Period 2

AP U.S.
History Period 2 Multiple Choice Questions
Questions 1.1-1.4 refer to the excerpt below.

“Various are the reports and conjectures of the causes of the present Indian war. Some impute it
to an imprudent zeal in the magistrates of Boston to Christianize those heathen before they were
civilized and enjoying them the strict observation of their laws, which, to a people so rude and
licentious, hath proved even intolerable, and that the more, for that while the magistrates, for
their profit, put the laws severely in execution against the Indians, the people, on the other side,
for lucre and gain, entice and provoke the Indians to the breach thereof, especially to
drunkenness, to which those people are so generally addicted that they will strip themselves to
their skin to have their fill of rum and brandy....

…the English have contributed much to their misfortunes, for they first taught the Indians the use
of arms, and admitted them to be present at all their musters and trainings, and showed them
how to handle, mend and fix their muskets, and have been furnished with all sorts of arms by
permission of the government....”

--Edmund Randolph, firsthand account of King Philip’s War, 1675

1.1
The above excerpt most directly reflects which predominant view of the Native American by the
New England colonists by the mid- to late 1600s?
(A) Native Americans were a free people from whom much could be learned.
(B) Native Americans had an admirable system of law.
(C) Native Americans were crude and ungodly.
(D) Native Americans were civilized, but incapable of abiding by their own laws.

Answer: C
Feedback: While the New England colonists felt the Native American was inferior to them, they,
nevertheless, initially had an admiration for the Native Americans’ skill and knowledge,
particularly regarding the new lands. As time passed, however, their attitudes shifted to a view of
the Native American as ungodly, or as heathens, and, as a result, being a threat to the continued
existence of a godly community in the New World. This view of them as ungodly played a role in
the brutality against the Native Americans in the conflicts that would follow.
Learning Objective: POL-1
Historical Thinking Skill: Comparison
Historical Thinking Skill: Interpretation
Key Concept: 2.2.II
Stimuli: yes

1.2
The above excerpt best provides evidence of which of the following deep concerns of Native
Americans against the New England colonists?
(A) English fur traders’ continuing efforts to cause drunkenness among the Native Americans
to cheat them
(B) Efforts by the New England governments to impose English law on Native Americans
1
AP U.S. History Period 2 Multiple Choice Questions
(C) New England settlements’ strategy to “divide and conquer” by pitting rival Native
American tribes against each other
(D) Continuing conflict between the New Englanders and the Dutch and French colonists
threatening the peace and stability of relations between rival tribes

Answer: B
Feedback: While colonists incursions into Native American lands was of great concern, growing
efforts by English colonial governments to impose English law on the Native American tribes was
also a growing and immediate cause of the Native American feeling threatened and the need to
fight back militarily. For example, at the time of King Philip’s War, a Plymouth court had tried and
hanged several Wampanoag tribal members for killing a member of their own tribe.
Historical Thinking Skill: Appropriate Use of Relevant Historical Evidence
Historical Thinking Skill: Historical Causation
Historical Thinking Skill: Contextualization
Key Concept: 2.2.II
Stimuli: yes

1.3
The above excerpt best supports which of the following arguments regarding warfare between
the Native Americans and American colonists, in general?
(A) The colonists’ supplying arms and alcohol to Native Americans made Native Americans
more destructive in warfare.
(B) The colonists were well-disciplined in their warfare, while Native American warfare
became more disorganized and undisciplined.
(C) The increased precision of firearms and the dependency of many Native Americans on
alcohol made warfare less ferocious.
(D) More truces occurred, as the colonists found they could build wealth in their trade with
the Native Americans.

