Unit 2: Period 2: 1607–1754

Competing Empires (1607–1754)

The idea that North American colonization was a long contest among Spanish, French, Dutch, and British powers, shaped by geography, Atlantic economics, and Native American influence.

Borderlands

Regions where no single group had full control and power was contested, producing shifting alliances, trade, cultural blending, and violence.

Spanish conquest-and-mission model

Spain’s approach of extending conquest and religious missions (often defensive in North American borderlands), supported by forced labor systems.

French fur-trade empire

France’s colonization strategy focused on fur trade, leading to lower-density settlement and emphasis on alliances with Native nations.

Smallpox epidemics

Disease outbreaks that devastated Native populations, destabilized communities, and shifted regional balances of power.

Pueblo Revolt (1680)

Coordinated Pueblo resistance that drove Spanish colonists out of Santa Fe for over a decade, showing colonization could be reversed temporarily.

Jamestown (1607)

The first permanent English settlement in North America, founded as a profit-seeking venture and troubled early by disease, unsafe water, and conflict.

Virginia Company

The joint-stock company that founded Jamestown to pursue profit rather than religious refuge.

John Rolfe

Virginia colonist who developed a marketable strain of tobacco and expanded its cultivation, helping stabilize the colony.

Tobacco

A high-profit Chesapeake cash crop that drove land hunger, expansion, Native conflict, and the development of plantation society.

Indentured servitude

A labor system in which workers traded years of labor for passage to the colonies and (in theory) later benefits like land or supplies.

Freedom dues

The promised compensation given to indentured servants after completing their term of service.

Bacon’s Rebellion (1676)

A Virginia frontier uprising tied to land scarcity, Native conflict, and class resentment; included attacks on Native groups and the burning of Jamestown.

Chattel slavery

A system treating enslaved people as property for life; in the colonies it became racialized, lifelong, and legally enforced.

Partus sequitur ventrem

The legal principle making enslaved status hereditary through the mother, reinforcing race-based, hereditary slavery.

Maryland proprietary colony

A colony granted to a proprietor (the Calvert family), intended as a Catholic haven and a profit-making tobacco colony.

Cecilius Calvert (Lord Baltimore)

The proprietor associated with Maryland’s founding under the Calvert family’s control.

Act of Tolerance (1649)

Maryland law intended to protect religious tolerance for Christians, though religious conflict still emerged later.

House of Burgesses (1619)

Early representative assembly in Virginia; an example of self-government but with participation limited by property, gender, race, and status.

Puritans

English Protestants who sought to “purify” the Church of England and strongly shaped early New England’s laws, education, and community norms.

Great Migration (1630s)

Large-scale Puritan migration that founded and expanded Massachusetts Bay and nearby New England colonies.

City upon a hill

John Winthrop’s vision of building a model Christian society in New England that would guide religious and social life.

Town meetings

A form of local participatory governance in New England, though political rights were often limited (e.g., tied to church membership).

Roger Williams

Puritan dissenter who advocated separation of church and state and fairer dealings with Native peoples; founded Rhode Island after banishment.

Rhode Island

New England colony founded by Roger Williams, known for greater religious toleration compared to Massachusetts Bay.

Anne Hutchinson

Puritan dissenter tried and banished for challenging religious authority and emphasizing inner grace over conformity.

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

Early framework of government associated with Connecticut, sometimes described as the first written constitution in British North America.

Pequot War (1630s)

New England conflict reflecting escalating violence and competition as English settlement expanded.

King Philip’s War (1675–1676)

War led by Metacom (“King Philip”) that devastated Native communities and accelerated English dispossession; extremely deadly relative to population.

Halfway Covenant (1662)

Puritan church policy allowing baptism of children whose parents were baptized even without a conversion-like “grace” experience; full political rights could still be restricted.

Salem Witch Trials (1692)

Mass accusations and prosecutions for witchcraft in Massachusetts, driven by social and political stress; more than 130 accused were jailed or executed.

Dominion of New England (1686–1689)

British attempt to consolidate colonies and strengthen royal authority; provoked colonial resistance and collapsed after the Glorious Revolution.

New Netherland

Dutch colony oriented around commerce and ports; its legacy helped shape New York’s long-term commercial character.

Pennsylvania

Proprietary colony founded as a refuge for Quakers; grew rapidly through advertising and attracted diverse immigrants (e.g., Germans, Scots-Irish).

William Penn

Founder of Pennsylvania who promoted Quaker settlement and policies of religious freedom and civil liberties (with limits).

Quakers

Religious group emphasizing the “inner light,” spiritual equality, and pacifism; central to Pennsylvania’s founding and tolerance reputation.

Walking Purchase

Example of treaty manipulation in Pennsylvania: land promised as “walked in three days” was expanded dramatically using hired marathon runners.

Bread colonies

Nickname for Middle Colonies due to fertile soil and large-scale grain production, supporting a strong farming and trade economy.

South Carolina plantation system

Lower South development shaped by settlers linked to Barbados plantation practices; relied heavily on enslaved labor and staple-crop agriculture.

Georgia (1732)

Colony founded partly as a buffer against Spanish Florida; initially banned slavery but later overturned the ban for economic reasons.

James Oglethorpe

Founder associated with Georgia’s creation in 1732 as part of Britain’s strategic and imperial planning.

Stono Rebellion (1739)

Major South Carolina slave uprising near Charleston in which enslaved people seized weapons and attempted to flee toward Spanish Florida; led to harsher slave laws.

Salutary neglect

Pattern of loose British enforcement of trade rules that allowed smuggling and fostered colonial self-government and autonomy.

Mercantilism

Economic theory arguing national power depended on a favorable balance of trade and control of hard currency; colonies existed to enrich the mother country.

Navigation Acts (1651–1673)

British trade laws requiring certain colonial trade to go through England (buying from England, selling key goods to England, routing non-English goods through English ports with duties).

Molasses Act (1733)

British law taxing molasses from the French West Indies; widely evaded by New Englanders and an early example of resistance to imperial regulation.

First Great Awakening (1730s–1740s)

Religious revival movement emphasizing emotional, personal conversion and challenging established churches and traditional religious authority.

New Lights

Supporters of Great Awakening revivalism who favored emotional preaching and personal conversion over traditional church authority.

Enlightenment

Intellectual movement emphasizing reason, natural law, and science; circulated widely in the colonies alongside (and sometimes in tension with) revival religion.

Benjamin Franklin

Colonial figure embodying Enlightenment ideals of practical reason and self-improvement; printer and inventor (e.g., lightning rod) who promoted civic institutions like a public library.