Ice Age
Extended period when glaciers covered most of the North American continent
Corn (Maize)
Staple crop that formed the economic foundation of Indian civilizations
Cahokia
Important Mississippian culture site, near present-day East St. Louis, Illinois
Portugal
First European nation to send explorers around the west coast of Africa
Mali
Flourishing West African kingdom that had its capital and university at Timbuktu
Indies
Mistaken term that the first European explorers gave to American lands because of the false belief that they were off the east coast of Asia
horse
Animal introduced by European that transformed the Indian way of life on the Great Plains
Syphilis
Disease originating in the Americas that was transmitted back to Europeans after 1942
Treaty of Tordesillas
Treaty that proclaimed a Spanish title to lands in the Americas by dividing them with Portugal
Mestizo
Person of mixed European and Indian ancestry
Pope's Rebellion
Indian uprising in New Mexico caused by Spanish efforts to suppress Indian religion in 1609
Pueblos
Indian people of the Rio Grande Valley who were cruelly oppressed by the Spanish conquerors
Spanish Franciscans
Roman Catholic religious order of friars that organized a chain of missions in California
Ferdinand and Isabella
Financiers and beneficiaries of Columbus' voyages to the New World
Cortes and Pizarro
Spanish conquerors of great Indian civilizations
Lake Bonneville
Inland sea left by melting glaciers whose remnant is the Great Salt Lake
Dias and da Gama
Portuguese navigators who sailed around the African coast
Columbus
Italian-born explorer who thought that he had arrived off the coast of Asia rather than on unknown continents
Malinche
Female Indian slave who served as interpreter for Cortes
Montezuma
Powerful Aztec monarch who fell to Spanish conquerors
Hiawatha
Legendary founder of the powerful Iroquois Confederacy
Tenochtitlan
Wealthy capital of the Aztec empire
St. Augustine
Founded in 1565 by the Spanish, the oldest continually inhabited European settlement in United States territory
John Cabot
Italian-born navigator sent by English to explore North American coast in 1498
Junipero Sera
Franciscan missionary who settled California
Ireland
Nation where English Protestant rulers employed brutal tactics against the local Catholic population
Roanoke Island
Island colony founded by Sir Walter Raleigh that mysteriously disappeared in the 1580s
Spanish armada
Naval invaders defeated by English "sea dogs" in 1588
1st and 2nd Powhatan War
Name of two wars, fought in 1614 and 1644, between the English in Jamestown and the nearby Indian leader
slave codes
The harsh system of laws governing African labor, first developed in Barbados, and later officially adopted by South Carolina in 1696
Royal Charter
Royal document granting a specified group the right to form a colony and guaranteeing settlers their rights as English citizens
Indentured servants
Penniless people obligated to engage in unpaid labor for a fixed number of years, usually in exchange for passage to the New World or other benefits
Iroquois Confederacy
Powerful Indian confederation that dominated New York and the eastern Great Lakes area; comprised of several peoples (not the Algonquians)
Squatters
Poor farmers in North Carolina and elsewhere who occupied land and raised crops without gaining legal title to the soil
Royal colony
Term for a colony under direct control of the English king or queen
Tobacco
The primary staple crop of early Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina
South Carolina
The only southern colony with a slave majority
rice
The primary plantation crop of Southern California
Savannah
A melting-pot town in early colonial Georgia
Powhatan
Indian leader who ruled tribes in the James River area of Virginia
Raleigh and Gilbert
Elizabethan courtiers who failed in their attempts to found New World colonies
Roanoke
The failed "lost colony" founded by Sir Walter Raleigh
Smith and Rolfe
Virginia leader "saved" by Pocahontas and the prominent settler who married her
Virginia
Colony that established a House of Burgesses in 1619
Maryland
Founded as a haven for Roman Catholics
Lord De La Warr
Harsh military governor of Virginia who employed "Irish tactics" against the Indians
Jamaica and Barbados
British West Indian sugar colonies where large-scale plantations and slavery took root
Lord Baltimore
The Catholic aristocrat who sought to build a sanctuary for his fellow believers
South Carolina
Colony that turned to disease-resistant African slaves for labor in its extensive rice plantations
North Carolina
Colony that was called "a vale of humility between two mountains of conceit
Georgia
Founded as a refuge for debtors by philanthropists
James Oglethorpe
Philanthropic soldier-statesmen who founded the Georgia colony
Elizabeth I
The unmarried ruler who established English Protestantism and fought the Catholic Spanish
Jamestown
Riverbank site where Virginia Company settlers planted the first permanent English colony
Protestant Reformation
Sixteenth-century religious reform movement begun by Martin Luther
Puritans
English Calvinists who sought a thorough cleansing from within the Church of England
Separatists
Radical Calvinists who considered the Church of England so corrupt that they broke with it and formed their own independent churches
Mayflower Compact
The shipboard agreement by the Pilgrim Fathers to establish a body politic and submit to majority rule
Covenant
Puritans' term for their belif that Massachusetts Bay had a special arrangement with God to become a holy society
Parliament
Charles I's political action of 1629 that led to persecution of the Puritans and the formation of the Massachusetts Bay Company
Fishing and shipbuilding
The two major nonfarming industries of Massachusetts Bay
Antinomatism
Anne Hutchinson's heretical belief that the truly saved need not obey human or divine law
exile
Common fate of Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson after they were convicted of heresy in Massachusetts Bay
Praying villages
Villages where New England Indians who converted to Christianity were gathered
