New England Colonies – Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from the lecture notes on the New England colonies, Puritanism, and related events.

Total Depravity

The belief that sin permeates all parts of a person—thinking, emotion, and will.

Unconditional Election

God predestines some to Heaven before creation; the elect go to Heaven not by good works.

Limited Atonement

Jesus died to save only the elect (particular redemption).

Irresistible Grace

Elect will eventually come to know God and respond; predestination cannot be avoided.

Perseverance of the Saints

The elect will continue in grace and ultimately reach Heaven; grace cannot be forfeited.

Mayflower Compact

1620 agreement to form a civil body politic and submit to majority rule; not a constitution; signed by 41 adult males.

Plymouth Colony

Settlement founded by the Pilgrims in 1620; later part of Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Mayflower

The ship that carried the Pilgrims to the New World in 1620.

Separatists (Pilgrims)

Believed only visible saints should join the church; broke from the Church of England; settled Plymouth.

Puritans

Calvinists seeking to purify and reform the Church of England; part of the Great Migration to New England.

Massachusetts Bay Colony

Puritan colony formed from a Royal charter in 1629; Boston served as its hub.

Great English Migration

Large movement of Puritans to America in the 1630s due to turmoil back in England.

John Winthrop

First governor of Massachusetts Bay; described the colony as a city upon a hill.

William Bradford

Governor of Plymouth; self-taught leader and chronicler of Plymouth Plantation.

Myles Standish

Military leader of the Plymouth Colony.

Anne Hutchinson

Puritan dissenter who claimed direct revelation; banished for antinomian beliefs.

Roger Williams

Puritan minister who founded Providence Plantations (Rhode Island); advocated religious liberty.

Rhode Island

Colony founded by Roger Williams; known for religious freedom and tolerance.

Salem Witch Trials

1692 hysteria in Massachusetts leading to multiple executions for alleged witchcraft.

Half-Way Covenant

Puritan policy allowing grandchildren of church members to be partly admitted to church membership.

Covenant Theology

Puritan framework: Covenant of Grace (elect salvation) and Social Covenant (mutual watchfulness and conformity).

King Philip’s War

1675–1676 uprising led by Metacom (King Philip) against English settlements in New England.

Wampanoags

Native tribe allied with Plymouth; Massasoit signed a treaty in 1621; affected by later wars.

Thanksgiving (1621)

First Thanksgiving celebrated by Pilgrims and Massasoit’s people, commemorated later as a national holiday.