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Unit 2, Period 2 (1607 to 1754): Colonial America

8 dot points across 8 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How did distinct social, political, religious, and intellectual cultures develop in the British colonies?

Topic 2.7 Colonial Society and Culture: the development of self-government, the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening, and an emerging Anglo-American identity in the British colonies.
A focused answer to AP US History Topic 2.7, covering the growth of representative self-government, the Enlightenment and the First Great Awakening, the religious and intellectual life of the colonies, and the emergence of a distinct Anglo-American colonial identity by 1754.
12 min answer →

How can we compare the colonizing patterns and colonial societies of Period 2, and how do historians reason about comparison?

Topic 2.8 Comparison in Period 2: applying the historical reasoning skill of comparison to the differing European colonizing patterns and the distinct British colonial regions.
A focused answer to AP US History Topic 2.8, the comparison reasoning skill applied to Period 2: comparing the colonizing models of Spain, France, the Dutch, and Britain, and the distinct British colonial regions, and how to structure a comparison LEQ or DBQ.
11 min answer →

What broad forces shaped the establishment of European colonies in North America after 1607?

Topic 2.1 Contextualizing Period 2: the imperial competition, differing colonial goals, and Atlantic context that framed the founding of European colonies in North America.
Sets the scene for AP US History Period 2, covering the imperial competition between Spain, France, the Dutch, and Britain, their differing economic and religious goals for colonization, and how to write contextualization for a DBQ or LEQ on colonial America.
11 min answer →

How and why did the Spanish, French, Dutch, and British colonize North America differently?

Topic 2.2 European Colonization: the differing colonizing patterns, economic goals, and Native relations of the Spanish, French, Dutch, and British empires in North America.
A focused answer to AP US History Topic 2.2, comparing how the Spanish, French, Dutch, and British colonized North America, their differing imperial goals and labor systems, and how those goals shaped settlement patterns and relations with Native peoples.
12 min answer →

How did relations between Native Americans and European colonists evolve through trade, alliance, and conflict?

Topic 2.5 Interactions Between American Indians and Europeans: the trade, alliances, conflicts, and resistance that defined relations between Native peoples and colonists across the regions.
A focused answer to AP US History Topic 2.5, covering trade, alliance, conflict, and Native resistance between American Indians and European colonists, including the contrast between French alliances and British land conflicts and key events such as the Pueblo Revolt, Metacom's War, and Bacon's Rebellion.
12 min answer →

How and why did chattel slavery develop in the British colonies, and how did the enslaved resist?

Topic 2.6 Slavery in the British Colonies: the shift from indentured servitude to racial chattel slavery, the legal codification of slavery, regional differences, and enslaved resistance.
A focused answer to AP US History Topic 2.6, explaining the shift from indentured servitude to hereditary racial chattel slavery, the slave codes that legalized it, regional differences in enslaved labor, and the many forms of enslaved resistance and culture.
12 min answer →

How and why did the British colonial regions develop into distinct societies?

Topic 2.3 The Regions of British Colonies: how the New England, Middle, Chesapeake, and Southern colonies developed distinct economies, societies, and labor systems.
A focused answer to AP US History Topic 2.3, comparing the New England, Middle, Chesapeake, and Southern colonial regions, their economies, societies, religions, and labor systems, and the environmental and motivational reasons they diverged.
13 min answer →

How did transatlantic trade and mercantilism bind the colonies to Britain and the wider Atlantic world?

Topic 2.4 Transatlantic Trade: the Atlantic economy, mercantilism and the Navigation Acts, the triangular trade, and the development of an Atlantic commercial and cultural network.
A focused answer to AP US History Topic 2.4, explaining mercantilism and the Navigation Acts, the triangular trade and the Middle Passage, salutary neglect, and how transatlantic commerce linked the British colonies to Britain, Africa, and the wider Atlantic world.
12 min answer →