King Philip's War
Successful military action by the colonies united in the New England Confederation
Glorious Revolution
English revolt that also led to the overthrow of the Dominion of New England in America
Hudson
River valley where vast estates created an aristocratic landholding elite in New Netherland and New York
Smuggling
Common activity in which the colonists engaged to avoid the restrictive, unpopular Navigation Laws
Martin Luther
German monk who began Protestant Reformation
John Calvin
Reformer whose religious ideas inspired English Puritans, Scotch Presbyterians, French Huguenots, and Dutch Reformed
Massasoit
Wampanoag chieftain who befriended English colonists
John Winthrop
Promoter of Massachusetts Bay as a holy "city upon a hill
Great Puritan Migration
Mass flight by religious dissidents from the persecutions of Archbishop Laud and Charles I
General Court
Representative assembly of Massachusetts Bay
Puritans
Dominant religious group in Massachusetts Bay
Quakers
Religious group persecuted in Massachusetts and New York but not in Pennsylvania
Anne Hutchinson
Religious dissenter convicted of the heresy of antinomianism; challenged the Puritan orthodoxy
Roger Williams
Radical founder of the most tolerant New England colony
King Philip
Indian leader who waged an unsuccessful war against New England's white colonists
Peter Stuyvesant
Conqueror of New Sweden who later lost New Netherland to the English
William Penn
Founder of the most tolerant and democratic of the middle colonies
families
Early Maryland and Virginia settlers had difficulty creating them and even more difficulty making them last
disease
Primary cause of death among tobacco-growing settlers
indentured servants
Immigrants who received passage to America in exchange for a fixed term of labor
execution
Fate of many Nathaniel Bacon's followers, though not of Bacon himself
Rhode Island
American colony that was home to the Newport slave market and many slave traders
Royal African Company
English company that lost its monopoly on the slave trade in 1698
Gullah
African American dialect that blended English with Yoruba, Ibo, and Hausa
slave revolt
Uprisings that occurred in New York City in 1712 (caused thirty-three deaths) and in South Carolina in 1739
first families of Virginia
Wealthy extended clans like the Fitzhughs, Lees, and Washingtons that dominated politics in the most populous colony
early 20s
Approximate marriage age of most New England women
town assemblies
The basic local political institution of New England, in which all freemen gathered to elect officials and debate local affairs
Halfway Covenant
Formula devised by Puritan ministers in 1662 to offer partial church membership to people who had not experienced conversion
Salem Witch Trials
Late seventeenth-century judicial even that inflamed popular feelings, led to the deaths of twenty people, and weakened the Puritan clergy's prestige
farming
Primary occupation of most seventeenth-century Americans
Chesapeake
Virginia-Maryland bay area, site of the earliest colonial settlements
Indentured servants
Primary laborers in early southern colonies until the 1680s
Nathaniel Bacon
Agitator who led poor former indentured servants and frontiersmen on a rampage against Indian and colonial government
Governor Berkeley
Colonial Virginia official who crushed rebels and wreaked cruel revenge
Royal African Company
Organization whose loss of the slave trade monopoly in 1698 led to free-enterprise expansion of the business
Middle passage
Experience for which human beings were branded and chained, and which only 80 percent survived
Ringshout
West African religious rite, retained by African Americans, in which participants responded to the shouts of a preacher
Nathanial Hawthorne
Author of a novel about the early New England practice of requiring adulterers to wear the letter "A
New England conscience
The legacy of Puritan religion that inspired idealism and reform among later generations of Americans
Harvard
The oldest college in America (founded 1636), originally based on the Puritan commitment to an educated ministry
William and Mary
The oldest college in the South, founded in 1793
Halfway Covenant
Helped erase the earlier Puritan distinction between the converted "elect" and other members of society
Salem witch trials
Phenomena started by adolescent girls' accusations that ended with the deaths of twenty people
Leisler's Rebellion
Small New York revolt of 1689-1691 that reflected class antagonism between landlords and merchants
Dutch
Corruption of a German word used as a term for German immigrants in Pennsylvania
Scotch-Irish
Ethnic group that had already relocated once before immigrating to America and settling largely on the Western forntier of the middle and southern colonies
Paxton boys
Rebellious movement of frontiersmen in the southern colonies that included future President Andrew Jackson
jailbirds
Popular term for convicted criminals dumped on colonies by British authorities
lawyers
A once-despised profession that rose in prestige after 1750 because its practitioners defended colonial rights
Triangular Trade
Small but profitable trade route that linked New England, Africa, and West Indies
taverns
Popular colonial centers of recreation, gossip, and political debate
established churches
Term for tax-supported condition of Congregational and Anglican churches, but not of Baptists, Quakers, and Roman Catholics
Great Awakening
Spectacular, emotional religious revival of the 1730s and 1740s
new light
Ministers who supported the Great Awakening against the "old light" clergy who rejected it
colleges
Institutions that were founded in greater numbers as a result of the Great Awakening, although a few had been founded earlier
Zenger case
The case that established the precedent that true statements about public officials could not be prosecuted as libel
council
The upper house of colonial legislature, appointed by the crown or the proprietor
Poor Richard's Almanack
Benjamin Franklin's highly popular collection of information, parables, and advice
Philadelphia
