Unit 2 SAQ (The Colonies) Answers

APUSH Short Answer Question Answers for The Colonies

👋 Welcome to the APUSH Unit 2 SAQ (The Colonies) Answers. Have your responses handy as you go through the rubrics to see how you did!

⏱ Remember, the AP US History exam has a mixture of free-response questions and allotted times. For these types of questions, there will be 3 SAQs, and you will be given 40 minutes to complete the SAQ section. (This means you should give yourself ~13 minutes to go through each practice SAQ.)

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Questions with Answers & Rubric

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(a) Briefly describe the difference between the development of society in New England (such as Massachusetts Bay) and that of the southern colonies (such as Virginia or the Carolinas).

🏆 Successful answers would explain how:

• The creation of Massachusetts Bay or Plymouth were founded primarily for religious purposes by Calvinists and established by families.

• The creation of Jamestown for the purpose of finding gold and thus a more male dominated society.

• The creation of Georgia as a buffer between the Carolinas and Florida and less of a religious purpose.

• The creation of the Carolinas by the lord proprietors as an aristocratic colony primarily settled by English leaving Barbados.

• New England had a much longer life span and more equal gender ratio. 📄 Additional Resources: 

• Study Guide: The Regions of the British Colonies

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(b) Briefly describe ONE specific historical similarity between the development of societies in New England and those of the southern colonies.

🏆 Successful answers would explain how:

• The Colonies of Jamestown and Massachusetts Bay were both founded by Joint Stock Companies.

• The colonies all had some form of government whether it be the House of Burgesses in Jamestown, Town Hall Meetings in New England or aristocratic governments in the Carolinas.

• Colonies created their own constitutions such as the Laws and Liberties, Fundamental orders of Connecticut or South Carolina’s constitution by John Locke.

• They were all created to provide some benefit to the Crown. Jamestown provided a resource such as tobacco. Carolina provided Rice or indigo. New England colonies provided timber and fish. They all provided furs for the crown.

• They all utilized indentured servitude at some point; although more prevalent in the southern colonies.

• All the colonies were created to support the crown, spoke English, and were loyal to their king. 📄 Additional Resources: 

• Study Guide: Colonial Society and Culture

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(c) Briefly explain one specific reason for the differences in the development of societies in the New England and the southern colonies. 

🏆Successful answers would explain how:

• New England’s social structure had more families than Virginia or Georgia since most of the people came as familial units escaping some sort of persecution, or for the purpose of establishing a religious settlement.
• Jamestown had more indentured servants based on the purpose of the colony being primarily to find gold and later to raise tobacco for the crown.
• South Carolina was much more aristocratic than the New England colonies based on the purpose of their founding and the origin of many of their early inhabitants as well-to-do families leaving Barbados.
• The life span in New England was much longer than Virginia because of the cool climate, access to fresh water, and availability of game.
• Education was much more important in New England because of the importance of religion and reading the Bible than any of the southern colonies.

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Next Steps

• • 🧠 Want to continue reinforcing your knowledge of Unit 2? Check out Unit 2 Trivia, either as a document or as a game.
• • ⏭ Ready to move on to the next topic? Take a look at the collection of Unit 3 resources.
• • 📚 Want to review multiple units? Check out all of the APUSH SAQs, LEQs, and DBQs.