Answer: A
Feedback: The view of the American Indian by the colonists as “heathens” and “savages” made it
easier to be more brutal toward the American Indians, as well as increase the New Englanders’
fear of their godly society being threatened. The “drunkenness” of the American Indian also
contributed to the disdainful view. Additionally, with the firearms, specifically the more
technologically advanced flintlock musket, available to both sides, warfare between the colonists
and the American Indians became more intense and deadly.
Learning Objective: WXT-1
Key Concept: 2.2.II
Stimuli: yes

1.4
The New England colonists’ general idea of “civilizing” the Native American, as alluded to in the
above excerpt, most directly reflects which of the following Puritan ideals?
2
(A) That the Puritans were establishing a conscientious community of holiness, which would
serve as a beacon and model to others around the world
(B) That the Puritans were establishing a community based on separation of Church and
State, which model the Native American tribal societies did not follow
(C) That moral societies were based on strict judicial systems, and the Native Americans
enforced their laws in too random a manner
(D) That at birth, people were predestined for either salvation or damnation

Answer: A
Feedback: The Puritans came to idealize that they were founding a holy commonwealth in the
New World, which would become a beacon and model for the rest of the world. The presence of
the non-Christian, non-European Native American, or “savage,” threatened this vision of a godly
community in the New World. Hence, some Puritans made efforts to solve this “problem” by
trying to Christianize and civilize the natives. Others advocated displacing them or
“exterminating” them.
Learning Objective: CUL-1
Key Concept: 2.2.II
Stimuli: yes


“The slaves’ weapons were many, and after a century in the tobacco fields they extended
beyond revolt, maroonage [running away to live in secret communities], and truancy, for slaves
understood the processes of tobacco cultivation as well as any owner. That many [slave] quarters
took their names from the slave patriarchs or matriarchs who were their central figures and who
often served as their foreman and occasionally as their forewoman suggests the degree to which
black people had gained control over their work and lives. As knowledgeable agriculturalists,
these men and women appreciated how their strategic interventions could destroy a season’s
crop and ruin their owners.”

-- Ira Berlin, historian, Many Thousands Gone: The First Two
Centuries of Slavery in North America, published in 1998
[From the chapter “The Plantation Generations: the Tobacco Revolution in the Chesapeake”]

2.1
Berlin’s argument most supports which of the following views regarding the colonial
Chesapeake-area slaves?
(A) They relied solely on the owners for any gain in the quality of their life.
(B) They fought for rights within their sphere of influence.
(C) African American societies on the tobacco plantation were leaderless and disorganized.
(D) Revolt, maroonage, and truancy were the only means the African American slave
community had for asserting itself within the plantation.

Answer: B
3
Feedback: The argument above best supports a view that African American slaves of the
Chesapeake tobacco plantations developed organized and structured communities, in which, as
a community, they realized some powers to negotiate for rights within their circumstances.
Learning Objective: ID-4
Key Concept: 2.1.II
Stimuli: yes

2.2
Which activities of enslaved African-Americans in the 19th century most closely resemble the
activities Berlin describes?
(A) Supporting the abolition movement
(B) Educating themselves; learning to read and write
(C) Learning to operate more advanced farm machinery
(D) Creating communities and strategies to protect their dignity

Answer: D
Feedback: Berlin describes enslaved Africans as becoming as empowered as possible,
considering their limited circumstances. This is similar to later American slave societies
developing a hierarchy, a sense of family, and other strategies to protect their dignity. While the
other choices are all true, they do not resemble Berlin’s argument as much as choice D.
Historical Thinking Skill: Patterns of Continuity and Change over Time
Key Concept: 2.1.III
Stimuli: yes

2.3
The evidence in the excerpt about the nature of slavery in the Chesapeake region is most closely
tied to the early 1700s because
(A) the slave patriarchs and matriarchs sharing power equally with the owners regarding
plantation operations during this period
(B) the slaves were native to America and not imported from Africa or the West Indies
(C) the development of mechanized farming techniques and crop rotation
(D) the emerging importance of commodities to sell in Europe, such as tobacco

Answer: D
Feedback: Slavery in the Chesapeake region in the early 1700s grew and thrived because of the
growing importance of commodities such as tobacco and other cash crops. Later slave societies
would develop in other regions based on other cash crop (such as rice in South Carolina and
cotton in Georgia and Mississippi).
Historical Thinking Skill: Periodization
4

