Chapter 3: Settling the English Colonies

House of Burgesses

Representative parliamentary assembly created to govern Virginia, establishing a precedent for government in the English colonies.

Act of Toleration

Passed in Maryland, it guaranteed toleration to all Christians but decreed the death penalty for those, like Jews and atheists, who denied the divinity of Jesus Christ. Ensured that Maryland would continue to attract a high proportion of Catholic migrants throughout the colonial period.

Barbados Slave Code

First formal statute governing the treatment of slaves, which provided for harsh punishments against offending slaves but lacked penalties for the mistreatment of slaves by masters. Similar statutes were adopted by Southern plantation societies on the North American mainland in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

English Civil War

Armed conflict between royalists and parliamentarians, resulting in the victory of pro- Parliament forces and the execution of Charles I.

Squatters

Frontier farmers who illegally occupied land owned by others or not yet officially opened for settlement. Many of North Carolina’s early settlers were ___, who contributed to the colony’s reputation as being more independent-minded and egalitarian than its neighbors.

Calvinism

Dominant theological credo of the New England Puritans based on the teachings of John Calvin. They believed in predestination—that only “the elect” were destined for salvation.

Predestination

Calvinist doctrine that God has foreordained some people to be saved and some to be damned. Though their fate was irreversible, Calvinists, particularly those who believed they were destined for salvation, sought to lead sanctified lives in order to demonstrate to others that they were in fact members of the “elect.”

Conversion

Intense religious experience that confirmed an individual’s place among the “elect,” or the “visible saints.” Calvinists who experienced it were then expected to lead sanctified lives to demonstrate their salvation.

Puritans

English Protestant reformers who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic rituals and creeds. Some of the most devout ones believed that only “visible saints” should be admitted to church membership.

Separatists

Small group of Puritans who sought to break away entirely from the Church of England. After initially settling in Holland, a number of English members made their way to Plymouth Bay, Massachusetts, in 1620.

Wampanoag Nation

The “People of First Light” lived in current Plymouth Bay, Massachusetts. Although their numbers were greatly diminished by European-borne epidemics before the Mayflower’s arrival, the Native knowledge of those that remained proved essential to the Plymoth Pilgrims’ survival. The chieftain Massasoit signed a treaty with the colonists in 1621 and helped them celebrate the first Thanksgiving after the autumn harvests that same year.

Mayflower Compact

Agreement to form a majoritarian government in Plymouth, signed aboard the Mayflower. Created a foundation for self-government in the colony.

Massachusetts Bay Colony

Established by non-separating Puritans, it soon grew to be the largest and most influential of the New England colonies.

Great English Migration

Migration of seventy thousand refugees from England to the North American colonies, primarily New England and the Caribbean. The twenty thousand migrants who came to Massachusetts largely shared a common sense of purpose—to establish a model Christian settlement in the New World.

Protestant Ethic

A term coined by German Sociologist Max Weber in his landmark book of 1904–1905: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Weber argued that Protestantism nurtured values of hard work, frugality, and efficiency that fueled the early stages of European capitalism.

Antinomianism

Belief that the elect need not obey the law of either God or man; most notably espoused in the colonies by Anne Hutchinson.

Fundamental Orders

Drafted by settlers in the Connecticut River valley, this document was the first “modern constitution” establishing a democratically controlled government. Key features of the document were borrowed for Connecticut’s colonial charter and, later, its state constitution.

Pequot War

Series of clashes between English settlers and Pequot Indians in the Connecticut River valley. Ended in the slaughter of the Pequots by the Puritans and their Narragansett allies.

King Philip’s War

Series of assaults by Metacom, King Philip, on English settlements in New England. The attacks slowed the westward migration of New England settlers for several decades.

New England Confederation

Weak union of the colonies in Massachusetts and Connecticut led by Puritans for the purposes of defense and organization; an early attempt at self-government during the benign neglect of the English Civil War.

Navigation Laws

Series of laws passed, beginning in 1651, to regulate colonial shipping; the acts provided that only English ships would be allowed to trade in English and colonial ports and that all goods destined for the colonies would first pass through England.

Dominion of New England

Administrative union created by royal authority, incorporating all of New England, New York, and East and West Jersey. Placed under the rule of Sir Edmund Andros, who curbed popular assemblies, taxed residents without their consent, and strictly enforced Navigation Laws. Its collapse after the Glorious Revolution in England demonstrated colonial opposition to strict royal control.

