Period 2

1607

The year when the Jamestown settlement was founded, marking the first permanent English settlement in North America.

1619

The first African slaves arrive in North America.

1754

The beginning of the French and Indian war

Indentured Servitude

People who offered up five to seven years of their freedom in exchange for passage to the New World. Limited rights while servants, but considered free members of society upon release. During the seventeenth century, nearly two-thirds of English immigrants were indentured servants. Declined in favor of slavery, which was more profitable to planters.

Bacon’s Rebellion

A failed 1676 rebellion in Jamestown. Led by Nathaniel Bacon, indentured servants and slaves revolted against the Virginia Colony’s aristocracy. It led to a strengthening of racially coded laws, such as the Virginia Slave Codes of 1705, in order to divide impoverished white and black slaves, thus safeguarding the planter aristocracy from future rebellions.

House of Burgesses

The first elected legislative assembly in the New World. Established in 1619. It served as a political model for subsequent English colonies. Initially, only landowners could vote, and only the Virginia Company and the governor could rescind laws.

Jamestown

Founded in Virginia in 1607, it was the first permanent English settlement in the New World. After the statehouse was burned on four separate occasions, the capital was moved to what became modern-day Williamsburg. See: John Smith, Roanoke.

Pequot War

A war in New England in 1636–1638. Fought between the Pequot tribe and the English colonists with their American Indian allies. A catastrophic defeat for the Pequot tribe. Famous for the Mystic massacre, where over 500 Pequot were slaughtered in a blaze

King Phillip’s War

Also known as Metacom’s War, it (1675–1678) was an ongoing battle between English colonists and the American Indian inhabitants of New England. The English victory expanded their access to land that was previously inhabited by the natives.

Puritanism

A religious code and societal organization that split off from Anglicanism. Puritans believed that their religious and social structures were ideal. They thought that the Church of England’s ceremonies and teachings were too reminiscent of Catholicism and that true believers ought to read the Bible for themselves and listen to the sermons of an educated clergy.

Mayflower Compact

The first written form of government in the modern-day United States. Drafted by the Pilgrims, it was an agreement to establish a secular body that would administer the leadership of the Plymouth colony.

William Penn

Founded Pennsylvania in 1683. A Quaker, (name) believed in equality between people. He owned all the colony’s land and sold it to settlers at low costs, instead of developing a headright system. The religious tolerance, excellent climate, and low cost of land appealed to immigrants from across Western Europe.

Quakers

Formally known as the “Society of Friends.” A Protestant church that advocated that everyone was equal, including women, Africans, and American Indians.

Mercantilism

The theory that a government should control economic pursuits to further a nation’s national power, especially in the acquisition of silver and gold. Prominent in Europe from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. Replaced by free trade. See: laissez-faire.

Navigation Acts

Laws passed in 1651 as measure to supersede Dutch control of international trade. Colonial commodities such as tobacco and sugar had to be exported to England in English ships and sold in English ports before they could be re-exported to other nations’ markets. Spurred colonial resentment in the long-term.

Triangular Trade

A transatlantic trade network. New World colonies exported raw materials such as sugar and cotton to England. There, these materials were transformed into rum and textiles. Europeans sold these manufactured goods, including at African ports, in exchange for slaves, who would then be sold in the colonies as farm workers, thus completing the triangle.

Middle Passage

The leg of Triangular Trade which transported Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World. Approximately 20 percent of enslaved Africans died before reaching the New World due to poor conditions, dehydration, and disease.

Stono Rebellion

A 1739 slave uprising in (term), South Carolina. Led to the deaths of more than four dozen colonists and as many as 200 African slaves. Prompted South Carolina’s proprietors to create a stricter slave code.

Great Awakening

A Protestant religious movement that took place across the Thirteen Colonies during the 1730s and 1740s. It indirectly helped spur religious tolerance and led to the founding of many universities.