Quiz 3: Society and Culture in Provincial America

Most seventeenth-century English migrants to the North American colonies were A)aristocrats. B)religious dissenters. C)laborers. D)commercial agents. E)landowners.

Of those that arrived to the Chesapeake region in the seventeenth century,the great majority were A)slaves. B)women. C)convicts. D)indentured servants. E)religious dissenters.

Which of the following was NOT a characteristic of the English indenture system? A)Most indentured servants received land upon completion of their contracts. B)Contracts for indenture generally lasted four to five years. C)The presence of indentured servants was a source of social unrest. D)Female indentured servants were typically not allowed to marry while under contract. E)Female indentured servants constituted one-fourth of the total in the Chesapeake.

By 1700,English colonial landowners began to rely more heavily on African slavery because A)of a declining birthrate in England. B)of worsening economic conditions in England. C)indentured servants generally refused to work in the southern colonies. D)the English government had come to discourage the practice of indenture. E)colonial parliaments passed laws improving the status of indentured servants.

Regarding colonial life expectancy during the seventeenth century, A)backcountry settlers had a similar life expectancy as settlers in coastal areas. B)life expectancy was highest in the southern colonies. C)one in two white children in the Chesapeake died in infancy. D)men had a shorter life expectancy than women. E)life expectancy in New England was unusually high.

During the seventeenth century,English colonists in the Chesapeake saw A)women significantly outnumber men. B)a life expectancy for men of just over forty years. C)few single adults. D)eight out of ten children dying in infancy. E)an increasingly unbalanced sex ratio.

By 1775,the non-Indian population of the English colonies was just over A)one million. B)two million. C)four million. D)six million. E)eight million.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,medical practitioners A)became increasingly professionalized. B)had little or no knowledge of sterilization. C)grew to understand the link between bacteria and infection. D)were nearly all males. E)rejected purging and bleeding as medical techniques.

The seventeenth-century medical practice of deliberately bleeding a person was based on A)Calvinist religious doctrine. B)scientific experimentation and observation. C)evidence that it helped in the recovery from illness. D)practices acquired from Indians. E)the belief that a person needed to maintain a balance of different bodily fluids.

In the seventeenth century,white women in colonial Chesapeake A)generally married later than in England. B)generally had a longer life expectancy than their husbands. C)rarely engaged in premarital sex. D)averaged one pregnancy for every two years of marriage. E)bore an average of four children apiece.

Compared to women in colonial Chesapeake,New England women A)were more likely to become widows. B)were more likely to have their family remain intact. C)had fewer children. D)had much less legal authority in their marriages. E)lost their husbands earlier in life.

In colonial New England, A)premarital sexual relations were more common than in the Chesapeake. B)choosing a spouse independent of a parent's wishes was common. C)dowries were a common feature of marriage. D)women often lost their husbands early in life. E)gender equality was reinforced by the prevailing culture.

In colonial New England Puritan communities,the family was A)highly valued. B)expected to be under the authority of women. C)marked by relatively loose parental supervision. D)both highly valued and expected to be under the authority of women. E)neither highly valued nor expected to be under the authority of women.

The term "middle passage" refers to the movement of enslaved Africans A)from the coastal regions of colonies to their interiors. B)from Africa to Europe. C)from the Caribbean to the mainland colonies. D)between individual North American colonies. E)from Africa to the New World.

Through most of the seventeenth century,slaves transported into the United States came mostly from A)Europe. B)west Africa. C)northern Africa. D)the West Indies. E)Brazil.

The estimated total number of Africans forcibly brought to all of the Americas as slaves is A)4 million. B)7 million. C)11 million. D)19 million. E)26 million.

During the seventeenth century,the Royal African Company of England A)deliberately restricted the supply of slaves to the North American colonies. B)lowered the prices for slaves to increase their sale in the North American colonies. C)sent the majority of its enslaved Africans directly to the Chesapeake colonies. D)would only ship adult African men in the slave trade. E)stopped importing slaves directly from Africa.

What statement regarding slavery in English North America in 1700 is FALSE? A)There were about 25,000 slaves in the colonies. B)Blacks outnumbered whites in some colonies. C)There were twice as many black men as black women. D)The demand for slaves led to a steady rise in the prices paid for them. E)Blacks were heavily concentrated in a few southern colonies.

In English North American colonies,the application of slave codes was based on race and A)nothing more. B)religion. C)laboring skills. D)origin of birth. E)economic status.

In comparing the colonial societies of Spanish America and English America,people of mixed races had a A)higher status than pure Africans in Spanish America. B)higher status than pure Africans in English America. C)lower status than pure Africans in Spanish America. D)higher status than pure Africans in both Spanish and English America. E)lower status than pure Africans in both Spanish and English America.

