Student Study Guide for the American Pageant
CHAPTER 4 American Life in the Seventeenth Century, 1607–1692
Chapter Summary
Life was hard in the seventeenth-century
southern colonies. Disease drastically shortened life
spans in the Chesapeake region, even for the young
single men who made up the majority of settlers.
Families were few and fragile, with men greatly
outnumbering women, who were much in demand and
seldom remained single for long.
The tobacco economy first thrived on the
labor of white indentured servants, who hoped to work
their way up to become landowners and perhaps even
become wealthy. But by the late seventeenth century,
this hope was increasingly frustrated, and the
discontent of the poor whites exploded in Bacon’s
Rebellion.
With white labor increasingly troublesome,
slaves (earlier a small fraction of the workforce)
began to be imported from West Africa by the tens of
thousands in the 1680s, and soon became essential to
the colonial economy. Slaves in the Deep South died
rapidly of disease and overwork, but those in the
Chesapeake tobacco region survived longer. Their
numbers eventually increased by natural reproduction
and they developed a distinctive African American
way of life that combined African elements with
features developed in the New World.
By contrast with the South, New England’s
clean water and cool air contributed to a healthy way
of life, which added ten years to the average English
life span. The New England way of life centered on
strong families and tightly knit towns and churches,
which were relatively democratic and equal by
seventeenth-century standards. By the late seventeenth
century, however, social and religious tensions
developed in these narrow communities, as the Salem
witch hysteria dramatically illustrates.
Rocky soil forced many New Englanders to
turn to fishing and merchant shipping for their
livelihoods. Their difficult lives and stern religion
made New Englanders tough, idealistic, purposeful,
and resourceful. In later years they spread these same
values across much of American society.
Seventeenth-century American society was
still almost entirely simple and agrarian. Would-be
aristocrats who tried to recreate the social hierarchies
of Europe were generally frustrated.
GLOSSARY - To build your social science vocabulary, familiarize yourself with the following terms:
Headright - The right to acquire a certain amount of land granted to the person who finances the passage of a laborer.
Disfranchise - To take away the right to vote.
Civil war - Any conflict between the citizens or inhabitants of the same country.
Tidewater - The territory adjoining water affected by tides - that is, near the seacoast or coastal rivers.
Middle passage - That portion of a slave ship's journey in which slaves were carried from Africa to the Americas.
Fertility - The ability to mate and produce abundant young.
Menial - Fit for servants; humble or low.
Militia - An armed force of citizens called out only in emergencies.
Hierarchy - A social group arranged in ranks or classes.
Corporation - A group or institution granted legal rights to carry on certain specified activities.
Jeremiad - A sermon or prophecy recounting wrongdoing, warning of doom, and calling for repentance.
Lynching - The illegal execution of an accused person by mob action, without due process of law.
Hinterland - An inland region set back from a port, river, or seacoast.
Social structure - The basic pattern of the distribution of status and wealth in a society
Blue blood - Of noble or upper-class descent.
Vexatious – provoking irritation or anxiety by causing trouble
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Instructions: As you read through the chapter, find the correct answer to the questions below, this will assist you in
focusing your learning and remembering the details about “Life in the 17th Century American Colonies.”
Test Practice:
As the seventeenth century wore on, regional differences continued to crystalize, most notably (pg. 66)
A) the use of indentured servants. B) loyalty to England. C) the continuing rigidity of Puritanism. D) the breaking of
the Atlanta economy. E) the importance of slave labor in the south.
The population of the Chesapeake colonies throughout the first half of the seventeenth century was notable for its (pg. 66)
A) fast growth rate. B) scarcity of women. C) low death rate. D) stable family life. E) large percentage of middle
aged men.
In the seventeenth century, due to a high death rate families were both few and fragile in (pg. 66)
A) New England. B) the Chesapeake colonies. C) the middle colonies. D) Georgia. E) Florida
During the seventeenth century, indentured servitude solved the labor problem in many English colonies for all of the
following reasons except that (pg. 67)
A) the Indian population proved to be an unreliable work force because they died in such large numbers.
B) African slaves cost too much money.
C) in some areas families formed too slowly.
D) Spain had stopped sending slaves to its New World colonies.
E) families procreated too slowly.
The “headright” system, which made some people very wealthy, consisted of (pg. 67)
A) using Indians as forced labor.
B) giving land to indentured servants to get them to come to the New World.
C) giving the right to acquire fifty acres of land to the person paying the passage of a laborer to America.
D) discouraging the importation of indentured servants to America.
E) giving a father's wealth to the oldest son.
By 1700, the most populous colony in English America was (pg. 67)
A) Massachusetts. B) Virginia. C) New York. D) Pennsylvania. E) Maryland.
Seventeenth-century colonial tobacco growers usually responded to depressed prices for their crop by (pg. 67)
A) selling slaves to reduce productive labor.
B) selling land to reduce their volume of production.
C) growing more tobacco to increase their volume of production.
D) planting corn and wheat instead of tobacco.
E) releasing unneeded indentured servants early.
