U.S. Important People
Terms
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- Olmec
- Believed to be the earliest empire; 1200 B.C; what is now southern Mexico
- Maya
- A.D. 250-900; Built a dynamic culture in Guatemala and the Yucatán Peninsula
- Aztec
- Inhabited the Valley of Mexico in the 1200s
- Inca
- The most prominent empire builders in South America; Empire stretched 2,500 miles along the mountainous western coast of South America around A.D 1200
- Hohokam and Anasazi
- Native American groups who introduced crops into the arid deserts of the Southwest
- Adena, Hopewell, and Mississippian
- Complex societies that developed east of the Mississippi River; Famous as "mound builders"
- Kashaya Pomo
- Native American group who flourished along the northern California coast
- Kwakiutl
- A Native American group who collected shellfish and hunted for whales, sea otters, and seals from Alaska to northern California
- Pueblo
- Native American descendents of the Hohokam and Anasazi; Built settlements near the Rio Grande, where they could irrigate their farms
- Iroquois
- Native Americans who resided in the woodlands east of the Mississippi River; Utilized the plethora of trees for woodworking
- Prince Henry
- "Henry the Navigator"; Portugese ruler who sent ships to explore the west coast of Africa
- Christopher Columbus
- Genoese sailor who planned an sailing across the ocean to find a sea route to east Asia, thus accidentally discovering the New World
- Taino
- "noble ones"; First inhabitants that Columbus first encountered; Columbus renamed their island San Salvador
- Hernando Cortes
- Spaniard who conquered much of the American mainland
- conquistadors
- "conquerors"; Exploreres lured by the prospect of lands filled with gold and silver; Conquered much of the New World
- mestizo
- Of mixed Spanish and Native American descent
- Juan Ponce de Leon
- Discovered and named La Florida on Easter Sunday
- Popé
- Pueblo Religious leader; led a fairly successful rebellion against Spanish inhabitants
- John Smith
- Adventurous, thrill-seeking young man who sailed across the Atlantic with the Virginia Comany and helped begin the colonization of America
- Powhatan
- Residents close to Jamestown who aided the colonists by providing food
- Nathaniel Bacon
- Colonist who raised an army to fight Native Americans in 1676, against the will of Governor Sir William Berkeley
- Puritans
- Church members who wanted to "purify" or reform the church of England
- John Winthrop
- First governor of the first Puritan society, the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which he declared the "City Upon a Hill"
- Separatists
- Pilgrims; Puritans who did not believe that reformation was possible, so they separated from the Church completely
- Roger Williams
- Extreme pilgrim who founded the colony of Providence, which guaranteed a separation of Church and State
- Anne Hutchinson
- Taught that individuals did not need the Church to interpret the Bible; she was banished for this teaching
- Metacom
- AKA King Philip; Began the King Philip's War as a last-ditch effort to fight off invaders; defeated due to food shortages, disease, and heavy casualties
- William Penn
- Society of Friends, or Quaker, a radical sect of Protestantism; founded Pennsylvania
- Quakers
- Held services without formal ministers, dressed plainly, refused to defer persons of rank, embraced pacifism; Harassed for their radical views
- Sir Edmund Andros
- Unfair leader sent by King James to govern New England
- Benjamin Franklin
- Figure in the Enlightenment who believed in obtaining truth through experimentation and reasoning
- Jonathan Edwards
- Member of the Massachusetts clergy who sought to revive the vision of the original Puritans
- George Washington
- Valiant soldier in the Revolutionary War; 1st President
- William Pitt
- Selected by King George II to govern and lead the British army against the French; Pittsburgh
- Pontiac
- Ottowa leader who fought the British
- George Grenville
- Chosen by King George III to be prime minister; Angered colonists with his unfair taxed (Sugar Act)
- Samuel Adams
- Political activist; On of the founders of the Sons of Liberty; Opposed the Stamp Act
- Crispus Attucks
- Valiant sailor who rebelled against British soldiers at the Boston Massacre
- King George III
- Passed the Intolerable Acts as a response to the Boston Tea Party
- minutemen
- civilian soldiers
- Thomas Jefferson
- Writer of the Declaration of Independence (inspired by John Locke); Opposed Hamilton's National Bank; 3rd President
- Patriots
- Supporters of independence
- Loyalists
- Opposed independence and remained loyal to the Crown
- Fredrich von Steuben
- Prussian army captain who trained Colonial soldiers
- Marquis de Lafayette
- Young French military leader who lobbied for French reinforcements and aided General Washington
- Charles Cornwallis
- British general who aided in the capture of Charles Town in South Carolina
- Daniel Shays
- Led a rebellion of farmers due to excessive taxation
- James Madison
- Leader from Virginia who called a meeting to discuss taxes on trade; 4th president
- Roger Sherman
- Leader from Connecticut; Proposed the Great Compromise- 2-houses of Congress
- Alexander Hamilton
- Secretary of Treasury; Proposed a National Bank (opposed by Jefferson)
- Cabinet
- President's chief advisers (originally secretary of state, of treasury, of war, and attorney general)
- Democratic-Republicans
- Supporters of Jefferson's vision of strong state governments
- Edmond Genet
- Young French diplomat who recruited Americans in a war effort against Great Britain
- Thomas Pinckney
- U.S. minister to Great Britain; Produced a treaty to prevent conflict with Spain
- John Jay
- Chief justice of the Supreme Court; Treaty with Britain concerning the land west of the Appalachian Mountains.
