Review of chapters on the late colonial period

The competition with the French, the drive for settlement beyond the Appalachians, and struggles with the British.

Study questions for 5-7 Test

These certainly aren’t the only things that may show up, but you should take some time to make sure you know the answers to these questions. Review your class notes as well. Make sure you have read the blog posts, and use the links for more info page if you need help!

What was the most effective method the colonists had to fight British economic policies toward the colonies?
Explain Christine Heyrman’s main point in her discussion of the 1st Great Awakening.
Why was there a massacre at Deerfield?
What exactly was the “triangular trade?”
Explain the concept of “virtual representation.”
Why were “Continentals” worthless? (insert jokes about suicide doors here, for those of you who are car fans….)
What were the main features of the 1st Great Awakening?
How did slavery affect the distribution of wealth in southern society?
What was the purpose of the Committees of Correspondence?
Compare the way American society was structured in relation to that in Europe?
What was the purpose of the Stamp Act, and why was it so resented?
Why did the colonists and the British differ so much on their understanding of the conduct and meaning of the French and Indian War?
Why did wives sometimes run away from their husbands in early colonial America, and how did their husbands respond?
Why did colonists so resent the issuance of the Proclamation of 1763? What was the reason why the British issued this proclamation?
What happened to the Puritan Church in the 18th century?
What was the reason for Americans’ attitudes toward the Navigation Laws?
What was the principle at stake in the Zenger case, and what was the outcome?
What were the reasons for the development of “benign” or “salutary neglect” and why did this period end?
Describe the Albany Plan of Union, and explain the difficulties that made its enactment unlikely.
What was the significance of General Braddock’s defeat at Fort Duquesne?
Why did France want to gain control of the Ohio Valley, according to both our discussion and your text?
Which professions were least and most respected in 19th century America, and why?
What were the terms of the Treaty of Paris of 1763?
What does “established church” mean and why was this practice criticized? By whom?
Describe the main points of the theory of mercantilism.
What actions by the British helped to lead the colonies to rebel by 1775?
How did religious concerns lead to the founding of early American Colleges?
What were the responses of the colonies to the Stamp Act?
Why did the British want to try smugglers in admiralty courts?
Explain why the chart on p. 114 claims that there have been 9 world wars.
Why and in what context did the British Parliament pass the Declaratory Act?
Create a chart demonstrating the advantages and disadvantages of each side at the start of the American Revolution.
What were the main points of contention between the Old Lights and the New Lights?
What was the purpose of the Molasses Act?
How did the Enlightenment influence the 1st Great Awakening?
Explain the reasons for the start of the French and Indian War.
Outline the successes and failures of early attempts at unity by the colonists until 1775. Be thorough.
What were the Suffolk Resolves?
What was the context as well as the main idea of the Declaration of Rights and Grievances?
Who were the Regulators, and what caused their actions?
What was the basic purpose of the Navigation Acts, and how did these laws relate to the theory of mercantilism?

The Proclamation of 1763

The Proclamation of 1763
George III

WHEREAS WE have taken into Our Royal Consideration the extensive and valuable Acquisitions in America, secured to Our Crown by the late Definitive Treaty of Peace, concluded at Paris…and being desirous that all Our loving Subjects…may avail themselves with all convenient Speed, of the great Benefits and Advantages which must accrue therefrom to their Commerce, Manufactures, and Navigation, We have thought fit…to issue this Our Royal Proclamation…. And whereas it is just and reasonable and essential to Our Interest and the Security of Our Colonies, that the several Nations or Tribes of Indians with whom We are connected, and who live under Our Protection should not be molested or disturbed…no Governor…in any of Our other Colonies or Plantations in America, do presume for the present…to grant Warrants of Survey, or pass Patents for any Lands beyond the Heads or Sources of any of the Rivers which fall into the Atlantic Ocean….

And whereas great Frauds and abuses have been committed in the purchasing Lands of the Indians, to the great Prejudice of Our Interests, and to the great Dissatisfaction of the said Indians; in order to prevent such Irregularities for the future, and to the End that the Indians may be convinced of Our Justice and determined Resolution to remove all reasonable cause of Discontent, We do…enjoy and require that no private Person do presume to make any Purchase from the said Indians of any Lands reserved to the said Indians….

The Evolution of a Political Cartoon

In support of the Albany Congress, Benjamin Franklin published the now-famous cartoon entitled “Join, or Die.”

What is the message of this cartoon?

This image has become an iconic image in the annals of political cartoons. Now view this cartoon, which was released in 2004:

What is the message of this cartoon? Compare and contrast this cartoon to the original. In what ways are the situations addressed in these cartoons similar?

