| A | B |
|---|
| Abolition | the movement to end slavery. |
| African Diaspora | the forced removal of Africans from their homelands to serve as slave labor in the Americas. |
| Backcountry | a colonial region that ran along the Appalachian Mountains through the far western part of the New England |
| Charter | a written contract by a government giving the holder the right to establish a colony. |
| Civilization | a form of culture characterized by city trade centers |
| Culture | a way life shared by people with similar arts |
| English Bill of Rights | an agreement signed by William and Mary to respect the rights of English citizens and of Parliament |
| Enlightenment | an 18th-century movement that emphasized the use of reason and the scientific method to obtain knowledge. |
| French and Indian War | a conflict in north America form 1754 to 1763 that was part of a worldwide struggle between France and Britain; Britain defeated France gained French Canada. |
| Great Awakening | a revival of religious feeling in the American colonies during the 1730s and 1740s. |
| Guerrilla | a solider who weakens the enemy with surprise raids and hit-and-run attacks. |
| Immigrant | a person who settles in a new country. |
| Indigo | a plant grown in the Southern colonies that yields a deep blue dye. |
| Iroquois | a 16th-century alliance of the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca Native American groups living in the eastern Great Lakes region. |
| Jamestown | the first permanent English settlement in North America (1607). |
| Joint-stock company | a business in which investors pool their wealth in order to turn a profit. |
| Magna Carta | meaning "Great Charter", a document guaranteeing basic political rights in England |
| Mayflower Compact | an agreement establish by the men who sailed to America on the Mayflower |
| Mercantilism | an economic system in which nations increase their wealth and power by obtaining a favorable balance of trade. |
| Middle Passage | the middle leg of the triangular trade route-the voyage from Africa to the Americas-that brought captured Africans into slavery. |
| Nationalism | a feeling of pride,loyalty, and protectiveness toward one’s country. |
| Parliament | England's chief lawmaking body. |
| Pilgrim | a member of a group that rejected the Church of England |
| Plantation | a large farm that raises cash crops. |
| Prejudice | a negative opinion that is not based on facts. |
| Proprietary colony | a colony with a single owner. |
| Quaker | a person who believed all people should live in peace and harmony; accepted different religions and ethnic groups. |
| Racism | the belief that some people are inferior because of their race. |
| Royal Colony | a colony ruled by governors appointed by a king. |
| Servitude | a state of belonging to an owner or master. |
| Slavery | the practice of holding a person in a bondage for labor. |
| Theocracy | a government run by religious rulers |
| Puritan | a member of a 16th and 17th century Protestant group in England and New England opposing as unscriptural the ceremonial worship and the prelacy of the Church of England; one who practices or preaches a more rigorous or professedly purer moral code than that which prevails |
| Colonization | the process of creating a colony (usually involves violent upheaval of local populations/cultures) |
| Colony | a body of people living in a new territory but retaining ties with the mother country |
| Mother Country | the original location of a nation that has a dispersal of inhabitants to other areas |
| Migration | to move from one country or place to another |
| Chronology | the study of time and the arrangement of events in the order that they happened |
| History | study of why events happened in the past and how they affect the present |
| Primary Source | an official account from someone or something that is an active participant in what is studied. |
| Secondary Source | an interpretation of a historical event or artifact. |
| Perspective | a person's point of view or position from which something is considered or evaluated |
| Declaration of Independence | document written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776 that stated the reasons why the 13 Colonies wanted to break away from England |
| Constitution | national laws of the United States government written in 1787 |
| Louisiana Purchase | territory bought from France in 1803 that doubled the size of the United States |
| Civil War | war fought in the United States from 1861-1865 |
| Virginia House of Burgesses | the first representative law-making body in the English colonies |
| Fundamental Orders of Connecticut | laws describing the government created by the Connecticut River towns. It is seen as the first written Constitution in Western history. |
| Smuggle | the illegal importing or exporting of goods from one area to another |
| Subsistence farming | farming for the sole purpose of using the goods but not selling them for profit |
| Cash crop | an agricultural product that is largely grown and then sold for profit |
| Agriculture | practice of cultivating the soil |
| Salem Witch Trials | a series of hearings by court trials to prosecute people alleged to have committed acts of witchcraft in the British colony of Massachusetts in 1692 and 1693 |
| Protestant Reformation | 16th century (1500s) revolt against the Roman Catholic Churchs power. Led by Marth Luther, this movement wanted to move power away from the Church’s officials to regular worshippers. |
| Persecute | to bully or punish in a way to injure, depress, or to cause to suffer because of one’s belief |
| Catholic | follower of the Christian Roman Catholic Church whose living religious leader is the Pope |
| Protestant | follower of one of the many branches of churches that protested against the Catholic Church (like Baptists, Methodists, Anglicans, Quakers, Mormons, etc.) |
