History Chapter 1-4: Colonial Development and the Road to Independence

Vocabulary flashcards based on the lecture notes covering the mid-17th to mid-18th century American colonial history, focusing on key figures, settlements, and religious shifts.

July 2, $1776$

The day independence was actually declared, which John Adams predicted would be celebrated with fireworks forever.

Richard Henry Lee

The delegate from Virginia who proposed in June $1776$ that the colonies should be independent.

Committee of Five

The group project members tasked with writing the Declaration of Independence, including Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Sherman, and Livingston.

Restoration of the English Monarchy

The $1660$ event restoring the Stuart line under Charles II, which triggered a new wave of colonial grants and trade regulations.

James, the Duke of York

The brother of Charles II who became the proprietor of New York in $1664$ and was the major funder of the Royal African Company.

Maryland

A proprietary colony established in $1632$ as a Catholic utopia for the Calvert family.

Maryland Toleration Act

Also known as the $1649$ act for religious toleration, it provided the highest level of religious freedom in the seventeenth century.

Georgia

The last colony, established in $1732$ as a place for the poor and a buffer against Spanish Florida.

James Oglethorpe

A prison reformer who founded Georgia and initially prohibited slavery and hard liquor in the colony.

English Poor Law of $1601$

The law stating that individuals in debt would be sent to jail, contributing to the overflowing prisons James Oglethorpe sought to reform.

Barbados

An English colony claimed in $1625$ that produced $50,000,000$ pounds of sugar and utilized large-scale enslaved labor.

Molasses

A byproduct of sugar processing that was cooked with water and yeast to create rum.

Royal African Company

A slave-trading company owned by James, the Duke of York, that competed with the Dutch in the West African slave trade.

Ola de Equiano

An $11$ year old kidnapped from Nigeria whose narrative describes the terrifying experience of the middle passage and the fear of being boiled.

Coffle

A chain of enslaved peoples who are marched together toward the coast.

Barracoon

A cage on the coast where enslaved people were held and branded before being placed on slave ships.

Middle Passage

The harrowing journey of enslaved people from Africa to the West Indies.

Seasoning Year

The required first year of survival and labor for an enslaved person after reaching the Caribbean.

Juan Guarito

A free African man from The Congo who traveled with Ponce de Leon and fought alongside Cortez.

Stono Rebellion

A $1739$ slave uprising in South Carolina led by a Catholic man named Jemmy, resulting in the deaths of $25$ white people and $44$ enslaved people.

Negro Act of $1740$

Also known as the Black Codes, these strict South Carolina laws were passed after the Stono Rebellion to restrict slave education and movement.

Mercantilism

The state regulation of trade designed to benefit the mother country by exploiting colonial resources.

Navigation Act of $1660$

A law requiring colonial exports to be carried on British ships with a crew that was at least three quarters British.

Enumerated Goods

Specific colonial products, such as tobacco, sugar, and indigo, that the crown mandated could only be sold to England.

Molasses Act of $1733$

A trade law that imposed a tax of $6$ pennies per gallon on molasses.

Deism

An Enlightenment philosophy based on reason, laws of nature, and universal truths, exemplified by Benjamin Franklin.

George Whitfield

An Anglican minister who sparked the Great Awakening in $1740$ through mesmerizing religious revivals to raise money for a Georgia orphanage.