AMERICAN PAGEANT QUESTIONS-All Chapters are aligned with the 12th ed. Book
CHAPTER 2: THE PLANTING OF ENGLISH AMERICA
1. What was the impact of England's defeat of the Spanish Armada?
2. What was the status of England as it began colonization?
3. How was the first permanent English settlement financed?
4. How were Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia similar? Different?
5. Why was it important that all English settlers in the New World retained the rights of
Englishmen?
6. How would one characterize the early years at Jamestown?
7. How did Captain John Smith "save" Jamestown?
8. What were the factors leading to the downfall of the Powhatans?
9. What was the impact of the tobacco industry on Jamestown?
10. Why was the House of Burgesses an important precedent in the American colonies?
11. Why was Maryland established? Who founded it (he had two names)?
12. Why was tobacco considered a poor man's crop?
13. Why was sugar considered a rich man's crop?
14. What was the Barbados slave code? How did it impact the Americas?
15. How did South Carolina prosper economically?
16. What were the major exports of the Carolinas?
17. Why was Georgia founded? By whom?
18. Why did Georgia grow slowly?
19. What were similarities/differences in the southern plantations colonies by 1750?
CHAPTER 3: SETTLING THE NORTHERN COLONIES, 1619-1700
1. What is the difference between Puritans and Separatists?
2. Why did King James I dislike the two groups?
3. What is the importance of the Mayflower Compact?
4. What advantages did the Massachusetts Bay Colony have on its arrival in the New World?
5. What type of government was established in Massachusetts Bay?
6. Why was Anne Hutchinson removed from Massachusetts? Roger Williams?
7. Why was Rhode Island established? Why was it unique?
8. What were the fundamental orders of Connecticut?
9. How were relations between the New England settlers and the Native Americans?
10. What was the significance of King Philip's War?
11. What was the New England Confederation? Why was it established?
12. What was the Dominion of New England? Why did colonist resent it?
13. Why did the Dutch settle in New Amsterdam?
14. How did the English come to rule New York?
15. Why did Penn establish Pennsylvania? What was unique about Pennsylvania?
16. What were similarities among the Middle Colonies? Differences?
CHAPTER 4: AMERICAN LIFE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY mlResAnchor
1. What were a few of the notable characteristics of Chesapeake life in the seventeenth century?
2. What was indentured servitude? How did it work in the Chesapeake?
3. How did the headright system make some very wealthy?
4. What colony had the most people by 1700?
5. How did farmers respond to depressed prices of tobacco during the 1600s?
6. For most of the 1600s, who served as the labor force for the Chesapeake colonies?
7. What was most often the outcome for indentured servants in the 1600s?
8. What was Bacon's Rebellion? Its impact?
9. Where did the majority of African slaves end up in the 1600s?
10. Why did the American reliance on African slaves increase after 1680?
11. Describe some of the impacts of slave culture on American society?
12. Where was slavery the harshest?
13. Explain how racism became a central concept in the slave trade?
14. How did African slaves compare to indentured servants as a labor force?
15. How did slavery impact the social structure of the South?
16. What group made up the largest portion of the southern social ladder?
17. How would the typical colonial New England family be described?
18. Why were Southern women generally allowed to hang on to property titles?
19. Why weren't Northern women generally allowed to hang on to property titles?
20. How did New England society expand?
21. What was the purpose of the New England town meeting? Its impact?
22. What caused the Salem Witch Trials? The impact?
23. What was the basis of the New England economy? How did it compare to the Chesapeake
economy?
24. How did New England impact the settlement of the rest of the United States?
25. How did the lifestyle of the English colonists compare to their European counterparts?
CHAPTER 5: COLONIAL SOCIETY ON THE EVE OF REVOLUTION
1. What was the speed at which the colonies were growing by the American Revolution?
2. What was the impact of this growth in population?
3. What was the view of the Scots-Irish towards the English government?
4. What was the largest non-English ethnic group in the Americas by 1775?
5. What was the diversity of population in each of the three colonial regions?
6. How did the British react when several state legislatures attempted to restrict the importation
of slaves?
