Key Colonial Figures, Laws, and Foundations in Early American History

Cecil Calvert

Proprietor of the Maryland colony, which he governed after his father.

Lord Baltimore

Title held by Cecil Calvert's father, who founded the Maryland colony as a haven for Catholics.

Act of Toleration

1649 Maryland law granting religious freedom to all Christians.

Roger Williams

Puritan minister who founded Providence and promoted religious freedom.

Providence

A Settlement founded by Roger Williams that became part of Rhode Island.

Anne Hutchinson

Dissident banished from Massachusetts Bay for challenging Puritan teachings.

Antinomianism

Belief that faith alone, not moral law, determines salvation.

Rhode Island

Colony founded for religious tolerance and separation of church and state.

Halfway Covenant

Puritan compromise allowing partial church membership without full conversion.

Quakers

Religious group promoting equality, nonviolence, and inner spiritual guidance.

William Penn

Quaker leader who founded Pennsylvania as a religious refuge.

Holy Experiment

William Penn's plan for Pennsylvania, promoting religious freedom and good government.

Charter of Liberties (1701)

Pennsylvania document guaranteeing freedom of worship and assembly.

Rice-growing plantations

Large Southern farms in South Carolina using enslaved labor for rice.

Tobacco farms

Small farms in North Carolina and Virginia growing tobacco, sometimes with indentured or enslaved labor.

Jamestown

First permanent English colony in 1607.

Captain John Smith

English leader who helped found and govern Jamestown for the first five years.

John Rolfe

Jamestown settler who grew tobacco and married Pocahontas.

Pocahontas

Daughter of Chief Powhatan, helped Jamestown settlers and married John Rolfe.

Virginia

Made into a royal colony under direct control of the king.

Plymouth Colony

English settlement in Massachusetts founded in 1620 by Pilgrims seeking religious freedom.

Separatists

Radical English dissenters wanting a church completely independent of royal control.

Pilgrims

Separatists who traveled to America seeking religious freedom.

Mayflower

Ship that carried the Pilgrims to America in 1620.

Massachusetts Bay Colony

Colony founded in 1630 by Puritans seeking religious freedom.

Puritans

English Protestants who wanted to reform and purify the Church of England.

John Winthrop

Leader of the Puritans who founded Boston in 1630.

Great Migration

Movement of about 15,000 Puritans to Massachusetts Bay in the 1630s.

Thomas Hooker

Puritan minister who founded Hartford, Connecticut.

John Davenport

Founder of the New Haven settlement in Connecticut.

Connecticut

New England colony with self-government and the Fundamental Orders.

New Hampshire

Colony separated from Massachusetts Bay in 1679 and made a royal colony.

The Carolinas

Originally granted to eight nobles, the Southern colonies were later split into North and South Carolina.

New York

Colony taken from the Dutch and granted to the Duke of York.

New Jersey

Colony split from New York, offering land and religious freedom.

Pennsylvania

Colony founded by William Penn as a Quaker refuge with religious freedom.

Delaware

Lower counties of Pennsylvania with its own assembly, effectively a separate colony.

Georgia

Southern colony founded in 1732 as a buffer and debtor colony.

James Oglethorpe

Founder and first governor of Georgia.

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639)

First written constitution in America, establishing representative government.

Frame of Government (1682-1683)

Pennsylvania's constitution guaranteed a representative assembly.

Virginia House of Burgesses

First representative assembly in America, established in 1619.

Mayflower Compact

1620 agreement by Pilgrims to self-govern by majority rule.

Corporate Colonies

Operated by joint-stock companies, at least during these colonies' early years.

Royal Colonies

Under the direct authority and rule of the king's government.

Proprietary Colonies

Under the authority of individuals granted charters of ownership by the king.

Virginia Company

English joint-stock company that founded Jamestown in 1607.

Chesapeake Colonies

Virginia and Maryland colonies focused on tobacco farming and plantation economies.

Joint-Stock Company

A business owned by investors who share profits and risks.