And in answer to the question: “Why weren’t Georgia and Delaware included in the original cartoon (or plan)?” Here is your answer: http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/19227

The Albany Plan of Union

In 1754, delegates from 7 of the 13 colonies as well as representatives of the Iroquois met in Albany, New York, which was then a frontier settlement, to organize for the purposes of forming a common defense against the French and their Indian allies at the outset of the French and Indian War, which was the colonial portion of the larger Seven Years’ War. Largely the brainchild of Benjamin Franklin, the Plan of Union proposed to create a grand council of colonies with the power to levy taxes, with a head of council approved by the king. As part of his effort to promote this preliminary attempt at colonial unity, Franklin published the famous cartoon entitled “Join, or Die.” The group meeting at Albany approved the plan, but it was later rejected by both colonial governments and the British government.

As you read, summarize the main purposes for this Grand Council.

Albany Plan of Union, 1754

It is proposed that humble application be made for an act of Parliament of Great Britain, by virtue of which one general government may be formed in America, including all the said colonies, within and under which government each colony may retain its present constitution, except in the particulars wherein a change may be directed by the said act, as hereafter follows.

1. That the said general government be administered by a President-General, to be appointed and supported by the crown; and a Grand Council, to be chosen by the representatives of the people of the several Colonies met in their respective assemblies.

2. That within — months after the passing such act, the House of Representatives that happen to be sitting within that time, or that shall especially for that purpose convened, may and shall choose members for the Grand Council, in the following proportion, that is to say,

------------------Massachusetts Bay  7
                  New Hampshire      2
                  Connecticut        5
                  Rhode Island       2
                  New York           4
                  New Jersey         3
                  Pennsylvania       6
                  Maryland           4
                  Virginia           7
                  North Carolina     4
                  South Carolina     4
                                  ------
                                    48

3. — who shall meet for the first time at the city of Philadelphia, being called by the President-General as soon as conveniently may be after his appointment.

4. That there shall be a new election of the members of the Grand Council every three years; and, on the death or resignation of any member, his place should be supplied by a new choice at the next sitting of the Assembly of the Colony he represented.

5. That after the first three years, when the proportion of money arising out of each Colony to the general treasury can be known, the number of members to be chosen for each Colony shall, from time to time, in all ensuing elections, be regulated by that proportion, yet so as that the number to be chosen by any one Province be not more than seven, nor less than two.

6. That the Grand Council shall meet once in every year, and oftener if occasion require, at such time and place as they shall adjourn to at the last preceding meeting, or as they shall be called to meet at by the President-General on any emergency; he having first obtained in writing the consent of seven of the members to such call, and sent duly and timely notice to the whole.

7. That the Grand Council have power to choose their speaker; and shall neither be dissolved, prorogued, nor continued sitting longer than six weeks at one time, without their own consent or the special command of the crown.

8. That the members of the Grand Council shall be allowed for their service ten shillings sterling per diem, during their session and journey to and from the place of meeting; twenty miles to be reckoned a day’s journey.

9. That the assent of the President-General be requisite to all acts of the Grand Council, and that it be his office and duty to cause them to be carried into execution.

10. That the President-General, with the advice of the Grand Council, hold or direct all Indian treaties, in which the general interest of the Colonies may be concerned; and make peace or declare war with Indian nations.

11. That they make such laws as they judge necessary for regulating all Indian trade.

12. That they make all purchases from Indians, for the crown, of lands not now within the bounds of particular Colonies, or that shall not be within their bounds when some of them are reduced to more convenient dimensions.

13. That they make new settlements on such purchases, by granting lands in the King’s name, reserving a quitrent to the crown for the use of the general treasury.

14. That they make laws for regulating and governing such new settlements, till the crown shall think fit to form them into particular governments.

15. That they raise and pay soldiers and build forts for the defence of any of the Colonies, and equip vessels of force to guard the coasts and protect the trade on the ocean, lakes, or great rivers; but they shall not impress men in any Colony, without the consent of the Legislature.

16. That for these purposes they have power to make laws, and lay and levy such general duties, imposts, or taxes, as to them shall appear most equal and just (considering the ability and other circumstances of the inhabitants in the several Colonies), and such as may be collected with the least inconvenience to the people; rather discouraging luxury, than loading industry with unnecessary burdens.

17. That they may appoint a General Treasurer and Particular Treasurer in each government when necessary; and, from time to time, may order the sums in the treasuries of each government into the general treasury; or draw on them for special payments, as they find most convenient.

18. Yet no money to issue but by joint orders of the President-General and Grand Council; except where sums have been appropriated to particular purposes, and the President-General is previously empowered by an act to draw such sums.

19. That the general accounts shall be yearly settled and reported to the several Assemblies.

20. That a quorum of the Grand Council, empowered to act with the President-General, do consist of twenty-five members; among whom there shall be one or more from a majority of the Colonies.

21. That the laws made by them for the purposes aforesaid shall not be repugnant, but, as near as may be, agreeable to the laws of England, and shall be transmitted to the King in Council for approbation, as soon as may be after their passing; and if not disapproved within three years after presentation, to remain in force.

