Q&A Hero

Q: Liberty of conscience, wrote a German newcomer in 1739, was the chief virtue of British North America, and on this score I do not repent my immigration. Explain what he meant by that remark. What did immigrants find attractive about the British colonies? What liberties and freedoms were available to the newcomers?

Q: North America at mid-eighteenth century was home to a remarkable diversity of people and different kinds of social organization. In a thoughtful essay, defend this statement, touching on each of the colonies, the various groups of people living in those colonies, and the freedoms and liberties extended to them.

Q: Many perceived Pennsylvania to be the best poor mans country.

Q: The cities in British North America by the mid-eighteenth century had small populations.

Q: Most colonists did not complain about the British regulating trade through the Navigation Acts.

Q: Anglicization meant that the colonial elites rejected all things British.

Q: The British colonists tended to define themselves in opposition to groups such as Spanish and French Catholics, Indians, and enslaved Africans.

Q: Charleston was the richest city in British North America.

Q: Many colonial planters fell into debt because of purchasing luxuries such as extravagant home furnishings.

Q: Wealthy colonists tended to view the poor as hardworking colonists who were simply victims of horrible circumstances.

Q: The work of farmers wives and daughters often spelled the difference between a familys self-sufficiency and poverty.

Q: In a North American English colony, a person was less likely than someone in Europe to be a landowner and voter.

Q: Discuss the major social and political crises that the English colonies of North America experienced in the late seventeenth century. What were the sources of these crises, and how did they affect the inhabitants of the colonies?

Q: Various groups in this period of colonial history seized on the language of freedom to advance their goals. Analyze how these groups defined freedom and used its language. How successful were they in achieving their goals?

Q: William Penn called his colony a holy experiment. Chronicle the development of Pennsylvania, with particular attention to the advantages that the colony offered to settlers. What liberties were guaranteed and to whom? Why and how did conflicts with the Indians start?

Q: German immigrants greatly enhanced the ethnic and religious diversity of Britains colonies.

Q: Benjamin Franklin in his Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind believed the Germans were an asset to the English colonies.

Q: Indians benefited from the Walking Purchase, gaining more access to land in Pennsylvania than they anticipated.

Q: Race and racism are modern concepts and had not been fully developed by the seventeenth century.

Q: When compared to Native Americans, slaves from Africa were more likely to die from contagious diseases.

Q: Slavery flourished in Brazil and the West Indies in the seventeenth century because of tobacco.

Q: As in the Spanish empire, British North America developed a distinctive mulatto, or mixed-race, class.

Q: Bacons Rebellion was caused by a conflict between blacks and whites in Virginia.

Q: A consequence of Bacons Rebellion was a consolidation of power among Virginias elite.

Q: Parliament enacted a bill of rights upon the completion of the Glorious Revolution.

Q: The Glorious Revolution was ultimately a failure in the eyes of the British aristocrats who had orchestrated it because the English monarchy was retained.

Q: Following the Glorious Revolution, the Massachusetts colony had to abide by the Toleration Act.

Q: The English Toleration Act of 1689 benefited non-Puritans, allowing them much more participation in the colonial government.

Q: In 1692 the majority of people accused of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, were women.

Q: In the eighteenth century, efforts began to stop emigration from England, except that convicts were still sent to bolster the Chesapeake labor force.

Q: In the first fifty years of the Charleston port, more Indian slaves were exported than African slaves imported.

Q: The primary cash crop of Carolinas large plantations was sugar.

Q: William Penn received land in both what would become Pennsylvania and what would become Delaware.

Q: The freedom William Penn was particularly concerned with was the right to worship freely.

Q: By the eighteenth century, colonial farm families a. almost always owned at least three slaves. b. were in decline as cities such as Philadelphia expanded. c. saw freedom as depending on their political rights, not their ownership of property. d. viewed land ownership almost as a right, a precondition of freedom. e. engaged in arranged intermarriages.

Q: What was one reason for the high birth rate in farm families during the eighteenth century? a. The independence of the small farmer depended to a great degree on the labor of children in his family. b. Infant mortality was extremely high, and only through near-continuous births could any living offspring be assured. c. Women were becoming increasingly independent and bolstered their power by rearing numerous children. d. Polygamy gained popularity, allowing multiple wives to be pregnant at any given time. e. The popularity of celibacy was on the decline, due to an increase in religious toleration.

Q: As English colonial society became more structured in the eighteenth century, what were the effects on women? a. They received more legal rights, such as the right to own property in their own names. b. Womens work became more clearly defined as tied closely to the home. c. Their workloads decreased thanks to technological advances such as the spinning wheel and to declining infant mortality rates. d. Women were permitted to practice law. e. Women bore so few children that population levels slightly declined in the 1740s, then stabilized until the American Revolution.

