A.P. U.S. History
Mrs. Civitella
The Introductory Paragraph
A. Establish time and place
B. Provide background information to the time period
C. Write a thesis statement:
1) answer the question
2) clearly identify the topics of your body paragraphs
3) Underline your thesis statement
Directions
 Using the document packet from the 1993 D.B.Q.,
write an introductory paragraph
I.N.T.R.O. – memorize this mnemonic
Introduce the time and place
Narrate what events preceded the time period
Tell the reader what you know (outside information!)
Restate the question
Order of your body paragraphs
Do you know the mnemonic?
I
N
T
R
O
Watch as I do one….
What economic, social, and
ethnic conditions typical of the
early southern colonies were
generally absent in the New
England and middle colonies?
To organize this essay I ask myself….
 What is the time period and place?
 How should I organize this essay?
 What will be the topics of each of my body paragraphs?
 What will be the information in each body paragraph?
 Brainstorm!
 Write your introduction: think of INTRO:
Introduce the time and place
Narrate what events proceeded the time period
Tell the reader what you know (outside information!)
Restate the question
Order of your body paragraphs
Organizing the Essay
 What is the time period and place?
What economic,
social, and ethnic
conditions typical
of the early
southern colonies
were generally
absent in the New
England and
middle colonies?
 How should I organize this essay?
 What will be the topics of each of
my body paragraphs?
 What will be the information in
each body paragraph?
 Brainstorm!
 Write your introduction: think of
INTRO:
Introduce the time and place
Narrate what events proceeded the time period
Tell the reader what you know (outside information!)
Restate the question
Order of your body paragraphs
Economic
Social
Ethnic
Southern colonies:
•One crop economy
Southern colonies:
•Social hierarchy
dominated by planter elite
•Intermarried to preserve
wealthy
•Education only available
to the wealthy
Southern colonies:
•Unreliability of
indentured servants by
1676 led to increased
importation of African
slaves
Organizing body paragraphs
•Dominated by wealthy
• no manufactured
products
New England colonies:
•Small family farms
•Equality of economic
opportunity
•Some manufacturing
such as shipbuilding
•Some commercial
opportunity
New England colonies:
•Relatively equal share of
land and opportunity
offered to all, no real
power structure
•“protestant work ethic”
led to hard work and thrift
•Strong marriages
produced many children
•Education available to all
towns with over 50
families, high rates of
literacy
•Slaves outnumbered
white population
•Most colonists were of
English origin, members
of the Anglican Church ,
conformity to Old World
structure
New England colonies:
•Mostly from England
•Some from the
Netherlands (NY)
•Some Scots Irish (NH)
•Separatists and nonseparatists
•Dissenters like Roger
Williams and Anne
Economic
 Southern colonies:
• One crop economy: tobacco, rice, indigo
• Dominated by wealthy, the headright system
• no manufactured products, had to import everything
 New England colonies:
• Small family farms, fish, fur, lumber
• Equality of economic opportunity, planned plots
• Some manufacturing such as shipbuilding
• Some commercial opportunity
Social

•
•
•
•
•
Southern colonies:
Social hierarchy dominated by planter elite
Intermarried to preserve wealth
Education only available to the wealthy
Indentured servants than slaves did the hard work
Almost feudal like social structure with limited mobility
 New England colonies:
• Relatively equal share of land and opportunity offered to all, no
real power structure
• “protestant work ethic” led to hard work and thrift
• Strong marriages produced many children
• Education available to all towns with over 50 families, high rates
of literacy
Ethnic
 Southern colonies:
• Unreliability of indentured servants by 1676 (Bacon’s Rebellion)
led to increased importation of African slaves
• Eventually slaves outnumbered white population, paranoia
• Most colonists were of English origin, members of the Anglican
Church , conformity to Old World structure

•
•
•
•
•
New England colonies:
Mostly from England
Some from the Netherlands (moving into NE from NY)
Some Scots Irish (NH)
Separatists and non-separatists
Dissenters like Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson showed
independence
Information that comes
before the time period that is
relevant to the topic:
Background information 1607- 1775 :
 The Spanish Armada, 1588
 Competition among European powers
 Mercantilism
 Religious persecution
 Economic opportunity
 Availability of land
 Distribution of land
 Labor structure
I.N.T.R.O. – to write an introduction
Introduce the time and place
Narrate what events preceded the time period
Tell the reader what you know (outside information!)
Restate the question
Order of your body paragraphs
Writing my introduction I.N.T.R.O.
During the colonial period 1607-1776, thousands of people
came to North America to settle in the British colonies. England
had instituted mercantilist economic polices under Elizabeth I
to take colonies to increase the production of export products
and reduce the number of products that she needed to import.
The first attempt at English settlement North America at
Roanoke failed in 1585. Young men seeking fortune and
adventure came to the Chesapeake colonies. Religious groups,
came to the New England colonies for religious freedom. The
Southern colonies were settled by those seeking economic
opportunity and land which was not easily obtainable in England
due to the practice of primogeniture and the strict economic
structure of old world Europe. Millions of African slaves were
imported to the British colonies on slave ships in what came to
be called the middle passage to work in the fields of the southern
agricultural plantations. By 1775, there were clear differences
between the southern and New England colonies as evidenced
by their economic, social, and ethnic conditions.
Let’s try one together….
Which factor, religious freedom
or economic betterment,
describes the motivation behind
the founding of the English
colonies?
To organize this essay I ask myself….
 What is the time period and place?
 How should I organize this essay?
 What will be the topics of each of my body paragraphs?
 What will be the information in each body paragraph?
 Brainstorm!
 Write your introduction: think of INTRO:
Introduce the time and place
Narrate what events proceeded the time period
Tell the reader what you know (outside information!)
Restate the question
Order of your body paragraphs
Organizing the Essay
Which factor,
religious freedom
or economic
betterment,
describes the
motivation
behind the
founding of the
English colonies?
 What is the time period and place?
 How should I organize this essay?
 What will be the topics of each of
my body paragraphs?
 What will be the information in
each body paragraph?
 Brainstorm!
 Write your introduction: think of
INTRO:
Introduce the time and place
Narrate what events proceeded the time period
Tell the reader what you know (outside information!)
Restate the question
Order of your body paragraphs
Religious freedom
Economic betterment
Religious freedom
Economic betterment
Plymouth, Pilgrims 1620
Mass. Bay, Puritans- 1629
R.I., Roger Williams, 1635
CT, Hooker, 1635-1638
MD, Baltimore, 1634
P.A. William Penn, 1681
Virginia, Jamestown 1607
Carolina, foodstuff for
Sugar Islands, 1640
North Carolina, 1712
“squatters”
GA, “charity colony”, 1733
I.N.T.R.O. – memorize this mnemonic
Introduce the time and place
Narrate what events preceded the time period
Tell the reader what you know (outside information!)
Restate the question
Order of your body paragraphs
You try one….
How did geography influence the
settlement and development of
northern, southern and middle
colonies? What different classes of
people lived in the colonies in 1763?
To organize this essay I ask myself….
 What is the time period and place?
 How should I organize this essay?
 What will be the topics of each of my body paragraphs?
 What will be the information in each body paragraph?
 Brainstorm!
 Write your introduction: think of INTRO:
Introduce the time and place
Narrate what events proceeded the time period
Tell the reader what you know (outside information!)
Restate the question
Order of your body paragraphs
Northern
Southern
Middle
Geography:
Geography:
Geography:
Classes of people:
Classes of people:
Classes of people: