period 1: 1491-1607

joint-stock company

Companies made up of group of investors who bought the right to establish plantations from the king

Virginia Company

The first joint-stock company in the colonies; founded Jamestown; promised gold, conversion of Indian to Christianity, and passage to the Indies

Jamestown

First permanent British colony established in New World (in 1607); Located in Virginia

Puritans

Protestants who wished to purify the Anglican Church by breaking away from Catholic practices and barring people from the church who were not commited

Pilgrims (Separatists)

Radical Protestants who wished to break from the Anglican Church entirely; Left England to settler in Netherlands but did not approve of the "Dutchification" of their children; enveutally settled in New World to avoid religious persecution

Plymouth Colony

Chosen as the settlement site by the Pilgrims; located in present-day MA

Mayflower

One of the three ships on which the Pilgrims sailed to the New World

Mayflower Compact

Regarded not as a constitution but as an agreement; Recognized James I as sovereign leader and all settlers as governing body; Agreed to majority rule

Massachusetts Bay Colony

Founded in 1629 by non-Seperatist Puritans

Great Migration

Turmoil in England caused 150,000+ settlers to migrate to New World; ended with the outburst of English Civil War

Virginia House of Burgesses

First miniature parliament authorized by London Company in 1619 in British American colonies; representative self-gov't; grant revoked by James I who thought assembly was dangerous and made VA a royal colony

Chesapeake colonies

Comprised of MD and VI; had characteristics of both the Middle and Southern colonies - slavey and tobacco (South), farmed grain (Middle)

Act of Toleration

Guaranteed religious freedom for those who asserted the divinity of Jesus Christ (excluded Atheists and Jews)

Bacon's Rebellion

After several attacks from Indians, the freedmen requested protection from the gov't (Berkeley); when he refused to send aid and instead enacted policies to help the Indians, Nathaniel Bacon began mobilizing a militia to protect whites from Indians; massacred Indians and set fire to Jamestown
SIGNIFICANCE: colonists began to realize how dangerous indentured servants were becoming and upped slave imports

indentured servant

Individuals whose voyages to the New World were paid by others; in return for the free voyage, they would have to work for the provider for a certain period of time

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

FIRST modern constitution in American history; established a democracy controlled by citizens; modeled CN's future colonial charter and state constitution

William Penn

Founded Pennsylvania as a haven for Quakers and as an experiment of liberal ideas in gov't while making a profit

mercantilism

Idea that colonies existed solely for the benefit of the mother country; provided raw material and resources for England; goal is to export more than import

Middle Passage

The journey slaves took across the Atlantic from Africa to the colonies; very brutal, awful circumstances

First Great Awakening

First mass social movement in American history; religious revival initiated by Jonathan Edwards

Northwest Passage

Waterway from Atlantic to Pacific; sought since the 1600s