unit 2

Question 1

Types of Colonies in the New World

Answer 1

• In a charter colony, colonists were essentially members of a corporation, and electors among the colonists controlled the government based on an agreed-upon charter
• A royal colony had a governor selected by England’s king; the governor served in the leadership role and chose additional, lower-ranking officers
• Proprietary colonies were owned by individuals with direct responsibility to the king; each proprietor selected a governor, who served as the authority figure for the colony

1600s

Question 2

English Puritanism

Answer 2

• Movement by those who wished to reform the Church of England to be more in line with their ideology
• Though King Henry VIII had set out to separate his own Church of England from papal authority, many Roman Catholic traditions and practices remained
• Puritans rejected these roman Catholic holdovers and sought to make the English Church “pure”
• Puritans held Calvinist beliefs, such as predestination and the authority of Scripture over papal authority
• Puritanism echoes throughout American culture in the ideas of self-reliance, moral fortitude, and an emphasis on intellectualism

1500s and 1600s

Question 3

Joint-Stock Company

Answer 3

• A type of business structure used by some colonial explorers to raise money for their expeditions
• These private trading companies sold shares to investors who provided start-up funding
• In return for taking on the risk of the investment, investors were paid based on the profits of the expedition
• Many modern business structures, such as the American corporation, are founded on principles of the joint-stock company

Popularized in the 1600s

Question 4

Dutch West India Company

Answer 4

• The joint-stock company that ran the colonies in Fort Orange and in New Amsterdam, which later became New York
• Carried on a profitable fur trade with the Native American Iroquois
• Instituted the patroon system, in which large estates were given to wealthy men who transported at least fifty families to New Netherland to tend the land (few seized the opportunity)

1500s and 1600s

Question 5

Sir Walter Raleigh

Answer 5

• Selected Roanoke Island as a site for the first English settlement
• Returned to England to secure additional supplies, but he found the colony deserted upon his return; it is not known what became of the Roanoke settlers
• Raleigh abandoned his attempts to colonize Virginia after the failure at Roanoke
• Held back by a lack of financial resources and the war with Spain, English colonization in America was impeded for fifteen years

1587

Question 6

St. Augustine, Florida

Answer 6

• French Protestants (Huguenots) went to the New World to freely practice their religion, and they formed a colony near modern-day St. Augustine, Florida
• Spain, which oversaw Florida reacted violently to the Huguenots because they were trespassers and because they were viewed as heretics by the Catholic Church
• Spain sent a force to the settlement and massacred the fort’s inhabitants
• The settlement at St. Augustine, Florida, is considered to be the first permanent European settlement in what would become the United States

1598

Question 7

Jamestown

Answer 7

• Named for James I (1566-1625), Queen Elizabeth’s successor in England
• James I granted charters for charter colonies in the New World
• In 1607, the Virginia Company of London settled Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement
• Swampy location led to disease and contaminated water sources
• Despite its location and hostile relations with Native Americans, John Smith’s harsh, charismatic leadership of the colony helped keep it from collapsing
• In 1619, African slaves arrived at Jamestown, becoming the first group of slaves to reach a British settlement

Established 1607

Question 8

“The Starving Time”

Answer 8

• A period of starvation endured by the Jamestown colonists
• The colonists depended upon trade with the local Native Americans for their food supplies
• A series of conflicts between the colonists and the Native Americans limited the colonists’ ability to trade for supplies and to farm their own food
• A large number of colonists died and others tried to flee to England; however, boats arrived with supplies from England intercepted the colonists and forced them to return to Jamestown
• Additional support from England, the development of new industries, and the creation of new trade partnerships helped ensure the settlement’s long-term survival

1609-1610

Question 9

Indentured Servitude

Answer 9

• Poor workers, convicted criminals, and debtors received immigration passage and fees in return for a number of years at labor on behalf of a planter or company
• Servants entered into their contracts voluntarily and kept some legal rights
• However, servants had little control over the conditions of their work and living arrangements, and the system led to harsh and brutal treatment
• It remained the predominant system of labor until the 1670s; Bacon’s Rebellion made the practice seem more risky to planters and owners, and improving economic conditions in England decreased the supply of servants
• Many owners relied on slave labor instead

1600s

Question 10

John Rolfe

Answer 10

• English colonist in Jamestown, Virginia
• Married Pocahontas
• Created process for curing tobacco, ensuring economic success for Jamestown

1585-1622

Question 11

House of Burgesses

Answer 11

• Representative assembly in Virginia
• Election to a seat was limited to voting members of the charter colony, which at first was all free men; later rules required that a man own at least fifty acres of land to vote
• First representative house in America
• Instituted the private ownership of land but maintained the rights of colonists

