Colonial America - Key Terms (VOCABULARY Flashcards)

Vocabulary flashcards covering colonial regions, governance, economy, labor, and religious movements based on the lecture notes.

New England

Puritan-dominated colonial region settled by families; towns with merchants and artisans; longer life expectancy due to climate and less disease; subsistence farming.

Puritans

Religious dissenters who sought to purify the Church of England and settled New England.

Middle Colonies

Region described as the 'bread basket' with significant trade in cities such as New York and Philadelphia.

Chesapeake

Virginia and Maryland; tobacco farming with coastal trade.

Southern Colonies

Plantation-based economies with labor-intensive crops (rice, indigo, cotton); few elite plantation owners; majority small farmers.

Mercantilism

Economic theory that wealth comes from a favorable balance of trade; government protects trade via tariffs to enrich the Mother Country.

Navigation Acts

British laws requiring colonial trade to be with Britain and pass through British ports to collect tariffs.

Salutary neglect

A period when Britain relaxed enforcement of trade laws, allowing colonial self-government to flourish.

Molasses Act (1733)

Tax on French molasses intended to curb colonial trade; provoked resistance and evasion.

Dominion of New England

Royal administrative consolidation of New England colonies to enforce crown rule (dissolved after the Glorious Revolution).

Glorious Revolution

1688 overthrow of James II that established parliamentary supremacy and altered colonial governance.

Stono Rebellion

1739 slave uprising in South Carolina; around 20 enslaved Africans attacked stores; led to harsher slave codes.

Indentured servitude

Workers bound by a contract to serve for a number of years in exchange for passage to the colonies.

Middle Passage

Transatlantic voyage of enslaved Africans to the Americas; high mortality.

Bacon's Rebellion (1676)

Frontier settlers' rebellion in Virginia against Governor Berkeley; highlighted tensions and fueled shifts toward slavery.

House of Burgesses

Virginia's first elected legislative assembly (1619) establishing representative government.

Mayflower Compact

1620 agreement aboard the Mayflower to establish civil government and laws.

Fundamental Orders (Connecticut)

1635–1639 framework considered the first colonial constitution; established representative government and voting for substantial citizens.

Mayflower

Ship that carried the Pilgrims to Plymouth in 1620.

Plymouth

Settlement founded by the Pilgrims in 1620.

Massachusetts Bay

Puritan colony established by the Puritans; settled Boston; idea of a 'city upon a hill'.

City upon a Hill

Winthrop's description of Massachusetts Bay as a moral example for others.

Roger Williams

Founder of Rhode Island; advocated separation of church and state and religious toleration.

Rhode Island

Colony founded by Roger Williams in 1636 for religious toleration and separation of church and state.

Maryland

Colony founded by Lord Baltimore (1634) with religious toleration for Christians.

Quakers

Religious group in Pennsylvania; pacifists and advocates of religious toleration.

Pennsylvania

Colony founded by William Penn (1681) with religious toleration and good relations with Native Americans.

William Penn

Founder of Pennsylvania; promoter of religious toleration and fair relations with natives.

Jonathan Edwards

Preacher whose sermons sparked the Great Awakening; emphasized personal, emotional religious experience.

George Whitefield

Evangelist who preached across the colonies in open-air sermons, attracting large crowds.

Great Awakening

Religious revival movement challenging traditional authority and promoting more democratic religious practice.