Study Guide and Learning Resources

Short Answers:

As you read the chapter and view the videos, take notes on the following questions. Be sure to provide specific examples from this text in your responses. Responses should be at least 1-2 paragraphs (short answer guidelines) :

  1. Describe the Atlantic Economy. What were its origins? How did Europe, the Americas and Africa play a role in the triangular trading system that emerged in the seventeenth and eighteenth century, with the Atlantic Ocean as the highway for trade?

  2. How were some Native Americans enslaved in the Americas? Why did Native American slaves ultimately not provide American colonies with a significant labor force?

  3. Describe African societies and the institution of slavery in Africa. How and why did Africans come to supply European colonies in the New World large numbers of slaves? Where did most African slaves sent to the New World go and why?

  4. What was the Middle Passage like for African slaves? How profitable was the slave trade for the Europeans involved in it?

  5. How did slavery come to be connected to ideas about race in colonies such as Virginia and South Carolina? How did new laws in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century contribute to the way people thought about race?

  6. How tumultuous political events in seventeenth century England such as the civil war of the 1640s and the Glorious Revolution of the 1680s impact the English colonies in the New World?

  7. Define mercantilism. How did it impact the English colonies in the New World?

  8. What was the role of religion in the founding of new English colonies in the seventeenth century such as Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Maryland?

  9. Why did New England experience wars with Native Americans in the seventeenth century such as the Pequot War and King Philip’s War? What were these wars like? What was the impact on both English and Native peoples?

  10. What was Bacon’s Rebellion in Virginia? What were its causes and consequences?

  11. How did Bacon’s Rebellion contribute to the transition away from indentured servants to race-based slavery?

  12. Why did the Yamasee fight a war against the English settlers of South Carolina? What happened during this war? What were the results of the war?


Key Terms:

As you read and view the videos, use the following terms to help you take notes.

  • race

  • enslaved Indians

  • Middle Passage

  • British West Indies

  • English Civil War

  • Navigation Acts

  • Glorious Revolution

  • Dominion of New England

  • Maryland

  • Connecticut

  • Rhode Island

  • New York

  • William Penn

  • Carolina

  • Pequot War

  • Metacom

  • Bacon’s Rebellion

  • Popé

  • Yamasee War

  • Walking Purchase