American History: Beginnings to 1877: 2. European Colonization of North America, Lessons 6–7

At the top of society stood the gentry. The gentry included wealthy planters, merchants, ministers, successful lawyers, and royal officials.

Below the gentry were the middle class. The middle class included farmers who worked their own land, skilled craft workers, and some tradespeople.

Still, the growth of so many new churches forced colonists to become more tolerant of people with different beliefs.

Boys whose parents wished them to learn a trade or craft served as apprentices.

In the 1600s, European thinkers tried to question common assumptions and to base their understanding of the world on reason and logic.

Because these thinkers believed in the light of human reason, the movement that they started is known as the Enlightenment.

Zenger was put on trial for libel—the act of publishing a statement that may unjustly damage a person's reputation.

Like other European nations at the time, England believed that its colonies should benefit the home country. This belief was part of an economic theory known as mercantilism.

Exports are goods sent to markets outside a country.

Imports are goods brought into a country.

The Navigation Acts regulated trade between England and its colonies in order to ensure that only England benefited from trade with its colonies.

As a result, New England became a prosperous shipbuilding center.

Bribes made customs officials look the other way.

This example, as well as the tradition of representative government established in the Magna Carta, led the colonies to create a legislature soon after founding. A legislature is a group of people, usually elected, that has the power to make laws.