
• A spiritual belief in
democratic concepts such
as freedom, equality, etc.
SSUSH 3
French and Indian War
• 1754-1763
• War between Britain and France
• British eventually defeated the French and
gained control of Canada
• The large debt caused by the war made the
British collect taxes from the colonist.
• The collection of taxes angered the Colonist.
Proclamation Line of 1763
• Line created by
Parliament and King
George III that
outlawed colonist
from settling west of
the Appalachian
Mountains.
Stamp Act
• 1765 Law in which Parliament established the
first direct taxation of goods and services
within the colonies.
• Required a tax on newspapers and Legal
documents.
• Colonist Protested by Boycott
Townshend Act
• A series of laws enacted by parliament in
1767, establishing indirect taxes on goods
imported from Britain by the British Colonies
in North America.
• Levied tax on everyday items including tea,
glass, and paint.
Tea Act
• Gave the British East India Company a
monopoly on tea.
• Sparked the Boston Tea Party, which was
conducted by the Sons of Liberty
Sons of Liberty
• Protest group formed
after the passing of
the Stamp Act. Led by
Samuel Adams.
Intolerable “Coercive” Acts
• A series of laws enacted by Parliament in
1774, to punish Massachusetts colonist for
the Boston Tea party.
• These laws took away colonists right to trial by
jury
• soldiers could search and seize any property at
any time
• Colonist were required to house soldiers at
any time.
Thomas Paine
• Wrote the pamplet, Common Sense
• Promoted American Independence!