Ch. 3 Reading Guide

/ Name ______
Per. ___ Date ______

INSTRUCTIONS: Carefully read each of the sections indicated below and then thoughtfully and independently answer each question. Consider this a note-taking activity, and simply use the questions as a starting point or guide. You are expected to do your own work!

THE COLONIAL POPULATION

1. Explain the system of indentured servitude that developed in the American colonies. Why was it such an “appealing” system?

2. What impact did freed indentures have on colonial development?

3. Why did most indentures go to Pennsylvania and New York after 1700?

4. What factors contributed to the rapid increase in colonial population during the last half of the 17th century?

5. How did the status of women differ in colonial America in:

a. The Chesapeake and Southern Colonies

b. New England

6. Why are the 1690s considered a “turning point in the history of the black population in America?”

7. Compare how black workers and indentured servants were treated in the 17th century and 18th centuries.

8. What were the major non-English groups to migrate to America, and why did they come?

THE COLONIAL ECONOMIES

1. Describe the economy of the Chesapeake region.

2. How did the economy of South Carolina and Georgia differ from that of the Chesapeake? How was it similar?

3. Describe the economy of Northern colonies.

4. What two major trade obstacles did the colonies face?

5. What was “triangular trade?” Why is this not an accurate term?

6. How did the British Navigation Acts help the colonists? What problems did they create?

PATTERNS OF SOCIETY

1. What were the characteristics of plantation slavery?

2. What were the characteristics of communities that emerged in Puritan New England?

3. Why did the centralized nature of communities and the patriarchal nature of families in New England change over time and as communities grew?

4. How did the witchcraft hysteria of the 1680s and 1690s reflect social strain in the New England communities?

5. What forces gave rise to the colonial “cities”?

6. How was city/urban life “distinctive” during the colonial period?

AWAKENINGS AND ENLIGHTENMENTS

1. Describe the two powerful forces competing for the American mind in the 18th century:

(1)

(2)

2. Describe the following religious groups in the colonies (what elements formed them, where were they located, etc.)?

Anglicans

Puritans > Calvinists > Congregationalists/Presbyterians

Calvinists / Dutch Reformed

Baptists

Catholics

Jews

3. What was the Great Awakening?

4. List the prominent English leaders who visited America to stimulate a revivalist spirit.

5. What role did Jonathan Edwards play in the Great Awakening?

6. What were the effects of the Great Awakening?

7. What were “Old Lights”? “New Lights”?

8. What was the Enlightenment? Why was it a significant movement?

9. List the six colonial colleges in operation in 1763 and explain why each was founded.

10. What subjects were studied in the mid-eighteenth century?

11. How was colonial law different from English law?

12. What was significant about the trial of John Peter Zenger?