Colonial Beginnings, 1492-1690

Question 1

Mayflower Compact

Answer 1

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.

Question 2

William Bradford

Answer 2

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.

Question 3

Pilgrims and Puritans contrasted

Answer 3

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.

Question 4

Massachusetts Bay Colony

Answer 4

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.

Question 5

Cambridge Agreement

Answer 5

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.

Question 6

Puritan migration

Answer 6

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.

Question 7

Church of England (Anglican Church)

Answer 7

The national church of England, founded by King Henry VIII. It included both Roman Catholic and Protestant ideas.

Question 8

John Winthrop (1588-1649), his beliefs

Answer 8

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.

Question 9

Separatists, non-separatists

Answer 9

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.

Question 10

Calvinism

Answer 10

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.

Question 11

Congregational Church, Cambridge Platform

Answer 11

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.

Question 12

Contrast Puritan colonies with others

Answer 12

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.

Question 13

Anne Hutchinson, Antinomianism

Answer 13

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.

Question 14

Roger Williams, Rhode Island

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

Covenant theology

Answer 15

Puritan teachings emphasized the biblical covenants: God’s covenants with Adam and with Noah, the covenant of grace between God and man through Christ.

Question 16

Voting granted to church members - 1631

Answer 16

1631 - The Massachusetts general court passed an act to limit voting rights to church members.

Question 17

Half-way Covenant

Answer 17

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.

Question 18

Brattle Street Church

Answer 18

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.

Question 19

Thomas Hooker

Answer 19

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.

Question 20

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

Answer 20

Set up a unified government for the towns of the Connecticut area (Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield). First constitution written in America.

Question 21

Saybrook Platform

Answer 21

It organized town churches into county associations which sent delegates to the annual assembly which governed the colony of Connecticut.

Question 22

Massachusetts School Law

Answer 22

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.

Question 23

Harvard founded

Answer 23

1636 - Founded by a grant form the Massachusetts general court. Followed Puritan beliefs.

Question 24

New England Confederation

Answer 24

1643 - Formed to provide for the defense of the four New England colonies, and also acted as a court in disputes between colonies.

Question 25

King Philip’s War

Answer 25

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.

Question 26

Dominion of New England

Answer 26

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.

Question 27

Sir Edmond Andros

Answer 27

Governor of the Dominion of New England from 1686 until 1692, when the colonists rebelled and forced him to return to England.

Question 28

Joint stock company

Answer 28

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.

Question 29

Virginia: purpose, problems, failures, successes

Answer 29

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.

Question 30

Headright system

Answer 30

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.

Question 31

John Smith

Answer 31

Helped found and govern Jamestown. His leadership and strict discipline helped the Virginia colony get through the difficult first winter.

Question 32

John Rolfe, tobacco

Answer 32

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.

Question 33

Slavery begins

Answer 33

1619 - The first African slaves in America arrive in the Virginia colony.

Question 34

House of Burgesses

Answer 34

1619 - The Virginia House of Burgesses formed, the first legislative body in colonial America. Later other colonies would adopt houses of Burgesses.

Question 35

Cavaliers

Answer 35

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.

Question 36

Bacon’s Rebellion

Answer 36

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.

Question 37

Culpeper’s Rebellion

Answer 37

1677 - Led by Culpeper, the Carolina colony rebelled against its English governor, Thomas Miller over the passage of the Navigation Acts.. The rebellion was crushed, but Culpeper was acquitted.

Question 38

Georgia: reasons, successes

Answer 38

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.

Question 39

James Oglethorpe

Answer 39

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.

Question 40

Carolinas

Answer 40

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.

Question 41

John Locke, Fundamental Constitution

Answer 41

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.

Question 42

Charleston

Answer 42

1690 - The first permanent settlement in the Carolinas, named in honor of King Charles II. Much of the population were Huguenot (French Protestant) refugees.

Question 43

Staple crops in the South

Answer 43

Tobacco was grown in Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina. Rice was grown in South Carolina and Georgia. Indigo was grown in South Carolina.

Question 44

Pennsylvania, William Penn

Answer 44

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.

Question 45

Liberal land laws in Pennsylvania

Answer 45

William Penn allowed anyone to emigrate to Pennsylvania, in order to provide a haven for persecuted religions.

Question 46

Holy experiment

Answer 46

William Penn’s term for the government of Pennsylvania, which was supposed to serve everyone and provide freedom for all.

Question 47

Frame of government

Answer 47

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.

Question 48

New York: Dutch, 1664 English

Answer 48

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.

Question 49

Patron system

Answer 49

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.

Question 50

Peter Stuyvesant

Answer 50

The governor of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, hated by the colonists. They surrendered the colony to the English on Sept. 8, 1664.

Question 51

Five Nations

Answer 51

The federation of tribes occupying northern New York: the Mohawk, the Oneida, the Senecca, the Onondaga, and the Cayuga. The federation was also known as the “Iroquois,” or the League of Five Nations, although in about 1720 the Tuscarora tribe was added as a sixth member. It was the most powerful and efficient North American Indian organization during the 1700s. Some of the ideas from its constitution were used in the Constitution of the United States.

Question 52

Crops in the Middle Colonies

Answer 52

The middle colonies produced staple crops, primarily grain and corn.

Question 53

New York and Philadelphia as urban centers

Answer 53

New York became an important urban center due to its harbor and rivers, which made it an important center for trade. Piladelphia was a center for trade and crafts, and attracted a large number of immigrants, so that by 1720 it had a population of 10,000. It was the capital of Pennsylvania from 1683-1799. As urban centers, both cities played a major role in American Independence.

Question 54

Leisler’s Rebellion

Answer 54

1689 - When King James II was dethroned and replaced by King William of the Netherlands, the colonists of New York rebelled and made Jacob Leiser, a militia officer, governor of New York. Leisler was hanged for treason when royal authority was reinstated in 1691, but the representative assembly which he founded remained part of the government of New York.