Revolution
During the War for Independence, the principal reason the American government sought diplomatic recognition from foreign powers was to
A.rally all the states behind a common cause
B.convince the British of the justice of the American cause
C.make it easier to levy taxes on the citizens of the several states
D. facilitate the purchase of arms and borrowing of money from other nations
D. facilitate the purchase of arms and borrowing of money from other nations
“We are reduced to the alternative of choosing an unconditional submission to the tyranny of irritated ministers, or resistance by force. . . . “We fight not for glory or for conquest. We exhibit to mankind the remarkable spectacle of a people attacked by unprovoked enemies, without any imputation or even suspicion of offense. They boast of their privileges and civilization, and yet proffer no milder conditions than servitude or death. “In our own native land, in defense of the freedom . . . , and which we ever enjoyed till the late violation of it—for the protection of our property, acquired solely by the honest industry of our forefathers and ourselves, against violence actually offered, we have taken up arms.” Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, July 1775
The issuing of the declaration in the excerpt best serves as evidence of the
A.Patriot inclusion of abolitionism as a goal of the resistance
B.desire of the majority of colonists to launch offensive attacks against the British
C.efforts of colonists to protect their rights as English subjects
D.colonial demand for complete independence from Britain
C.efforts of colonists to protect their rights as English subjects
“The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations is . . . to have with them as little political connection as possible. . . . It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.”
The quotation above is part of which of the following documents?
A.Pinckney’s Treaty of San Lorenzo
B.President Washington’s Farewell Address
C.Rush-Bagot Treaty
D.Monroe Doctrine
B.President Washington’s Farewell Address
“What do we mean by the Revolution? The war? That was no part of the Revolution; it was only an effect and consequence of it. The Revolution was in the minds of the people, and this was effected from 1760 to 1775, in the course of fifteen years, before a drop of blood was shed at Lexington.” John Adams, former president of the United States, letter to Thomas Jefferson, former president of the United States, 1815
Which of the following is the most likely reason why Adams dates the beginning of the American Revolution to the 1760s?
A.The expansion of the colonial population into the interior of the continent
B. Renewed efforts by Great Britain to consolidate imperial control over the colonies
C. Increased involvement of colonial merchants in the Atlantic economy
D. The forging of American Indian political alliances with European powers
B. Renewed efforts by Great Britain to consolidate imperial control over the colonies
The Proclamation of 1763 did which of the following?
A.Introduced a tax on tea.
B.Prohibited colonists from producing iron for the American market.
C.) Set a boundary along the crest of the Appalachians beyond which the English colonists were forbidden to settle
D.Announced the reorganization of the colonial office under Parliament, rather than directly under the King-in-Council
C.) Set a boundary along the crest of the Appalachians beyond which the English colonists were forbidden to settle
“In exercising the power of regulating their own purely internal affairs, whether of trading or police, the states may sometimes enact laws, the validity of which depends on their interfering with, and being contrary to, an act of Congress passed in pursuance of the Constitution. . . . Should this collision exist, it will be immaterial whether those laws were passed in virtue of a concurrent power to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several states, or in virtue of a power to regulate their domestic trade and police. . . . “This court is of opinion that so much of the several laws of the state of New York as prohibits vessels, licensed according to the laws of the United States, from navigating the waters of the state of New York, by means of fire or steam, is repugnant to the said Constitution and void.” United States Supreme Court, Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824
The opinion expressed in the excerpt most directly addressed which of the following concerns of the early republic?
A.The threat of sailors being impressed into foreign navies
B.The nation’s direction as a manufacturing or an agricultural republic
C.The lack of a unified monetary system and a means to collect federal taxes
D.The uncertain relationship between the national government and the states
D.The uncertain relationship between the national government and the states
“What do we mean by the Revolution? The war? That was no part of the Revolution; it was only an effect and consequence of it. The Revolution was in the minds of the people, and this was effected from 1760 to 1775, in the course of fifteen years, before a drop of blood was shed at Lexington.” John Adams, former president of the United States, letter to Thomas Jefferson, former president of the United States, 1815
