Unit 2

Agricultural Technological Exchange

The transfer of farming techniques, crops, and tools between Europeans and Native Americans after contact, including the adoption of maize cultivation by colonists and European livestock by Indigenous peoples

Anne Hutchinson

A Puritan religious dissenter in Massachusetts Bay who challenged church authority and was banished for promoting antinomian beliefs

Bacons Rebellion

A 1676 uprising in Virginia led by Nathaniel Bacon against Governor Berkeley over Native American policy and frontier land access, exposing class tensions in the Chesapeake

Barbados Slave Trade

The development of a plantation economy on Barbados based on enslaved African labor, which influenced the expansion of slavery in the English mainland colonies

California

A region colonized by Spain in the 1700s through missions, presidios, and settlements to spread Catholicism and secure Spanish claims on the Pacific coast

Chesapeake Region

The colonial area of Virginia and Maryland characterized by tobacco cultivation, dispersed plantations, indentured servitude, and later racial slavery

Congregational Church

The Puritan church structure in New England in which each congregation governed itself independently

Dominion Of New England

A British administrative consolidation of New England colonies (1686–1689) under royal governor Edmund Andros to enforce the Navigation Acts and tighten imperial control

English Caribbean

England’s sugar-producing colonies in the West Indies, such as Barbados and Jamaica, which relied heavily on enslaved African labor and shaped the Atlantic slave system

Fundamental Constitution For Carolina

A 1669 governing document for the Carolina colony that attempted to establish a hierarchical society with large landowners and limited political participation

George And Cecilia Calvert

The founders of Maryland as a proprietary colony intended as a refuge for English Catholics

Glorious Revolution

The 1688 overthrow of King James II in England that established parliamentary supremacy and influenced colonial resistance to royal authority

Headright (System)

A land distribution system in Virginia that granted 50 acres to settlers for each person whose passage they financed, encouraging immigration and labor growth

Jacob Leisler

A colonial leader who briefly seized control of New York during the Glorious Revolution in protest against royal authority

James Oglethorpe

The founder of Georgia in 1733, who envisioned it as a buffer colony against Spanish Florida and a refuge for debtors

Jamestown

The first permanent English settlement in North America, founded in 1607 for economic profit and sustained by tobacco cultivation

John Calvin

A Protestant reformer whose theology of predestination influenced Puritan beliefs in New England

John Smith

An early Jamestown leader who enforced strict discipline and helped the colony survive its early years

John Winthrop

The Puritan governor of Massachusetts Bay who promoted the idea of creating a “city upon a hill” as a model Christian society

King Philips War

A 1675–1676 conflict between New England colonists and Native Americans led by Metacomet, resulting in heavy casualties and Native American loss of land

Massachusetts Bay Company

A joint-stock company that founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony and allowed Puritans to govern themselves

Mayflower Compact

A 1620 agreement signed by Pilgrims establishing self-government based on majority rule in Plymouth Colony

Mercantilism

An economic system in which colonies existed to provide raw materials and markets for the mother country, strengthening national wealth and power

Metacomet

Also known as King Philip, the Wampanoag leader who organized Native resistance during King Philip’s War

Middle Ground

A region of mutual accommodation and cultural exchange between Europeans and Native Americans, especially in the Great Lakes area

Navigation Acts

A series of English laws restricting colonial trade to benefit England by requiring goods to be transported on English ships and through English ports

New Amsterdam

The Dutch colonial settlement on Manhattan Island that became New York after English conquest in 1664

Pennsylvania (Founding Of)

Established in 1681 by William Penn as a proprietary colony promoting religious tolerance and Quaker principles

Pequots War

A 1636–1637 conflict between New England settlers and the Pequot tribe that resulted in the near destruction of the Pequot people

Plymouth Plantation

The colony founded in 1620 by Separatist Pilgrims seeking religious freedom

Powhatan

The leader of a Native American confederacy in Virginia that interacted and conflicted with Jamestown settlers

Praying Indians

Native Americans in New England who converted to Christianity and adopted aspects of colonial culture

