Essay Prompts (Choose ONE)

1. During the first decades of the seventeenth century, England developed several distinct colonies. Each colonial region faced different and unique experiences. Write an essay that compares and contrasts the colonial experiences in the Chesapeake and New England. In your essay, you need to explain: why the English settled these areas and who went there, what the colonists’ expectations were, how well the realities of settlement matched those expectations, and what their societies looked like, and how the colonists made their money. Your thesis statement (argument) must address the following central question: In what major way(s) were the colonial experiences in the Chesapeake similar and/or different?

2. Throughout the seventeenth century, colonial Virginians (Chesapeake colonists) perpetually faced a labor problem: finding enough workers to grow and harvest their cash crops. Write an essay that fully explains how Virginians worked throughout the 1600s to resolve their labor problem, from indentured servitude to slavery. Your thesis statement (argument) must address the following central question: How and why did the colonies shift from societies with a few slaves to societies dominated by slave labor, and how did this shift impact ideas about race in the colonies?

3. At the turn of the 18th century, a series of events occurred that created tension between the British colonists in North America and England. Write an essay that evaluates the lead-up to the American Revolution and independence. Your thesis statement (argument) must address the following central question: Do you think that America’s declaration of independence and subsequent American Revolution was inevitable? At what point do you think there was no turning back?