1607
Creation of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America. Sponsored by the Virginia Company.
1754
The start of the French and Indian War (Seven Years’ War).
Quebec
First colonial French settlement in North America by Samuel de Champlain.
Louisiana and New Orleans
French colonies, specialized in fur and other trades.
New Amsterdam
Modern-day New York, was the first Dutch colony by Henry Hudson. Economic initiative with diverse trade.
Corporate colony
Type of British colony that was fully operated by Joint-Stock Companies. Ex. Rhode Island & Connecticut.
Royal colony
Under direct rule of the king. Ex. Virginia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
Proprietary Colony
Under granted charters by the king. Ex. Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.
John Smith
Capitan and reason Jamestown survived its first 5 years.
John Rolfe
Discovered Tobacco which served as the main source of profit for Virginia Co. Married Pocahontas.
Indentured servants
Poor white farmers that signed labor contracts in which they worked to pay off their settlement fees.
Headright
By Virginia Company to recruit white settlers, provided 50 acre of land per Indentured Servant.
Virginia
After Virginia Company went nearly bankrupt. King James I revoked the company charter and took direct control. Became the first British royal colony.
New England colonies
Colonies settled by pilgrims in 1620s.
Pilgrims
Radical dissenters that wanted to organize a completely separate church independent of royal control.
Mayflower
Ship in 1620 with Pilgrims that set sail for Jamestown. Landed off the Massachusetts coast.
Plymouth Colony
Stablished by Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower.
Mayflower Compact
Agreement drafted and signed by the 41 men aboard the Mayflower ship. Established that they would make fair and just laws and that they would work together for the good of the Colony.
Puritans
More moderate group of dissenters, believed that the church of England could be reformed or purified.
Massachusetts Bay Colony
Royal charter obtained by puritans in search of religious freedom.
Great Migration
15,000 settlers lead by John Winthrop to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Act of Toleration
The first colonial statute granted religious freedom to all Christians. However, the statute also called for the death of anyone who denied the divinity of Jesus (Repealed in the late 1600s).
Roger Williams
Believed that the individual conscience was beyond the control of the church. Banished by Puritan leaders. Founded Providence.
Anne Hutchinson
Believed in antinomianism (salvation by faith alone without strict laws). Founded Portsmouth.
Rhode Island
Charter from Parliament obtained by Roger Williams in 1644 that joined Providence and Portsmouth.
Thomas Hooker
A Puritan minister who led about 100 settlers out of Mass Bay, founded Hartford.
John Davenport
Founded the second settlement in the Connecticut Valley New Heaven in 1637.
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
The Hartford settlers drew up the first written constitution in American history. It established a representative government with a legislature elected by popular vote and a governor chosen by that legislature.
Connecticut
In 1665 New Heaven joined with Hartford. The royal Charter granted it a limited degree of self-government, including election of the governor.
New Hampshire
The last colony to be founded in New England. Separated by King Charles II from the Massachusetts Bay colony in 1679 and made it a royal colony to increase royal control over the colonies.
Halfway Covenant
To be a member of Puritan church an individual had to have a profound religious experience called a conversion, but very few of the second generations were having these. Under this law people could become partial members of the church without having a conversion.
The Carolinas
King Charles II granted a huge tract of land between to eight nobles as a reward for helping him gain the throne. In 1663, these nobles became the lord proprietors of two colonies.
Rice-growing plantations
Grains used as food grown in the low country of the Carolinas and Georgia.
Tobacco farms
Established by farmers from Virginia and New England. They were small and self-sufficient though some did make use of indentured servants and enslaved Africans.
New York
Was New Amsterdam, English King Charles II wanted his middle colonies and New England Colonies closer together and had the army take this from the dutch and renamed.
Quakers
Group of Christians also known as the Religious Society of Friends. They believed that religious authority was found within each person and not in the Bible nor in any outside source. Considered Radicals by most groups, some were persecuted and jailed in England for their beliefs.
William Penn
Quaker who founded the colony of Pennsylvania as a haven for Quakers and other persecuted religions.
Frame of Government
By Penn, guaranteed a representative assembly elected by landowners.
Charter of Liberties
Written constitution which guaranteed freedom of worship for all and unrestricted immigration.
Pennsylvania
William Penn received a large land grant from King Charles II. He passed it down to his son who used it to form a colony that would provide a haven for Quakers.
Delaware
William Penn granted the lower 3 counties of Pennsylvania their own assembly. Became a separate colony.
Georgia
The last colony to be established, and the only one that got direct money from the British government. It was created to protect the Carolinas from Spanish-Florida and to send indebt prisoners from England who were filing up the jails.
James Oglethorpe
Philanthropist that gained a royal charter for a proprietary colony, Georgia. Failed and was taken over by the British to become a royal colony.
Virgina House of Burgesses
1st elected legislature assembly in the New World established in 1619. Representatives set up by England to make laws and levy taxes but England could veto its legislative acts. Dominated by elite planters.
Triangular Trade
The backbone of England's economy in the colonial period. New England sailed to Africa and exchanged rum for slaves, the Caribbean traded slaves for sugar, and then back to NE where sugar was made into rum.
Navigation Acts
British regulations designed to protect British shipping from competition.
British colonies could only import goods if they were shipped on British-owned vessels and had a mostly British crew.
All goods imported had to pass through ports in England
“Enumerated goods“ like tobacco from the colonies could only be exported to England.
Mercantilism
18th century economic theory that a country’s wealth was determined by how much it exported than it imported. Encouraged European powers to establish colonies to supply raw materials and markets for European goods.
Salutary neglect
Lack of enforcement of the Navigation Acts by British colonial agents.
Dominion of New England
King James II combined the colonies of many New England colonies into a single province headed by a royal governor. Ended in 1692 when colonist revolted.
Glorious Revolution
Civil War in England where James II was peacefully dethroned and power was given to William and Mary.
New England Confederation
Military alliance of New England colonies intended to offset perceived threats from the Dutch in New Amsterdam and their Native American allies.
Wampanoag
The East Woodland tribe that shared first Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims.
Metacom
Chief of Wampanoag known to the colonists as King Philip. United many tribes in southern New England against English settlers in Metacom’s War.
Sir William Berkeley
Royal governor of Virginia, adopted policy that favored the large planters and used dictatorial powers to govern on their behalf.
Bacon’s Rebellion
Rebellion of settlers led by Nathaniel Bacon in Virginia 1676. Started after the royal governor questioned Bacon's motivations for warring against the Native Americans on the frontier.
Subsistence farming
Small farms that produced just enough for the family.
The Enlightenment
European movement in literature and philosophy. Ex. John Locke believed that sovereignty ultimately resides with the people rather than with the state.
Great Awakening
Massive religious revival in response to the Enlightenment.
Johnathan Edwards and George Whitfield
Leaders of the Great Awakening. Traveled throughout the colonies and preached in open city squares and fields.