#1: Compare and contrast the typical family conditions and ways of life in Colonial America.

• Southern Whites

• African American Slaves

• New Englanders *

#2: Why was the tobacco culture of early Maryland and Virginia so harsh and unstable? How did the environmental / demographic conditions of the Chesapeake affect the social, political, and economic life of the colonies?

• Unhealthy Chesapeake

• The Tobacco Economy

• Bacon’s Rebellion

• Southern Society *

#3: What was the underlying cause of the expansion of African slavery in North America? Could the colonies’ labor problem have been solved without slavery?

• Colonial Slavery

• Africans in America

• NY, SC, and Stono River Slave Revolts *

#4: How did the harsh climate and soil, stern religion, and tightly knit New England town shape the Yankee character?

• New England Family

• Life in New England Towns

• Half-Way Covenant

• Salem Witch Trials

• The New England Way of Live

• Early Settlers’ Days and Ways *

#5: Had 17th century colonial society already developed a recognizable American culture or did it still reflect the Old World Europe?

• Consider the following:

• Family Life

• Social Class

• Ethnicity

• Religion *

#1: What were the factors which contributed to the growing population and the multiculturalism which existed in Colonial America? What were the consequences for both of these?

• Conquest by the Cradle

• Mingling of the Races (Germans and Scots-Irish)

• Homogeneous v. Heterogeneous Society

• Crevecoeur quote “What is this new American?” *

#2: Describe the structure of colonial society in the 18th century. What developments tended to make society less equal and more hierarchical?

• The Average American

• 17th v. 18th century

• Prospects, Planters, and Paupers

• Clerics, Physicians, and Jurists

• Workaday America

• Triangular Trade | Molasses Act *

#3: What were the causes and consequences of the Great Awakening? How was religious revival linked to the development of a sense of American uniqueness and identity?

• Dominant Denominations

• Origins of the 1st Great Awakening

• Old Lights v. New Lights

• Schools and Colleges *

#4: What features of colonial politics contributed to the development of popular democracy, and what kept political life from being more truly democratic?

• A Provincial Culture (Art and Literature)

• Pioneer Presses – Peter Zenger Trial

• The Great Game of Politics | Voting

• Colonial Folkways *

#5: Some historians argue that America during the 18th century was becoming more European, while others argue that developments like the 1st Great Awakening and the rise of colonial assemblies made the colonies truly American for the first time. Which of these interpretations is more persuasive, and why? *