CHAPTER 1

What were the main characteristics of the Indian

civilizations of Mesoamerica?
Most people were farmers, elite lived extravagantly
off poor, peasants taxed, elaborate cities, believed in gods.
How were eastern woodland Indian societies organized and
governed?
Organized into clans, governed by kin ties (loosely by
clan elders and chiefs)
Compare and contrast the main features of the traditional
agricultural society of Europe with those of Mesoamerica and
the eastern woodlands of North America.
Europe: Peasants ruled by nobles w/ cooperative
farming
Mesoamerica: Peasants ruled by nobles w/
cooperative farming, non-Aztec Indians for labor
Eastern Woodland: Discouraged accumulation
Why and how did Portugal and Spain pursue overseas
commerce and conquest?
Portugal sought wealth and resources (spices, slaves)
in Africa and India; able to accomplish with improved navigation
and caravel
Spain originally sought a new westward route to Asia,
shifted to acquiring wealth/gold from Mesoamerican civilizations
Compare and contrast the Portuguese impact in Africa with the
Spanish impact in America.
Portugal: Positive impact; introduced new
plants/animals, expanded trade network
Spain: Negative impact; heavily changed
environment and native people
How did Protestant religious doctrine differ from that of Roman
Catholicism?
\_()_/
What was the impact of the Columbian Exchange in food, people,
diseases, and gold on the Americas, Europe and Africa?
Americas: Disease decreased population,
repopulated by European colonists and African slaves
Europe: More wealth in circulation, potatoes and
other crops increased population
Africa: Slave trade decreased population, provided
wealth for Europe

 What factors prompted the large-scale migration from

England to America?
Religious conflict in Europe following Queen
Elizabeths compromise
Price Revolution made standard of living too high for
most peasants
Overpopulation due to rapid population growth after
1550
Enclosure Acts displaced many peasants
Yeomen looking for lands following profit gain due to
Price Revolution
Little Ice Age yielding low amounts of crops

CHAPTER 2
What were the colonial goals of the Spanish, French, and Dutch?
How successful were they in achieving those goals?
Spain ~ Colonization and Conversion; Unsuccessful,
coexisted with Indians
French ~ Fur Trade and Missionaries; Successful in
both regards
Dutch ~ Commerce; Somewhat successful, some
issues with Indians
*West India Company
What happened to the Five Nations of the Iroquois
between 1600 and 1700? Were the Iroquois better off at the
beginning of the period or at the end? Why?
Became aggressive after acquiring guns from French
and Dutch; attacked other Iroquois-speaking peoples
Better off; able to exert dominance/power in the area
over other groups
What were the various systems of bound labor that took
hold in the Chesapeake colonies? What accounts for their
appearance?
Indentured Servitude ~ Contracts for 4 to 5 years,
only successful.
Black Chattel Slavery ~ Originally not legally
enslaved; Changed with 1660 collapse of tobacco boom,
removed social mobility
Demand for tobacco; Workforce for plantations
Compare the Indian uprising in Virginia in 1622 with Bacons
Rebellion in 1675. What were the consequences of each for Virginias
development?
Indian War of 1622: Opechancanough (leader)
wished to exterminate the English, due to their increasing need
of land for tobacco
Virginia becomes a Royal Colony (with
appointed governor, elected assembly, formal legal
system, and established Anglican church)
Bacons Rebellion: Nathaniel Bacon and other
landless freeman attacked Indians for land, later burned
Jamestown due to unfair/late changes to government
Government corruption of landed
planters continued

 Yeomen/tenants appeased with expelling

Indians
Indentured servants use cut, importation
of more African laborers instead
Why did the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay create an
established church and persecute dissenters when they had
fled England to escape those things?
Did not believe in religious tolerance, hoped to
maintain Gods favor
Mission was to create religious example
What was the social and political structure of the New England
colonies? Why did they develop in that fashion?
No separation between church and state institutions,
limited office to men who were church members
Different social classes because God created them
Locally based representative institutions
Revolved around Puritan ideals
Compare the causes of the uprisings led by Pope in New
Mexico and Metacom in New England. Which rebellion was
more successful? Why?
Popes Uprising: Religious conversion, cultural
assimilation, and forced labor
More successful; Was able to achieve
compromise with Spanish
Metacoms War: Unfair treatment from
English/Puritans
Less successful; Large amounts of losses
with no benefit/reward
What were the major social and environmental changes that
made America a new world for Indians?
Disease killed large portion of Native population
Fur trade - triggered constant warfare among Indians,
destroyed economic independence
Political power shifted from elders to warriors
Indian Women lost power (based off food and goods;
no longer needed due to furs)
River current faster, more underbrush in forests


