Colonial America Vocabulary: Chapters 2 and 3

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key historical figures, events, and concepts from Chapters 2 and 3 of the lecture notes.

Lord De La Warr

A governor dispatched from England in 1610 who stopped Jamestown settlers from leaving, instituted a harsh military regime, and used aggressive campaign tactics against local Native Americans.

Pocahontas

Daughter of Chief Powhatan who served as an intermediary between the Native Americans and English settlers, allegedly saved John Smith, and married John Rolfe in 1614 to conclude the First Anglo-Powhatan War.

Powhatan

Chief of the Powhatan tribe and father of Pocahontas who subjected Captain John Smith to a mock execution in 1607 and later fought against Virginian expansion in the First Anglo-Powhatan War.

John Rolfe

Virginian colonist whose 1614 marriage to Pocahontas was the first known interracial union in the colonies; known as the father of the tobacco industry for discovering how to cure tobacco.

Lord Baltimore

Proprietor who founded Maryland as a feudal estate and safe haven for Catholic colonists, eventually sponsoring the Act of Toleration in 1649.

Walter Raleigh

English courtier who organized the 1585 expedition to Roanoke Island off North Carolina; the settlement mysteriously vanished, and Raleigh was later executed for treason.

James Oglethorpe

Military leader and philanthropist who founded Georgia as a buffer colony against Spanish and French forces and as a haven for debtors.

Humphrey Gilbert

Half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh who led an early English attempt to colonize Newfoundland; died at sea in 1583.

Oliver Cromwell

Puritan military leader who ruled England under a strict regime during the Protectorate period after the execution of Charles I.

John Smith

Leader who saved Jamestown in 1608 by enforcing the rule 'He who shall not work shall not eat' and was subjected to a mock execution by Powhatan.

William Penn

Quaker founder of Pennsylvania who received a land grant in 1681 and established a colony characterized by religious freedom and peaceful relations with Native Americans.

Elizabeth I

English Protestant monarch under whose reign early New World colonial efforts began, pirate 'sea dogs' raided Spanish ships, and Virginia was named in her honor.

joint-stock company

A business enterprise in which investors pool financial resources to share risks and profits; widely used to finance early English colonial expeditions.

enclosure

A British land-use system where smaller farms were integrated into large plots, displacing small farmers and causing many to become indentured servants in America.

House of Burgesses

The representative colonial assembly established in Virginia in 1619 by the London Company, setting a precedent for colonial self-government.

Royal Charter

A formal document issued by the British crown granting rights to establish and govern a colony under imperial authority.

Slave Codes

Laws designed to govern and strictly control the lives of enslaved Africans to minimize the potential for revolts.

Yeoman

A small farmer who cultivates his own land, playing a vital role in food production for early colonies.

Proprietor

An individual granted ownership and ruling authority over a New World colony directly responsible to the British crown.

Law of Primogeniture

A legal custom dictating that only the eldest son inherited landed estates, forcing younger sons to seek wealth through colonial ventures.

Indentured Servitude

A system where individuals bound themselves to labor for a specified period in exchange for paid passage to the New World.

Starving Time

The severe winter of 1609 to 1610 in Jamestown where only 60 of the 400 colonists survived.

First Anglo-Powhatan War

A conflict from 1610 to 1614 between Jamestown colonists and the Powhatan tribe initiated by Lord De La Warr's harsh tactics and ended by the marriage of Pocahontas and John Rolfe.

Second Anglo-Powhatan War

The final 1644 to 1646 conflict resulting in a treaty that banished the Powhatan people from their ancestral lands in the Chesapeake Bay area.

Act of Toleration

A 1649 Maryland law extending religious freedom to all Christians while mandating the death penalty for non-Christians, such as Jews and atheists.

Barbados Slave Code

A severe 1661 legal code originating in Barbados that denied basic rights to enslaved people and granted masters complete authority over them; later adopted in the Carolinas.

Virginia Company

A joint-stock company chartered by King James I in 1606 that founded the Jamestown settlement in 1607.

Restoration

The period beginning after Oliver Cromwell's rule when the English monarchy was restored under Charles II, leading to increased royal involvement in colonization.

Iroquois Confederacy

An alliance of Native American tribes in northeastern North America originally made up of five nations (and later six, including the Tuscaroras) that maintained military and political authority.

Jamestown

Founded in 1607 by the Virginia Company, it was the first permanent English settlement in North America.

Charles Town

A major seaport city in the Carolinas that became a center for rice exports and diverse settlement.

Protestant Reformation

A 16th-century religious movement initiated by Martin Luther that split Western Christianity and caused religious conflicts that drove migration to the Americas.

Spanish Armada

A massive Spanish naval fleet defeated by England's smaller fleet and severe weather in 1588, marking the decline of Spain's imperial dominance.