Stimuli: yes

2.4
Which of the following best describes the social attitude of the Chesapeake colonists, which most
enabled them to establish perpetual slavery of African Americans?
(A) A strong desire to compete with other European nationalities
(B) Strong resentment of the individual freedoms enjoyed by Africans within their original
societies
(C) A strong belief in European racial and cultural superiority
(D) A belief in the need for Christian conversion and salvation of Africans

Answer: C
Feedback: English colonists came to America with a strong belief in their racial and cultural
superiority. For example, the Native Americans suffered under this attitude, quickly becoming
heathens and “ungodly.” Therefore, in dealing with Native Americans and any threat they might
pose, as well as in advancing themselves economically, the English colonists could easily argue
removal or extermination of the Native Americans. In a similar vein, the English colonists of the
Chesapeake region came to easily justify permanent enslavement of African Americans, in further
pursuit of their economic interests.
Key Concept: 2.1.II
Stimuli: yes

5

Questions 3.1-3.4 refer to the graph below.

Non-Indian population of the Chesapeake, 1607-1700

3.1
The difference in growth rate between the white and black populations in the Chesapeake region
in the last two decades of the 17th century can best be traced to
(A) a dramatic increase in indentured servitude
(B) political instability in England
(C) the growth of tobacco as a viable cash crop
(D) the enslavement of Native Americans
Answer: C
Feedback: With the rise of tobacco as a viable cash crop in the Chesapeake, farmers were
looking for a more durable and permanent workforce. As a result, they increased the importation
of African slaves. By the late 1600s, indentured servants had become too expensive and
6
troublesome to serve as a stable labor force. The numbers of indentured servants decreased
during this period in an almost inverse relationship to the increase in African slaves.
Stimuli: yes

3.2
The economic issues reflected by the differing population trends in the Chesapeake region by
the last two decades most immediately point to which of the following?
(A) The beginnings of regionalism and sectionalism
(B) Decreased conflict with Native Americans over land
(C) Diversification among all colonies, with some turning to mechanized industry over
agriculture
(D) Immediate conflict between the New England and Chesapeake colonies over the use of
slave labor

Answer: A
Feedback: As cash crops came to form the basis for much of the economy of the Chesapeake
region, particularly labor-intensive tobacco, the region’s desire for free labor became greater, and
labor shortage was a constant concern. Eventually, the Atlantic slave trade grew to serve the
demand. The economic issues of the growing of cash crops and use of slave labor would
become features of regional and section differences.
Historical Thinking Skill: Synthesis
Stimuli: yes

3.3
Which of the following can best be seen as a turning point in the economy of the southern states
in the mid-19th century, which parallels a similar development being reflected by the data in the
above graph?
(A) The development of growing short-staple cotton
(B) Diversification of their agricultural products by growing sugar, rice, and indigo
(C) The movement to western lands
(D) A flourishing of the rum and molasses trade

Answer: A
Feedback: The development in the American South to growing short-staple cotton, which could
grow in a variety of climates and soils, unlike long-staple cotton, kept the South’s economy
mostly agriculturally-based, depending on cash crops and slave labor. With the rapid spread of
cotton production into new lands further south and westward (the Deep South), the African
American population experienced a forced migration and a large jump in their numbers in what
came to be called the Deep South.
7

Historical Thinking Skill: Periodization
Stimuli: yes

3.4
Which of the following aspects of English colonization most directly led to the change in
population as reflected by the graph above?
(A) Many English colonists initially came to the New World in a race for finding rare metals.
(B) English mercantilism led to the creation of new markets.
(C) Some English colonists turned to labor-intensive cash-crop agriculture for income.
(D) The English colonists ’costly hostilities with local American Indian tribes led to a decrease
in the white population.

Answer: C
Feedback: English colonial strategy began as a search for rare metals, but ended up being based
on agriculture to make colonies profitable. As such, it required large amounts of people to work
the land. Chronic labor shortages led to the importation of slaves, particularly for producing
labor-intensive crops like tobacco.
Stimuli: yes


“Whereas notwithstanding divers acts made for the encouragement of the navigation of this
kingdom, . . . great abuses are daily committed to the prejudice of the English navigation, and the
loss of a great part of the plantation trade to this kingdom, by the artifice and cunning of
ill-disposed persons; for remedy whereof for the future. . . .

