Deck 2: Beginnings of English America, 1607-1660

Question 1

Who would most admire today's America with its constitutional protections of equal rights for all?

A) Puritans.
B) Levellers.
C) Stuart kings.
D) John Winthrop.

Answer 1

Levellers.

Question 2

Which of the following lists these colonies in the proper chronological order by the dates they were founded, from the earliest to the latest?

A) Plymouth, Jamestown, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island.
B) Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, Jamestown.
C) Jamestown, Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Rhode Island.
D) Jamestown, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island.

Answer 2

Jamestown, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island.

Question 3

The Virginia Company can be called a failure primarily because:

A) it ultimately did not make money.
B) Jamestown suffered Native American attacks.
C) Pocahontas died in England.
D) King James criticized tobacco.

Answer 3

it ultimately did not make money.

Question 4

The 104 settlers who remained in Virginia after the ships that brought them from England returned home:

A) were all men, reflecting the Virginia Company's interest in searching for gold as opposed to building a functioning society.
B) included women and children, because the Virginia Company realized that a stable society would improve the settlers' chances of success, economic and otherwise.
C) included representatives of several other countries, part of England's effort to build a strong network of supporters in case of Spanish attack.
D) built the second permanent British settlement in North America after Roanoke.

Question 5

At the heart of the English Civil War was:

A) which family would rule the English throne.
B) whether Puritans should separate from the Church of England.
C) a question of sovereignty in who would make decisions for the government.
D) whether England should be an ally of Spain.

Question 6

When comparing English colonies to Spanish ones:

A) only Spain was interested in finding gold.
B) England used Native Americans more for labor.
C) England sent more people to the Americas in the seventeenth century.
D) Spain relied much more on indentured servant labor.

Question 7

Anne Hutchinson's trial demonstrated that:

A) she wanted to be a church elder.
B) church elders lacked tolerance.
C) she wanted to give the Native Americans land.
D) she wanted to lead a group of settlers to Connecticut.

Question 8

Letter from an Indentured Servant (1765)
Elizabeth Sprigs
Honored Father
My being forever banished from your sight, will I hope pardon the Boldness I now take of troubling you . . ., my long silence has been purely owning to my undutifullness to you, and . . . knowing I had offended in the highest Degree, put a tie to my tongue and pen, for fear I should be extinct from your good Graces and add a further Trouble to you, but too well knowing your care and tenderness for me so long as I retain'd my Duty to you, induced me once again to endeavor if possible, to kindle up that flame again.
O Dear Father, believe what I am going to relate the words of truth and sincerity, and Balance my former bad Conduct my sufferings here, and then I am sure you'll pity your Destress Daughter. What we unfortunate English People suffer here is beyond the probability of you in England to Conceive, let it suffice that I . . . am toiling almost Day and Night, and very often in the Horses drudgery . . . and then tied up and whipp'd to that Degree that you'd not serve an Animal, scarce anything but Indian Corn and Salt to eat and that even begrudged nay many Negroes are better used. [I am] almost naked no shoes nor stockings to wear, and the comfort after slaving during Masters pleasure, what rest we can get is to wrap ourselves up in a Blanket and ly upon the Ground.
(T)his is the deplorable Condition your poor Betty endures, and now I beg if you have any Bowels of Compassion left show it by sending me some Relief, Clothing is the principal thing wanting.
Elizabeth Sprigs describes her experience as an indentured servant as

A) worth the cost of her passage to North America.
B) better than being enslaved.
C) an important step in gaining her independence.
D) one of deprivation.

Question 9

In regard to geography, English colonies:

A) did not have good land for farming.
B) were in colder climates than Spanish colonies.
C) benefited from harbors on the Gulf of Mexico.
D) had very little coastline.

Question 10

The Half-Way Covenant of 1662 addressed:

A) separation of church and state.
B) freedom of religion.
C) Native American relations.
D) generational conflicts.

Question 11

Compared to the Chesapeake colonies, New England had more economic equality because it had more:

A) cash crops.
B) timber.
C) landowners.
D) slaves.

