Deck 2: The Colonial Period: 1647-1776

Question 1

Which of the following is a principle of the English Poor Laws?

A) Local responsibility
B) Individual responsibility
C) Parliament responsibility
D) Church responsibility

Answer 1

Local responsibility

Question 2

By making local settlement a requirement to receive assistance, Parliament was responding to the power of the landed gentry by

A) controlling relief costs
B) limiting the mobility of the poor
C) providing punishment for not working
D) removing the need to levy taxes

Answer 2

limiting the mobility of the poor

Question 3

The rationale for the adoption of the Poor Laws rested on

A) persistent unemployment
B) a need for law and order
C) individual and public protection
D) reducing vagrancy

Answer 3

individual and public protection

Question 4

The stigma of poverty was made public in the early 18^th century by

A) forcing the poor to find a buyer for their labor
B) forcing the poor to wear a letter on their clothes
C) spelling out the explicit rules and duties of the poor
D) making the poor live in what we now call public housing

Question 5

Benjamin Franklin challenged the Poor Laws because he believed that:

A) they were unfair to the upper class
B) they were a constant reminder of English rule
C) people were responsible for their own welfare
D) supporting the poor was up to their owners

Question 6

In order to protect colonists who held legal claim to settlement,

A) militias were established in each township
B) newly arriving immigrants were immediately indentured or apprenticed
C) residency requirements became stricter under Colonial Poor Laws
D) colonists elected what we today refer to as police chiefs

Question 7

In the 1700's, social services began to be provided by:

A) the state and federal government
B) ethnic and religious groups
C) the gentry landowners
D) no one, there were no services

Question 8

The Irish were shunned by the Colonists because they

A) were well educated and politically savvy
B) reminded them of what they had left behind in England
C) were Catholic and considered foreign
D) isolated themselves and did not socialize with them

Question 9

In the US during the Colonial Period, the purpose for children being indentured or apprenticed was to

A) discourage parents from having large families
B) increase the labor pool for new industries
C) assure that the wealthy would have servants
D) prevent against the danger of pauperism

Question 10

Which of the following statement is True?

A) In Colonial America, able bodied poor could be indentured or turned over to any bidder.
B) Able bodied individuals were provided with housing and free food by the Colonists.
C) The majority of the worthy poor were descendants of the original colonists.
D) The worthy poor received time-limited assistance with the goal of self-sufficiency.

Question 11

One primary theme about children in the US from the Colonial Period to the Pre-Civil War period seemed to be that children

A) needed to be provided with a loving and caring family
B) needed to be protected from exploitation and abuse
C) should be educated/trained to become productive citizens
D) were entitled to equal protection under existing laws

Question 12

Puritans believed that work maximized individual and family wealth and well-being. Therefore,

A) poverty was equated with worthiness
B) children were treated as virtual slaves
C) workhouses were established for the poor
D) giving and charity became salvation for the rich

Question 13

In the 18^th century, when the natural family could not provide learning and religion to its children,

A) children were sent to reform institutions
B) parents would be sterilized and run out of town
C) children were place in foster homes in the Midwest
D) parents would be fined or their children would be apprenticed

Question 14

By 1777, special provisions and preferential treatment, including outdoor relief, were made under Colonial Poor Laws in all but one state for .

A) widows and children
B) elders and pastors
C) veterans
D) merchants

Question 15

As a response to rapid population growth, most local governments took the approach of selling the poor who were unable to work to the lowest bidder, auctioning the able-bodied, and

A) providing outdoor relief to cut costs
B) building workhouses and almhouses
C) establishing schools for the children
D) building prisons on undeveloped land

Question 16

The largest percentage of recipients of relief in the Colonies were

A) orphans
B) the elderly
C) the ill and disabled
D) widows and their children

Question 17

As a means of maintaining order, the preferred setting for providing relief in the Colonies was

A) to build prisons
B) in almshouses
C) running them out of town
D) in the family home

Question 18

Colonial welfare legislation collected taxes for the provision of outdoor relief. These money payments permitted persons to remain in their own homes because

A) the binding of labor was becoming unpopular
B) almhouses were becoming overcrowded
C) their poverty was due to disability or old age
D) it was less expensive than providing indoor relief

Question 19

Differences between the New England colonies and the Southern colonies rested on the type of settlers in each area. The North was primarily settled by

A) individuals who would accept or reject immigrants on the basis of religious beliefs
B) individuals seeking freedom and unlimited opportunities
C) working-class Englishman who had indenture contracts
D) unskilled or low-skilled persons who were escaping religious persecution

Question 20

The invention of the spinning jenny and improvements in the spinning wheel made it possible for

A) increased commercial trade with England
B) women and children to work at home
C) communities to discontinue public relief
D) the expansion of factories in the South

Question 21

When it came to the needs of Native American children, those who were apprenticed to the English were

A) found to receive the most extreme and harsh treatment of all children
B) exposed to the arts and a much better quality of life
C) subjected to being sold to other families for a profit
D) indoctrinated to a Christian education and forced to relinquish their culture

Question 22

The Colonial South was primarily established by

A) independent, wealthy, and privileged Englishmen
B) mostly working-class and indentured individuals
C) educated business men and men with trade skills
D) able-bodied poor who were forced out of New England

Question 23

Colonial welfare legislation seemed to stress the provision of indoor relief which is

A) assistance in one's home to keep families together
B) requiring families to take care of elders in their home
C) using taxes to shelter strangers in settlements
D) care offered in institutions or homes other than one's own

Question 24

Almhouses were built to replace individual homes for the worthy poor. In 1657, the first almhouse built in the colonies was in

A) Pennsylvania
B) Virginia
C) New York
D) Massachusetts

Question 25

Limiting the mobility of the poor was at the heart of the Act of Settlement of 1662 in which new people to communities could

A) be returned to their place of legal residence
B) find themselves indentured for life
C) be shamed by being placed in the stocks
D) remain only if they were skilled craftsmen

Question 26

As urban centers grew and immigration increased in the colonies, the Poor Laws were amended to control costs. Describe two changes which were made in response to changing conditions.

Question 27

What was the primary reason that colonial leaders expanded schooling and established the early colleges of Harvard, William and Mary, and other schools?

Question 28

Explain why the early colonists felt that individual earned income should not be supplemented if the market economy was to function properly. What aspect of the labor force did this apply to particularly? Is this still the current thinking?

Question 29

As more colonists came to this country, what was the response to the Native Americans?

Question 30

In the early 18^th century, the number of poor people was very low. Why were these numbers deceptive?