Which historic assembly established in Virginia in 1619 was North America's first elected representative lawmaking body?
House of Burgesses
Which colonial region earned the nickname "Breadbasket Colonies" because of its production of wheat, rye, and barley?
Middle Colonies
What economic theory claimed a nation builds wealth and power by exporting more goods than it imports?
Mercantilism
Which Enlightenment philosopher argued that all human beings possess natural rights to life, liberty, and property?
John Locke
What 1763 royal decree issued by King George III prohibited American colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains?
Proclamation of 1763
Which 1620 agreement signed by Pilgrims formed a "civil body politic" to enact equal laws for the colony's general good?
Mayflower Compact
Which Quaker founder established Pennsylvania based on religious freedom and fair treatment of Native Americans?
William Penn
Which series of British laws forced American colonists to trade key raw materials exclusively with England
Navigation Acts
Which Enlightenment thinker advocated dividing government power into executive, legislative, and judicial branches?
Baron de Montesquieu
Which famous slogan reflected colonial opposition to parliamentary taxes passed without American representatives?
No taxation without representation
Which 1639 document established a government based on consent and is recognized as America's first written constitution?
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
Why did New England develop lumbering and fishing industries instead of large-scale cash-crop agriculture?
Cold climate, rocky soil
What term describes the early 1700s British policy of relaxed trade law enforcement that allowed colonial self-rule?
Salutary Neglect
What major religious revival in the 1730s and 1740s swept through the colonies through passionate outdoor sermons?
First Great Awakening
What 1770 confrontation resulted in British soldiers firing into an angry crowd in Boston, killing five colonists?
Boston Massacre
How did a religious covenant like the Mayflower Compact differ from a standard commercial contract?
Sacred vow before God
What economic demand of the Southern plantation system directly drove the expansion of the transatlantic slave trade?
Cash-crop plantation labor
How did American colonial merchants frequently respond when Parliament attempted to strictly enforce imperial trade regulations?
Illegal trade and/or smuggling
How did the religious revivalism of the First Great Awakening influence colonial political perspectives?
Questioned traditional authority / need for a king / toward democracy
How did Parliament's passage of the punitive Intolerable Acts backfire on British imperial authorities in 1774?
United the thirteen colonies
What lasting democratic legacy did early governing documents like the Mayflower Compact and House of Burgesses establish in America?
Representative self-governance
How did shallow coastal sounds and hazardous sandbars along the Outer Banks shape North Carolina's early political culture?
Fostered independent self-reliance
Why did the end of Salutary Neglect after the French and Indian War lead to political conflict between Britain and the colonies?
Sparked colonial tax resistance
How did Enlightenment political philosophy empower American colonists during their disputes with the British Crown?
Justified their right to rebel
Why did Britain's victory in the French and Indian War directly lead to parliamentary taxation on the American colonies?
Created massive war debt