Leading city of the colonies; home of Benjamin Franklin
African Americans
Largest non-English group in the colonies
Scots-Irish
Group that settled the frontier, made whiskey, and hated the British and other governmental authorities
Paxton Boys and Regulators
Scots-Irish frontiersmen who protested against colonial elites of Pennsylvania and North Carolina
Patrick Henry
Eloquent lawyer-orator who argued in defense of colonial rights
Molasses Act
Attempt by British authorities to squelch colonial trade with French West Indies
Anglican Church
Established religion in southern colonies and New York; weakened by lackadaisical clergy and too-close ties with British crown
Jonathan Edwards
Brilliant New England theologian who instigated the Great Awakening
George Whitefield
Itinerant British evangelist who spread the Great Awakening throughout the colonies
Phillis Wheatley
Former slave who became a poet at an early age
Benjamin Franklin
Author, scientist, printer; "the first civilized American
John Peter Zenger
Colonial printer whose case helped begin freedom of the press
Quakers
Dominant religious group in colonial Pennsylvania, criticized by others for their attitudes toward Indians
Baptists
Nonestablished religious group that benefited from the Great Awakening
John Singleton Copley
Colonial painter who studied and worked in Britain
90%
Percentage of Indians (Native Americans) who had died in centuries following Columbus's landing in the Americas
nation-state
the form of political society that combines centralized government with a high degree of ethnic and cultural unity
matrilinear
the form of society in which family line, power, and wealth are passed primarily through the female side
confederacy
an alliance or league of nations or peoples looser than a federation
primeval
concerning the earliest origin of things
saga
a lengthy story or poem recounting the great deeds and adventures of a people and their heroes
middlemen
in trading systems, those dealers who operate between the original buyers and the retail merchants who sell to consumers
caravel
a small Portuguese vessel that could sail into wind a small with a high deck and three triangular sails
plantation
a large-scale agricultural enterprise growing commercial crops and usually employing coerced or slave labor
ecosystem
a naturally evolved network of relations among organisms in a stable environment
demographic
concerning the general characteristics of a given population, including such factors as numbers, age, gender, birth and death rates
conquistador
a Spanish conqueror or adventurer in the Americas
capitalism
an economic system characterized by private property, generally free trade, and open and accessible markets
encomienda
the Spanish labor system in which persons were held to unpaid service under the permanent control of their masters, though not legally owned by them
province
a medium-sized subunit of territory and governmental administration within a larger nation or empire
Virginia Company of London
Received a charter for the New World and established Jamestown
Lord De La Warr
Started the first Anglo-Powhatan War
Lord Baltimore
Founded Maryland in 1634
Act of Toleration
Passed in 1649 and granted toleration to all Christians
Captain Myles Standish
prominent man among the non-belongers of the Mayflower who came to Plymouth Bay; an Indian fighter and negotiator
William Bradford
Elected 30 times as governor of the Pilgrims
William Laud
Archbishop who persecuted Puritans
Visible Saints
Another name for the Puritans
Fundamental Orders
Document that the Connecticut River colony drafted
New England Confederation
Formed in 1643 to provide for the defense of the four New England colonies; also acted as a court in disputes between colonies
Sir Edmund Andros
English military man who was leader of the Dominion of New England
Henry Hudson
English explorer hired by the Dutch East India Company to explore the Delaware Bay and New York Bay
Headright" system
Under its terms, whoever paid the passage of a laborer received the right to acquire 50 acres of land
Massachusetts
This colony was at the front of the colonies attempting to abolish black slavery
disfranchise
To take away the right to vote
civil war
Any conflict between the citizens or inhabitants of he same country
tidewater
The territory adjoining water affected by tides-that is, near the seacoast or coastal rivers
middle passage
That portion of a slave ship's journey in which slaves were carried from Africa to the Americas
fertility
The ability to mate and produce abundant young
menial
Fit for servants; humble or low
militia
An armed force of citizens called out only in emergencies
hierarchy
A social group arranged in ranks or classes
corporation
a group or institution granted legal rights to carry on certain specified activities
jeremiad
A sermon or prophecy recounting wrongdoing, warning of doom, and calling for repentance
lynching
The illegal execution of an accused person by mob action, without due process of law
hinterland
An inland region set back from a port, river, or seacoast
social structure
The basic pattern of the distribution of status and wealth in a society
blue blood
Of noble or upper-class descent
Fundamental Orders
document which established a regime democratically controlled by the substantial citizens of Hartford
French Huguenots
French protestants who came to the New World to escape religious prosecution in France
Scottish Presbyterians
one group of Puritan American settlers who were Calvinists
Church of England
Protestant church led by the king of England, independent of Catholic Church; tended toward Catholicism during reign of Catholic royalty
Dutchification
the traits and culture of the Dutch being imprinted into the young minds of the English Separatists
Plymouth Bay
Place where pilgrims finally settled
Congregational Church
A church grown out of the Puritan church, was established in all New England colonies but Rhode Island. It was based on the belief that individual churches should govern themselves
Pequot War
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.
