MSC: Understanding OBJ: 5. Explain how the patterns of class and gender roles changed in eighteenth-century
109. How did the planter elites who lived in Charleston tend to view colonial society?
a. They saw taking care of impoverished workers as their duty.
b. They prized everyone in society playing a role in governance.
c. They saw themselves as aristocrats who knew how best to run South Carolina.
d. They believed that English liberty granted voting privileges to all white males.
e. They were so elitist that they were reluctant to bring slaves into their homes.
110. How did the colonial elite view their role in society?
a. Social obligations demanded that they give everyone the same liberties they enjoyed.
b. It meant the power to rule—the right of those blessed with wealth and prominence to dominate others.
c. They should enjoy their wealth but not parade it by dressing differently or by living in homes that were
more elaborate than those of a lower status.
d. They should work hard, because that is how they would make more money.
e. They felt that they had no role and that those beneath them should just take care of themselves.
111. In 1750, taking the English American colonies as a whole, the richest 10 percent of the population owned
a. 10 percent of the wealth.
b. 50 percent of the wealth.
c. 90 percent of the wealth.
d. 20 percent of the wealth.
e. 75 percent of the wealth.
112. Which of the following statements about poverty in eighteenth-century English America is accurate?
a. The colonial attitudes about poverty mirrored the attitudes in England, with the rich tending to blame the
poor.
b. In colonial cities, the income of propertyless wage earners steadily increased.
c. The idea of rural communities and cities providing assistance or work for the poor did not yet exist.
d. The refusal of Indian tribes to trade with colonists was a primary reason for the increase in poverty overall.
e. The gap between rich and poor decreased rapidly in the eighteenth century.
113. Which of the following was true of poverty in the colonial period?
a. Poverty was greater in the colonies than it was in Great Britain, which had more economic activity.
b. The percentage of colonists living in poverty was great because the northern colonists considered slaves
poverty-stricken.
c. Limited supplies of land, especially for inheritance, contributed to poverty.
d. Colonists differed greatly from the British back in England in how they viewed poverty and those living in
poverty.
e. It declined in the cities because of the rise of consumer markets.
114. By the eighteenth century, colonial farm families
a. almost always owned at least three slaves.
b. were in decline as cities such as Philadelphia expanded.
c. saw freedom as depending on their political rights, not their ownership of property.
d. viewed land ownership almost as a right, a precondition of freedom.
e. engaged in arranged intermarriages.
115. What was one reason for the high birth rate in farm families during the eighteenth century?
a. The independence of the small farmer depended to a great degree on the labor of children in his family.
b. Infant mortality was extremely high, and only through near-continuous births could any living offspring be
assured.
c. Women were becoming increasingly independent and bolstered their power by rearing numerous children.
d. Polygamy gained popularity, allowing multiple wives to be pregnant at any given time.
e. The popularity of celibacy was on the decline, due to an increase in religious toleration.
116. As English colonial society became more structured in the eighteenth century, what were the effects on women?
a. They received more legal rights, such as the right to own property in their own names.
b. Women’s work became more clearly defined as tied closely to the home.
c. Their workloads decreased thanks to technological advances such as the spinning wheel and to declining
infant mortality rates.
d. Women were permitted to practice law.
e. Women bore so few children that population levels slightly declined in the 1740s, then stabilized until the
American Revolution.
117. For an eighteenth-century middle-class colonial woman, what would have been the top priority in daily life?
a. helping her artisan husband make his product
b. taking to market corn harvested by her husband
c. cooking the family meals
d. teaching her children to sing and dance properly
e. keeping a family journal
118. Which of the following statements accurately describes North America in the mid-eighteenth century?
a. The British colonies remained untouched by the demand for consumer goods due to a struggling economy.
b. British colonists experienced exceedingly low birth rates and life expectancy rates due to poor quality of
life.
c. Slavery had reached its height, from where began a steep decline before it ended with the Civil War.
d. Free white colonists enjoyed perhaps the highest per capita income in the world.
e. The British colonies had a much smaller population base when compared to the French colonies.
Matching
TEST 1
___ 1. Nathaniel Bacon
___ 2. Benjamin Franklin
___ 3. William Penn
___ 4. William of Orange
___ 5. Anthony Johnson
___ 6. Duke of York
___ 7. Jacob Leisler
___ 8. James II
___ 9. King Philip
___ 10. William Berkeley
___ 11. Edmund Andros
___ 12. Myer Myers
a. established a Committee of Safety in New York
b. was a Protestant who became king of England
c. was also known as Metacom
d. was the governor of New York who formed the Covenant Chain with the Iroquois
e. was an elite planter who called for reform in Virginia
f. was governor of Virginia during Bacon’s Rebellion
g. was a Catholic who became King of England
h. was a printer who became a renowned statesman and said “He that hath a trade, hath an estate”
i. was the proprietor of Pennsylvania who envisioned it as a place of spiritual freedom
j. was a successful Jewish silversmith who lived in colonial New York City
k. was overthrown in the Glorious Revolution
l. was a slave who became free and later owned slaves himself
TEST 2
___ 1. Charter of Liberties
___ 2. mercantilism
___ 3. Royal African Company
___ 4. Anglicization
___ 5. Bacon’s Rebellion
___ 6. Toleration Act
___ 7. King Philip’s War
___ 8. Navigation Act
___ 9. West Jersey Concessions
___ 10. Quakers
___ 11. Covenant Chain
___ 12. Maryland Act Concerning Negroes and Other Slaves
a. refers to elites in America becoming more culturally English
b. allowed Protestant Dissenters to worship freely in England
c. government regulation of the nation’s economy (to ensure national power)
d. made all black servants in the corresponding colony slaves for life
e. had a monopoly on the slave trade
f. was a very liberal frame for government
g. was demanded by the English over their former Dutch rulers
h. agreement between New York and the Iroquois
i. believed in the equality of all persons
j. law that regulated the shipping and selling of colonial products
k. conflict in which the poor of Virginia demanded change
l. conflict between New Englanders and Indians that resulted in more land for New Englanders
True/False
1. England’s terms of surrender with New Netherland eliminated religious toleration because the English leaders
believed it inhibited economic growth.
