AP U.S. HISTORY
Unit One: Contact – British America
Unit Outline
Required Reading: Divine Chapters 1-4 (to pg 114)
Supplemental Reading: Zinn Chapters 2, various in-class readings
Suggested Activity: I encourage you to develop timelines that provide another review tool, help you recognize the
layers of history, and emphasize cause and effect. Your timeline should focus on the time period covered in the unit
and include separate lines for economic, political, social/cultural, and international (meaning U.S. interactions with
other nations) events. For each event, you should include a brief description and explanations of its significance.
1490
1754
Economic
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
Political
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
Social/Cultural --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
International ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
Discussion Questions: You do not have to answer and submit these. These questions align with AP themes and are
provided to encourage you to reflect and make connections. They can be an excellent review tool, as working with
these bigger ideas will assist in your learning the details.
1. Environment: The arrival of the Europeans to the New World greatly affected the area. In regards to geography and
environment, in what ways did European exploration impact the New World?
2. Religion: Evaluate the significance of religion both in the life of the individual and the society as a whole in the New
England, middle, and southern colonies.
3. Culture: What were the stated motivations for the settlement of each of the thirteen colonies? Describe the ways in
which the stated motivations for settlement of each colony influenced the development of the three regions.
4. Globalization: What encouraged Europeans to explore and settle the New World? Contrast the pattern of English
colonization with that of Spain and France. Examine similarities and differences in motivation, population patterns,
race relations, economic development, and the like.
5. War and Diplomacy: Discuss the ways in which economic, religious, and political differences between the colonies
and the Mother Country were both long-range and short-range causes of the Revolution.
6. American Diversity: How did race, class, ethnicity and gender impact the colonization of British America?
Key Terms: These must be in your small binder which is checked the day before the unit exam. Who, what, when and
why each was significant
land bridge
conquistadors
John Cabot
Mississippians
missions
Henry Hudson
Iroquios
enconmienda
joint stock company
Renaissance
Treaty of Tordesillas
Virginia Company; Jamestown
Aztecs
Cortes, Pizzaro
royal, proprietary, charter colonies
Protestant Reformation
Champlain, Marquette, de la Salle
John Smith
John Rolfe
Separatists
the Carolinas
House of Burgesses
Great Migration
Plantations
indentured servants
headright system
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
Mayflower Compact
Chesapeake colonies
mercantalism
John Winthrop
Act of Toleration
Navigation Acts
covenant
Antinimianism
Dominion of New England
Roger Williams
Richard Hakluyt
Glorious Revolution
Anne Hutchinson
Lord Baltimore
Edmund Andros
Pequott War
Primogeniture
William Penn
Metacom
Predestination
Halfway Covenant
Puritans
middle colonies
Wampanoags
Restoration colonies
triangular trade
Middle Passage
Yeoman
William Berkeley
Bacon’s Rebellion
Jacob Leisler
Stono Uprising
Cotton Mather
Great Awakening
Jonathan Edwards
George Whitefield
Salem Witch Trials
chattel
slave codes
Ben Franklin
New lights vs old lights
Enlightenment
self govenrment
Scots-Irish
city on a hill
freedom of consciences
Peter Zenger Trial
William Bradford
salutary neglect
James Oglethorpe
enumerated goods
Juan de Onate
Pedro Menendez de Aviles
presidios
Focus Questions: You do not have to answer these questions. They are just to help you organize your thoughts.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Compare and contrast the expectations and realities of life in early Jamestown.
How were the government/political institutions different in Virginia? New England?
Pennsylvania? Make a chart for this
Explain the problems facing the English settlements in New York and New Jersey.
Contrast the Puritan and Quaker religions. Make a chart
Explain why Georgia was economically, politically and socially different from all other
American colonies? Make a chart for all the regions
What events fostered the democratic ideal in the English colonies, 1619-1639?
How successful were the Puritans as a “City upon a Hill”?
1.
How did the Puritan religion shape the New England towns, culturally, economically and
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
politically?
How did the Puritan religion change from the 1620’s to 1688?
Compare/contrast: New England and the Chesapeake -Social, economic and political
There were no aristocratic titles in America. How did social classes evolve here?
Describe mercantilism and its economic and political effects on the American colonies.
What were the causes and effects of Bacon’s Rebellion?
How did the Glorious Revolution in England affect the American colonial regions?
Explain how the environment shaped a world where people were hung as witches
1. Discuss how the growth of Spain’s empire in southern America affected native populations.
2. Explain the reactions to each of the trade and tax laws on the colonies.
3. **What factors made America ripe for a religious reawakening in the 1740s?
4. Discuss the differences between the developing political systems in the American colonies and
the British form of government.
5. Describe each war, its causes and effects, from 1689 – 1763. Make a detailed chart of each with
specific details.
6. **“As long as the French controlled parts of North America, they accepted the Native American
population as equal, whereas the British colonists viewed them as hostile.” Evaluate the validity of
this statement. Be prepared to discuss this in class.