Advanced Placement United States History

Unit I: "The Colonial Era (1607-1763)

Essay Questions

Directions: Answer the following question based upon the criteria established in evaluating essays. You will have 45 minutes to complete this part of the test so use your time wisely!!! You should spend 7 minutes on the "outline", 4 minutes on the "introduction", 30 minutes on the "body" of the essay, and 4 minutes on the "conclusion". Make certain to show a "relationship" between the "crux" of this question and some other time period in America history (consensus) in you conclusion. Be sure to cite relevant historical evidence to substantiate your generalizations and to illustrate your answer. Use information from the supplementary reading where appropriate.

1. "The geographical conditions of the three major areas of English settlement in America -- New England, the Middle Colonies, and the South -- account for the differences in the colonial way of life in these three areas."

 

Assess the validity of this statement..

 

2. "Before 1763 British mercantilist policy, while restricting colonial economic development, allowed colonial life to develop unhampered by the Mother Country."

 

Assess the validity of this statement..

 

3. "The colonial wars fought between the British and the French for domination of the North American continent created a sense of national spirit among the British colonies and created the basis for later unity."

 

Assess the validity of this statement..

 

4. "Besides unleashing a series of events that improved man's material prospects, the discovery of (of America) also advanced man's spiritual prospects as well."

 

Assess the validity of this statement..

 

5. "While most American colonists of the mid-18th century were little interested in intellectual affairs, a climate was developing wherein intellectuals and scientists were responding to a new view of man and the world."

 

Assess the validity of this statement..

 

6. In the seventeenth-century, New England Puritans tried to create a model society. What were their aspirations, and to what extent were these aspirations fulfilled during the seventeenth-century?

 

Assess the validity of this statement..

 

 

7. From 1689 to 1763 several European nations vied for control of the North American continent. Why did England win the struggle?

 

8. To what extent and why did religious toleration increase in the American colonies during the 17th and 18th centuries? Answer with reference to THREE individuals, events, or movements in American religion during this time period.

 

9. Most major religious movements reflect shifts in religious beliefs and produce important social changes. Apply this generalization to TWO of the following: (A) 17th century Puritanism (B) The First Great Awakening (C) The Second Great Awakening

 

10. "The European backgrounds of the colonists played a larger role than the environment and the peculiar problems of the New World in shaping American character during the colonial period."

 

Assess the validity of this statement..

 

11. "Seemingly isolated in their remote communities, scattered like a broken string of beads between the wide Atlantic and the trackless Appalachian forests, Americans were constantly being affected by events both in the Old World and in the New."

 

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12. Evaluate the role of each of the following in shaping American views toward England in the mid-18th century: (A) The Enlightenment (B) The French and Indian War (C) Mercantilist Laws

 

13. "The Puritans nobly fled from a land of despotism to a land of freedom, where they could not only enjoy their own religion, but prevent everybody else from enjoying his."

 

Assess the validity of this statement..

 

14. "Until 1763 Britain exerted control over the American colonies more by economic measures than by political measures."

 

Assess the validity of this statement..

 

15. "The intellectual life of colonial America was shaped more by the social and physical environment than by the ideas of contemporary European thinkers."

 

Assess the validity of this statement.

 

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