Big Picture

Questions

1. How did the rise of capitalism threaten the Puritan settlers of New England?
2. How did the sudden growth of the population in New England transform the colony's land?
3. How many official French and Indian Wars were waged in the Appalachians during the colonial period?
4. What aspects of traditional Puritan society remained mainstays of life during the eighteenth century?
5. What new institutions did New England colonists develop during the period of "salutary neglect"?

Answers

1. It threatened to dilute colonists' piety and their commitment to salvation, potentially replacing the guiding precepts of Puritan faith with the allure of material wealth.
2. The population explosion threatened to exhaust the supply of land and other precious resources, necessitating further dispersal of the colonial population westward and degrading the environment of much of New England.
3. Four, but only the last was remembered by that name.
4. Its patriarchal structure, its racist outlook, and its emphasis on individuality and hard work.
5. New government, economic, and religious institutions.