Colonial Vocabulary
Important People
Colonial Life
Government & Rights
The Middle Passage
100

This term referred to the upper class of colonial society.

Gentry

100

This group of people was allowed to vote in the American colonies.

Most white males

100

Women in colonial America were expected to marry men chosen by these people.

their parents

100

This historic document was the first to place limits on an English ruler’s power.

Magna Carta

100

Describe conditions on slave ships.

hot, crowded, suffering

200

She was America’s first published poet.

Anne Bradstreet

200

This Enlightenment thinker argued for natural rights and challenged divine right.

John Locke

200

Colonial children were expected to begin working at this age.

7

200

English legal rights led colonists to expect this in their government.

A voice in government

200

The brutal journey enslaved Africans endured from Africa to the Americas was called this.

Middle Passage

300

A person who agreed to work for a number of years in exchange for ocean passage.

Indentured servant

300

His trial helped establish freedom of the press.

Peter Zenger

300

This colony had a ban on slavery until the 1750s.

Georgia

300

Slave codes were written mainly because colonial authorities feared these.

Slave revolts

300

African rhythms, instruments, and folktales influenced this developing culture.

American culture

400

This preacher played a major role in the Great Awakening.

Jonathan Edwards

400

He believed people could overthrow a monarch if natural rights were violated.

John Locke

400

Most white males in the colonies were allowed to participate in this civic activity.

voting

400

This movement inspired ideas of natural rights and challenged monarchy.

Enlightenment

400

A language blending English and several African languages, spoken in the South.

Gullah

500

He wrote Poor Richard’s Almanack.

Benjamin Franklin

500

Montesquieu’s most famous idea, later used in the U.S. Constitution.

separation of powers

500

Unlike modern public schools, colonial public schools included instruction in 

a. religion

b. poetry

c. politics

Religion

500

This led to the rise of many new charges in the colonies.

The Great Awakening

500

African styles influenced these items commonly created or used in the colonies.

goods (crafts, clothing, etc.)

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