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.
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What this topic is asking
Topic 2.7 asks you to explain the distinctive society and culture that developed in the British colonies by 1754: the growth of representative self-government, the intellectual influence of the Enlightenment, the religious upheaval of the First Great Awakening, and the beginnings of a shared Anglo-American identity.
The growth of self-government
Town meetings in New England and the broad (for the era) participation of property-owning white men reinforced these habits of self-rule.
The Enlightenment
The First Great Awakening
The First Great Awakening was a wave of emotional religious revival that swept the colonies in the 1730s and 1740s, led by preachers such as Jonathan Edwards and the travelling George Whitefield.
Its effects, all examinable:
- It challenged established churches and the authority of traditional clergy, encouraging people to choose their own faith.
- It emphasized individual emotional experience over formal doctrine.
- It split denominations into "Old Lights" and "New Lights" and spurred the founding of new colleges.
- Crucially, it was an intercolonial event: the same preachers and message reached colonists from New England to Georgia, creating one of the first shared experiences that linked the colonies and subtly fostered a common identity.
An emerging Anglo-American identity
Try this
Q1. Name the intercolonial religious revival of the 1730s and 1740s. [Recall]
- Cue. The First Great Awakening, led by preachers such as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield.
Q2. Explain why a fully American identity had not yet formed by 1754. [Short explanation]
- Cue. Although self-government, the Great Awakening, and Enlightenment ideas nurtured a distinct culture, colonists still saw themselves as loyal British subjects who prized their rights as Englishmen.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of College Board exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
AP 2019 (style)3 marksBriefly describe ONE way the colonies developed self-government before 1754. Briefly explain ONE effect of the First Great Awakening on colonial society. Briefly explain ONE way the Enlightenment influenced colonial thought.Show worked answer →
A Short Answer Question (SAQ), 3 points, one per bullet.
A. Self-government: colonies elected representative assemblies (such as the Virginia House of Burgesses, 1619) that controlled taxes and local affairs, fostering habits of self-rule under salutary neglect.
B. Great Awakening: the revival challenged established churches and clergy, encouraged individual religious choice, and created shared intercolonial experiences that subtly fostered a common identity.
C. Enlightenment: ideas of reason, natural rights, and social contract (Locke) spread among educated colonists, shaping later arguments about government and liberty.
Markers want a named institution and a concrete cultural effect.
AP 2021 (style)6 marksEvaluate the extent to which a distinct American colonial identity had developed by 1754.Show worked answer →
A Long Essay Question (LEQ), scored on the 6-point rubric.
Thesis (1): "A distinct Anglo-American identity was emerging by 1754, fostered by self-government, the Great Awakening, and Enlightenment ideas, though colonists still saw themselves as British."
Contextualization (1): the mercantilist Atlantic world and salutary neglect.
Evidence (2): representative assemblies; the intercolonial Great Awakening; Enlightenment thought; growing prosperity and diversity.
Analysis (2): explain HOW these fostered identity, then add complexity by noting that colonists remained loyal British subjects, so the identity was still partial in 1754.
Related dot points
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Sources & how we know this
- AP United States History Course and Exam Description — College Board (2020)