For part 2 of the Unit 1 Exam, choose ONLY 1 essay question from the list below, which covers chapters 1 and 2 in the textbook. Grades will be based on the content of the answer and must be more than 300 words in length. Direct quotes do not count toward the required word count.
Part 2 Essay Questions:
1 – Compare Indian society with that of the Europeans. What differences were there? Similarities? Be sure to include in your analysis ideas about religion, land, and gender roles as well as notions of freedom.
2 – The sophistication and diversity of the peoples in the early Americas are remarkable. Explore that diversity in an essay that discusses early Native American culture, architecture, religion, gender relations, economy, and views of freedom.
3 – The Spanish had a long history of conquering in the name of God. From the reconquista to the conquistadores to the settlement of the New World, Spain justified its conquests as a mission to save the souls of heathens—while putting them to work in subhuman conditions. Explore this paradox of conquering and killing in the name of saving. Remember to think about what else was going on in the world at that time with regard to the Protestant Reformation and the Inquisition.
4 – What was a borderland? Compare the roles the French, Dutch, and Indians played in the borderlands of North America. In the seventeenth century, did any group have an advantage? Explain your answer.
5 – Many degrees of freedom coexisted in seventeenth-century North America. Discuss the various definitions of freedom. Be sure to include slaves, indentured servants, women, Indians, property owners, and Puritans in your discussion. Identify any similarities and differences among these different versions of freedom.
6 – Explain the reasons behind the various conflicts between the English and the Indians. How do differing perceptions of land and liberty fit into the story? How do trade and religion play a part?
7 – John Winthrop distinguished between natural and moral liberty. What was the difference? How did moral liberty work, and how did Puritans define liberty and freedom? Discuss the restrictions of moral liberty and the consequences as illustrated by Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson. Be sure to address Winthrop’s speech in the “Voices of Freedom” box.
8 – Compare the Chesapeake and New England colonies. Explore the various reasons for the colonists’ emigrating to the New World, their economies, gender roles, demographics, religion, and relations with the Indians. How did land ownership compare from one region to the other? Which pattern of settlement is more representative of American development after the seventeenth century?
PART 3:
For part 3 of the Unit 1 Exam, choose ONLY 1 essay question from the list below, which covers chapters 3 and 4 in the textbook. Grades will be based on the content of the answer and must be more than 300 words in length. Direct quotes do not count toward the required word count.
Part 3 Essay Questions:
1 – “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.
2 – By the 1750s, North American colonists possessed a dual identity: they were both British in their attempts at Anglicization and also distinctly American. What factors contributed to this dual identity? What reinforced British identity? What reinforced the American identity? Be sure to discuss the political, cultural, social, and economic aspects of society.
3 – Explain how and why tobacco planters in the Chesapeake region came to rely on African slaves rather than European indentured servants over the course of the seventeenth century. At what point did the Chesapeake become a “slave society” rather than merely a “society with slaves”?
4 – The line between slavery and freedom was more permeable in the seventeenth century than it would become later. Explain how slavery was treated in the seventeenth century by discussing the law, customs, and liberties extended to slaves. What contributed to the hardening of the line between slavery and freedom?
5 – The slave experience was diverse in British America. Describe how slavery evolved in the various regions of British America. What role did African religions play? What liberties, if any, were extended to slaves in the northern colonies, the Chesapeake region, and the rice kingdom of South Carolina and Georgia? What was the impact of the Stono Rebellion?
6 – Compare and contrast the impact of the Enlightenment with the Great Awakening. How do both contribute to the thinking behind the American Revolution?
7 – Explain the impact of the Seven Years’ War on colonial society. Pay particular attention to how the war and its outcome shaped colonial identities as well as to the relationship between colonists and Indians.
8 – As Europeans continued to settle the North American continent during the 1700s, Indians constantly struggled to maintain their independence and identities. Illustrate the common obstacles the Indian communities faced and the ways they tried to unite to overcome their hardships during the eighteenth century. Consider the Indians in California during the Spanish missionary period, the Creeks during the early settlement of Carolina, the Indians in Pennsylvania, and the Indians during and after the French and Indian War (including Pontiac’s Rebellion).
