Studied by 6 people
Corporate Colonies
Operated by joint-stock companies. All political power rested in the members of the company. (Ex: Jamestown)
Royal Colonies
Under the direct authority and rule of the King’s government. Allowed for the King to have more control over a specific colony. (Ex: Virginia)
Proprietary Colonies
Under the authority of individuals granted charters of ownership by the king. (Ex: Lord Blatimore & Maryland)
Lord Baltimore
He was the founder of Maryland, a colony that offered religious freedom and a refuge for persecuted Roman Catholics. (He is also known as George Calvert.)
Act of Toleration (1649)
This was created in Maryland. It guaranteed religious toleration to all Christians but decreed the death penalty to people who denied the divinity of Jesus Christ.
Bacon’s Rebellion
An armed rebellion in 1676 by Virginia settlers, led by Nathaniel Bacon against the rule of Governor William Berkeley. The rebellion arose due to discontent among backcountry farmers about their representation in government and handling of Native American relations.
Indentured Servant
When men and women signed a contract (also known as an indenture or covenant) by which they agreed to work for a certain number of years (4-7) in exchange for transportation to Virginia and once they arrived, food, clothing, and shelter.
Headright System
A land grant program designed to attract settlers. Settlers were granted a certain amount of land (usually 50 acres) for each person whose passage they paid to Virginia.
Roger Williams
A Puritan minister who founded Providence after being banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony for his belief in the separation of church and state and religious tolerance. He combined the Providence and Portsmouth colonies, creating the Rhode Island colony. Rhode Island served as a refuge to many since the colony tolerated diverse religions.
Anne Hutchinson
A Puritan woman who disagreed with the Puritan church. Her strong religious convictions led to the Antinomian Controversy in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and her eventual banishment. She founded the colony of Portsmouth.
Antinomianism
Anne Hutchinson claimed that a holy life was no sure sign of salvation and that the truly saved need not bother to obey the law of either God or man. A Puritan belief that stressed God’s gift of salvation and minimized what an individual could do to gain salvation. (Justified that Christians weren’t bound by traditional moral law.)
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639)
Adopted in 1639, these were considered to be the first written constitution in North America that established a government. They laid out democratic principles that would later influence the U.S Constitution.
Halfway Covenant
This allowed partial membership rights to persons not yet converted to the Puritan church. It lessened the difference between the "elected" members of the church from the regular members. Women soon made up a larger portion of Puritan congregations.
New England Confederation
It was formed in 1643 to provide for the defense of the four New England colonies (Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and New Haven) and also acted as a court in disputes between colonies. These colonies formed a military alliance directed by a board comprised of two reps from each colony.
King Philip’s War
An armed conflict between Native American inhabitants of present-day New England and English colonists and their Native American allies from 1675–1678.
Quakers
Also known as the Religious Society of Friends, it was a religious group that emerged in England during the 17th century. They believe in the doctrine of inner light or a sense of Christ's direct working in the soul.
William Penn
An English Quaker leader who founded the colony of Pennsylvania in 1681. He aimed to create a place where people could enjoy religious freedom and live in peace.
Holy Experiment
This was an attempt by William Penn, a Quaker, to establish a community in Pennsylvania (1681-1701) where religious freedom and political equality could be practiced. It sought to test the idea of creating a society based on Quaker principles.
James Oglethorpe (Georgia)
A British soldier, philanthropist, and the founder of the colony of Georgia in America. He aimed to use the new colony as a place for debtors and poor people from England to start anew. (Opposed slavery and allowed people of all regions except Roman Catholics to settle in.)
Mercantilism
An economic system to increase a nation's wealth by government regulation of all of the nation's commercial interests. It encouraged the colonists to purchase goods from England rather than rival nations. The colonies sent raw materials to England where they were manufactured into finished products and sold to the colonists.
Navigation Acts
Laws that governed trade between England and its colonies. Colonists were required to ship certain products exclusively to England. These acts made colonists very angry because they couldn’t trade with other countries.
Dominion of New England
(1686-1689) Created by King James II of England to give him greater control over the colonies. He wanted to control colonial trade and manufacturing and expand the Church of England. It aimed to centralize control over the New England colonies by merging them under a single royal governor, Sir Edmund Andros.
Triangular Trade
A series of triangular trade routes that carried British manufactured goods to Africa and the Colonies, Colonial products (like tobacco, indigo, sugar, and rice) to Europe, and Slaves from Africa to the New World. Northern Colonies participated in this trade too by shipping slaves south.
Slave Trade
Refers to the historical practice of capturing, transporting, and selling people as slaves, particularly from Africa to the Americas from the 16th to 19th centuries. Enslaved people were used to harvest crops such as sugarcane or tobacco. African kingdoms traded slaves for European goods.
Middle Passage
The middle segment of the forced journey that slaves made from Africa to America throughout the 1600's. It consisted of a dangerous trip across the Atlantic Ocean. Many slaves perished on this segment of the journey.