Which statement about colonial America is true? A)Birth patterns and life expectancy were similar throughout New England and the Chesapeake. B)The population characteristics of colonial America were quite similar to those of England. C)To be classified as black,one had to have at least one African American parent. D)There were more colonial American Catholics than Protestants. E)The diversity of the American population was its most enduring and distinctive feature.

The largest contingent of immigrants during the colonial period were the A)French Huguenots. B)Scotch-Irish. C)Moravians and Mennonites. D)Irish Catholics. E)Germans.

The seventeenth-century tobacco economy of the Chesapeake region A)was concentrated on many small farms with few slaves. B)went through numerous boom-and-bust cycles. C)often saw production not meet demand. D)saw planters cut back on production as a way of raising prices. E)saw prices rise steadily throughout the period.

Rice production in colonial America A)was very difficult and unhealthy work. B)relied largely on free white labor. C)involved a crop that was new to most Africans. D)was found mostly in the Chesapeake colonies. E)mostly occurred in inland regions.

Which statement about the economy of the northern colonies is true? A)Conditions for farming were more favorable than in the southern colonies. B)Planters were more likely to rely on slave labor. C)Agriculture was not the dominant industry of the economy. D)New England was able to develop several major export crops. E)Agriculture was more diverse than in the southern colonies.

The first significant metals industry in the colonies was developed for A)steel. B)iron. C)gold. D)silver. E)brass.

Industrialization in colonial America was hampered by A)English parliamentary regulations. B)a small domestic market. C)an inadequate labor supply. D)an inadequate transportation network. E)All these answers are correct.

In the seventeenth century,most colonial families A)owned spinning wheels or looms. B)were self-sufficient. C)did not own a plow. D)grew and processed their own grain. E)used wagons to transfer goods to market.

Commerce in colonial America relied in large part on A)barter. B)paper currency. C)gold. D)silver. E)credit.

In the "triangular trade," the North American colonies primarily contributed A)manufactured goods. B)sugar. C)raw materials. D)gold dust. E)slaves.

By the mid-eighteenth century,a distinct colonial merchant class came into existence because of A)the abolishment of the British Navigation Acts. B)the development of a substantial colonial manufacturing industry. C)illegal colonial trade in markets outside of the British Empire. D)ready access to manufactured goods. E)All these answers are correct.

During the eighteenth century,rising consumerism in the American colonies was encouraged by A)increasing class distinctions within society. B)the association of material possessions with personal virtue and refinement. C)increased access to consumer credit. D)both increasing class distinctions within society and the association of material possessions with personal virtue and refinement. E)None of these answers is correct.

Seventeenth-century southern plantations A)enabled planters to control their markets. B)tended to be rough and relatively small. C)used many more slaves than indentured servants. D)rarely saw the landowner do any manual labor. E)created few new wealthy landowners.

The first plantations in colonial North America emerged in the tobacco-growing areas of A)New York and New Jersey. B)North Carolina and South Carolina. C)Georgia and South Carolina. D)Delaware and Pennsylvania. E)Virginia and Maryland.

The percentage of enslaved African Americans living on a plantation of at least ten slaves was approximately A)25 percent. B)30 percent. C)50 percent. D)75 percent. E)90 percent.

Which statement regarding the lives of slaves in colonial North America is true? A)Most slaves worked as house servants. B)Whites rarely intruded upon the conventions of black society. C)Slaves had no opportunity to develop their own society or culture. D)Slave religion was a blend of Christianity and African folk tradition. E)Slaves hardly ever resisted their masters.

In the North American colonies,mulatto children were A)regarded as white by white society. B)rejected by the rest of the slave community. C)rarely produced. D)rarely recognized by their white fathers. E)freed at birth.

The Stono Rebellion A)led to the death of dozens of white Virginian colonists. B)saw slaves in South Carolina attempt to escape from the colony. C)led to the banning of the slave trade in Maryland. D)prompted Georgia to strengthen its laws on slavery. E)led planters to resume hiring indentured servants for their labor needs.

The most common form of resistance by enslaved Africans to their condition was A)arson. B)destruction of crops. C)running away. D)subtle defiance or evasion of their masters. E)poisoning of food.

Which of the following statements about slave work is FALSE? A)Field hand was the predominant occupation of both male and female slaves. B)Some slaves on larger plantations learned trades and crafts. C)Skilled slaves were at times hired out to other planters. D)A few slaves were able to buy their freedom. E)Colonial slave codes forbade teaching slaves skilled trades and crafts.

In Puritan New England,participation in town meetings was limited to A)all land-owning adults. B)"selectmen." C)adult males who were church members. D)all church members. E)land-owning males.

