Deck 4: Rising Expectations: African Americans and the Struggle for Independence

Question 1

Why did the American colonists see the Tea Act as a problem?

A) The tea taxes were incredibly high, so they feared the price of tea would skyrocket.
B) They thought that payment of the tea tax would establish a precedent for American colonists having to pay other taxes.
C) The colonists really had more of a problem with the Sugar Act than the Tea Act, which was considered relatively minor.
D) The Tea Act forced them to buy tea from the Spanish, the colonists' mortal enemy at that time.

Answer 1

They thought that payment of the tea tax would establish a precedent for American colonists having to pay other taxes.

Question 2

According to Map 4.1,what was the outcome of the French and Indian War for Spain in North America?

A) Spanish land claims to North America expanded after the war.
B) Spanish land claims to North America disappeared after the war.
C) Spanish land claims to North America remained the same after the war.
D) Spanish land claims to North America were rejected by the U.S.after the war.

Answer 2

Spanish land claims to North America expanded after the war.

Question 3

How did Enlightenment thought affect African Americans in the 1760s and 1770s?

A) African Americans were unaffected by Enlightenment thought since they were not allowed to read and write.
B) African Americans began several coordinated, widespread violent rebellions in both the North and the South.
C) African Americans filed lawsuits in the North, escaped from the South, and protested in large numbers.
D) Generally, large numbers of free blacks left for Africa in the late 1700s.

Answer 3

African Americans filed lawsuits in the North, escaped from the South, and protested in large numbers.

Question 4

During the late 1700s,what did slaves increasingly base their freedom suits upon?

A) contractual technicalities regarding their terms of service
B) humane treatment by white slave masters
C) revolutionary principles of universal liberty
D) the doctrines of the Roman Catholic faith

Question 5

What was the major cause of the French and Indian War?

A) The American Indian tribes of Canada had been attacking various French forts.
B) The French and British both wanted to control the fur trade in the Ohio Valley area.
C) The British wanted to control Canada, and had attacked several French cities.
D) The Spanish hoped to gain territory north of Florida, and had been harassing the British.

Question 6

How did the colonists interpret the actions and policies of the British government in the 1760s and the 1770s?

A) They were furious because the taxes were high and would take away their hard-earned wealth.
B) They thought the British government was engaged in a great conspiracy to take away their natural rights and reduce them to slaves.
C) The colonists had very little reaction to the British government's actions at this time, as they were able to get around the policies very easily.
D) The colonists pushed for additional regulations because they realized they could not protect themselves against encroaching Indians.

Question 7

According to Map 4.1,what was the outcome for the Caribbean colonies after the French and Indian war?

A) The French government expanded its hold over the region.
B) The Spanish government expanded its hold over the region.
C) The British government expanded its hold over the region.
D) The region remained the same in terms of international occupation.

Question 8

What is significant about the image of James Armistead shown on page 88 of the textbook?

A) It indicates that blacks played a minor and insignificant role in the Revolution.
B) It depicts a black man who contributed to the Patriot side during the Revolution.
C) It shows the problems of truancy and juvenile delinquency during the revolutionary era.
D) It reveals the lack of participation of black women in the Revolution.

Question 9

What do the Proclamation Line of 1763,the Stamp Act of 1765,and the Townshend Acts of 1767 have in common?

A) They were all unreasonable taxes imposed by England on unsuspecting colonists.
B) They all dealt with the issue of slavery, either limiting where it could occur or taxing various products made by escaped slaves.
C) They were all efforts by the British to establish more control over the colonies and bring in money after the French and Indian War.
D) They were taxes imposed reluctantly by the American government after independence to raise needed money.

Question 10

What was the greatest source of optimism for African Americans?

A) White Patriot leaders would realize their revolutionary principles violated slavery.
B) White slave owners would see the error of their ways and release all of their slaves.
C) Whites would immediately accept blacks as equals.
D) The King of England would join the American colonists.

Question 11

Which scholar/philosopher was an influence on Enlightenment thought in Europe?