7. What profession led the political agitation before the Revolution?
8. What was the basis of the American economy before the Revolution?
9. What was the least important economic activity before the Revolution?
10. Why did American merchants come to resent the British during the 1700s?
11. What was the status of transportation during the colonial period?
12. What was the purpose of the Molasses Act of 1733? Why was this an important change in
policy?
13. Why were American taverns important during the colonial era?
14. What were the two major religions in America prior to the Revolution?
15. How did religion in the 1700s compare to religion in the 1600s in America?
16. What was the Great Awakening?
17. Who were some of the leaders of the Great Awakening?
18. What were some of the results of the Great Awakening?
19. What was the status of education in the colonies prior to the Revolution?
20. What was the background and impact of the Zenger trial?
21. What political principle did Americans come to cherish in the 1700s?
22. How did colonial legislatures come to control governors in the seventeenth century?
23. Who usually had the right to vote prior to the Revolution?
CHAPTER 6: THE DUEL FOR NORTH AMERICA
1. When was France finally able to join the scramble for colonies in North America? Why so late?
2. What type of government existed in New France?
3. Why did the population of New France grow slowly?
4. What was the primary economic practice in New France?
5. Why was the French and Indian War different from previous world wars?
6. Where did the French and Indian War begin?
7. What was the purpose of the Albany Congress of 1754? How was this different from previous American actions? Outcome?
8. What were the peace terms after the French and Indian War?
9. How did the French and Indian War impact the American view of the British?
10. How did the British view Americans during the French and Indian War?
11 .What other changes took place in American attitudes after the French and Indian War? 12. What did Chief Pontiac do that alarmed the British? Impact?
13. What was the Proclamation of 1763? How did Americans receive it?
Possible Essay Topics for (Unit One) Chapters 2-6:
1. The defeat of the Spanish Armada is the turning point in world history. Assess the validity of this statement.
2. To what extent did religious freedom exist in the Southern colonies?
3. The New England and Chesapeake colonies were both founded by the English. How had they become such distinct settlements by the 1700’s?
4. Analyze the impact of religious dissent and demographic changes in the decline of Puritanism
5. Puritanism bore within itself the seeds of its own destruction. Apply this generalization using at least two specific events of ideas.
6. In the middle of the 17th century, Great Britain’s North American colonies were predominantly racially white, ethnically English and religiously Protestant. Little more than 100 years later those colonies had become markedly more diverse. Using your knowledge of the period 1650 to 1775, analyze how new forces of race, ethnicity and religion affected that society.
CHAPTER 7: THE ROAD TO REVOLUTION mlResAnchor
1. When do many argue the American Revolution began?
2. What were the factors that separated the colonists from England?
3. What was mercantilism? Why was it established?
4. Under mercantilism, how did the average American compare to the average Englishman?
5. Why did Americans resent the mercantile system?
6. What was "salutary neglect?" When did it end?
7. Why did the British pass the Stamp Act?
8. What was American reaction to the Stamp and Sugar Acts?
9. What was the "Association?"
10. What was the Declaratory Act?
11. What is meant by "virtual representation?"
12. What were the Townshend Acts?
13. What caused the Boston Massacre?
14. What were the committees of correspondence?
15. How did Parliament think they had avoided "no taxation without representation" by passing
the Tea Act?
16. How was the Boston Tea Party a reaction to the Tea Act?
17. What did the British do in response to the Boston Tea Party?
18. What were the Intolerable Acts? Why were they so unpopular?
19. Why did the First Continental Congress meet? What did they accomplish?
20. What advantages/disadvantages did each side possess as the War for Independence began?
21. What percentage of Americans supported total independence?
22. What role did economics play in causing the American Revolution?
CHAPTER 8: AMERICA SECEDES FROM THE EMPIRE mlResAnchor
1. What actions did the Second Continental Congress take in 1775?
2. What traits did Washington display as commander of the Revolutionary Army?
3. What was important about the colonial invasion of Canada in 1775?
4. When did England consider America to be in rebellion?
5. Why did the colonists delay declaring independence until July, 1776?
6. What were the three parts of the Declaration of Independence (read it from the back of your
book)?
