Edited by James Ciment With an introduction by Michael Zuckerman, University of Pennsylvania
Includes: Topic Finder, thematic essays, A-Z entries, illustrations, maps, topical chronologies, glossary, primary documents, primary and secondary bibliographies
Awards:
Editors’ Choice, Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin
Outstanding Reference Source, Reference and User Services Association, ALA
Pennsylvania School Library Association Best Reference for Young Adults
Reviews:
“Colonial America fills a gap in the spectrum of colonial reference sources. ...This is an excellent source for students and other general readers who want to sample a variety of topics or get ideas for paper topics. It is highly recommended for high-school, public, and college libraries.” Booklist, starred review
“This is an extremely accessible and readable reference tool... Entries are well written and exceptionally well cross-referenced, and include brief bibliographies. ...A topic guide and general, biographical, and geographical indexes make this encyclopedia a delight to use. ...Highly recommended. Academic libraries supporting lower-/upper-level undergraduates; public and high school libraries serving general readers.” Choice
“...a good source of original materials... this resource provides a sturdy overview of Colonial America; high school, college, and larger public libraries should consider purchasing it.” Library Journal
“...should be welcome by students of early American history. Colonial America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History is a solid contribution and a worthy addition to serious American history reference collections.” Against the Grain
“ …highly recommended for all high school and undergraduate libraries, and large public libraries serving interested general readers and researchers.” Reference & User Services Quarterly
Description: No era in American history has been more fascinating to Americans, or more critical to the ultimate destiny of the United States, than the colonial era. Between the time the first European settlers established a colony at Jamestown in 1607 and the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the outlines of America’s distinctive political culture, economic system, social life, and cultural patterns began to emerge.
Designed to complement the high-school American history curriculum as well as undergraduate survey courses, Colonial America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History captures it all: the people, institutions, ideas, and events that helped establish and define the United States of America. While it focuses on the thirteen British colonies along the Atlantic Coast, Colonial America sets this history in a larger context. Entries also cover Canada, the American Southwest and Mexico, and the Caribbean and Atlantic world as they impacted the history of the thirteen colonies. This encyclopedia explores the complete early history of what would become the United States, including portraits of Native American life in the immediate pre-contact period, early Spanish exploration, and the first settlements by Spanish, French, Dutch, Swedish, and English colonists.
Including major thematic essays, hundreds of easy-to-reference entries, thematic and regional chronologies, an extensive collection of primary documents, and hundreds of illustrations and maps, this monumental reference work brings America’s colonial heritage vibrantly to life for today's readers.
Contents:
Introduction: Studying the Colonial Era
Chronologies
Primary Documents
Glossary
Abenaki
Acadia, Nova Scotia
Acadians
Acapulco
Adams, Abigail
Adams, John
Adams, Samuel
African Americans
Agriculture
Albany Congress (1754)
Alcohol
Alexander, Mary Spratt Provoost
American Philosophical Society
Anabaptists
Andros, Sir Edmund
Anglican Church
Anne, Queen
Antigua
Appalachia
Arawak
Armada, Spanish
Army, British
Art, Cartoons, and Broadsides
Art, Fine
Art, Folk
Artisans
Arts, Culture, and Intellectual Life (overview)
Assemblies, Colonial
Atlantic Ocean
Azores and Madeira
Aztec
Bacon, Nathaniel
Bacon’s Rebellion
Baltimore
Banks and Banking
Baptists
Barbados
Bartram Family
Bathing and Hygiene
Beaver Wars
Berkeley, Sir William
Bermuda
Bible
Board of Trade
Boone, Daniel
Borderlands, Spanish
Boston
Boston Massacre
Boston Port Bill
Boston Tea Party
Braddock, Edward
Bradford, William
Bradstreet, Anne
Brant, Joseph
Brant, Mary “Molly”
Brent, Margaret
Bunker Hill, Battle of
Cabot, John
Cabrillo, Juan RodrÍguez
California
Calvert, Cecilius
Calvert, George (First Lord Baltimore)
Calvinism
Canada
Canary Islands
Cape Cod
Captivity (by Native Americans)
Carib
Caribbean Sea
Carteret, Sir George