22. That, in case of the death of the President-General, the Speaker of the Grand Council for the time being shall succeed, and be vested with the same powers and authorities, to continue till the King’s pleasure be known.

23. That all military commission officers, whether for land or sea service, to act under this general constitution, shall be nominated by the President-General; but the approbation of the Grand Council is to be obtained, before they receive their commissions. And all civil officers are to be nominated by the Grand Council, and to receive the President-General’s approbation before they officiate.

24. But, in case of vacancy by death or removal of any officer, civil or military, under this constitution, the Governor of the Province in which such vacancy happens may appoint, till the pleasure of the President-General and Grand Council can be known.

25. That the particular military as well as civil establishments in each Colony remain in their present state, the general constitution notwithstanding; and that on sudden emergencies any Colony may defend itself, and lay the accounts of expense thence arising before the President-General and General Council, who may allow and order payment of the same, as far as they judge such accounts just and reasonable.

The Deerfield Massacre

Professor John Demos of Yale University wrote this article for American Heritage magazine. This article was adapted from his book, The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story From Early America.

Our traditional picture of colonial New England is essentially a still life. Peaceful little villages. Solid, strait-laced, steadily productive people. A landscape serene, if not bountiful. A history of purposeful, and largely successful, endeavor.

And yet, as historians are learning with ever-greater clarity, this picture is seriously at odds with the facts. New England had its solidity and purposefulness, to be sure. But it also had its share of discordant change, of inner stress and turmoil, and even of deadly violence. New England was recurrently a place of war, especially during the hundred years preceding the Revolution. The French to the north in Canada and the various Indian tribes on every side made determined, altogether formidable enemies. The roster of combat was long indeed: King Philip’s War (1675–76), King William’s War (1689–97), Queen Anne’s War (1702–13), Father Rasle’s War (1724–26), King George’s War (1744–48), and the French and Indian War (1754–63). Most of these were intercolonial, even international, conflicts, in which New England joined as a very junior partner. But there were numerous other skirmishes, entirely local and so obscure as not to have earned a name. All of them exacted a cost, in time, in money, in worry—and in blood.

Much of the actual fighting was small-scale, hit-andrun, more a matter of improvisation than of formal strategy and tactics. Losses in any single encounter might be only a few, but they did add up. Occasionally the scale widened, and entire towns became targets. Lancaster and Haverhill, Massachusetts; Salmon Falls and Oyster River, New Hampshire; York and Wells, Maine: Each suffered days of wholesale attack. And Deerfield, Massachusetts—above all, Deerfield—scene of the region’s single, most notorious “massacre.”

The year is 1704, the season winter, the context another European war with a “colonial” dimension. New France (Canada) versus New England. (New York and the colonies farther south are, at least temporarily, on the sidelines.) The French and their Indian allies have already engineered a series of devastating raids along the “eastern frontier”— the Maine and New Hampshire coasts. The English have counterattacked against half a dozen Abenaki Indian villages. And now, in Montreal, the French governor is secretly planning a new thrust “over the ice” toward “a little village of about forty households,” a place misnamed in the French records “Guerrefille.” (An ironic twist just there: Deerfield becomes “War-girl.”)

Deerfield is not unready. Like other outlying towns, it has labored to protect itself: with a “stockade” (a fortified area, at its center, inside a high palisade fence), a “garrison” of hired soldiers, a “watch” to patrol the streets at night, and “scouts” to prowl the woods nearby. Indeed, many families are living inside the stockade. Conditions are crowded and uncomfortable, to say the least, but few doubt the need for special measures. The town minister, Rev. John Williams, conducts an extraordinary day of “fasting and prayer” in the local church—“possessed,” as he reportedly is, “that the town would in a little time be destroyed.”

The attack forces—French led, largely Indian in rank and file—set out in early February. Steadily they move southward, on frozen rivers and lakes, with one hard leg across the Green Mountains. They have snowshoes, sleds to carry their supplies, and dogs to pull the sleds. The lower part of their route follows the Connecticut River valley till it reaches a point near what would later become Brattleboro, Vermont. Here they will strike off into the woods to the south, leaving dogs and sleds for their return. They are barely a day’s march—twenty miles—from their objective. The rest they will cover as quickly and quietly as possible. Surprise is their most potent weapon. The people of Deerfield, though generally apprehensive, know nothing of this specific threat. On the evening of February 28, the town goes to sleep in the usual way.

Midnight. Across the river to the west the attackers are making their final preparations: loading weapons, putting on war paint, reviewing plans. The layout of Deerfield is apparently known to them from visits made in previous years by Indian hunters and traders. Presently a scout is sent “to discover the posture of the town, who observing the watch walking in the street,” returns to his comrades and “puts them to a stand.” (Our source for the details of this sequence was a contemporary historian, writing some years after the fact.) Another check, a short while later, brings a different result. The village lies “all … still and quiet”; the watch evidently has fallen asleep. It is now about four o’clock in the morning, time for the attackers to move.

