Discuss how the geopolitical competition in North America from the late 1500s to the 1770s shaped the thirteen English colonies and led to their ultimate rebellion against the mother country and their declaration of independence.

Hint: Think broadly here as you scattershoot/concept map your essay before writing. If you do not know what the term "geopolitical" means, look it up in a dictionary before you do anything else. Who are the key European powers in North America during this time period? Who are the key American Indian powers/confederacies during this time period? How do these powers interact? How does this interaction change over time? What role does geography play on this interaction? What is the impact of these international relations on social, political, and economic development in the English colonies? How does this change over time? How do imperial conflicts and concerns shape the colonies?

Note that you need not answer all of these questions in your essay, they are just questions to consider as you put forth your best answer to the prompt.

Requirements for the Midterm Essay

Must be in Rule of Three format with a introduction and strong thesis statement, 3 paragraphs of the body (each with their own thesis statement - one for each of the three key points of your overall thesis), and conclusion. So a minimum of 5 paragraphs.

This is a fact based essay, you must provide specific and detailed evidence for your hypotheses.

You must utilize a minimum of three primary sources from the assigned materials as evidence in your essay

You must utilize a minimum of three secondary sources from the assigned materials as evidence in your essay

You may only use materials assigned in this course for your essay (we have vetted all the materials utilized in this course, other materials may not be appropriate or accurate)

DO NOT quote secondary sources

You may briefly quote a primary source (a phrase or a sentence) before immediately analyzing the relevance of the quote - a quote cannot stand alone as explanation or evidence

You must consider change over time in this essay

You must consider geography in this essay (where something takes place matters)

You must use Turabian citation style in this essay; all citations must be footnote style citations (no parenthetical cites allowed, no endnotes/works cited at the end, you need footnotes). Be sure to review how to properly cite a primary source that may be contained in another work and be sure to use page numbers where possible.
12 pt type, 1 inch margins, double-spaced

How the Assignment is Graded

The assignment is worth up to 50 points. The following factors are taken into account when we grade:

RULE OF THREE THESES - Do you have a well thought out and clear overall thesis in your introduction? Do you have a thesis statement for each of your three paragraphs of the body? Do the paragraphs of the body follow the overall thesis statement?

EVIDENCE - You must have solid evidence for each point you raise in the thesis. Evidence is not simply a statement, there must be an explanation of how that evidence supports the thesis statement.