Dutch "golden age
spanning across seventeenth century. religious toleration led to a stronger economy. dutch east and west India companies dominated over-seas trading. ruled by a confederation.
New Netherland
A colony founded by the Dutch in the New World. It became New York.
New Amsterdam
Dutch colony, present day New York City
New Sweden
Swedish fur-trading community established with the assistance of the Dutch on the Delaware River in 1638 and absorbed by New Netherland in 1655
Penn's Woodland
the meaning of Pennsylvania
Ferdinando Gorges
Proprietor of Maine until it became part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
franchise
a business established or operated under an authorization to sell or distribute a company's goods or services in a particular area
predestination
doctrine of John Calvin that adhered to the idea that each person's fate is predetermined by God
freemen
colonial period; term used to describe indentured servants who had finished their terms of indenture and could live freely on their own land.
visible saints
in Calvinism, those who publicly proclaimed their experience of conversion and were expected to lead godly lives
conversion
a spiritual enlightenment causing a person to lead a new life
doctrine of a calling
Puritan belief that they are responsible to do God's work on earth
antinomianism
the theological doctrine that by faith and God's grace a Christian is freed from all laws (including the moral standards of the culture) it was a puritan belief
sumptuary laws
these regulated the dress of different classes forbidding people from wearing clothes of their social superiors
salutary neglect
British colonial policy during the reigns of George I and George II. relaxed supervision of internal colonial affairs by royal bureaucrats contributed significantly to the rise of American self government
passive resistance
nonviolent action or opposition to authority, often in accord with religious or moral beliefs.
city upon a hill
name for Mass. Bay Colony coined by Winthrop to describe how their colony should serve as a model of excellence for future generations
Michael Wigglesworth
New England clergyman who wrote the popular poem "Day of Doom", which told the horrifying fate of the damned
Squanto
Native American who helped the English colonists in Massachusetts develop agricultural techniques and served as an interpreter between the colonists and the Wampanoag.
Institutes of the Christian Religion
Written by John Calvin, it contained four books which codified Protestant theology. Among these beliefs were the ultimate authority of the word of God, the depravity of man, and his belief that the Bible is the only source of Revelation.
Bible Commonwealth
name for the Massachusetts Bay colony that refers to its tax supported churches and visible saints.
Protestant ethic
belief stressing hard work and self-discipline
predestination
the Calvinist doctrine that God has foreordained some people to be saved and some to be damned
elect
in Calvinist doctrine, those who have been chosen by God for salvation
conversion
a religious turn to God, thought by Calvinists to involve an intense, identifiable personal experience of grace
visible saints
in Calvinism, those who publicly proclaimed their experience of conversion and were expected to lead godly lives
heresy
departure from correct or officially defined belief
seditious
concerning resistance to or rebellion against the government
commonwealth
an organized civil government or social order united for a shared purpose
autocratic
absolute or dictatorial rule
passive resistance
nonviolent action or opposition to authority, often in accord with religious or moral beliefs
asylum
a place of refuge and security, especially for the persecuted or unfortunate
proprietary
concerning exclusive legal ownership, as of colonies granted to individuals by the monarch
naturalization
the granting of citizenship to foreigners or immigrants
blue laws
laws designed to restrict personal behavior in accord with a strict code or morality
ethnic
concerning diverse peoples or cultures, specifically those of non-Anglo-Saxon background
melting pot
The mingling of diverse ethnic groups in America, including the idea that these groups are or should be "melting" into a single culture or people
sect
A small religious group that has broken away from some larger mainstream church, often claiming superior or exclusive possession of religious truth
agitators
Those who seek to excite or persuade the public on some issue
stratification
The visible arrangement of society into a hierarchical pattern
mobility
The capacity to pass readily from one social or economic condition to another
elite
The smaller group at the top of a society or institution, usually possessing wealth, power, or special privileges
almshouse
A home for the poor, supported by charity or public funds
gentry
Landowners of substantial property, social standing, and leisure, but not titled nobility
tenant farmer
One who rents rather than owns land
penal code
The body of criminal laws specifying offenses and prescribing punishments
veto
The executive power to prevent acts passed by the legislature from becoming law
apprentice
A person who works under a master to acquire instruction in a trade or profession
speculation
Buying land or anything else in the hope of profiting by an expected rise in price
revival
In religion, a movement of renewed enthusiasm and commitment, often accompanied by special meetings or evangelical activity
secular
Belonging to the worldly sphere rather than to the specifically sacred or churchly
Ice Age
Extended period when glaciers covered most of the North American continent
Corn (Maize)
Staple crop that formed the economic foundation of Indian civilizations
Cahokia
Important Mississippian culture site, near present-day East St. Louis, Illinois
Portugal
First European nation to send explorers around the west coast of Africa
Mali
