Deck 3: Colonial Ways of Life, 1607-1750

Question 1

Which of the following was true, compared with back home in England?

A)The English colonies had a much lower death rate.
B)The English colonies had a much higher death rate.
C)English colonists tended to freeze to death much more frequently.
D)English colonists were much more susceptible to disease.
E)Opportunity was rare in the colonies.

Answer 1

The English colonies had a much lower death rate.

Question 2

Because of a devout belief in God, New England towns founded by Puritans became some of the first democracies in the American colonies.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

In the eighteenth century, American women had a child every __________ on average.

A)2 to 3 years
B)5 to 6 years
C)11 months to 2 years
D)Thanksgiving holiday
E)7 years

Answer 3

2 to 3 years

Question 4

Which of the following statements regarding population in the English colonies is accurate?

A)By 1650 the colonial population exceeded 1 million.
B)Colonists tended to marry earlier than those they left behind in England.
C)All colonists came in family units.
D)The majority of colonists worked in trade in order to earn a living.
E)Most colonists lived in large cities.

Question 5

The wealthiest group of southern colonists by the eighteenth century were rice planters in South Carolina.

Question 6

Because of the scarcity of labor in eighteenth-century America, women found employment outside the home as shopkeepers, printers, painters, and even doctors.

Question 7

African slaves brought to America during the eighteenth century came from many varied regions of the west coast and central Africa.

Question 8

Occasionally, circumstances in the colonies caused women to exercise leadership outside the domestic sphere.

Question 9

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Southern colonies devoted their agricultural energies to the cultivation of cotton.

Question 10

New Englanders were actively engaged in an involved network of foreign trade.

Question 11

Most colonists strongly believed in the inferiority of women.

Question 12

In the American colonies, which of the following was true?

A)Land was not plentiful.
B)Land was not cheap.
C)Workers were plentiful.
D)Laborers were expensive.
E)All workers were white.

Question 13

According to John Winthrop, a "true wife" could only find contentment

A)while worshipping in church.
B)in subjugation to her husband's authority.
C)in childrearing.
D)while attending to her family.
E)when she moved to the afterlife.

Question 14

The colony of Pennsylvania was the great distribution point for various European ethnic groups that immigrated to the colonies.

Question 15

The French and the Dutch became the largest non-English ethnic group in the colonies during the eighteenth century.

Question 16

Jonathan Edwards had a profound impact in Massachusetts during a time of spiritual transformation in America.

Question 17

The allegations of witchcraft in Salem in 1691-1692 may have resulted from hysteria that came out of conflicts with Indians.

Question 18

Benjamin Franklin explained that the rapid population growth of the eighteenth-century colonies was, in part, due to the fact that land in America was plentiful and cheap.

Question 19

Part of the reason for a lower mortality rate in the colonies than in Europe was a younger average age and the abundance of fertile land to grow crops.

Question 20

New Englanders, more than southerners, turned to the sea for their livelihood.

Question 21

Which of the following statements correctly describes the prevalence of indentured servants?

A)They probably accounted for 75 percent of all the laborers in New England.
B)They probably accounted for less than 50 percent of the laborers in New England.
C)They probably accounted for approximately half the whites outside of New England.
D)They were often kept bound for at least a decade.
E)They were never freed from their contracts.

Question 22

What were the largest non-English ethnic groups in the English colonies in the eighteenth century?

A)Scots-Irish and Germans
B)Jews and Muslims
C)Africans and Asians
D)Spanish and French
E)Canadian and Mexican

Question 23

Which of the following correctly describes English colonial women in the Americas?

A)They could not vote.
B)They could hold elected office.
C)They could become ministers.
D)They could attend schools.
E)They could sign contracts.

Question 24

Which of the following statements regarding the development of the English colonies is accurate?

A)In the South, free laborers were abundant and worked cheaply.
B)Towns developed quickly in the North, encouraged by trade and natural harbors.
C)All the English colonies relied heavily on indentured servants.
D)Slavery was consistently the preferred labor choice in England's colonies.
E)All colonists lived in communities known as towns.

Question 25

In the early eighteenth century, American colonists were dependent on Britain for manufactured goods such as

A)cigarettes.
B)beer.
C)glass.
D)stamps.
E)canned fish.