1619

Question 12

Headright System

Answer 12

• System used by the Virginia Company to attract colonists
• It promised them parcels of land(roughly fifty acres) to immigrate to America
• Also gave nearly fifty acres for each servant that a colonist brought, allowing the wealthy to obtain large tracts of land
• The system solidified the use of indentured servitude for the time being

Introduced in 1618

Question 13

The Separatists and Plymouth

Answer 13

• Separatists were Puritans who believed the Church of England was beyond saving and felt that they must break away from it
• One group of Separatists that suffered harassment from the government fled to Holland and then to America
• Members of this group traveled on the Mayflower and became known as the Pilgrims, a term used for voyagers seeking to fulfill a religious mission
• The Mayflower set sail from Plymouth, England, in September 1620 and landed in Provincetown Harbor, settling in what became Plymouth, Massachusetts
• Before landing in the New World, the Pilgrims formed the Mayflower Compact, which provided for a government guided by the majority
• William Bradford (1590-1657) served as the Plymouth Colony’s first governor

1620

Question 14

Massachusetts Bay Colony

Answer 14

• Joint-stock company charted by a group of Puritans escaping King James I
• Led by John Winthrop, who taught that the new colony should be a model of Christian society
• These Puritans carefully organized their venture and upon arriving in Massachusetts, did not undergo the “starving time” that had often plagued other first-year colonies
• The government of Massachusetts developed to include a governor and a representative assembly

1629

Question 15

Delaware

Answer 15

• Dutch patroons established the first settlement in Delaware
• That settlement was destroyed by Native American attacks
• The Dutch West India Company and Dutchmen, including Peter Minuit, began to trade and settle in Delaware during the mid-to-late 1630s
• Between 1664 and 1674, Delaware switched between Dutch and English ownership, ending with English ownership in 1674

1631

Question 16

Maryland

Answer 16

• Maryland became the first proprietary colony to serve as a refuge for English Catholics
• George Calvert (Lord Baltimore) applied for the charter to create the Province of Maryland
• Calvert’s son, Caecilius, helped establish a representative assembly
• Maryland passed its Act of Toleration in 1649, guaranteeing religious freedom to all Christians in the colony; this set an important precedent for later characterization of the United States and its Constitution

1632

Question 17

Anne Hutchinson

Answer 17

• Claimed to have had special revelations from God that superseded the Bible, contrary to Puritan doctrine
• The leadership of New England accused her of antinomian teachings (antinomianism is the belief that salvation is attained through faith and divine grace and not through strict adherence to rules or moral laws)
• Hutchinson was tried and banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony
• With her followers, she founded Portsmouth in the Aquidneck region (1638) in what is now known as Rhode Island

1638

Question 18

Roger Williams and Rhode Island

Answer 18

• Williams was a Puritan preacher who fled Massachusetts after his views on religious observance became too extreme for the colonists
• Williams bought land from the Native Americans and founded Providence in 1636, and it was soon populated by his many followers
• Rhode Island formed as a combination of Providence, Portsmouth, and other settlements that had sprung up in the area
• Through Roger Williams, the colony granted complete religious toleration
• It tended to be populated by exiles and troublemakers and was sometimes called “Rogue’s Island”
• The colony suffered constant political turmoil

Williams (1603-1683); Rhode Island was established in 1644

Question 19

English Civil War

Answer 19

• Conflict was based in the struggle between King Charles I (son of King James I) and the English Parliament
• Charles claimed to rule by divine right; Parliament argues that its membership had rights that were separate from those granted to the king
• Parliament’s members were mostly Puritan and had the backing of the merchant class and lesser land owners
• Wealthy nobles tended to support Charles I, who opposed Puritans on questions of religion
• Led to outright conflict between Royalist military forces and forces opposing Charles I
• Parliament’s victory in 1651 resulted in the trial and execution of Charles I and the exile of his son Charles II
• The English monarchy was replaced with the Commonwealth of England (1649-1653) and then with a Protectorate under Oliver Cromwell’s rule (1653-1659)

1641-1651

Question 20

Connecticut

Answer 20

• Thomas Hooker led a large group of Puritans to settle in the Connecticut River Valley after they had slight religious disagreements with the leadership of Massachusetts
• The major colonies in the Connecticut River Valley agreed to unite as the Connecticut Colony
• In 1639, the colony formed a set of laws known as the Fundamental Orders; these laws provided for representative government by those who were permitted to vote
• When the corporate colony was established and recognized by England, its charter was founded on the Fundamental Orders
• The Fundamental Orders are an important example of the growth of political democracy

