Unit 1: American Character & Belief System Name______
Unit 1: American Character & Belief System Name______
For LT1: The political foundations of the colonies
Google: Keith Hughes' "House of Burgesses" video:
1) What was the purpose of the Virginia colony?
2) What happened to the colony of Roanoke?
3) What are the struggles in Jamestown that the colonists face?
4) What did the Crown do to encourage settlement?
5) When Virginia established its assembly, it created _____ Houses:
The Lower House was the ______; it consisted of ______representatives, ____ from each of the ____ settlements.
The Upper House was called the ______, like the Senate, and its representatives were ______.
6) The big idea that emerges from this is______.
7) Explain the M & M analogy.
8) Even though self-government existed, what prevented the Lower House from exerting influence?
For LT 2: The religious development of the colonies:
1) The influence of the Puritans
1) Describe the differences between the Puritans and the Pilgrims.
2) How did John Winthrop hope that the Massachusetts Bay Colony would be different from Virginia?
3) Puritans were disciples of ______, whose core belief was that only the ______were predestined to enter heaven. How did a Puritan get admitted to the church?
4) What were Puritan towns built around?
5) How did Puritan society reflect the concept of equality?
6) How did Puritan society NOT reflect the concept of equality?
7) Explain how Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson dissented from Puritan teachings and what happened to them as a result?
8) What brought about the decline of the Puritan "holy experiment"?
9) Do you believe that "piety (religion) and profit could go hand-in-hand"? Why or why not?
2 The Virginia Colony:
1) What church did Virginia require its colonists support?
2) How did Virginians view church authority compared to colonists in Massachusetts?
3) When did African-Americans begin to convert to Christianity?
4) If you think back to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, how did settlement of this colony affect the practice and role of faith in everyday life? (think geographically and socially)
So what is different in Virginia? Again, think about the geography, economy, and social structure.
5) Remember back in World Civ, we covered the centuries of war and conflict in Europe that raged between Catholics and Protestants. Why does this not happen in the American colonies? (This is a "thinking question", not from the reading!)
6) How did the Virginia gentry control religious matters?
7) Who were the primary guardians of the religious lives of families?
3) The Great Awakening:
1st source: use this site to compare the churches established in the colonies
2nd source:
This is a video clip from the Christian Broadcasting Network. When we talk about bias, or the way historians interpret and analyze events, you always have to look at the source. This definitely has a particular perspective; try to interpret for yourself the viewpoint you think it is trying to portray.
1) Who were 2 leading preachers in the Great Awakening?
2) Why does this religious revival occur?
3) Which colonial regions does the Great Awakening affect?
4) What is the connection to the Great Awakening and the Revolutionary War?
5) How is the Great Awakening a democratic religious movement? Cite 3 explanations.
For LT3: The influence of the Enlightenment on America's government
Source 1:
1) Explain the "Divine Right of Kings".
2) Review from World Civ: What is the "Enlightenment" period?
3) Identify and explain one viewpoint that Thomas Hobbes and John Locke have in common.
Identify and explain one viewpoint that Hobbes and Locke disagree on.
4) What direct impact on the US Constitution did Montesquieu's writings have?
5) How had the American colonies demonstrated the philosophies of Voltaire?
6) How had the American colonies demonstrated the philosophies of Rousseau?
7) In order of importance, rank the 8 Enlightenment ideas; then justify (explain) your top pick (1) and bottom pick (8).
For LT 4: The spirit of rebellion that exists early in American history
View the following 4 video segments:
Bacon's Rebellion:
Shay's Rebellion:
Whiskey Rebellion:
Turner's Rebellion:
1) Looking at the chart, and including details from the videos, do any of the rebellions have a common cause? If so, what is it?
2) Looking at the events column, would you say that these rebellions had successful outcomes? Why or why not?
3) Now looking at the significance column, how could each of the rebellions be considered significant in spite of its failure?
For LT5: Establishing a government: our 1st and 2nd attempts
Source 1: View Crash Course #8 on the Constitution, Articles and Federalism
1) Why were the Articles of Confederation, in a word, BAD? What were its weaknesses? Explain at least 3 of them.
2) What was the biggest accomplishment of the Articles? Explain what it established.
3) What was the event that signified the ultimate weakness of the Articles?
4) Why were the elites in America worried about this event?
5) What are some commonalities amongst the men who set up the government?
6) What were the main ideas the authors of the Constitution agreed upon?
7) The Virginia Plan called for:
8) The New Jersey Plan called for:
9) Instead, we ended up with the Great Compromise. Explain what that is.
10) From this, we had to resolve the issue of who counted as part of the population to determine representation. What is the 3/5ths Compromise?
11) What is the Fugitive Slave Clause? What did this mean for slaves AND states?
12) Explain examples of "checks against too much democracy"? (hint: election of senators and the president).
13) Who wrote the Federalist Papers and what was their main argument?
14) Anti-Federalists were supported by whom?
What were they afraid of and why?
15) List 2 Constitutional issues that are currently in the news.
Source 2: Chart comparison of the Articles and Constitution
1) After reading the chart, choose the 3 greatest weakness of the Articles and explain the how the Constitution provided a better alternative.
2) Choose 1 power of the Articles of Confederation that you think should NOT have been changed. Explain why you think we would be better off today still following that power as initially defined by the Articles.
For LT6: Early conflicts in the nation
Source 1: Go to
Answer those 10 questions.
Sources 2 & 3: Chart comparison of Compromises and the textbook
1) What are 3 conflicts that the nation had to resolve, according to this chart?
2) To understand the compromises of 1820 and 1850, look at the maps on pgs.______
develop q's
--who are the parties involved in these compromises?
--are these compromises ultimately successful? Why or why not?
3) To understand the Compromise of 1877, you need to first understand Reconstruction after the Civil War. View the segment at
Politically, what did Reconstruction accomplish?
4) Using the video and the chart, explain how the Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction.
5) What was 1 negative consequence that came out of this political compromise?
For LT7: Reform Movements in the US
Source 1: Read the Reform Era timeline. In a paragraph, explain how these events help develop and/or contribute to the American character and belief system.
Source 2: Crash Course #15
1) Why did utopian or religious communities like the Shakers or the Mormons begin in the 19th century?
2) Why were these communities not successful, for the most part?
3) What did the Second Great Awakening contribute to society?
4) The Second Great Awakening was overwhelmingly ______. These reformers believed in ______. And these reform movements were based on a different idea of freedom: how did they define freedom?
5) Much of the change in religion during this time focused on improving the community; this is most evident in what reform movement?
6) Another reform movement focused on building asylum; what problem did this seek to remedy?
7) What was the purpose of "common schools"?
Why were these not supported throughout the country?
8) What was the biggest reform movement in the 19th century? ______
Why does the movement grow during this time?
9) When the abolitionist movement joined with the religious movement, what argument did they make against slavery?
10) One of the arguments for slavery was that blacks were inherently inferior; Green highlights a number of black abolitionist writers. How are these individuals used as evidence to disprove that argument for slavery?
11) How is the abolitionist movement linked to the women's rights' movement?
Source 3: Political Cartoons