Q: For an eighteenth-century middle-class colonial woman, what would have been the top priority in daily life? a. helping her artisan husband make his product b. taking to market corn harvested by her husband c. cooking the family meals d. teaching her children to sing and dance properly e. keeping a family journal

Q: Which of the following statements accurately describes North America in the mid-eighteenth century? a. The British colonies remained untouched by the demand for consumer goods due to a struggling economy. b. British colonists experienced exceedingly low birth rates and life expectancy rates due to poor quality of life. c. Slavery had reached its height, from where began a steep decline before it ended with the Civil War. d. Free white colonists enjoyed perhaps the highest per capita income in the world. e. The British colonies had a much smaller population base when compared to the French colonies.

Q: ___ 1. Nathaniel Bacon ___ 2. Benjamin Franklin ___ 3. William Penn ___ 4. William of Orange ___ 5. Anthony Johnson ___ 6. Duke of York ___ 7. Jacob Leisler ___ 8. James II ___ 9. King Philip ___ 10. William Berkeley ___ 11. Edmund Andros ___ 12. Myer Myers a. established a Committee of Safety in New York b. was a Protestant who became king of England c. was also known as Metacom d. was the governor of New York who formed the Covenant Chain with the Iroquois e. was an elite planter who called for reform in Virginia f. was governor of Virginia during Bacons Rebellion g. was a Catholic who became King of England h. was a printer who became a renowned statesman and said He that hath a trade, hath an estate i. was the proprietor of Pennsylvania who envisioned it as a place of spiritual freedom j. was a successful Jewish silversmith who lived in colonial New York City k. was overthrown in the Glorious Revolution l. was a slave who became free and later owned slaves himself

Q: ___ 1. Charter of Liberties ___ 2. mercantilism ___ 3. Royal African Company ___ 4. Anglicization ___ 5. Bacons Rebellion ___ 6. Toleration Act ___ 7. King Philips War ___ 8. Navigation Act ___ 9. West Jersey Concessions ___ 10. Quakers ___ 11. Covenant Chain ___ 12. Maryland Act Concerning Negroes and Other Slaves a. refers to elites in America becoming more culturally English b. allowed Protestant Dissenters to worship freely in England c. government regulation of the nations economy (to ensure national power) d. made all black servants in the corresponding colony slaves for life e. had a monopoly on the slave trade f. was a very liberal frame for government g. was demanded by the English over their former Dutch rulers h. agreement between New York and the Iroquois i. believed in the equality of all persons j. law that regulated the shipping and selling of colonial products k. conflict in which the poor of Virginia demanded change l. conflict between New Englanders and Indians that resulted in more land for New Englanders

Q: Englands terms of surrender with New Netherland eliminated religious toleration because the English leaders believed it inhibited economic growth.

Q: New Netherland never became an important or heavily populated colony in the Dutch empire.

Q: Compared to Spanish and French colonists, how did British colonists tend to view the Indians? a. as a group with whom to intermarry b. as the heart of the primarily British fur trade c. as an integral part of colonial society and culture d. as outside their collective colonial identity e. as a source of religious inspiration

Q: Which of the following was a result of the physical isolation of the British colonies from Great Britain? a. The colonial elite experienced Anglicization. b. The wealthy rejected British culture. c. The British refused to send luxury goods to the colonies. d. Elites and poor farmers alike quickly forgot about British culture. e. Indian dress and art came to dominate the homes of the wealthy.

Q: How did the planter elites who lived in Charleston tend to view colonial society? a. They saw taking care of impoverished workers as their duty. b. They prized everyone in society playing a role in governance. c. They saw themselves as aristocrats who knew how best to run South Carolina. d. They believed that English liberty granted voting privileges to all white males. e. They were so elitist that they were reluctant to bring slaves into their homes.

Q: How did the colonial elite view their role in society? a. Social obligations demanded that they give everyone the same liberties they enjoyed. b. It meant the power to rulethe right of those blessed with wealth and prominence to dominate others. c. They should enjoy their wealth but not parade it by dressing differently or by living in homes that were more elaborate than those of a lower status. d. They should work hard, because that is how they would make more money. e. They felt that they had no role and that those beneath them should just take care of themselves.

Q: In 1750, taking the English American colonies as a whole, the richest 10 percent of the population owned a. 10 percent of the wealth. b. 50 percent of the wealth. c. 90 percent of the wealth. d. 20 percent of the wealth. e. 75 percent of the wealth.

Q: Which of the following statements about poverty in eighteenth-century English America is accurate? a. The colonial attitudes about poverty mirrored the attitudes in England, with the rich tending to blame the poor. b. In colonial cities, the income of propertyless wage earners steadily increased. c. The idea of rural communities and cities providing assistance or work for the poor did not yet exist. d. The refusal of Indian tribes to trade with colonists was a primary reason for the increase in poverty overall. e. The gap between rich and poor decreased rapidly in the eighteenth century.

