Enlightenment & Colonial Foundations – Vocabulary Flashcards

35 vocabulary-style flashcards covering philosophers, documents, events, and concepts from Enlightenment and colonial American history.

Montesquieu

Enlightenment thinker who developed the idea of separation of powers and checks & balances in government.

Magna Carta (1215)

English charter that first limited the absolute power of the king and affirmed certain rights for nobles.

French and Indian War Debt

Primary reason Parliament began taxing the American colonies to raise revenue.

Mayflower Compact

1620 agreement among Pilgrim settlers that exemplified the social contract and self-government.

Thomas Paine

Author of the revolutionary pamphlet “Common Sense” urging independence from Britain.

Right of Revolution

Locke’s principle that people may overthrow a government that violates natural rights.

Thomas Hobbes

Philosopher who argued that life in a state of nature is “nasty, brutish, and short” and therefore requires an absolute monarchy to keep order.

Civic Virtue

Montesquieu’s idea that citizens must place the common good above personal interests for a republic to succeed.

General Will

Rousseau’s concept that government should reflect the collective interests of the people.

Voltaire

Philosopher who championed religious toleration and freedom of speech.

Laissez-Faire

Adam Smith’s economic principle that government should not regulate the marketplace.

Intolerable Acts

Harsh British laws passed in response to the Boston Tea Party.

Mercantilism

Economic system in which a mother country uses colonies for raw materials and markets to increase national wealth.

Natural Rights

Universal rights—life, liberty, and property/pursuit of happiness—identified by Locke and echoed in the Declaration of Independence.

Great Awakening

18th-century religious revival movement in the American colonies.

Leviathan

Hobbes’s 1651 work advocating absolute monarchy to avoid chaos.

The Social Contract (1762)

Rousseau’s book proposing that legitimate authority comes from a social agreement among citizens.

House of Burgesses

1619 representative assembly in Virginia, the first elected legislature in the colonies.

Consent of the Governed

Political idea that authority derives from the people, not from divine right or heredity.

English Civil War Context

Historical period during which Locke wrote, influencing his ideas on limited government and rights.

State of Nature (Hobbes)

Hypothetical condition where life is cruel, nasty, brutish, and short without government.

Grievances

Part of the Declaration listing King George III’s abuses.

Encyclopedia

Multi-volume work compiled by Denis Diderot to spread Enlightenment ideas.

George Whitefield

Famous itinerant preacher who energized the Great Awakening.

Machiavelli

Renaissance writer who argued in “The Prince” that it is better for a ruler to be feared than loved.

Philosopher Kings

Plato’s ideal rulers—wise individuals governing for the common good.

Thomas Jefferson

Main author of the Declaration of Independence.

Witan

Anglo-Saxon assembly of nobles advising early English kings.

King John

English monarch who signed the Magna Carta in 1215.

Tea Act (1773)

British law that granted the East India Company a tea monopoly, sparking the Boston Tea Party.

Separation of Powers

Division of government authority among legislative, executive, and judicial branches.

Social Contract

Theory that individuals form governments to secure rights, relinquishing some freedoms in return.

Petition of Right (1628)

English document that further limited the king’s power by affirming parliamentary consent for taxation.