Glorious Revolution

Overthrow, in 1688, of the Catholic King James II of England. Rebellious English nobles invited the Protestant William of Orange to replace James II in a relatively bloodless coup. The event affirmed England’s constitutional balance between parliament and the crown.

Salutary Neglect

Unofficial policy of relaxed royal control over colonial trade and only weak enforcement of Navigation Laws. Lasted from the Glorious Revolution to the end of the French and Indian War in 1763.

Quakers

Religious group known for their tolerance, emphasis on peace, and idealistic policies toward Native Americans. They settled heavily in Pennsylvania in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Blue Laws

Also known as sumptuary laws, they are designed to restrict personal behavior in accord with a strict code of morality. They were passed across the colonies, particularly in Puritan New England and Quaker Pennsylvania.

Cromwell

A Puritan soldier who was the champion of the mutinous members of Parliament. Helped in beheading King Charles I in 1649 and ruled England for nearly a decade until Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660.

Oglethorpe

Soldier-statesman and one of the philanthropists who launched Georgia. Keenly interested in prison reform after one of his friends died in a debtor’s jail. Repelled Spanish attacks. Was an imperialist and philanthropist, and saved “the Charity Colony” by his energetic leadership and heavily mortgaging his own personal fortune.

Calvin

Somber and severe religious leader that elaborated Martin Luther’s ideas that profoundly affected the though and character of generations of Americans yet unborn. Spelled out his basic doctrine in a learned Latin tome of 1536 called Institutes of the Christian Religion. Argued for predestination. Fostered calvinism.

Bradford

Self-taught scholar who was with the pilgrims who went to Plymouth. Read Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, and Dutch. Was chosen governor thirty times in the annual elections.

Winthrop

A well-to-do pillar of English society who immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony and became the colony’s first governor. Accepted the offer believing he had a “calling” from God to lead the new religious experiment. Served for 19 years.

Hutchinson

An intelligent, strong willed, and outspoken woman and the mother of 14 children. Held unorthodox views that challenged the authority of the clergy and the very integrity of the Puritan experiment in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The assertion was called antinomianism, which was high heresy. Was banished and went to Rhode Island, then New York, where she and all but one of her household were killed by Siwanoy assailants.

Williams

Personable and popular Salem minister with radical ideas and an unrestrained tongue. And extreme Separatist, he hounded his fellow clergymen to make a clean break with the corrupt Church of England. Challenged the legality of the Bay Colony’s charter, which he condemned for taking land from the Indigenous people. Denied the authority of civil government to regulate religious behavior. Was eventually banished, but fled to Rhode Island and built the first Baptist church in America. Established complete freedom of religion. Demanded no oaths regarding religious believes, no compulsory attendance at worship, and no taxes to support a state church.

Massasoit

The Wampanoag chieftain who signed a treaty with the Plymouth Pilgrims in 1621 and helped them celebrate the first Thanksgiving after the autumn harvests that same year.

Metacom (King Philip)

Massasoit’s son who forged the pan-Indian alliance, banding various Native peoples together, and mounted a series of coordinated assaults on English villages throughout New England to resist the English encroaching on their land. When the war ended, his wife and son were sold into slavery, and he was shot, beheaded, and drawn and quartered. His head was carried on a pike back to Plymouth, where it was mounty on grisly display for years.

Andros

English commander the Dominion of New England placed in charge of a vast swath of colonial territory. He flaunted his non-Puritan religion, revoked land titles, and suppressed town meetings, courts, the press, and schools. When the English overthrew King James II, a Boston mob seized the moment to drive him back to England. He tried to flee in women’s clothing but his boots gave him away.

Penn

A wellborn and athletic young Englishman who was attracted to the Quaker faith in 1660 when only 16 years old. He embraced the despised faith and suffered much persecution. He turned to the New World and was eager to establish an asylum for his people. In 1681, he managed to secure from the king an immense grant of fertile land which he launched as his colony. He especially welcomed forward-looking spirits and substantial citizens. His liberal land policy, which encouraged substantial holdings, was instrumental in attracting a heavy inflow of immigrants. He owned some African slaves, and some he freed, some he didn’t. He spent only 4 years in Pennsylvania. He was thrice arrested for treason, thrust for a time into a debtors’ prison, and afflicted by a paralytic stroke.