II. Be it enacted, . . . no goods or merchandises whatsoever shall be imported into, or exported
out of, any colony or plantation . . . or carried from any one port or place in the said colonies or
plantations to any other, …in any ship or bottom but what is or shall be of the built of England, …
or the said colonies or plantations, and wholly owned by the people thereof.”

-- Navigation Act of April 10, 1696

8
4.1
The passage of the Navigation Act of 1696 and other similar legislation by the English Parliament
most directly resulted from
(A) successful continuance of the English mercantilist system
(B) an effort to control the transatlantic slave trade
(C) open rebellion and disobedience by Royally appointed colonial governors
(D) widespread, but unorganized, colonial resistance to English economic policies

Answer: D
Feedback: While some colonial governors may have been disobedient to the English
government, the reason for the issuance of another Navigation Act was the rise of smuggling
practiced throughout the colonies. This type of colonial resistance to English economic policies
was widespread, but was not yet an organized resistance movement of the type that would occur
in the years leading up to the American Revolution.
Learning Objective: WOR-1
Key Concept: 2.3.II
Stimuli: yes

4.2
Which of the following activities from the mid- to late 18th century most closely parallels the
motivations in the document above?
(A) The passage of colonial taxes by Parliament after the Seven Years’ War
(B) The colonists moving onto American Indian lands in defiance of Parliamentary law
(C) The persecution of British loyalists by colonial rebels during the American Revolution
(D) The organization of the colonies around Enlightenment ideals such as the rights of the
individual

Answer: A
Feedback: At its heart, the Navigation Acts were a move by Parliament to exert control over the
colonies for financial gain. The closest parallel is the passage of the colonial taxes after the
Seven Years’ War such as the Stamp or Tea Acts.
Key Concept: 2.3.II
Key Concept: 3.1.II
Stimuli: yes

4.3
The ideas in the document most clearly show the influence of which of the following?
(A) The decline of monarchy as a viable system of government
(B) The growing autonomy of the colonists
(C) The increasing influence of England over all of the colonies
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(D) The expanding importance of the Atlantic World

Answer: B
Feedback: The English Parliaments often ineffective and indifferent control over colonial matters
led to an increased sense of autonomy among the colonists. For years they had been gradually
running more and more of their own affairs, side-stepping English laws, such as the Navigation
Acts, that were sporadically enforced. The Navigation Act of 1696 was just another in a series of
efforts on behalf of Parliament to wrest back colonial control for financial reasons.
Key Concept: 2.3.II
Stimuli: yes

4.4
Which of the following groups would most likely have supported the Navigation Acts?
(A) Colonial loyalists
(B) New England merchants
(C) Southern plantation owners
(D) English mercantilists

Answer: D
Feedback: The requirement that any goods entering or leaving any colonial port must be
conveyed by an English owned ship was meant to limit smuggling that flourished as a way to
avoid paying English import/export taxes. The group most likely to support the perspective of the
authors of the Navigation Acts was English mercantilists. The Navigation Acts sought to limit
goods from countries other than England being traded in the colonies and control taxes paid on
the goods. Under this system, English mercantilists would be assured of a monopoly of trade with
the colonies.
Key Concept: 2.3.II
Stimuli: yes


[Language modernized for clarity] “. . . Because the way of conquering them [Native Americans]
is much more easy then of civilizing them by fair means, for they are a rude, barbarous, and
naked people, scattered in small companies, which are helps to Victory, but hindrances to Civility:
Besides that, a conquest may be of many, and at once; but civility is in particular, and slow, the
effect of a long time and great industry. Moreover, victory of them may be gained many ways; by
force, by surprise, by famine in burning their Corn, by destroying and burning their Boats,
Canoes, and Houses, by breaking their fishing Wares, by assailing them in their huntings,
10
whereby they get the greatest part of their sustenance in Winter, by pursuing them and chasing
them with our horses, and blood-Hounds to draw after them and Mastiffs to tear them, which take
this naked, tanned, deformed Sausages, for no other than wild beasts, and are so fierce and fell
upon them, that they fear them worse than their old Devil which they worship, supposed them to
be a new and worse kind of Devils then their own. By these and sundry other ways, as by driving
them (when they flee) upon their enemies, who are round about them, and by animating and
abetting their enemies against them, may their ruin or subjection be soon effected.”