Primogeniture refers to the A)right to vote. B)passing of property to the firstborn son. C)tending of a servant's indenture. D)arrangement of authority within New England assemblies. E)practice of granting land only to those assured of salvation.

Over time,tensions in Puritan New England communities developed as a result of A)population growth. B)the practices of land inheritance. C)calls for gender equality. D)both population growth and the commercialization of society. E)both population growth and calls for gender equality.

In the outbreaks of witchcraft hysteria that marked New England colonial life,those accused were most commonly A)not members of the church. B)criminals. C)indentured servants. D)women of low social position. E)Indians or slaves.

The witchcraft trials in Salem A)were unique in the history of colonial New England. B)saw the original accusers recant their charges. C)led to prison terms,but no executions. D)were evidence of a decline in religious fervor. E)almost resulted in the revocation of the Massachusetts charter.

By the 1770s,the two largest port cities in colonial North America were A)Philadelphia and New York. B)Boston and Newport. C)Philadelphia and Charleston. D)New York and Boston. E)Boston and Charleston.

Class divisions in colonial North American cities were A)sharper than in corresponding European cities. B)more real and visible than in rural places. C)essentially nonexistent. D)weaker in the North than in the South. E)smoothed over by church and social registers.

In the 1760s,the Revolutionary crisis in English North America began in cities because A)the majority of the population lived in urban areas. B)cities were the centers of intellectual information. C)rural populations had few grievances with the crown. D)city inhabitants tended to be rowdier than their rural counterparts. E)All these answers are correct.

In the eighteenth century,religious toleration in the American colonies A)flourished due to the diversity of practices brought by settlers. B)was unmatched in any European nation. C)was enhanced because no single religious code could be imposed on any large area. D)grew despite laws establishing the Church of England as the official colonial religion. E)All these answers are correct.

The Church of England was the official faith in A)New Jersey. B)Massachusetts. C)Virginia. D)Connecticut. E)all of the colonies.

In the English colonies,Roman Catholics A)suffered their greatest persecution in Maryland. B)made up a large minority population of most colonies. C)were officially illegal. D)were generally well treated. E)suffered their greatest persecution in the Carolinas.

In the English colonies,Jews A)had their largest community in Rhode Island. B)did not live in most of the colonies. C)enjoyed considerable toleration. D)could not practice their religion openly anywhere. E)could not vote or hold office.

Jeremiads refers to A)a measurement of wealth. B)community experiments. C)sermons. D)witchcraft. E)town meetings.

In the mid-1600s,New England Puritan ministers began preaching against the decline of A)family. B)piety. C)community. D)freedom. E)tolerance.

The Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s A)began as a call for young men to become ministers. B)had particular appeal with women and young men. C)alienated traditional New England Puritans. D)failed to take root in southern colonies. E)helped to smooth differences within existing congregations.

George Whitefield is associated with the A)growth of American Catholicism. B)founding of the American Baptist Church. C)Quakers. D)Great Awakening. E)Enlightenment.

As a leading figure of the Great Awakening,Jonathan Edwards preached A)highly orthodox Puritan ideas. B)the possibility of easy salvation. C)that women should join the ministry. D)that the ideas of predestination were outmoded for the times. E)salvation through good works.

Eighteenth-century Enlightenment thought A)emphasized the importance of religious faith. B)rejected most religious thought. C)had little influence on American intellectual thought. D)challenged concepts such as "natural laws." E)suggested that people had considerable control over their own lives.

All of the following Americans made important contributions to Enlightenment thought EXCEPT A)James Madison. B)Benjamin Franklin. C)Thomas Jefferson. D)John Locke. E)Thomas Paine.

After the Bible,the first widely circulated publications in colonial America were A)political pamphlets. B)hymnals. C)almanacs. D)historical writings. E)drinking songs.

The wide availability of reading material in colonial America was the result of A)colonial laws that protected freedom of speech in the printed word. B)high rates of men who attended college. C)the Stamp Act of 1765. D)the spread of printing technology. E)high rates of male literacy.

Which statement regarding colonial higher education is true? A)Most colleges were founded by religious groups. B)Colonists placed a low value on any formal education. C)Parliament regulated the establishment of American colleges. D)Most colonial colleges accepted female students. E)Most colonial leaders after 1700 went abroad to study.

The first American college was A)Columbia. B)Harvard. C)Yale. D)William and Mary. E)Princeton.

During a smallpox epidemic in Boston in the 1720s,Puritan theologian Cotton Mather urged the population to A)move to the country. B)repent their sins. C)get inoculated. D)quarantine the infected. E)reject the spreading influence of the Enlightenment.

