Homework Reading Assignments: Units I and II
We’ll have frequent homework reading discussions, which will be part of your participation
grade. Please be ready to explain terms, people, and places, and answer questions, at the
beginning of the class period by the due date. You may write the answer in your notebook and
read from them. Your participation grade is based on accuracy and clarity.
Terms (Things, People, and Places): Please explain what, who, and/or where it is, and then
explain the importance.
Questions: Please answer in complete sentences with details.
Example: Isabella was the Queen of Spain who financed Columbus’ expedition in 1492 to
find a trade route to Asia. Without her financing, Europeans would have arrived later, as
other explorers were focusing on going around the southern tip of Africa, not across the
Atlantic.
Unit 1 Assignments:
Chapter 1
Section 1:
Terms: Isabella, Enterprise of the Indies, Hispaniola
Questions:
1. Why did Columbus call the islands he found “the Indies”?
2. What did Europeans want from a trade relationship with the East?
Section 2
Terms: Mayas, Aztecs, Incas, Iroquois League, Pueblo Indians
Questions:
1. How did the lifestyles of the South and Central American Indians differ from those
living of Mexico?
Section 3
Terms: Marco Polo, Prince Henry of Portugal (“the Navigator”)
Questions:
1. What developments set the stage for the Age of Discovery?
Section 4
Terms: Leif Eriksson, Pizzaro, Cortes
Questions:
1. What was an unexpected result of the Treaty of Tordesillas?
2. Why could the small armies of Cortes and Pizarro defeat the Aztecs and Incas?
3. Why were explorers looking for a “Northwest Passage”?
Section 5
Terms: Verrazzano
Questions:
1. Why did Cartier fail to establish a successful permanent settlement in Canada?
2. How did France’s exploration aims compare to those of Spain and Portugal? (You
may need to look at the previous section!)
3. Why did the arrival of the Spanish have such a large affect on Native populations
between 1500 and 1610? (See chart on page #25.)
Chapter 2
Section 1
Terms: Encomienda, Father Serra
Questions:
1. What was the aim of Spanish colonial policy?
2. What was this policy called?
Section 2
Terms: Walter Raleigh, Richard Hakluyt, CROATAN
Questions:
1. What was a joint stock company?
2. Why was it used?
3. Why was the Spanish Armada’s defeat important?
Section 3
Terms: John Smith, John Rolfe, the Starving Time, indentured servant
Questions:
1. Why did England want colonies?
2. What problems faced the Jamestown settlers?
3. What were the two significant events of 1619 in Virginia?
Section 4
Terms: Squanto, John Winthrop, Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson, Mayflower
Compact
Questions:
1. How are Separatists, Puritans, and Pilgrims different?
2. Why was the Rhode Island Colony founded?
Section 5
Questions:
1. Why did the French colonies stay relatively small?
Section 6
Terms: William Penn, John Locke, Quakers, proprietary colony
Questions:
1. Why did both the Pennsylvania Quakers and Georgia’s proprietors find it hard to rule
their colonies?
Chapter 3
Section 1
Terms: Paul Revere, John Peter Zenger, Margaret Brent
Questions:
1. What products were shipped from Salem, and what products were shipped from
Charleston?
2. How did the large amounts of open land affect those who came to America?
3. How did the ocean tie some colonies to England and others to the rest of the world?
Section 2
Terms: Letter of Marque, Charles I, Oliver Cromwell, Charles II, James II, William and
Mary, Edmund Andros, Old Colonial System
Questions:
1. What were the Navigation Acts, and why weren’t they enforced?
2. Why was it difficult for Britain to govern America?
Section 3
Terms: James Wolfe, William Pitt, Jeffrey Amherst, Great Meadows, Plains of Abraham
1. What was the Albany Plan of Union, and why did it not succeed?
2. What did Britain receive under the Peace of Paris at the end of the French-Indian War
(The Seven Years War in Europe).
Unit 2 Assignments:
Chapter 4
Section 1
Terms: Molasses Act of 1733, Sugar Act of 1764, Sons of Liberty, Declaratory Act,
Townshend Acts, Boston Massacre, Committees of Correspondence, Proclamation Line
of 1763, Intolerable Acts
1. Why did Americans oppose the Stamp Act in particular?
2. How could England have successfully re-establish its authority over the colonies?
Section 2
Terms: Match each of the following with another in the list, and explain why each pair
goes together: Joseph Galloway, Paul Revere, Common Sense, William Howe, William
Dawes, Tories, First Continental Congress, Thomas Paine.
1. Name two tasks the First Continental Congress accomplished.
2. Why did the Americans consider the Battle of Bunker Hill a victory?
3. Why were the French willing to help the Americans?
4. Why did the Second Continental Congress adopt the Declaration of Independence?
Section 3
Terms: Mercenaries, Hessians, The Crisis, Cornwallis Lafayette, von Steuben
1. With an X, indicate the locations of Long Island, Trenton, Deleware River, Princeton,
Saratoga, Valley Forge, Monmouth, Vincennes, King’s Mountain, and Yorktown.
2. Show examples of how each of the following groups took part in the war or were
affected by it: (a) farmers, (b) women, (c) African Americans, and (d) Loyalists.
3. Why did the British, who had the greatest military in the world, lose the war?
Chapter 5
Section 1
1. Why did the townspeople of Concord object to having the state legislature draw up a
new constitution for Massachusetts?
2. Why did Americans want written constitutions?
3. Why did the new state constitutions reduce the power of the governor’s office?
4. How did some states try to promote equality?
Section 2
1. Name three successes and one failure of the Continental Congress.
Section 3
1. What important power did Congress lack under the Articles of Confederation?
2. What did the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 help accomplish?
3. Name the biggest military accomplishment under the Articles of Confederation.
4. Name the biggest domestic accomplishment under the Articles of Confederation.
5. What caused the farmers of Shay’s rebellion to take up arms?
Section 4
Terms: Virginia Plan, New Jersey Plan, The Great Compromise (i.e. Connecticut
Compromise), Three-Fifths Compromise
1. What powers did the new Constitution have that were lacking in the Articles of
Confederation?
2. What was the difference between a federal union and a national union in the 1700s?
Section 5
1. Why was it significant that voters rather than state legislatures ratified the
Constitution?
2. Why did some people oppose passage of the Constitution?
3. What did Massachusetts do that assisted in getting other states to ratify the
Constitution?
4. What factors helped to win ratification in Virginia and New York?
Chapter 6
Section 1
1. Explain how the President was chosen in 1789.
2. What problems did the government confront in the 1790s in trying to deal with
transportation and communication difficulties?
3. How were American “aristocrats” different from European aristocrats?
Section 2
Terms: Debt Assumption, strict construction, broad construction
1. What did Hamilton hope to achieve with each of his plans?
2. Why did some people disagree with Hamilton’s plans?
3. How did Washington, D.C. become our capital?
4. On what issues did Federalists and Republicans differ?
Section 3
Terms: Edmond Genet, Jay’s Treaty, Pinckney’s Treaty, Treaty of Greenville
1. Why were some Americans upset by the French Revolution?
2. What were two of George Washington’s warnings in his Farewell Address?
3. What caused the Whiskey Rebellion?
Section 4
Term: 12th Amendment
1. How did Jefferson become Adam’s Vice President?
2. Why did the XYZ Affair anger Americans?
3. Why were the Alien and Sedition Acts passed?