Over the river, on the ice. Across a mile of meadowland, ghostly and white. Past the darkened houses at the north end of the street. Right up to the stockade. The snow has piled hugely here; the drifts make walkways to the top of the fence. A vanguard of some forty men climbs quickly over and drops down on the inside. A gate is opened to admit the rest. The watch awakens, fires a warning shot, cries, “Arm!” Too late. The attackers separate into smaller parties and “immediately set upon breaking open doors and windows.”

he townspeople come to life with a rush. Some find opportunities to escape by jumping from windows or roof lines. Several manage to flee the stockade altogether and make their way to neighboring villages. In half a dozen households the men leave families behind in order to rally outside as a counterforce. In others there is a frantic attempt to hide.

The minister’s house is a special target, singled out “in the beginning of the onset”; later John Williams will remember (and write about) his experience in detail. Roused “out of sleep … by their violent endeavors to break open doors and windows with axes and hatchets,” he leaps from bed, runs to the front door, sees “the enemy making their entrance,” awakens a pair of soldiers lodged upstairs, and returns to his bedside “for my arms.” There is hardly time, for the “enemy immediately brake into the room, I judge to the number of twenty, with painted faces and hideous acclamations.” They are “all of them Indians”; no Frenchmen in sight as yet. The minister does manage to cock his pistol and “put it to the breast of the first Indian who came up.” Fortunately—for both of them—it misfires. Thereupon Williams is “seized by 3 Indians, who disarmed me, and bound me naked, as I was in my shirt”; in this posture he will remain “for near the space of an hour.”

With their chief prize secured, the invaders turn to “rifling the house, entering in great numbers into every room.” There is killing work too: “some were so cruel and barbarous as to take and carry to the door two of my children and murder them [six-year-old John, Jr., and six-week-old Jerusha], as also a Negro woman [a family slave named Parthena].” After “insulting over me a while, holding up hatchets over my head, [and] threatening to burn all I had,” the Indians allow their captive to dress. They also permit Mrs. Williams “to dress herself and our children.”

By this time the sun is “about an hour high” (perhaps 7:00 A.M.). The sequence described by John Williams has been experienced, with some variations, in households throughout the stockade: killings (especially of infants and others considered too frail to survive the rigors of life in the wilderness); “fireing houses”; “killing cattle, hogs, sheep & sacking and wasting all that came before them.” In short, a village-size holocaust. When John Williams and his family are finally taken outside, they see “many of the houses … in flames”; later, in recalling the moment, he asks, “Who can tell what sorrows pierced our souls?”

The Williamses know they are destined “for a march … into a strange land,” as prisoners. And prisoners are being herded together—in the meetinghouse and in a home nearby—from all over town. However, one household—that of the militia leader, Sgt. Benoni Stebbins—has mounted a remarkable resistance. Its occupants are well armed and fiercely determined; moreover, the walls of this house, “being filled up with brick,” effectively repel incoming fire. The battle (as described in a subsequent report by local militia officers) continues here for more than two hours. The attackers fall back, then surge forward in an unsuccessful attempt “to fire the house.” Again they retreat—this time to the shelter of the meetinghouse—while maintaining their fusillade all the while. The defenders return bullet for bullet, “accepting of no quarter, though offered,” and “causing several of the enemy to fall,” among them “one Frenchman, a gentleman to appearance,” and “3 or 4 Indians,” including a “captain” who had helped seize John Williams.

In the meantime, some of the attackers with their captives begin to leave the stockade. Heading north, they retrace their steps toward the river. Then a stunning intervention: A band of Englishmen arrives from the villages below (where an orange glow on the horizon “gave notice … before we had news from the distressed people” themselves). “Being a little above forty in number,” they have rushed on horseback to bring relief. They stop just long enough to pick up “fifteen of Deerfield men.” And this combined force proceeds to the stockade, to deliver a surprise of its own: “when we entered at one gate, the enemy fled out the other.” Now comes a flat-out chase—pell-mell across the meadow—the erstwhile attackers put to rout. The Englishmen warm, literally, to the fight, stripping off garments as they run. (Later the same soldiers will claim reimbursement for their losses—and record details of the battle.) They inflict heavy casualties: “we saw at the time many dead bodies, and … afterwards … manifest prints in the snow, where other dead bodies were drawn to a hole in the river.”

They make, in sum, a highly successful counterattack. But one that is “pursued too far, imprudently.” For across the river the French commanders hear the tumult and swiftly regroup their own forces. The riverbank affords an excellent cover for a new stand; soon a “numerous company … [of] fresh hands” is in place there, concealed and waiting. On the Englishmen come, ignoring the orders of the officer “who had led them [and] called for a retreat.” On and on—the river is just ahead, and the captives are waiting on the other side—into the teeth of a withering “ambuscade.” Back across the meadow one more time, pursued and pursuers reversing roles. The English are hard pressed, “our breath being spent, theirs in full strength.” Their retreat is as orderly as they can make it, “facing and firing, so that those that first failed might be defended”; even so, “many were slain and others wounded.” Eventually the survivors regain the stockade and clamber inside, at which “the enemy drew off.” They will appear no more.

