Chapter 4 Vocabulary

Indentured Servants: Indentured servants were individuals who, in exchange for passage to the New World and other benefits, agreed to work for a set period (usually 4 to 7 years) as servants or laborers. After completing their term, they could gain freedom and sometimes land.
Headright System: The headright system was a land distribution system used in the British colonies in the Americas. Under this system, colonists who paid for their passage to the New World were granted a certain amount of land, usually 50 acres, plus additional land for any servants they brought with them.
Bacon's Rebellion: Bacon's Rebellion occurred in 1676 in the Virginia Colony. It was an armed uprising led by Nathaniel Bacon, a disgruntled farmer and former indentured servant, against the colonial governor William Berkeley's administration. The rebellion was driven by grievances related to political representation, Native American relations, and socioeconomic tensions.
Royal African Company: The Royal African Company was a British trading company established in 1660. It held a monopoly on the English slave trade during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, controlling the transportation of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic.
Middle Passage: The Middle Passage was the transatlantic journey that enslaved Africans endured during the brutal and dehumanizing voyage from Africa to the Americas. It was the second leg of the triangular trade and led to the forced migration of millions of Africans to the New World.
New York Slave Revolt: The New York Slave Revolt, also known as the New York Conspiracy of 1741, was a series of events in New York City involving a supposed plot by enslaved individuals and poor whites to revolt against the colonial authorities. Many people were arrested and executed, and the incident further fueled racial tensions in the city.
South Carolina Slave Revolt (Stono River): The South Carolina Slave Revolt, also known as the Stono Rebellion of 1739, was a significant slave rebellion that took place near the Stono River in South Carolina. Enslaved Africans rose up against their captors, killing several whites and attempting to escape to Spanish Florida. The revolt was brutally suppressed, leading to harsher slave codes in the colony.
Congregational Church: The Congregational Church was a Protestant Christian denomination that originated from the Puritan movement in England. In the American colonies, it became the established church in some New England colonies, and its members governed the local churches through democratic congregational polity.
Jeremiad: A jeremiad is a type of sermon or literary work that laments the perceived moral decline of a society, drawing parallels to the biblical prophet Jeremiah's warnings to ancient Israel. Jeremiads were common in colonial America, and ministers often used them to call for repentance and reform.
Half-Way Covenant: The Half-Way Covenant was a religious policy adopted in some New England Puritan churches in the late 17th century. It allowed the children of baptized church members to be baptized and have a partial church membership, even if they had not experienced a conversion experience. This was an attempt to maintain church membership and attendance in the face of declining religious fervor.
Salem Witch Trials: The Salem Witch Trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions that took place in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. During this period, over 200 people, mostly women, were accused of practicing witchcraft. The trials resulted in the execution of 20 individuals and have been widely studied as a cautionary tale of mass hysteria, religious extremism, and the dangers of unfounded accusations.
Leisler's Rebellion: Leisler's Rebellion was an uprising in late 17th-century colonial New York led by Jacob Leisler, a German-born merchant and militia captain. The rebellion occurred in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution in England when tensions arose between supporters of the deposed Catholic King James II and those who backed the Protestant William and Mary. Leisler's faction briefly took control of New York City in 1689, but the rebellion was later suppressed, and Leisler was executed in 1691. The event exposed divisions between colonists of different social and economic backgrounds in New York.