Colonial America Practice Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering major political, social, and economic terms from early American colonial history.

Pequot War

A conflict over land that showed growing tension, leading to increased native displacement and increased English control in New England.

William Penn / Holy Experiment

An initiative that created a tolerant Quaker colony and promoted religious freedom and representative government.

Navigation Acts

Acts designed to control colonial trade for Britain; strict enforcement helped fuel colonial resentment and contributed to the American Revolution.

Glorious Revolution

An event that limited the King's power and inspired ideas regarding natural rights and the right to overthrow government.

Mayflower Compact

Written agreement on November 11, 1620, creating self-government as the first written self-government in the New World.

Great Puritan Migration

The movement of Puritans to the New World in the 1630s that successfully transplanted English society in America.

Non-Separatist Puritans

Puritans who founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, marking the largest single migration of the 17th century.

John Winthrop

The first governor who led the Great Migration of Puritans to Massachusetts Bay in 1630 and created a model Christian community.

City Upon a Hill

John Winthrop's idea that Massachusetts should be a model Christian society, which helped shape American identity and exceptionalism.

Anne Hutchinson

An individual who challenged Puritan religious authority, demonstrating the limits of religious freedom and traditional women's roles in New England.

Virginia House of Burgesses

Established in 1619 as the first representative assembly in North America, operating as a mini parliament and providing colonies with a great deal of autonomy.

Indentured Servants

Contract laborers who worked 5-7 years for passage to the colonies, serving as the first real labor source for the Chesapeake during the 1600s-1700s.

Bacon's Rebellion

A 1676 uprising of poor, western farmers against rich coastal farmers in Virginia that scared wealthy landowners into switching from white indentured servants to African slaves.

Maryland Act of Toleration

A law protecting religious rights for Christians, recognized as the first colonial law granting Christian religious freedom in North America.

Separatist Puritans

Radical dissenters who wanted to separate completely from the Church of England and fled persecution to found Plymouth.

Mercantilism System

An economic policy from the 1560s-1700s where colonies provided raw materials to the mother country, encouraging trade within the empire and discouraging trade outside it.

Jamestown

The first permanent English settlement founded in 1607 by the Virginia Company joint-stock colony, where John Smith established martial law during the first winter to ensure survival.

Transplantations

English settlements with families in the New World (1607-1764) that led to conflict with Native Americans and pushed them west.

Headright System

A program created in 1618 offering 50-acre grants of land that settlers could acquire, which attracted new settlers and helped population growth.

Tobacco

The first major cash crop in the Chesapeake during the 1600s that saved Jamestown, created demand for labor, and caused population growth.