Question 1

Explain the relationship between the Atlantic system and the development of consumer society.

Accepted Answer

Answer would ideally include the following. The Atlantic system involved sending ships loaded with goods to Africa, where they would be traded for slaves. Slaves were then transported to the Americas where they worked on plantations that produced coffee, sugar, cotton, and tobacco. These products were then shipped back to Europe, where they revolutionized consumption patterns for ordinary people and fueled the development of a new consumer society. Plantation staples brought fabulous wealth that was also used to increase consumption of a range of luxury goods.

Question 2

How did the gender imbalance in the colonies increase the risks a European woman faced if she immigrated to the colonies as an indentured servant?

Accepted Answer

Answer would ideally include the following. The gender imbalance among immigrants was pronounced but declined from the end of the seventeenth century. Women who committed themselves to indentured servitude entered into an unbreakable contract to work for an individual in the Americas for several years. Women indentured servants ran great risks of disease, and about 20 percent of women who emigrated as indentured servants had illegitimate children.

Question 3

How did improvements in agriculture and the decline of the plague pave the way for a consumer revolution in the early eighteenth century?

Accepted Answer

Answer would ideally include the following. Better weather and improved agricultural techniques produced more and better-quality food. Coupled with the disappearance of the plague, these factors meant that fewer people died every year, which in turn led to about a 20 percent increase in population between 1700 and 1750. This growth increased the demand for both necessities and luxury products, which provided greater opportunities for merchants and shopkeepers, even allowing them to set up specialty shops that in turn promoted greater consumption of the available goods.

Question 4

Why did the agricultural revolution in England favor wealthy landowners over small-scale farmers?

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Question 5

In what ways were social status and circumstances easy to recognize in urban settings?

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Question 6

What were the consequences of the War of the Spanish Succession?

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Question 7

How was Ireland affected by its support for James II of England?

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Question 8

Who was Sir Robert Walpole, what position did he hold, and why was this important for the future of British constitutional government?

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Question 9

Why was the 1722 Table of Ranks an important step toward Russian royal absolutism?

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Question 10

In what sense was the Enlightenment an outgrowth of the new science? How was it different?

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Question 11

Why did slavery based on racist ideology not develop until more than 150 years after the first African was transported to the Americas? How did economic changes affecting Europe and the colonies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries affect the development of this ideology?

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Question 12

Discuss how the growing wealth and population of European countries in the eighteenth century affected existing social and cultural patterns. Be sure to consider the role that the Atlantic system, agricultural innovations, and the emergence of the middle class played in these developments.

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Question 13

Why was religious skepticism a source of great concern to European political authorities during the early years of the Enlightenment? Why didn't political authorities embrace religious reform movements such as Jansenism? In your answer, consider the ways in which new genres such as travel writing could be used to raise questions about the assumed superiority of European Christian beliefs.

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Question 14

What factors explain Britain's growth in power during the eighteenth century? Why did the influence and the power of the Dutch decline during this time?

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Question 15

The "woman question" was hotly debated during the eighteenth century, as authors discussed the abilities and characteristics of women. Discuss the arguments put forth by those who defended women's capabilities and by those who opposed them.

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Question 16

By the 1700s, most slaves were purchased from
A) Africa.
B) Brazil.
C) Portugal.
D) the Caribbean.

Accepted Answer

By the 1700s, the majority of slaves were purchased from Africa, as part of the transatlantic slave trade, where European traders bought slaves primarily from West Africa and transported them to the Americas.

Question 17

During the eighteenth century, most slaves ended up working on plantations that produced which of the following?
A) Wheat
B) Sugar
C) Spices
D) Corn

Accepted Answer

During the eighteenth century, the majority of slaves were employed on plantations that primarily produced sugar, especially in the Caribbean and parts of the Americas. Sugar plantations required a large labor force for the intensive work of cultivating, harvesting, and processing sugarcane, making them one of the main destinations for enslaved Africans during the transatlantic slave trade.

Question 18

Which of the following best characterizes the process of the Atlantic system during the eighteenth century?
A) Slaves were traded from Africa to European nations to work primarily as domestic servants or in factories producing textiles and sewing garments to be sold by department stores.
B) Slaves were traded from Africa to colonies in the Americas and the Caribbean, where they worked on plantations producing commodities that were exported to Europe for processing.
C) Slaves were traded from Africa to colonies in the Americas and the Caribbean, where they would work for low wages for a set amount of time and then be freed.
D) Slaves were traded from Africa to Asia, where they would work as assistants to merchants, helping facilitate trade of porcelain, silk, tea, and spices.

Accepted Answer

The Atlantic system during the eighteenth century is best characterized by the trade of slaves from Africa to the Americas and the Caribbean, where they were forced to work on plantations producing commodities like sugar, tobacco, and cotton, which were then exported to Europe for processing and consumption.

Question 19

Plantations in the New World can best be described as
A) small plots of land, mostly in Central and South America, that were worked by native Americans and produced cash crops such as potatoes.
B) small family-run farms that were worked with assistance from European indentured servants and produced high-yield cash crops.
C) large tracts of land owned by colonial settlers from western Europe that were farmed by slave labor and produced staple crops.
D) large government-owned farms that were worked by both slaves and indentured servants and produced a wide variety of crops, which were then sent to Europe.

Accepted Answer

Plantations in the New World were typically large tracts of land owned by colonial settlers from Western Europe. They relied heavily on slave labor for their operations and were focused on the production of staple crops such as sugar, tobacco, and cotton, which were in high demand in Europe.

Question 20

In the 1740s, which of the following regions would most likely export coffee to Europe?
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A) Angola
B) Peru
C) Brazil
D) Indonesia

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Quiz 17: The Atlantic System and Its Consequences, 1700-1750