history essay prompts

To what extent are European primary sources useful for understanding Native American history? How can we rely on alternative sources to better understand Indigenous perspectives?

European Primary Sources on Native American History:

• skewed due to their view of native americans as savage and naive

  • they also treated native americans with very little respect

alternative primary sources:

• oral histories from indigenous groups (though the spoken word can often become miscommunicated)

• artifacts and literature create by indigenous groups

  • getting info about indigenous groups from indigenous groups (straight from the source lol)

outline:

• thesis:

• 1st paragraph

• 2nd paragraph

Compare and contrast the development of the Chesapeake and New England colonies during the seventeenth century. You may consider economic, cultural, social, political, or religious factors in your analysis of these two regions.

development of chesapeake:

• virginia

  • first colony (roanoke colony) on an island with not a lot of fresh water and lots of rocks (great defense against the spanish)

    • roanoke fails

    • 2nd attempt

      • upon arrival all of these guys go missing

    • this colony fizzles out

  • Jamestown (settles in marshy ground with lots of mosquitos)

    • mostly men (rich men with not too much survival skill)

    • running out of food, steal ffrom powhatan

    • tensions rise between jamestown and powhatan

    • john smith captures and mataoka (pocahonts) saves him

    • powhatan let them live and helped by giving them corn and other goodsjohn rolfe cements an alliance, etc. 

      • tobacco based economy

        • large plantations

        • slavery

          • race based

          • chesapeake released laws based on race

        • stratified hierarchy

    • jamestown is burned to a crisp

      • result of bacon’s rebellion (main catalyst being slavery)

      • indentured slaves coming over and once free, enroach on native land and the colonists disrespect native wishes to stop

development of new england:

outline:

• thesis:

• 1st paragraph

• 2nd paragraph

How did the British colonies of North America come to heavily rely on slavery by the mid-eighteenth century? You will need to consider the role played by the transatlantic slave trade in order to fully answer this question.

British Colonies reliance on slavery:

• what did they use slavery for?

  • agriculture

  • mining

• indentured slavery

  • to come to the americas, many people got a 7 labor contract and in return would get room, board, and food

  • once free, would go about their lives in america

• chattle slavery

  • due to financial reasons many also turned to chattle slavery (i think)

outline:

• thesis:

• 1st paragraph

• 2nd paragraph

How did underlying tensions between the American colonies and Great Britain ultimately develop into outright war and revolution by 1776? Be sure to note some of the specific grievances that led many of the colonists to support independence instead of reconciliation.

“taxation without representation”

• taxed goods

• townshend act

• tea act

• coercive act

england kept disrepsecting their wishes to be represented in parliament by a representative of their own instead of parliament just choosing for them

outline:

thesis:

1st paragraph

2nd paragraph