It is now about 9:00 A.M. A numbness settles over the village. The fires are burning down. There is blood on the snow in the street. The survivors of the “meadow fight” crouch warily behind the palisades. The townspeople who had escaped start to filter back in through the south gate. Time to look after their wounded and count their dead.

Viewed from close up, the carnage is appalling. Death—by gunshot, by hatchet, by knife, by war club—grisly beyond words. And the torn bodies on the ground are not the whole of it; when the survivors poke through the rubble, they find more. Casualty lists have entries like this: “Mary, Mercy, and Mehitable Nims [ages five, five, and seven, respectively] supposed to be burnt in the cellar.” Indeed, several cellar hideouts have turned into death-traps; in one house ten people lie “smothered” that way.

And then the wounded. One man shot through the arm. Another with a bullet in his thigh. Another with a shattered foot. Yet another who was briefly captured by the Indians, and “when I was in their hands, they cut off the forefinger of my right hand” (a traditional Indian practice with captives). A young woman wounded in the Stebbins house. A second with an ankle broken while jumping from an upper-story window.

There are, too, the lucky ones, quite a number who might have been killed or injured (or captured) but managed somehow to escape. The people who ran out in the first moments and fled the town unobserved. A young couple and their infant son whose “small house” was so small that the snow had covered it completely. A woman who lay hidden beneath an overturned tub. A boy who dived under a pile of flax. Some of this is remembered only by “tradition,” not hard evidence, but is too compelling to overlook. Here is another instance, passed through generations of the descendants of Mary Catlin: “The captives were taken to a house … and a Frenchman was brought in [wounded] and laid on the floor; he was in great distress and called for water; Mrs. Catlin fed him with water. Some one said to her, ‘How can you do that for your enemy?’ She replied, ‘If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him water to drink.’ The Frenchman was taken and carried away, and the captives marched off. Some thought the kindness shown to the Frenchman was the reason of Mrs. Catlin’s being left. …” (Mary Catlin was indeed “left,” the only one of her large family not killed or captured. And this is as plausible an explanation of her survival as any.)

Thus Deerfield in the immediate aftermath: the living and the dead, the wounded and the escaped. Tradition also tells of a mass burial in the southeast corner of the town cemetery. Another “sorrowful” task for the survivors.

Soon groups of armed men begin arriving from the towns to the south. All day and through the evening they come; by midnight there are “near about 80.” Together they debate the obvious question, the only one that matters right now: Should they follow the retreating enemy in order to retake their captive “friends”? Some are for it, but eventually counterarguments prevail. They have no snowshoes, “the snow being at least 3 foot deep.” The enemy has “treble our number, if not more.” Following “in their path … we should too much expose our men.” Moreover, the captives themselves will be endangered, “Mr. Williams’s family especially, whom the enemy would kill, if we come on.”

The day after, “Connecticut men begin to come in”; by nightfall their number has swelled to fully 250. There is more debate on whether to counterattack. However, the “aforesaid objections” remain—plus one more. The weather has turned unseasonably warm, “with rain,” and the snowpack is going to slush. They “judge it impossible to travel [except] … to uttermost disadvantage.” Under the circumstances they could hardly hope “to offend the enemy or rescue our captives, which was the end we aimed at in all.” And so they “desist” once again. They give what further help they can to “the remaining inhabitants”—help with the burials and with rounding up the surviving cattle. They prepare a report for the colony leaders in Boston, including a detailed count of casualties: 48 dead, 112 taken captive. (Another 140 remain “alive at home.”) They leave a “garrison of 30 men or upwards” in the town. And the rest return to their home villages.

Meanwhile, the “march” of the captives, and their captors, is well under way: through the wilderness on to Canada. There is extreme privation and suffering on both sides. The French and Indians are carrying wounded comrades. The captives include many who are physically weak and emotionally stricken: young children, old people, pregnant women, lone survivors of otherwise shattered families. Food is short, the weather inclement, the route tortuous.

The captors, fearing a possible English pursuit, push forward as rapidly as possible. Any who cannot keep up must be killed and left by the trail “for meat to the fowls of the air and beasts of the earth.” Among the first to suffer this fate is the minister’s wife. Still convalescent following a recent pregnancy, she nearly drowns in a river crossing, after which, according to John Williams, “the cruel and bloodthirsty savage who took her, slew her with his hatchet at one stroke.” In the succeeding days another seventeen of the captives will be similarly “dispatched.”

Later in the journey the French and the Indians separate. And later still the Indians, who now hold all the captives, subdivide into small “bands.” At one critical juncture Reverend Williams is marked for execution by revenge-minded kinsmen of the “captain” killed at Deerfield; a rival chief’s intervention saves him. His five surviving children are scattered among different “masters” and, surprisingly, are “looked after with a great deal of tenderness.”

