Colonial America Review Notes

Vocabulary flashcards covering the Spanish, French, Southern, New England, and Middle Colonies based on review outline notes.

Spanishize

The process of assimilating colonial populations and territories into Spanish language, culture, and imperial governance systems.

Catholicize

The effort by Spanish colonial authorities and religious orders to convert Indigenous populations to Catholicism.

Silver and Mining Economy

The dominant economic structure of the Spanish colonies based on the extraction of precious metals and mineral wealth.

Two River Valleys

The St. Lawrence and Mississippi River valleys, which served as the primary geographic regions for French colonial expansion in North America.

Fur and Fishing Economy

The foundational economic system of the French colonies centered on trading furs with Native Americans and commercial fishing rather than large-scale agricultural settlement.

Reasons for Settlement: Poverty and Mercantilism

The economic push and pull factors for English settlement in the Southern Colonies, driven by poverty in England and the imperial mercantilist system.

Jamestown

The first permanent English settlement in North America, established in Virginia in 1607.

Pocahontas

Powhatan woman whose interactions with Jamestown settlers played a crucial role in early Anglo-Native relations in Virginia.

John Rolfe

English colonist in Jamestown who successfully introduced commercial tobacco cultivation to Virginia.

Tobacco Agriculture

The primary cash-crop labor system and economic base developed in the Southern Colonies, especially Virginia and Maryland.

Plantation System

An agrarian economic model based on large estates producing cash crops for export using forced labor.

Chattel Slavery

A form of forced labor where enslaved individuals are legally treated as personal property and bought, sold, and inherited permanently.

Middle Passage

The brutal transatlantic voyage that forcibly transported enslaved Africans to the Americas as part of the triangular trade.

Southern Social System

A rigid social hierarchy in the Southern Colonies structured around land ownership, race, plantation ownership, and chattel slavery.

House of Burgesses

The representative assembly formed in Virginia, serving as an early model of colonial self-government and representative democracy.

Headright System

A land allocation system in the Southern Colonies that granted land to individuals who paid for their own or others' passage to North America.

Indentured Servitude

A labor system in which individuals bound themselves by contract to work for a specified period in exchange for passage to America and basic upkeep.

Bacon's Rebellion

An armed rebellion led by Nathaniel Bacon against Virginia governor Berkeley due to frontier tensions and economic dissatisfaction, accelerating the colonial shift toward chattel slavery.

Puritanism

A religious reform movement seeking to purify the Church of England, which deeply shaped the culture, politics, and social structures of the New England Colonies.

Separatists/Pilgrims

A radical faction of Puritans who sought to separate completely from the Church of England and established Plymouth Colony.

Mayflower

The ship that brought the Separatists/Pilgrims to Plymouth in 1620.

John Winthrop

Puritan leader and governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony who expressed the vision of creating a model godly society.

City Set on a Hill

John Winthrop's concept of Massachusetts Bay as a moral exemplar to the world, laying groundwork for ideas of American exceptionalism.

Reading Schools

New England educational institutions created to promote public literacy so colonists could read the Bible.

Public Faith

The practice in Puritan New England of embedding religious doctrines and moral accountability directly into community life and public policy.

Puritan Views on Gender, Family, and Courtship

Strict social norms and legal regulations in New England governing family hierarchy, gender obligations, courtship rituals, and public morality.

Roger Williams

A religious dissenter banished from Massachusetts Bay who founded Rhode Island and advocated for religious tolerance and separation of church and state.

Rhode Island

A New England colony established on principles of explicit religious freedom and complete separation of church and state.

Witch Trials

Legal trials and public hysteria in New England, most famously in Salem, resulting from social tension and religious anxieties regarding alleged witchcraft.

Town Meetings

A system of direct democratic local governance in New England where town members gathered to vote on local laws and policies.

King Philip's War

A devastating war between New England colonists and Native nations that led to profound tactical, social, and racial changes in New England society.

Fish and Ships

The commercial centerpiece of New England's maritime economy, centered on cod fishing, shipbuilding, and ocean trade.

New Amsterdam/New York

A Middle Colony initially settled by the Dutch that was defined by high ethnic diversity and religious tolerance before becoming English New York.

Pennsylvania

Middle Colony founded by William Penn as a refuge for Quakers, characterized by religious freedom, distinct Native policies, and democratic ideals.

William Penn

Quaker leader and founder of Pennsylvania who promoted religious tolerance, constitutional rights, and peaceful negotiations with Native nations.

Quakers

A pacifist Christian sect (Society of Friends) that settled Pennsylvania and emphasized inner spiritual equality and religious tolerance.

Penn's Policy Toward Native Nations

William Penn's strategy of diplomatic negotiations, fair purchasing of land, and respectful peaceful relations with local Native nations.

Pennsylvania Dutch

German-speaking immigrants who settled extensively in colonial Pennsylvania and formed a prominent cultural group.

Navigation Acts

A series of English laws designed to enforce mercantilism by restricting colonial trade to English shipping, sparking growing friction with Britain.

First Great Awakening

A widespread colonial religious revival movement that challenged traditional church authority and fostered a shared American identity.

French and Indian War

A major conflict in North America that resulted in French defeat and significant imperial policy changes, driving friction between Britain and the American colonies.