Reading
Assignment
Research and Decide on a movie and a book by the end of next week. Must be approved by me and on a first-come, first-served basis.
1. Explain how the English empire in America expanded in the mid-seventeenth century.
2. Explain how slavery was established in the Western Atlantic world.
3. Identify the major social and political crises that rocked the colonies in the late seventeenth century.
4. Describe the directions of social and economic change in the eighteenth-century colonies.
5. Explain how the patterns of class and gender roles changed in eighteenth-century America.
• Dutch and French societies in North America differed in many ways from those established by the English. Using as evidence material from Chapters 1 to 3, discuss some of those differences, particularly with regard to labor systems, attitudes toward Indians, trade, settlement, and notions of freedom.
• In the Chesapeake region during the mid-seventeenth century, how similar was the experience of an indentured servant to that of an enslaved person? Be as specific as possible in your response.
• Eric Foner writes that “the freedoms Pennsylvania offered to European immigrants contributed to the deterioration of freedom for others.” What examples can you cite that prove that statement?
• Why did the English government create the Dominion of New England? How did the colonists in the region react, and why? Why did the Dominion fail?
• What commonalities were there between Bacon’s Rebellion and King Philip’s War? How did the two reveal tensions in colonial society? How did the colonists in each case use the language of liberty?
• Describe colonial society at the midpoint of the eighteenth century. Be sure to compare the colonial elite to the middle ranks and the poor. What role was there for women?
• How did the colonists benefit from being part of the British empire? Describe the role with trade that each colonial region in British North America played in the Atlantic World.
• Imagine you are an indentured servant in the Chesapeake region or a recent European immigrant to any colony. Describe your life (are you living relatively early in the colony’s history or later when things are more developed?) as well as your geographic location, social status, age, sex, and occupation.