american history notes

charter

A document granting permission for a group or company to settle in a specific location.

joint-stock company

A business where investors pooled money for colonial ventures and shared profits.

mercantilism

An economic system where colonies existed to enrich the mother country through trade and resources.

Navigation Acts

British trade laws that required colonial goods to pass through England.

indentured servants

People who worked for a set number of years in exchange for passage to the colonies.

headright system

Land was granted to settlers who paid for their own or others’ passage to Virginia.

slavery in the colonial context

The forced labor of Africans brought via the Middle Passage.

Triangular Trade

A trade route linking Europe, Africa, and the Americas, often exchanging slaves, sugar, and manufactured goods.

Halfway Covenant

Allowed partial church membership to Puritan descendants.

corporate colony

A colony run by a company.

royal colony

A colony run by the crown.

proprietary colony

A colony owned by individuals or families.

John Cabot

An English explorer who claimed lands in North America for England.

John Smith

The strong leader of Jamestown who helped the colony survive.

John Rolfe

Introduced profitable tobacco farming; married Pocahontas.

Pocahontas

Daughter of Powhatan; wife of John Rolfe who helped Jamestown.

Puritans

Reformers who wanted to purify the Church of England.

Separatists

Radicals who wanted to break completely from the Church of England.

Pilgrims

Separatists who traveled on the Mayflower and founded Plymouth in 1620.

John Winthrop

Puritan leader of Massachusetts Bay; said the colony would be a 'city upon a hill.'

Roger Williams

Founder of Providence; supported religious freedom and separation of church and state.

Anne Hutchinson

Banished for challenging Puritan leaders; promoted antinomianism.

Thomas Hooker

Founded Connecticut, supporting more democratic principles.

John Davenport

Helped found New Haven colony, later part of Connecticut.

Cecil Calvert (Lord Baltimore)

Proprietor of Maryland who supported religious toleration.

William Penn

Quaker who founded Pennsylvania as a 'Holy Experiment.'

James Oglethorpe

Founder of Georgia as a buffer colony and debtor refuge.

Charles I

King of England executed in 1649.

Sir William Berkeley

Virginia governor targeted during Bacon’s Rebellion.

Metacom (King Philip)

Wampanoag leader who fought settlers in King Philip’s War.

Sir Edmund Andros

Governor of the Dominion of New England, disliked for his harsh rule.

Jamestown

It was the first permanent English settlement in 1607.

House of Burgesses

The first representative assembly in the colonies.

Mayflower Compact

Agreement for self-government signed by the Pilgrims in 1620.

Act of Toleration (1649)

A Maryland law granting freedom of worship to all Christians.

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639)

The first written constitution in America.

Frame of Government (1682)

William Penn’s plan for representative government in Pennsylvania.

Charter of Liberties (1701)

Pennsylvania law granting freedoms such as elected legislature.

Dominion of New England

Royal consolidation of colonies under Edmund Andros.

Bacon’s Rebellion (1676)

A revolt of frontier settlers against Virginia’s governor.

King Philip’s War (1675–1678)

Conflict between New England colonists and Native Americans.

Writs of Assistance

General search warrants used to stop smuggling.

Gaspee Affair (1772)

Colonists burned a British customs ship; Britain denied jury trials in colonies.

New England Confederation

Early colonial alliance for defense against Natives and the Dutch.

Virginia Company

A joint-stock company that founded Jamestown.

Committees of Correspondence

Colonial groups formed to unify communication against British policies.

Minutemen

Colonial militia ready to fight at a minute’s notice.

guerrilla warfare

Hit-and-run fighting style using surprise attacks.

Olive Branch Petition (1775)

Last colonial attempt at peace with King George III, rejected.

custom duty

A tax on imports and exports.

inflation in the colonial era

Decline in value of money, raising prices.

nonimportation agreement

A colonial pledge to boycott British goods.

republic

Government where power rests with citizens who vote.

emancipation

The process of freeing enslaved people.

manumission

Voluntary freeing of enslaved people by owners.

Proclamation of 1763

Banned settlement west of the Appalachians.

Sugar Act (1764)

Tax on sugar and molasses imports.

Stamp Act (1765)

Required stamps for printed items.

Quartering Acts

Colonists had to house British soldiers.

Townshend Acts (1767)

Taxes on imports like paper, glass, and tea.

Tea Act (1773)

Gave the British East India Company monopoly on tea sales.

Intolerable Acts (1774)

Punished Boston after the Tea Party by closing its harbor and limiting self-rule.

Jamestown founded

1607

Pilgrims on Mayflower

1620

Fundamental Orders adopted

1639

Act of Toleration passed

1649

Great Migration of Puritans

1630s

Charter of Liberties written

1701

Charles I executed

1649

Glorious Revolution

1688