Discuss the colonies of Virginia and Massachusetts Bay.

United States History I Midterm Essay
In a minimum limit of four full pages of text, craft a well-written response to one of the
following prompts listed below. There is no maximum limit of words or pages. You will need
to refer to and cite information used in your written responses from your textbook, America a
Narrative History.
Your essay must include adequate support from at least ten citations from America a
Narrative History and at least five citations from primary sources. Many secondary
sources are also available various digital archives, such as the University of Houstons
Digital History page and the Avalon Project at Yale University. (see my caveat about
Internet sources below first!) You may also use the primary sources from the Primary
Source Exercises.
Submission: All papers must be submitted on Blackboard. Do not use GoogleDocs, as
Canvas has difficulty converting the formatting. Please submit your file as .doc, .docx, or
.pdf. Blackboard will not accept any other file format. I will not accept papers that are
emailed to me.
Required format:
Font Use either Times New Roman (12pt), Calibri (11pt), or Arial (11pt).
Margins 1 inch margins all around
Page numbers at the bottom and centered on each page after the cover sheet.
Double-space, do not include extra spacing between paragraphs.
The cover sheet and works cited do not count towards the minimum length.
Cover Sheet – Name, assignment title with the chosen prompts, course number and section,
and date should be single spaced, center aligned, and placed in middle of the cover sheet.
Example:
Student name
Midterm essay (prompt x)
Course number and section
Due date
The works cited sheet must include every source that you document in your essay in
alphabetical order by authors last name, separated by source type.
The essay should be organized into multiple paragraphs including an introduction, body
paragraphs, and a concluding analysis.
All citations, including the works cited page, should be in footnotes in accordance with the
current edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. MLA, APA, or any other format is not
acceptable.
Primary sources are resources that were created at the time of a historical event. These
items are often manuscripts, recordings, photographs, and speeches that are safely
preserved in archives.
Secondary sources are resources that were created after an event occurred and interpret
the events. These are often journal entries, books, or studies on a topic. The library has
several secondary sources that may be useful for this assignment. You are also free to look
at academic journal databases such as JSTOR. Encyclopedia entries are not acceptable.
Internet sources: Primary sources from state, federal government, and academic websites
(.gov and .edu) are allowed. Organization sites (.org) must be cleared through me before
use. Newspaper archives and secondary article depositories from JSTOR are
acceptable. Commercial websites (.com) are strictly forbidden. Any use of a
commercial website such as history.com or Wikipedia or intellectually dubious sites
such as Quizlet, Chegg, or course-notes.org will result in a failing grade for this
paper. When in doubt, ask me before you use an Internet source!
Prompts (choose one of these!)
1. Discuss the colonies of Virginia and Massachusetts Bay. Within your essay, explain
the reasons why English colonists immigrated to those two colonies, the economies
of those colonies, their systems of government, and their labor structures. Please
provide specific examples to support your answer. Your essay must also include
how Virginia and Massachusetts Bay “fit in” to the English colonial system as a
whole.

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