1. Which of the following factors most directly contradicted Adams’ theory about the Revolution?
A. The existence of considerable Loyalist opposition to the Patriot cause
B. The existence of significant social and economic divisions within the colonies
C. The importance of colonial military victories in bringing about independence
D. The importance of support from European allies in defeating the British
(A) The existence of considerable Loyalist opposition to the Patriot cause
“Question. Are not the Colonies, from their circumstances, very able to pay the stamp duty? “Answer. In my opinion there is not gold and silver enough in the Colonies to pay the stamp duty for one year. . . . “Question. Do you think it right that America should be protected by this country and pay no part of the expense? “Answer. That is not the case. The Colonies raised, clothed, and paid, during the last war, near twenty-five thousand men, and spent many millions. . . . “Question. What was the temper [opinion or attitude] of America toward Great Britain before the year 1763 ? “Answer. The best in the world. They submitted willingly to the government of the Crown, and paid, in all their courts, obedience to acts of Parliament. . . . “Question. And what is their temper now? “Answer. Oh, very much altered. . . . “Question. Was it an opinion in America before 1763 that the Parliament had no right to lay taxes and duties there? “Answer. I never heard an objection to the right of laying duties to regulate commerce; but a right to lay internal taxes was never supposed to be in Parliament, as we are not represented there.” Benjamin Franklin, testimony before the British Parliament regarding the Stamp Act, 1766
Franklin based his argument in the excerpt on which of the following?
A. Belief in American traditions of self-rule
B.Advocacy for American independence from Britain
C.Concerns about protecting maritime trade
D.Objections to supporting the Church of England
A. Belief in American traditions of self-rule
“It was painful for me, on a subject of such national importance, to differ from the respectable members who signed the Constitution; but conceiving, as I did, that the liberties of America were not secured by the system, it was my duty to oppose it. “My principal objections to the plan are, that there is no adequate provision for a representation of the people; . . . that some of the powers of the legislature are ambiguous . . . ; that the executive is blended with, and will have an undue influence over, the legislature; that the judicial department will be oppressive; . . . and that the system is without the security of a bill of rights. These are objections which are not local, but apply equally to all the states. “As the Convention was called for the ‘sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation . . . ,’ I did not conceive that these powers extend to the formation of the plan proposed; but the Convention being of a different opinion, I acquiesced [agreed] in it, being fully convinced that, to preserve the Union, an efficient government was indispensably necessary, and that it would be difficult to make proper amendments to the Articles of Confederation. “The Constitution proposed has few, if any, federal features, but is rather a system of national government. Nevertheless, in many respects, I think it has great merit, and, by proper amendments, may be adapted. . . . “Others may suppose that the Constitution may be safely adopted, because therein provision is made to amend it. But cannot this object be better attained before a ratification than after it? And should a free people adopt a form of government under conviction that it wants [needs] amendment?” Elbridge Gerry, letter to the Massachusetts state legislature, 1787
Gerry made which of the following arguments regarding amending the Constitution?
A.A Bill of Rights should be added before ratification
B.Enslaved people should not be counted for representation.
C.The executive and legislative branches should share more power.
D.More populous states should have greater representation in Congress.
A.A Bill of Rights should be added before ratification
“We are reduced to the alternative of choosing an unconditional submission to the tyranny of irritated ministers, or resistance by force. . . . “We fight not for glory or for conquest. We exhibit to mankind the remarkable spectacle of a people attacked by unprovoked enemies, without any imputation or even suspicion of offense. They boast of their privileges and civilization, and yet proffer no milder conditions than servitude or death. “In our own native land, in defense of the freedom . . . , and which we ever enjoyed till the late violation of it—for the protection of our property, acquired solely by the honest industry of our forefathers and ourselves, against violence actually offered, we have taken up arms.” Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, July 1775
Which of the following pieces of evidence could best be used to challenge the assertion in the excerpt that British attacks on the colonists had been “unprovoked”?
A.The extension of a petition of reconciliation by members of the Second Continental Congress
B.A series of popular boycotts, mob protests, and violence against royal officials
C.Efforts by Quakers and Germans in the mid-Atlantic colonies to promote pacifism and remain neutral
D.The outbreak of skirmishes between Patriot and Loyalist forces throughout the southern colonies
B.A series of popular boycotts, mob protests, and violence against royal officials
“May it . . . please your most excellent Majesty, that it may be declared . . . in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That the said colonies and plantations in America have been, are, and of right ought to be, subordinate unto, and dependent upon the imperial crown and parliament of Great Britain; . . . and [they] of right ought to have, full power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the colonies and people of America, subjects of the crown of Great Britain, in all cases whatsoever.” The Declaratory Act, passed by the British Parliament in 1766
Which of the following contributed most directly to the enactment of the law in the excerpt?