Corporate colony established in 1662

Question 21

The Carolinas

Answer 21

• King Charles II rewarded loyal noblemen with these lands after the twenty-year Puritan revolution in England
• In hopes of attracting settlers, the proprietors planned for a hierarchical society
• They experimented with silk manufacturing and with crops such as rice and indigo, but this provided unworkable and the Carolinas grew slowly as a result
• Large groups of colonists in the Carolinas came from Barbados; form of slavery that this group employed proved to be very harsh
• While North Carolina became a separate colony in 1712, the same proprietors retained ownership
• Rebellion against the proprietors in 1719 led to royal intervention, and both North and South Carolina became royal colonies in 1729

Granted in 1663

Question 22

New York and New Jersey

Answer 22

• Last Dutch governor of New York was Peter Stuyvesant
• After the British conquered the Dutch lands in America, English King Charles II gave the title to the lands between New England and Maryland to his brother, James, Duke of York
• James was adamantly opposed to representative assemblies
• Residents continued to call for self-government until James relented, only to break this promise when he became James II, King of England
• The region that would become New Jersey was ruled as a separate proprietary colony; it eventually became a royal colony

Established 1664

Question 23

Quakers

Answer 23

• Quakers believed human religious institutions were largely unnecessary
• They thought they could receive revelation directly from God and placed little importance on the Bible
• They were pacifists and declined to show customary deference to their alleged social superiors
• Quakers’ aggressiveness in denouncing established institutions brought them trouble in both Britain and America
• They opposed slavery and favored decent treatment of Native Americans
• Elements of this culture would play a role in shaping the characterization of a United States that values independence and social equality

Around 1680

Question 24

William Penn

Answer 24

• Founded Pennsylvania as a refuge for his fellow Quakers
• Penn advertised his colony widely in Europe and offered generous terms on land
• Guaranteed a representative assembly and full religious freedom
• Settlers flocked to Pennsylvania from all over Europe

1644-1718

Question 25

Black Slaves in the 1600s

Answer 25

• Because black slaves were only a small percentage of the population, they began at almost the same level as indentured servants
• Later in the century, increased importation and population of blacks in the southern colonies began
• Slaves, called “chattel,” came to be seen as lifelong property whose status would be inherited by their children

1600s

Question 26

John Locke and Natural Law

Answer 26

• Locke was a major English political philosopher of the Enlightenment
• Isaac Newton theorized Natural Law in the realm of science, and Locke followed him, trying to identify Natural Law in the human realm
• Prior to Locke, there existed a theory of social contract in which people would accept certain restrictions on themselves for the benefit of their society, and these restrictions would be upheld by a sovereign power
• Locke’s assertion of Natural Law changed the perspective of the social contract theory; he believed that if life, liberty, and property were not protected, governments could be overthrown justly
• Locke’s ideas became the indirect theory of American political activity for leaders such as Benjamin Franklin, and they influenced Thomas Jefferson in writing Declaration of Independence

1632-1704

Question 27

The Triangular Trade

The Atlantic Trade

Answer 27

• Created as a result of mercantilism
• European merchants purchased African slaves with goods manufactured in Europe or imported from Asian colonies
• These merchants sold slaves in the Caribbean for commodities (sugar, cotton, tobacco)
• Caribbean commodities were later sold in Europe and North America
• Trade thrived because each partner could get the resources it wanted by exchanging resources that it had available

1600s

Question 28

Navigation Acts

Answer 28

• Dictated ther certain goods shipped from a New World from a New World port were to go only to Britain or to another New World port
• Served as the foundation of England’s worldwide commercial system; came out of the economic philosophy of mercantilism
• Though it was meant to benefit the whole British Empire, its provisions helped some New World colonies at the expense of others
• Intended as a weapon in England’s ongoing struggle against its rival, Holland
• Led to increased tension between Britain and the colonies

1650-1673

Question 29

Effects of the Navigation Acts

Answer 29

• Boosted the prosperity of New Englanders, who engaged in large-scale shipbuilding
• Hurt the residents of the Chesapeake by driving down the price of tobacco
• Transferred wealth from America to Britain by increasing the prices Americans had to pay for British goods and lowering the prices Americans received for the goods they produced
• Mercantilism also helped bring on a series of wars between England and Holland in the late 1600s