Question 12

For Native Americans along the Atlantic Coast, disease and:

A) European religion significantly transformed their societies.
B) environmental factors dramatically altered their way of life.
C) trade contradicted each other.
D) Spanish incursions into the Chesapeake significantly altered their lives.

Question 13

In 1607, the colonists who sailed to Jamestown on three small ships:

A) were funded entirely by the queen's government.
B) chose an inland site partly to avoid the possibility of attack by Spanish warships.
C) were officers and sailors in the British Royal Navy.
D) built a colony at Cape Henry in the mouth of Chesapeake Bay.

Question 14

When comparing the Chesapeake colonies to the New England settlements:

A) Virginia emphasized religion.
B) New England had much more peaceful relations with the Native Americans.
C) tobacco grew better in New England.
D) there were more indentured servants in the Chesapeake region.

Question 15

________ describes best the actions of the Puritan leaders in Massachusetts Bay.

A) Fair-minded
B) Loving
C) Intolerant
D) Lazy

Question 16

Religious dissension in England during the first half of the seventeenth century resulted in:

A) a civil war.
B) war with Spain.
C) the pope visiting the monarchy in London.
D) England not focusing on the monarchy.

Question 17

Letter from an Indentured Servant (1765)
Elizabeth Sprigs
Honored Father
My being forever banished from your sight, will I hope pardon the Boldness I now take of troubling you . . ., my long silence has been purely owning to my undutifullness to you, and . . . knowing I had offended in the highest Degree, put a tie to my tongue and pen, for fear I should be extinct from your good Graces and add a further Trouble to you, but too well knowing your care and tenderness for me so long as I retain'd my Duty to you, induced me once again to endeavor if possible, to kindle up that flame again.
O Dear Father, believe what I am going to relate the words of truth and sincerity, and Balance my former bad Conduct my sufferings here, and then I am sure you'll pity your Destress Daughter. What we unfortunate English People suffer here is beyond the probability of you in England to Conceive, let it suffice that I . . . am toiling almost Day and Night, and very often in the Horses drudgery . . . and then tied up and whipp'd to that Degree that you'd not serve an Animal, scarce anything but Indian Corn and Salt to eat and that even begrudged nay many Negroes are better used. [I am] almost naked no shoes nor stockings to wear, and the comfort after slaving during Masters pleasure, what rest we can get is to wrap ourselves up in a Blanket and ly upon the Ground.
(T)his is the deplorable Condition your poor Betty endures, and now I beg if you have any Bowels of Compassion left show it by sending me some Relief, Clothing is the principal thing wanting.
Indentured servants in colonial America differed from enslaved people in which key respect?

A) They could not be bought or sold.
B) They could be freed from bondage.
C) They could marry without permission from their owners.
D) They were not subject to physical punishment.

Question 18

Who was most likely to build the best relationships with the Native Americans?

A) Puritans.
B) Jamestown settlers.
C) Connecticut settlers.
D) Pilgrims.

Question 19

As the sixteenth century progressed in New England, the growing commerce:

A) brought religious and economic values into conflict.
B) increased church attendance.
C) led to better relations between the English and the Native Americans.
D) made the church elders the wealthiest people in society.

Question 20

The separation of church and state in Massachusetts during the seventeenth century:

A) was strictly enforced.
B) was similar to Virginia's colonial government.
C) is similar to the way the government is conducted in today's United States.
D) does not resemble today's U.S. government.

Question 21

Why did England consider Spain its enemy by the late 1500s?

A) Because of religious differences: England had officially broken with the Roman Catholic Church, while Spain was devoutly Catholic.
B) Because of the Spanish Armada's successful invasion of Great Britain in 1588.
C) Because Spain had allied with France to invade English colonies in the New World.
D) Because one of Henry VIII's beheaded wives was a Spanish princess, and the Spanish government announced it would be at war with England until Henry apologized.

Question 22

Who received most of the profits from trade between Native Americans and colonists?

A) Native Americans.
B) English soldiers.
C) Colonial and European merchants.
D) The king.