CHAPTER 3
What was the role of the colonies in the British
mercantilist systems?
Definition: System aimed to use government
subsidies and charters to stimulate manufacturing and foreign
trade; more export than import
Provide agricultural goods and raw materials for
England (which English merchants would carry to their home
country), where they would re-export and manufacture them into
finished products
- attempted to be enforced through Navigation Act of
1651.
Explain the causes and the results of the Glorious Revolution in
England and America.
Causes (by King James II):
Revoked charters of English towns
Rejected advice of Parliament
Openly practiced Roman Catholicism
Potential Catholic heir to throne was born
Effects (England):
Mary (Protestant daughter of
James)/William becomes ruler
Declaration of Rights increased powers of
the House of Commons while lowering the crowns power
Effects (America):
Sparked rebellions
Restoration of self-govt in Mass. and
New York
Governor Andros removed
Dominion of New England broken up ->
new royal colony of Massachusetts
Period of salutary neglect
How did the South Atlantic System work, and what were
its major elements? How did it shape the development of the
various colonies?
Lands taken from Indians turned into plantations
Slaves from Africa sent to West Indies, slave-based
plantation society grew and processed sugar cane; sugar,
molasses, and rum exported back to Europe, where it would be
resaled abroad.
Sugar craving in Europe; ready and highly profitable
market

 Increase in cultivation and reliance of

sugar/rice/tobacco; Due to climate and location, some colonies
(such as Brazil), were more suitable to plantation agriculture and
slave labor grew into slave-based agricultural plantation
colonies.
What role did Africans play in the expansion of the Atlantic slave
trade? What was the role of Europeans?
More powerful Africans sold other Africans into
slavery (to trade them for guns and military strength); increase
in slave raids
Europeans provided the capital, trade goods, ships to
transport slaves, demanded labor to grow crops (created
plantation agricultural system)
Europeans shipped slaves to America from Africa
How did the ideas and policies of the English Whigs affect British
and colonial politics between 1700 and 1760?
Whigs: Protested political corruption, growing cost of
empire, and influence on govt by a wealthy class of financiers
British: Walpole was Whig who had significant power
(undermined legitimacy of political system), supported salutary
neglect
Colonial: Wanted to limit power of crown officials, did
not provide governor with permanent salary; caused assemblies
to gain power
Central control wielded by English monarchs was
weakened, in part by the undermining of faith in the integrity of
the political system brought by salutary neglect, a major Whig
policy during the early 1700s. Higher taxes and a bloated
bureaucracy alienated the British people, who felt their liberties
were decreasing as a result.
What was the British policy of salutary neglect? Why did
the British follow this policy and what were its consequences?
Relaxed supervision of internal colonial affairs
Followed due to growing trade & import duties,
pleased royal bureaucrats
Cared little about colonial obedience to the Crown,
but more about making profits.
Assisted the rise of self-government in America
Laid foundation for American independence movement; Increased powers of
representative bodies demands of political equality and independence


CHAPTER 4
In what ways were the lives of women and men in New England
similar? In what ways were they different?
Similar: Both followed strict religious principles,
created families as the basis of Puritan society, and practiced
farming
Different: Men were head of household, women
fulfilled subordinate role; men had power in church
What was the threat to the freehold ideal in mid-century
New England, and what strategies did farming families use to
preserve this ideal?
Increasing population meant less property to
distribute among children
Strategies: Smaller families, petitioned for frontier
land grants, hacked new farms out of forests, planted
corn/potatoes instead of wheat/barley, household mode of
production/community exchange
Who were the new migrants to the Middle colonies? Why did they
leave Europe? What were their goals in British North America?
Scott-Irish Presbyterians, [English and Welsh
Quakers], German Lutherans and Moravians, and Dutch
Reformed Protestants
Military conscription, religious persecution, high
taxes/import duties, overpopulation, hostility, political oppression
Hoped to be able to buy own farmsteads through
hard work; better opportunities
Abundance of forests = good business in lumber,
lots of fertile land in Middle colonies for
wheat/corn/potatoes/barley
Wanted to openly practice religion/retain culture
What were the main issues that divided the ethnic and
religious groups of the colonies?
People of different ethnic groups wanted to continue
their culture and religion, so stayed separate
Unequal political representation in assembly (Quaker
dominated)
Alliances between groups to seize control
of government (Lutherans/Baptists & Scots-Irish
Presbyterians)
Indian policy (Scot-Irish demanded a more aggressive
policy)

 Language, cultural heritage, religious beliefs, political

allegiances
In what ways did the Enlightenment and the Great
Awakening prompt Americans to challenge traditional sources
of authority?
Inspired them to use reason to explain workings of
the natural world
Both movements motivated Americans to use
experience and knowledge to formulate their beliefs; some early
Americans became deists like Benjamin Franklin. The legally
established churches lost influence while secular institutions and
separatist churches gained in power. Americans also began to
challenge omnipotence of monarchy over representative
government.
Locke said people have power to change their
government; challenge monarchy
Undermined legally established churches and
ministers
Challenged church-controlled state
Americans created their own churches
and congregations
Condemned religious taxation
How did the Baptist insurgency in Virginia challenge conventional
assumptions about race, gender and class?
Promoted the message that all people were equal in
Gods eyes
Threatened slavery
Repudiated social distinctions and customary
authority in families
Condemned the planters dissolute lifestyle
It gave poor white farmers solace and hope in a
troubled world, calling into question their class obedience and
inequality with rich planters in politics and society. Slaves and
women were welcome at Baptist revivals, which challenged male
rule and white supremacy.
What impact did the Industrial Revolution in England have on the
American colonies?
Exports of crops increased; bought English goods
through credit
Living standards raised
Landed colonies in debt/economic
recession