The verdict of the 1735 libel trial of New York publisher John Peter Zenger A)increased freedom of the press in the colonies. B)restricted the ability of the press to report on government affairs. C)resulted in the closure of several colonial newspapers. D)ruled that criticisms by the press,even if factually accurate,were libelous. E)banned all printed attacks on the King or Parliament in the colonies.

By the late seventeenth century,European and African immigrants outnumbered natives along the Atlantic coast.

Most indentured servants came to the colonies voluntarily.

Indentured servitude developed out of practices in England.

Immigration was the most important factor for long-term English colonial population growth.

Life expectancy in New England was higher than in the rest of British North America.

Indentured servants were forbidden to marry until their term of service was over.

In the seventeenth century,it was easy for women to enter the medical field as midwives.

Medical evidence suggests that bleeding a patient could assist in recovery from an illness.

Puritanism reinforced traditional patterns of male authority.

Fewer than 5 percent of African slaves imported to the Americas arrived first in the English colonies.

Black workers did not become generally available in British North America until the early part of the eighteenth century.

Skin color was the only factor in determining whether a person was subject to slave codes.

Most blacks who came to the English colonies in North America came directly from Africa.

In the early seventeenth century,the legal status of slaves was ambiguous and fluid.

English America recognized no distinctions between pure Africans and people of mixed race.

Among the first large groups of non-English European immigrants to British North America were the Huguenots.

The most numerous of the non-English European immigrants to British North America were the Scotch-Irish.

African slaves engaged in the cultivation of rice,but they were not very adept at it.

Colonial agriculture in the northern colonies was more diversified than in the southern colonies.

Parliament passed the Iron Act in 1750 to encourage colonial production of iron.

The most commonly owned tool on colonial American farms was the plow.

The British Navigation Acts were designed to protect England from foreign competition in the colonies.

There were sharp social distinctions in the colonies,but the English class system did not take root in the colonies.

Seventeenth-century colonial plantations were actually relatively small estates.

Because whites rarely encouraged formal marriage among slaves,the black population failed to develop strong family structures.

Some enslaved Africans became skilled crafts workers.

Very little slave resistance took the form of open rebellion.

The characteristic social unit in New England was the nuclear family living on a farm.

New Englanders did not adopt the English system of primogeniture.

The Salem girls who accused people of being witches never recanted their stories.

Most of those accused of witchcraft in Salem were women of low social position.

Belief in witchcraft was not a common feature of Puritan religious life.

Religious toleration was more pronounced in America than anywhere in Europe.

Puritanism in New England was confined to a single religious denomination.

The revival that was the Great Awakening was rooted in a desire to reinvigorate family life.

The Enlightenment was the product of seventeenth-century scientific and intellectual discoveries.

Enlightenment thought encouraged people to reject their religious faith.

Eighteenth-century American men achieved a high degree of literacy.

Harvard College was created by Great Awakening ministers as a school for future ministers.

The case of John Peter Zenger saw the courts rule that criticisms of the government were not libelous if actually true.

During the course of colonial history,colonial legislatures grew increasingly accustomed to operating on orders from Parliament.

Most women who entered into the medical profession did so as ________.

The journey of Africans to the Americas was called the ________.

French Calvinists were referred to as ________.

The exchange of rum,slaves,and sugar has been called the ________.

The most serious colonial slave revolt,called the ________,took place in South Carolina in 1739.

The first significant colonial metals industry was established in ________,Massachusetts.

Those Puritans who could give evidence of grace and were admitted to full church membership were called "________."

The practice of passing property to the firstborn son was called ________.

The largest outbreak of suspected witchcraft persecution in British North America took place in ________,Massachusetts.

Puritan sermons of despair were called ________.

The most outstanding Great Awakening preacher was New England Congregationalist ________.

Francis Bacon and John Locke were influential in the ideas of the ________.

The first American college,established in 1636,was ________.

Benjamin Franklin's famous almanac was titled ________.

Cotton Mather promoted the use of inoculation against the disease ________.

New York publisher ________ prevailed in a 1734 freedom-of-the-press case.

Discuss the differences between the demographics of the colonial South and the demographics of the colonial North.

Characterize colonial medical practices by examining their positive and negative features.

Assess the beginnings of slavery in North America (in the main text)and argue which historical explanation for its origins (from the section "Debating the Past")seems most accurate.

How did the English colonists' attitudes toward Indians compare with their views toward Africans?

How did immigration affect social and economic life in the colonies?

What were the critical differences between a southern plantation and a New England town?

Assess the character and nature of religion in colonial America.

Describe technology in the United States in the eighteenth-century; examine both its development and its limits.

What effect did the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening have on life in British North America?