Colonial Period Short Answer

1. Distinguish the Jamestown colony from the Plymouth colony in terms of objectives, types of settlers, early difficulties and reasons for success.

The Jamestown colony’s objective was just to establish a colony and make a profit that the colonists could gain. The Plymouth colony settled for religious purposes because they were treated unfairly, they thought, in England. In Jamestown, the first settlers were all gentlemen and a few laborers. Two years later, they sent out women and a few children along with more men to continue Jamestown. The Plymouth colony was settled mostly by Pilgrim families. Some early difficulties for the Jamestown colony were the diseases they had no immunity to and how limited they were in reproducing and making shelter. The Plymouth Pilgrims on the other hand had hardly any difficulties at all. The main reason for success in the Jamestown colony was the growing of tobacco and the trade between them and England while the main reason the Plymouth colony succeeded was because of the tight community and how well they got along with the Indians.

2. What was Bacon’s Rebellion and why was it significant?

Bacon’s Rebellion was where Nathaniel Bacon wanted to expand west of Jamestown but the rich of Jamestown were content with where the rich were. Bacon also came across resistance of the Native Americans. Bacon’s Rebellion was significant because it revealed the weakness of the system of indentured servitude. The rebellion also increased the reliance on African slave labor.

3. Why did Europeans rely on West African slave labor rather than Native Americans or indentured servants?

The Europeans relied on African slave labor more than indentured servants or Native Americans because indentured serves could be freed after 4 or 6 years after finishing their contracts. The servants were also granted land once they were freed, but most of the time, they were never given any. The Native Americans didn’t want to conform to the English ways so they were never treated as slaves, nor were they treated as equals, but more like savages. It also differed around the colonies, some got along with the natives while others pushed them further and further west.

4. How did the French and Dutch patterns of interaction differ from the way the English interacted with Native Americans?

The French and Dutch interacted with the Native Americans more peacefully than the English did because the French make close ties with the natives. The two societies traded, lived together and sometimes men married the Native American women. The French ties also allowed them to develop agricultural estates in Quebec, as well as military centers. The Dutch didn’t have much to do with the natives, but the Dutch were active in trading furs and probably kept the peace that way.

5. Why did the original 13 colonies develop distinct economies and how might this affect their relationship with each other in the future?

The original 13 colonies developed different economies largely because of their reason for settling and the regions they settled in. The southern colonies, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina were established for agricultural reasons. The Chesapeake Bay colonies were settled for economic reasons so the colonies, Virginia and Maryland could send their profits back to England. The middle colonies, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware and New Jersey were settled by people that didn’t worship the same as the Puritans. Connecticut, Rhode Island Massachusetts and New Hampshire were developed mainly for religious purposes.

With how different some of the colonies are, their relationships will always depend on each other in order to continue the way they are.

The regions they settled in also had a slight impact on how they were developed. Those in the south worked a lot on fields while those in the north kept together and were more religious than those in the south.

6. What was the genesis (origin) of the system of African slavery and how did it endure (last / tolerate)? What were the repercussions for both Africa and the New World? Why was slavery essentially concentrated in the southern colonies? What impact did the arrival of this new group have on society?

African slavery first had it origins in South America and the Caribbean as part of the Portuguese and Spanish colonies in 1619. The system lasted because the colonies needed some group of people to help tend the crops of food. The blacks were tolerated as long as they kept to their jobs. They were never thought of more than slaves. In Africa, the effects were that is was tearing families apart. As well in the New World, families were broken apart as part of the constant trading and many also died because of the Africans’ lack of immunity to new diseases. Slavery was especially concentrated in the couth because of the cast lands of agriculture. Although slaves were in the northern colonies, they were more mostly housekeepers and personal servants more than working slaves. When the African slaves were brought to the colonies, they became the outcasts of society and were often treated with disrespect and cruelly because of their skin color. The African slaves mainly lived as slaves while very few even got the change to own their own land.

7. How did the various triangle trade routes create and interdependent economy? What were the implications of this interdependence?

The triangle trade routes created and interdependent economy because in order to export rum, the colonies had to have an import of molasses, which came from the West Indies. This also created a dependency on other colonies for imports they may not directly get from Britain, which in turn, expanded the intertrading within the thirteen colonies.

8. Why were the issues of religion and education so closely intertwined in colonial Massachusetts?

Religion and education were intertwined in colonial Massachusetts so much because the Puritans had strong religious beliefs that they were the only ones who would go to heaven and all others were wrong in how they worshipped. They also thought education was important that way the children could continue on with how the workings of the church and state developed. The Puritans were the first to establish Harvard.

9. Explain the major events and message of the Great Awakening, including is comparative impact on New England and the southern colonies and its effects on colonial political life.

The message of the Great Awakening was the potential to start anew with God. One major event that occurred after a result of the Awakening was the division of existing congregations – the “Old Lights” who were the traditionalists and the “New Lights” who were the revivalists. The difference in how this affected the southern colonies and New England was that since more religious groups of Puritans are in New England, it had a much larger impact on their lives. There wasn’t much effect towards the colonial political life, it was mostly aimed at religion. The biggest names for the Great Awakening include John and Charles Wesley, George Whitefield and most notably, Jonathan Edwards. Edwards was a minister who gave the speech, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” He talked with such vivid imagery, it caused more people to realize they needed to save themselves.