terms and events 1492-1763

Salutary Neglect

Britain loosely enforced colonial laws, allowing the colonies more self-government.

Indentured Servitude

A labor system where people worked for a set number of years in exchange for passage to America or other benefits

Headright system

A system that granted land to settlers who paid for their own or another person’s passage to the colonies

House of Burgesses

Virginia’s elected assembly and the first representative government in the English colonies

Encomienda System

A Spanish system that gave colonists control over Indigenous labor and tribute

Predestination

The Puritan belief that God had already chosen who would be saved or damned

Mayflower Compact

A 1620 agreement in which Plymouth colonists established a form of self-government

Separatists

English Protestants who wanted to separate completely from the Church of England

Protestant Ethic

The belief that hard work, discipline, and thrift demonstrated religious devotion

New England Confederation

A 1643 alliance of New England colonies created for defense and cooperation

Navigation Laws

British laws that restricted colonial trade to benefit Britain’s economy

Half-Way Covenant

A 1662 policy allowing partial church membership for children of Puritan church members

The Elect / Visible Saints

The Elect were believed to be chosen by God for salvation; visible saints were people who showed signs of being among the saved

Iroquois Confederation

An alliance of five, later six, Native nations that cooperated politically and militarily

Albany Congress

A 1754 meeting where colonial representatives discussed defense and greater colonial unity

Proclamation of 1763

A British order banning colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains

Mercantilism

An economic system in which colonies supplied resources and markets to benefit the mother country

French and Indian War

A 1754–1763 war between Britain and France for control of North America; Britain won but gained major debt

Great Awakening

A religious revival in the 1730s–1740s that emphasized personal faith and challenged traditional church authority

Salem Witch Trials

1692–1693 trials in Massachusetts where people were accused and executed for supposedly practicing witchcraft

Bacons Rebellion

1676 uprising of Virginia colonists led by Nathaniel Bacon against Governor Berkeley, partly over Native policy and frontier issues

Great Puritan Migration

Migration of thousands of Puritans from England to New England during the 1630s to escape religious and political pressure

Battle of Quebec

1759 British victory over France that led to British control of Quebec and helped determine the outcome of the French and Indian War

Pontiac Uprising

1763 Native American resistance against British control of former French territories, especially around the Great Lakes