Download Prompt Analyze the ways in which the Glorious

Prompt
Analyze the ways in which the Glorious Revolution and Enlightenment impacted the
intellectual, political, and cultural development of Britain’s North American colonies.
Planning
GR  politics
Enlightenment  culture (printing, philosophy, intellectual life of elites) intellectual
(respectability of professions, science)
Both  seeds of Revolutionary political culture (individual rights, republican people, social
contract, well-prepared leadership)
Thesis
Following William and Mary’s Glorious Revolution, British efforts to reassert royal
control and standardize political arrangements between the crown and its colonies increased
tension over control of government in British North America. During the same time, the
Enlightenment spread through colonial society, although primarily only its elites, making
science respectable and stimulating the development of a print culture. Both the Enlightenment
and Glorious Revolution eventually shaped a new American political culture founded on
individual rights and republican government.
Scoring
You got two points if you directly answered the implied question “What effects did the GR and
E have on colonial society?” Not answers: merely describing either/both events OR describing
developments in the colonies without analyzing their nature as effects of the GR/E. You lost a
point for not doing this.
You got two points if you took a clear position on the impact of these two European events on
development in the colonies. That means suggesting, for example, that political development
was impacted more than intellectual or cultural development, OR arguing that the
Enlightenment’s impact was more important than the GR’s, OR offering an interpretation of
why these developments were important. You lost a point if you merely connected GR and E
with colonial development.
Finally, you got two points if you successfully organized your argument and set up your topic
sentences/paragraphs. You needed to identify specific effects of the GR/E in developments in
colonial society, and then suggest how those developments should be grouped into the THREE
specific categories set up by the prompt. You lost a point if you simply lumped the three
categories together.
Prompt
To what extent did mercantilism affect the political and economic development of Britain’s
North American colonies in the period 1651-1748?
Planning
Category
Political
Economic
Mercantilism
Colonies are
subservient to
interests of
empire/central gov
Colonies specialize in
producing
commodities/raw
materials/inputs and
provide markets for
manufactured goods
Development
British efforts to take
more control of
colonies
How much?
A LOT!
Colonies economies
develop into mostly
agricultural export
oriented but not
because of British
planning.
A lot underneath,
because neglect was
salutary.
Thesis
The mercantilist conception of colonies as subordinate to the mother country led to many
British efforts to assert greater control over the governments of its thirteen North American
colonies. On the other hand, the colonies’ economies developed largely along lines dictated by
Americans’ self-interest, made possible by but not directly because of the British government’s
famous neglect of strict enforcement of mercantilist economic policy. Overall, mercantilism had
a mixed but significant impact on the political and economic development of Britain’s North
American colonies.
Scoring
Two points for answering the question (“How much did an idea/policy held by the British
government affect colonial politics and economic development?”) directly. Lose a point for
only answering half the question or merely describing mercantilism or colonial
political/economic developments.
Two points for taking a position on the importance of the effects of mercantilism (it was/was
NOT an important cause of developments in the colonies) or by interpreting the relative
importance of mercantilism’s effects (“A lot in both, a little in one but a lot in another, etc”).
Lose a point for merely describing effects.
Two points for grouping your argument into three parts to set up your topic sentences. Lose a
point if you could not organize your answer into a more sophisticated arrangement than two
categories, political and economic.
Prompt
Analyze BOTH the British government’s efforts to exert greater control over the English
colonies in North America AND the colonists’ reactions in the period 1660-1740.
Category
Restoration
James II
Post GR
Effort
Establish order in founding
colonies after first wave of
haphazard ones
Streamline and tighten
control of fractious New
England, impose mercantilsm
Standardize arrangements
and ensure crown interests
protected
Reaction
Largely ignored/accepted when in the
interests of Americans
Colonists in NE part of BNA revolt!
Long simmering power struggle between
colonial executives (governors and other
royal appointees) and legislatures (colony’s
assemblies/lower houses)
Thesis
The more the efforts of any British government to exert greater control over its colonies
in North America clashed with the colonists’ self-interests or beliefs, the more forcefully they
reacted in opposition. Mild efforts at greater control following the Restoration of Charles II saw
the colonists ignore or subvert British policies to their own ends. In contrast, the overwhelming
assertion of James II’s royal authority in the northern colonies, the Dominion of New England,
provoked a violent colonial response and years of turbulence that did not settle into a simmering
feud over power in the colonies until after the Glorious Revolution brought stability to British
government.
Scoring
Two points for fully and directly answering the question (“what efforts produced what
reactions?”). Lose a point for merely describing British policies or colonial political events.
Two points for taking a position on the significance of the overall dynamic between the British
government and its colonies. Lose a point for merely laundry-listing efforts and reactions
without an interpretation of what they meant to American history.
Two points for grouping your argument into three parts to set up your topic sentences. Lose a
point if you could not organize your answer into a more sophisticated arrangement than two
categories, British efforts and American reactions.
Prompt
From 1651 to 1750, how did Britain’s “wise and salutary neglect” of its 13 colonies in North
America influence their political, economic, and social development?
Planning
Not enforcing mercantilism consistently  rapid colonial economic development
Not insisting on English church consistently  diverse American society attractive to Euro
immigrants that grows rapidly
Not imposing uniform exclusively crown/Parliamentary control  expectation of colonial selfrule that gets stronger over time
Thesis
Although mercantilism and imperial thinking dictated the subordination of colonies to the
mother country, the government of the British empire, for various reasons, did not consistently
demand or achieve this degree of control over its North American colonies. Economic
development proceeded with minimal practical interference from British officials, creating an
attractive destination for immigrants. Socially, the British government did not insist on the
colonial religious uniformity under the English church, enhancing American religious freedom
and social diversity. Finally, the precedent of autonomous, local self-rule in most matters
established in the early 17th century created the expectation that the colonies would largely
govern their own affairs.
Scoring
Two points for fully and directly answering the question (“in what ways did a British failure to
enforce policies in its colonies influence them?”). Lose a point for merely describing colonial
developments outside the context of the influence of salutary neglect.
Two points for taking a position on whether salutary neglect played an important role in
colonial developments, e.g. heavy influence versus minimal influence. Lose a point for laundrylisting policies and developments without interpretation of their significance.
Two points for grouping your argument into three parts to set up your topic sentences. Lose a
point for not grouping the influences of salutary neglect into the three obvious paragraphs set up
by the prompt or into a three-part organizational structure of your own devising.