APUSH U 1 &2 1607-1763

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Indentured Servants

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Individuals who voluntarily agreed to work for a specified number of years (typically 4-7) in exchange for passage to the American colonies, along with food, shelter, and sometimes land upon completion of their term.

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Trade and Navigation Acts

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A series of British laws (beginning in 1651) designed to regulate colonial trade, requiring that goods be shipped on British or colonial ships and pass through English ports before being sent elsewhere, aiming to control colonial economic activity and benefit the mother country.

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Mayflower Compact

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A foundational document signed in 1620 by the Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower, in which they agreed to establish a government based on majority rule and consent of the governed, marking an early step toward self-government in the New World.

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Roger Williams

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A theologian and founder of Rhode Island, Williams was an advocate for religious freedom and the separation of church and state. He was banished from Massachusetts for his beliefs and established the colony as a refuge for religious dissenters.

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Great Puritan Migration

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A mass migration of Puritans from England to the New World between 1620 and 1640, driven by religious persecution and the desire to establish a Puritanical society in the New England colonies, especially Massachusetts.

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New England Confederation

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A political and military alliance formed in 1643 among the Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and New Haven colonies, designed to provide mutual defense against Native American tribes and European threats, and to promote shared interests.

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Freedom of Consciences

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The right to hold personal religious beliefs without interference from the government or others, a principle central to the establishment of Rhode Island and key to the religious diversity that developed in colonial America.

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Jonathan Edwards

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A prominent preacher in the First Great Awakening, Edwards was known for his fire-and-brimstone sermons, most notably 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,' emphasizing the need for personal repentance and the consequences of sin.

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Halfway Covenant

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A 1662 church policy that allowed the children of baptized but unconverted members to be baptized themselves, aiming to maintain church membership and influence in a time when Puritan religious fervor was waning.

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Salem Witch Trials

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A series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693, driven by a combination of religious fervor, mass hysteria, and local rivalries, leading to the execution of 20 individuals.