Colonial America and Early Settlement

Vocabulary flashcards covering early American colonization, European motivations, key historical figures, major colonial developments, and social structures.

John Peter Zenger

A colonial printer whose trial for criticizing a governor helped establish early concepts regarding freedom of the press.

Great Awakening

A major religious revival in the 1730s characterized by emotional preaching and heightened religious fervor led by figures such as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield.

Jeremiads

Warnings and sermons inspired by the prophet Jeremiah that reprimanded parishioners for declining religious devotion.

Old Lights vs New Lights

Old Lights were traditional ministers who rejected emotional revivals, while New Lights embraced the passionate revivalism of the Great Awakening.

Halfway Covenant

A Puritan church policy that granted partial church membership to descendants of original members as overall religious zeal declined.

Middle Passage

The forced transatlantic voyage of enslaved West Africans across the Atlantic to the New World aboard cramped slave ships.

Bacon's Rebellion

An uprising in 1676 led by Nathaniel Bacon, who gathered landless settlers to demand action against Native Americans, took over the government, and burned Jamestown to the ground.

Salem Witchcraft Trials

A period of paranoia in 1692 Salem where 20 adults were executed (19 hanged and 1 pressed to death with stones) under accusations of witchcraft.

Headright System

A system designed to encourage immigration by granting 50 acres of land to anyone who paid for the passage of a settler to the colony.

Roger Williams

A religious dissenter banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony for advocating the separation of church and state who subsequently established Rhode Island.

Thomas Hooker

The founder of Connecticut who helped write the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, considered by many to be the first written constitution in America.

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

A framework of government created by three Connecticut cities banding together, often considered the first written constitution in America.

John Smith

The leader of the Jamestown colony who enforced strict discipline with the policy 'He who shall not work, shall not eat.'

The Starving Time

A brutal winter in Jamestown during which extreme famine reduced the colonial population from around 500 down to only 60 survivors.

Primogeniture

An English legal principle stating that only the eldest son inherits all of a father's land and property, motivating younger sons to seek fortunes overseas.

Roanoke Colony

The early English colony established by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1585/1587 that completely vanished, leaving only the word 'Croatoan' carved into wood.

Guanahani

The original island location in the Bahamas where Christopher Columbus made landfall in 1492.

Amerigo Vespucci

The Italian explorer for whom the Americas were named.

Bering Land Bridge

A historical land strip connecting modern-day Russia and Alaska that allowed early human populations to cross into the Americas.