Unit 1 (non red) Flashcards
What is the commonly-accepted explanation for how the first “Native Americans” arrived in North America?
About 10-20,000 years ago, a land bridge connected what is modern-day Russia to modern-day Alaska (where the Bering Strait is now), and humans migrated across this land bridge, eventually heading south.
Why is a “Pilgrim” a “Puritan” but a “Puritan” is not necessarily a “Pilgrim”?
Puritans were English Christians who broke away from the Church of England (Anglican Church), finding its rituals too “fancy” and obstructing a direct connection between man’s prayer and God. “Pilgrim” was the name given to a Puritan “separatist”, i.e., one who could no longer tolerate living in England, while many (non-Pilgrim) Puritans remained.
How is Puritanism different from Anglicanism? How are they both different from Catholicism?
Puritans were English Christians who broke away from the Church of England (Anglican Church), finding its rituals too “fancy” and obstructing a direct connection between man’s prayer and God. They emphasized simplicity in all aspects of life, rejecting elaborately-designed churches, avoiding professionally-composed music in church services, and preferring simple dress.
Anglicans were adherents of the Church of England, which was started by King Henry VIII when the Pope, as head of the Catholic Church refused to grant him a divorce from his first wife. While Anglicans maintained some aspects of Catholic practice, they refused to recognize the authority of the Pope.
Both Anglicans and Puritans (respectively called Episcopalians and Congregationalists in the U.S.) are Christian denominations under the heading “Protestant”, but share with Catholics a belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ, a belief not shared by adherents of other religions such as Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.
What unites Catholics and Protestants (and therefore separates them from other religions)?
A belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ (hence the term “Christian”), a a belief not shared by adherents of other religions such as Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.
Why is it accurate to say that all Catholics are Christian but not that all Christians are Catholic? Is Catholicism the largest form of Christianity in the U.S. today? Was it ever?
Christianity has many branches. Roman Catholicism, although one of the oldest forms of Christianity, is not, by far, the only branch. Catholics make up about 23% of the U.S. population today, making it the SECOND largest religious denomination AFTER the broad category of Protestantism (unless Protestantism is broken down into its component sects). At its founding, the nation was largely Protestant–Catholics have always been a minority of the population.
What was the House of Burgesses and why is it considered significant in the development of representative government?
The first elected representative legislature in the English North American colonies. Again, an early example of the self-government principle (see above) within European colonies.
In the context of the 1770s, what did the terms “patriot”, “loyalist”, “tory”, and “whig” mean?
Patriot = someone who supported American independence from Britain (the United Kingdom). Note that many American colonists did NOT support independence (and are therefore not called “Patriots,”)
Loyalist = American colonist who opposed American independence.
Tory = member of British Parliament who opposed negotiations with American colonists over independence.
Whig = member of British Parliament who supported a more conciliatory approach toward American colonists on the independence issue.
