Life in the English Colonies
Guided Reading
Directions: Read Chapter 3: Section 4, page 90-97. As you read answer the questions below. The answers are in the
order in which they appear in the text.
1. Who had the ultimately authority over all the colonies?
a. Monarch
2. Each colony had a governor who served as head of the government.
3. In colonial Virginia, who elected the members of the House of Burgesses?
a. The colonists
4. In New England the town meeting was the center of politics, where people talked about and decided on issues of
local interest, such as paying for schools.
5. Why did James II want to take more control of the colonies?
a. He thought the colonies were too independent
6. Why did the colonists dislike Sir Edmund Andros?
a. He used his authority to limit the power of town meetings
7. What document reduced the powers of the English monarch?
a. English Bill of Rights
8. How did the colonists use the court system?
a. They controlled local affairs.
9. What was England’s main reason for founding and controlling its colonies?
a. Earn money from trade
10. Mercantilism is creating and maintaining wealth through carefully controlled trade.
11. How can a country earn money if it has fewer imports and exports?
a. If a country makes more than it produces, then sells the extra, then it will make money.
12. How did the Navigation Acts control trade?
a. The laws forbid them to trade with anyone other than England.
13. Triangular trade refers to the system in which goods and slaves were traded among the Americas, Britain, and Africa.
14. How did Olaudah Equiano gain his freedom?
a. He bought his freedom by saving the money he earned while working as a sailor.
15. The slave trade brought millions of Africans across the Atlantic Ocean in a voyage called the Middle Passage.
16. About how high was the space where enslaved Africans lived?
a. 3 feet high
17. As farmers began to use fewer indentured servants, slaves became even more valuable.
18. What religious movement spread through the colonies between the 1730’s and 1740’s?
a. The Great Awakening
19. What did Jonathon Edwards warn colonists to do, or otherwise they would face punishment in Hell forever?
a. Seek forgiveness of their sins
20. How do you think religious freedom led to political freedom?
a. If God did not recognize one group as more important than another group, then people should have political
equality as well.
21. During the Scientific Revolution people began to understand the basic laws that govern nature.
22. During the Enlightenment people began to believe that what 2 things could improve society?
a. Reason and logic
23. John Locke believed that people had natural rights such as equality and liberty.
24. How did the Great Awakening and the Enlightenment influence colonial society?
a. They led to the desire of political equality.
25. What did the colonists do to make the Wampanoag Indians mad?
a. They took their land
26. What was a colonial militia?
a. Civilians serving as soldiers
27. What was the name of the Wampanoag leader? (give both)
a. King Philip aka Metacomet
28. When trading with the Europeans, what did the Native Americans want?
a. Tools and weapons
29. When trading with the Native Americans, what did the Europeans want?
a. Furs
30. Why did the natives trust the French more?
a. Their settlements were smaller and less threatening than the English.
31. The British colonists wanted to settle in the Ohio River Valley, where they could take advantage of the valuable fur
trade.
32. Why were the French opposed to the English moving to the Ohio River valley?
a. They believed it would hurt their business.
33. Whose troops built Fort Necessity?
a. Washington’s
34. Washington’s defeat in 1754 started what war?
a. The French and Indian
35. What was the turning point of the war?
a. James Wolfe captured Quebec.
36. What was the name of the treaty ending the war?
a. Treaty of Paris
37. At the end of the war what country owned all lands east of the Mississippi, including Florida?
a. England
38. What did settlers do after taking control of the new lands?
a. Moving there
39. Which countries gain North American territory between 1754 and 1763?
a. Britain (England) and Spain
40. What natural feature helped form the boundary between the British and the Spanish territory in 1763?
a. Mississippi River
41. What was Chief Pontiac’s goal?
a. To end British settlement in Indian lands.
42. Why did George III issue the Proclamation of 1763?
a. To end British settlement past the Appalachian Mountains.
Life in the English Colonies
Guided Reading
Directions: Read Chapter 3: Section 4, page 90-97. As you read answer the questions below. The answers are in the
order in which they appear in the text.
1. Who had the ultimately authority over all the colonies?
2. Each colony had a ___________________who served as head of the government.
3. In colonial Virginia, who elected the members of the House of Burgesses?
4. In New England the ______________________________ was the center of politics, where people talked about and
decided on issues of local interest, such as paying for schools.
5. Why did James II want to take more control of the colonies?
6. Why did the colonists dislike Sir Edmund Andros?
7. What document reduced the powers of the English monarch?
8. How did the colonists use the court system?
9. What was England’s main reason for founding and controlling its colonies?
10. ________________________________ is creating and maintaining wealth through carefully controlled trade.
11. How can a country earn money if it has fewer imports and exports?
12. How did the Navigation Acts control trade?
13. _________________ ____________________ refers to the system in which goods and slaves were traded among
the Americas, Britain, and Africa.
14. How did Olaudah Equiano gain his freedom?
15. The slave trade brought millions of Africans across the Atlantic Ocean in a voyage called the
___________________________________.
16. About how high was the space where enslaved Africans lived?
17. As farmers began to use fewer ________________________________, slaves became even more
___________________.
18. What religious movement spread through the colonies between the 1730’s and 1740’s?
19. What did Jonathon Edwards warn colonists to do, or otherwise they would face punishment in Hell forever?
20. How do you think religious freedom led to political freedom?
21. During the Scientific Revolution people began to understand the basic ____________ that govern ______________.
22. During the Enlightenment people began to believe that what 2 things could improve society?
23. John Locke believed that people had natural rights such as _______________ and ________________.
24. How did the Great Awakening and the Enlightenment influence colonial society?
25. What did the colonists do to make the Wampanoag Indians mad?
26. What was a colonial militia?
27. What was the name of the Wampanoag leader? (give both)
28. When trading with the Europeans, what did the Native Americans want?
29. When trading with the Native Americans, what did the Europeans want?
30. Why did the natives trust the French more?
31. The British colonists wanted to settle in the _________________________________________, where they could
take advantage of the valuable __________________________.
32. Why were the French opposed to the English moving to the Ohio River valley?
33. Whose troops built Fort Necessity?
34. Washington’s defeat in 1754 started what war?
35. What was the turning point of the war?
36. What was the name of the treaty ending the war?
37. At the end of the war what country owned all lands east of the Mississippi, including Florida?
38. What did settlers do after taking control of the new lands?
39. Which countries gain North American territory between 1754 and 1763?
40. What natural feature helped form the boundary between the British and the Spanish territory in 1763?
41. What was Chief Pontiac’s goal?
42. Why did George III issue the Proclamation of 1763?