Question 26

Many of those who came to colonial America as indentured servants were

A)of varied ethnicity.
B)elderly.
C)well-to-do.
D)from France.
E)African.

Question 27

In most European colonies in the Americas, which of the following was true?

A)Women were perceived as men's equals.
B)Women were perceived as men's moral superiors.
C)Women were told to obey their husbands and nurture their offspring.
D)Women had greater equality than in their home countries.
E)Women were encouraged to participate in politics.

Question 28

By the eighteenth century, the population of the English colonies was

A)increasingly diverse.
B)becoming less diverse.
C)a functioning democratic republic.
D)more than 60 percent non-English.
E)75 percent white.

Question 29

Which statement regarding colonial-era slavery is accurate?

A)Slavery was only used in the colonial South.
B)Slavery was practiced in all the English colonies, but predominantly in the South.
C)Slavery was a temporary state.
D)Slavery was never legally tied to race.
E)Slaves had more legal rights than indentured servants.

Question 30

European settlers considered slavery a __________ rather than a social evil.

A)"personal misfortune"
B)"positive good"
C)"misguided notion"
D)"difficult circumstance"
E)"necessary evil"

Question 31

In colonial America, which of the following statements was true of women?

A)They had fewer economic opportunities over time, as domestic responsibilities increased.
B)They were initially more numerous than men but eventually fell in number.
C)The first women shopkeepers and doctors did not arise until after the Revolutionary War.
D)They had more economic opportunities over time due to the scarcity of workers in the colonies.
E)They comprised the majority of the population in the colonies.

Question 32

Which of the following was true of British colonizers, compared with other European colonizers?

A)Women relaxed more during the day, while men worked.
B)Their population consisted of many more women.
C)Their population had the same amount of women.
D)Their population had fewer women.
E)Any monetary earnings a woman made were technically her own rather than her husband's.

Question 33

Within the New England colonies, which of the following held true?

A)Only Separatists could be found.
B)The economy centered exclusively on fishing.
C)All early settlers were Puritans.
D)Church attendance was mandatory even for the unsaved.
E)People only lived on farms.

Question 34

What did the Act of Union in 1707 establish?

A)The merger of England and Scotland as Great Britain
B)The creation of a trade network between the northern and southern colonies
C)The ability of women to join the workforce in the colonies
D)The first workers' unions in the colonies
E)Trade regulations that threatened the abundant natural resources in the colonies

Question 35

The southern colonies pursued an agriculturally based economy, whereas the New England colonies

A)had to rely on the Native Americans for food.
B)never engaged in agriculture.
C)had a more diverse economy including trade, farming, and fishing.
D)relied almost exclusively on the raising of cattle.
E)survived primarily as shipbuilders.

Question 36

As indentured servants began arriving in the colonies, which of the following was true?

A)They immediately sought to negotiate work contracts.
B)They were forced to live in guarded compounds.
C)They prospered immediately.
D)They were allowed to cancel their contracts.
E)They brought diverse cultural practices.

Question 37

Which of the following statements regarding women in the colonial period is accurate?

A)Women performed a multitude of tasks within the home.
B)The first women doctors and shopkeepers did not come until after the colonies.
C)Women were often extended equal treatment in the "better homes."
D)Colonial women had many fewer opportunities than women at home in England.
E)Women in the colonies lived relatively easy lives.

Question 38

Of the English colonies in the New World, which had the most ethnically diverse population?

A)The New England colonies
B)The middle colonies
C)The southern colonies
D)Barbados
E)Jamaica

Question 39

Economically, which of the following was true of the English colonies in the eighteenth century?

A)They relied on a complex colonial banking system.
B)They traded crops only.
C)They desired to avoid the use of slaves.
D)They relied on cotton production exclusively.
E)They relied on a variety of crops for trade.

Question 40

Who were indentured servants?

A)People who traded their labor for a fixed time in return for passage to America
B)People who were exactly the same thing as slaves
C)Laborers who were most often of African descent
D)Workers employed in all of colonies except the English colonies
E)Specialized workers who were often from France

Question 41

The ideal example of a colonial Enlightenment thinker is

A)George Whitfield.
B)George Washington.
C)Jonathan Edwards.
D)Benjamin Franklin.
E)Andrew Jackson.

Question 42

Explain why families in eighteenth-century America were generally larger and healthier than their counterparts in England.