7. Who proposed the idea of independence to the Continental Congress?
8. What were the major points of Thomas Paine's Common Sense?
9. What is a republic?
10. What percentage of Americans supported the revolution?
11. What were the characteristics of those who continued to support Britain?
12. What was the British military strategy early in the war?
13. What battle convinced the French that the Americans could win the war?
14. What was the impact of French assistance during the Revolutionary War?
15. Why did Native Americans generally support the British?
16. What battle effectively ended the war? How long did fighting continue after the battle?
17. What were the instructions given by the Continental Congress to American diplomats
working on the peace treaty with Britain? Did they listen?
18. Why were the British so generous in their peace terms with the Americans?
19. What happened to the Loyalists following the Revolution?
CHAPTER 9: THE CONFEDERATION AND THE CONSTITUTION mlResAnchor
1. What happened to the army officers who attempted to form the Society of Cincinnati?
2. What were some of the successes of the Revolution's emphasis on equality? Failures?
3. What happened to slavery in most Northern states following the conclusion of the war?
4. What was the role of women following the Revolution?
What was the importance of the state constitutions following the Revolution?
5. Why did the founding fathers avoid the slavery issue?
6. What were some of the reasons the American Revolution was able to avoid the violence associated with the French Revolution?
7. What were some of the strengths of the nation as it became independent?
8. What was the compromise that needed to be reached for the Articles of Confederation to be ratified?
9 ..What were the strengths and weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation?
10. What was the Northwest Ordinance?
11. How did France and Spain treat the new nation in the 1790s?
12. What was the major debate regarding the effectiveness of the Articles?
13. What was Shay's Rebellion? Its significance?
14. Who were the leading men of the Constitutional Convention? What was the occupation and social status of these men?
15. Why was the Constitutional Convention originally called?
16. What was the Great Compromise?
17. How did the founders decide the president would be elected? Why?
18. How did the founders deal with the slavery question?
19. What is the only branch of government directly elected by the people?
20. Why did many oppose the Constitution as it was originally written?
21. What were the Federalist Papers? Purpose? Authors? Significance?
22. Who were the men who opposed the Federalists? Why?
Possible Essay Topics for (Unit Two) Chapters 7 to 9:
1. Some historians contend that the Constitution, by providing the structure of government and powers necessary to perpetuate a strong union, “saved” the fledgling American Republic from collapse and ruin under the Articles of Confederation. Evaluate this argument utilizing your knowledge of the problems of the United States in the 1780’s
2. Analyze the degree to which the Articles of Confederation provided an effective from of government.
3. Compare and contrast the government of the Articles of Confederation against the Constitution in 1787. Were the changes in government proposed in the Constitution as essential to the survival of the nation as the federalists argued? Was the government of the Articles of Confederation a complete failure?
CHAPTER 10: LAUNCHING THE NEW SHIP OF STATE mlResAnchor
1. Who made up the first cabinet? Was the cabinet included in the Constitution?
2. Why did European monarchs fear the example set by the United States?
3. Why was the Bill of Rights established? (Learn the first ten amendments).
4. What amendment is the states' rights amendment?
5. What were the major parts of Alexander Hamilton's economic program?
6. Why did Hamilton believe that the national debt was acceptable?
7. Which aspect of Hamilton's program received the least support?
8. What is the elastic clause? How did Hamilton use it?
9. What was the Whiskey Rebellion? Significance? How did it compare to Shay's Rebellion?
10. What was Jefferson's ideal American citizen?
11. What happened as a result of the disagreements between Hamilton and Jefferson?
12. As the French Revolution developed in Europe, what was Washington's policy towards the Franco-American alliance?