US History - Chapter 2

Question 1

The Maryland Colony (background)

Answer 1

• Given to Lord Baltimore by King Charles II
• Proprietary colony

Question 2

Act of Toleration (1649)

Answer 2

• Religious freedom for all Christians
• Called for the death for anyone who denied the divinity of Jesus Christ
• Intended to protect Catholics
• One of the 1st laws to promote religious tolerance in the colonies

Question 3

Protestant revolt in Maryland

Answer 3

• Late 1600s: Protestant resentment over a Catholic proprietor erupted into a brief civil war
• The Protestants won -> Act of Toleration repealed
• Catholics lost their right to vote in elections for the Maryland assembly

Question 4

The Virginia Colony (background)

Answer 4

• King James I chartered the Virginia Company that founded the first permanent English settlement in North America: Jamestown
• Despite having tobacco as a cash crop, the population of Jamestown had decreased dramatically and the Virginia Company was heavily in debt
• King James I revoked the Virginia Company’s charter of the colony and made it the 1st royal colony, known as Virginia

Question 5

Tobacco in Virginia

Answer 5

• Cash crop for the colony
• Problems with tobacco:
• Destroys land
• Colonists kept moving westward
• Demand for labor increased

Question 6

Bacon’s Rebellion

Answer 6

• Sir William Berkeley, governor of Virginia, favored wealthy planters and antagonized small farmers because he failed to protect them from Native American attacks
• 1676: Nathanial Bacon, an impoverished farmer, gathered an army and led a series of raids and massacres against Native American villages
• Bacon’s army defeated the governor’s forces and burned Jamestown

Question 7

Impact of Bacon’s Rebellion

Answer 7

• Showcased the stark class differences between wealthy planters and impoverished farmers
• Highlighted colonial resistance to royal control
• These problems would persist into the next century

Question 8

House of Burgesses

Answer 8

• The Virginia Company persuaded citizens to settle at Jamestown by promising them the same rights as English citizens, including a voice in the lawmaking process
• 1619: Representative assembly established

Question 9

Plymouth (background)

Answer 9

• Settled by Pilgrims, or Separatists
• King forced all English citizens to be a part of the Church of England
• Pilgrims felt that they had to share their church with the “damned”
• Believed in a total break from the Church of England
• William Bradford: Leader of the Plymouth colony

Question 10

Massachusetts Bay Colony (background)

Answer 10

• Settled by Puritans
• Led by John Winthrop
• Believed in predestination
• Wanted total reform, or to purify, the Church of England
• Turmoil in England (leading to the English Civil War) sent 70,000 Puritans to America

Question 11

The Mayflower Compact

Answer 11

• 1620: Pilgrims landed in Plymouth
• The Mayflower Compact: An agreement to form a crude government and submit to majority rule
• Led to adult male settlers meeting in assemblies to make laws in town meetings
• Direct democracy

Question 12

John Winthrop

Answer 12

• Well-off attorney and manor lord in England
• Puritan minister
• Goal: Wanted to be a “City Upon a Hill”
• Believed they had an agreement with God to serve as a model
• Became 1st governor of Massachusetts
• Believed he had a “call” from God to lead there
• Served as governor or deputy governor for 19 years

Question 13

The Pennsylvania Colony (background)

Answer 13

• Founded by William Penn
• “Holy Experiment”
• Religious Society of Friends - proprietor colony
• Liberal - representative assembly
• Treated Native Americans fairly
• Extended rights to women
• Religious toleration and freedom