What document did the Puritans, whose ship the Mayflower mistakenly arrived at Cape Cod in 1620, write as the first governing document of the colony?
A. The Magna Carta
B. The Mayflower Compact
C. The 95 Theses of Martin Luther
D. The Declaration of Independence
E. None of these answers is correct
ANSWER: B

The Puritans have greatly aided modern historians to know more about their society because they were meticulous record-keepers.  We have list of family names, town records, ship manifests and crew counts, and numerous other written documents which detail their early colonial lives.
A. True
B. False
ANSWER: A

Early Puritan colonists retained significant amounts of their English culture in the New World.  They only became “Americans” slowly and over time.
A. True
B. False
ANSWER: A

The original Native Americans were always seen as enemies and inferior by the first English settlers in the Massachusetts Bay colony.
A. True
B. False
ANSWER: B

All of the following are true of governmental power in the New England colonies EXCEPT which one?
A. In England, the power came from the top down (king), whereas in New England power came from congregation itself.  This lack of power over the Puritan communities resulted in the English crown’s dislike of the New England colonies from the very beginning.
B. Local colonial magistrates believed that once voted into office and given power, that people of the congregation should accept their decisions, whereas the congregation believed this to be an ongoing and changeable process.
C. All free adult males of most New England congregations had power to vote.
D. For its time period, New England colonies were the most free and democratic examples of self government in the entire world.
E. Discrimination prevailed as no women, even respected church members, ever had the power to vote in any Puritan town.
ANSWER: E

Everyone New England colonial family paid taxes, regardless of faith or membership in the congregation, to the Puritan church.  This historical reality still exists today in Massachusetts.
A. True
B. False
ANSWER: B

All of the following statements about Puritans are correct, EXCEPT for which one?
A. Families in townships were given two plots of land, one in town, and the other for farming in the countryside.  Families were required to live in the town so that could watch and be watched by their neighbors for proper behavior and their spiritual welfare.
B. Although often seen as communities where people had to conform, the Puritan insistence on reading the Bible and having an individual relationship with God, that could not be interfered with by a priest or bishop, was actually quite subversive and led to numerous conflicts.
C. The largest threats to Puritan rule and unity came from atheists, agnostics, and other outsiders who hated religion and challenged the authority of the congregation.
D. The case of Anne Hutchinson was one of the most well known examples of the internal strife present in the Massachusetts Bay colony, which resulted in her physical banishment from the colony.
E. All of these statements ARE true
ANSWER: C

The availability of land was initially of little concern to the members of Puritan colonies.  But as time passed, it resulted in all of the following problems EXCEPT:
A. When a father subdivided the family land as his children grew to adulthood, this resulted in smaller and smaller plots as future generations were born.  This practice became unsustainable.
B. The influence and power of the patriarchal head of household diminished as his children (with financial and property expectations) moved inland to find land of their own in response to a lack of available land in the township.
C. Native Americans in New England, whose own hunting and gathering culture required open access to land, suffered as a result of large Puritan family sizes and their children’s ever encroaching quest for more land.
D. King Phillip’s War in 1675-6 was the most devastating and destructive Native American-Puritan conflict in the colonies up to that moment in time.  Because of the overwhelming Indian victory, a permanent hatred was embedded in the cultures of both New Englanders and Indians from that point forward.
E. The Pequot War was a direct result of land disputes, and once the Native Americans were defeated and encouraged to adopt English ways and Puritan religion and live in “praying towns”, this system would come to resemble the reservation system that Indians would be subjected to in the following centuries.
ANSWER: D