A.The increasing divergence between colonial and British culture in the 1700s
B.The drafting of a declaration of independence for Britain’s colonies in North America
C.Debates over how Britain’s colonies should bear the cost of the Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War)
D.Conflicts between colonists and British army leaders over recognizing Native American sovereignty
C.Debates over how Britain’s colonies should bear the cost of the Seven Years’ War (French and Indian War)
“The emancipation of slaves in New England, beginning around 1780, was a gradual process, whether by post nati statute [laws freeing enslaved people born after a certain date], as in Rhode Island and Connecticut, or by effect, as in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, where ambiguous judicial decisions and constitutional interpretations discouraged slaveholding without clearly outlawing it. The gradual nature of the process encouraged Whites to transfer a language and set of practices shaped in the context of slavery to their relations with a slowly emerging population of free people of color. The rhetoric of antislavery and revolutionary republicanism fostered this transfer, undergirding Whites’ assumptions that emancipated slaves, likely to be dependent and disorderly, would constitute a problem requiring firm management in the new republic. . . . “Even more problematic was the promise implicit in antislavery rhetoric that abolition, by ending ‘the problem’—the sin of slavery and the troublesome presence of slaves—would result in the eventual absence of people of color themselves. In other words, Whites anticipated that free people of color, would, by some undefined moment (always imminent), have disappeared.” Joanne Pope Melish, historian, Disowning Slavery: Gradual Emancipation and “Race” in New England, 1780–1860, published in 1998
The author argues that emancipation in northern states occurred
A. over a long period of time
B.as a result of Supreme Court rulings
C.through amendments to state constitution
D. in response to widespread protests
A. over a long period of time
“Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course. . . . “Why forgo the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice? “It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.” President George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796
During his administration, Washington pursued the foreign policy suggested by the excerpt in part because he believed that the
A.new nation needed time to gain economic and military strength
B.Constitution prohibited the United States from making treaties
C.United States should not acquire new territory by force
D.United States should establish alliances with both France and Britain
A.new nation needed time to gain economic and military strength
“May it . . . please your most excellent Majesty, that it may be declared . . . in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That the said colonies and plantations in America have been, are, and of right ought to be, subordinate unto, and dependent upon the imperial crown and parliament of Great Britain; . . . and [they] of right ought to have, full power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the colonies and people of America, subjects of the crown of Great Britain, in all cases whatsoever.” The Declaratory Act, passed by the British Parliament in 1766
The actions described in the excerpt most immediately led to
A.Parliament strengthening its approach to generating new tax revenue in the North American colonies
B.major and sometimes violent conflicts emerging between the various colonial regions
C.a colonial convention to call for independence from Britain
D.Britain delegating greater authority to colonial assemblies
A.Parliament strengthening its approach to generating new tax revenue in the North American colonies
“The emancipation of slaves in New England, beginning around 1780, was a gradual process, whether by post nati statute [laws freeing enslaved people born after a certain date], as in Rhode Island and Connecticut, or by effect, as in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, where ambiguous judicial decisions and constitutional interpretations discouraged slaveholding without clearly outlawing it. The gradual nature of the process encouraged Whites to transfer a language and set of practices shaped in the context of slavery to their relations with a slowly emerging population of free people of color. The rhetoric of antislavery and revolutionary republicanism fostered this transfer, undergirding Whites’ assumptions that emancipated slaves, likely to be dependent and disorderly, would constitute a problem requiring firm management in the new republic. . . . “Even more problematic was the promise implicit in antislavery rhetoric that abolition, by ending ‘the problem’—the sin of slavery and the troublesome presence of slaves—would result in the eventual absence of people of color themselves. In other words, Whites anticipated that free people of color, would, by some undefined moment (always imminent), have disappeared.” Joanne Pope Melish, historian, Disowning Slavery: Gradual Emancipation and “Race” in New England, 1780–1860, published in 1998
The author claims in the excerpt that antislavery rhetoric in the late eighteenth century was based on
A. legal precedent established during the colonial period
B. religious ideals formed during the First Great Awakening
C.the concern that revolutionary conflict would spread from France to the United States
D. the belief that emancipated people would not be a presence in society
D. the belief that emancipated people would not be a presence in society