United States History 17A
Sample Assignment Page

Below are some examples of the questions you will be asked for this online course in United States History, 17A. Each of the twelve (12) assignments will include more than this number of questions, but these are typical of those that are usually asked.
 
 
 
 

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Study Guide 1

 
The First Century of Settlement in the Colonial South 
Go to the page: Blank Map. Using the maps in your textbook, Nation of Nations,
you should be able to locate on this blank map the six (6) southern colonies. A map
like this will appear on your first midterm.

Nation of Nations, Chapter Two
Answer the following questions:

 
I. English Society on the Chesapeake
1. For what 3 reasons did Powhatan let the English survive at Jamestown?
2. Mercantilism was an economic theory practiced by all major European countries.
   What was the primary objective of mercantilism?
3. Why did the theory of mercantilsim appeal to European monarchs?
4. What was the name of the English joint stock company that founded Jamestown?
   What year was this colony founded?
5. Why was the Jamestown fort built on an inland peninsula? What was unfortunate about
   this site?
6. Another reform was the creation of the House of Burgesses. What was its function?
7. What percent of the thousands of immigrants to the Chesapeake in the seventeenth century,    (1607 - 1700), were indentured servants?
8. What was an indentured servant? How long were their terms?
9. Why did efforts to diversify the economy of Virginia fail?
10. What crop dominated the economic life in the Chesapeake and Virginia? 
Go to the page: TobaccoCulture. Read about how difficult it was to grow tobacco in the colonial period and then answer the following questions:
11. What were the three things that a planter needed to grow tobacco successfully in the Chesapeake?


II. Chesapeake Society in Crisis
12. Before 1680, why were English servants preferrred over African slaves?
13. In 1675, what % of the population of the Chesapeake was black?
14. After 1680, what were 3 reasons why planters began to invest more heavily in slaves    than in servants?
15. Much of the slave trade in Africa was centered between ___ and ___? See p. 55
16. What was the 'Middle Passage?' How long was it? How many Africans were crowded
   onto these ships? How many died on this journey?
17. What percent of Africans died during the first year of captivity in the Chesapeake? 
Online Readings:
   No questions this week

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Revised August 30, 2004
by Tom Gallup, e-mail address: [email protected]
West Valley College
http://www.westvalley.edu/wvc/ss/gallup/gallup.html