Deck 6: A People in Revolution

Question 1

During the first year of the Revolution in New England, the

A) British decided to evacuate Boston.
B) numbers and influence of Loyalists increased.
C) numbers of army recruits steadily declined.
D) residents experienced widespread loss of life and property.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

As the Revolutionary War lengthened and its costs increased, which of the following groups would have been LEAST likely to contribute soldiers for the cause?

A) men of wealth and influence
B) former indentured servants
C) recently arrived immigrants
D) unskilled manual laborers

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Britain lost the Revolutionary War because it

A) pursued overly aggressive military strategies.
B) failed to capitalize sufficiently on its advantages.
C) abandoned traditional European battlefield tactics.
D) proved economically inferior to the combined American states.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The ability of the Confederation Congress to function was limited by the stipulation that

A) all war powers belonged to the executive branch.
B) any proposed law required unanimous approval.
C) each state's delegation could cast but one vote.
D) it could not pass resolutions nor seek state support.

Question 5

Intending to push further into the South, British commanders realized that

A) the distance was too far.
B) supply lines would be too long.
C) Loyalist sympathy was weak.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 6

During the American Revolution, the state militias

A) increasingly attracted volunteer recruits.
B) served to legitimate the war among the people.
C) required service of only the poorest class of men.
D) provided an effective, well-equipped fighting force.

Question 7

Initially in the Revolutionary War, the French concentrated their fleet near

A) Canada.
B) California.
C) the West Coast of Mexico
D) the West Indies.

Question 8

Which of the following were problems experienced by the Continental army?

A) an overabundance of troops
B) high morale
C) inadequate supplies
D) high salaries for enlisted men.

Question 9

In response to the Revolution, the Cherokee Indians

A) launched raids in eastern Tennessee.
B) joined Americans in a military alliance.
C) remained aloof from the conflict.
D) fled the fighting to lands west of the Mississippi River.

Question 10

Which of the following tribes controlled the southern interior?

A) Cherokee
B) Creek
C) Choctaw
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 11

George Washington's early military setbacks convinced him to

A) engage the British in frontal combat.
B) harass the British, making the war as costly for them as possible.
C) lead an assault on Canada.
D) seek a final attempt at reconciliation with the British.

Question 12

Britain established its military headquarters in New York City in 1776 because of the city's

A) access to food supplies
B) central location.
C) Loyalist sentiments.
D) All of the above

Question 13

The British invasion of the southern states was complicated by the

A) absence of Loyalist supporters.
B) jagged coastline and numerous inland rivers.
C) colonial use of local knowledge and unconventional tactics.
D) presence of a large slave population.

Question 14

During the Revolutionary War, George Washington repeatedly criticized the Continental Congress for

A) blocking needed imports.
B) forming an alliance with France.
C) being soft on land speculators.
D) failing to support the army.

Question 15

How populous was the Iroquois nation by 1776?

A) 30,000
B) 20,000
C) 15,000
D) 10,000

Question 16

According to the Treaty of Paris (1783), ending the American Revolution,

A) Britain would retain only those territories they controlled at the war's end.
B) the United States would use the property of Loyalists to repay prewar debts owed to British merchants.
C) all British forces would evacuate American territory "with all convenient speed."
D) the western boundary of the United States would be the crest of the Appalachian Mountains.

Question 17

Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress would NOT have the power to

A) mediate boundary disputes between the states.
B) declare war.
C) administer relations with Native Americans living outside state boundaries.
D) impose taxes.

Question 18

Who took advantage of the confusion and chaos of war in Georgia and the Carolinas?

A) Native American families
B) African American slaves
C) private bands of marauders
D) French police

Question 19

All of the following factors contributed to American victory in the Revolution EXCEPT the

A) administrative and organizational talents of George Washington.
B) American people's determination not to submit.
C) Dutch and French loans, war supplies, and military forces.
D) overwhelming support by Congress and the state governments for the continental army.

Question 20

Actual fighting in the American Revolution began when the

A) British army, sent to seize colonial arms, was interrupted by colonists at Lexington.
B) British navy shelled the colonial port of Norfolk, Virginia.
C) colonial army under Washington forced the British to evacuate Boston.
D) colonial Minutemen attacked a British camp guarding an arsenal in Concord.