Cartier, Jacques
Catholic Church
Cayuga
Champlain, Samuel de
Charles I
Charles II
Charles V
Charleston
Cherokee
Chesapeake
Chickasaw
Child Rearing
Children
Choctaw
Christ and Christianity
Cities
Class
Clocks and Timekeeping
Clothing
Coercive Acts (1774)
Coffee
Columbian Exchange
Columbus, Christopher
Committees of Correspondence
Common Sense (1776)
Connecticut
Connecticut River
Constantinople, Fall of
Continental Congress, First
Continental Congress, Second
Coode’s Rebellion
Copley, John Singleton
Corn
Coronado, Francisco VÁzquez de
CortÉz, Hernando
Cotton
Cotton, John
Covenants
Creek
Crime
Cromwell, Oliver
Cuba
Cumberland Gap
Currency
Currency Act (1764)
Dartmouth, Lord
Daughters of Liberty
Death and Dying
Debt and Debtor’s Prison
Deism
Delaware
Delaware River
De Soto, Hernando
Detroit
Dickinson, John
Diplomacy (Foreign Affairs)
Disease
Dominicans
Drake, Sir Francis
Dulany, Daniel, Jr
Dulany, Daniel, Sr
Dunmore, Lord
Dutch
Dutch West India Company
East India Company
Economy, Business, and Labor (overview)
Edict of Nantes, Revocation of
Education
Education, Higher
Edwards, Jonathan
Elizabeth I
English
English Civil War
Enlightenment
Environment and Nature
Equiano, Olaudah
Erie
Exploration
Family
Ferdinand and Isabella
Fish and Fisheries
Florida
Food and Diet
Fort Duquesne
Fort Orange
Fortifications
Franciscans
Franklin, Benjamin
Franklin, William
Free Blacks
French
French and Indian War
Furnishings
Furs
Gage, Thomas
Gambling
Gender Issues (overview)
George I
George II
George III
Georgia
Germans
Glorious Revolution
God
Gorges, Ferdinando
Government, Spanish Colonial
Grain
Great Awakening
Great Lakes
Green Mountain Boys
Grenville, George
Hakluyt, Richard
Halifax
Hamilton, Alexander
Hancock, John
Harriot, Thomas
Harvard College
Henry, Patrick
Hispaniola
Hooker, Thomas
Hopi
Horses
House of Burgesses
Housing
Hudson, Henry
Hudson River
Huguenots
Humboldt, Alexander von
Huron
Hutchinson, Anne
Hutchinson, Thomas
Immigration
Indentured Servitude
Indigo
Inheritance
Inns and Taverns (Public Houses)
Iron
Iroquois Confederacy
Jamaica
James I
James II
Jamestown
Jay, John
Jefferson, Thomas
Jesuits
Jews
Johnson, Sir William
Joint-Stock Companies
Jolliet, Louis
Kentucky
Kieft’s War
King George’s War
King Philip’s War
King’s College
Kitchens, Colonial
Laborers, Rural
Laborers, Urban
Land and Real Estate
Landlords
Language
La Salle, RenÉ Robert Cavelier, Sieur de
Las Casas, BartolomÉ de
Law and Courts
Lee, Richard Henry
Leisler, Jacob
Lenni Lenape (Delaware)
Lexington and Concord, Battles of
Libraries
Literature
Livestock
Locke, John
Long Island
Louis XIV
Louisiana
Loyalists
Maine
Malaria
Manufacturing
Maps and Surveys
Marquette, Jacques
Marriage and Divorce
Mary I
Maryland
Massachusetts
Massachusetts Bay
Massachusetts Bay Charter
Massachusetts Bay Colony
Massasoit
Mather, Cotton
Mather, Increase
Maya
Mayflower Compact
MenÉndez de AvilÉs, Pedro
Mercantilism
Merchants
Methodist Church
Mexico City
Military and Diplomatic Affairs (overview)
Militias
Ministers and the Ministry
Missions
Mississippi River
Mohawk
Mohegan
Montcalm, Louis-Joseph
Montezuma II
Montreal
Murray, Judith Sargent
Music
Natchez
Native American–African American Relations
Native American–European Conflict
Native American–European Relations
Native Americans
Native Americans and Slavery
Navajo
Navigation Acts (1651–1733)
Navy, British
Negro Election Day
New Amsterdam
New Bern
New England, Dominion of
New Hampshire
New Haven
New Jersey
New Mexico
New Netherland
New Orleans
New Spain
New York
New York City
Newfoundland
Newport
Newspapers and Journals
North, Lord
North Carolina
Northwest Passage
Of Plymouth Plantation
Oglethorpe, James
Ohio Country
Oliver, Andrew
OÑate, Juan de
Oneida
Onondaga
Opechancanough
Orphans
Otis, James
Ottawa
Paine, Thomas
Patriots
Patroons
Paxton Boys
Peddlers
Penn, William
Pennsylvania
Pequot
Philadelphia
Philip, King (Metacom)
Philip II
Piedmont
Pietism
Pilgrims
Piracy
Pitt, William
Plantations
Planters
Plymouth
Pocahontas
Politics and Government (overview)
Ponce de LeÓn, Juan
Pontiac
Poor Richard’s Almanack
Population and Demographics
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Potomac River
Powhatan
Powhatan Confederacy
Praying Towns
Precious Metals
Presbyterianism
Prisons and Punishment
Proclamation of 1763
Property and Property Rights
Prostitution
Providence
Pueblo
Puerto Rico
Puritanism
Quakers
Quebec Act (1774)
Quebec City
Queen Anne’s War
Quincy, Josiah, Jr
Race and Ethnicity (overview)
Raleigh, Sir Walter
Reading and Literacy
Reformation
Regulators
Religion (overview)
Religions, African
Religions, Native American
Revere, Paul
Revolutionary War
Rhode Island
Rice
Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved, The (1764)