__________ reaped the greatest benefit from the land policies of the “headright” system. (pg. 67)
A) Indentured servants B) African slaves C) Merchant planters D) New England colonists E) Slave owners
For their labor in the colonies indentured servants received all of the following except (pg. 67)
A) passage to America. B) a suit of clothes. C) a few barrels of corn. D) a headright. E) at times a small parcel of
land.
Most immigrants to the Chesapeake colonies in the seventeenth century came as (pg. 68)
A) indentured servants. B) slaves from Africa. C) yeomen farmers. D) urban artisans. E) refugees from civil war in
Europe.
Over the course of the seventeenth century, most indentured servants (pg. 68) A) became landowners. B) devolved into
slavery. C) managed to escape the terms of their contracts. D) faced increasingly harsh circumstances. E) saw their
wages increase.
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By the end of the seventeenth century, indentured servants who gained their freedom (pg. 68)
A) often gained great wealth as more land opened for settlement.
B) rarely returned to work for their masters.
C) almost always found high-paying jobs in the cities.
D) had little choice but to hire themselves out for low wages to their former masters.
E) often returned to England penniless and broke.
Bacon's Rebellion was supported mainly by (pg. 68)
A) young men frustrated by their inability to acquire land. B) the planter class of Virginia. C) those protesting the
increased importation of African slaves. D) people from Jamestown only. E) the local Indians.
The immediate reason for Bacon's Rebellion was (pg. 68)
A) Indian attacks on frontier settlements. B) the wealthy planter class losing control of the colony. C) a shortage of
indentured servants. D) to halt the importation of African slaves. E) all of the above.
As a result of Bacon's Rebellion, (pg. 68)
A) African slavery was reduced. B) planters began to look for less troublesome laborers. C) Governor Berkeley was
dismissed from office. D) Nathaniel Bacon was named to head the Virginia militia. E) better relations developed with
local Indians.
The large majority of African slaves coming to the New World landed where? (pg. 70) ___________________________
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After 1680, what factors increased the reliance upon slave labor in colonial America? (pg. 70) _____________________
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Many of the slaves who reached North America (pg. 71)
A) came from eastern Africa. B) were originally captured by African coastal tribes. C) were captured in southern
Africa. D) eventually gained their freedom. E) settled in the middle colonies.
For those Africans who were sold into slavery, the “middle passage” can be best described as (pg. 71)
A) the trip from the interior of Africa to the coast.
B) the easiest part of their journey to America.
C) the journey from American parts to their new homes.
D) the gruesome ocean voyage to America.
E) none of the above.
While slavery might have begun in America for economic reasons, (pg. 72)
A) it soon became clear by 1700 that profits were down.
B) race was rarely an issue in relations between blacks and whites.
C) racial discrimination also powerfully molded the American slave system.
D) profit soon played a very small role.
E) Europe profited most from the institution.
The physical and social conditions of slavery were harshest in (pg. 72) A) Maryland. B) Virginia. C) South Carolina.
D) Massachusetts. E) Pennsylvania.
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The slave society that developed in North America was one of the few slave societies in history to (pg. 72)
A) produce a new culture based entirely on African heritage. B) rebel against its masters. C) reduce their numbers by
suicide. D) develop its own techniques of growing corn and wheat. E) perpetuate itself by its own natural reproduction.
African American contributions to American culture include all of the following except (pg. 73)
A) jazz music. B) the banjo. C) the guitar. D) a variety of words. E) bongo drums.
Compared with indentured servants, African American slaves were (pg. 73) A) less reliable workers. B) more likely to
rebel. C) cheaper to buy and own. D) a more manageable labor force. E) less expensive to buy but more expensive to
keep.
As slavery spread in the South, (pg. 73)
A) social differences within society narrowed. B) the great plantation owners worked less. C) gaps in the social
structure widened. D) planters tried to imitate the ways of English country gentlemen. E) it also increased dramatically
in New England.
The largest social group in Southern Society was: (pg. 73) _________________________________________________
Why was Urban development in the colonial South slow to emerge? (pg. 76) __________________________________
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Compare and contrast colonial New England family life with that of the Chesapeake? (pg. 76-78) _________________
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Why did Puritans refuse to recognize a woman's separate property rights? (pg. 77) ______________________________
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What was the basis of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book the “Scarlet Letter”? (pg. 78) _______________________________
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The Puritan system of congregational church government logically led to (pg. 79)
A) an authoritarian political government. B) the early establishment of religious toleration. C) democracy in political
government. D) the end of town meetings. E) none of the above.
Thomas Jefferson once observed that “the best school of political liberty the world ever saw” was the (pg. 79)
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What was the Half-Way Covenant (pg. 79) _____________________________________________________________
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Summarize the Salem witchcraft trials and how they were a reflection of the times? (pg. 80) ______________________
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Explain the conditions that prevailed in New England due to the poor soil? (pg. 80-81) __________________________
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Explain the philosophical difference between the English and the Indians regarding land ownership? What consequences
ensued from these differences? (pg. 81)
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Explain the impact that New England has had on the rest of the nation? (pg. 81) _______________________________
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