Flourishing West African kingdom that had its capital and university at Timbuktu
Indies
Mistaken term that the first European explorers gave to American lands because of the false belief that they were off the east coast of Asia
horse
Animal introduced by European that transformed the Indian way of life on the Great Plains
Syphilis
Disease originating in the Americas that was transmitted back to Europeans after 1942
Treaty of Tordesillas
Treaty that proclaimed a Spanish title to lands in the Americas by dividing them with Portugal
Mestizo
Person of mixed European and Indian ancestry
Pope's Rebellion
Indian uprising in New Mexico caused by Spanish efforts to suppress Indian religion in 1609
Pueblos
Indian people of the Rio Grande Valley who were cruelly oppressed by the Spanish conquerors
Spanish Franciscans
Roman Catholic religious order of friars that organized a chain of missions in California
Ferdinand and Isabella
Financiers and beneficiaries of Columbus' voyages to the New World
Cortes and Pizarro
Spanish conquerors of great Indian civilizations
Lake Bonneville
Inland sea left by melting glaciers whose remnant is the Great Salt Lake
Dias and da Gama
Portuguese navigators who sailed around the African coast
Columbus
Italian-born explorer who thought that he had arrived off the coast of Asia rather than on unknown continents
Malinche
Female Indian slave who served as interpreter for Cortes
Montezuma
Powerful Aztec monarch who fell to Spanish conquerors
Hiawatha
Legendary founder of the powerful Iroquois Confederacy
Tenochtitlan
Wealthy capital of the Aztec empire
St. Augustine
Founded in 1565 by the Spanish, the oldest continually inhabited European settlement in United States territory
John Cabot
Italian-born navigator sent by English to explore North American coast in 1498
Junipero Sera
Franciscan missionary who settled California
Ireland
Nation where English Protestant rulers employed brutal tactics against the local Catholic population
Roanoke Island
Island colony founded by Sir Walter Raleigh that mysteriously disappeared in the 1580s
Spanish armada
Naval invaders defeated by English "sea dogs" in 1588
1st and 2nd Powhatan War
Name of two wars, fought in 1614 and 1644, between the English in Jamestown and the nearby Indian leader
slave codes
The harsh system of laws governing African labor, first developed in Barbados, and later officially adopted by South Carolina in 1696
Royal Charter
Royal document granting a specified group the right to form a colony and guaranteeing settlers their rights as English citizens
Indentured servants
Penniless people obligated to engage in unpaid labor for a fixed number of years, usually in exchange for passage to the New World or other benefits
Iroquois Confederacy
Powerful Indian confederation that dominated New York and the eastern Great Lakes area; comprised of several peoples (not the Algonquians)
Squatters
Poor farmers in North Carolina and elsewhere who occupied land and raised crops without gaining legal title to the soil
Royal colony
Term for a colony under direct control of the English king or queen
Tobacco
The primary staple crop of early Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina
South Carolina
The only southern colony with a slave majority
rice
The primary plantation crop of Southern California
Savannah
A melting-pot town in early colonial Georgia
Powhatan
Indian leader who ruled tribes in the James River area of Virginia
Raleigh and Gilbert
Elizabethan courtiers who failed in their attempts to found New World colonies
Roanoke
The failed "lost colony" founded by Sir Walter Raleigh
Smith and Rolfe
Virginia leader "saved" by Pocahontas and the prominent settler who married her
Virginia
Colony that established a House of Burgesses in 1619
Maryland
Founded as a haven for Roman Catholics
Lord De La Warr
Harsh military governor of Virginia who employed "Irish tactics" against the Indians
Jamaica and Barbados
British West Indian sugar colonies where large-scale plantations and slavery took root
Lord Baltimore
The Catholic aristocrat who sought to build a sanctuary for his fellow believers
South Carolina
Colony that turned to disease-resistant African slaves for labor in its extensive rice plantations
North Carolina
Colony that was called "a vale of humility between two mountains of conceit
Georgia
Founded as a refuge for debtors by philanthropists
James Oglethorpe
Philanthropic soldier-statesmen who founded the Georgia colony
Elizabeth I
The unmarried ruler who established English Protestantism and fought the Catholic Spanish
Jamestown
Riverbank site where Virginia Company settlers planted the first permanent English colony
Protestant Reformation
Sixteenth-century religious reform movement begun by Martin Luther
Puritans
English Calvinists who sought a thorough cleansing from within the Church of England
Separatists
Radical Calvinists who considered the Church of England so corrupt that they broke with it and formed their own independent churches
Mayflower Compact
The shipboard agreement by the Pilgrim Fathers to establish a body politic and submit to majority rule
Covenant
Puritans' term for their belif that Massachusetts Bay had a special arrangement with God to become a holy society
Parliament
Charles I's political action of 1629 that led to persecution of the Puritans and the formation of the Massachusetts Bay Company
Fishing and shipbuilding
The two major nonfarming industries of Massachusetts Bay
Antinomatism
Anne Hutchinson's heretical belief that the truly saved need not obey human or divine law
exile
Common fate of Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson after they were convicted of heresy in Massachusetts Bay
Praying villages
Villages where New England Indians who converted to Christianity were gathered
King Philip's War
Successful military action by the colonies united in the New England Confederation
Glorious Revolution
English revolt that also led to the overthrow of the Dominion of New England in America
Hudson
