1. Chapter 4 The 13 English Colonies Vocabulary

2. Charter
a document issued by a government that grants special rights to a person or company

3. Representative Government
a government in which voters elect people to make laws for them

4. Pilgrims
a person who makes a religious journey; English Separatists or those who wanted to separate from the English Church, settled in Plymouth, Mass.

5. Puritans
Religious group who settled in Massachusetts and wanted to Purify or reform (make it more scritct) the Church of England

6. Toleration
Willingness to let others practice their own customs and beliefs

7. Town Meeting
Meeting in which citizens discuss and vote on local community issues

8. Proprietor
Man who owned a proprietary colony

9. Proprietary Colony
English colony in which the King gave land to a man in exchange for a yearly payment or to pay a debt

10. Royal Colony
Colony under the control of the English King

11. Quaker
Protestant reformers who believed that all people were equal in God’s eyes and who were despised by others in England

12. Backcountry
a frontier region along the Appalachian mountains from Pennsylvania to Georgia

13. Debtor
a person who owes money

14. Indentured Servant
Person who agreed to work without pay for 7-10 years in exchange for passage to the Colonies

15. Middle Class
In the 13 English colonies, people who were skilled crafts workers and small farmers

16. Gentry
highest social class in the colonies

17. Triangular Trade
Colonial trade routes between New England, Africa and West Indies

18. Cash Crop
Crop sold for money (tobacco, indigo, rice)

19. Plantation
Large farming estates in the South that required many workers (slaves)

20. Subsistence Farming
farming that produces enough food for the family with a small amount left to trade

21. Self-Sufficient
Able to supply one’s needs without external assistance—plantations