Name: __________________________



Development of the United States

Mid-term Examination

The examination is Thursday June 17th. You may use the back of this sheet to prepare an outline (300 word limit) and bring the sheet with you. You may not bring a written-out answer. Remember: Bring this sheet, and Going to the Source to the examination. Turn in this sheet (with your name on it) with the examination.

Section 1: Document Interpretation (I select two; you answer one of your choice). Open Book. Bring Going to the Source with you. NO OTHER BOOK. 50 minutes and 50 points. Underlining in books is acceptable but DO NOT write out a complete answer in your books or notes.1. Drawing on Chapters 2 and 3 of Going to the Source and up tp five printed out documents from the Virginia Gazette and/or Pennsylvania Gazette (you may bring these documents with you, have underlined them, and have brief notes on any of them), explain what life was like for indentured servants and slaves in early America. You may, of course, draw in your answer from lecture and text, but you should make specific reference to the documents (you need note quote them, but you must cite specific documents). Turn in any printed-out documents you use with your exam. Your essay should have a general theme (for example: that life was extremely harsh, or that life was worse for slaves than servants, or that servants attempted to live as they had in England and African slaves to preserve their African past, etc).

2. Using Chapter 4 of Going to the Source, analyze and critique Elizabeth Fenn's article on biological warfare in early America. What is her thesis? How does she argue the case differently from other historians? Give an example of part of her supporting argument that is particularly well-supported. Find an example of a part of the article where you think her evidence or her logic is inadequate. Does she, implicitly or explicitly, take a moral position on the use of germ warfare in this era? If she does, do you agree with her? If she does not, should she?

3. Compare and contrast the lawyers' opinion on the two sides of the case in Chapter 6 of Going to the Source. What are the key points that each side makes? How effectively does each side answer the other sides' argument? Which argument does the court adopt? What do the arguments tell us about attitudes toward women? Toward the meaning of citizenship? Toward the consequences of the American Revolution?

Section 2: Essay Question (I select three; you answer one). A good answer will use material from both the text and lectures, have a specific focus or offer an interpretation, and will present evidence to substantiate its point. You should work from outlines you have prepared before the exam. 50 minutes, 50 points. You may include notes and outlines on the back of this sheet and use them during the exam BUT DO NOT bring a written-out answer.

1. Compare and contrast the sexual (gendered) division of labor among Native Americans, Africans, and Europeans in the 16th-17th centuries. - Chapter 1 of text.

2. Describe and explain the differences between early Massachusetts Bay Colony and early Virginia and Maryland (the Chesapeake colonies). - Chapter 2 of text..

3. What factors were most crucial in transforming colonial life between the mid-seventeenth and the early eighteenth centuries, and how did each of these factors affect colonial society and politics? - Chapter 3 of text.

4. On what ways and for whom did life improve between 1720 and 1770? In what way and for whom did life get worse between 1720 and 1770? - Chapter 4 of text.

5. How would the British government have defended the wisdom and legitimacy of the politics they pursued toward their American colonies? - Chapter 5 of text.

6. How would you explain the American victory in the American Revolution? - Chapter 6 of text.