7th Grade Social Studies – Unit 2 Review Guide

Test: Friday December 23rd

Jamestown

  • First permanent English colony
  • Granted a charter (constitution)
  • John Rolfe introduced tobacco (helped colony to survive)

Pilgrims

  • Arrived on the Mayflower
  • Created the Mayflower Compact to set up an organized, orderly government

Describe the geography/economy of the colonies:

Southern Colonies
(Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia)
Geography:
  • Wide coastal plain
  • Fertile soil
  • Warm climate
  • Long growing season
Economy:
  • Economy was based on farming/cash crops (tobacco, rice, indigo) due to warm climate
  • Used Headright System (gave land to people that settled there).
  • Used indentured servants for farming and eventually switched to slavery (cheaper).

New England Colonies
(Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island)
Geography:
  • Poor, rocky soil
  • Natural harbors
  • Forests
Economy:
  • Based on fishing, trade, ship building, skilled trades

Middle Colonies
(New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware)
Geography:
  • Fertile coastal plain
  • Moderate climate
  • Four seasons
Economy:
  • Based on farming (staple crops), trade and used indentured servants/slaves

Mercantilism:

  • British forced American colonies to provide materials to England
  • Navigation Act of 1660 (could only trade with England, on English ships)
  • Import (goods in), export (goods out)

Why did Britain begin to enforce the Navigation and Trade Acts?

  • Britain needed money to pay for the French and Indian War

FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR: 1754-1763

  • Fought between the French and Britain over land in North America.
  • The war started over land disputes between the two nations.
  • British win the war.
  • French lose colonies in North America.

What were the other results of the French and Indian War?

  • Britain decided the colonists should help pay for the cost of the war
  • Settlers could move across Appalachian Mountains
  • Colonists realized they could defend themselves

What was the Proclamation of 1763?

  • King George closed all land west of the Appalachian Mountains to settlers, trappers and traders

Why was the Proclamation of 1763 passed?

  • Passed because of Native American uprisings – Pontiac’s Rebellion

Why were colonists upset about the Proclamation of 1763?

  • Colonists just fought France for the land and won
  • Felt king was just trying to keep them where he could control them

What was the Stamp Act?

  • Tax on all printed items such as newspapers, playing cards and legal documents such as wills and marriage licenses

Why was the Stamp Act passed?

  • Passed to raise revenue

Colonists very angry over new taxes. Colonists felt that Parliament did not have the right to tax the colonists without colonial representation. “NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION”

Colonists also responded in other ways:

  • Colonists such as Sam and John Adams organized the Sons of Liberty to protect their rights and fight the British.
  • Colonists boycott British products.
  • Colonists in Boston confront British soldiers. Soldiers fire on colonists killing 5. BOSTON MASSACRE.
  • Boston colonists throw tea into harbor to protest Tea Tax. BOSTON TEA PARTY.

Common Sense

  • Written by Thomas Paine
  • Stated that the colonies should separate from England
  • Stated that citizens should make the law

Declaration of Independence (1776)

  • Thomas Jefferson was the main author
  • Stated the reasons why the colonists should be free from Great Britain
  • Referred to “unalienable rights” (life, liberty, pursuit of happiness)
  • Declared our independence and created the United States of America.
  • Purpose:
  • Break ties with England and create United States of America.
  • Purpose of Gov’t: Protect the rights, liberties of the people.
  • Power comes from the people
  • Ideas did not apply to women, slaves, or Indians

American Revolution

  • Many loyalists fled to Canada
  • Women showed their patriotism alongside men by running farms and businesses
  • British promised freedom to any slave that joined the Redcoats
  • The first battle was fought at Lexington and Concord
  • Battle of Saratoga was the turning point of the war
  • Battle of Yorktown- American victory signaled end of war - Britain decided the war was too costly to continue

War Ends

  • Continental Army surrounded British troops with help from France, forced British to surrender, took 8,000 prisoners (largest British army in America), last battle of the war
  • Treaty of Paris (1783) ends war
  • Benjamin Franklin was key negotiator