AP®HistoryCollege BoardUS HistoryExam QuestionsPeriod 2: 1607-1754Slavery in the British Colonies

Slavery in the British Colonies (College Board AP® US History): Exam Questions

6 mins6 questions
11 mark
A group of people are gathered outside near huts, with one person dancing while others play instruments, and more people watching the scene.
John Rose, The Old Plantation (Slaves Dancing on a South Carolina Plantation), ca. 1785-1795

The excerpt is most directly a representation of which of the following aspects of enslaved life in the British colonies?

  • The legal restrictions imposed on enslaved individuals

  • The cultural resilience and adaptation of enslaved Africans

  • The economic importance of enslaved labor in the Southern colonies

  • The spread of abolitionist sentiment in the late 18th century

Choose your answer

21 mark
A group of people are gathered outside near huts, with one person dancing while others play instruments, and more people watching the scene.
John Rose, The Old Plantation (Slaves Dancing on a South Carolina Plantation), ca. 1785-1795

Which of the following was a significant reason enslaved people in South Carolina maintained more African cultural traditions, as shown in the excerpt?

  • The enslaved population was evenly mixed with European indentured servants

  • The First Maroon War provided enslaved people with more freedoms

  • The enslaved people in this state were isolated due to their coastal locations

  • The task system of labor allowed for more independent time compared to gang labor

Choose your answer

31 mark
A group of people are gathered outside near huts, with one person dancing while others play instruments, and more people watching the scene.
John Rose, The Old Plantation (Slaves Dancing on a South Carolina Plantation), ca. 1785-1795

Which of the following factors contributed most directly to the erosion of African cultural traditions among enslaved people in the British colonies?

  • The implementation of the Barbados Slave Code (1661) and similar legal restrictions 

  • The widespread practice of converting enslaved people to Christianity through the Great Awakening 

  • The increasing use of African laborers on large, isolated plantations in the Deep South 

  • The emergence of the domestic slave trade within the United States after 1808

Choose your answer

41 mark

"Whereas some doubts have arisen whether children got by any Englishman upon a negro woman shall be slave or free, Be it therefore enacted and declared by this present grand assembly, that all children borne in this country shall be held bond or free only according to the condition of the mother—Partus Sequitur Ventrem. And that if any Christian shall commit fornication with a negro man or woman, hee or shee soe offending shall pay double the fines imposed by the former act."

Laws of Virginia, 1662 Act XII; Latin added by William Henig, The Statutes at Large, 1819

The statute in the excerpt was most likely passed in response to which of the following colonial concerns?

  • The fear that free Black populations would disrupt the social hierarchy

  • The increasing legal challenges to the enslavement of Africans in the colonies

  • The demographic imbalance caused by the declining number of indentured servants

  • The economic need to expand the labor force for plantation agriculture

Choose your answer

51 mark

"Whereas some doubts have arisen whether children got by any Englishman upon a negro woman shall be slave or free, Be it therefore enacted and declared by this present grand assembly, that all children borne in this country shall be held bond or free only according to the condition of the mother—Partus Sequitur Ventrem. And that if any Christian shall commit fornication with a negro man or woman, hee or shee soe offending shall pay double the fines imposed by the former act."

Laws of Virginia, 1662 Act XII; Latin added by William Henig, The Statutes at Large, 1819

The law in the excerpt is most similar to which of the following historical developments? 

  • The passage of the Barbados Slave Code, which defined enslaved Africans as property

  • The legal protections granted to enslaved Africans in Florida under the Fort Mose settlement

  • The Virginia Slave Codes of 1705, which further restricted the rights of enslaved people and free Black individuals

  • The Massachusetts Body of Liberties (1641), which included the first legal reference to slavery in British North America

Choose your answer

61 mark

"Whereas some doubts have arisen whether children got by any Englishman upon a negro woman shall be slave or free, Be it therefore enacted and declared by this present grand assembly, that all children borne in this country shall be held bond or free only according to the condition of the mother—Partus Sequitur Ventrem. And that if any Christian shall commit fornication with a negro man or woman, hee or shee soe offending shall pay double the fines imposed by the former act."

Laws of Virginia, 1662 Act XII; Latin added by William Henig, The Statutes at Large, 1819

Which of the following was the most significant long-term consequence of the excerpt?

  • The establishment of legal codes restricting free Black populations in the colonies

  • The laws made it clear that slavery was a permanent and inherited status

  • The increasing reliance on enslaved African labor in the British Northern American colonies 

  • The implementation of harsher punishments for enslaved individuals who attempted to escape

Choose your answer