Unit 1 & 2

Question 1

Jamestown, Virginia (define and list terms associated)

Answer 1

Jamestown = first permanent English settlement in North America & first Chesapeake colony

Starving Time
John Rolfe + strain of tobacco
Headright system
Bacon's Rebellion
House of Burgesses

Question 2

Starving Time (describe background as well)

Answer 2

King James I chartered the Virginia Company of London (joint stock corporation) to settle this land

Sent a group of single men to the Americas (Jamestown), who hoped to demand tribute from the Indians and find wealth. Men came without physical work experience, refusals to work/plant crops

Spent all their time searching for riches (gold/silver) rather than raising crops –> Indian attacks, lack of access to fresh water (malaria + dysentery), food shortages + famine

Starving Time = widespread starvation & death in the colonist population

Question 3

John Rolfe

Answer 3

Saved the colony by finding a strain of tobacco that could flourish in Virginia soil (tobacco = first important cash crop in the colonies)

Taxes on imported tobacco bolstered the royal treasury
Tobacco also required a large workforce to harvest –> Headright System

Question 4

Headright System

Answer 4

Used to attract settlers & supply workers

Offered 50 acres of land for each person that a settler paid to bring over

Labor on these large estates was done by white indentured servants – couldn’t afford passage across the Atlantic, so they signed a labor contract in which they worked for 7 years, and then afterwards they were let free and promised freedom dues

Created a class of wealthy landowners that held most of the power

Question 5

Bacon’s Rebellion

Answer 5

Encroachment of British settlers on Indian land led them to retaliate –> raided colonial farms and attacked frontier settlements –> colonists appealed to governor of Virginia, William Berkeley, to send troops to keep them safe –> Berkeley refused

Bacon led settlers in a revolt against Indians & colonial gov’t (burned Jamestown)

Example of average people rebelling against authority

Exposed political discontent (colonists expected a gov’t that served more than just a wealthy few) & class struggle (resentment of poor frontiersmen for elite planters)

Effect - elite planters began to fear more uprisings led by the large population of indentured servants → sought new source of labor for plantations that were less likely to rebel → established need for African slaves

Question 6

House of Burgesses

Answer 6

System of representative government

1st elected colonial legislature

Could make laws & levy taxes

White, male property owners could vote

Question 7

Plymouth, Massachusetts (list terms associated)

Answer 7

Mayflower Compact
Massachusetts Bay Company + John Winthrop
Roger Williams
Anne Hutchinson

Question 8

Mayflower Compact

Answer 8

Self governing church congregation, early form of constitution

Established powers & duties of gov’t (first document of self gov’t in North America)

Theocracy — religious leaders and ministers = political governors

Question 9

Roger Williams

Answer 9

Banished from colonies → founded Rhode Island

Separation of Church and state

Believed citizens should be able to practice any religion they chose (freedom of conscience)

Question 10

Anne Hutchinson

Answer 10

Banished from colonies → her followers went on to found New Hampshire

Argued church citizenship should be based on inner grace and not outward displays like church attendance

Woman preaching unorthodox ideas

Question 11

Maryland Toleration Act

Answer 11

Granted religious tolerance and freedom to Christian settlers of different denominations

Aimed to protect Roman Catholics

Question 12

Compare Spanish and French

Answer 12

Similarity — Both sought interactions and intermarriage with the Native population, the Spanish with their casta system and the French with intermarriage to gain access to the extensive networks of the fur trade.

Difference — The Spanish sought to impose their culture (language, institutions, religion) onto the Native population by burning their books and forcing conversion to Christianity. However, for the French, there was limited Catholic evangelization, and they had more of an economic motive in trade rather than social/political in conquest. Some settlers even learned the language to build kinship diplomatic ties so they could acquire furs and other products for export to Europe.

Question 13

Compare Spanish and English

Answer 13

Similarity — Both sought to acquire wealth due to the economic system at the time, mercantilism, which stated that there was only a finite amount of wealth in the world. It was characterized by creating a favorable balance of trade (more exports less imports) through the establishment of colonies for raw materials and markets for manufactured goods

Difference — The Spanish subjugated the Native population and forced assimilation into their colonial society (casta system). The English on the other hand did not interact with them and excluded them from colonial society, instead encroaching on their land and expelling them (Metacom’s war).

Question 14

Encomiendas

Answer 14

Grants given by the crown to successful conquistadors in exchange for their exploration of lands

Allowed them to claim tribute in the form of labor and goods from Indian communities

Question 15

Triangular trade

Answer 15

Involved Africa, America, and Europe

Manufactured goods (EX: Textiles, rum, guns) were shipped from Europe to Africa

Traded for enslaved laborers who were brought to the British West Indies via the Middle Passage (famous for its brutal conditions)

Traded for raw materials harvested on plantations (EX: sugar) which was brought back to Europe

Question 16

Las Casas

Answer 16

Saw first hand the injustice of the encomienda system; argued on behalf of the Indians

Suggested that Africans replace natives in the coercive labor system

Hoped to influence the monarchs of Spain by his writing

Question 17

First Great Awakening (1700s-1740s)

