From Ms. Pojer’sWebsite: historyteacher.

net

Colonization

• textbook: pg. 33 to mid-pg. 40.

• document: "Our Plantation Is Very Weak - The Experiences of an Indentured Servant in
Virginia" (1623)
1. What were the goals and motivations behind English colonization of the Chesapeake?
2. Why was the survival rate so low for the English settlers of early Virginia?
3. What was the headright system? How did this policy promote British migration to the New
World?
4. What was the nature of the early relationship between the Virginia colonists and the local
native Indian tribes? What happened in 1622 that changed that relationship?
5. How did the introduction of tobacco to the Chesapeake region affect the colony of Virginia?
6. Explain the system of indentureship. What was life like for indentured servants?
7. Why did indentured servants become important to the early Virginia economy and society?
8. How did the evolution of the Virginia colony between 1607 and 1625 reveal the impact of
New World conditions on aims and expectations?
9. Why was Maryland founded? How did it differ from the Virginia colony?
10. What problems plagued the Maryland colony?
11. What powers did a proprietor have?
12. What was the role of the "back-country" settlements in the early colonial Chesapeake
region?
13. Why were the back-country settlers such an annoyance to the colonial government?
14. Why did Bacon's Rebellion occur in 1675-1676?
15. What impact did this Rebellion have on African slavery?
• textbook: mid-pg. 40 to top of pg. 48
• document: The Mayflower Compact (1620)

• document: A Model of Christian Charity - John Winthrop (1630)

1. What were the goals of the Separatists who settled in Plymouth in 1620?
2. How was the early "Plymouth Plantation" governed?
3. What was the Pilgrims' relationship with Native Americans? How did their experiences
differ from those of the Virginia settlers?
4. What were some of the religious beliefs of the early Puritans who settled in New England?
Why were they called Puritans?
5. What were the differences between Puritans and Pilgrims?
6. According to their leader, John Winthrop, what did the Puritans believe to be their purpose
in coming to America?
7. List some of the reasons for dissent in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Trace the evolution
of increased political participation of the colony's male members.
8. What threats did Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson pose to the Massachusetts Bay
leadership?
9. What did the challenges to Puritan authority reveal about Puritan religious and social
beliefs?
10. What was the basis of economic wealth in the New England colonies?
11. How was agriculture and the economy in New England different from that in the South?
12. What factors caused relations between the Native Americans and the colonists in New
England to result in the Pequot War?
13. What were the causes of King Philip's War? What were the long-term affects of this war
on Native Americans? on the New England colonists?
14. How was New England society different from that created in the Chesapeake colonies?
• textbook: top of pg. 48 to mid-pg. 59.
[11th ed. --> mid-pg. 49 - top of pg. 57; mid-pg. 59 - pg. 60]
1. How did the Stuart Restoration affect those English colonies already established in
America? How did it affect attitudes about founding more settlements?
2. What sort of social order took root in the Carolinas? Why was it different from that
proposed under Carolina's Fundamental Constitution?
3. How did southern Carolina's close ties with the British island of Barbados influence the
development of the colony's society?
4. Why were the Carolinas one of the most unstable of all the English colonies in America?
5. Why did the English resent the Dutch presence in America?
6. Why did power in New York remain widely dispersed? Who shared this power?
7. Why were the Dutch unable to maintain a colony in New York? How were the British able to
acquire it?
8. List some of the major social and economic characteristics of the royal colony of New York.
9. Identify the key beliefs and practices of the Quakers. Why can it be said that they were
the most anarchistic and democratic of all the Protestant sects?
10. What plans did William Penn have for the establishment of a new colony from the land
granted him by King Charles II?
11. How did the influence of the Quakers make Pennsylvania an unique colony? Why was it
called a "holy experiment?"
12. Why did social and political tensions eventually occur in the Pennsylvania colony?
13. Why did British colonists in the Caribbean turn to African slavery as a source of labor?
14. Why was it difficult to establish a stable society and culture in the Caribbean colonies?
15. Why was Georgia founded? How was it different from the other British colonies?
16. What were the colonization policies of James Oglethorpe and his fellow trustees in
Georgia? Why did the strict rules governing life in the colony ensure the failure of
Oglethorpe's vision?
17. Explain the relationship between Europeans and Native Americans in the "middle grounds."
Colonial Society
• textbook: pp. 61 - 62; mid-pg. 77 - mid-pg. 85
1. Describe the economy of the Chesapeake region, and explain why it developed as it did.
2. How did the economy of South Carolina and Georgia differ from that of the Chesapeake?
How was it similar?
3. Explain the commercial economy that emerged in the northern colonies alongside the
agricultural one. What role did technology play in this?
4. What were the limitations of colonial technology? Just how self-sufficient were American
colonists?
5. What were the goals of a mercantilist economic policy?
6. What was the "Triangle Trade?" How was it a response to British mercantile policies?
7. How were the Navigation Acts an example of Britain's mercantilist thinking? How
successful were they in achieving their goals?
8. Explain the growing preoccupation with consumption of material goods in the British colonies
and how this preoccupation was associated with social status.
9. How did the plantation system in the American South illustrate both the differences
between the colonial and English class systems and the way in which colonial communities
evolved in response to local conditions?
10. What were the characteristics of plantation slavery?
11. How was the plantation an economic unit? a social unit?
12. What was the cause of the Stono Rebellion?
1. What were the characteristics of communities that emerged in Puritan New England?
2. How was the family central to the Puritan community?
3. How did the experience of America affect the patriarchal family?
4. Why did people accuse someone of witchcraft?
5. Who were the typical accused? typical accusers?
6. Why did "witchcraft" seem to appear so suddenly in Salem, MA in 1692? Were there any
political / economic / cultural reasons?
7. How did the witchcraft hysteria of the 1680s and 1690s result from a "gap between the
expectations of a united community and the reality of a diverse and divided one?"
• textbook: mid-pg. 86 - 89; end of pg. 91 - 97. ]
 1. How was the Halfway Communion [Halfway Covenant] a move to address these tensions?
2. What was the First "Great Awakening?" Who brought it about? What groups in colonial
society were most attracted to this religious movement?
3. Identify the differences between the "Old Lights" and the "New Lights."
4. What were the effects of the Great Awakening?
5. What was the Enlightenment? How did it differ from the Great Awakening?
6. What colonial colleges were in operation by 1763? Why was each founded, and what
subjects were studied in the mid-18c?
7. What evidence was there that the influence of the Enlightenment was spreading in
America?
8. Explain the working of the law in colonial America--the concepts on which it was based, and
the way it functioned.
9. What was the significance of the John Peter Zenger trial?
Britain Asserts Her Power
• textbook: pg. 102 to mid-pg. 113.