River valley where vast estates created an aristocratic landholding elite in New Netherland and New York
Smuggling
Common activity in which the colonists engaged to avoid the restrictive, unpopular Navigation Laws
Martin Luther
German monk who began Protestant Reformation
John Calvin
Reformer whose religious ideas inspired English Puritans, Scotch Presbyterians, French Huguenots, and Dutch Reformed
Massasoit
Wampanoag chieftain who befriended English colonists
John Winthrop
Promoter of Massachusetts Bay as a holy "city upon a hill
Great Puritan Migration
Mass flight by religious dissidents from the persecutions of Archbishop Laud and Charles I
General Court
Representative assembly of Massachusetts Bay
Puritans
Dominant religious group in Massachusetts Bay
Quakers
Religious group persecuted in Massachusetts and New York but not in Pennsylvania
Anne Hutchinson
Religious dissenter convicted of the heresy of antinomianism; challenged the Puritan orthodoxy
Roger Williams
Radical founder of the most tolerant New England colony
King Philip
Indian leader who waged an unsuccessful war against New England's white colonists
Peter Stuyvesant
Conqueror of New Sweden who later lost New Netherland to the English
William Penn
Founder of the most tolerant and democratic of the middle colonies
families
Early Maryland and Virginia settlers had difficulty creating them and even more difficulty making them last
disease
Primary cause of death among tobacco-growing settlers
indentured servants
Immigrants who received passage to America in exchange for a fixed term of labor
execution
Fate of many Nathaniel Bacon's followers, though not of Bacon himself
Rhode Island
American colony that was home to the Newport slave market and many slave traders
Royal African Company
English company that lost its monopoly on the slave trade in 1698
Gullah
African American dialect that blended English with Yoruba, Ibo, and Hausa
slave revolt
Uprisings that occurred in New York City in 1712 (caused thirty-three deaths) and in South Carolina in 1739
first families of Virginia
Wealthy extended clans like the Fitzhughs, Lees, and Washingtons that dominated politics in the most populous colony
early 20s
Approximate marriage age of most New England women
town assemblies
The basic local political institution of New England, in which all freemen gathered to elect officials and debate local affairs
Halfway Covenant
Formula devised by Puritan ministers in 1662 to offer partial church membership to people who had not experienced conversion
Salem Witch Trials
Late seventeenth-century judicial even that inflamed popular feelings, led to the deaths of twenty people, and weakened the Puritan clergy's prestige
farming
Primary occupation of most seventeenth-century Americans
Chesapeake
Virginia-Maryland bay area, site of the earliest colonial settlements
Indentured servants
Primary laborers in early southern colonies until the 1680s
Nathaniel Bacon
Agitator who led poor former indentured servants and frontiersmen on a rampage against Indian and colonial government
Governor Berkeley
Colonial Virginia official who crushed rebels and wreaked cruel revenge
Royal African Company
Organization whose loss of the slave trade monopoly in 1698 led to free-enterprise expansion of the business
Middle passage
Experience for which human beings were branded and chained, and which only 80 percent survived
Ringshout
West African religious rite, retained by African Americans, in which participants responded to the shouts of a preacher
Nathanial Hawthorne
Author of a novel about the early New England practice of requiring adulterers to wear the letter "A
New England conscience
The legacy of Puritan religion that inspired idealism and reform among later generations of Americans
Harvard
The oldest college in America (founded 1636), originally based on the Puritan commitment to an educated ministry
William and Mary
The oldest college in the South, founded in 1793
Halfway Covenant
Helped erase the earlier Puritan distinction between the converted "elect" and other members of society
Salem witch trials
Phenomena started by adolescent girls' accusations that ended with the deaths of twenty people
Leisler's Rebellion
Small New York revolt of 1689-1691 that reflected class antagonism between landlords and merchants
Dutch
Corruption of a German word used as a term for German immigrants in Pennsylvania
Scotch-Irish
Ethnic group that had already relocated once before immigrating to America and settling largely on the Western forntier of the middle and southern colonies
Paxton boys
Rebellious movement of frontiersmen in the southern colonies that included future President Andrew Jackson
jailbirds
Popular term for convicted criminals dumped on colonies by British authorities
lawyers
A once-despised profession that rose in prestige after 1750 because its practitioners defended colonial rights
Triangular Trade
Small but profitable trade route that linked New England, Africa, and West Indies
taverns
Popular colonial centers of recreation, gossip, and political debate
established churches
Term for tax-supported condition of Congregational and Anglican churches, but not of Baptists, Quakers, and Roman Catholics
Great Awakening
Spectacular, emotional religious revival of the 1730s and 1740s
new light
Ministers who supported the Great Awakening against the "old light" clergy who rejected it
colleges
Institutions that were founded in greater numbers as a result of the Great Awakening, although a few had been founded earlier
Zenger case
The case that established the precedent that true statements about public officials could not be prosecuted as libel
council
The upper house of colonial legislature, appointed by the crown or the proprietor
Poor Richard's Almanack
Benjamin Franklin's highly popular collection of information, parables, and advice
Philadelphia
Leading city of the colonies; home of Benjamin Franklin
African Americans
Largest non-English group in the colonies
Scots-Irish
