Colonial America: Types, Society, and Key Events

Royal Colonies

Colonies under King's government, e.g. Virginia after 1624.

Corporate Colonies

Colonies established by joint-stock companies, e.g. Jamestown at first.

Proprietary Colonies

Colonies owned by individuals with a charter, e.g. Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Jamestown Founding (1607)

Founded for wealth, funded by the Virginia Company after England became a naval power.

Problems Faced by Jamestown Settlers

Disease, swampy land, starvation, conflict with Natives; survived under John Smith & John Rolfe; tobacco became key cash crop.

Royal Colony (1624)

Jamestown became a royal colony after the Virginia Company went bankrupt and the King took control.

Plymouth Founding

Founded by Separatist Pilgrims seeking religious freedom from the Anglican Church.

Great Migration

Movement of 15,000+ Puritans to Massachusetts Bay during the 1630s-1640s under John Winthrop.

House of Burgesses

Established in 1619 in Virginia; first representative assembly in America that granted colonists rights like Englishmen.

Mayflower Compact

An early form of colonial self-government established in 1620; rule by majority.

Voting in Massachusetts Bay

Only male Puritan church members could vote.

Maryland's Act of Toleration (1649)

Granted religious freedom to all Christians; repealed after a Protestant revolt.

Indentured Servitude

Young workers under 4-7 year contracts; most became poor laborers after their service.

Headright System

Provided 50 acres of land for each paying immigrant and indentured servant; benefitted the wealthy.

Slavery in Colonies

Began in 1619 with the arrival of the first Africans in Virginia; lifelong slavery was codified in the 1660s.

Bacon's Rebellion (1676)

Led by Nathaniel Bacon against Gov. Berkeley and wealthy planters; resulted in burning Jamestown and increased resistance to royal control.

Rhode Island Founding

Founded by Roger Williams in 1636 to promote religious freedom and recognize Native land rights.

Anne Hutchinson's Banishment

Banished from Massachusetts Bay for believing in antinomianism; fled to Rhode Island.

Halfway Covenant

Allowed partial church membership for descendants of Puritans; weakened church authority.

King Philip's War (1675-1676)

Conflict where Metacom united Natives against New England colonists; defeated by the New England Confederation.

Differences in the Carolinas

North Carolina had small farms and fewer slaves; South Carolina had rice plantations and heavy slavery.

Pennsylvania Founding

Founded by William Penn as a Quaker refuge, offering religious freedom, an elected assembly, and unrestricted immigration.

Georgia Founding

Founded in 1733 as a buffer against Spanish Florida and as a debtor colony.

Mercantilism

Economic theory that trade generates wealth and is stimulated by the accumulation of profitable balances.

Navigation Acts (1650-1673)

Restricted trade to England only; helped shipbuilding & tobacco monopoly but hurt farmers and raised prices; led to smuggling.

Dominion of New England (1686)

James II merged NE colonies under Sir Edmund Andros; restricted town meetings, taxed, revoked land titles; ended after Glorious Revolution (1689).

Expansion of Slavery in the late 1600s

Decline in indentured servants, expansion of plantations, Bacon's Rebellion, falling tobacco prices → demand for cheap labor.

Triangular Trade & Middle Passage

Colonies sent raw goods to England → manufactured goods to Africa → slaves via Middle Passage to colonies/Caribbean.

Population Growth in the Colonies

Immigration (British, Irish, Germans), high birth rates, slavery, and abundant land.

Characteristics of Colonial Society

Self-government (assemblies), religious freedom (varied), no hereditary aristocracy (class by wealth), and social mobility (except slaves).

Family Life in Colonies vs. Europe

Larger families, mostly farm-based; men owned property, women managed home and children with limited rights.

Economy of New England

Shipbuilding, fishing, timber, rum, trade; rocky soil limited farming.

Economy of the Middle Colonies

Wheat & corn farms, some slaves & indentured servants, ironworks; cities like Philadelphia & NY grew.

Economy of the Southern Colonies

Plantations with tobacco (VA/MD/NC), rice & indigo (SC/GA); relied heavily on slavery.

Problems with Colonial Money

Shortage of gold/silver; paper money often led to inflation.

John Locke

Enlightenment thinker; 'natural rights' (life, liberty, property), consent of the governed, right to revolt.

Impact of the Enlightenment on Colonies

Promoted reason, science, individual rights, and early ideas of democracy.

Great Awakening (1730s-1740s)

Religious revival with emotional preaching and mass conversions.

Jonathan Edwards

Preacher in New England; warned sinners of damnation; stressed personal conversion.

George Whitefield

Famous preacher; said only faith in Christ saved people; spread revival across colonies.

New Lights vs. Old Lights

New Lights = supported revival/emotionalism; Old Lights = traditional, opposed GA.

Effects of the Great Awakening

Increased religious diversity, new churches, challenge to authority, encouraged questioning.

Expansion of Education in Colonies

Colleges founded (Princeton, Rutgers, Brown, Dartmouth, Columbia); more professions (law, medicine).