US History Module 2 Vocab: The American Colonies

joint-stock companies

British colonies where investors pooled wealth in support of a colony in hopes of yielding profit

peninsula

piece of land surrounded by/protruding into water

John Smith

adventurer and soldier who became leader of Jamestown

Powhatan

Native tribe that provided colonists with food

headright system

anyone who paid for their own or another’s passage to Virginia received 50 acres land

indentured servant

agree to limited term servitude in exchange for passage to North American, food/shelter

Royal colony

Colony under direct control of King

Nathaniel Bacon

Plants that grew tired of native attacks

Puritans

English who wanted to “purify” or reform the Church of England (Anglican church

Plymouth colony

2nd permanent English colony

Massachusetts bay colony

Colony founded by puritans

John Winthrop

Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony who called it a “city upon a hill”

Roger Williams

Extreme separatist

Pequot War

1st major conflict between settlers and Natives resulting in the tribe being nearly wiped out

Metacom

Wampanoag chief that Puritans called King Philip who organized his people and other tribes to fight back

King Philip’s war

War where Wampanoag chief organized several tribes to fight puritans

New Netherland

Dutch settlement on Atlantic coast (now NYC)

William Penn

Received charter to found Pennsylvania

Quakers

Protestants who were unpopular in England

Mercantilism

Country’s ultimate goal is self diffidence and all countries competing for mist gold/silver

Parliament

Britain’s legislative body

Navigation acts

Series of laws restricting colonial trade

Dominion of New England

King James made all northern colonies into a single colony named

Glorious revolution

Peaceful takeover from King James

Salutary neglect

Britain relaxed its enforcement of most regulations in return for continued economic loyalty

Cash crop

Crop grown primarily for sale

Slaves

People considered property of others

Triangular trade

Network of trade routes crossing American colonies, West Indies, Europe, England, Africa

Middle passage

Voyage that brought Africans to West Indies and later North America, considered to be middle leg of triangular trade

Enlightenment

new ideas about nature gained precedence in 1700s

Benjamin Franklin

Outstanding enlightenment figure

Jonathan Edward’s

Puritan clergy who wanted to bring revival to original Puritan vision

Great awakening

Religious revival that used traveling preachers speaking to outdoor crowds

Stomp rebellion

Group of slaves obtained weapons and killed several planter families