Settling the English Colonies: 1619-1700

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from the lecture notes on the English colonies (1619-1700).

Jamestown profitability (Virginia)

Tobacco cultivation led by John Rolfe; European demand made Virginia profitable.

John Rolfe

English colonist who perfected tobacco cultivation in Virginia, enabling profitability.

Tobacco (cash crop)

Cash crop that sustained Virginia’s economy and attracted settlers.

Indentured servant

Person who sold 5–7 years of labor in exchange for passage to America.

African slavery in 1619

Arrival of Africans into Virginia marking the start of enslaved labor in the colony.

House of Burgesses

First official representative assembly in America, established in Virginia in 1619.

Act of Toleration (Maryland, 1649)

Gave freedom of worship to Christians; Catholics and Protestants could worship, but Jews and atheists faced penalties.

Maryland

Colony founded as a Catholic haven; later practiced religious toleration amid Protestant majority.

Barbados Slave Code

Harsh legal framework giving slaveholders near-total control over enslaved people.

West Indies sugar economy

Sugar production was capital-intensive and slave-labor based, creating a wealthy, slave-based system.

Carolina colonies

Southern colonies granted to loyal English elites; developed aristocratic, plantation-based economies.

Georgia (Buffer Colony)

Established to aid debtors and act as a buffer against Spanish Florida; later adopted a slave-based plantation system.

Squatters (North Carolina)

Frontier settlers who occupied land without legal title; signaled anti-authority frontier society.

Tuscarora War

Conflict in North Carolina where Native Americans were defeated with colonial help; many were displaced or enslaved.

Barons of the Carolinas

Second sons of English gentry who established aristocratic plantations using enslaved labor.

Aristocracy (Carolina colonies)

Wealthy landholding elites who dominated politics and maintained a plantation society.

Great Migration

Massive Puritan migration to Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630s–40s.

Puritans

Calvinist reformers who sought to purify the Church of England and aimed to create a model Christian society.

Pilgrims

Extreme Protestants who left England for Holland and then settled Plymouth in America.

Mayflower Compact

Early self-government agreement among the Pilgrims establishing a civil body politic.

Massachusetts Bay Colony

Puritan settlement near Boston; emblem of the Great Migration; governance tied to church leadership.

City Upon a Hill

Puritan ideal of a model Christian community for the world to imitate.

Protestant work ethic

Idea that hard work is a sign of being saved and leads to success.

Congregational Church (Bay Colony)

Church governance where congregations elect leaders; church funds come from taxes; leaders do not hold political office.

Separation of church and state

Early move in the Bay Colony toward separating church leadership from civil government.

Quakers

Religious dissenters who rejected human authority and seeking inner light.

Anne Hutchinson

Puritan dissenter banished for teaching direct revelations from God and challenging clergy.

Roger Williams

Dissenting minister banished from Massachusetts; founded Rhode Island and championed religious freedom.

Rhode Island

Most liberal colony; founded by Roger Williams; guaranteed religious freedom and broad suffrage.

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

First written constitution in America; established representative government in Connecticut.

Pequot War

Conflict between Puritans and the Pequot; involved atrocities and shifted power to colonists.

King Philip’s War

Widespread Native American alliance led by Metacom; major conflict that slowed westward expansion.

Pope’s Rebellion

Native uprising in New Spain against Spanish colonial rule (included as resistance examples in notes).

Bacon’s Rebellion

Virginia frontier uprising led by Nathaniel Bacon against colonial authorities; highlighted frontier tensions and shifted labor use toward enslaved Africans.

Plantation colonies

Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia; aristo­cratic, cash-crop economies dependent on enslaved labor.

New England trade (fur, cod, shipbuilding)

Puritan economies built on fur trade, cod fisheries, and shipbuilding; farming was largely subsistence.

Massachusetts Bay democracy limits

Franchise tended to be limited to white male property owners; church leaders held significant influence.