Period 2 Terms

Virginia Company

Group of rich investors in England who started Jamestown to make money. Significance: First joint stock company that helped establish early self government in North America.

John Smith

Strict leader who took over Jamestown and helped prevent settlers from starving. Significance: Helped Jamestown survive with the rule "If you don't work you don't eat."

Cecil Calvert

The 2nd Lord Baltimore who ran Maryland. Significance: Passed the Act of Toleration in 1649 to protect Catholics from Protestants.

Lord Baltimore

Title of the person given land by the King to start Maryland. Significance: Founded Maryland as a proprietary colony and a safe place for Catholics.

Roger Williams

Minister kicked out of Massachusetts for supporting separation of church and state. Significance: Started Rhode Island and promoted religious freedom.

Anne Hutchinson

Woman kicked out of Massachusetts for saying people could communicate with God without ministers through Antinomianism. Significance: Showed that Puritans had little tolerance for people who questioned religious leaders.

Rhode Island

Colony started by Roger Williams for people seeking religious freedom. Significance: Became one of the most tolerant colonies and welcomed religions including Jews and Quakers.

Halfway Covenant

Rule allowing children of Puritans to join the church without a full conversion experience. Significance: Showed that younger Puritans were becoming less religious over time.

Quakers

Peaceful religious group that believed everyone was equal and had an Inner Light. Significance: Opposed war and slavery and promoted fair treatment of Native Americans.

William Penn

Rich Quaker who started Pennsylvania. Significance: Ran the Holy Experiment which promoted religious freedom democracy and fair trade with Native Americans.

Tobacco

Cash crop grown in Virginia that made tons of money. Significance: Increased demand for land and labor and contributed to the growth of plantations indentured servitude and slavery.

Jamestown

First permanent English settlement in America founded in 1607. Significance: Barely survived but helped start the Southern plantation economy.

Pilgrims

Strict Puritans known as Separatists who left England and built Plymouth in 1620. Significance: Wrote the Mayflower Compact to establish basic self rule.

Massachusetts Bay Colony

Wealthy Puritan colony founded in 1630 by John Winthrop. Significance: Became the main center of New England and was strictly run by Puritan religious rules.

Puritans

English Protestants who wanted to purify the Anglican Church of Catholic traditions. Significance: Shaped New England through hard work Bible reading and strict religious beliefs.

John Winthrop

Famous governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Significance: Described his colony as a City Upon a Hill that would be a perfect example for the world.

Mayflower Compact

Basic agreement written by the Pilgrims on their ship in 1620. Significance: Established an early form of self government based on majority rule.

House of Burgesses

First elected representative government in the American colonies created in Virginia in 1619. Significance: Started the tradition of local self government in America.

Proprietary Colonies

Colonies owned by a single person or family instead of the King. Significance: Gave owners freedom to create unique political and religious systems.

Triangular Trade

Three way trade connecting Europe Africa and the Americas through manufactured goods enslaved Africans and raw materials. Significance: Powered the colonial economy and expanded the transatlantic slave trade.

Mercantilism

Economic idea that a country becomes wealthy by selling more goods than it buys. Significance: Britain used the colonies for cheap raw materials and as markets for British goods.

Navigation Acts

British laws forcing colonies to trade according to British rules and use British ships. Significance: Enforced mercantilism and encouraged colonial smuggling.

Bacon's Rebellion

Violent 1676 rebellion by poor settlers and former indentured servants against Virginia's governor. Significance: Made wealthy planters fear poor laborers and contributed to the shift toward African slavery.

King Philip's War

Bloody war between New England settlers and Native Americans led by Metacom. Significance: Weakened Native resistance in New England and allowed colonists to gain more land.

Indentured Servants

Poor Europeans who worked for several years in exchange for transportation to America. Significance: Were a major labor force in Virginia before planters increasingly relied on enslaved Africans.

Middle Passage

Horrific voyage that transported enslaved Africans across the Atlantic to the Americas. Significance: Many enslaved people died during the journey and millions were forced into lifelong slavery.

Headright System

Rule giving 50 acres of land to people who paid for a worker's trip to Virginia. Significance: Made wealthy plantation owners richer and encouraged the arrival of indentured servants.

Poor Richard's Almanack

Ben Franklin's yearly book containing weather information advice and sayings. Significance: Taught colonists practical ideas about hard work thrift and common sense.

Great Awakening

Massive wave of emotional church revivals during the 1730s and 1740s. Significance: Spread across the colonies and encouraged people to question religious authority.

Jonathan Edwards

Great Awakening preacher who used emotional sermons about hell. Significance: Wrote Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God to encourage religious revival.

George Whitefield

British preacher who traveled throughout the colonies giving large outdoor sermons. Significance: Helped spread the Great Awakening and challenged traditional religious authority.

John Peter Zenger

Printer put on trial for criticizing a government official. Significance: His case helped establish the idea that truthful criticism could be protected and supported freedom of the press.

Enlightenment

European movement emphasizing human reason science and individual rights. Significance: Spread ideas such as John Locke's natural rights which influenced American political thought and the American Revolution.