John Cabot
an Italian navigator and explorer. His 1497 voyage to the coast of North America is the earliest- known European exploration of coastal North America since the Norse visits to Vinland in the eleventh century
Act of Tolerance
act of Parliament granting freedom of worship to Nonconformists It was one of a series of measures that firmly established the Glorious Revolution (1688–89) in England
Roger Williams
a Puritan minister, English Reformed theologian, and Reformed Baptist who founded the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
Anne Hutchison
a Puritan spiritual adviser. Her strong religious convictions were at odds with the established Puritan clergy in the Boston area, and her popularity and charisma helped create a theological schism that threatened to destroy the Puritans' religious community in New England
William Penn
an English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, early Quaker, and founder of the English North American colony the Province of Pennsylvania
Jamestown
settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas
Captain John Smith
an English soldier, explorer, colonial governor, Admiral of New England, and author. He played an important role in the establishment of the colony at Jamestown.
Pocahontas
a Native American woman notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia
Plymouth Colony
an English colonial venture in North America from 1620 to 1691. The first settlement of this colony was at a location previously surveyed and named by Captain John Smith
Pilgrims
early European settlers of the Plymouth Colony in present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States
Mayflower
an English ship that famously transported the first English Puritans, known today as the Pilgrims, from Plymouth, England to the New World in 1620
Massachusetts Bay Colony
an English settlement on the east coast of America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies
Puritans
members of a group of English Protestants of the late 16th and 17th centuries who regarded the Reformation of the Church of England under Elizabeth as incomplete and sought to simplify and regulate forms of worship
Thomas Hooker
Puritan colonial leader, who founded the Colony of Connecticut after dissenting with Puritan leaders in Massachusetts
Mayflower Compact
the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. The male passengers of the Mayflower consisting of separatist Puritans, adventurers, and tradesmen wrote it
Virginia Company
an English trading company chartered by King James I on 10 April 1606 with the object of colonizing the eastern coast of America
Chesapeake Colonies
were the Colony and Dominion of Virginia, later the Commonwealth of Virginia, and Province of Maryland, later Maryland, both colonies located in British America and centered on the Chesapeake Bay. Settlements of the Chesapeake region grew slowly due to diseases such as malaria
Triangular Trade
slave trade that operated from the late 16th to early 19th centuries, carrying slaves, cash crops, and manufactured goods between West Africa, Caribbean or American colonies and the European colonial powers
Navigation Acts
1651, aimed primarily at the Dutch, required all trade between England and the colonies to be carried in English or colonial vessels, resulting in the Anglo-Dutch War in 1652
Mercantilism
an economic policy that is designed to maximize the exports and minimize the imports for an economy, profitable trading
Glorious Revolution
also called the Revolution of 1688, was the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III, Prince of Orange, who was James's nephew and son-in-law
King Philip’s War
an armed conflict in 1675–78 between American Indian inhabitants of the New England region of North America versus New England colonists and their Indian allies
Bacon’s Rebellion
armed rebellion in 1676 by Virginia settlers led by Nathaniel Bacon against the rule of Governor William Berkeley
Indentured servants
a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years
Benjamin Franklin
one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, humorist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat
Poor Richard’s Almanac
a yearly almanac published by Benjamin Franklin. The publication appeared continually from 1732 to 1758. It sold exceptionally well for a pamphlet published in the American colonies
Phillis Wheatley
was the first published African-American female poet. The publication of her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773) brought her fame both in England and the American colonies
Great Awakening
a series of Christian revivals that swept Britain and its Thirteen Colonies between the 1730s and 1740s
George Whitefield
an Anglican cleric and evangelist who traveled to North America, where he preached a series of revivals that became part of the "Great Awakening". His methods were controversial, and he engaged in numerous debates and disputes with other clergymen
Cotton Mather
a socially and politically influential New England Puritan minister, and prolific author. He left a scientific legacy due to his hybridization experiments and his promotion of inoculation for disease prevention
Subsistence farming
a self-sufficiency farming system in which the farmers focus on growing enough food to feed themselves and their entire families
Huguenots
a French Protestant of the 16th–17th centuries. Largely Calvinist, suffered severe persecution at the hands of the Catholic majority
John Peter Zenger
a German printer and journalist in New York City. Zenger printed The New York Weekly Journal
Andrew Hamilton
a Scottish lawyer in the Thirteen Colonies. was best known for his legal victory on behalf of the printer and newspaper publisher John Peter Zenger
Enlightenment
an intellectual and philosophical movement that dominated the world of ideas in Europe during the 18th century