U.S. Intellectual and Cultural History from Pre-Columbian History to 1789 - SAT Subject Test in United States History

Prior to King Phillip’s War there had been little existence of an American identity, one distinct from British. In the early seventeenth century, colonies had been established primarily as a means of shipping religious dissidents three thousand miles away, where they could not affect English heterodoxy. The colonists tended to see themselves as religiously separate, but culturally and nationally identical to the British; however, in King Phillip’s War the colonists were provided with very little assistance by the British Empire. Forced to fight and die together, the war fostered a new identity, an American identity that would continue to build, particularly in New England, for the next hundred years.

“Letters from a Pennsylvania Farmer” was, in fact, written by a lawyer in opposition to the British imposition of the Townshend Acts. The tract argued that the British government did have ultimate authority over the external affairs of the colonies, but that the colonies had the right to internal government. It declared that taxes made solely for the purpose of raising revenue for the Empire were abhorrent and against the British legal system. The tract was widely read and encouraged anti-British feeling throughout the colonies.

In early 1692, many town in the northern part of Massachusetts colony underwent a mass hysteria where various townspeople accused others of being practicing witches. Such accusations had a long history in European culture, and were well established in the colonists' own deeply held Calvinism. Witchcraft was a capital offense, and the ensuing trials became more convoluted by recent changes and disputes over Royal authority in the colony. In all, hundreds were accused and convicted, with dozens being executed in a variety of manners. This was also the last instance of a widespread witch trial, and made royal authority finally preeminent in Massachusetts.

Embittered by his experience with the Continental Army, General Benedict Arnold schemed to deliver the American fort of West Point to the British. Today, his name remains tarnished in the USA for his actions.

Jonathan Edwards was a Christian minister and theologian whose religious traditions were rooted in the Enlightenment and Puritanism. He was one of the driving forces behind the First Great Awakening in America in the 1730s and 1740s. The First Great Awakening was a religious movement that swept through Europe and North America in the middle decades of the Eighteenth Century – it emphasized personal communion with faith and moved religious observation away from devoted adherence to ceremony and scripture.

Calvin and Luther were both Christian reformers in sixteenth century Europe who were primarily responsible for dividing Christianity into Catholic and Protestant branches. Dwight L. Moody was a notable religious figure during the Third Great Awakening in the nineteenth century. John Winthrop was a leading figure in the settlement of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

The Iroquois are a Native American tribe found outside of the mesoamerican time period and geography.

Entry into the early Puritan church in the seventeenth-century American colonies required that the user be baptized and undergo a “full religious experience,” but the church began to decline rapidly in membership as the children and grand-children of the first generation Puritans were excluded from the full religious community. In an attempt to counter this trend, the Puritan church passed the Half-Way Covenant to allow for the baptism of children of the holders of the Covenant. The idea was that these children would still reap the social and moral lessons of the Puritan church and then later in life would come to experience the “born again” moment and become full members.

The writings of Thomas Paine, the Anglo-American revolutionary, inspired Americans to seek independence from Britain before their Revolutionary War.

Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers, never served in the army.

The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were both written at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

On October 12th, 1492, Christopher Columbus set foot in Guanahani, which he called San Salvador.

Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States.

The first American medical school was established at the University of Pennsylvania in 1765. It was an important moment in the history of American intellectual identity and the pursuit of scientific understanding.

Thomas Paine was neither a politician nor a civic leader, but simply a talented writer who passionately argued for the rights of colonists. His "Common Sense," (1776) an engaging pamphlet advocating for the rights of colonists against the tyranny of the British crown, was the most widely read piece of writing in the colonies during the mid 1770s. Its widespread popularity was a major catalyst for the politicians and leaders to organize a revolutionary movement.

The quote comes from John Winthrop's "A Model of Christian Charity", a speech delivered to the settlers of Massachusetts Bay Colony before they left their ship the Arabella in 1630. The invocations of God's plan, and the audience's role in the promotion of Christianity clearly indicate that this is a Christian sermon. Further, the mention of New England points to the Puritanism of early New England.

The quote actually comes from Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense, the most notable argument for American independence and individual rights among the colonists. A key identifier that this is Paine's writing is the mention of both "the cause of America," and the invocation of "natural rights of all Mankind."

The settlers of Plymouth Colony had already sought refuge outside of England on the European continent, but to no avail. They decided to cross the Atlantic because they sought to create a "Separate" church from the Church of England, which they viewed as irredeemably corrupted. This distinguished them from "Puritans," who merely wished to completely "purify" the Church of England.

While the leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony were seeking a chance to worship more freely than in England, they did not wish for any true sense of religious freedom. All the political and religious leaders adhered to a strict form of Calvinist protestantism, and wanted to purify the Church of England along Calvinist lines. Citizens of Boston were required to attend church, and every church was controlled by the political leaders. Many dissenters, including Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson, were exiled from the colony.

The Puritans were so-called because they wished to "purify" the Church of England of its more high church, Catholic elements such as elevated mass and the use of bishops. Puritans were expressly targeted in England in the first few decades of the seventeenth century, and the Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded by the leaders of England's Puritan community.