Midterm Exam Questions

Free Response Essay Number 3

Outline

I. The New world that was presented to Europe was not only a source of prosperity and wealth, but also had severe negative effects, even toppling nations.

II. Spain was a huge player in the new world.

a. Spain committed itself to exploring new world

b. They became a major factor amongst the land

c. They led conquests on the native people

d. These conquests led to them obtaining many resources, specifically gross amounts of gold

e. This new gold overflowed their economy, lowering its cost

f. This led to the collapse of their economy

III. The New world needed workers

a. The Europeans began to send slaves into the Americas for work

b. This led to many new people arriving in the Americas

c. The new world then became more powerful

d. The more powerful the new world, the more the Europeans received

IV. European nations all wanted the new land

a. This led to disputes over who owned the land

b. This was already an area prone to conflict

Essay

During the sixteenth and early seventeenth century, a vast new world of opportunity was assimilated into the modern world of Europe. This allowed for more trade, more resources, and more conquest for European states to involve themselves in. However, this large increase in resources did not only aid some nations, but also toppled others.

During these years, many explorers were set out to exploit this new land, many of which were Spanish explorers. This led to a large amount of this new land falling under Spain’s jurisdiction, with an influx of resources to come along with it. Spain devoted much of its time to the new world, believing that it would only better them, not realizing the consequences of their actions. Spain eventually toppled the major powers of the new world, becoming the dominant force in many areas. Once Spain had begun to pull in their plunders from the conquests, a gross amount of gold came into their possession. This gold, a once rare and precious material, had now become much more common, drastically lowering its price. This huge shake-up in price of gold shocked Spain, and eventually led to a collapse of their economy.

Spain was not the only nation of interest during these times, with many others becoming more involved in the new world, changing the face of European and global trade. The new world required workers to continue its now flourishing economy, which benefitted the European countries. The Europeans then began the slave trade, as it is known today, shipping Africans who were sold into slavery to the Americas. This led to the Americas becoming more powerful, which came into play later in history. At the time, the more power that the new world obtained, the more Europe was able to benefit, whether through goods, or food, or trade. Europe was now becoming a more colonialism-centered power, with the influx of new areas that they could overcome, and reap their goods.

With these new areas that were under no control at the time, many European countries rushed to the scene to be the first the claim the land. This led to quarrels between nations fighting over who owned what land, or who got their first. This created tension between the nations, in an already unstable area prone to conflict. Eventually, the nations began to settle, but not always peacefully. The Church was also brought in to settle the dispute, creating the Treaty of Tordesillas to settle the dispute.

The sixteenth century was an eventful time for European exploration, opening up a vast new world for them to explore. This created a new level to the economies of European, having a large effect. This effect, however, was not only a positive one, while it did bolster some economies, it also led to the demise of others.

Free Response Essay Number 2

Outline

I. The rise of witchcraft persecution in the 16^th and 17^th century can be accredited to the Catholic Church’s involvement and the times view on women, and its decline can be credited to the Reformation and the movement away from the Catholic Church

II. Witchcraft persecutions experienced an increase in this time

a. The Catholic Church tried to link witchcraft and Satanism together

b. They did this, and encouraged persecution of the witches.

c. Women were also more highly persecuted

d. They believed them to be weaker than man, and more susceptible to corruption

III. Witchcraft persecutions now began to decline

a. The Reformation came about

b. This encouraged thinking about faith, rather than blindly following it

c. People realized they did not need to kill witches

d. The people also wanted to move away from the Catholic Church

e. They did not want to do the persecutions, which were viewed as Catholic inspired events.

