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chapter 2
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| enlightenment | movement that spread the idea that reason and science could improve society |
| monarch | king or queen |
| legislature | a group of people that makes laws |
| precedent | a ruling that is used as the basis for a judicial decision in a later, similar case |
| common law | a system of law based on precedent and customs |
| natural rights | freedoms people possess relating to life, liberty, and property |
| social contract | an agreement among people in a society with a government |
| colony | a group in one place who are ruled by a parent country elsewhere |
| joint-stock company | investors provide partial ownership in a company organized for profit |
| charter | a written document granting land and the authority to set up colonial governments or a government document granting permission to organize a corporation |
| compact | an agreement, or contract, among a group of people |
| proprietary colony | area with owner-controlled land and government |
| royal colony | a colonial area of land controlled directly by a king or other monarch |
| religious dissenters | those who followed a religious faith other than the official religion of england |
| puritans | religious dissenter who came to the colonies to purify, or reform, the Anglican Church |
| pilgrims | a colonial puritans who considered themselves on a religious journey |
| toleration | acceptance of other groups, such as religious groups |
| indentured servant | workers who contracted with American colonists for food and shelter in return for their labor |
| plantation | a large estate |
| triangular trade | a pattern of trade that developed in colonial times among the americas, Africa, and Europe |
| tidewater | areas of low, flat plains near the seacoast of virginia and northcarolina |
| egalitarianism | the philosophy or spirit of equality |
| mercantilism | the theory that a country should sell more goods to other countries than it buys |
| boycott | the refusal to purchase to purchase certain goods |
| repeal | cancel a law |
| delegate | representative to a meeting |
| independance | self-reliance and freedom from outside control |