Question 23

Why did Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Sir Walter Raleigh fail in their attempts to colonize the New World?

A) The government provided insufficient financial support.
B) They were more interested in agriculture than in trade, and they chose areas without good farmland.
C) They tried to set up colonies on the coast of Florida, and the Spanish fought off their attempts.
D) Native Americans attacked the settlers, driving them from the land.

Question 24

How did indentured servants display a fondness for freedom?

A) They became abolitionists, fighting to end slavery in British North America.
B) Some of them ran away or were disobedient to their masters.
C) They sent letters home telling their fellow Englishmen that the American colonies offered special opportunities for freedom.
D) They insisted on their right to serve in the militia, because they believed in the right to bear arms.

Question 25

Most seventeenth-century migrants to North America from England:

A) arrived with other members of their families.
B) were single, middle-class men.
C) were lower-class men.
D) had been released from debtors' prisons.

Question 26

What was a key difference between indentured servants from England and slaves from Africa?

A) Indentured servants never changed owners.
B) After giving birth, indentured servant women had to give up the child to the owner.
C) The indentured servants could freely choose their spouse.
D) Three-quarters of indentured servants escaped to another colony and found permanent freedom.

Question 27

Of the half million people who left England between 1607 and 1700, which area in the Western Hemisphere received the most settlers?

A) Ireland.
B) Chesapeake region.
C) West Indies.
D) New England.

Question 28

Just as the reconquest of Spain from the Moors established patterns that would be repeated in Spanish New World colonization, the methods used in which of the following countries anticipated policies England would undertake in America?

A) Ireland.
B) India.
C) China.
D) Scotland.

Question 29

How did Richard Hakluyt explain his claim that there was a connection between freedom and colonization?

A) The English constitutional system would improve on Spain's less structured system in the New World.
B) English colonization would save the New World from Spanish tyranny.
C) The only way to achieve true freedom was through wealth, and the abundant gold in the New World would make all Englishmen wealthy.
D) A person was only truly free when outside the constraints of established societies such as those in Europe.

Question 30

Intermarriage between English colonists and Native Americans in Virginia:

A) began with the wedding of John Smith and Pocahontas.
B) was common.
C) was very rare before being outlawed by the Virginia legislature in 1691.
D) created a mixed race of Native Americans who often wound up enslaved.

Question 31

During the seventeenth century, indentured servants:

A) made up less than one-third of English settlers in America.
B) had to surrender their freedom for a minimum of ten years to come to the colonies.
C) had a great deal of trouble acquiring land.
D) had to pay half of the fare to get them to the New World.

Question 32

During the reign of ________, the English government turned its attention to North America by granting charters to Humphrey Gilbert and Walter Raleigh for the establishment of colonies there.

A) Elizabeth I
B) Mary I
C) James I
D) James II

Question 33

In regard to conflicts, which European power was most thorough at removing Indians from the land?

A) Portugal.
B) Spain.
C) England.
D) France.

Question 34

Why did King Henry VIII break from the Catholic Church?

A) The Pope had banned England from exploring the New World because the Church already had limited land ownership there to Spain and Portugal.
B) He wanted a divorce, and the Pope refused to grant it.
C) He was trying to unify Great Britain.
D) He wanted to be pope, and the College of Cardinals refused to elect an English Catholic.

Question 35

What role did the "enclosure" movement play in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England?

A) It created a crisis where many people had no way to make a living.
B) Queen Mary's failure to address the problem helped lead to her overthrow.
C) Spain reacted by launching an invasion of England.
D) Poverty rates were worse in New England than England.

Question 36

Which of the following statements is true of Queen Mary of England, who reigned from 1553 to 1558?

A) She ascended to the throne immediately after a long period of civil war and successfully unified the nation.
B) Her refusal to marry led to her designation as "the Virgin Queen," after whom Virginia was named.
C) When the Pope refused to allow her to divorce her French royal husband, she founded an independent Church of England.
D) She temporarily restored Catholicism as the state religion of England.

