Anne Hutchinson
A dissenter in the Massachusetts Bay Colony who caused a schism in the Puritan community. Eventually, Hutchinson's faction lost out in a power struggle for the governorship. She was expelled from the colony in 1673 and traveled southward with a number of her followers, establishing the settlement of Portsmouth, Rhode Island.
Bacon’s Rebellion
An uprising in 1676 in the Virginia Colony, led by Nathaniel Bacon. It was the first rebellion in the American colonies, in which discontented frontiersmen took part. The uprising was a protest against the governor of Virginia, William Berkeley, and his lack of protection against the Natives due to his profitable fur trade. The rebellion fazed out after Bacon died of dysentery, but not before the burning of Jamestown.
Dissenters were comprised of frontiersmen, indentured servants, and African slaves. This uprising will mark the shift from indentured servitude to African slaves.
Barbados Slave Trade
The harsh system of Barbados laws governing African labor officially adopted by South Carolina in 1696. No rights to slaves, masters have complete control. One of the English islands that were key to the sugar trade.
Chesapeake Region
This region is the area where the first successful English colony, Jamestown, was established. The area was swampy with thick woods. Colonists settling there came to rely greatly upon the Natives. Virginia and Maryland.
Congregational Church
A church grown out of the Puritan church, was established in all New England colonies but Rhode Island. It was based on the belief that individual churches should govern themselves.
Dominion of New England
1686 - The British government (King James II) combined the colonies of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut into a single province headed by a royal governor (Andros) without an elective assembly. Two years later the English monarchy is ousted by the Glorious Revolution and the Dominion was overthrown.
English Caribbean
This area was a popular destination for English immigrants, especially in the early seventeenth century. It included the Caribbean Islands and the northern area of Bermuda. Theses islands influenced colonies on the mainland in many ways. They traded with theses colonies, as well as supplied slaves and offered a model for the plantation system. The island's Native population was almost nonexistent, though there was danger from the Spanish, who also claimed the area. The economy of the islands was based on the sugarcane crop, which was mainly farmed by African slaves.
Fundamental Constitution for Carolina
The constitutional government document written for the Province of Carolina, a large swath of land in the new American colonies occupying an area roughly between what are now the states of Virginia and Florida. Adopted in March 1669 and penned by the British philosopher John Locke and Anthony Ashley Cooper, the Fundamental Constitution of Carolina formed the basis for Carolina's colonial government in the 17th century.
It divided the colony into counties and parcels and created a rigidly hierarchical social order. It introduced limited government and the idea of a social contract. It is the most important of any of the early constitutions.
George and Cecilius Cavert
The First Lord of Baltimore, dreamed of forming a colony in the new World for the real estate and because he could create a haven for English Catholics seeking escape from the Anglican church of England. His son, the Second Lord of Baltimore, saw this dream become a reality when he gained a charter from the Crown for this land as well as the right to rule over the land as long as he paid an annual fee to the Crown.
Glorious Revolution
Following the English Civil War, this event involve the British Parliament once again overthrowing their monarch in 1688-1689. James II was expelled and William and Mary were made king and queen. Marks the point at which Parliament made the monarchy powerless, gave themselves all the power, and wrote a bill of Rights. The whole thing was relatively peaceful and thus glorious.
Will contribute to the increase salutary neglect of the American colonies, and the increase need for political representation.
Headright
Colonial system of awarding a tract of land, usually fifty acres, to a person who paid for the passage of an indentured servant to the colonies. Some wealthy people in Virginia and other southern colonies accumulated huge tracts of land through this system.
Jacob Leisler
A German-born merchant and militia captain in New York who in 1689 led a rebellion of merchants and artisans who had been denied economic privileges to trade and mill flour under James II's government. He was executed for treason when the new governor appointed by William and Mary arrived in 1691.
James Oglethorpe
Founder and governor of the Georgia colony. He ran a tightly-disciplined, military-like colony due to the 50,000 British convicts sent to Georgia to develop the land without recompense for 21 years. Slaves, alcohol, and Catholicism were forbidden in his colony. Many colonists felt that he was a dictator, and that (along with the colonist's dissatisfaction over not being allowed to own slaves) caused the colony to break down and he lost his position as governor.
John Calvin
(1509-1564) developed Calvinism, believed in predestination-God selects certain people for salvation and condemns the rest, emphasized the absolute sovereignty and omnipotence of God and total weakness of humanity, held Genevans to a high standard of morality, emphasized aggressive, vigorous activism.