Answer 17

Religious (Puritan) movement characterized by its intense religious fervor

New sermons emerged that were shorter, more applicable, more emotional

Appealed most to people who were struggling (women, the poor, etc)

Advocated for personal Bible interpretation

Question 18

Jonathan Edwards

Answer 18

American born New England minister

Vivid descriptions of sin + hell (Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God)

Preached from local pulpit in NE

Question 19

George Whitefield

Answer 19

Came from England

Traveled throughout all the colonies, preaching in fields & open city squares

Intense sermons — God was all powerful, personal salvation

Taught that ordinary people could understand the gospels w/o ministers

Question 20

Religious Effects of First Great Awakening

Answer 20

Spurred a large scale return to the Christian faith

Undermined the authority of established churches + ministers. Their power originally rested on respect for their higher education and knowledge of the Bible. However, now people started studying the Bible in their own homes

New Lights founded new Protestant denominations (Baptists & Methodists) –> led to religious diversity/tolerance for all evangelical sects

Question 21

Social Effects of First Great Awakening

Answer 21

Everyone is seen equal in God’s eyes, salvation for all → no class system developing

Encouraged the notion of equal rights; all colonists shared a common experience

Brought religion to those previously excluded from church (EX: minorities, blacks, women, poor)

Question 22

Political Effects of First Great Awakening

Answer 22

Democratizing effect; changed view of authority; New Light Clergy emphasized democratic ideas in the Bible

Many colonies formed self governing structures like participatory town meetings

Calls for separation of church and state

If the common people could make their own religious decisions without relying on ministers, then might they also make their own political decisions without deferring to the political elite?

Question 23

Enlightenment

Answer 23

A movement in which people began to emphasize reason, individualism, rational thinking over tradition, superstition, religious revelation

Question 24

John Locke

Answer 24

Political authority was not given by God to monarchs (traditional idea of the divine right of kings), but instead from the consent of the governed, or the common people

All people were born with a tabula rasa, or blank slate, meaning that everyone was born equal and with certain natural rights to life, liberty, and property

Social contract: the power to govern was in the hands of the people, and they willingly gave over some up of that power to a gov’t who was responsible for protecting their natural rights

If the gov’t failed to protect these rights, citizens had the right to revolt against it

Question 25

Baron Montesquieu

Answer 25

Introduced the idea of three different branches of government (checked the power of each other) Separated executive branch (president) from the legislative branch (Congress) and from the judiciary branch (federal judges) Laid the foundation for the creation of a republican government

Question 26

Effects of the Enlightenment

Answer 26

Awakened American colonists to ideas about liberty, natural rights, democratic self government Colonists became increasingly aware of violations to their natural rights → rebellions

Question 27

Albany Plan

Answer 27

Britain offered financial support for colonists willing to fight but most did not (tension bc of quartering and inequality in rank) Benjamin Franklin proposed Albany Plan to unite colonists to fight Establish a continental assembly (gov’t between different colonies); system for recruiting troops, collecting taxes, providing defense However, it was rejected because colonial legislatures were afraid to lose their self government and independence (failed) Significant because it set a precedent for later, more revolutionary congresses in 1770s

Question 28

Proclamation of 1763

Answer 28

After British victory in French and Indian War, Indians were angered by the growing westward movement of European settlers onto their land Pontiac’s Rebellion: Indians in Ohio Valley destroyed colonial settlements on western frontier Taught Britain to slow down colonial settlement → Proclamation of 1763 Proclamation of 1763: forbade colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains British rationale — hoped that limiting settlements would prevent future hostilities (wars/uprisings) between colonists and Indians It would also be difficult to govern the colonies (regulate trade & taxes) from overseas This angered the colonists, who had hoped to move to Ohio River Valley to reap benefits Many ignored the law bc that was the reason they fought the war to begin with

Question 29

Navigation Acts

Answer 29

Laws Britain passed to restrict trade between colonies & other European countries 1. Colonies may not export cash crops (sugar, tobacco) to any country but England; also had to be carried by English ships (may be built in New England) 3. All foreign imports to Colonies must go through England first; subject to duties (import tax) 4. Colonies may not manufacture Mostly went ignored in Colonies (Salutary neglect: the time those acts were not enforced; colonies developed a black market of smuggling manufacturing goods)

Question 30

Writs of Assistance

Answer 30

British Parliament passed the writs of assistance (blanket search warrants) which allowed British officials to enter any ship/building to search for smuggled goods and seize them Colonists believed Parliament's actions violated their natural rights and their traditional guarantees as English citizens to privacy

Question 31

Describe 3 causes of the tensions between Britain and its American Colonies (Road to Revolution)

Answer 31

1. Enlightenment - awakened American colonists to ideas about liberty, natural rights, democratic self government 2. Britain's debt from French and Indian war - led it to raise revenue through taxation of the colonies to fund the empire, pay for the salaries of government officials, and pay back debt 3. Virtual vs actual representation in British Parliament

Question 32

Social effects of 2nd Great Awakening

Answer 32

Inspired by this religious revival, Americans pursued efforts to cleanse society of its ills → reform movements & formation of benevolent societies/charities (women got involved in these as well)