Unit 2 Flashcards
Virginia Company
Joint stock company in which hundreds of investors pool their money together with the expectation of making a profit. Marks difference between British (individual, not government) funding of exploration and French/Spanish (king ordered).
Starving Time
When British got to Virginia, they had high expectations, but gold was not easy to find. During winter, there was not much food around and they faced massive starvation.
Chesapeake Region
Founded for economic reasons.
John Rolfe
Savior of profitability of Virginia Company. Started developing and cultivating tobacco that could be sent to England. Tobacco was labor intesive but incredibly profitable.
Jesuits
Order of Catholic missionaries, “Pope’s marines.” First to invade new area to establish Christian settlements.
Enlightenment
Idea of questioning traditional authority. Began new political ideas of democracy.
William Penn
Founded Pennsylvania. Quaker - believer in equality between men and women. Represented religious tolerance in middle colonies.
John Winthrop
Instrumental leader of bringing Puritans to Massachusetts Bay Colony. Belief in City on a Hill - Utopian society based entirely on religion to be duplicated in other places.
John Peter Zenger
Key in development of freedom of the press. Newspaper publisher in NY, arrested in 1735 when he published investigative journalism exposing fraud in royal governor’s office. Found not guilty in court.
Virginia House of Burgesses
Critical in development of representative government practiced today. Entirely based on wealth.
Indentured Servitude
Primary labor source in colonies throughout 1600s. Temporary slavery. Many wanted to get out of England but couldn’t afford it, went into indentured Servitude. Worked on tobacco plantations and rarely became wealthy.
Jamestown, Virginia
First permanent attempt at settlement of English that actually worked. Virginia modeled democratic patterns off of British government.
Puritans
Anyone in Old England who felt Church had become corrupted. Worked to purify the Church.
Separatists
Puritans that felt they could not purify the Church if they remained in England. Wanted City on a Hill. Became biggest persecutors of religion in North America.
Anne Hutchinson
First feminist in North America. Argued against idea that Puritan Church was dominated by male hierarchy, that women were property of their husbands. Called for bigger voice for women.