Group that settled the frontier, made whiskey, and hated the British and other governmental authorities
Paxton Boys and Regulators
Scots-Irish frontiersmen who protested against colonial elites of Pennsylvania and North Carolina
Patrick Henry
Eloquent lawyer-orator who argued in defense of colonial rights
Molasses Act
Attempt by British authorities to squelch colonial trade with French West Indies
Anglican Church
Established religion in southern colonies and New York; weakened by lackadaisical clergy and too-close ties with British crown
Jonathan Edwards
Brilliant New England theologian who instigated the Great Awakening
George Whitefield
Itinerant British evangelist who spread the Great Awakening throughout the colonies
Phillis Wheatley
Former slave who became a poet at an early age
Benjamin Franklin
Author, scientist, printer; "the first civilized American
John Peter Zenger
Colonial printer whose case helped begin freedom of the press
Quakers
Dominant religious group in colonial Pennsylvania, criticized by others for their attitudes toward Indians
Baptists
Nonestablished religious group that benefited from the Great Awakening
John Singleton Copley
Colonial painter who studied and worked in Britain
90%
Percentage of Indians (Native Americans) who had died in centuries following Columbus's landing in the Americas
nation-state
the form of political society that combines centralized government with a high degree of ethnic and cultural unity
matrilinear
the form of society in which family line, power, and wealth are passed primarily through the female side
confederacy
an alliance or league of nations or peoples looser than a federation
primeval
concerning the earliest origin of things
saga
a lengthy story or poem recounting the great deeds and adventures of a people and their heroes
middlemen
in trading systems, those dealers who operate between the original buyers and the retail merchants who sell to consumers
caravel
a small Portuguese vessel that could sail into wind a small with a high deck and three triangular sails
plantation
a large-scale agricultural enterprise growing commercial crops and usually employing coerced or slave labor
ecosystem
a naturally evolved network of relations among organisms in a stable environment
demographic
concerning the general characteristics of a given population, including such factors as numbers, age, gender, birth and death rates
conquistador
a Spanish conqueror or adventurer in the Americas
capitalism
an economic system characterized by private property, generally free trade, and open and accessible markets
encomienda
the Spanish labor system in which persons were held to unpaid service under the permanent control of their masters, though not legally owned by them
province
a medium-sized subunit of territory and governmental administration within a larger nation or empire
Virginia Company of London
Received a charter for the New World and established Jamestown
Lord De La Warr
Started the first Anglo-Powhatan War
Lord Baltimore
Founded Maryland in 1634
Act of Toleration
Passed in 1649 and granted toleration to all Christians
Captain Myles Standish
prominent man among the non-belongers of the Mayflower who came to Plymouth Bay; an Indian fighter and negotiator
William Bradford
Elected 30 times as governor of the Pilgrims
William Laud
Archbishop who persecuted Puritans
Visible Saints
Another name for the Puritans
Fundamental Orders
Document that the Connecticut River colony drafted
New England Confederation
Formed in 1643 to provide for the defense of the four New England colonies; also acted as a court in disputes between colonies
Sir Edmund Andros
English military man who was leader of the Dominion of New England
Henry Hudson
English explorer hired by the Dutch East India Company to explore the Delaware Bay and New York Bay
Headright" system
Under its terms, whoever paid the passage of a laborer received the right to acquire 50 acres of land
Massachusetts
This colony was at the front of the colonies attempting to abolish black slavery
disfranchise
To take away the right to vote
civil war
Any conflict between the citizens or inhabitants of he same country
tidewater
The territory adjoining water affected by tides-that is, near the seacoast or coastal rivers
middle passage
That portion of a slave ship's journey in which slaves were carried from Africa to the Americas
fertility
The ability to mate and produce abundant young
menial
Fit for servants; humble or low
militia
An armed force of citizens called out only in emergencies
hierarchy
A social group arranged in ranks or classes
corporation
a group or institution granted legal rights to carry on certain specified activities
jeremiad
A sermon or prophecy recounting wrongdoing, warning of doom, and calling for repentance
lynching
The illegal execution of an accused person by mob action, without due process of law
hinterland
An inland region set back from a port, river, or seacoast
social structure
The basic pattern of the distribution of status and wealth in a society
blue blood
Of noble or upper-class descent
Fundamental Orders
document which established a regime democratically controlled by the substantial citizens of Hartford
French Huguenots
French protestants who came to the New World to escape religious prosecution in France
Scottish Presbyterians
one group of Puritan American settlers who were Calvinists
Church of England
Protestant church led by the king of England, independent of Catholic Church; tended toward Catholicism during reign of Catholic royalty
Dutchification
the traits and culture of the Dutch being imprinted into the young minds of the English Separatists
Plymouth Bay
Place where pilgrims finally settled
Congregational Church
A church grown out of the Puritan church, was established in all New England colonies but Rhode Island. It was based on the belief that individual churches should govern themselves
Pequot War
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.
