Out of Our Past Chapter 1

Chloe Swindler

Bailey

AP U.S. History

25 July 2011

Out of Our Past

Chapter One Critical Thinking Questions

1. Feudalism was replaced with capitalism in the New World due to the amount of “free land” in America. Because of this, many Americans who were originally indentured of servants upon arriving in the New World were quickly able to work their way up the social ladder. Soon, nearly all in the north and south (excluding the slaves who were black) were able to own profitable land. Many were able to plant and sell the crops sold on their own land for a good chunk of money. In the New World’s beginning, feudalism was replaced with capitalism because Americans were hard working and labor was always in high demand. Because of this, hard laborers were usually rewarded with land.

2. The evidence that proved that feudalism didn’t exist in America was the failure of every effort to enforce it. In the south especially, many landholders would have rather had black slaves, who were seen at the same social class as animals were, as cheap labor. Those who lived in the south did not wish to have social classes other than the wealthy whites, land-owning whites, and blacks. In addition, many in the north found feudalism useless because there was enough “free land” for almost all living in northern colonies to have their own fair share of land. In addition, those living in northern colonies had a law against feudalism. Overall, every attempt to make America aristocratic failed to open availability of land.

3. The Protestant work ethic helped in the development of capitalism because of their religion. In the Protestant’ eyes, those who worked hard and earned an abundance of money were looked upon happily by God. The Protestants incorporated their beliefs into their laws, making it mandatory for men to always do something profitable. These working laws helped Protestants develop capitalism.

4. The common misconception about Puritans was that they were the first...