Salem Witch Trials
a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. The trials resulted in the executions of twenty people, most of them women.
Puritans
A religious group who wanted to purify the Church of England. They came to America for religious freedom and settled Massachusetts Bay.
Tobacco
-Cash crop that made a profit and saved Jamestown(located in Virginia)
----John Rolfe, a colonist from Jamestown, was the first to grow tobacco in America. He arrived in Virginia with tobacco seeds procured on an earlier voyage to Trinidad, and in 1612 he
Indentured Servants
Colonists who received free passage to North America in exchange for working without pay for a certain number of years. They were usually white males and were more trusted by landed owners
Bacon's Rebellion
1676 - Nathaniel Bacon and other western Virginia settlers were angry at Virginia Governor Berkley for trying to appease the Doeg Indians after the Doegs attacked the western settlements. The frontiersmen formed an army, with Bacon as its leader, which de
Boston Tea Party
was a political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, on December 16, 1773. Disguised as American Indians, the demonstrators destroyed an entire shipment of tea, which had been sent by the East India Company, in defiance of the Tea Act of May 10, 1773
Albany Plan of Union
plan proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1754 that aimed to unite the 13 colonies for trade, military, and other purposes; the plan was turned down by the colonies and the Crown.
Intolerable Acts
name for a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament, in 1774 relating to Massachusetts after the Boston Tea party. It was meant to punish the colonists for all the money that was wasted when the tea was thrown in the harbor :
-Boston Port
Declaration of Independence
--- adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as 13 newly independent sovereign states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. Instead
Mercantilism
According to this doctrine, the colonies existed for the benefit of the mother country; they should add to its wealth, prosperity, and self-sufficiency. The settlers were regarded more or less as tenants. They were expected to produce tobacco and other pr
Causes of the French and Indian War
1.) Struggle to control prussia
2.)both the british and french claimed they owned the ohio country. They wanted it for strategic reasons, to control the fur trade
3.)Both European countries used Native American claims to the land. The British said it belo
Proclomation of 1763
law created by British officials that prohibited colonists from settling in areas west of the Appalachian Mountains
Colonial Exports
1. The principal exports were tobacco from Virginia, wheat and flour from Pennsylvania and from Maryland, ship timber and naval stores from northern New england and North Carolina, rice and indigo from South Carolina, and furs from New York
North-lumber,w
Stamp Act Congress
meeting held between October 7 and 25, 1765 in New York City, consisting of representatives from some of the British colonies in North America, the congress was formed to protest the newly passed Stamp Act It adopted a declaration of rights as well as sen
King Phillip's War
War between the Native American tribes of New England and British colonists that took place from 1675-1676. The war was the result of tension caused by encroaching white settlers. The chief of the Wampanoags, King Philip lead the natives. The war ended In
The Navigation Acts
Forced colonies to trade strictly with Britain so that they benifited from the colonial crops
Acts imposed on the colonies, the first of which closed trade to the colonies that did not include English ships and it requires that tobacco and other items be
The Glorious Revolution
(1688) The English Parliament drove out an absolute monarch, James II, and replaced him with two constitutional monarch's William and Mary, a change of who is in power without bloodshed
Republicanism
A form of government in which power resides in the people and is exercised by their elected representatives
Liberalism
A political ideology that emphasizes rule of law, representative democracy, rights of citizens, and the protection of private property. This ideology, derived from the Enlightenment, was especially popular among the property-owning middle classes.
Henry VII
(1491-1547) King of England from 1509 to 1547; his desire to annul his marriage led to a conflict with the pope, England's break with the Roman Catholic Church, and its embrace of Protestantism. Henry established the Church of England in 1532.
English notion of Liberty
believed that monarchy was the best form of political structure in the world. The Monarch governed over the people but they were all free men.
House of Burgesses
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the first legislative assembly of elected representatives in North America.
The House was established by the Virginia Company, who created the body as part of an effort to encourage English craftsmen to settle in North America and to make conditions in
The Great Migration
the first 5 ships sailed from England in 1629, and by 1642 some 21,000 Puritans had emigrated to Massachusetts. Long remebered as the Great Migration, this flow of population represented less thatn one-third of English emigration in the 1630's. The Great
The Puritan Family
--The husbands authority over his woman and children was absolute
--family was the foundation of strong communities
--Women typically married at 22 years old
--ideal puritan marriage was based on reciprocal affection and companionship and divorce was lega
Puritan Idea of church and state
The Puritans were interested in establishing a degree of separation of church and state because: (1) they had been persecuted by the English government and wanted to ensure their own freedom of religion in Massachusetts Bay, (2) they disagreed with the Ca
Freedom and Slavery in Chesapeake Bay
No laws regarding black were in place until tobacco production immensely increases in Maryland and Virginia and the demand for labor was great.
---Blacks were held as servants for life.
--A Virginia law of 1662 provided that in the case of a child one of
The Great Awakening
religious revival in the 1730-40s, helped by Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield; inspired controversy over emotionalism/revivalism versus traditionalist Protestantism, nevertheless united the Americans as a people. "Great Awakenings" was characterized
1st Continental Congress
September 1774, 12 delegates met in Philly to discuss the Intolerable Acts, only Georgia did not attend. The result was a boycott on all British goods, stop exporting goods to Britain, and they urged each colony to set up and train it's own militia.
2nd Continental Congress
1. Sent the Olive Branch Petition 2, Created a Continental Army with George Washington as the leader. 3. Agreed to write a formal letter declaring their independence from England.
Articles of Confederation
A constitution drafted by the newly independent states in 1777 and ratified in 1781. It created a weak national government that could not levy taxes or regulate commerce. In 1789 it was replaced by our current Constitution in order to create a stronger na
Saratoga
(October 17, 1777) Often referred to as the turning point in the American Revolution. American troops under General Horatio Gates defeat British troops led by General Johnny Burgoyne. Turning point for three reasons: (1) British plan to divide the colonie
Yorktown
A siege in Yorktown Virginia were 7,000 British troops awaiting resupply from the British Navy were sieged by the French Navy and American ground troops led by George W. The British were forced to surrender. This caused great commotion in Britain and many
George Washington
the first President of the United States (1789-1797), the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He presided over the convention that drafted the United State
Samuel Adams
American Revolutionary leader and patriot, Founder of the Sons of Liberty and one of the most vocal patriots for independence; signed the Declaration of Independence
--an American statesman, political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the Un
Thomas Paine
(1737-1809) He was famous for his influential pamphlet Common Sense. Common Sense advocated independence from Great Britain. He emigrated from Britain to the partake in the American Revolution in 1774. He later went on to partake in the French Revolution