HI Chapter 2: American Experiments (1521 - 1700)

Chattel Slavery

A system of bondage in which a slave has the legal status of property and so can be bought and sold.

Neo-Europes

Term for colonies in which colonists sought to replicate, or at least approximate, economies and social structures they knew at home.

Encomienda

A grant of Indian labor in Spanish America given in the sixteenth century by the Spanish kings to prominent men.

What did Encomenderos give to the Indians?

Protection and Christian introduction.

Casta System

A hierarchical system of racial classification developed by colonial elites in Latin America, to make sense of the complex patterns of racial mixing that developed there.

Columbian Exchange

The massive global exchange of living things, including people, animals, plants, and diseases, between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres that began after the voyages of Columbus.

Merchantilism

A system of political economy based on government regulation. Beginning in 1650, Britain enacted Navigation Acts that controlled colonial commerce and manufacturing for the enrichment of Britain.

When did Mercantilism begin?

It began in 1650.

Navigation Acts (Mercantilism)

Beginning in 1650, Britain put into action these acts that controlled colonial commerce and manufacturing for the enrichment of Britain.

Joint-Stock Corporation

A financial organization devised by English merchants around 1550 that facilitated the colonization of North America.

What did they do in Joint-Stock Corporations?

In these companies, a number of investors pooled their capital and received shares of stock in the enterprise in proportion to their share of the total investment.

House of Burgesses

Organ of government in colonial Virginia made up of an assembly of representatives elected by the colony’s inhabitants.

Royal Colony

In the English system, a royal colony was chartered by the crown. The colony’s governor was appointed by the crown and served according to the instructions of the Board of Trade.

Freeholds

Land owned in its entirety, without feudal dues or landlord obligations. Freeholders had the legal right to improve, transfer, or sell their landed property.

Headright System

A system of land distribution, pioneered in Virginia and used in several other colonies, that granted land — usually 50 acres — to anyone who paid the passage of a new arrival. By this means, large planters amassed huge landholdings as they imported large numbers of servants and slaves.

Indentured Servitude

System in which workers contracted for service for a specified period. In exchange for agreeing to work for four or five years (or more) without wages in the colonies, indentured workers received passage across the Atlantic, room and board, and status as a free person at the end of the contract period.

Pilgrims

One of the first Protestant groups to come to America, seeking a separation from the Church of England. They founded Plymouth, the first permanent community in New England, in 1620.

Puritans

Dissenters from the Church of England who wanted a genuine Reformation rather than the partial Reformation sought by Henry VIII. The Puritans’ religious principles emphasized the importance of an individual’s relationship with God developed through Bible study, prayer, and introspection.

Toleration

The allowance of different religious practices. Lord Baltimore persuaded the Maryland assembly to enact the Toleration Act (1649), which granted all Christians the right to follow their beliefs and hold church services. The crown imposed toleration on Massachusetts Bay in its new royal charter of 1691.

Covenant of Works

The Christian idea that God’s elect must do good works in their earthly lives to earn their salvation.

Covenant of Grace

The Christian idea that God’s elect are granted salvation as a pure gift of grace. This doctrine holds that nothing people do can erase their sins or earn them a place in heaven.

Town Meeting

A system of local government in New England in which all male heads of households met regularly to elect selectmen; levy local taxes; and regulate markets, roads, and schools.

Metacom’s War

Also known as King Philip’s War, it pitted a coalition of Native Americans led by the Wampanoag leader Metacom against the New England colonies in 1675–1676. A thousand colonists were killed and twelve colonial towns destroyed, but the colonies prevailed. Metacom and his allies lost some 4,500 people.

Pueblo Revolt

Also known as Popé’s Rebellion, the revolt in 1680 was an uprising of 46 Native American pueblos against Spanish rule. Spaniards were driven out of New Mexico. When they returned in the 1690s, they granted more autonomy to the pueblos they claimed to rule.

Bacon’s Rebellion

The rebellion in 1675–1676 in Virginia that began when vigilante colonists started a war with neighboring Indians. When Governor William Berkeley refused to support them, the rebels — led by Nathaniel Bacon — formed an army that marched on the capital. The rebellion was finally crushed but prompted reforms in Virginia’s government.

Phillip II

Opechancanough

Lord Baltimore

John Winthrop

Rodger Williams

Anne Hutchinson

Metacom