Textbook Terms, Chapter 3

Discusses the development of colonial society in each of the colonial regions.

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