AP US History Chapter 2
Anne Hutchinson & antinomianism
Anne Hutchinson was a dissident who questioned doctrines of the Puritan authorities. She believed in antinomianism, the idea that faith is necessary for salvation. She and a group of followers founded the colony of Portsmouth in 1638, which was not fat from Providence.
New England Confederation (1643)
Military alliance formed by Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and New Haven colonies. The confederation was directed by a board composed of two representatives from each colony. It had limited powers to act on boundary disputes, the return of runaway servants, and dealings with American Indians. The confederation lasted until 1684. It was important because it established a precedent for colonies taking unified action toward a common purpose.
Great Migration (1631-1640)
Occurred when a civil war in England drove 15,000 more settlers to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
House of Burgesses (1619)
Organized by Virginia's colonists. The House of Burgesses was the first representative assembly in America.
William Penn/Quakers & "Holy Experiment"
Quakers believed in the equality of all men and women, nonviolence, and resistance to military service. They further believed that religious authority was found in each individual's soul. William Penn was a young convert to the Quaker faith. Penn's father was a victorious admiral to the king. The royal family owed Penn's father a considerable debt, so they paid William with a grant of American land called Pennsylvania. William wanted his colony to act as a religious refuge for persecuted peoples, to enact liberal ideas in government, and to provide income and profits for himself. He provided the colony with a Frame of Government (1682-1683), which guaranteed a representative assembly and a written constitution.
Roger Williams & Rhode Island
Roger Williams went to Boston in 1631 as a respected Puritan minister. He believed that a person's conscience was beyond the control of any civil or church authority. His beliefs put him in conflict with other Puritan leaders, who banished him from the Bay colony. He fled southward to Narragansett Bay, where he and a few followers founded the settlement of Providence in 1636. Providence was unique because it recognized the rights of Indians and allowed religious freedom.
Pilgrims & Puritans
Separatists left England for Holland searching for religious freedom. They became known as pilgrims because of their travels. Puritans wanted to reform the Church of England. They became known as Puritans because they wanted to purify the church.
Virginia Company and Jamestown
The Virginia Company was charged by King James I of England. The Virginia Company was a joint-stock company. The Virginia Company founded the first permanent English colony in America, Jamestown (Virginia), in 1607.
Toleration Act of 1649
The first colonial statute granting religious freedom to all Christians.
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639)
The first written constitution in American history. It was written by the Hartford settlers and established a representative government consisting of a legislature elected by popular vote and a governor chosen by that legislature.
Headright System (Virginia)
Virginia's attempt to attract immigrants through offers of land. The colony offered 50 acres of land to each immigrant who paid for his own passage and any plantation owner who paid for an immigrant's passage.
Mayflower Compact (1620)
Written and signed aboard the Mayflower. This document pledged them to make decisions by the will of the majority. It was an early form of colonial self-government and a rudimentary written constitution.
Indentured Servant System
Young people from the British Isles who agreed to work for a certain period (usually between four and seven years) in return for room and board. Indentured servants were under the absolute rule of their masters until the end of their work period. At the expiration of that period, they gained their freedom and either worked for wages or obtained land of their own to farm.