Essay

Witchcraft is today seen as a myth, but during the sixteenth and seventeenth century in England, it was widely practiced and also persecuted. This led to much controversy, death, and demise throughout Europe, not all justified. The time that these persecutions rose can be credited to the Catholic Church’s involvement and its condescending view on women, and its decline that came soon after can be attributed to the Reformation and a desire to move away from the Catholic Church.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth century, witchcraft was commonly practiced and also not too outlandish for the times. However, the Catholic Church viewed it as a serious issue, and one the wanted to do away with. The Catholic Church put much effort into linking witchcraft with Satan, and Satan worship, condemning the act and trying to unite the people against witchcraft. This allowed the Church to justify their persecution of the witches without being viewed as corrupt or evil. The Church did not want its people to believe in witchcraft, because it believed that it was contrary to their faith. This would lead to people going against the church, something that they wanted to avoid. Another key aspect of why this rise occurred in witchcraft persecution was the view on women. Women were believed to be the weaker sex, and more susceptible to Satan, which led to many more women being persecuted than men.

With the rise in persecution of witchcraft, eventually their must be a decline, and there was. This decline can be accredited to the Reformation and its intellectuality and effect on people. The Reformation encouraged people to not blindly follow their faith, but rather think about what they are doing. This resulted in seeing the error in their ways of blindly killing innocents for their belief that they were devil worshippers, without any logical proof available. This new view on religion was not the only reason for decline of persecution in this time, the people also wanted to move away from the Catholic Church and its practices. The persecution of witches was believed to be strictly a Catholic idea, and once the people no longer wished to be associated with the Church, they decided to cease what they were doing. With this occurrence, their became a stoppage of persecution and less involvement in witchcraft.

In today’s world, witchcraft may be written off as a fool’s idea, but in these times it was a very serious practice and involvement. This involvement led to much death and turmoil, a dark time for Europe. These persecutions rose in number due to the fact that Catholic Church encouraged said persecutions and the negligible view on women, and decreased because of the Reformation and separation from the Catholic Church.

DBQ

Outline

I. I. Pilgrimage of Grace

a. This was the English people wanting to have England return to Catholicism

II. These people wanted King Henry VIII to revert his religious changes

a. They thought that England was better religious

b. They wanted to be able to practice their faith

III. Henry had followers on his side also, but still those against him.

a. Thomas Cromwell was with Henry

b. People like Henry, not Thomas Cromwell

c. Henry weakened Parliament

d. Henry did not change England back

IV. This shows how King Henry was a corrupt and absolute ruler

a. Henry wanted power

b. He did what he needed to get power

c. Henry eventually pardoned the protestors.

Essay

The Pilgrimage of Grace was a protest by the English people against King Henry VIII’s movement away from the Catholic Church and creation of the Anglican Church. This resulted in many punishments for Catholics, including land removal, arrests, confiscations, and much more. The Pilgrimage was done to show the resentment for King Henry and their desire to return to their old ways. However, this did not work to revert England, and did not help their cause. This event illustrates how King Henry VIII was able to keep power whilst also being an absolute, corrupt ruler, and how he showed no sympathy for those below him, even allowing them to be assaulted by enemies (Doc. 2).

The Pilgrimage was a protest centered in the middle of the British Isles, consisting of various people of different backgrounds all uniting to prove their point: to bring Catholicism back. These people did this march not to gain for them, but for God (Doc. 1). These people were doing this because they simply believed in their faith and faith alone. These people also want the times again where they could seek refuge in the church, having a home for those needing it, food for the hungry (Doc. 11). They believed that the best England was a united, Catholic England. These people were heavily involved in the cause, singing in the streets their songs about the new England (Doc. 4). With those who were involved in the movement, many of the followers seem to be commoners, people without high standing positions, but still petitioned for what they desired (Doc. 10). It was said that the commoners believed that what they were doing was treason, and that they could be punished for such actions (Doc. 8). If these people were aware of these consequences, their numbers may have vastly decreased.

