Early American Colonies: Puritans, Native Relations, and Colonial Systems

Calvinism

Belief system emphasizing predestination; influenced Puritans and Pilgrims.

Mayflower Compact (1620)

Agreement by Pilgrims for self-government based on majority rule.

Squanto & Massasoit

Wampanoag leaders who helped Pilgrims survive in Plymouth.

Plymouth Colony (1620)

Founded by Pilgrims seeking religious freedom from England.

Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628)

Puritan colony led by John Winthrop; wanted a model Christian society.

John Winthrop

Puritan leader who called the colony a "City on a Hill."

"City on a Hill"

Winthrop's vision of a model Christian community.

Mystic Pequot Massacre (1637)

Colonists and Native allies killed hundreds of Pequot people.

Metacomet (King Philip)

Wampanoag leader who led a rebellion against New England colonists.

Roger Williams

Banished for advocating separation of church and state; founded Rhode Island.

Anne Hutchinson

Banished for challenging Puritan gender roles and religious authority.

Salem Witch Trials (1692)

Series of executions and hysteria over witchcraft in Puritan Massachusetts.

John Rolfe

Brought tobacco to Virginia; married Pocahontas.

Oronoco

Type of high-grade tobacco grown in Virginia.

Indentured Servitude

Labor system where poor Europeans worked to pay off travel debt.

Headright System

Gave land to settlers who paid for indentured servants' passage.

Consignment System

Planters shipped tobacco to England, receiving payment after sale.

Governor William Berkeley

Virginia governor criticized for corruption and failing to protect settlers.

English Civil War

Conflict that led to royalist Cavaliers migrating to Virginia.

"Distressed Cavaliers"

Royalist supporters who fled to Virginia after losing the English Civil War.

Nathaniel Bacon

Leader of frontier rebellion against Governor Berkeley in 1676.

Bacon's Rebellion (1676)

Rebellion by settlers against elites and Native policies.

First Families of Virginia (FFVs)

Elite families who dominated Virginia politics and society.

Lord Baltimore

Catholic founder of Maryland colony.

Act of Toleration (1649)

Gave religious freedom to all Christians in Maryland.

Charles II

Restored English monarchy; gave land grants like the Carolinas.

8 Lords Proprietors

Nobles given control of the Carolina colony by Charles II.

James Oglethorpe

Founded Georgia as a buffer state and haven for debtors.

Triangular Trade

Three-way trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas (slaves, sugar, goods).

Barbados Slave Code (1661)

Harsh code legalizing brutal treatment of enslaved Africans.

Mercantilism

Economic system where colonies served the mother country.

Conquistadores

Spanish conquerors like Cortes, Pizarro, Coronado, Ponce de Leon.

Encomienda System

Spanish labor system exploiting Native populations.

Elizabeth I

English queen who supported exploration and colonization.

Sir Francis Drake

English privateer who attacked Spanish ships; knighted by Elizabeth I.

Sir Walter Raleigh

Founded the failed Roanoke colony.

Lost Colony of Roanoke

Early English colony that mysteriously disappeared.

Virginia Company

Joint-stock company that funded Jamestown colony.

Jamestown (1607)

First permanent English settlement in North America.

Powhatan Confederacy

Native alliance near Jamestown led by Chief Powhatan.

Captain John Smith

Leader who helped Jamestown survive with strict discipline.

Pocahontas

Daughter of Powhatan who helped the Jamestown colony; married John Rolfe.

"Work-Eat Rule"

Policy by John Smith: no work, no food.

Starving Time (1609-1610)

Period of famine and hardship in Jamestown.

Lord De La Warr

Military governor who imposed martial law in Jamestown.

House of Burgesses (1619)

First representative legislative assembly in the colonies.

Opechancanough

Powhatan leader who led attacks on settlers in 1622 and 1644.

Massacre of 1622

Surprise Native attack that killed over 300 settlers.

Massacre of 1644

Another large-scale Powhatan attack on Virginia colonists.