Unit 1: From Colony to Independence

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, historical events, and founding principles from Unit 1: From Colony to Independence.

Mayflower Compact

An early agreement formed by the Pilgrims that established a foundation for self-government in the New England colonies.

Middle Colonies

The settlements of New Netherland (New York), Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, which were characterized by greater political, ethnic, religious, and social diversity than New England or the South.

Seven Years' War

A worldwide conflict between Great Britain and France (also known as the French and Indian War) that resulted in a British victory and drove France from North America.

Proclamation of 1763

A British imperial policy issued following the Seven Years' War that restricted colonial expansion and added to tensions between Britain and the American colonies.

Mercantilism

An economic system strictly enforced by the British Empire through trade laws to maintain imperial economic control, which faced opposition from American colonists.

Salutary Neglect

An earlier period of relaxed British policy regarding the enforcement of trade laws, the end of which spurred colonial resistance against tighter controls and higher taxes.

Articles of Confederation

The first weak national government of the United States, which successfully handled western lands but lacked real authority over foreign policy, commerce, and Shays' Rebellion.

Shays' Rebellion

An armed uprising triggered by economic difficulties that exposed the central weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and spurred efforts to reform the government.

Separatists

A religious group, also known as Pilgrims, who fled religious persecution in England to establish the Plymouth Colony.

Quakers

A religious group persecuted in England who settled in Pennsylvania under William Penn to establish a diverse society.

Town Meetings

Local gatherings in New England towns that offered early glimpses of direct self-rule and democratic self-government.

Slave Codes

Lifelong legal regulations enacted in the early southern colonies that established rigid, discriminatory patterns of race relations for African Americans.

Thomas Paine

The revolutionary author of Common Sense, whose writings inspired American idealism to reject monarchy and establish a free republic.

Common Sense

A influential pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that urged American colonists to end monarchical rule and create an independent free republic.

Declaration of Independence

The 1776 document in which American colonists formally severed ties with Great Britain based on universal, self-evident truths.