Europeans Establish Colonies Study Guide

Question 1

What is the significance of the year 1607?

Answer 1

Jamestown is established.

Question 2

What is the significance of the year 1619?

Answer 2

Virginia House of Burgesses

Question 3

What is the significance of the year 1620?

Answer 3

The arrival of the Pilgrims and the Mayflower Compact.

Question 4

Why is Jamestown a significant colony in U.S. History?

Answer 4

First permanent and successful English settlement in modern day US.

Question 5

Why was Jamestown established?

Answer 5

To create wealth/find gold in the new world

Question 6

What is the main cash crop of the Jamestown settlement?

Answer 6

Tobacco

Question 7

Describe the significance of the Virginia House of Burgesses.

Answer 7

It was the first English representative government in America.

Question 8

Define representative government.

Answer 8

A type of democracy where elected persons represent a group of people.

Question 9

Why was the colony of Plymouth established?

Answer 9

Religious freedom, escape persecution

Question 10

What is the significance of the Mayflower Compact?

Answer 10

It was the first document to establish self-government in the New World. (Law made by the people is the rule of law)

Question 11

What does the Virginia House of Burgesses, Mayflower Compact, and Fundamental Orders of Connecticut it have in common?

Answer 11

Forms of self government and support the growth of representative government in the colonies

Question 12

The Thirteen Colonies were primarily located along the what?

Answer 12

Eastern coast of North America

Question 13

How did the Pilgrims survive their first year at Plymouth?

Answer 13

They established a peace treaty and agreed to trade for animal furs. One Wampanoag man, Squanto, had traveled to Europe and could speak some English. He agreed to stay with the Pilgrims and teach them how to survive. He taught them how to plant corn, where to hunt and fish, and how to survive through the winter.

Question 14

Identify the New England Colonies.

Answer 14

New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. (HMRC)

Question 15

Identify the Middle Colonies.

Answer 15

Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware. (PYJD)

Question 16

Identify the Southern Colonies.

Answer 16

Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. (MVCCG)

Question 17

Define cash crops.

Answer 17

A cash crop or profit crop is an agricultural crop which is grown to sell for profit.

Question 18

Examples of cash crops in the colonies are what?

Answer 18

Tobacco, indigo, cotton, sugarcane, and rice. (TICSR)

Question 19

Define mercantilism.

Answer 19

A popular economic philosophy in the 17th and 18th centuries. In this system, the British colonies were moneymakers for the mother country. The British put restrictions on how their colonies spent their money so that they could control their economies.

Question 20

How did the environment influence the economy of the New England colonies?

Answer 20

Because the soil was rocky and the climate was often harsh, colonists in the New England only farmed enough to feed their families. Some of these crops included corn, beans, and squash. The New England colonies, however, were full of forests, giving the colonists the important natural resource of trees (timber, shipbuilding).

Question 21

How did the environment influence the economy of the middle colonies?

Answer 21

Their climate is cold, they have wet/long winters, and hot summers with plenty of rain. Most farms grow wheat, rye, barley (BREADBASKET). The rivers and ports in the Middle Colonies allowed merchants to bring goods in and out of the area. This contributed to the region becoming a center of colonial trade.

Question 22

How did the environment influence the economy of the Southern Colonies?

Answer 22

The environmental factors that made farming in the Southern colonies the most productive was: rich soil, flat ground and a longer growing season. Plantations were very large and produced cash crops of tobacco, cotton, indigo, sugarcane and rice.

Question 23

How did the migration of Europeans to North America affect Native Americans?

Answer 23

Diseases spread, conflict over land, Columbian exchange

Question 24

Which group first settled the colony of Maryland to escape persecution in England?

Answer 24

Catholics

Question 25

Describe Oglethorpe’s plan for settling Georgia.

Answer 25

James Oglethorpe asked King George for permission to create a utopian experiment for English citizens imprisoned for debt. England’s prison population could be decreased, and thousands of individuals could be given a new chance at life.

Question 26

Describe William Penn’s plan for settling Pennsylvania with the Quakers.

Answer 26

Penn established the Province of Pennsylvania as a “holy experiment”–intended for Quakers but open to everyone. Penn believed in religious toleration.

Question 27

Describe Maryland’s Toleration Act of 1649.

Answer 27

The act was meant to ensure freedom of religion for Christian settlers of diverse persuasions in the colony.

Question 28

What trade route brought slaves to the Thirteen English Colonies?

Answer 28

Transatlantic Slave Trade

Question 29

Describe the Pilgrims of Plymouth.

Answer 29

The Pilgrims who settled Plymouth colony belonged to the most extreme and uncompromising sect of Puritans. They were separatists, who had broken all ties with the Church of England. -Mayflower Compact

Question 30

Describe the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Answer 30

English Protestants who were committed to “purifying” the Church of England by eliminating all aspects of Catholicism from religious practices.

Question 31

Describe the Quakers of Pennsylvania.

Answer 31

The colony of Pennsylvania was founded by Wiliam Penn in 1682 as a safe place for Quakers to live and practice their faith. Quakers have been a significant part of the movements for the abolition of slavery, to promote equal rights for women, and peace.

Question 32

What were some of the southern colonies’ successes and failures?

Answer 32

Virginia—profit with tobacco; Maryland—first law supporting religious toleration; Carolinas—managed poorly and bought by British government; Georgia—settlers unhappy with Oglethorpe’s laws so it was bought by British government

Question 33

How did disagreements cause new colonies to be established?

Answer 33

Roger Williams and his followers started the Rhode Island colony after they were forced to leave Massachusetts over disagreements with colony leadership. Anne Hutchinson and her followers were also forced to leave Massachusetts. They started the colony of Portsmouth.

Question 34

What happened in 1664?

Answer 34

An English fleet captured New Netherland from the Dutch and renamed it New York.

Question 35

How did the Great Awakening affect the English colonists?

Answer 35

It led some colonists to begin demanding more political equality.