Riots
Roanoke Colony
Rolfe, John
Rowlandson, Mary
Royal African Company
Rush, Benjamin
Saint-Domingue
Salem
Santa Fe
Savannah
Science
Scots-Irish
Seminole
Seneca
Sermons
Serra, Fray JunÍpero
Servants, Domestic
Sex
Shakers
Ship’s Stores
Sint Eustatius
Slave Communities and Culture
Slave Rebellions
Slave Trade
Slavery, African American
Slavery, Caribbean
Smallpox
Smith, John
Sons of Liberty
South Carolina
Sports and Recreation
Squanto
St. Augustine
St. Kitts
St. Lawrence River
St. Louis
Stamp Act (1765)
Stuyvesant, Peter
Sugar
Sugar Act (1764)
Susquehanna
Swedes
Syphilis
Taino
Taylor, Edward
Tea
Tea Act (1773)
Technology
Tenant Farming
Tennessee
Texas
Theater
Tidewater
Tobacco
Tools
Tordesillas, Treaty of (1494)
Townshend, Charles
Townshend Acts (1767)
Trade
Transportation, Land
Transportation, Water
Triangle Trade
Tuscarora
Tuscarora War
Vermont
Verrazano, Giovanni da
Vespucci, Amerigo
Vikings
Virginia
Virginia Company
War
War of Jenkins’ Ear
Warren, Mercy Otis
Washington, George
Weaponry
West, Benjamin
Wheatley, Phillis
Whitefield, George
Widows and Widowers
Wilkes, John
William and Mary, College of
William III of Orange and Mary II
Williams, Roger
Williamsburg
Winslow, Josiah
Winthrop, John
Witchcraft and Witch Trials
Wolfe, James
Women
Wright, Susanna
Yale College
Yamasee
Yamasee War
Yeomanry
Zenger, John Peter
Zuni
Chronologies
Thematic
Arts, Culture, and Intellectual Life
Economy, Business, and Labor
Gender Issues
Military and Diplomatic Affairs
Politics and Government
Race and Ethnicity
Religion
Science and Technology
Geographic
Caribbean
Connecticut
Delaware
French Colonies on Mainland North America
Georgia
Maryland
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York and New Netherland
North Carolina
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Spanish Colonies on Mainland North America
Virginia
Primary Documents
Columbus’s Letter Announcing His Discoveries in the New World (1493)
John Cabot’s Discovery of North America (1497)
The Founding of St. Augustine (1565)
The Constitution of the Iroquois Nations (c. 1570)
A Call for English Colonization of America (1584)
The Jamestown Settlement (1607–1609)
The Mayflower Compact (1620)
Rights and Privileges of Patroons (1629)
A Modell of Christian Charity (1630)
The Trial of Anne Hutchinson (1637)
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639)
Psalm 23 from The Bay Psalm Book (1640)
Maryland Toleration Act (1649)
Connecticut Blue Laws (1650)
Virginia Slave Laws (1660s)
Upon the Burning of Our House (1666)
John Eliot and His Work with Native Americans (1670)
Probate Inventory of a Plymouth Colony Estate (1672)
Marquette’s Travels on the Mississippi (1673)
Governor William Berkeley on Bacon’s Rebellion (1676)
Protest of German Quakers Against Slavery (1688)
John Clayton’s Report on Virginia (1688)
Commission of Sir Edmund Andros for the Dominion of New England (1688)
The Salem Witch Trial of Susanna Martin (1692)
Thomas Brattle on the Salem Trials (1692)
A Poem Recalling the Hanging of a Relative due to the Salem Witch Trials (in 1692; pub.1857)
Raising Colonial Children (1699)
Founding of New Sweden (1700s)
Pennsylvania Charter of Privileges (1701)
The Journal of Sarah Kemble Knight (1704)
The French and the Fur Trade (1724)
A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper Currency (1729)
Oglethorpe’s Vision for the Founding of Georgia (1733)
The Trial of Peter Zenger (1735)
Maxims from Poor Richard’s Almanack (1739)
The Demand for Slavery in Georgia (1743)
Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation (c. 1744)
Advice to a Young Tradesman (1748)
Gottlieb Mittelberger on Immigration to the Colonies (c. 1750)
Captivity Narrative of Mary Jemison in the 1750s (pub. 1824)
A Report on the Kite Experiment (1752)
Correspondence of Benjamin Franklin (1752, 1753, 1769)
Founding Colleges in America (1754)
Colonial Recipe for Apple Tansey (1754)
Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie (in 1755; pub. 1847)
Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved (1764)
Townshend Revenue Act (1767)
Newspaper Account of the Boston Massacre (1770)
On the Death of the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield (1770)
On Being Brought from Africa to America (early 1770s)
A Tutor and his Pupils (1773–1774)
The Boston Port Act (1774)
Slave Petition to the Governor, Council, and House of Representatives of the Province of Massachusetts (1774)
A Case for Non-Interference by Parliament (1775)
Petition of London Merchants for Reconciliation with the Colonies (1775)
Tobacco Growing (1775)
Common Sense (1776)
Letters between Abigail Adams and John Adams (1776)
The Declaration of Independence (1776)