There are two additional deaths —from starvation—as the various bands move farther north, but sooner or later ninety-two captives reach Canada. Some, like John Williams, are ransomed “out of the hands of Indians” by French officials; others are taken to Indian “forts” and encampments throughout the St. Lawrence River Valley.

Almost immediately their relatives and friends in New England begin efforts to secure their release. But the process is complicated, and progress is painfully slow. Eventually some fifty-three will be returned home, with John Williams as one of the last among them. His subsequent account of his experiences, published under the imposing title The Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion, will make him famous throughout the Colonies.

His daughter Eunice will become equally famous, but for a different reason: she declines to return and spends the rest of her long life among the Indians. She forgets her English and adjusts completely to Indian ways; she marries a local “brave” and raises a family. Another fifteen or so of her fellow captives will make a similar choice, and still others stay on with the French Canadians. These are the captives unredeemed: a source of sorrow, and of outrage, for the New Englanders.

In fact, efforts to bring them back will continue for decades. “Friends” traveling back and forth quite unofficially, and full-fledged “ambassadors” sent from one royal governor to the other, seek repeatedly to force a change. In some cases there are direct—even affectionate—contacts between the parties themselves. Eunice Williams pays four separate visits to her New England relatives. Each time they greet her with great excitement and high hopes for her permanent “return,” but there is no sign that she even considers the possibility. She acknowledges the claims of her blood, but other, stronger claims draw her back to Canada. She has become an Indian in all but blood, and she prefers to remain that way. She will become the last surviving member of the entire “massacre” cohort.

The destruction of Deerfield came nearer the beginning than the end of the Anglo-French struggle for control of North America. And was barely a curtain raiser in the long, sorry drama of “white” versus “red.” But it left special, and enduring, memories. Well into the nineteenth century New England boys played a game called Deerfield Massacre, complete with mock scalpings and captive taking. A curious bond grew between Deerfield and the descendants of those same Canadian Indians who had formed the attack party, with visits back and forth on both sides. And particular “massacre” memorabilia have been carefully—almost lovingly—preserved to the present day.

Indeed, Deerfield today recalls both sides of its former frontier experience. It remains an exquisitely tranquil—and beautiful—village, its main street lined with stately old houses (twelve of them open to the public). But its most celebrated single artifact is an ancient wooden door, hacked full of hatchet holes on that bitter night in the winter of 1704.

Here is a link to a chart that shows what happened to those in Deerfield: http://www.babcock-acres.com/Misceallaneous/deerfield_captives_of_1704.htm

Questions over Chapter 6

Questions over Chapter 6, The Duel for North America, 1608-1763
Due Tuesday, September 3.

HANDWRITTEN. ANSWER FULLY.

1. How/why was America involved in European wars, beginning in the 17th century?
2. What conditions in France had prevented French colonization efforts in the New World? What role did disease play on early colonization efforts?
3. Who was the “Father of New France,” and where exactly was “New France?”
4. Compare the government of New France with that of the English colonies.
5. What was the fur French trappers and traders were most interested in?
6. What negative effects did French contact have upon the Native peoples?
7. Compare French missionaries to Spanish missionaries. What were the main differences as well as similarities?
8. Why was control of Louisiana important to the French?
9. What were the main military tactics used in the early wars between Britain and France?
10. What influence did the Treaty of Utrecht have on British-colonial relations?
11. Why was the War of Jenkins’ Ear important, besides having one of the coolest names for a war in terms of weirdness?
12. What effect did the status of Louisbourg have on New England colonists?
13. What was the main area being fought over between the British and the French? Why was it important for Beach country to gain control of this area?
14. What role did George Washington play in the start of the Seven Years’ War in America? What was the other name for this war? Who were the French allies in the war, both here and in Europe?
15. What was the overall goal of the Albany Congress? What was the specific goal? Who was the moving force behind this gathering?
16. What did the Albany Congress demonstrate about questions of autonomy and cooperation in the colonies?
17. How was the Seven Years’ War different from the first three Anglo-French wars?
18. Explain the symbolism in Ben Franklin’s political cartoon published about the Albany Congress. What was he trying to say?
19. General Braddock’s defeat near Fort Necessity had what practical effect?
20 . How did William Pitt change British strategy in the war to help ensure victory, and what Battle then reflected his new strategy?
21. Describe the main provisions of the Peace of Paris that ended the French and Indian War.
22. What effect did the war have on colonial attitudes toward the British? Explain. What impact did the war have on inter-colonial relations?
23. What were the barriers to colonial unity before the French and Indian War?
24. What impact did the removal of the French threat upon their frontier have upon the colonists? What did they assume would be the benefit to them, and in what ways was this hope disappointed?
25. What impact did Pontiac’s Rebellion have upon British colonial policy? What is the connection to the Proclamation of 1763? How did the colonists respond to the Proclamation?

