Key Terms
division of the power of government into separate branches
Separation of Powers
a group of people who have the power to make laws
Legislature
a family that includes other family members such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, and relatives
Extended Family
strict laws that restricted the rights and activities of slaves
Slave Code
a school supported by taxes
Public School
the belief that monarchs get their authority to rule directly from God
Divine Right
a written list of freedoms that a government promises to protect
Bill of Rights
someone who learns a trade by working for someone in that trade for a certain period of time
Apprentice
the belief that one race is superior or inferior to another
Racism
schools that women opened in their homes to teach girls and boys to read and write
Dame School
rights that belong to every human being from birth
Natural Rights
the principle that a person cannot be held in prison without being charged with a specific charge
Habeas Corpus
the upper class of colonial society
Gentry
3-way trade between the colonies, the islands of the Caribbean, and Africa
Triangular Trade
best-loved colonial writer and businessman, community leader, scientist, inventor, and diplomat
Benjamin Franklin
Massachusetts preacher that called on people to examine their lives and commit themselves to God
Jonathan Edwards
the right of journalists to publish the truth without restriction or penalty
Freedom of the Press
made up of small planters, independent farmers, and artisans
Middle Class
What were the various classes into which colonial society was divided?
Gentry, Middle Class, Indentured Servants, Free African Americans, and Enslaved People
enslaved African poet in Boston
Phillis Wheatley
the publishing of statements that damage a person's reputation
Libel
What rights did the Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights guarantee?
Trial by jury and habeas corpus
signed a contract to work from 4-10 years in the colonies for anyone who would pay for his or her ocean passage to the Americas
Indentured Servant
What were colonial schools like?
Learned basic subjects along with religion
first colonial poet that expressed the joys and hardships of life in Puritan New England
Anne Bradstreet