1. How did the relationship between king and Parliament change during the early 18c? What
role did the prime minister play in this change?
2. Why was the period of the late 17c and early 18c called the "Era of Salutary Neglect?"
3. How did British officials in the colonies carry out [or fail to carry out] their duties? What
was the effect of their activities?
4. What was the Albany Plan of Union? Why did it fail? What did it reveal about colonial
unity?
5. How did the French attempt to secure their hold on the vast areas they claimed in North
America?
6. What were the causes of the "Great War for Empire" [the Sevens Years' War or French
and Indian War]? Why was it given that name?
7. How did the Great War for Empire become a truly international conflict? What role did the
French and British colonies play in this war?
8. What were the stereotypes that the English had about the American colonists? that the
American colonists had about the British?
9. What role did Native Americans play in the French and Indian War?
10. Why did the French lose?
11. List the terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1763.
12. What arguments were raised for and against the post-1763 "territorial imperialism?" How
did this new policy alter British attitudes toward the colonies?
13. What initial policy changed occurred when George III ascended the throne? What were the
king's motives for these changes?
14. Why was King George II the wrong monarch at the wrong time for England in regard to its
North American colonial empire?
15. How did Prime Minister George Grenville change British policy toward her colonies in North
America?
16.
What was it about post-1763 British policy that would cause colonists in every section to
see the disadvantages rather than the advantages of being part of the British Empire?
• textbook: mid-pg. 113 to pg. 124.

1. Why did the Stamp Act so antagonize the American colonists?

2. How did actions by the Stamp Act crowd raise questions of whether protests in the colonies
represented more than opposition to British policies?
3. What was England's response to the American protests over the Stamp Act. Explain how
the policies of Charles Townshend and of Lord North differed.
4. What role did Samuel Adams play in the American protests? How did his view of the need
for American independence differ from those of most other colonial leaders at the time?
5. How did the Boston Massacre add to the growing tensions between the colonists and the
British presence in North America?
6. How did the colonial view of the nature of the British Empire differ from the view by
George III and his supporters?
7. What was the "political outlook" that gained a following in America and ultimately served to
justify revolt?
8. Why was the Tea Act seen by many Americans as a threat to themselves and their
institutions?
9. What were the Coercive Acts? How did the Quebec Act help to unite the colonies with
Boston in opposition to these acts?
10. How and why did taverns become a central institution in colonial American social life? What
circumstances and events helped make taverns central to political life as well?
11. What role was played by Committees of Correspondence in the American protests?
12. What were the FIVE major decisions made at the First Continental Congress? What was
their significance?
13. What British leaders spoke out in support of the American cause? What were their reasons
for doing so?
14. What were the circumstances that led to the fighting at Lexington and Concord?

