APUSH

The Road to Revolution 1763-1775

Chapter 7 Homework Questions from Pageant

Thought Provokers- Complete the questions & be prepared to discuss them in class

Big Question: What was the Revolutionary movement really all about? The amount of taxation? The right of parliament to tax? The political corruption of Britain & the virtue of America? Was the Revolution truly a radical overturning of government & society—the usual definition of a “revolution”? Should we view it as a radical break with the past or a conservative attempt to simply safeguard British liberties? Could use PERSIA to help in analyzing this question

  1. Describe the major British efforts to impose taxes and tighten control of the colonies. Why did Britain attempt to impose tighter control after 1763?
  2. Who started the independence movement in the colonies- rich? Poor? Who else got involved and what were the main arguments for independence?
  3. How did the colonists start to unite against perceived and real constraints on their economic activities and political rights?
  4. What were methods of colonial resistance that forced the repeal of all taxes except the tax on tea? Were all American grievances justified or were the British actually more reasonable than most Americans have traditionally believed?
  5. Describe the theory & practice of mercantilism & why Americans resented it.
  6. Explain how sustained agitation & resistance to the tea tax led to the Intolerable Acts & the outbreak of war.
  7. Assess the balance of forces between the British and the American rebels as the two sides prepared for war. (T-chart? Advantages & disadvantages both sides) Which side would a neutral observer have expected to win- Britain or the colonies? Why?
  8. Was the American Revolution inevitable? Could America have gradually & peacefully developed independence within the British Commonwealth (as Canada did) rather than engaging in a violent revolt?

Key Terms & People

republicanismJohn Hancock

radical WhigsCharles Townshend

nonimportation agreementsSam Adams (more than just the beer guy!)

Sons of LibertyCommittees of correspondence

First Continental Congress

LexingtonConcord

FYI- For Your Information- Past A.P. Essay Questions from this area of study (You never are required to answer these, but if you do put together a brief response or a quick outline as to how you would answer these, you will have created a big study tool for yourself by the end of the course + I will consider your responses for extra credit)

  1. Although the 13 American colonies were founded at different times by people with different motives and with different forms of colonial charters and political charters and organizations, by the Revolution the 13 colonies had become remarkably similar. Assess the validity of this statement. (1978)
  1. The American Revolution should really be called “the British Revolution” because marked changes in British colonial policy were more responsible for the final political division than were American actions. Assess the validity of this statement for the period 1763-1776. (1982)
  1. Despite the view of some historians that the conflict between Great Britain and its 13 North American colonies was economic in origin, in fact the American Revolution had its roots in politics and other areas of American life. Assess the validity of this statement. (1986)
  1. In the two decades before the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, a profound shift occurred in the way many Americans thought and felt about the British government and their colonial governments. Assess the validity of this statement in view of the political and constitutional debates of these decades. (1989)
  1. Evaluate the relative importance of the following as factors prompting Americans to rebel in 1776:

Parliamentary taxation

restrictions of civil liberties

British military measures

the legacy of colonial religious and political ideas (1992)

6. To what extent had the colonists developed a sense of their identity and unity as Americans by the eve of the Revolution? Use the documents and your knowledge of the period 1750-1776 to answer the question. (DBQ 1999)