Southern Colonies VOCAB

Bacon’s Rebellion

Farmers were frustrated with both the low prices recevied for their crops and the constant skirmishes with native Americans. Called on the house of Burgesses to help support tobacco farmers. The governor refused, and an uprising ensued which saw large sections of Jamestown burned and the governor threatened at gunpoint

Cash crop

products such as vegetables, fruits, livestock, or tobacco

that farmers grow just to sell to others.

Corporate Colony

Came complete with directors and stockholders, who administered the affairs of this type of enterprise.

Gentry

Refers to people of the upper class; often used to describe people who own large estates or other areas of land.

House of Burgesses

A legislative assembly created in the British colony of Virginia. It was established in Jamestown in 1619. It was the first representative government in what later became the United States and was the first elected body in any British colony.

Indentured Servant

A worker who agrees to provide a service for a specified time in return for some form of payment.

James Oglethorpe

English army officer and philanthropist who founded the British colony of Georgia. Wanted to create a place where poor and underprivileged people could start new lives, as well as offer protection for persecuted Protestants.

James Oglethorpe

English army officer and philanthropist who founded the British colony of Georgia. Wanted to create a place where poor and underprivileged people could start new lives, as well as offer protection for persecuted Protestants.

Lord Baltimore

Founded the colony of Maryland. Was the first of the colonial proprietors, or individuals who were granted powers by royal charter to own and govern the land in a colony.

Plantation

A large government-owned or privately-owned estate or farm where a single commercial crop is grown. Most are found in tropical or subtropical climates. Workers usually live on the grounds and are often unskilled or semi-skilled.

Powhatan Indian Confederation

Was a loose union of at least 30 Algonquian-speaking Native American tribes who lived in what is now the Tidewater region of Virginia and southern Maryland.

Powhatan War

Was a series of conflicts that took place from 1622 to 1644 between the Indian Confederacy and the English settlers in Jamestown, Virginia.

Proprietary Colony

Came about when the king gave large amounts of land

to an individual who then had the right to oversee how the colony was settled and

governed.

Slavery

Forced labor in which the worker is considered property that can be bought and sold.

Southern Colonies

Began with the establishment of Jamestown in 1607; and include Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas (officially divided into North and South Carolina in 1735), and Georgia.

Tolerance Act

Ensured the freedom of Christians to worship and was aimed only toward Christians (specifically, any people believing in Jesus Christ), and allowed for expression of any Christian belief. Did not apply to any Native American belief systems or other non-Christian faiths. Is known for being one of the first to view all expressions of the Christian faith as equal.