Download 5 toward the war for american independence

5
TOWARD THE WAR FOR AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE
REVIEW AND TEST QUESTIONS
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. All of the following account for the global population explosion of the later 1700s EXCEPT:
a. especially large increases in China and the Middle East.
b. healthier diets, thanks to new foods from the Americas.
c. a more favorable climate for agriculture, at least in Europe.
d. increased resistance worldwide to European and African diseases.
(pp. 139-140)
2. By the later 1700s, it was evident that expansionary Greater Europe was extending its control over both the
Americas and eastern Asia. Both wings of this outward surge—in North America as well as on the Eurasian
steppes and Siberian watersheds—depended on:
a. the ideology of liberty.
b. the Christian religion.
c. forced labor.
d. technological superiority.
(pp. 139-141)
3. The chapter introduction tells the story of two different public actions in Boston, a dozen years apart, to make the
point that:
a. while the colonials liked being British, imperial leaders wouldn’t let them be such, so they learned
instead a new and independent identity as Americans.
b. there was a small cadre of revolutionary leaders in Boston who systematically worked for a decade to
undermine British authority; their efforts won support throughout the colonies by 1775.
c. Boston, the hotbed of revolt, was actually not at all representative of other areas in America, which
would join in the rebellion against England only with great reluctance.
d. the Seven Years’ War in the 1760s laid the economic and ideological basis for the Revolutionary War in
the 1770s, even though Americans didn’t realize it at the time.
(pp. 144-145)
4. The Treaty of Paris (1763) gave Britain title to:
a. all French claims west of the Mississippi, and Spanish Florida.
b. all French claims east of the Mississippi, and Spanish Florida.
c. all French claims east of the Mississippi, New Orleans, and the French sugar islands of the West Indies.
d. all French claims in North America.
(pp. 146-147)
5. Whose defeat near the forks of the Ohio River started the Seven Years’ War?
a. George Washington
b. George Grenville
c. James Wolfe
d. the Iroquois
(p. 145)
6. Whose defeat at Quebec effectively ended the Seven Years’ War on the continent of North America?
a. the Spanish Navy
b. the marquis of Montcalm
c. James Wolfe
d. the Iroquois
(pp. 146-147)
Chapter 5: Toward the War for American Independence
7. William Pitt:
a. was the organizer of British victory in the Seven Years’ War.
b. was relatively sympathetic to the American protests during the years after the Seven Years’ War.
c. all of the above.
d. none of the above.
(pp. 146-147)
8. At the end of the Seven Years’ War, the Americans _________, while the British _________.
a. were suffering from war-induced economic hard times; were saddled with a great war debt
b. were proud to be British; were comparably proud of their fellow Englishmen in America
c. sought to keep British troops to protect them from the Indians; thought the Americans should settle and
defend the Ohio country on their own
d. celebrated their contributions to victory; voiced contempt for American soldiering and suspicions
of American self-interest
(pp. 147-148)
9. Among the consequences of the Seven Years’ War that led to the rift between the colonies and England, all are
correctly stated EXCEPT:
a. The French and Indian threats were removed, so the British government felt they had no need to
keep troops in the colonies.
b. The British government was deeply in debt.
c. British imperial officials, with a greatly expanded empire to run, were determined to centralize and
extend British rule over the colonies.
d. Both the Americans and the British came out of the war unhappy with the way the other had behaved.
(pp. 148-149)
10. Who organized a combined uprising of the Western tribes in the aftermath of the French defeat?
a. French fur traders who remained in the area
b. the Iroquois
c. Pontiac
d. Cadillac
(p. 149)
11. After the Seven Years’ War, Britain kept several thousand troops in the colonies for all of the following reasons
EXCEPT:
a. to enforce the Proclamation of 1763 by providing protection to colonials settling west of the
Appalachians.
b. to ensure the submission of French Canadians and Spanish Floridians.
c. to monitor relations between Indians and colonials.
d. to encourage American acceptance of Grenville’s new measures.
(pp. 148-151)
12. What was the basic British policy after 1763?
a. to defeat the French
b. to centralize their empire
c. to deprive Americans of their liberties
d. to conspire to seize political power and influence
(pp. 151-152)
13. British “new measures” after the end of the Seven Years’ War included all EXCEPT:
a. a new, lowered tax—more effectively enforced—on imports of foreign molasses.
b. a new, higher tax—more effectively enforced—on imports of British goods like glass and tea.
c. a tax—never effectively enforced—on official documents and legal transactions.
d. a ban on American settlement west of the Appalachians.
(pp. 151-152)
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Chapter 5: Toward the War for American Independence
14. Americans insisted that they be taxed by their own assemblies because they held to John Locke’s dictum:
a. That government governs best which governs least.
b. All men are created equal.
c. Property guarantees liberty.
d. No taxation without representation.
(p. 152)
15. In resisting the Stamp Act, Americans affirmed all of the following, EXCEPT:
a. their general mistrust of power.
b. their particular right to trial by jury.
c. their belief in virtual representation.
d. their belief in taxation only by their elected representatives.
