U.S. History Chapter 2

Smith, John

An English soldier and explorer who became one of the leaders of the Jamestown colony and helped to establish relations with the Powhatans. His narratives describe the early history of Jamestown as well as his explorations of what became New England.

Virginia Company

A joint-stock enterprise that King James I chartered in 1606; the company was to spread Christianity in the Americas as well as find ways to make a profit in them.

Anglican Church

The established state church of England, formed by Henry VIII after the pope refused to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.

Roanoke colony

Failed English attempt to establish a colony on Roanoke Island in the Outer Banks; the colony disappeared sometime between 1587 and 1590.

enclosure movement

A legal process that divided large farm fields in England that were previously collectively owned by groups of peasants into smaller, individually owned plots. The enclosure movement took place over several centuries and resulted in eviction for many peasants.

headright system

A land-grant policy that promised fifty acres to any colonist who could afford passage to Virginia, as well as fifty more for any accompanying servants. The headright policy was eventually expanded to include any colonists and was also adopted in other colonies.

House of Burgesses

The first elected assembly in colonial America established in 1619 in Virginia. Only wealthy landowners could vote in its elections.

Anglo-Powhatan Wars

Three wars fought between the Powhatans and the Jamestown colonists in 1610–1614, 1622–1626, and 1644–1646.

plantation

An early word for a colony, a settlement “planted” from abroad among an alien population in Ireland or the Americas; later, a large agricultural enterprise that used unfree labor to produce a crop for the world market.

dower rights

In colonial America, the right of a widowed woman to inherit one-third of her deceased husband's property.

Puritans

English religious group that sought to purify the Church of England; founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony under John Winthrop in 1630.

Winthrop, John

Puritan leader and governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony who resolved to use the colony as a refuge for persecuted Puritans and as an instrument of building a “wilderness Zion” in America.

Pilgrims

Puritan separatists who broke completely with the Church of England and sailed to the Americas aboard the Mayflower, founding Plymouth Colony on Cape Cod in 1620.

Mayflower Compact

Document signed in 1620 aboard the Mayflower before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth; the document committed the group to majority-rule government by its male colonists.

Great Migration

Large-scale migration of southern Black people during and after World War I to the North, where jobs had become available during the labor shortage of the war years.

captivity narratives

Accounts written by colonists after their time in Indigenous captivity, often stressing the captive's religious convictions.

Pequot War

An armed conflict in 1637 fought between the Pequot Indians and an alliance of Narragansett, Mohegan, and English. The Pequot loss led to most of them being killed, enslaved, or incorporated into other Native nations.

Dissenters

Protestants who belonged to denominations outside of the established Anglican Church.

Half-Way Covenant

A 1662 religious compromise that allowed baptism and partial church membership to colonial New Englanders whose parents were not among the Puritan elect.

English liberty

The idea that English men were entitled to certain liberties, including trial by jury, habeas corpus, and the right to face one's accuser in court. These rights meant that even the English king was subject to the rule of law.

Act Concerning Religion (or Maryland Toleration Act)

1649 law that granted free exercise of religion to all Christian denominations in colonial Maryland.