Question 37

When comparing English colonies to Spanish ones:

A) only Spain was interested in finding gold.
B) England used Native Americans more for labor.
C) England sent more people to the Americas in the seventeenth century.
D) Spain relied much more on indentured servant labor.

Question 38

As a result of British landowners evicting peasants from their lands in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries:

A) there was an increase in the number of jobless peasants, whom the British government aided with an early form of welfare.
B) efforts were made to persuade or even force those who had been evicted to settle in the New World, thereby easing the British population crisis.
C) mass numbers of peasants converted from Protestantism to Catholicism, because the Catholic Church took better care of the poor.
D) there was a sharp reduction in the number of sheep and other livestock.

Question 39

Which of the following best describes how the English viewed Native American ties to the land?

A) Although they felt the natives had no claim since they did not cultivate or improve the land, the English usually bought their land, albeit through treaties they forced on Indians.
B) They simply tried to wipe out Native Americans and then took their land.
C) They encouraged settlers to move onto Native American land and take it.
D) They totally respected those ties and let the natives stay in all rural areas, negotiating settlements to obtain the coastal lands.

Question 40

In England, the idea of working for wages:

A) was so dishonorable that many refused to accept money for their work and instead received food and shelter.
B) was associated with servility and the loss of liberty.
C) was romanticized in ballads and tales.
D) meant true freedom.

Question 41

Maryland's founder, Cecilius Calvert:

A) wanted Maryland to be like a feudal domain, with power limited for ordinary people.
B) supported total religious freedom for all of the colony's inhabitants.
C) gave a great deal of power to the elected assembly but not to the royal governor.
D) lost ownership of the colony and died a pauper.

Question 42

Maryland was established as a refuge for which group?

A) Quakers.
B) Puritans.
C) Pilgrims.
D) Catholics.

Question 43

As leader of the Jamestown Colony, John Smith:

A) was a failure and had to return to England.
B) improved relations with Native Americans by marrying Pocahontas.
C) used rigorous military discipline to hold the colony together.
D) used an elaborate reward system to persuade colonists to work.

Question 44

The Native American leader Powhatan:

A) tried to avoid trade with the colonists because he believed it would destroy Native American culture.
B) managed to consolidate control over some thirty nearby tribes.
C) was the brother of Pocahontas.
D) invited the colonists to feasts with his tribe and then slaughtered eighty Virginia settlers.

Question 45

Why was the death rate in early Jamestown incredibly high?

A) It lay beside a malarial swamp.
B) The ample food was full of botulism.
C) It was not high; most of the colonists survived.
D) Constant Native American attacks decimated the population.

Question 46

The Virginia House of Burgesses:

A) was dissolved by King James because he objected to all representative government.
B) was created as part of the Virginia Company's effort to encourage the colony's survival.
C) banned the importation of servants.
D) had more power than the governor.

Question 47

Which English group did the most to reshape Native American society and culture in the seventeenth century?

A) Traders.
B) Religious missionaries.
C) Colonial authorities.
D) Settlers farming the land.

Question 48

Tobacco production in Virginia:

A) enriched an emerging class of planters and certain members of the colonial government.
B) benefited from the endorsement of King James I.
C) declined after its original success, as Europeans learned the dangers of smoking.
D) resulted in more unified settlements, thanks to tobacco's propensity to grow only in certain areas of Virginia.

Question 49

Which of the following is true of the Puritans of the seventeenth century?

A) They were completely unified on all issues.
B) They agreed that the Church of England retained too many elements of Catholicism in its rituals and doctrines.
C) They differed completely with the views of the Church of England.
D) They came to the colonies because they had no hope of holding any power in England.

Question 50

Why did Puritans decide to emigrate from England in the late 1620s and 1630s?

A) Because so many of them had become separatists, they had to leave England to save their church.
B) Charles I had started supporting them, creating conflicts with Catholic nobles.
C) The Church of England was firing their ministers and censoring their writings.
D) Puritan leader John Winthrop wanted a high-level position, and leaving England was the only way for him to get it.

Question 51

Opechancanough:

A) emphasized peaceful relations with the English colonists in Virginia.
B) was responsible for his brother Powhatan's death.
C) killed John Smith.
D) mounted a surprise attack against Plymouth in the 1620s.