(p. 152)
16. The writers of the English “Opposition” or “Country Party” believed all EXCEPT:
a. that humans were driven by passion rather than principle.
b. that politicians would become corrupt, conspiring against liberty to enhance their own power.
c. that Parliament needed to be controlled by the monarchs and their ministers, because politicians
could not be trusted.
d. that history shows that power overwhelms liberty.
(pp. 152-153)
17. After 1768, the presence of freedom fighters in many European countries had which of the following effects
upon resistance groups in America?
a. they felt increasingly isolated
b. they increasingly thought of themselves as part of a transatlantic network of the friends of liberty
c. they increasingly backed down to British pressure
d. none of the above
(p.157)
18. The Sons of Liberty, emerging in the Stamp Act protest, drew their members from the ranks of:
a. the elite members of the assemblies.
b. traders, lawyers, prosperous artisans, and others of the middling sort.
c. the poorer sort in the seaport towns.
d. any male descendant of a veteran of the Seven Years’ War, regardless of social class.
(p. 154)
19. In the Declaratory Act, Parliament:
a. asserted its authority to levy direct taxes on the colonies.
b. relinquished its authority to levy direct taxes on the colonies.
c. limited its authority in America to the regulation of trade.
d. left unclear the extent of its authority in America.
(p. 155)
20. What was new in American resistance to the Townshend duties?
a. nonimportation of British goods
b. institutionalized mechanisms for enforcing nonimportation
c. an intercolonial congress
d. a formal statement of American constitutional arguments
(p. 155-157)
21. Parliament repealed all of the Townshend Duties EXCEPT the tax on tea:
a. because British businesses suffered from reduced American consumption of British imports.
b. because American producers of raw materials suffered from lower prices on the world market.
c. because of rioting in America that prevented collection of the duties.
d. because Parliament decided temporarily to yield to American views.
(p. 160)
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Chapter 5: Toward the War for American Independence
22. The Tea Act of 1774:
a. raised the price of tea that Americans imported from Britain.
b. gave the East India company a monopoly on the American tea trade.
c. prohibited the consumption of tea in Massachusetts.
d. cracked down on illegal smuggling of tea in the colonies.
(p. 161)
23. After a lull following the repeal of the Townshend duties, what British initiative revived resistance?
a. a tax on tea
b. an act giving the East India Company a monopoly on supplying tea to the colonies
c. a cluster of acts designed to punish Massachusetts and intimidate the other colonies
d. sending soldiers out into the Massachusetts countryside to crush the resistance
(pp. 161-162)
24. Colonial street protests adapted older symbols of public protest against _________ to the new protests against
_________.
a. Catholics; British officials
b. the Church of England; the government of England
c. the French; the British
d. the British Parliament; the British King
(pp. 158-159)
25. Pope’s Day in colonial Boston was:
a. a celebration of the birthday of the English poet Alexander Pope.
b. a popular celebration of the birthday of the Roman Catholic Pope.
c. a popular celebration of the birthday of Guy Fawkes.
d. a popular celebration of anti-Catholic sentiment.
(pp. 158-159)
26. When they learned of the Coercive Acts of 1774, many Americans concluded that a plot to enslave the colonies
was being implemented by:
a. the King’s ministers, but not Parliament or George III.
b. Parliament, but not the King’s ministers or George III.
c. George III, but not the King’s ministers or Parliament.
d. the King’s ministers and Parliament, but not George III.
(pp. 161-162)
27. History, colonials believed, proved liberty could be lost to the designs of corrupt politicians through a succession
of “usurpations” including all EXCEPT:
a. fighting wars that would require new taxes.
b. maintaining a standing army in peacetime.
c. buying, through patronage, the support of worthless men with no moral fiber.
d. denying the opportunity for ordinary folk to strive for the luxuries and comforts enjoyed by the
better sort.
(pp. 162-163)
28. The First Continental Congress, in late 1774:
a. renounced American allegiance to George III, and established a Continental Army.
b. denied Parliament’s right to tax and legislate for the colonies (while acknowledging its authority to
regulate their trade), and set up a trade boycott.
c. denied that Parliament had any authority at all in America, but took a collective oath of allegiance
reaffirming loyalty to George III.
d. denied that Parliament or George III had any authority in America, and urged colonial legislatures to
seize power from crown officials.
(pp. 163-165)
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Chapter 5: Toward the War for American Independence
29. A year before the Declaration of Independence, during early 1775, the colonies were beginning to seize
authority. Examples included all EXCEPT:
a. The Association functioned effectively.
b. Some citizens took the court system into their own hands.
c. Provincial congresses were emerging as virtual revolutionary governments.
d. Many colonial leaders increasingly issued explicit calls for full independence.
(p. 165)
30. In Common Sense, Thomas Paine argues all EXCEPT:
a. Parliament had deliberately and wickedly brought about all of America’s misfortunes.
b. Britain had dealt with the colonies out of self-interest rather than affection.
c. monarchy was a foolish and dangerous form of government.
d. nature had destined America for independence.