Review MC 2 for semester 1 final

Please print these off, answer them, and bring them with you to class on Thursday/Friday (December 8/9).

These questions are over chapters 5-8. First attempt to see how many of the answers you know without looking them up. Make a mark next to those you felt confident about. After we go over these in class, you will know areas you need to concentrate upon when studying.

1. Which of the following explorers claimed the Louisiana Territory for France?
A. Louis Joliet
B. Jacques Cartier
C. Robert de la Salle
D. Samuel de Champlain
E. Jacques Marquette

2. In what way did early Spanish settlement differ from that of the early French colonization efforts during the 17th century?
A. The French focused on establishing larger permanent communities in their colonies.
B. The Spanish made religious conversion a major focus of their efforts.
C. The French focused more on forced religious conversions of the indigenous peoples than did the Spanish.
D. The French based much of their hopes of profit on the fur trade.
E. French settlement was driven largely by the desires of French Huguenots to escape religious persecution, while the Spanish had no such dissident settler groups.

3. The colonial policy of the British Empire was reorganized in 1763 because King George III and his Parliament desperately needed to raise funds to pay for the previous four world wars. The means to raise funds that was settled upon was
A. fighting a series of Indian engagements to strip more land from the Natives, which could then be sold for revenue.
B. to create the Dominion of New England in order to streamline colonial administration.
C. to place direct and indirect taxes upon the colonists and to increase enforcement of the Navigation Acts to end smuggling.
D. to permanently ban any further spread of English settlements west of the Mississippi River.
E. impressing American sailors into the British navy.

4. Salutary neglect
A. described the period of British inattention to colonial matters before the French and Indian War.
B. led to lax enforcement of the Navigation Laws.
C. ended after the Peace of Paris in 1763.
D. allowed American colonists to get by with paying very little taxes.
E. all of the above.

5. The “triangular trade” involved the sale of rum, molasses, and slaves among
A. New England, Africa, and the West Indies.
B. West Indies, France, and South America.
C. New England, Britain, and Spain.
D. Virginia, Canada, and Britain.
E. New England, the Carolinas, and West Indies.

6. In 1754, this meeting was held by representatives of 7 colonies to attempt to encourage colonial unity against the threat against the colonial frontier stirred up by the French through their Indian allies.
A. New England Confederation
B. Albany Congress
C. Stamp Act Congress
D. First Continental Congress
E. House of Burgesses

7. The first direct tax placed upon the colonies by Parliament (causing the colonists to react with fury) was
A. the Stamp Act.
B. the Molasses Act.
C. the Quartering Act.
D. the Townshend Acts.
E. the Tea Act tax.

8. The most effective protest against British policies, which actually resulted in Parliament reversing many hated provisions they had enacted was
A. physical intimidation of royal officials, such as tarring and feathering or burning them in effigy.
B. vandalism such as the Boston Tea Party.
C. sending petitions for the redress of grievances to Parliament.
D. smuggling to avoid the payment of customs duties.
E. boycotts of British goods through coordinated efforts by the Sons and Daughters of Liberty.

9. The riches created by the growing slave population in the American South in the 18th century
A. were distributed evenly among the Southern whites.
B. helped to narrow the gap between rich and poor, creating an egalitarian society for whites.
C. created a serious problem with inflation, as too much wealth was invested in slave property.
D. benefited only a few elite families at the expense of the rest of Southern society.
E. enabled poor whites to escape tenant farming

10. By 1775, the ___ were the only two established churches in colonial America.
A. Methodist and Anglican
B. Presbyterian and Congregational
C. Congregational and Anglican
D. Quaker and Catholic
E. Presbyterian and Anglican

11. When the British Parliament passed the Molasses Act of 1733, it intended the act to
A. stimulate the colonies’ “triangular trade.”
B. satisfy colonial demands for earning foreign currency.
C. discourage colonial trade with the French West Indies.
D. increase colonial standards of living and protect the livelihood of colonial merchants.
E. require Americans to sell their molasses to British merchants.

12. The local committees of correspondence organized by Samuel Adams
A. promoted his bid to become governor of Massachusetts.
B. promoted independent action in each colony to support the British.
C. kept opposition to the British alive through the exchange of propaganda.
D. served as a precursor to the US Postal Service.
E. led to the Boston Massacre.

13. The reason France needed to control the Ohio Valley in the 1750s was to
A. stop Spain from extending its empire.
B. help win the War of Jenkins’ Ear.
C. stop the Indian attacks on its outposts.
D. link its Canadian holdings with those of the lower Mississippi Valley.
E. be able to put more of its settlers there in order to increase farm production.

14. With the British and American victory in the French and Indian War,
A. the American colonies grew closer to Britain.
B. Americans now feared the Spanish, who surrounded them on two sides.
C. a new spirit of independence arose among the colonists with France eliminated as a threat.
D. the Native Americans were all placed on reservations as a penalty for taking the losing side.
E. the French withdrew completely from the Western hemisphere.

