Possible Essay Questions for Unit 1: From New World to New Empires - the 16th Century to 1763 

General Tips

Possible Choices You Will Have for Question 1

Possible Choices You Will Have for Question 2

 

General Tips

When you read, you identify significant and representative events. When you write, you select from those significant and representative events. You are not writing every fact in the textbook. The objective is to be clear and teach your smart cousin the history. (See Good Habits for Evidence for more details.) The maximum length is 175 words.

You can identify information about significant and representative events that you need to read about carefully by:

1.     Using the index at the back of the textbook with the general words in the question

2.     Using the quiz questions for this Unit to find specific words to use in the index at the back of the textbook

If those two things are not enough, I will provide tips to resources or to specific locations in the textbook. For examples, look at the tips for the possible choices for question 2 at the bottom of this webpage.

Possible Choices You Will Have for Question 1

You must use the required readings made visible after you do the History Changes Quiz – Check Your Knowledge. Tip: Use the chart:

·         Not only to show you what to read for each period and location

·         But also to help you understand how history changed over time and space

 

You will have two of these to choose from. You write on either one.

1.     Servitude in English Colonies in South – Early 1600s: What varied things happened to Africans sold in early Virginia?

2.     Slavery in English Colonies in South – Late 1600s: How did laws in the 1660s change what happened to Africans and African Americans in Maryland and Virginia?
Tip:
African Americans are people of African descent born in the English colonies on the Atlantic seacoast.

3.     Indenture– Pre-1676 in South (Before Bacon’s Rebellion): How did availability of land change for English servants from early settlement to the 1660s? Tip: Stop reading “The War in the Chesapeake” about 1670.
Note: In the textbook, the phrase used for indentured servants in some locations is English servants.

4.     Indenture– Post-1676 in South (After Bacon’s Rebellion): After Bacon’s rebellion, how did the planters respond to Bacon’s Rebellion and what did they do about English servants? 
Tip: Start
reading “The War in the Chesapeake” about 1670.

 

Example of what you will see on the test for this first question. You could do either one.

Using content from its required reading, explain one of these:

EITHER a) Servitude in English Colonies in South – Early 1600s: What varied things happened to Africans sold in early Virginia?

OR b) Indenture– Post-1676 in South (After Bacon’s Rebellion): After Bacon’s rebellion, how did the planters respond to Bacon’s Rebellion and what did they do about English servants?

 

Possible Choices You Will Have for Question 2

General Tip: All of these questions ask you to compare two things, not just summarize one thing. For example, you must figure out what John Calvin believed and then examine the colonies in New England and find one that shows Calvin’s influence. I use the Calvin question as an example of a method to do that in this link.

 

You will have two of these to choose from. You write on either one.

 

1.     nation-states competing in North America from about 1600 to about 1763 (Tip: Look at the Resources and the nation states compared with Quiz A’s content. Then notice how they change especially by the wars for empire covered in Quiz C’s content.)

2.     feudalism and how nation-states applied it in North America until about 1700 (Locations in the textbook) Tip: Think about feudalism and why it worked in Europe and when it works and doesn’t work in the colonies listed in the link.

3.     John Calvin and the influence of his beliefs on at least one colony in New England (Tip 1: Look at the Resources and religions introduced in Quiz A’s content. Then notice how they change in Quiz B and C’s content. Tip 2: Be sure you know what colonies are in New England. Check the map that shows the colonies in each section. )

4.     Protestant Reformation and the development of the Middle Colonies (Tip: Look at the Resources and religions introduced in Quiz A’s content. Then notice how they change in Quiz B and C’s content. Tip 2: Be sure you know what colonies are in the Middle Colonies. Check the map that shows the colonies in each section.)

5.     The Great Awakening in the context of what is happening in this era in the English colonies (Tip1:  Usually the word the is not included in an index. Example: If you want to find information on the Great Awakening, you look up G in the index. Tip 2: The Great Awakening is one part of interrelated changes.)

6.     The Enlightenment in the context of what is happening in this era in the English colonies (Tip: The Enlightenment is one part of interrelated changes.)

Example of what you will see on the test for this second question. You could do either one.

Using content from our textbook or links in the course, explain one of these:

EITHER a) The Great Awakening in the context of what is happening in this era in the English colonies

OR b) Protestant Reformation and the development of the Middle Colonies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright C. J. Bibus, Ed.D. 2003-2014

 

WCJC Department:

History – Dr. Bibus

 

Contact Information:

281.239.1577 or bibusc@wcjc.edu

 

Last Updated:

2014

 

WCJC Home:

http://www.wcjc.edu/