| Term | Definition |
| Social Contract | An agreement among people in a society with a government. |
| Enlightenment | Movement that spread the idea that reason and science could improve society. |
| Toleration | Respecting and accepting others, regardless of their beliefs, practices, or differences. |
| Charter | Written document granting land and the authority to set up colonial governments; or government document granting permission to organize a corporation. |
| Compact | An agreement or contract, among a group of people. |
| Precedent | Ruling that is used as the basis for a judicial decision in a later, similar case. |
| Plantation | A large estate. |
| Common Law | A system of laws based on precedent and customs. |
| Independance | Self-reliance and freedom from an outside country. |
| Pilgrims | Colonial puritans who considered themselves people on a religious journey. |
| Proprietary Colony | Area with owner controlled land and government. |
| Egalitaranism | The philosophy or spirit of equality. |
| Colony | A group of people in one place who are ruled by a parent country elsewhere. |
| Puritans | Religious dissenter who came to the colonies to purify, or reform, the Anglican Church. |
| Delegate | A representative to a meeting. |
| Indentured Servant | Workers who contracted with American colonists for food and shelter in return for their labor. |
| Repeal | To cancel a law. |
| Triangular Trade | Pattern of trade that developed in colonial times among the Americas, Africa, and Europe. |
| Religious Dissenters | Those who have followed a religious faith other than the official religion of England. |
| Boycotte | The refusal to purchase certain goods. |
| Natural Rights | Freedoms people posses relating to life, liberty, and property. |
| Tidewater | Areas of low, flat plains near the sea coast of Virginia and North Carolina. |
| Joint-Stock Company | Investors provide partial ownership in a company organized for profit. |
| Monarch | King or Queen. |
| Mercantilism | The theory that a country should sell more goods to other countries than it buys. |
| Royal Colony | A colonial area of land controlled directly by a king or other monarch. |
| Legislature | Group of people that makes laws. |
