1. Mayflower Compact
1620 - The first agreement for self-government in America. It was signed by the 41 men
on the Mayflower and set up a government for the Plymouth colony.
2. William Bradford
A Pilgrim, the second governor of the Plymouth colony, 1621-1657. He developed private land
ownership and helped colonists get out of debt. He helped the colony survive droughts, crop failures, and Indian attacks.
3. Pilgrims and Puritans contrasted
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.
4. Massachusetts Bay Colony
1629 - King Charles gave the Puritans a right to settle and govern a colony in the
Massachusetts Bay area. The colony established political freedom and a representative government.
5. Cambridge Agreement
1629 - The Puritan stockholders of the Massachusetts Bay Company agreed to emigrate to
New England on the condition that they would have control of the government of the colony.
6. Puritan migration
Many Puritans emigrated from England to America in the 1630s and 1640s. During this time,
the population of the Massachusetts Bay colony grew to ten times its earlier population.
7. Church of England (Anglican Church)
The national church of England, founded by King Henry VIII. It included
both Roman Catholic and Protestant ideas.
8. John Winthrop (1588-1649), his beliefs
1629 - He became the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay colony,
and served in that capacity from 1630 through 1649. A Puritan with strong religious beliefs. He opposed total democracy, believing
the colony was best governed by a small group of skillful leaders. He helped organize the New England Confederation in 1643
and served as its first president.
9. Separatists, non-separatists
Non-separatists (which included the Puritans) believed that the Church of England
could be purified through reforms. Separatists (which included the Pilgrims) believed that the Church of England could not
be reformed, and so started their own congregations.
10. Calvinism
Protestant sect founded by John Calvin. Emphasized a strong moral code and believed in predestination
(the idea that God decided whether or not a person would be saved as soon as they were born). Calvinists supported constitutional
representative government and the separation of church and state.
11. Congregational Church, Cambridge Platform
The Congregational Church was founded by separatists who felt
that the Church of England retained too many Roman Catholic beliefs and practices. The Pilgrims were members of the Congregational
Church. The Cambridge Platform stressed morality over church dogma.
12. Contrast Puritan colonies with others
Puritan colonies were self-governed, with each town having its own
government which led the people in strict accordance with Puritan beliefs. Only those members of the congregation who had
achieved grace and were full church members (called the "elect," or "saints") could vote and hold public office. Other colonies
had different styles of government and were more open to different beliefs.
13. Anne Hutchinson, Antinomianism
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.
14. Roger Williams, Rhode Island
1635 - He left the Massachusetts colony and purchased the land from a neighboring
Indian tribe to found the colony of Rhode Island. Rhode Island was the only colony at that time to offer complete religious
freedom.
15. Covenant theology
Puritan teachings emphasized the biblical covenants: God’s covenants with Adam and
with Noah, the covenant of grace between God and man through Christ.
16. Voting granted to church members - 1631
1631 - The Massachusetts general court passed an act to limit voting
rights to church members.
17. Half-way Covenant
The Half-way Covenant applied to those members of the Puritan colonies who were the children
of church members, but who hadn’t achieved grace themselves. The covenant allowed them to participate in some church
affairs.
18. Brattle Street Church
1698 - Founded by Thomas Brattle. His church differed from the Puritans in that it
did not require people to prove that they had achieved grace in order to become full church members.
19. Thomas Hooker
Clergyman, one of the founders of Hartford. Called "the father of American democracy" because
he said that people have a right to choose their magistrates.
20. 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.
21. Saybrook Platform
It organized town churches into county associations which sent delegates to the annual
assembly which governed the colony of Connecticut.
22. Massachusetts School Law
First public education legislation in America. It declared that towns with 50 or
more families had to hire a schoolmaster and that towns with over 100 families had to found a grammar school.
23. Harvard founded
1636 - Founded by a grant form the Massachusetts general court. Followed Puritan beliefs.
24. New England Confederation
1643 - Formed to provide for the defense of the four New England colonies, and
also acted as a court in disputes between colonies.
25. 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.
