Colonial Society: Settlements, Slavery, and Governance (1607-1754)

A labor system in which individuals agreed to work for a set period (typically 4-7 years) in exchange for passage to the colonies, food, and shelter. After serving their term, they received 'freedom dues' and became free colonists.

A system in which enslaved people were treated as permanent, hereditary property. Unlike indentured servitude, chattel slavery was lifelong, passed from parent to child, and defined by race after the mid-1600s.

The unofficial British policy of loosely enforcing trade regulations in the colonies, allowing colonial assemblies significant self-governance. This fostered a tradition of autonomy that made later British taxation deeply resented.

A series of religious revivals in the 1730s-1740s that emphasized personal conversion, emotional preaching, and the equality of all souls before God. It challenged established churches and promoted individualism.

The transatlantic trade network connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas: manufactured goods went to Africa, enslaved people were shipped to the Americas (the Middle Passage), and raw materials flowed back to Europe.

Elected legislative bodies in the colonies that controlled taxation, spending, and local laws. They developed from the Virginia House of Burgesses (1619) and became the foundation of American representative government.

An armed uprising of frontier settlers and former indentured servants against Virginia's colonial government, driven by frustration over indigenous policy, land access, and political exclusion of non-elites.

The horrific transatlantic voyage that transported enslaved Africans from West Africa to the Americas. Conditions were brutal: people were chained in overcrowded holds with mortality rates of 15-20% or higher.