Q: Which of the following was true of poverty in the colonial period? a. Poverty was greater in the colonies than it was in Great Britain, which had more economic activity. b. The percentage of colonists living in poverty was great because the northern colonists considered slaves poverty-stricken. c. Limited supplies of land, especially for inheritance, contributed to poverty. d. Colonists differed greatly from the British back in England in how they viewed poverty and those living in poverty. e. It declined in the cities because of the rise of consumer markets.

Q: During the colonial era, Philadelphia a. became the financial, cultural, and commercial center of British North America. b. was one of the empires least successful seaports. c. was large by European standards. d. was populated almost entirely by wealthy citizens. e. came under the almost dictatorial control of Benjamin Franklin.

Q: English American cities a. were much larger than Spanish American cities. b. served mainly as sites of factory production. c. were home to large populations of successful artisans. d. contained 90 percent of the colonial population. e. contained a steadily decreasing number of poor, propertyless wage earners.

Q: The Atlantic World refers to a. Britain and its American colonies. b. an interdependent web in which diverse people, ideas, and goods of several empires and continents flowed back and forth across the Atlantic. c. trade among the English American colonies that took place along the Atlantic coast. d. the name of a plan devised by the Spanish and Portuguese to exclude Britain from transatlantic trade. e. a plan by the Dutch to recapture New York and control its trade with Europe.

Q: Over the course of the eighteenth century in colonial America, the a. percentage of landowners increased in urban areas. b. economic rights of slaves increased. c. wealthy wanted to spread the wealth to decrease poverty. d. percentage of those owning land was lower than in England. e. rich became richer.

Q: Which of the following was true of the colonial elite? a. The colonial aristocracy was far more powerful and wealthier than Englands nobility. b. Nearly every Virginian of note achieved prominence through family connections. c. The gap between rich and poor was nearly nonexistent. d. Few spoke English as a first language. e. Mercantile success was dependent on business talent as opposed to personal connections.

Q: Most wealthy Americans of the late eighteenth century a. had started out as poor laborers. b. distanced themselves from any association with the culture of the British aristocracy. c. owed their elite status and political power to inherited wealth and family connections. d. lived modestly and avoided leisure. e. had little political power.

Q: In the seventeenth century, the term American tended to be used to identify whom in the British colonies? a. everyone living in the colonies b. only people of British heritage c. only people who had lived in England d. Indians e. everyone except the slaves

Q: How did people in Great Britain tend to view those who had left England to live in the colonies? a. as diligent workers and entrepreneurs b. as vital participants in British governance c. as tourists who would soon return to England d. as indistinguishable from the Spanish colonists e. as convicts, religious dissidents, and poor servants

Q: The biggest reason Jews left Europe was a. for the economic opportunities in New England. b. to be involved in colonial governments. c. to become indentured servants in North America. d. to escape rigid religious restrictions in German-speaking areas of Europe. e. to escape violence.

Q: Indians in eighteenth-century British America a. were well integrated into the British imperial system. b. benefited from the Walking Purchase of 1737. c. were viewed in the same way by traders, British officials, and farmers. d. never warred with the colonists. e. had access to the liberties guaranteed to Englishmen.

Q: What eighteenth-century Indian group united dozens of Indian towns in South Carolina and Georgia? a. the Cherokee Nation b. the Lenni-Lenape Union c. the Susquehanna Tribe d. the Sioux People e. the Creek Confederacy

Q: The Walking Purchase of 1737 a. led to war with the Iroquois and a divided confederacy. b. was a land deal that colonial leaders intended would keep German immigrants out of the backcountry. c. was drawn up from William Penns agreement with the English monarchy. d. sparked a slave revolt because it made it nearly impossible for slaves to run away. e. introduced to the colony of Pennsylvania fraudulent practices of taking Indian lands.

Q: The colonists that proved most harmful to Native Americans were a. merchants. b. slave traders. c. farmers. d. fur trappers. e. silversmiths.

Q: Which of the following words ultimately describes the Walking Purchase of 1737 from the perspective of the Lenni Lenape Indians? a. inconsequential b. deceptive c. overdue d. predictable e. beneficial

Q: Which of the following was true of agriculture in the colonies during the eighteenth century? a. The backcountry farmland was the most rapidly growing region of the colonies. b. Large agricultural corporations replaced most farm families in the backcountry. c. Widespread crop failure in the backcountry left the population completely depleted. d. The presence of large landlords in New York caused it to grow faster than any other agrarian colony. e. As the eighteenth century progressed, many New England farms became bigger and used more slave labor.

