LIFE IN THE COLONIES SOCIAL STUDIES VOCABULARY
GRADE 8
1. Legislature: a group of people who have the power to make laws
2. Bill of Rights: a written list of freedoms that a government promises to protect
3. Habeas Corpus: the principle that a person cannot be held in prison without
being charged with a specific crime
4. Freedom of the Press: the right of journalists to publish the truth without
restriction or penalty
5. Libel: the publishing of statements that damage a person’s reputation
6. Extended Family: a family that includes, in addition to the parents and their
children, other members such as grandparents, aunts, uncles,
and cousins
7. Apprentice: someone who learns a trade by working for someone in that trade
for a certain period of time
8. Gentry: the upper class of colonial society
9. Middle Class: a group of people made up of small planters, independent farmers,
and artisans
10. Indentured Servant: one who signed a contract to from 4 to 10 years in the
colonies for anyone who would pay for his or her ocean
passage to the Americans
11. Triangular Trade: a three-way trade between the colonies, the islands of the
Caribbean, and Africa
12. Racism: the belief that one race is superior or inferior to another
13. Slave Codes: strict laws that restricted the rights and activities of slaves
14. Public School: a school supported by taxes
15. Dame School: schools that women opened in their homes to teach girls and
boys to read and write.
16. Anne Bradstreet: the first colonial poet whose poetry expressed the joys and
hardships of life in Puritan New England.
17. Phillis Wheatley: a colonial poet who was an enslaved African in Boston
18. Benjamin Franklin: colonial businessman, community leader, scientist,
inventor, writer, and diplomat. His most popular work was
Poor Richard’s Almanac.
19. Jonathon Edwards: a Massachusetts’ preacher who called on people to examine
their lives and commit themselves to God. He was part of
the Great Awakening.
20. Natural Rights: rights that belong to every human being from birth
21. Divine Right: the belief that monarchs get their authority to rule directly from
God
22. Separation of Powers: division of the power of government into separated
branches