1650-1673

Question 30

Bacon’s Rebellion

Answer 30

• Virginia’s Royal governor, William Berkeley, received strict instructions to run the colony for the benefit of Britain
• Nathaniel Bacon was a leader of colonial frontiersmen in Virginia
• Bacon objected to the rights granted to Virginia’s wealthy inner circle and was angered by Governor Berkeley’s inability to protect Virginia from attacks by the Native Americans
• Bacon commanded two unauthorized raids on Native American tribes, increasing his popularity; Berkeley had him arrested
• Soon after, Bacon gathered his forces, opposed the Royal governor, and set fire to Jamestown to defend his forces’ position
• Berkeley ended the rebellion with the aid of British military forces
• After Bacon’s rebellion, American colonies turned increasingly away from indentured servants and toward slave labor

1676

Question 31

New Hampshire

Answer 31

• King Charles II established it as a Royal colony
• The colony remained economically dependent on Massachusetts, and Britain continued to appoint a single person to rule both colonies until 1741
• Weeks before the signing of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress, New Hampshire established a temporary constitution for itself that proclaimed its independence from Britain

Corporate colony established in 1677

Question 32

Dominion of New England

Answer 32

• An administrative body created by King James II that oversaw British colonies in the New England region
• Put in place to implement the Navigation Acts and to assist the colonies in defending themselves against hostile French and Native American forces
• The Dominion Governor-in-Chief, Edmund Andros, outlawed town meetings, disputed titles to certain colonial lands, and proselytized on behalf of the Church of England
• New England colonists had originally been in favor of some sort of voluntary association, but the Dominion was very unpopular because of these types of impositions

1686-1689

Question 33

Half-Way Covenant

Answer 33

• Decision by Puritan colony churches to allow the grandchildren of those who did not have the personal experience of conversion to participate in select church affairs
• Previously, only the children of those who had experienced conversion could participate
• Reflected the decline of zealous piety among New Englanders

1690s

Question 34

Salem Witch Trials

Answer 34

• Several young girls in Salem Village claimed to be tormented by the occult activities of certain neighbors
• Some twenty persons were executed
• Puritan ministers finally intervened to stop the executions
• Different theories about the reasons that the trials occurred: political and class divisions in Salem; economic stresses from providing for growing families; the gender-biased view that women were more likely to follow evil
• Writer Arthur Miller produced The Crucible (1953), a retelling of Salem Witch Trials and a reflective commentary on the witch-hunts of Joseph McCarthy

1692

Question 35

The Enlightenment

Answer 35

• Connects to the idea of Deism, in which the universe was created by God and then abandoned; no supernatural controls would be exerted and all things were explainable by reason
• Enlightenment philosophy dictated that human reason was adequate to solve mankind’s problems and, correspondingly, much less faith was needed in the central role of God as an active force in the universe
• Idea moved from Europe to become the New World’s seed of cultures intellectualism, and society
• Some important Enlightenment writers include Isaac Newton (Principia Mathematica, 1687), John Locke (Essay Concerning Human Understanding, 1689), and Rene Descartes, whose basic tenet of philosophical theory existed in the phrase “I think, therefore, I am.”

1700s

Question 36

Georgia

Answer 36

• James Oglethorpe, an English philanthropist and soldier, charted the colony
• Settlers included those who paid their own way to receive the best land grants
• Some settlers were financed by the colony’s board of trustees, including bands of prisoners from British jails
• After wars between the European empires began, the colony served as a buffer between South Carolina and Spanish-held Florida
• Elaborate and detailed regulations resulted in relatively little settlement

Chartered in 1732

Question 37

John Peter Zenger

Answer 37

• German American newspaper publisher and printer
• His acquittal of libel charges in New York City(1735) established a legal precedent for freedom of the press
• The Supreme Court under Chief Justice Warren (1953-1969) would later reinvigorate free press rights
• The case of New York Times v. Sullivan (1964) strengthened the protection of the press against libel cases brought by public figures

1697-1746

Question 38

The First Great Awakening

Answer 38

• A series of emotional religious revivals that occurred throughout the colonies (prevalent in New England)
• Preachers spread a message of personal repentance and emphasized faith as a way to avoid hell
• Suggested an equality between God and the Bible
• George Whitefield and Jonathon Edwards became its most dynamic preachers
• While the Awakening created conflict among those who argued about religion, its ideas helped build connections between the colonies
• More denominations of Christianity were formed
• A number of colleges were founded by those who accepted the Great Awakening, including Princeton, Brown, and Rutgers

1720s-1740s

Question 39

Jonathon Edwards

Answer 39

Preacher of the Great Awakening who emphasized personal religious experience, predestination, and dependence of man upon God and divine grace
One of his widely read sermons was “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
While Edwards is known for being one of the most prominent Calvinists, the Great Awakening was partially responsible for refuting the idea that salvation was only possible with predestined election, an important Calvinist belief

1703-1758