-- Records of the Virginia Company, 1622

5.1
The excerpt best offers evidence of which predominant attitude of the English colonists in the
Chesapeake region toward the Native Americans by the 1620s?
(A) Being neither English nor Christian, Native Americans were inferior, in the eyes of the
colonists.
(B) The colonists had admiration for the Native Americans’ ability to live off the land.
(C) The colonists believed the Native Americans were still capable of being civilized
according to European standards
(D) The colonists felt that Native American societies were elaborate and sophisticated.

Answer: A
Feedback: The 1607 policy of the Virginia Company towards the natives was not to offend them
and to seek trade. By 1622, that policy had changed dramatically. Ongoing conflicts, bloody
massacres and a growing conviction of their cultural superiority turned the English hostile
towards their neighbors.
Key Concept: 2.2.II
Stimuli: yes

5.2
The excerpt best offers evidence of what development in the relationship between the English
colonists in the Chesapeake region and the Native Americans by the 1620s?
(A) Peaceful intermixing of cultures
(B) Conversion of the Native Americans to Christianity
(C) Warfare and violent conflict
(D) Discovery of tobacco as a marketable crop

Answer: C
Feedback: After some years of peaceful relations with the English, the Native Americans began
to see the growth of the colony as a threat to their existence, especially with the continued
colonists’ assaults and suppression of Native Americans in order to accommodate colonial
expansion onto new lands. War between the two cultures began that would last well into the
1640s.
11

Key Concept: 2.2.II
Stimuli: yes

5.3
What was the immediate effect of the emergence of the tobacco economy in the Chesapeake
region on the Native Americans?
(A) Depletion of the soil from tobacco cultivation
(B) Loss of land due to encroachments by tobacco farmers
(C) Arrival of more settlers for labor on tobacco farms
(D) Increased military attacks by the English on Native settlements

Answer: B
Feedback: Tobacco cultivation spread rapidly in the Chesapeake area, with its profitability. This
development increased the demand for land. Further adding to the demand was that tobacco as
a crop exhausted the soil after a few years. Colonial expansion further into tribal lands increased
hostilities and loss of land for the Native Americans.
Learning Objective: ENV–4
Key Concept: 2.1.I
Stimuli: yes

5.4
The evidence in the excerpt best supports which of the following arguments regarding Native
American and colonial conflicts in the Chesapeake region by the mid- to late 1600s?
(A) Native conflicts had ceased to be important.
(B) The English government made no attempts to protect Native territories.
(C) Border conflicts between the Native Americans and colonists increased.
(D) Colonists avoided lands promised to the Natives and settled elsewhere.

Answer: C
Feedback: As the Virginia colony population and the demand for land increased, colonists
pushed further west into Native American lands. The local government led by governor William
Berkeley both fought with and attempted to protect the Native Americans. Eventually, English
settlements were established in lands promised to the Native Americans and conflicts resulted.
Historical Thinking Skill: Historical Argument
Key Concept: 2.2.II
Stimuli: yes

5.5
In what way did Dutch and French colonies differ from the English in their relations with the
Native Americans?
(A) Sought to enslave and exploit the native population
12
(B) Armed and encouraged conflict between rival tribes

(C) Adopted native agricultural practices
(D) Established partnerships based on trade and intermarriage

Answer: D
Feedback: Unlike the English and their hostile relations with the Native Americans, the French
and Dutch were eager to create trade alliances, particularly for furs to export to Europe, and in
some cases became part of native society by living among them and marrying native women.
Learning Objective: ENV-4
Key Concept: 2.1.I
Stimuli: yes

Questions 6.1-6.5 refer to the map below.

Everyday life in New England centered in small towns such as Sudbury, west of Boston.