Q: By the eighteenth century, consumer goods such as books and ceramic plates a. were found in many colonial residents homes. b. were specifically banned in the colonies by the Navigation Acts. c. were rare in the colonies, thus demonstrating that the colonists lived in a premodern world. d. were manufactured in several mainland English colonies but had to be shipped to England for sale. e. were almost entirely Dutch-made.

Q: English and Dutch merchants created a well-organized system for redemptioners. What was this system for? a. for New Englanders to trade molasses for rum with the West Indies b. for bringing Protestant refugees to North America for a hefty fee c. for carrying indentured German families to America, where they would work off their transportation debt d. for unloading the unwanted convicts of London and Amsterdam to ports such as Boston and New York e. for pirating against Spain and France, their Catholic archenemies

Q: In the eighteenth century, around 110,000 Germans immigrated to America. Millions of more Germans migrated to where? a. the Spanish colonies b. the Rhine River valley c. Austria-Hungary and the Russian empire d. Australia and New Zealand e. Canada

Q: What prompted many Germans to leave their homeland for North America? a. The Reformation led Germans to practice a different religion from the prince and, thus, they suffered persecution. b. Germans were especially eager to build missions and spread Christianity to the Native Americans. c. Most Germans ran prosperous farms and wanted to be able to increase their productivity through slave labor. d. They were attracted by the opportunities for merchants and fishermen in the coastal regions of New England. e. The Russian empire banned the arrival of all German migrants, and North America became their last option.

Q: What sort of attitude did Benjamin Franklin express in his Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind (1751)? a. what today would be known as racism b. acceptance of diversity c. opportunity for all d. financial greed e. religious fervor

Q: The separation of church and state a. existed only in Virginia and North Carolina. b. was due largely to the increasing Jewish presence in the colonies. c. was in the majority of colonies because of the proliferation of many different Protestant groups. d. expanded in the colonies because of the English Civil War. e. was not the norm, as most colonies had taxes to pay the salary of clergy.

Q: Which of the following fits the description of a person most likely to have been accused of witchcraft in seventeenth-century New England? a. a single young man who got along well with all his neighbors and rarely became entangled in community conflicts b. a married woman who normally was subservient to her husband and the community, which made her behavior seem all the more bizarre c. a widowed man who presumably was too lonely or too dependent on the community, and because of this, was easy to ostracize d. a young married woman who laid low, had many children, and engaged little in the public affairs of the town e. a middle-aged woman who was outspoken, economically independent, or estranged from her husband

Q: Why did the accusations of witchcraft in Salem suddenly snowball in 1692? a. The only way to avoid prosecution was to confess and name others in the colony as witches. b. When Tituba testified, the issue became racial and the town divided over the question of equal rights for those who were enslaved. c. All of the accused were children, and Puritans were determined to force their young to accept their religious traditions or face death. d. English leaders had just moved the colonial capital to Salem, resulting in an influx of diverse settlers and upsetting the normally quiet town. e. The colonists refused to take any legal action on the accused witches and relied purely on unofficial trials in individuals homes.

Q: Who finally ended the Salem witch trials? a. the Massachusetts governor b. the local pastor c. Salems judge d. Tituba e. Increase Mather

Q: The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 a. mostly prosecuted men. b. only executed people who admitted they were guilty. c. enhanced colonists confidence in the Massachusetts justice system. d. spurred prominent colonists to seek scientific explanations for natural events. e. led to a decades-long tradition of prosecuting women for witchcraft.

Q: From 1700 to 1776, who was the largest group of people that came to Englands mainland colonies? a. Irish b. Scottish c. Africans d. English e. Germans

Q: England sought to attract which of the following to its American colonies in the eighteenth century? a. Protestants from non-English and less prosperous parts of the British Isles. b. Catholics from France and Spain, thereby weakening Englands enemies. c. Professionals and skilled craftsmen from England. d. Members of nonmainstream religions, particularly Quakers and Anabaptists. e. Wealthy merchants who could spur economic growth in the colonies.

Q: Why did English immigration to the American colonies decline in the eighteenth century? a. English authorities stopped encouraging emigration in order to retain skilled laborers and professionals in England. b. Economic opportunities in the colonies were declining. c. Disease rates in the colonies had spiked, and many people did not want to risk dying in an epidemic. d. Economic conditions in England has worsened. e. Native Americans had regained much of their land, so little land was available to new colonists.

Q: The Scottish and Scots-Irish immigrants to the colonies a. were almost uniformly Catholics. b. usually worked in the West Indies before moving to the mainland colonies. c. were not only poor farmers but also physicians, merchants, and teachers. d. did little to add to the religious diversity in America. e. represented only a fraction of the immigration to the colonies.

Q: The immigrant group that was primarily Presbyterian was a. Irish. b. Scots-Irish. c. Swedish. d. English. e. German.