Now, with these opponents to Henry’s rule, there were also those who favored his rule. Out of Henry’s supporters, most notably, was Thomas Cromwell. He believed that England should stay how it is, because not all men can rule, only few, and the people must accept that (Doc. 7). Henry was not always viewed as the enemy to the protesters, some praising him. Many of the protesters called for the heads of Henry’s followers, such as Cromwell, Wycilffe, and others (Doc. 5). During these changes, Henry had also diluted the affect of Parliament on England, “little more than a council of the King’s appointees.” (Doc. 6). The former Parliament members wanted power to return to the people, where they believed it truly belonged, but Henry would not willingly give up so much power. This stubbornness eventually was proven to stay true, without the change in religion requested by the protestors.

During this entire event, Henry VIII was able to keep his grip on England. If he wanted to change the religion of England, he could, if he wanted to divorce his wife, he could. Henry was a power hungry man who was solely interested in his own well being. If there was a force in Henry’s way, restricting his power, he would do whatever it takes to demolish it. This pilgrimage was not seen as a large problem to Henry, who even granted that the rebels would be cleared of their charges of treason if they renounced their ways, and submitted to his rule (Doc. 9). This illustrates the ego-centric views that Henry possessed, simply offering their charges to be dropped if they submitted to him, strengthening his power, which is all Henry wanted to begin with, power. Henry dissolved the only political force blocking his power, parliament, and was still able to keep his nation afloat.

The Pilgrimage of Grace was a movement that eventually did prove to fail to revert England to its Catholic ways. This movement was spearheaded by the commoners who were the bulk of the protestors. They believed that they could sway King Henry’s mind, but were proven wrong. This protest helps to illustrate how even though King Henry was subject to his people revolting against him, he was still able to keep his power, and remain an absolute ruler of England.

DBQ Essay - January 14, 2011

In the sixteenth and seventeenth century, the sciences were under heavy constraint from social factors, political factors, and religious factors. This time is known for its magnificent scientific minds that were present, but where restricted to what they could have achieved based on current laws of the time, even having to ask permission to further their research at times (Doc. 1). If these scientists were present in the current day and age, without the restrictions of their time, they would have been able to achieve so much more, and have had an even greater impact on the world.

During these times in Europe, many restrictions were on the sciences and what could and what could not be researched, done, or experimented upon. Many of these restrictions originated from the Church and their influence upon the world. The Church had very specified, and firm beliefs in varying aspects of science, including species origination, astronomy, and much more. At the same time, the Church was also a key player in the politics and power of Europe, which in turn allowed them to set guidelines to scientists across their reign, restricting numerous people. Many people disagreed with the Church's ideas, and pleaded with them to open up their eyes, but they did not (Doc. 2). If the Church had not obtained such power and control, such as in todays world, then they would not have been able to stop these scientific advancements and research as they did so effectively. Granted, the Church is still a major player in the complex global political scheme of today, it no longer is able to constrict scientific minds as it once could.

One of the most commonly mentioned European astronomers, among other professions, was Galileo Galilee. Galileo was a man who thoroughly researched a heliocentric world, which was at constant conflict with the current times beliefs. At this time, the Church believed that the Earth was at the center of the universe, with the sun and other entities rotating around it. This was a firm belief of the church, one which they were not lenient with, and wanted Galileo to abide to (Doc. 3) The Church was a strong figure in Galileo's time, tightly linked with many powerful leaders and countries. If the Church's ideas where questioned, then the people would begin to question other aspects of them, resulting in a loss of power that they would not allow. All of these powerful people were interested in what Galileo was doing, and what he discovered, and encouraged it, as long as it did not hinder their power (Doc. 7). Now, back to the present, their are still laws restricting certain fields of science, but they are much less controlling, allowing for more work to be done by scientific minds. Galileo could not research his ideas on astronomy as much as he wished, due to the fact that he was given barriers that he could not fully overcome. If he was present in the scientific world of today, he would have been able to further his scientific mind so much further, only benefiting the world with his ideas.

