Here are this week’s questions on Chapter Five written by your classmate, Peter Sacca:
1. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense helped to unify the colonists in the fight against Great Britain. If Paine had never written Common Sense, would the colonists have rallied to the cause of rebellion in the same way?
Chapter 4 Questions: The Empire in Transition
Below please find this week’s web questions, written by your classmate, Erik Akselband.
1. What are some factors that led the Albany Plan to not being approved? Why were the British colonies of North America not able to cooperate with each other, especially when it came down to creating anything like a general government? Considering the fact that a war was going on, how was it that the colonies could not even establish a common defense?
2. After the French and Indian War was over, the size of British debt had expanded massively, in part because of the defense of the colonies. Colonists contributed little toward the war, and even sold supplies to the French. After all this, what is your opinion of London taking firmer control of the colonies in the years after 1763?
3. Going back to previous chapters, why do you think that all colonies sent delegates to Philadelphia for the first Continental Congress, except for Georgia?
4. Why do you think it took so long for the colonies of America to finally work together, and especially to work against the British? What specific events led to the colonies finally doing so? Do you think that the colonies would have worked together if certain events had not happened?
5. What might have happened had Lord North’s decision to allow the colonies to vote on Parliament’s proposed taxes came earlier then it did? Do you feel that the colonies eventually would have received representation in the Parliament?
Chapter 3 Questions: “Society and Culture in Provincial America”
Chapter 2 Questions: “Tranplantations and Borderlands”
Below please find this week’s discussion questions written by your classmate, James Phinex. Please respond to at least one of these questions using the “Leave a Comment” function on this page by Wednesday night. Your comment should follow the guidelines here.
- Why did the promoters of the Jamestown stick with their enterprise even though the initial years were so hard? Why not move to another region with more fertile soil for agricultural prosperity and a lesser degree of native contact to reduce hostilities?
- When the Puritans settled in New England, how was their attitude toward religious practice similar to that of the King of England, from whom they had fled? Do you see any hypocrisy here?
- How did the Europeans’ belief that they were superior to the natives reflect in their interactions with the natives? Why didn’t the natives initially band together and put a stop toward a European presence in North America? Did their culture or their hunger for European goods, such as weaponry, lead to their downfall?
- I found interesting the increasing problem with natives as European settlement expanded. I am just wondering: Why did these companies that chartered these expeditions not send more soldiers or maybe mercenaries to protect both people and goods?
- The issue of slavery has been a controversial topic since the beginning of the American story. As early as 1619 Africans were brought to Jamestown. Many historians agree that these particular Africans were brought as indentured servants rather than slaves. I am just curious to know, how did indentured servitude transform into the brutal and harsh institution of slavery? What does this say about the development of racial stereotypes and the effects these stereotypes have on the relations of whites and Africans?
The Original Stamp Act
Just an FYI: the original handwritten copy of the Stamp Act passed by Parliament—a document that many credit as being the primary trigger for the American Revolution and which we will be discussing in detail in our upcoming classes—is on display at the New-York Historical Society on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. You can read about the exhibition here.