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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who wrote to Winthrop in a letter, regarding the ordinances in the colony, that by treating temptation as a sin, it was making “more sins than (as yet is seene) God himself hath made,” according to the author in Chapter 6: “A Special Commission”?

2. The author says of Winthrop in Chapter 3: “A Shelter and a Hiding Place” that he “did not aim at power for the sake of power, but he longed to” do what?

3. What group amongst the New England Puritans “insisted that the bishops be replaced by another organization, with churches and clergy arranged in a pyramidal structure,” according to the author in Chapter 6: “A Special Commission”?

4. On what date did John Winthrop marry Margaret Tyndal?

5. What were the three arrangements that John Winthrop had to oversee once he was voted as governor for the new colony and prior to departure from England?

Short Essay Questions

1. When and where was John Winthrop born? What important event took place in the year Winthrop was born, according to the author in Chapter 1: “The Taming of the Heart”?

2. What influenced John Winthrop to compose documents regarding the immigration effort, according to the author in Chapter 3: “A Shelter and a Hiding Place”?

3. How does the author describe the journey of John Winthrop’s fleet in Chapter 5: “Survival”? Where did the fleet cast anchor in America?

4. How does the author describe the contents of John Winthrop’s documents regarding settlement in the New World in Chapter 3: “A Shelter and a Hiding Place”?

5. How does the author describe the groups called the Presbyterians and the Congregationalists in Chapter 6: “A Special Commission”?

6. How did John Winthrop perceive the growing corruption within the English government, according to the author in Chapter 2: “Evil and Declining Times”?

7. What caused the tensions within Puritanism in the 1610s and 1620s, according to the author in Chapter 1: “The Taming of the Heart”?

8. How did the members of the Massachusetts Bay Company perceive the charter when they were told about it in Chapter 4: “The Way to a New England”? Why?

9. What various problems did John Winthrop address as leader of the colonists after their arrival, according to the author in Chapter 5: “Survival”?

10. What immediate obstacles did the Massachusetts Bay colonists face upon arrival in the New World, according to the author in Chapter 5: “Survival”?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the origins and history of Presbyterianism and Congregationalism. How did each of these sects branch off from the Anglican Church? When did each appear? How did Presbyterian societies and settlements differ from those that were principally Congregational?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the social, economic, and career elements of John Winthrop’s life in London in his twenties and thirties. How does the author characterize Winthrop’s one year of marriage to his second wife? When did John marry Margaret Tyndal? Why did her family initially oppose the marriage?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the figure of John Endecott. What was Endecott’s role in the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony? When did John Endecott depart for Massachusetts? Who joined Endecott? What was Endecott’s purpose in arriving prior to the wave of settlers?

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