 Increase in trans-Atlantic trade; more dependent on

overseas credit and markets
The Industrial Revolution produced a consumer
revolution that raised the living standard of many Americans but
landed many in debt for the first time, making Americans more
dependent on overseas creditors and international economic
conditions.
What were the causes of unrest in the American
backcountry in the mid-18th century?
Population growth increased demand for arable land
Conflicts over Indian policy, political representation,
and debts (NC/SC Regulators)
Indian threats of resistance to land taking by white farmers, internal disputes
between colonists in the eastern portion of the colonies with westerners over
Indian policy, disputes over political representation with low-country
southern slave planters, debt and tax collection disagreements with more
eastern elites, religious practices, widespread crime and lawlessness, and
fear of slave revolts created unrest in the backcountry.


CHAPTER 5
What were

and profits

the goals of British imperial reformers?

Increase revenue and British wealth
Install more Parliamentary control
Propose acts that ensured that taxes would be paid
increase
Grant more Parliamentary control
Why did the colonists object to the new taxes in 1764 and again
in 1765? What arguments did they use? How did these conflicts turn
into a constitutional crisis?
Sugar Act of 1764: Duty on sugar importation (3
pence/gallon), tightened customs
Stamp Act of 1765: Taxed all printed documents
Quartering Act (1765): Required colonial government
to provide barracks and food for British troops
Taxes should originate from people; loss of freedom,
rights and liberties; no representation in Parliament
Would ruin distilling industry and negatively impact
French trade (Sugar Act)
How did these conflicts turn into a constitutional
crisis?
If Grenvilles and Townshends initiatives had succeeded, how
might the character of the British imperial system have changed?

Weight the relative importance of economic and ideological

motives in promoting the colonial resistance movement. Which was
more important? Why?
Economic Motives:
Ideological Motives: Specific liberties and privileges
violated, natural rights must be protected by government
(Locke), hoped to establish constitutional monarchy; king
prevented from imposing taxes
Economic motives are more important
Affected larger portion of (lower class)
population
Ideological motives mainly only
concerned the educated
Why did the Patriot movement wane in the early 1770s? Why did
the Tea Act reignite colonial resistance?
British Parliament repealed Townshend duties (except
tea), violence in early 70s caused some to avoid Radical Whig
ideals

 Created monopoly on tea for East India Company

Why did colonial and British leaders fail to reach a political
compromise to save the empire?
Differing opinions on taxation and government rule
Blood already shed through small battles

CHAPTER 6
What accounted for British military superiority in the first years
of the war?
Immerse wealth generated from South Atlantic
System/Industrial Revolution
High military budget
Most powerful navy in the world
Soldiers were well trained; Americans were enlisted
from gentry
Support of American Loyalists and Native American
tribes
How did the Americans sustain their military effort between 1776 and
1778?
Played a defensive strategy to avoid a major defeat
Won small battles to keep morale of troops going
Winter months allowed Americans to execute
surprise attacks
General Howe did not wish to destroy the American
army; restrained tactics
Who was to blame for Britain's failure to win a quick victory over
the American rebels: General Howe, General Burgoyne, or the
ministers in London? Explain.
General Howe
Did not crush American army/rebellion
from the get-go
Slow advance to NJ; attack Philadelphia
in hopes of ending rebellion
Contributed to Burgoynes
defeat at Saratoga
Troops redirected
to Howe (Philadelphia) instead of Albany
Why did Britain switch to a southern military strategy? Why did
that strategy ultimately fail?
Aware that slave uprisings weakened the Patriots
militarily; could recruit slaves
Richer region; grew tobacco and rice

 Marquis de Lafayette dispatched troops to American

mainland
General Comte de Rochambeau and
troops arrive in Newport, Rhode Island
Without the French alliance, would the American rebellion have
succeeded? Why or why not?
What were the main differences between conservative state
constitutions, such as those of Massachusetts and New York, and more
democratic constitutions, such as Pennsylvanias?
What were the causes of Shays Rebellion, and what does it tell
us about postwar America?
According to the nationalists, what were the central problems of
the Articles of Confederation? How did the delegates to the
Philadelphia convention address them?
How did the Philadelphia convention resolve the three
controversial issues of the representation of large and small states,
state power, and slavery?
Who were the Antifederalists and why did they oppose the
Constitution?