Chesapeake

The land and bay region comprising Virginia and Maryland, site of the earliest English settlements and Native American conflicts.

Quakers (Religious Society of Friends)

A religious group known for pacifism, refusal to pay taxes to the Church of England, and belief in equality, who settled Pennsylvania under William Penn.

Powhatan Confederacy

A tribal alliance of roughly a dozen Native American groups under Chief Powhatan in the Virginian tide-water region.

English Civil War

A mid-17th-century war between supporters of King Charles I and the English Parliament that resulted in the execution of the king and the creation of Cromwell's Protectorate.

John Calvin 'Calvinism'

Protestant reformer whose theology emphasized God's omnipotence, human sinfulness, and predestination, heavily influencing New England Puritans.

Anne Hutchinson 'Antinomianism'

A Puritan dissenter banished from Massachusetts in 1638 for promoting antinomianism, the belief that saved individuals were not bound to follow civil or religious laws.

Roger Williams

Radical minister banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony who established Providence, Rhode Island in 1636 based on religious freedom and fair treatment of Native Americans.

Henry Hudson

English explorer hired by the Dutch East India Company who explored the Delaware and New York Bay regions in 1609, establishing Dutch claims to New Netherland.

Thomas Hooker

Puritan minister who led a group to settle the Connecticut River valley and helped frame the Fundamental Orders in 1639.

John Winthrop

First governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony who sought to build a devout, theocratic model community described as a 'City Upon a Hill'.

King Philip (Metacom)

Wampanoag chief who organized a multi-tribal alliance against New England colonists during King Philip's War (1675 to 1676).

John Cotton

Prominent Puritan clergyman in the Massachusetts Bay Colony who defended government regulation of religious behavior.

Sir Edmund Andros

Autocratic head of the Dominion of New England whose enforcement of the Navigation Laws and restrictions on local colonial rights led to his eventual overthrow.

William and Mary

Protestant monarchs who assumed the English throne during the Glorious Revolution of 1688 to 1689, replacing King James II.

Massasoit

Wampanoag chief who signed a peace treaty with the Plymouth Pilgrims in 1621 and helped celebrate the first Thanksgiving.

Martin Luther

German friar who initiated the Protestant Reformation in 1517 by posting his 95 Theses at Wittenberg Cathedral.

The 'Elect'

In Calvinist theology, the souls predetermined by God to receive salvation.

Predestination

The doctrine taught by John Calvin that God determined individual salvation or damnation before birth.

'Visible Saints'

Puritans who experienced a intense spiritual conversion and could demonstrate God's grace, qualifying them for full church membership and privileges.

Covenant

A religious agreement that Massachusetts Bay colonists believed they held with God to build a holy society.

Salutary Neglect

An unofficial British policy following the Glorious Revolution where strict enforcement of trade laws was relaxed, fostering American political independence.

'City Upon a Hill'

Governor John Winthrop's concept for the Massachusetts Bay Colony to serve as a righteous model community for humanity.

Pilgrims 'Mayflower Compact'

A 1620 agreement signed by Pilgrim settlers aboard the Mayflower establishing a self-governing community based on majority rule.

New England Confederation

A military alliance created in 1643 by four New England colonies (Bay Colony, Plymouth, New Haven, and Connecticut valley) for common defense.

Massachusetts Bay Company

A joint-stock company chartered in 1629 by non-Separatist Puritans that established a major, thriving colony in Massachusetts.

Dominion of New England

An administrative union imposed by the crown in 1686 to consolidate control over New England colonies and enforce the Navigation Laws.

Navigation Laws

Acts passed by Parliament mandating that colonial trade be restricted strictly to English vessels and ports.

Glorious Revolution

The peaceful 1688 overthrow of Catholic King James II of England, leading to the rise of William and Mary and sparking colonial uprisings.

Puritans

English religious reformers influenced by Calvinism who wished to fully 'purify' the Church of England of Catholic practices.

Separatists

Extreme Puritans who sought a total break from the Church of England and established Plymouth Colony in 1620.

Fundamental Orders

A 1639 document written by Connecticut settlers that established an early democratic constitution governed by voting citizens.

Church of England

The Protestant church created by King Henry VIII after separating from the Roman Catholic Church, with the monarch as its head.

New Netherland

A 17th-century Dutch colony established along the Hudson River by the Dutch East India Company to profit from the fur trade.

New Amsterdam/New York

A company-run Dutch town built on Manhattan Island for profit, which later fell under English control and was renamed New York.

Pequot War

A 1637 violent conflict between English settlers and Pequot Native Americans in Connecticut that ended in the slaughter and destruction of the Pequot tribe.