When the Mayflower left Plymouth, England, in September 1620 on its historic journey to the New World, three of its 102 passengers were pregnant. ²The fates of the three pregnant women and their children illustrate the fears that early American women facing childbirth must have held for themselves as well as for their children's survival. ³One of the passengers, Elizabeth Hopkins, gave birth at sea to a baby boy she named Oceanus. ⁴Oceanus Hopkins died during the Pilgrims' first winter in Plymouth. ⁵Two weeks after Oceanus's birth, Mayflower passenger Susanna White bore her son, Peregrine, who lived into his eighties. ⁶The spring after the Mayflower arrived in Plymouth, passenger Mary Norris Allerton died giving birth to a stillborn baby.

⁷During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, nearly one and one-half percent of all births resulted in the death of the mother from exhaustion, infection, dehydration, or hemorrhage. ⁸Since the typical mother gave birth to between five and eight children in her lifetime, her chances of dying in childbirth ran as high as one in eight. ⁹Even when the mother survived childbirth, she had reason to be anxious about the fate of her child. ¹⁰In even the healthiest seventeenth-century communities, one in ten children died before the age of 5. ¹¹Less healthy settlements saw three out of ten children dying in their early years.

1. According to the author, the experience of the three pregnant Mayflower passengers and their babies

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is similar to the experience of today's women and infants.

demonstrated how safe ocean travel was in that era.

was very unusual for that time period.

was typical for that time period.

Flag question: Question 11Question 111 pts

2. During the seventeenth century, childbirth in America was

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rare.

dangerous.

easy.

avoided.

Flag question: Question 12Question 121 pts

3. According to the passage, early childhood in colonial America was a time of great

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learning.

health risk.

hope.

exhaustion.

Flag question: Question 13Question 131 pts

4. The first paragraph

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discusses the similarities between three pregnant travelers and their children.

discusses a series of causes.

narrates the events of the Mayflower's journey.

lists the fates of three early American pregnant women and their children.

Flag question: Question 14Question 141 pts

5. This passage is made up mainly of

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opinions.

facts.

Flag question: Question 15Question 151 pts

6. From this passage, you could infer that

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all settlements were equally unhealthy.

antibiotics to control infection were not available in seventeenth-century America.

early American families tended to be smaller than they are now.

Flag question: Question 16Question 161 pts

7. From the passage, you can conclude that in seventeenth-century America

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mothers were likely to have at least one child die by the age of five.

women experienced frequent pregnancies.

it was not unusual for men to become widowers (wife has died).

all of these.

Flag question: Question 17Question 171 pts

8. The author's primary purpose in the passage is to

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inform.

question.

entertain.

praise.

Flag question: Question 18Question 181 pts

9. The author's attitude toward the facts is

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fearful.

objective.

shocked.

sorrowful.

Flag question: Question 19Question 191 pts

10. Which sentence best expresses the central point of the passage?

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Traveling on the Mayflower was dangerous for pregnant women and their babies.

Women's health suffered greatly in colonial America.

There were great health dangers involved with childbirth and childhood in early America.

In the early American colonies, infant mortality was great.