Question 52

What was at the center of the religious doctrine of John Calvin?

A) The Catholic Church needed to stop using the sale of indulgences.
B) The hierarchy of the congregation started from the top down.
C) Conversion of Indians must be emphasized.
D) It was predetermined by God who was going to receive salvation.

Question 53

How did Pocahontas play a key role in Jamestown society?

A) She served as an intermediary between Powhatan and English leaders.
B) Her marriage to John Rolfe led to many more interracial marriages between Indians and the English.
C) She was denied entry to James I's court.
D) She caused King James I to denounce John Rolfe.

Question 54

Why did many women in Virginia not start a family until their mid-twenties?

A) Women mostly came to Virginia as indentured servants.
B) Women were busy running the family business.
C) Women outnumbered men, so they had a difficult time finding a husband.
D) Women focused on doing work for the church.

Question 55

It can be argued that conflict between the English settlers and local Indians in Virginia became inevitable when:

A) the Native Americans realized that England wanted to establish a permanent and constantly expanding colony, not just a trading post.
B) Pocahontas married John Rolfe.
C) the House of Burgesses passed a law ordering Native Americans out of the colony.
D) Powhatan led an attack against the English settlers in 1644.

Question 56

What was Virginia's "gold," which ensured its survival and prosperity?

A) Cotton.
B) Fur.
C) Tobacco.
D) Indigo.

Question 57

To solidify control of Virginia, what did the English do?

A) They put the colony under the control of the crown.
B) They sold land and slaves to the Indians.
C) They enslaved the majority of Indians and brought back John Smith as governor in the 1640s.
D) They turned Virginia into a royal colony and banned all private sales of tobacco.

Question 58

Maryland was similar to Virginia in that:

A) both started out as proprietary colonies.
B) tobacco proved crucial to its economy and society.
C) John Smith had to take over the colony and organize its settlers to work.
D) both offered settlers total religious freedom.

Question 59

What was Puritan leader and Massachusetts Bay governor John Winthrop's attitude toward liberty?

A) He saw two kinds of liberty: natural liberty, the ability to do evil, and moral liberty, the ability to do good.
B) He saw two kinds of liberty: negative liberty, the restricting of freedoms for the sake of others, and positive liberty, the assuring of rights through a constitution.
C) He believed that individual rights took precedence over the rights of the community.
D) He believed in a dictatorship, with only himself in charge of it.

Question 60

How did the Virginia Company reshape the colony's development?

A) It instituted the headright system, giving fifty acres of land to each colonist who paid for his own or another's passage.
B) It fired John Smith and brought in a more popular leader.
C) It gave control back to the king, who straightened out its problems.
D) It required all settlers to grow tobacco, a highly profitable crop.

Question 61

In contrast to the Chesapeake region, the population in New England:

A) did not stress family-based activities.
B) focused on rice and tobacco.
C) grew rapidly because of healthier surroundings.
D) included even fewer women.

Question 62

In what way was Puritan church membership a restrictive status?

A) Only those who could prove they had received formal education could be members, because the ability to read and discuss sermons was so highly valued.
B) Although all adult male property owners elected colonial officials, only men who were full church members could vote in local elections.
C) Only property owners could be full members of the church.
D) Full membership required demonstrating that one had experienced divine grace.

Question 63

The Puritans believed that male authority in the household was:

A) an outdated idea.
B) to be unquestioned.
C) so absolute that a husband could order the murder of his wife.
D) not supposed to resemble God's authority in any way, because that would be blasphemous.

Question 64

Puritans viewed individual and personal freedom as:

A) good, because Massachusetts Bay leaders welcomed debate over religion.
B) dangerous to social harmony and community stability.
C) important, but they banned neighbors from reporting on one another, because that would breed division that could harm the community.
D) vital, because they had been discouraged from enjoying these back in England.

Question 65

The key to more economic equality in New England when compared to the Chesapeake colonies was that New England had more:

A) cash crops.
B) timber.
C) landowners.
D) slaves.

