Early Colonies Have Mixed Success Chapter 3 Section 1

Joint-Stock Company Companies backed by investors, people who put money into a project to earn profits. Each investor receives pieces of ownership of the company called shares of stock. In this way, the investors split any profits and divide any losses.

Charter A written contract issued by a government giving the holder the right to establish a colony.

Jamestown The first permanent English settlement in North America.

John Smith A soldier and adventurer took control of Jamestown when it was failing. Declared to the Colonists That “He that will not work shall not eat.” Smith’s methods worked.

Indentured Servant Men and Women sold their labor to a person who paid their passage to the colony. After working for a number of years, they were free to farm or take up a trade.

House of Burgesses Created in 1609, became the first representative assembly in the American Colonies.

Bacon’s Rebellion A revolt against powerful colonial authority in Jamestown by Nathaniel Bacon and a group of landless frontier settlers that resulted in the burning of Jamestown in 1676