2. New Netherland never became an important or heavily populated colony in the Dutch empire.
3. In the first fifty years of the Charleston port, more Indian slaves were exported than African slaves imported.
4. The primary cash crop of Carolina’s large plantations was sugar.
5. William Penn received land in both what would become Pennsylvania and what would become Delaware.
6. The freedom William Penn was particularly concerned with was the right to worship freely.
7. Race and racism are modern concepts and had not been fully developed by the seventeenth century.
8. When compared to Native Americans, slaves from Africa were more likely to die from contagious diseases.
9. Slavery flourished in Brazil and the West Indies in the seventeenth century because of tobacco.
10. As in the Spanish empire, British North America developed a distinctive mulatto, or mixed-race, class.
11. Bacon’s Rebellion was caused by a conflict between blacks and whites in Virginia.
12. A consequence of Bacon’s Rebellion was a consolidation of power among Virginia’s elite.
13. Parliament enacted a bill of rights upon the completion of the Glorious Revolution.
14. The Glorious Revolution was ultimately a failure in the eyes of the British aristocrats who had orchestrated it
because the English monarchy was retained.
15. Following the Glorious Revolution, the Massachusetts colony had to abide by the Toleration Act.
16. The English Toleration Act of 1689 benefited non–Puritans, allowing them much more participation in the
colonial government.
17. In 1692 the majority of people accused of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, were women.
18. In the eighteenth century, efforts began to stop emigration from England, except that convicts were still sent to
bolster the Chesapeake labor force.
19. German immigrants greatly enhanced the ethnic and religious diversity of Britain’s colonies.
20. Benjamin Franklin in his “Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind” believed the Germans were an
asset to the English colonies.
21. Indians benefited from the Walking Purchase, gaining more access to land in Pennsylvania than they
anticipated.
22. Many perceived Pennsylvania to be “the best poor man’s country.”
23. The cities in British North America by the mid-eighteenth century had small populations.
24. Most colonists did not complain about the British regulating trade through the Navigation Acts.
25. Anglicization meant that the colonial elites rejected all things British.
26. The British colonists tended to define themselves in opposition to groups such as Spanish and French Catholics,
Indians, and enslaved Africans.
27. Charleston was the richest city in British North America.
28. Many colonial planters fell into debt because of purchasing luxuries such as extravagant home furnishings.
29. Wealthy colonists tended to view the poor as hardworking colonists who were simply victims of horrible
circumstances.
30. The work of farmers’ wives and daughters often spelled the difference between a family’s self-sufficiency and
poverty.
31. In a North American English colony, a person was less likely than someone in Europe to be a landowner and
voter.
Short Answer
Identify and give the historical significance of each of the following terms, events, and people in a paragraph or two.
Essay
1. Discuss the major social and political crises that the English colonies of North America experienced in the late
seventeenth century. What were the sources of these crises, and how did they affect the inhabitants of the colonies?
2. Various groups in this period of colonial history seized on the language of freedom to advance their goals. Analyze
how these groups defined freedom and used its language. How successful were they in achieving their goals?
3. William Penn called his colony a “holy experiment.” Chronicle the development of Pennsylvania, with particular
attention to the advantages that the colony offered to settlers. What liberties were guaranteed and to whom? Why
and how did conflicts with the Indians start?
4. The Glorious Revolution solidified the notion that liberty was a birthright of the Englishman. Explain how the
Glorious Revolution contributed to this idea and how it subsequently affected the colonies. Did all of the colonists
react to the Glorious Revolution in the same way? If there were differences, what were they? How was the
language of liberty used?
5. “Liberty of conscience,” wrote a German newcomer in 1739, was the “chief virtue” of British North America, “and
on this score I do not repent my immigration.” Explain what he meant by that remark. What did immigrants find
attractive about the British colonies? What liberties and freedoms were available to the newcomers?
6. “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.
7. 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 both the
British and American identities? How did people in Great Britain view the identity of their colonists? Be sure to
discuss political, cultural, social, and economic aspects of society.
| 5. Explain how the patterns of class and gender roles changed in the eighteenth-century colonies.
8. 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”?
9. 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 laws, customs, and liberties extended
to slaves. What contributed to the hardening of the line between slavery and freedom?
10. Explain why the colonies had fewer people in poverty than England. What economic and social conditions were
at the root of this difference? For those who were in poverty in the colonies, what led to this condition increasing
in the eighteenth century, and what was life like for them?