Question 21

For American civilians, the Revolution

A) resolved prior problems of housing and public health.
B) struck hardest in the rural regions.
C) seldom touched their lives in a threatening way.
D) often caused destruction or confiscation of their property.

Question 22

Who among the following was NOT a strong Federalist?

A) Washington
B) Hamilton
C) Madison
D) Jefferson

Question 23

How were the weak and disunited American states able to defeat Great Britain, the most powerful nation in the Atlantic world? What lessons might the Revolution have offered later Americans for the proper conduct of the Vietnam War?

Question 24

Federalists regarded uprisings like Shays's Rebellion as

A) evidence of genuine social distress.
B) a threat to social and political order.
C) an indication of fear of more Indian uprisings.
D) a sign of the fading of religious belief.

Question 25

After the war, many Americans who fought in the Revolutionary War

A) preferred European to American newspapers.
B) refused to go home until Congress addressed their grievances.
C) focused on private rather than public affairs.
D) rejected religious notions of the nation's destiny.

Question 26

Historians have used muster rolls from different towns and regions to analyze the social composition of the continental army and how it changed during the course of the Revolution. Analyze their conclusions.

Question 27

Massachusetts responded to Shays's Rebellion with a

A) reduction of taxes.
B) new issue of additional paper money.
C) moratorium on private debts.
D) dispatch of armed militiamen.

Question 28

The Virginia Plan, which formed the basis of the new constitution, was primarily the work of

A) Thomas Jefferson.
B) Alexander Hamilton.
C) James Madison.
D) George Washington.

Question 29

The punishment of Loyalists during the Revolution

A) was politically unpopular.
B) raised concerns over the protection of individual liberty.
C) typically fell hardest upon members of the lower classes.
D) was tempered by feelings of kinship and affection.

Question 30

Although the Revolution resulted in independence for the American nation, it produced varied consequences for those who lived through it. Analyze the impact of the Revolution on the lives of Native Americans, blacks, and women.

Question 31

The medical treatment soldiers received

A) did little good and often did harm.
B) relied heavily on amputation to save lives.
C) saved many from death.
D) was nearly non-existent.

Question 32

Which of the following issues was NOT a contributing factor to Shays's Rebellion?

A) Indian raids
B) taxation
C) debt
D) paper money

Question 33

Explain what types of Americans chose to remain Loyalists during the Revolution, and why. Discuss the treatment Loyalists received during the war and whether such treatment was fair or appropriate.

Question 34

American Loyalists during the Revolution

A) lived mostly in and around the city of Boston.
B) received generous compensation from England for their losses.
C) numbered fewer than 10,000 people.
D) were most numerous around New York City.

Question 35

The agreement to have a two-part national legislature meant

A) smaller states received better representation than in the Virginia Plan.
B) in the Senate, each state received equal representation.
C) the Convention was able to reach what became known as the Great Compromise.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 36

Many American black slaves sought their freedom during the Revolution by

A) attempting to take lands from western Indians.
B) seeking return passage to Africa.
C) seeking haven behind British lines.
D) fleeing to the maritime provinces of Canada.

Question 37

Discuss the difficulties Americans faced in raising, equipping, and maintaining an army.

Question 38

The crisis that ultimately sparked Shays's Rebellion in Massachusetts began with the

A) passage of state "stay laws."
B) removal of English goods from local markets.
C) collapse of a complicated pyramid of credit and debt.
D) public panic and runs on state banks.

Question 39

Why did fighting in the American Revolution shift over time from the Northeast to the Middle Atlantic to the South? Contrast the primary British and American war strategies from 1776 to 1781.

Question 40

Loyalist emigrants established successful lives in which of the following places?

A) British West Indies.
B) Canadian Maritime Provinces.
C) England.
D) All of these answers are correct.

Question 41

The authors of the Federalist Papers framed their argument in favor of the Constitution by emphasizing the importance of factions (what today we call "interest groups") in controlling governmental power. Explain and evaluate their argument

Question 42

Discuss the causes and consequences of Shays's Rebellion in Massachusetts in 1786-1787.