Chapter 2 Colonial America

Front

Charter

Back

A document granting the recipient the right to settle a colony

Front

Joint-stock company

Back

A company in which investors buy stock in return for a share of its future profits

Front

Headright

Back

A 50-acre grant of land given to colonial settlers who paid their own way

Front

Burgess

Back

An elected representative to an assembly.

Front

Patroon

Back

A land owner in Dutch colonies who ruled over large areas of land

Front

Indentured servant

Back

A laborer under contract to work for an employer for a specific period of time, in exchange for a passage to America.

Front

Constitution

Back

A set of fundamental laws to support a government.

Front

Subsistence farming

Back

A type of farming in which the farmers focus on growing just enough food to feed themselves and their families to meet immediate needs.

Front

Slave codes

Back

Laws that defined the low position of slaves in the United States. These codes gave slave-owners absolute power over the enslaved.

Front

Abolitionists

Back

People who wanted to outlaw slavery in the colonies.