Galileo was not the only scientist who was restricted by his time, nor the last. A large group of scientific minds that were available in this time were all excluded, because they were women. In this time women were effectively second hand citizens, and were not able to participate in the scientific field. These men simply disregarded the entire female gender (Doc. 9) It was socially acceptable in this time to leave women out of nearly all things that were considered "man's work", which included the sciences. In today's world, women are accepted in most modern societies as equals, but not entirely. However, today they have the potential to participate and cooperate to better this world with their scientific minds that were once repressed in the past due to conflicting powers, or religious ideals. If all humankind were able to accept one another, and work together bettering the world, they could achieve so much more (Doc. 6)

It has been shown that many factors had affected scientists in the sixteenth and seventeenth century, including political, religious, and social factors. These people were at constant disadvantages due to the beliefs at the time of what is right and what is wrong, and the blindness to what needed to be changed in the world. If these scientists had not been bound to these laws and beliefs of the time, their potential to invent, research, and discover would have grossly increased, bettering the world through it.

Practice Free Response Essay - Day 1

2. Analyze the various Protestant views of the relationship between church and state in
the period circa 1500–1700.

Protestantism was a faith that came about due to a man named Martin Luther. Luther was a Catholic monk who disagreed with Church ideas, and stated his ideas throughly to the Church. Without Martin Luther, not only would the world of today lack one major religious denomination, but it's view and handling of religion would be entirely different.

In the times of Luther's life, the Catholic Church was constantly involved in many affairs, some that today may be seen as obscene for a religious organization to be involved in. Simply put, the Catholic Church and its leaders were corrupt, even selling condolences, which were what they viewed as a monetary exchange, in return for forgiving sins. and it seemed like that would not change. Luther was a firsthand witness to this, and believed that this should change, and soon thereafter came out with his 95 Thesis. In this thesis, Luther effectively disagreed with the three key teachings of the Catholic Church: Salvation by faith alone, that the bible was the only source of Church authority, and most importantly, a change, or demolition, to the Church hierarchy. With this radical change, eventually a new church denomination was formed, Protestantism. In this church, their would be no hierarchy of Bishops, or Popes, or priests, but instead equal people. This obviously was a problem with the Catholic Church, as many high ranking officials were involved, effectively playing a major part in world politics. If Luther's laws were followed, the Church would lose all of this power, which they would not give up. This led to quarrel between the two, with the Church wanting Luther to adhere to there laws, and vice versa.

Protestantism eventually began to popularize, especially with the middle-class people, who viewed is as a way to live with more freedom. Protestantism allowed a more "common people" friendly religion, giving them more power and free will. It opened their eyes to the corruption of many who were involved in the Catholic Church, which again the Church did not want people to know. Through Martin Luther, the common people also were able to more throughly understand the teachings of the bible, and point out the areas that were not in the bible, that he did not believe to be true. The Church had began to adapt practices that were not in scripture, yet they believed to be important to their religion, such as the condolences.

This new religion eventually began to stir a movement that the Church did not have to be involved with the state, and that they could function separately, without a church hierarchy. This obviously created problems, with people wanting this separation, and others desperately trying to keep hold of their power. They wanted to rid themselves of this believed holy people, that were proven to be corrupt and problematic. This eventually led the Catholic Church to change some of their ways even, not entirely, but to fix some of the flaws that were seen within their faith.

Protestantism is to this day a commonly practiced religion in parts of the world, all due to one mans's movement against the Church. This movement helped to spark a new wave of ideas and views on the way not only religion worked, but also government and politics. If Martin Luther had never been so bold, be would have never changed the world to the way it is today.

Practice Theses

Analyze the ways in which European monarchs used both the arts and the sciences to
enhance state power in the period circa 1500–1800.

European monarchs had much control of the arts and the sciences, and exploited this power to turn it in favor of themselves, by constricting what could and could not be created, what could be told or not told, not based on the validity or the beauty of the work, but rather on how it would effect their power and reign.