26. 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.
27. Sir Edmond Andros
Governor of the Dominion of New England from 1686 until 1692, when the colonists rebelled
and forced him to return to England.
28. Joint stock company
A company made up of a group of shareholders. Each shareholder contributes some money
to the company and receives some share of the company’s profits and debts.
29. Virginia: purpose, problems, failures, successes
Virginia was formed by the Virginia Company as a profit-earning
venture. Starvation was the major problem; about 90% of the colonists died the first year, many of the survivors left, and
the company had trouble attracting new colonists. They offered private land ownership in the colony to attract settlers, but
the Virginia Company eventually went bankrupt and the colony went to the crown. Virginia did not become a successful colony
until the colonists started raising and exporting tobacco.
30. Headright system
Headrights were parcels of land consisting of about 50 acres which were given to colonists
who brought indentured servants into America. They were used by the Virginia Company to attract more colonists.
31. John Smith
Helped found and govern Jamestown. His leadership and strict discipline helped the Virginia colony
get through the difficult first winter.
32. John Rolfe, tobacco
He was one of the English settlers at Jamestown (and he married Pocahontas). He discovered
how to successfully grow tobacco in Virginia and cure it for export, which made Virginia an economically successful colony.
33. Slavery begins
1619 - The first African slaves in America arrive in the Virginia colony.
34. House of Burgesses
1619 - The Virginia House of Burgesses formed, the first legislative body in colonial
America. Later other colonies would adopt houses of burgesses.
35. Cavaliers
In the English Civil War (1642-1647), these were the troops loyal to Charles II. Their opponents
were the Roundheads, loyal to Parliament and Oliver Cromwell.
36. 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.
37. Culperer’s Rebellion
Led by Culperer, the Alpemark colony rebelled against its English governor, Thomas
Miller. The rebellion was crushed, but Culperer was acquitted.
38. Georgia: reasons, successes
1733 - Georgia was formed as a buffer between the Carolinas and Spanish-held
Florida. It was a military-style colony, but also served as a haven for the poor, criminals, and persecuted Protestants.
39. 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.
40. Carolinas
1665 - Charles II granted this land to pay off a debt to some supporters. They instituted headrights
and a representative government to attract colonists. The southern region of the Carolinas grew rich off its ties to the sugar
islands, while the poorer northern region was composed mainly of farmers. The conflicts between the regions eventually led
to the colony being split into North and South Carolina.
41. John Locke, Fundamental Constitution
Locke was a British political theorist who wrote the Fundamental Constitution
for the Carolinas colony, but it was never put into effect. The constitution would have set up a feudalistic government headed
by an aristocracy which owned most of the land.
42. Charleston
1690 - The first permanent settlement in the Carolinas, named in honor of King Charles II. Much
of the population were Huguenot (French Protestant) refugees.
43. Staple crops in the South
Tobacco was grown in Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina. Rice was grown in
South Carolina and Georgia. Indigo was grown in South Carolina.
44. Pennsylvania, William Penn
1681- William Penn received a land grant from King Charles II, and used it to
form a colony that would provide a haven for Quakers. His colony, Pennsylvania, allowed religious freedom.
45. Liberal land laws in Pennsylvania
William Penn allowed anyone to emigrate to Pennsylvania, in order to provide
a haven for persecuted religions.
46. Holy experiment
William Penn’s term for the government of Pennsylvania, which was supposed to serve
everyone and provide freedom for all.
47. Frame of government
1701 - The Charter of Liberties set up the government for the Pennsylvania colony. It
established representative government and allowed counties to form their own colonies.
48. New York: Dutch, 1664 English
New York belonged to the Dutch, but King Charles II gave the land to his brother,
the Duke of York in 1664. When the British came to take the colony, the Dutch, who hated their Governor Stuyvesant, quickly
surrendered to them. The Dutch retook the colony in 1673, but the British regained it in 1674.
49. Patron system
Patronships were offered to individuals who managed to build a settlement of at least 50 people
within 4 years. Few people were able to accomplish this.
50. 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.