(p. 167)
Terms and Concepts
Seven Years’ War
Proclamation of 1763
Stamp Act
Pontiac’s Rebellion
standing army
virtual representation
Townshend Acts
Boston Massacre
nonimportation
Tea Act
Coercive Acts
First Continental Congress
Continental Association
Common Sense
Treaty of Paris, 1763
Sugar Act or Revenue Act
the “Opposition”
Quartering Act
Declaratory Act
actual representation
Pope’s Day
Liberty riot
Gaspee Commission
Boston Tea Party
Cato’s Letters
Battle of Lexington and Concord
committees of correspondence
Individuals and Places
Edward Braddock
James Wolfe
George Grenville
Sons of Liberty
George III
Thomas Gage
Joseph Galloway
Marquis de Montcalm
John Locke
Patrick Henry
John Dickinson
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Thomas Paine
CONCEPT QUESTIONS:
According to lecture, define the nature of the aristocracy in America. Compare and contrast the American to the
English aristocracy. What political and social changes did the American Revolution have on the aristocracy in
America?
1.
Why did many Americans interpret Britain’s attempt to centralize its colonial empire as a sinister conspiracy to
enslave colonials by depriving them of property and liberty?
2.
SELECT the three best reasons for why the American Revolution occurred. Be sure to illustrate your reasons
with events that prove your conclusions. (THEN COMPARE YOUR REASONS TO EXCERPTS FROM
THOMAS PAINE’S COMMON SENSE). Do you agree with Paine based on your selection, why or why not?
Justify your answer.
3.
Was the dispute over taxation and representation a noble appeal to the principles of freedom, or merely an issue
of the pocketbook? Discuss the motivations of the revolutionaries.
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Chapter 5: Toward the War for American Independence
4.
Samuel Adams remarked, “We cannot make events. Our business is wisely to improve them.” What did Adams
mean? Use the quotation to write an essay describing what some of the events were and, more specifically, the
techniques Adams and others used to “improve” them.
5.
What was impressive and significant about the ideas put forth by Thomas Paine in Common Sense?
6.
According to lecture, define the nature of the aristocracy in America. Compare and contrast the American to
the English aristocracy. What political and social changes did the American Revolution have on the aristocracy
in America?
PRIMARY SOURCE: THOMAS PAINE ARGUES FOR
AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE*
The following excerpt from the text of Common Sense contains some of the modes of reasoning and the rhetorical
strategies that made Paine such a successful propagandist for the cause of American independence.
But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then more shame upon her conduct. Even brutes do not devour
their young, nor savages make war upon their families; wherefore the assertion, if true, turns to her
reproach; but it happens not to be true, or only partly so, and the phrase parent or mother country hath been
jesuitically adopted by the—and his parasites, with the low papistical design of gaining an unfair bias on the
credulous weakness of our minds. Europe, and not England, is the parent country of America. This new
world hath been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from every part of Europe.
Hither have they fled, not from the tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the monster; and it
is so far true of England, that the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home, pursues their
descendants still....Not one-third of the inhabitants, even of this province [Pennsylvania], are of English
descent. Wherefore I reprobate the phrase of parent or mother country applied to England only, as being
false, selfish, narrow and ungenerous.
*
*
*
*
Europe is too thickly planted with kingdoms to be long at peace? and whenever a war breaks out between
England and any foreign power, the trade of America goes to ruin because of her connection with Britain.
The next war may not turn out like the last, and should it not, the advocates for reconciliation now will be
wishing for separation then, because, neutrality in that case, would be a safer convoy than a man of war.
Every thing that is right or natural pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature
cries, ‘TIS TIME TO PART. Even the distance at which the Almighty hath placed England and America is
strong natural proof, that the authority of the one, over the other, was never the design of Heaven. The time
likewise at which the continent was discovered, adds weight to the argument, and the manner in which it
was peopled encreases the force of it. The reformation was preceded by the discovery of America, as if the
Almighty graciously meant to open a sanctuary to the persecuted in future years, when home should afford
neither friendship nor safety.
Questions
1.
When Paine observes that “Even brutes do not devour their young,” and “The blood of the skein. . . cries, ‘TIS
TIME TO PART,” to what events is he alluding?
2.
What does Paine mean by his warning that “The next war may not turn out like the last,” in which event the
friends of reconciliation will wish for separation from Britain?
3.
Paine evokes a colonial past in which America figured as an “asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and
religious liberty from every part of Europe.” Is his an accurate depiction of early American history? If not, then
why does Paine portray the colonial period in those terms?
4.
Paine wrote Common Sense to appeal to a wide range of Americans. Explain which specific groups of
Americans (classes, ethnic groups, religious groups) might have responded positively to certain arguments in
the excerpt above.
5.
Why does Paine devote so much attention to arguing that England is not the “parent” country of America? What
was he trying to accomplish by criticizing the use of familial metaphors to describe the tie between Britain and
the colonies?
*
From Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776).
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