Colonial America: Key Figures, Policies, and Movements

Virginia Company

Joint-stock company that financed Jamestown (1607). Significance: Enabled private investment in colonization and led to England's first permanent colony.

Jamestown

First permanent English colony in North America (1607). Significance: Start of lasting English settlement and colonial development.

John Smith

Early Jamestown leader known for strict discipline and negotiating with Native Americans. Significance: Helped Jamestown survive its early crisis years.

Tobacco

Cash crop that became Virginia and Maryland's first profitable export. Significance: Drove economic growth, plantation development, and demand for labor.

Headright System

Policy granting land to colonists who paid passage to Virginia. Significance: Encouraged settlement and growth of large plantations.

House of Burgesses

First elected legislative assembly in English North America (Virginia, 1619). Significance: Early example of representative government.

Indentured Servants

Workers who exchanged years of labor for passage to America. Significance: Provided early colonial labor before large-scale African slavery.

Middle Passage

Forcible transatlantic voyage transporting enslaved Africans to the Americas. Significance: Central, brutal leg of the Atlantic slave trade underpinning plantation economies.

Bacon's Rebellion

1676 uprising in Virginia against colonial elites and Native policy. Significance: Exposed class tensions and accelerated shift toward race-based slavery.

Pilgrims

Separatists who sailed on the Mayflower and founded Plymouth (1620). Significance: Created the Mayflower Compact and an early model of self-government.

Mayflower Compact

1620 agreement by Pilgrims to form a self-governing community. Significance: Early written framework for colonial self-rule and majority governance.

Puritans

Religious reformers seeking to purify the Church of England who settled New England. Significance: Shaped New England's religious, social, and political institutions.

John Winthrop

Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony; preached a "city upon a hill." Significance: Articulated Puritan ideals that guided community life and governance.

Massachusetts Bay Colony

Major Puritan colony founded in 1630 under Winthrop. Significance: Became a socially cohesive, religiously-driven New England society.

Halfway Covenant

1662 policy allowing partial Puritan church membership for descendants. Significance: Reflected declining religious fervor and institutional adaptation.

Roger Williams

Minister expelled from Massachusetts for advocating religious freedom and church/state separation. Significance: Founded Rhode Island as a refuge for religious dissenters and toleration.

Anne Hutchinson

Religious dissenter in Massachusetts tried and exiled for challenging clerical authority. Significance: Symbolized religious dissent and early challenge to gender norms.

Rhode Island

Colony founded by Roger Williams for religious dissenters. Known for religious tolerance and separation of church and state.

Quakers

Religious group (Society of Friends) emphasizing inner light, pacifism, and equality. Influenced ideas of religious liberty, egalitarianism, and early anti-slavery sentiment.

William Penn

Quaker founder of Pennsylvania who promoted religious freedom and fair governance. Pennsylvania served as a model of tolerance and representative government.

Lord Baltimore (George Calvert)

First proprietor granted the Maryland charter; envisioned a Catholic refuge. Set the proprietorial foundation for Maryland's religious character.

Cecil Calvert (Lord Baltimore II)

Son who carried out Maryland's founding (1634). Instituted policies (including the Act of Toleration of 1649) to protect Christians' religious practice—helping shape Maryland's religious tolerance.

Proprietary Colonies

Colonies granted to individuals or proprietors to govern. Allowed varied political and religious experiments under private rule.

Mercantilism

Economic theory that colonies exist to enrich the mother country through regulated trade. Justified British control and restrictive colonial trade policies.

Navigation Acts

English laws restricting colonial trade to benefit Britain. Sparked colonial resentment by limiting economic freedom.

Triangular Trade

Atlantic trade network linking Europe, Africa, and the Americas (manufactured goods, enslaved people, raw materials). Fueled colonial economies and entrenched the slave trade.

King Philip's War

1675-1676 conflict between New England colonists and the Wampanoag leader Metacom (King Philip). Devastated Native power in New England and expanded colonial land control.

Poor Richard's Almanack

Almanac by Benjamin Franklin filled with proverbs and practical advice. Reflected Enlightenment values and colonial practical wisdom.

Enlightenment

Intellectual movement emphasizing reason, science, and natural rights. Influenced colonial leaders and ideas about liberty and government.

Great Awakening

1730s-1740s religious revival across the colonies. Encouraged new denominations, challenged established churches, and promoted emotional religion.

Jonathan Edwards

New England preacher of the Great Awakening (author of "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"). Exemplified revivalist theology and evangelical fervor.

George Whitefield

Itinerant preacher who popularized revival meetings during the Great Awakening. Helped spread revivalism and new religious networks across the colonies.

John Peter Zenger

Newspaper publisher tried for libel in 1735 after criticizing a colonial governor. His acquittal advanced the principle of freedom of the press.