Christopher Columbus
Italian navigator who discovered the New World in the service of Spain while looking for a route to China (1451-1506)
John Winthrop
Puritan leader who became the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
James Oglethorpe
Founder and governor of the Georgia colony. He ran a tightly-disciplined, military-like colony. Slaves, alcohol, and Catholicism were forbidden in his colony. Many colonists felt that Oglethorpe was a dictator, and that (along with the colonist's dissatisfaction over not being allowed to own slaves) caused the colony to break down and Oglethorpe to lose his position as governor.
Anne Hutchinson
She preached the idea that God communicated directly to individuals instead of through the church elders. She was forced to leave Massachusetts in 1637. Her followers (the Antinomianists) founded the colony of New Hampshire in 1639.
Roger Williams
He founded Rhode Island for separation of Church and State. He believed that the Puritans were too powerful and was ordered to leave the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his religious beliefs.
William Penn
A Quaker that founded Pennsylvania to establish a place where his people and others could live in peace and be free from persecution.
John Rolfe
Jamestown colony leader who showed that tobacco could be grown successfully in Virginia
Chief Powhatan
Leader of the Powhatan people and father of Pocahontas
Pocahontas
A native Indian of America, daughter of Chief Powahatan, who was one of the first to marry an Englishman, John Rolfe, and return to England with him; about 1595-1617; Pocahontas' brave actions in saving an Englishman paved the way for many positive English and Native relations.
John Smith
English explorer who helped found the colony at Jamestown, Virginia
Lord Baltimore
1694- He was the founder of Maryland, a colony which offered religious freedom, and a refuge for the persecuted Roman Catholics.
John Peter Zenger
Journalist who questioned the policies of the governor of New York in the 1700's. He was jailed; he sued, and this court case was the basis for our freedom of speech and press. He was found not guilty.
Benjamin Franklin
American intellectual, inventor, and politician He helped to negotiate French support for the American Revolution.
Samuel de Champlain
French explorer in Nova Scotia who established a settlement on the site of modern Quebec (1567-1635)
Robert de la Salle
Frenchman who followed the Mississippi River all the way to the Gulf of Mexico, claiming the region for France and naming it Louisiana in honor of King Louis XIV
Metacom
Native American chief who fought against English colonists in the King Philip's War
Henry Hudson
An English explorer who explored for the Dutch. He claimed the Hudson River around present day New York and called it New Netherland. He also had the Hudson Bay named for him
Peter Stuyvesant
The governor of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, hated by the colonists. They surrendered the colony to the English on Sept. 8, 1664.
Navigation Laws (Acts)
Series of laws passed, beginning in 1651, to regu- late colonial shipping; the acts provided that only English ships would be allowed to trade in English and colonial ports, and that all goods destined for the colonies would first pass through England. (55)
Quakers
English dissenters who broke from Church of England, preache a doctrine of pacificism, inner divinity, and social equity, under William Penn they founded Pennsylvania
Predestination
Calvin's religious theory that God has already planned out a person's life.
Great Migration (Puritans)
1630s- 70,000 refugees left England for New World increasing population of New England.
Pilgrims/Puritans
The Pilgrims were separatists who believed that the Church of England could not be reformed. Separatist groups were illegal in England, so the Pilgrims fled to America and settled in Plymouth. The Puritans were non-separatists who wished to adopt reforms to purify the Church of England. They received a right to settle in the Massachusetts Bay area from the King of England.
Holy Experiment
William Penn's term for the government of Pennsylvania, which was supposed to serve everyone and provide freedom for all.
Half-way covenant
A Puritan church document; In 1662, the Halfway Covenant allowed partial membership rights to persons not yet converted into the Puritan church; It lessened the difference between the "elect" members of the church from the regular members; Women soon made up a larger portion of Puritan congregations.
Salem witch trials
Several accusations of witchcraft led to sensational trials in Salem, Massachusetts at which Cotton Mather presided as the chief judge. 18 people were hanged as witches. Afterwards, most of the people involved admitted that the trials and executions had been a terrible mistake.
Great Awakening
Religious revival in the American colonies of the eighteenth century during which a number of new Protestant churches were established.
Paxton Boys
They were a group of Scots-Irish men living in the Appalachian hills that wanted protection from Indian attacks. They made an armed march on Philadelphia in 1764. They protested the lenient way that the Quakers treated the Indians. Their ideas started the Regulator Movement in North Carolina.
Zenger Trial
New York libel case against John Peter Zenger. Established the principle that truthful statements about public officials could not be prosecuted as libel.
Salutary Neglect
An English policy of not strictly enforcing laws in its colonies
Mayflower Compact
A legal contract in which they agreed to have fair laws to protect the general good
New England Confederation
New England colonists formed the New England Confederation in 1643 as a defense against local Native American tribes and encroaching Dutch. The colonists formed the alliance without the English crown's authorization.
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
Set up a unified government for the towns of the Connecticut area (Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield). First constitution written in America.
Dominion of New England
1686 - The British government combined the colonies of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut into a single province headed by a royal governor (Andros). The Dominion ended in 1692, when the colonists revolted and drove out Governor Andros.
Maryland Act of Toleration
Guaranteed religious freedom to all Christians in MarylandGranted after Protestant became governorImportant precedent for later characterization of the United States and its Constitution
Iroquois Confederation
The league of Indian tribes in the Northeast that fought with the English in the French-Indian War and supported the Loyalists in the America Revolution.
Virginia House of Burgesses
The first elected assembly in the New World, established in 1619
Crown Colony
a British colony controlled by the British Crown, represented by a governor
Proclamation of 1763
A proclamation from the British government which forbade British colonists from settling west of the Appalacian Mountains, and which required any settlers already living west of the mountains to move back east.
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
Seven Years' War
Fought between France/Russia and Prussia- Frederick kept fighting against heavy odds and was saved when Peter III took Russian throne and called off the war.
King Philip's War
1675 - A series of battles in New Hampshire between the colonists and the Wompanowogs, led by a chief known as King Philip. The war was started when the Massachusetts government tried to assert court jurisdiction over the local Indians. The colonists won with the help of the Mohawks, and this victory opened up additional Indian lands for expansion.
Pequot War
1637 The Bay colonists wanted to claim Connecticut for themselves but it belonged to the Pequot. The colonists burned down their village and 400 were killed.
First Powhatan War
1614- war between Lord De La Ware and the Indians- ended with marriage of Pocahontas and John Rolfe
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 defeated the Indians and then marched on Jamestown and burned the city. The rebellion ended suddenly when Bacon died of an illness.
Stono Revolt
1739, Slaves in South Carolina rebel and kill twenty whites in an attempt to escape to Florida. It was the largest slave rebellion in the eighteenth century in the colonies and resulted in much greater fear among whites, and consequently much tighter control of slaves.
Pontiac's Rebellion
1763 - An Indian uprising after the French and Indian War, led by an Ottowa chief named Pontiac. They opposed British expansion into the western Ohio Valley and began destroying British forts in the area. The attacks ended when Pontiac was killed.