John Smith
(1580-June 21, 1631) was an English soldier, sailor, and author. He is remembered for his role in establishing the first permanent English settlement in North America at Jamestown, Virginia, and his brief association with the Native American girl Pocahontas during an altercation with the Powhatan Confederacy and her father, Chief Powhatan. He was a leader of the Virginia Colony (based at Jamestown) between 1607 and 1609, and led an exploration along the rivers of Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay.
John Winthrop
As governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, he was instrumental in forming the colony's government and shaping its legislative policy. He envisioned the colony, centered in present-day Boston, as a "city upon a hill" from which Puritans would spread religious righteousness throughout the world.
King Phillip's War
War between the Native American tribes of New England and British colonists that took place from 1675-1676. The war was the result of tension caused by encroaching white settlers. The chief of the Wampanoags, King Philip (Metacomet) formed an alliance with other tribes which died when Metacomet did, and then the colonists devastated the tribes. The war ended Indian resistance in New England and left a hatred of whites.
Massachusetts Bay Company
Joint-stock company chartered by Charles I in 1629. It was controlled by Non-Separatists who took the charter with them to New England and, in effect, converted it into a written constitution for the colony.
Mayflower Compact
This document was drafted in 1620 prior to settlement by the Pilgrims at Plymouth Bay in Massachusetts. It declared that the 41 males who signed it agreed to accept majority rule and participate in a government in the best interest of all members of the colony. This agreement set the precedent for later documents outlining commonwealth rule.
Metacomet
Wamponoag chieftain known to the English as King Philip, led one of the last Native Americans battles against the colonists in Massachusetts in 1676.
The Middle Ground
Refers to the intermediate zone on the American frontier between Native Americans and European settlers. It is a historical paradigm that does not treat the frontier as two separate forces (Native American and white) meeting and one coming to dominate, but rather how there was a constant level of social and cultural interactivity. Historian Richard White popularized the term.
Navigation Acts
A series of British regulations which taxed goods imported by the colonies from places other than Britain, or otherwise sought to control and regulate colonial trade. Increased British-colonial trade and tax revenues. They were reinstated after the French and Indian War because Britain needed to pay off debts incurred during the war, and to pay the costs of maintaining a standing army in the colonies.
New Amsterdam
A 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherlands. City and colony was seized by the English in 1664. Dutch surrendered without a battle. Later became the city now known as New York City.
Pennsylvania
1681 - William Penn received a land grant from King Charles II, and used it to form a colony that would provide a haven for Quakers. This colony allowed religious freedom and prohibited slavery.
Pequot War
When colonists migrated into the Connecticut Valley, already inhabited by this Indian tribe. They in turn attacked a settlement in Wakefield and killed nine colonists. In response, colonists retaliated by burning their main village.
Powhatan
An Indian chieftain who dominated the peoples in the James River area. All the tribes loosely under his control came to be called Powhatan's confederacy. The colonists inaccurately called all of the Indians Powhatan.
Quakers
English dissenters who broke from Church of England, preached a doctrine of pacificism, inner divinity, and social equity, under William Penn they founded Pennsylvania
Roger Williams
He founded Rhode Island for separation of Church and State. He believed that the Puritans were too powerful and was ordered to leave the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his religious beliefs.
Sir William Berkeley
The royal governor of Virginia. Adopted policies that favored large planters and neglected the needs of recent settlers in the 'backcountry.' His shortcomings led to Bacon's Rebellion.
Theocracy
A state whose government is either believed to be divinely guided or a state under the control of a group of religious leaders.
Toleration Act
Act that was passed in Maryland that guaranteed toleration to all Christians, regardless of sect but not to those who did not believe in the divinity of Jesus. Though it did not sanction much tolerance, the act was the first seed that would sprout into the first amendment, granting religious freedom to all.
Virginia House of Burgesses
The first representative elected legislature assembly in the New World established in the Colony of Virginia in 1619; representatives set up by England to make laws and levy taxes but England could veto its legislative acts (POL)
Wampanoags
A tribe whose chief, Metacom, known to the colonies as King Phillip, united many tribes in southern New England against the English settlers.
William Bradford
A Pilgrim, the second governor of the Plymouth colony, 1621-1657. He developed private land ownership and helped colonists get out of debt. He was chosen as governor 30 times in the annual elections. He was afraid of non-Puritan settlers corrupting his godly experiment in the wilderness. He helped the colony survive droughts, crop failures, and Indian attacks.
William Penn
An English Quaker, founded Pennsylvania in 1682, after receiving a charter from King Charles II the year before. He launched the colony as a "holy experiment" based on religious tolerance.
Established an asylum for Quakers through a land grant in 1681. Favored religious toleration and acceptance of Native Americans.