Dutch "golden age
spanning across seventeenth century. religious toleration led to a stronger economy. dutch east and west India companies dominated over-seas trading. ruled by a confederation.
New Netherland
A colony founded by the Dutch in the New World. It became New York.
New Amsterdam
Dutch colony, present day New York City
New Sweden
Swedish fur-trading community established with the assistance of the Dutch on the Delaware River in 1638 and absorbed by New Netherland in 1655
Penn's Woodland
the meaning of Pennsylvania
Ferdinando Gorges
Proprietor of Maine until it became part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
franchise
a business established or operated under an authorization to sell or distribute a company's goods or services in a particular area
predestination
doctrine of John Calvin that adhered to the idea that each person's fate is predetermined by God
freemen
colonial period; term used to describe indentured servants who had finished their terms of indenture and could live freely on their own land.
visible saints
in Calvinism, those who publicly proclaimed their experience of conversion and were expected to lead godly lives
conversion
a spiritual enlightenment causing a person to lead a new life
doctrine of a calling
Puritan belief that they are responsible to do God's work on earth
antinomianism
the theological doctrine that by faith and God's grace a Christian is freed from all laws (including the moral standards of the culture) it was a puritan belief
sumptuary laws
these regulated the dress of different classes forbidding people from wearing clothes of their social superiors
salutary neglect
British colonial policy during the reigns of George I and George II. relaxed supervision of internal colonial affairs by royal bureaucrats contributed significantly to the rise of American self government
passive resistance
nonviolent action or opposition to authority, often in accord with religious or moral beliefs.
city upon a hill
name for Mass. Bay Colony coined by Winthrop to describe how their colony should serve as a model of excellence for future generations
Michael Wigglesworth
New England clergyman who wrote the popular poem "Day of Doom", which told the horrifying fate of the damned
Squanto
Native American who helped the English colonists in Massachusetts develop agricultural techniques and served as an interpreter between the colonists and the Wampanoag.
Institutes of the Christian Religion
Written by John Calvin, it contained four books which codified Protestant theology. Among these beliefs were the ultimate authority of the word of God, the depravity of man, and his belief that the Bible is the only source of Revelation.
Bible Commonwealth
name for the Massachusetts Bay colony that refers to its tax supported churches and visible saints.
Protestant ethic
belief stressing hard work and self-discipline
predestination
the Calvinist doctrine that God has foreordained some people to be saved and some to be damned
elect
in Calvinist doctrine, those who have been chosen by God for salvation
conversion
a religious turn to God, thought by Calvinists to involve an intense, identifiable personal experience of grace
visible saints
in Calvinism, those who publicly proclaimed their experience of conversion and were expected to lead godly lives
heresy
departure from correct or officially defined belief
seditious
concerning resistance to or rebellion against the government
commonwealth
an organized civil government or social order united for a shared purpose
autocratic
absolute or dictatorial rule
passive resistance
nonviolent action or opposition to authority, often in accord with religious or moral beliefs
asylum
a place of refuge and security, especially for the persecuted or unfortunate
proprietary
concerning exclusive legal ownership, as of colonies granted to individuals by the monarch
naturalization
the granting of citizenship to foreigners or immigrants
blue laws
laws designed to restrict personal behavior in accord with a strict code or morality
ethnic
concerning diverse peoples or cultures, specifically those of non-Anglo-Saxon background
melting pot
The mingling of diverse ethnic groups in America, including the idea that these groups are or should be "melting" into a single culture or people
sect
A small religious group that has broken away from some larger mainstream church, often claiming superior or exclusive possession of religious truth
agitators
Those who seek to excite or persuade the public on some issue
stratification
The visible arrangement of society into a hierarchical pattern
mobility
The capacity to pass readily from one social or economic condition to another
elite
The smaller group at the top of a society or institution, usually possessing wealth, power, or special privileges
almshouse
A home for the poor, supported by charity or public funds
gentry
Landowners of substantial property, social standing, and leisure, but not titled nobility
tenant farmer
One who rents rather than owns land
penal code
The body of criminal laws specifying offenses and prescribing punishments
veto
The executive power to prevent acts passed by the legislature from becoming law
apprentice
A person who works under a master to acquire instruction in a trade or profession
speculation
Buying land or anything else in the hope of profiting by an expected rise in price
revival
In religion, a movement of renewed enthusiasm and commitment, often accompanied by special meetings or evangelical activity
secular
Belonging to the worldly sphere rather than to the specifically sacred or churchly