- Lewis and Clark
- Commissioned by President Jefferson on an expedition to explore the west (St. Louis to the Pacific Coast)
- Aaron Burr
- Jefferson's running-mate; Beat when Hamilton intervened in Jefferson's favor
- John Marshall
- Served as chief justice of the Supreme Court for 30 years
- Sacajawea
- Native American woman who accompanied Lewish and Clark, serving as interpreter and guide
- William Henry Harrison
- Presidential candidate for the Whigs against Van Buren's reelection; Defeated Van Buren
- Tecumseh
- Shawnee chief who believed that Native Americans should form a confederacy to protect their lands
- Andrew Jackson
- Gained national fame with a series of victories over Native American armies (ironically won his greated victory after the war had ended)
- Eli Whitney
- Innovative inventor of the cotton gin, and developed the idea of interchangeable parts
- Henry Clay
- Speaker of the House who promoted the American System
- John Quincy Adams
- Secretary of State who established a foreign policy based on nationalism, in which the nation's interests are placed before regional concerns
- Daniel Webster
- Massachusetts senator who preached for nationalism
- John C. Calhoun
- Webster's greatest opponent in the struggle between states' rights and federal authority
- Martin Van Buren
- Succeeded Jackson as president for teh Democrats
- John Tyler
- Harrison's vice president and successor; Included in the administration to pick up southern votes, but opposed many Whig beliefs ("His Accidency")
- Charles Grandison Finney
- Famous Christian convert who preached of his own salvation
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
- New England writer who practiced transcendentalism- a literary style that emphasized simple life and celebrated truth found in nature
- Henry David Thoreau
- Author who wrote about civil disobedience and self-reliance
- Dorothea Dix
- Joined the movement for social reform and improved conditions for mentally ill people
- William Lloyd Garrison
- Radical white abolitionist who started teh abolitionist paper The Liberator
- David Walker
- A free black who advised blacks to fight for freedom
- Frederick Douglass
- Born into slavery, but escaped after learning to read and write; Sponsored by Garrison as a speaker for abolition
- Nat Turner
- Preacher who led a slave uprising; After being captured, tried, and hanged, whites resolved to keep more control over slaves
- Elizabeth Cady Stanton
- One of the main women of reform; Held the Seneca Falls Convention
- Lucretia Mott
- Assissted Stanton in her reforms for women
- Sarah and Angelina Grimke
- Sisters who fought for the abolition of slavery
- Sojourner Truth
- Isabella Baumfree- sojourned (traveled) the country preaching abolition
- Samuel F. B. Morse
- Inventor of the telegraph (Morse code) which transmitted messages through copper wire
- John Deere
- Blacksmith who invented teh first steel plow
- Cyrus McCormick
- Inventor the the mechanical reaper (made farming easier)
- Joseph Smith
- Established the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon)
- Brigham Young
- Smith's successor; Took Mormons beyond the American border to the west
- James K. Polk
- American president who gained land from Mexico
- Zachary Taylor
- General sent by Polk to blockade the Rio Grande
- Stephen Kearney
- Colonel sent by Polk to claim New Mexico