6.1
What Puritan goal is best represented by the town structure shown in the map?
(A) To allow division of property based on the English system of primogeniture
(B) To allow an ethnically and religiously diverse community to develop
(C) To create a community of like minded religious believers centered around a church
meeting house
13
(D) To encourage expansion from the community center as it’s population increased

Answer: C
Feedback: The Puritan patterns of settlement differed from the isolated plantations of the South.
The Puritans established settlements that promoted close knit societies based on unity and
harmony. The town structure reflected this goal in its centralized arrangement of homes, a
meeting house and central pastures or commons. Outlying fields were divided amongst families
based on social standing and wealth.
Stimuli: yes

6.2
The map best supports which of the following regarding the system of governance in the Puritan
community?
(A) Local affairs were controlled by the English parliament.
(B) Government was secular with no religious influence.
(C) Towns enjoyed freedom and autonomy in regulating their own affairs.
(D) Participation in government was based primarily on property ownership.

Answer: C
Feedback: Puritan towns were fairly autonomous. Theocratic in government structure, each town
chose its own minister and regulated is own affairs. This type of organization came to be known
as the Congregational Church. The central location of the meeting house, which was the church,
lends support to the congregational organizational structure of the Puritan communities.
Stimuli: yes

6.3
Based on the map’s representation of a typical Puritan community, which best describes how
social relations within the community might be affected in times of social stress or strain?
(A) Mass hysteria could readily arise.
(B) Traditional gender roles would certainly be upended.
(C) Tensions over women’s roles within Puritan society would decrease.
(D) The communities would experience a decline in the influence of religion.

Answer: A
Feedback: As the harmony and cohesiveness of the New England communities declined, in the
face of social and economic pressures, tensions sometimes manifested in bizarre and unusual
ways, such as hysteria over supposed witchcraft in New England, with the most famous example
14
being the Salem Witch Trials in the 1690s. Nineteen people, mostly women, were executed
before the hysteria subsided.
Key Concept:
Stimuli: yes

6.4
How was the general community structure in the southern English colonies different from that of
the Puritan communities?
(A) Plantations physically connected to cities vs. small farm plots within town communities
(B) Large plantations shared by various family owners vs. individual farms
(C) Large metropolitan areas vs. towns
(D) Isolated plantations vs. town communities

Answer: D
Feedback: Rather than the tightly-knit communities as seen in New England, the south
developed large, isolated plantations far from cities and towns.
Stimuli: yes

6.5
What intellectual change in early 18th-century America most threatened traditional religious
outlooks?
(A) Emphasis on the concept of predestination
(B) Explanation of the world through reason and science
(C) Belief in the importance of education
(D) Rejection of strict moral codes

Answer: B
Feedback: There were powerful forces at work in 18th-century colonial America that directly
challenged traditional views. A new spirit of Enlightenment was sweeping across Europe and
America. The movement emphasized intellect, human reason, and science. This was a direct
challenge to the old world view of faith over intellect.
Learning Objective: CUL–4
Key Concept: 2.3.I
Stimuli: yes

15
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History Period 2 Multiple Choice Questions

Questions 1.1-1.4 refer to the excerpt below.

Key Concept: 2.1.III

Learning Objective: WXT-4

Questions 4.1-4.4 refer to the excerpt below.

(D) The expanding importance of the Atlantic World

Historical Thinking Skill: Appropriate Use of Relevant Historical Evidence

(B) Armed and encouraged conflict between rival tribes

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Period 2

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AP U.S.

History Period 2 Multiple Choice Questions

Questions 1.1-1.4 refer to the excerpt below.

Key Concept: ​2.1.III

Learning Objective: ​WXT-4

Questions 4.1-4.4 refer to the excerpt below.

(D) The expanding importance of the Atlantic World

Historical Thinking Skill:​ Appropriate Use of Relevant Historical Evidence

(B) Armed and encouraged conflict between rival tribes

You might also like

Key Concept: 2.1.III

Learning Objective: WXT-4

Historical Thinking Skill: Appropriate Use of Relevant Historical Evidence