Question 66

The minister Thomas Hooker:

A) wanted the separation of church and state in Rhode Island.
B) was the first governor of Massachusetts.
C) agreed with Anne Hutchinson's challenges to the Puritan church elders.
D) expanded the number of men who could vote in Connecticut.

Question 67

Anne Hutchinson:

A) was no threat to the Puritan establishment because women were so clearly considered inferior.
B) angered Puritan authorities by supporting the claims of Roger Williams.
C) engaged in Antinomianism, a sexual practice that the Puritans considered threatening to traditional gender relations.
D) opposed Puritan ministers who distinguished saints from the damned through church attendance and moral behavior rather than through focusing on an inner state of grace.

Question 68

In early seventeenth-century Massachusetts, freeman status was granted to adult males who:

A) owned land, regardless of their church membership.
B) had served their term as indentured servants.
C) were freed slaves.
D) were landowning church members.

Question 69

How did most Puritans view the separation of church and state?

A) They were so determined to keep them apart that they banned ministers from holding office, fearing that they would enact proreligious legislation.
B) They allowed church and state to be interconnected by requiring each town to establish a church and levy a tax to support the minister.
C) The Massachusetts Bay Colony endorsed the Puritan faith but allowed anyone the freedom to practice or not practice religion.
D) They had never even heard of the concept.

Question 70

Roger Williams argued that:

A) church and state must be totally separated.
B) Puritans must stay in the Church of England and reform it.
C) religious wars were necessary to protect not only religion, but also freedom.
D) Puritans were on a divine mission to spread the true faith.

Question 71

When Roger Williams established the colony of Rhode Island:

A) he required voters there to be members of a Puritan church.
B) the king refused to give it a charter, and it remained a renegade colony until Williams died.s
C) he made sure that it was more democratic than Massachusetts Bay.
D) he felt that too much democracy would be bad because it might interfere with religious freedom.

Question 72

The significance of the Pequot War of 1637 was that:

A) the Pequots were forced to pay reparations for the damage they caused New England settlers.
B) the Narragansetts joined the Pequots to fight the Puritans, leading to the elimination of both tribes.
C) the Pequots lost, but survived to become a valuable ally of the Puritans.
D) the brutishness and ferocity of the colonists surprised New England tribes.

Question 73

In Puritan marriages:

A) reciprocal affection and companionship were the ideal.
B) divorce was not allowed.
C) husbands could beat their wives without interference from the authorities.
D) wives were banned from attending church because they might end up disagreeing with how their husbands interpreted the sermon.

Question 74

The Massachusetts General Court:

A) reflected the Puritans' desire to govern the colony without outside interference.
B) was chosen by the king.
C) was chosen by the governor.
D) ruled the colony from its beginnings in 1630.

Question 75

For most New Englanders, Indians represented:

A) savagery.
B) teachers.
C) curiosities.
D) culture.

Question 76

The Mayflower Compact established:

A) religious toleration and freedom in Massachusetts.
B) the right to emigrate to America.
C) a company chartered to settle New England.
D) a civil government for Plymouth Colony.

Question 77

In the seventeenth century, New England's economy:

A) grew at a very slow rate because few settlers moved to the region.
B) suffered because most early settlers were poor and could not gain access to land.
C) centered on family farms and also involved the export of fish and timber.
D) boasted a significant manufacturing component that employed close to one-third of all men.

Question 78

What benefited the Pilgrims when they landed at Plymouth?

A) They met a Native American, Opechancanough, who helped them.
B) It was the late spring, so it was planting season.
C) Native Americans, decimated by disease, had left behind cleared fields for farming.
D) The local Indian leader considered the English to be divine.

Question 79

What did Mary Rowlandson's book demonstrate?

A) The brutality of New England Indians.
B) The strong pull of being part of the Puritan society.
C) The importance of questioning the church elders.
D) The significance of the separation of church and state.

Question 80

Where in the Americas did the Pilgrims originally plan to go?

A) New Netherland.
B) Plymouth Rock.
C) Boston.
D) Virginia.