• textbook: pg. 127 to mid-pg. 133; pg. 142 - 143 {"The Age of Revolutions}
• PowerPoint: "The American Revolution."

1. List the divisions within the Second Continental Congress and give the aim of each faction.
How did the factions attempt to gain their ends?
2. What were the major arguments presented by Thomas Paine in Common Sense?
3. How did the pamphlet, Common Sense, address the problem of the aim of the war? What
was its impact on American opinion?
4. What were the philosophical roots of the Declaration of Independence? What effect did
the Declaration have on the struggle?
5. What are the major interpretations of the origins of the American Revolution that have
been advanced by historians?
6. What were the characteristics of the governments--state and national--set up by
Americans to conduct the war?
7. What problems did the Americans face in providing the necessary supplies and equipment
for the war and in paying for them? How were these problems, at least initially, overcome?
• textbook: mid-pg. 133 to mid-pg. 148.

1. Identify the advantages and disadvantages of both the Patriots and the British on the eve
of the Revolutionary War.
2. Why was George Washington selected as the best person to make the most of these
advantages?
3. What were the initial setbacks in the war during 1776? What was the significance of the
Battles of Trenton and Princeton in this regard?
4. What was the initial plan for the British campaign of 1777? How was this altered? What
affect did this alteration have on the outcome?
5. What were the American diplomatic goals at the start of the war? What problems did they
face? What efforts were made to overcome them?
6. How did the victory at Saratoga affect American diplomatic efforts? How did England and
France respond to this news? What was the result?
7. Why did the British decide to launch a campaign against the southern colonies in 1778?
What advantages and disadvantages did each side have in this region?
8. Why did the British "Southern Strategy" backfire?
9. How was Spain an obstacle to the American hopes for peace with independence?How did
this affect American diplomacy before the Battle of Yorktown?
10. What was the significance of the Yorktown victory for the colonists? for the British?
11. What were the provisions of the Treaty of Paris in 1783? How did the Treaty affect
relations among the United Sates, France, and Spain?
12. Who were the Loyalists? What elements in America remained loyal to the King, and for
what reasons?
13. What happened to the Loyalists?
14. What effect did the war have on other minorities? How was its significance to African-
Americans both limited, and yet significant?
15. How did the Revolution affect the way American women thought about their status? What
changes resulted from this new awareness?
16. What changes did the Revolution produce in the structure of the American economy?
• textbook: mid-pg. 148 to mid-pg. 166.

1. What was it about the concept of a republican government that so appealed to Americans?
2. How did Americans propose to avoid what they considered to be the problems of the British
system they were repudiating?
3. What was unique about the constitution drawn up by Massachusetts?
4. How did these new constitutions deal with the question of religious freedom? How did they
deal with slavery?
5. What type of government did the Articles of Confederation create? What were its major
features?
6. Why was the Confederation government organized as it was?
7. Why was there a delay in its ratification? How were the obstacles to its ratification
overcome?
8. How did the Treaty of Paris of 1783 fail to resolve, or in some cases help to create, strain
between the United States, England, and Spain?
9. What commercial arrangements did American shippers and traders want after the war had
ended? Why did they feel this was needed, and how successful were they in accomplishing
their aims?
10. What postwar problems existed between the United States and Spain? What attempts
were made to solve the problems? Why did these attempts fail?
11. Explain how different versions of the cadastral system have profoundly different
consequences for the way colonial lands and societies developed.
12. How did the government of the United States determine which cadastral system was most
appropriate for the new republic?
13. How did the Confederate Congress attempt to solve the problem of the status of western
territory that the states had ceded to it?
14. Which interest groups favored which plans for the sale and distribution of land?
15. How did the Confederation deal with the Indians who also claimed the western land?
16. What were the sources of the Confederation's postwar economic problems? How did the
government attempt to solve them? What were the results?
17. Why was paper money seen as a solution to the economic problems of one element in
American society? Who opposed this and why?
18. How did the action of Daniel Shays and his followers relate to the economic problems of the
Confederation period? What was the significance of the movement he led?
19. Who were the advocated of centralization? Why did they want to alter or abolish the
Articles of Confederation?
20. What did those who favored centralization see as the most serious problem of the
Articles? How would they have changed them? What had prevented any changes?
21. What were the characteristics of the men who met at the Constitutional Convention in
Philadelphia? What were their socio-economic backgrounds?
22. What were the main positions of the Virginia and New Jersey Plans?
23. How did the Great Compromise draw from those Plans?
24. How did sectionalism and the issue of slavery influence the Constitution?
25. List the provisions and the underlying principles of the U. S. Constitution.
26. Explain the ongoing debate between historians over the motives of the men who framed the
American Constitution.
27. How has the debate over the origins of the Constitution mirrored the debate over the
causes of the American Revolution?