🇺🇸AP US History Review
Unit 2 SAQ (The Colonies)
Unit 2 SAQ (The Colonies)
Unit & Topic Study Guides
Unit 1 – Interactions North America, 1491–1607
Unit 2 – Colonial Society, 1607–1754
Unit 3 – Conflict and American Independence, 1754–1800
Unit 4 – American Expansion, 1800–1848
Unit 5 – Civil War and Reconstruction, 1848–1877
Unit 6 – Industrialization and the Gilded Age, 1865–1898
Unit 7 – Conflict in the Early 20th Century, 1890–1945
Unit 8 – The Postwar Period and Cold War, 1945–1980
Unit 9 – Entering Into the 21st Century, 1980–Present
AP US History Exam
Historical Thinking Skills
AMSCO Notes
Subject Guides
Thematic Guides
Exam Skills
Previous Exam Prep
The DBQ
Frequently Asked Questions
AP US History Short-Answer Question on The Colonies
👋 Welcome to the APUSH Unit 2 SAQ (The Colonies). These are shorter questions, but you'll still want to grab some paper and a pencil, or open up a blank page on your computer. After you finish, you can see how you did with Unit 2 SAQ (The Colonies) Answers.
⏱ The AP US History exam has a mixture of free-response questions and allotted times. For these types of questions, there will be 3 SAQs, and you will be given 40 minutes to complete the SAQ section. (This means you should give yourself ~13 minutes to go through each practice SAQ.)
- 🤔 Need a quick refresher of the unit as a whole? Check out the Unit 2 Overview.
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- 😩 Getting stumped halfway through answering? Look through all of the available Unit 2 Resources.

Questions
Confine your response to the period 1607 to 1754.
(a) Briefly describe the difference between the development of society in New England (such as Massachusetts Bay) and that of the southern colonies (such as Virginia or the Carolinas).
(b) Briefly describe ONE specific historical similarity between the development of societies in New England and those of the southern colonies.
(c) Briefly explain one specific reason for the differences in the development of societies in the New England and the southern colonies.
Answers & Rubric
💯 Ready to see how you did? Take a look at the Unit 2 SAQ (The Colonies) Answers.