Puritans

English Protestants who sought to reform the Church of England and established colonies like Massachusetts Bay to build a godly society

Quakers

Members of the Religious Society of Friends who believed in equality, pacifism, and inner light, and settled primarily in Pennsylvania

Roger Williams

A Puritan dissenter who founded Rhode Island based on religious freedom and separation of church and state

Sir William Berkeley

The royal governor of Virginia whose policies toward Native Americans and elites contributed to Bacons Rebellion

Sugarcane

A cash crop grown primarily in the Caribbean that required intensive labor and fueled the expansion of African slavery

Theocracy

A government in which religious leaders control political authority, as seen in early Massachusetts Bay

Tobacco

A cash crop cultivated in the Chesapeake that drove economic growth and increased demand for indentured servants and enslaved labor

Toleration Act

A 1649 Maryland law granting religious freedom to all Christians in the colony

Virginia House Of Burgesses

The first representative assembly in the American colonies, established in 1619 in Virginia

Wampanoags

A Native American tribe in New England that initially allied with the Pilgrims but later fought in King Philip’s War

William Bradford

A leader and longtime governor of Plymouth Colony who promoted self-government and recorded colonial history

William Penn

A Quaker founder of Pennsylvania who established a colony based on religious tolerance and fair treatment of Native Americans

Cotton Mather

A prominent Puritan minister in Massachusetts who supported the Salem Witch Trials and later promoted smallpox inoculation, reflecting tensions between religion and emerging science

Covenant

In Puritan theology, a solemn agreement between God and believers that required moral discipline and obedience to maintain divine favor in their community

Enlightenment Ideals

Intellectual principles emphasizing reason, natural rights, scientific inquiry, and government by consent, which influenced colonial political thought

George Whitefield

An influential evangelical preacher during the Great Awakening who used emotional sermons and mass gatherings to promote religious revival across the colonies

Great Awakening

A series of religious revivals in the 1730s–1740s that emphasized personal faith and challenged established church authority in the colonies

Gullah (Culture)

A distinct African American culture that developed in the coastal South, preserving African languages, traditions, and customs due to geographic isolation

Huguenots

French Protestants who fled religious persecution and settled in some American colonies, contributing to religious diversity

Indentured Servitude

A labor system in which individuals worked for a set number of years in exchange for passage to the colonies, room, and board

Indigo (Crop Significance, Overview)

A valuable blue dye crop grown mainly in South Carolina that became an important export and supported the plantation economy

Jeremiad

A sermon commonly used by Puritan ministers that lamented moral decline and called for renewed religious commitment

John And Charles Wesley

Anglican ministers who founded Methodism and influenced evangelical movements that paralleled the Great Awakening

John Locke

An Enlightenment philosopher who argued that individuals possess natural rights to life, liberty, and property and that governments derive power from the consent of the governed

John Peter Zenger

A New York printer whose 1735 libel case advanced the principle of freedom of the press in the colonies

Zenger Trials

The 1735 court case that acquitted John Peter Zenger, establishing that truth could be used as a defense against libel

Jonathan Edwards

A leading theologian of the Great Awakening known for powerful sermons emphasizing human sinfulness and divine grace

Middle Passage

The transatlantic voyage that transported enslaved Africans to the Americas under brutal and deadly conditions

Primogeniture

A legal system in which the eldest son inherited the entire estate, reinforcing social hierarchy in colonial society

Saugus Ironworks

An early colonial iron production facility in Massachusetts that reflected attempts at economic self-sufficiency in New England

Scots-Irish

Protestant immigrants from Northern Ireland who settled primarily in the Appalachian backcountry and were known for frontier independence

Slave Codes

Colonial laws that defined enslaved Africans as property and restricted their rights to maintain racial control

Stono Rebellion

A 1739 slave uprising in South Carolina that led to stricter slave laws and heightened fears among colonists

Triangular Trade

A transatlantic trade network linking Europe, Africa, and the Americas through the exchange of manufactured goods, enslaved Africans, and raw materials