15. “Virtual representation” meant that
A. almost all British subjects were represented in Parliament.
B. every member of Parliament represented all British subjects.
C. colonists could elect their own representatives to Parliament.
D. Parliament could pass virtually all types of legislation except taxes.
E. each member of Parliament represented only people in his home district.

16. Under mercantilist theory, the colonies were expected to do all of the following EXCEPT
A. supply Britain with raw materials.
B. become economically self-sufficient as soon as possible.
C. furnish ships, seamen, and trade to strengthen the British Navy.
D. provide a market for British goods.
E. refrain from exporting woolen cloth.

17. Thomas Paine argued that all government officials
A. were corrupt.
B. should derive their authority from popular consent.
C. should be part of the “natural aristocracy.”
D. need not listen to the voice of the uneducated.
E. should not be paid for their service.

18. The terms of the Peace of Paris of 1783 were incredibly generous to the Americans because
A. England was trying to convince the Americans to abandon their alliance with France.
B. the British were trying to anger the French Canadians, who still felt loyalty to France.
C. the British were trying to persuade the Americans not to punish Loyalists who remained in America.
D. the British feared losing their Latin American colonies to Spain.
E. the Americans had soundly defeated the British and driven out all of its troops after Yorktown.

19. Which of the following is NOT TRUE about when the 2nd Continental Congress convened?
A. delegates attended from all thirteen colonies.
B. the strongest sentiment was for declaring independence from England.
C. it adopted measures to raise money and create an army and navy.
D. it drafted new written appeals to the king.
E. the conservatives remained a strong force.

20. One reason that the American Revolution avoided the excesses of the French Revolution is that
A. America declared martial law until the Constitution was enacted in 1789.
B. the American Revolution suddenly overturned the entire political framework.
C. a strong sense of class consciousness already existed.
D. political democracy preceded social democracy in the US
E. cheap land was easily available.

Terms and questions for chapters 5 and 6

Chapter 5 is due Tuesday, and Chapter 6 is due Friday! Just a reminder. And these are in order according to the new book.

Chapter 5 Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution, 1700-1775

Identify the historical significance of the following:

Pennsylvania Dutch–Scots-Irish–Irish Catholics–Shenandoah Valley–Great wagon road–Paxton Boys

Regulator movement–Michel-Guillaume de Crevecoeur–“jayle birds”–diphtheria–bread colonies

tobacco–cod–triangular trade–rum/slaves/molasses–timber–naval stores–Molasses Act

taverns–established churches–Anglicans–Congregationalist Church–“dead dogs”

Arminianism–Great Awakening (First)–Jonathan Edwards–George Whitefield–Old lights–New lights

schisms–Princeton/Brown/Rutgers/Dartmouth–Cambridge–orthodoxy–John Trumbull

Charles Wilson Peale–Benjamin West–Phillis Wheatley–Poor Richard’s Almanack–Benjamin Franklin

John Peter Zenger–seditious libel–royal colonies–proprietary colonies–control over the purse

militia–“Popery”–Gary Nash–Christine Heyrman–Edmund S. Morgan

Be able to explain the following fully:

–Create a chart identifying the economic, social, and political differences among the northern, middle, and southern colonies.

–How were the poor treated in colonial society, and why was poverty so stigmatized in the American context?

–What role did Americans play in the developing global economy?

— What tensions (including those already mentioned in the questions above) influenced the first Great Awakening? How did the First Great Awakening influence modern American life?

–How important was membership in groups for early Americans, and what groups were most important?

Chapter 6 The Duel for North America, 1608-1763

Identify the historical significance of the following:

Huguenots–Edict of Nantes–Quebec–Samuel de Champlain–Iroquois–New France–coureurs de bois

voyageurs–Montreal–Jesuits–Antoine Cadillac–Louisiana–King William’s War–Queen Anne’s War

Kaskaskia, Vincennes, Cahokia–Schenectady & Deerfield–Peace of Utrecht–Acadia–“salutary neglect”

War of Jenkins’s Ear–King George’s War–Louisbourg–Ohio Valley–Ft. Duquesne–George Washington

Ft. Necessity–Acadians/ Cajuns–French and Indian War–Seven Years’ War–Albany Congress

Ben Franklin–Edward Braddock–regulars–buckskins–invasion of Canada–William Pitt–“Great Commoner”

James Wolfe–Plains of Abraham–Marquis de Montcalm–Battle of Quebec–Treaty of Paris (1763)

Pontiac’s uprising–smallpox–Proclamation of 1763

Be able to explain the following fully:

— What effects did the French and Indian War have upon the colonies?

— Examine the causes and effects of the Proclamation of 1763.

— Explain what is meant by the phrase “curse of colonial disunity” and its potential influence in the years before the American Revolution.