APUSH Period 1-2 Study Guide

Created by Angeline B. Nato for Simple Studies.

Sources: Adapted from "Cracking the AP U.S. History Exam: 2016 Edition" by The Princeton Review and Advanced Placement YouTube Channel: AP U.S. History Playlist 2020.

Key Ideas

• Period 1 (1491-1607) and Period 2 (1607-1754):
  • Emphasis on cause and effect between the two periods.
  • Specialized Colonies: Region-specific characteristics.
  • Natives/Slave Relations: Increased contact, direct impact on economic characteristics, severe effects on culture.

Important Ideas to Understand

Discovery of New World

• Exploration Era:
  • Mainly by Spain, France, and Great Britain.
  • Spain: Focused on Latin America, South America for gold and silver mining. Mainly solo males traveled.
  • France: Focused on the west of future U.S. region for fur trade and alliances with Natives. Mainly solo males.
  • Great Britain: East side of future U.S. territory for agricultural colonies. Whole families migrated.

Social/Cultural Effects

• Social Structure:
  • Fluid in Spain and France (intermarriage).
  • Rigid in Great Britain (families migrated with less intermarriage).
  • Native Americans and African Americans placed at the bottom.
• Cultural Blending:
  • Natives combined voodoo and Christianity; mixed languages.

Conflicts with Natives

• Resulted from land encroachment.
  • Separate Colonies: North (New England), Bread Basket Colonies; South (Chesapeake, Southern Colonies).
  • North focused on grain crops, less labor-intensive, no need for slaves, close-knit towns.
  • South focused on tobacco, indigo, rice - labor-intensive, used slaves, larger, isolated farms.

Notable Events

• New World Discovery and Columbian Exchange: Transfer of animals, plants, slaves across Atlantic region.
• Jamestown: First English settlement for gold; Captain John Smith fostered Native relations.
• Plymouth and Puritans: Predestination beliefs, wanted to purify the Anglican church.
• Massachusetts Bay Colony: Religion and state intertwined.
• Bacon's Rebellion (1676): Led by Nathaniel Bacon due to dissatisfaction of newly freed indentured servants.
• Stono Rebellion (1739): Led by escaped slaves, resulted in stricter slave codes.
• First Great Awakening: Inspired by Enlightenment, burst of Protestant denominations, challenged Puritan ideology.

Expansion of Slavery

• Bacon's Rebellion: Led to distrust of indentured servants, increased slave labor in the South.
• Stono Rebellion: Strengthened restrictions on African Americans.
• Birth of Chattel Slavery: Became popular and cheap.

Important Terms

• New England Colonies, Bread-Basket Colonies, Chesapeake Region, Southern Colonies.
• Encomienda System: Form of slavery on Natives.
• Headright System: Land for paying others' passage.
• Indentured Servitude: Work to pay off passage, then free.
• Chattel Slavery: Children born into slavery.
• Kinship Ties: Family connections among slaves.
• Mercantilism: Colonies provide raw materials to mother country.
• Salutary Neglect: Colonial autonomy with little British control, ending led to Revolution.
• Navigation Acts: Regulated colonial trade, often ignored.

Note: Understand the intertwined political, economic, and societal characteristics of these periods and how they lead to connections between major events and ideas.