| mercantilism | an economic system (Europe in 18th century) to increase a nation's wealth by government regulation of all of the nation's commercial interests |
| salutary neglect | Bristish policy of keeping lax enforcement of laws in the colonies. Ended after French and Indian War |
| Primogeniture | the practice of granting the first-born son with the right to all the inheritance |
| Headright System | A land policy created in Virginia and Maryland designed to encourage settlement by providing 50 acres of land to anyone who would pay for someone else to come and settle in the colony |
| Navigation Acts | 1651; legislation which restricted colonial trade |
| Molasses Act | 1733; placed a tax on molasses |
| Proclamation of 1763 | forbade the colonists from settling west of the appalachians; largely ignored |
| George III | king in 1760; desired more control of the colonies |
| Sugar Act | 1764; tax on the import of sugar, molasses, coffee, textiles, iron, and other goods |
| Currency Act | 1764; forbade the colonies from issuing their own currency |
| Georgia | colony founded to be a haven for British debtors |
| Massachusetts Bay Colony | "bible commonwealth"; Puritan run theocracy |
| Rhode Island | "free colony" which practices separation of church and state |
| Fundamental Orders of Connecticut | first written constitution in the new world |
| Pennsylvania | established by the Quakers to escape persecution |
| New Jersey | portion of New York purchased by Quakers |
| Delaware | part of Pennsylvania until American Revolution |
| Maryland | all christians allowed in this colonies; death to those who didn't believe in Jesus |
| Virginia | established by Virginia Company of London |
| Quartering Act | 1765; stated that colonists must provide food and shelter for British troops |
| Stamp Act | 1765; placed tax on licenses and liquor; required that a stamp be placed on all newspapers and legal documents; repealed in 1766 in response to colonial pressure |
| Declaration of Rights and Grievances | 1765; Colnist's response to Stamp Act; stated that only colonists should be able to tax colonists, and that the British should not try colonial cases in admiralty courts |
| Townshend Acts | 1766; placed a tax on glass, paper, paint, lead, and tea; lead to anger and boycott of British goods |
| Writs of Assistance | 1769; passed in response to smuggling of tea into Boston; allowed British troops to search colonist's homes |
| Intolerable Acts | 1774; response to Boston tea party; closed the port of Boston, altered the government of Massachusetts to bring it under control of the British government, limited town meetings in Massachusetts, allowed a governor to house soldiers in other buildings if suitable quarters were not provided |
| Quebec Act | The act enlarged the boundaries of the Province of Quebec and instituted reforms generally favorable to the French Catholic inhabitants of the region, although denying them an elected legislative assembly |
| First Continental Congress | Semptember of 1774; decided that response to Intolerable Acts was to end all trade with England |
| Thomas Paine | author of Common Sense, which argued that the colonies were destined to be independent |
| Olive Branch Petition | Offer of peace to King George; George refused to read it |
| Treaty of Paris | 1783; ended the war of independence |
| Shay's Rebellion | attack on a federal arsenal in Springfield, MA lead by a farmer who's land was to be foreclosed due to back taxes; 1786; served as a catalyst of change to the Articles of Confederation |
| 17th Amendment | set direct elections for senators; 1913 |