1.Compare colonists’ “pursuits of happiness” in New England, the Middle colonies, the backcountry, and the South. How did poorer colonists in each of these regions seek to maintain their autonomy from powerful landlords and institutions, and how did this effort shape the formation of regional identities?
2.How did the print and transportation revolutions transform colonial culture and the economy in the eighteenth century?
3.The Great War for Empire delivered the eastern half of North America into British hands. How did that massive territorial acquisition affect ordinary colonists? What impact did it have on Native Americans’ strategies for coexisting with their European neighbors?
4.HEMATIC UNDERSTANDING Review the events listed under “Work, Exchange, and Technology” and “Identity” for the period 1720–1750 on the thematic timeline. How did economic developments in the colonies influence the formation of new cultural identities in this era?(http://www.macmillanhighered.com/BrainHoney/Resource/6696/digital_first_content/trunk/test/henretta8e/asset/timeline/timeline102.html)
5.ACROSS TIME AND PLACE In Chapter 3 we saw the rise of the South Atlantic System, an engine of economic growth that tied Britain’s colonies more closely together and generated prosperity throughout the British Atlantic world. What consequences of that integration and prosperity are evident in the topics discussed in this chapter? How was the Great War for Empire grounded in earlier economic developments? And how did the postwar debt crisis grow out of the South Atlantic System?
6.VISUAL EVIDENCE Return to the John Collet painting of George Whitefield that opened the chapter. How does Collet portray Whitefield’s audience? Consider the postures and facial expressions of individual members of the crowd and imagine what might have been running through their minds as they listened. What do the various elements of this painting (the crowd, tankard of ale, sleeping dog, setting) suggest about the Great Awakening’s appeal? About Collet’s attitude toward evangelical preaching? (http://www.macmillanhighered.com/BrainHoney/Resource/6696/digital_first_content/trunk/test/henretta8e/asset/img_ch4/ch04_CO04_01.html)
7.KEY TURNING POINTS: The Ohio Company grant (1748), the formation of the Susquehanna Company (1749), land conflict along New York and New England border (1760s), and the defeat of the North Carolina Regulators (1771). How do these events reveal tensions over the question of who would control the development of frontier lands in Britain’s mainland North American colonies? What were the effects of these conflicts on Native American populations?