Due 8/11/2017
APUSH Summer Reading Assignment
Directions: You will read Alan Taylor’s Colonial America: A Very Short Introduction. (ISBN # 978-0-19-976623-9).
The book is available at bookstores and amazon.com. Do not wait until the last minute to purchase the book,
or do the assignments. I encourage you to buy a print edition rather than an e-Book. As you read, you will
need to take notes over each chapter and answer the following questions. It must be hand-written.
You must write complete sentences. This is all individual work. Please, DO NOT work collaboratively or share
answers!!! You will have an essay the first two weeks of school based off of your reading.
Reading Questions /Guide over Colonial America: Completely answer each question below and define each term.
1. Introduction
1. Describe “American Exceptionalism” and how it can give a one-side view of colonialism.
2. Explain the claim that from 1492-1776 North American population decreased in population despite the
massive immigration to the “New World”.
3. Explain how the Natives adapted to the intrusion of newcomers.
4. How important were the Natives to European rivals.
Encounters – list items
1. First settlers in the western hemisphere.
2. Factors that caused nomadic tribes to settle in different regions.
3. Factors that led to Europeans to make voyages of exploration.
4. Effects of the first contact between Europeans and the western hemisphere.
Terms (Define):
Paleo Indians, Archaic Indians, 3 crops, Hohokam, Anasazi, Pueblos, Cahokia, Reconquista, hidalgos, Christopher
Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, Columbian Exchange
2. New Spain
1. Describe how Spain was able to conquer and create a vast empire by 1550.
2. List & explain factors for the establishment of northern outposts.
3. What was the cost of native conversions? Positive/Negative?
4. Describe the role of the Franciscan friars.
5. Describe Spain’s empire in 1700.
Terms (Define):
Conquistadores, Hernán Cortes, Francisco Pizzaro, encomienda, Mestizos, Hernando de Soto, Franciso de Coronado, St.
Augustine, Pope /Pueblo Revolt
3. New France
1. List & explain the factors for why France settled in the Canadian region?
Due 8/11/2017
2. Explain the mutual dependency between the French and Indians / Indian Tribes.
3. What are the results of the clashes / rivalries over the fur trade?
4. List ways the French attempted to populate New France.
5. Describe the “mutual accommodations” or middle ground.
6. Explain factors for the establishment of Louisiana.
7. Why did the French subsidize their colonies?
8. Factors of the rise of Great Plains Tribes & result of that rise.
Terms (Define):
Samuel Champlain, Quebec, Five Nations, coureurs de bois, New Orleans, presidios
4. Chesapeake Colonies
1. Factors that led to the English to settle in the Chesapeake region.
2. Reasons why the Chesapeake colonists had difficult relations with the Native Americans.
3. Describe Jamestown & factors for its slow growth.
4. Reasons why the Virginia and Maryland Colonies eventually prospered.
5. Circumstances and consequences of Bacon’s Rebellion.
6. Reasons for the early growth of slavery.
Terms (Define):
Virginia, Black Legend, Sir Walter Raleigh, Roanoke, Powhatan, Pocahontas, John Rolfe/tobacco, Lord Baltimore, Law of
coverture, indentured servants, William Berkeley, Nathaniel Bacon, New slave laws
5. New England
1. Describe the Puritan Rigor / view of government.
2. Factors that caused the New England colonies to differ from the Chesapeake colonies.
3. Reasons why the Pilgrims and Puritans came to Massachusetts.
4. Ways in which New Englanders made their living.
5. Steps to taken to make Massachusetts “A City upon a Hill”.
6. Reasons why the New England colonists had difficult relations with the Native Americans.
Terms (Define):
Puritanism, Separatists, John Calvin, William Laud, Pilgrims, Mayflower, Great Migration, Massachusetts Bay Colony,
John Winthrop, town system, religious toleration, Salem Witch Trials, Praying towns, King Phillip
6. West Indies and the Carolinas
1. Reasons why growing sugar was so important to the British.
2. Reasons why West Indies planters moved to the Carolinas in the 1670s.
3. Reasons for the growth of slavery in the Carolina colonies.
4. Interesting features about the settlement of Georgia.
Due 8/11/2017
Terms (Define):
Charles Town, Lords Proprietor, Stono Rebellion, James Oglethorpe
7. British America
1. Features of interest about the Dutch and the Navigation Acts.
2. Features of interest about the settlement of Pennsylvania.
3. British Efforts to govern her American colonies.
4. The Migration of Scots, Germans, and slaves to the colonies.
5. Causes and consequences of “The Great Awakening”.
Terms (Define):
William Penn, Philadelphia, Middle Colonies, George Whitefield
8. Empires
Read and summarize the chapter 3 paragraphs. It must cover the whole chapter and not just the first part.