Question 43

Which of the following statements correctly describes the burst of intellectual inquiry known as the Enlightenment?

A)It championed scientific thinking.
B)It praised anarchy.
C)It encouraged religion.
D)It spread from the English colonies to Europe.
E)It took the form of a Protestant faith.

Question 44

Preacher Jonathan Edwards believed

A)that material wealth was a sign of God's favor.
B)that only certain people could be saved.
C)that religion had lost its emotional force.
D)that too many ministers were overly emotional.
E)in the authority of the Pope.

Question 45

Which of the following statements describes the African slaves brought to the Americas?

A)They were very diverse, and their experiences differed widely.
B)They all shared the same language.
C)They all practiced the same polytheistic religion.
D)They tended to be older than thirty years of age when they arrived.
E)They were captured exclusively by whites in Africa.

Question 46

According to the textbook, "both geographically and culturally, the middle colonies…stood between New England and the South." Explain what is meant by that statement.

Question 47

During the __________ a band of slaves killed 25 whites as they headed toward Spanish Florida and possible freedom.

A)Nat Turner Revolt
B)Spanish-English War
C)Whisky Rebellion
D)Slave Insurrection
E)Stono Rebellion

Question 48

Describe the unique natures of colonial cities.Focus your emphasis on the social and political order as well as the "urban web."

Question 49

Which of the following was true of both the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening?

A)They resulted in far less religious denominations.
B)They encouraged individual decision making.
C)They strengthened the status of the traditional clergy and state-supported churches.
D)They were strongly at odds with the ideas of freedom during the American Revolution.
E)They began in Spain and then moved to the colonies.

Question 50

During the first decades of the eighteenth century, __________ was the largest colonial city-population approximately 30,000.

A)Philadelphia
B)New York City
C)Boston
D)Charleston
E)Jamestown

Question 51

At the start of the Great Awakening, which of the following was true?

A)Few colonies had churches.
B)Most colonists lived in a colony with an officially sanctioned church.
C)Most colonists were both literate and college educated.
D)All colonists were Puritans.
E)All colonists were Catholics.

Question 52

Why did plantation owners in Virginia and Maryland prefer West African slaves?

A)They were the least aggressive.
B)They already spoke English.
C)They cultivated tobacco in West Africa.
D)Yam cultivation in West Africa was similar to tobacco cultivation.
E)West African men had a reputation of being the strongest on the continent.

Question 53

Which of the following statements about the Great Awakening was correct?

A)It involved only the colonial elites.
B)It was in line with the rising Enlightenment interest in reason.
C)It tapped into a widespread sense of religious decline.
D)It was limited only to the Quaker colony of Pennsylvania.
E)It began with Native Americans.

Question 54

Which of the following statements regarding African slavery in the English colonies by the mid-1700s is accurate?

A)Slavery only existed in the southern colonies.
B)All Africans slaves were treated the same, no matter where they lived.
C)The number of African slaves in the colonies dropped from the seventeenth to the eighteenth century.
D)The majority of slaves were in Virginia and Maryland.
E)All Southerners had slaves.

Question 55

The belief that God planned and created the universe, set it in motion, then stepped back never again to intervene is known as

A)atheism.
B)deism.
C)orthodoxy.
D)secular humanism.
E)rationalism.

Question 56

Which of the following statements was true of Enlightenment thinkers?

A)They believed that reason could be used to improve society and human nature.
B)They argued that all religions were for the unenlightened and the foolish.
C)They were not influenced by scientists like Sir Isaac Newton.
D)They valued only financial gain.
E)They believed that politics was a foolish waste of time.

Question 57

How did the "secular" ideas of the Enlightenment in America precipitate the "revival" desires that led to the Great Awakening?

Question 58

Which of the following correctly describes the composition or prevalence of large coastal cities in the English colonies?

A)They dominated the colonial landscape.
B)They held approximately 50% of the colonial population.
C)They were confined almost exclusively to the South.
D)They never comprised more than 10% of the population.
E)They held no slaves at all.

Question 59

When did large numbers of white Europeans and Americans finally begin to raise ethical questions about slavery?

A)Not until the fifteenth century
B)Not until the sixteenth century
C)Not until the seventeenth century
D)Not until the eighteenth century
E)Not until the twentieth century

Question 60

How did the lifestyles and economies of the southern, New England, and middle colonies differ?