Key Terms
- deism
- an Enlightenment-era belief in the existence of a supreme being—specifically, a creator who does not intervene in the universe—representing a rejection of the belief in a supernatural deity who interacts with humankind
- Dominion of New England
- James II’s consolidated New England colony, made up of all the colonies from New Haven to Massachusetts and later New York and New Jersey
- English interregnum
- the period from 1649 to 1660 when England had no king
- Enlightenment
- an eighteenth-century intellectual and cultural movement that emphasized reason and science over superstition, religion, and tradition
- First Great Awakening
- an eighteenth-century Protestant revival that emphasized individual, experiential faith over church doctrine and the close study of scripture
- Freemasons
- a fraternal society founded in the early eighteenth century that advocated Enlightenment principles of inquiry and tolerance
- French and Indian War
- the last eighteenth-century imperial struggle between Great Britain and France, leading to a decisive British victory; this war lasted from 1754 to 1763 and was also called the Seven Years’ War
- Glorious Revolution
- the overthrow of James II in 1688
- Navigation Acts
- a series of English mercantilist laws enacted between 1651 and 1696 in order to control trade with the colonies
- nonconformists
- Protestants who did not conform to the doctrines or practices of the Church of England
- proprietary colonies
- colonies granted by the king to a trusted individual, family, or group
- Restoration colonies
- the colonies King Charles II established or supported during the Restoration (the Carolinas, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania)
- salutary neglect
- the laxness with which the English crown enforced the Navigation Acts in the eighteenth century