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ch.2
Term | Definition |
---|---|
enlightenment | movement that spread the idea that reason and science could improve society. |
monarch | a government with a hereditary, single leader. |
legislature | a group of people that makes laws. |
precedent | a ruling that is used as the basis for a judicial decision in a later, similar case. |
common law | a system of law based on precedent law and customs. |
natural rights | freedoms people possess relating to life, liberty, and property. |
social contract | an agreement among people in a society with a government. |
colony | a group of people in one place who are ruled by a parent country elsewhere. |
compact | an agreement, or contract, among a group of people. |
proprietary colony | area with owner controlled land and government. |
royal colony | a colonial area of land controlled directly by a king or other monarch. |
religious dissenters | those who followed a religious faith other than the official religion of England. |
puritans | religious dissenter who came to the colonies to purify, or reform, the Anglican church. |
pilgrims | colonial puritans who considered themselves people on a religious journey. |
toleration | acceptance of other groups, such as religious groups. |
indentured servant | workers who contracted with the American colonists for food and shelter in return for their labor. |
plantation | a large estate. |
triangular trade | pattern of trade that developed in colonial times among the Americans, Africa, and Europe. |
tidewater | area of low, flat plains near the seacoast of Virginia and North Carolina. |
egalitarianism | the philosophy or spirit of equality. |
mercantilism | the theory that a country should sell more goods to other countries than it buys. |
boycott | the refusal to purchase certain goods. |
repeal | to cancel a law. |
delegate | a representative to a meeting. |
independence | self reliance and freedom from outside control. |
joint stock company | investors provide partial ownership in a company organized for profit. |
charter | a written document granting land and the authority to set up colonial governments. |