Chapter Chronology

Quiz for Historical Question: “Why Did English Colonists Consider Themselves Superior to Indians and Africans?”

Select the best answer for each question. Click the “submit” button for each question to turn in your work.

Question

1. During the seventeenth century, colonists called Native Americans either Indians or

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B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is c. The most common terms colonists used to describe Native Americans were Indians and savages. Colonists deemed them savages because the Native Americans did not demonstrate the characteristics of English civilization. Their defining characteristic was that they were un-English.
Incorrect. The answer is c. The most common terms colonists used to describe Native Americans were Indians and savages. Colonists deemed them savages because the Native Americans did not demonstrate the characteristics of English civilization. Their defining characteristic was that they were un-English.

Question

2. In what central way did English colonists define Indians differently than Africans in the seventeenth century?

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B.
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D.
Correct. The answer is a. Although English colonists saw Indians’ lack of English civility as their most defining characteristic, they deemed Africans’ most defining characteristic to be their skin color. English colonists viewed themselves as superior to both groups, but for different reasons.
Incorrect. The answer is a. Although English colonists saw Indians’ lack of English civility as their most defining characteristic, they deemed Africans’ most defining characteristic to be their skin color. English colonists viewed themselves as superior to both groups, but for different reasons.

Question

3. Although Indian and Negro referred to different groups of people in the seventeenth century, what these two words have in common is that they both

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B.
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D.
Correct. The answer is b. Both Indian and Negro were generic words used to refer to large groups of people who did not necessarily view themselves as all belonging to a single group. Within Indian and Negro was a wide variety of difference in tribal identification, language use, and cultural practices.
Incorrect. The answer is b. Both Indian and Negro were generic words used to refer to large groups of people who did not necessarily view themselves as all belonging to a single group. Within Indian and Negro was a wide variety of difference in tribal identification, language use, and cultural practices.

Question

4. How did Virginians’ understanding of slavery change over the course of the seventeenth century?

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B.
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Correct. The answer is d. While early seventeenth-century slavery was sometimes temporary, and slaves could reasonably expect the possibility of freedom later in their lives, by 1660 slavery had hardened into a permanent and lifelong status that also passed from generation to generation.
Incorrect. The answer is d. While early seventeenth-century slavery was sometimes temporary, and slaves could reasonably expect the possibility of freedom later in their lives, by 1660 slavery had hardened into a permanent and lifelong status that also passed from generation to generation.

Question

5. This essay supports which of the following historical arguments?

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B.
C.
D.
Correct. The answer is c. The essay argues that seventeenth-century colonists’ beliefs about their own superiority to Africans and Native Americans (due to the colonists’ civility, freedom, and light skin color) “planted the seeds of pernicious racial prejudices that flourished in America for centuries.”
Incorrect. The answer is c. The essay argues that seventeenth-century colonists’ beliefs about their own superiority to Africans and Native Americans (due to the colonists’ civility, freedom, and light skin color) “planted the seeds of pernicious racial prejudices that flourished in America for centuries.”