A) John Locke
B) Andrew Jackson
C) Leo Tolstoy
D) Socrates

Question 12

How did Phillis Wheatley distinguish herself?

A) She was the first black woman to graduate from a British college.
B) She was the first woman to die at the Battle of Lexington.
C) She was an accomplished poet.
D) She was the first black abolitionist in the colonies.

Question 13

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams,in writing the Declaration of Independence,__________.

A) meant for the phrase "all men are created equal" to include blacks as well as whites
B) thought that possibly slaves could be freed and Americans would resolve their differences peacefully at sometime in the future
C) took for granted the accepted differences between the rights of white men and the rights of blacks
D) never even thought about the issue of slavery or blacks, since it was such a part of American culture

Question 14

For what is Benjamin Banneker well known?

A) He was renowned for his knowledge of chemistry.
B) He was the first black civilian employee of the American government.
C) He was a well-known minister in the Boston area.
D) He was a military leader who led black troops into battle during the American Revolution.

Question 15

Which of the following is an Enlightenment idea argued by Newton and Locke?

A) The universe is a disorderly place that cannot be explained by humans in a rational way.
B) Government was created to protect monarchies and elites.
C) If government failed to protect natural rights, humans had the right to overthrow it.
D) All people, except women and blacks, should be given the same rights.

Question 16

Who was Crispus Attucks?

A) one of the people who died after accosting British soldiers at the Boston Massacre
B) a famous slave who fought against the British in the battles of Lexington and Concord
C) a black man who was famous for his poetry during the American Revolution
D) a British loyalist who fought alongside Benedict Arnold in several battles

Question 17

What role did the Sons of Liberty play in the American crisis with the British government?

A) They attacked Patriot leaders for disloyalty against the British.
B) They organized Patriots against the British government.
C) They lobbied to pass extra taxes against the American colonists.
D) They sailed to Europe to persuade England to invade the American colonies

Question 18

Examine the drawing of a black youngster joining in a Boston demonstration on page 88 of the textbook.What elements of the image indicate that the people depicted are engaged in a Stamp Act protest?

A) Buildings are shown in the background.
B) Colonists are dressed in typical clothing of the era.
C) A diverse group of colonists cheers as it burns bundled objects.
D) The sky is clear and the weather appears warm.

Question 19

How did the Massachusetts Minutemen shape the American crisis with Britain?

A) They fought as a special forces unit for the British Army.
B) They served as an irregular force and stockpiled guns which brought on war.
C) They sent petitions to the King of England begging for peace.
D) They prevented the war from starting in 1775 by surrendering their arms.

Question 20

Who were the major combatants during the French and Indian War?

A) the French versus the Indians and the Dutch
B) Great Britain versus England, their Indian allies, and the colonists
C) France and their Indian allies versus the Dutch and their Indian allies
D) the French and their Indian allies versus the British, their Indian allies, and the colonists

Question 21

Which of the following statements is true of Lord Dunmore's proclamation in November 1775?

A) Since no slave could read, it had little effect on black participation.
B) Dunmore promised to free slaves who joined the British army.
C) The proclamation had little effect of any kind on the Americans, who kept very tight control over their slaves.
D) Dunmore promised that the slaves would be used according to their intellect and leadership abilities.

Question 22

Where did the Patriot recruitment policy change most quickly?

A) New England
B) border states like Maryland and Virginia
C) areas like South Carolina that desperately needed manpower
D) throughout the South

Question 23

How many African American slaves escaped from their masters during the War for Independence?

A) 100,000
B) 200,000
C) 300,000
D) 400,000

Question 24

What is the significance of the actions taken by James Armistead during the War for American Independence?

A) He was an American officer who forced the British to surrender at Yorktown through a cavalry charge late in the battle.
B) He was a black Patriot spy who infiltrated British military camps in Virginia and gave the information to George Washington.
C) He was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention and voted against slavery despite the wishes of his state.
D) He was a white farmer who produced most of the wheat and corn that fed American troops in Virginia.

Question 25

Why did most whites not want blacks to enlist in the army?

A) They thought that blacks were too cowardly to fight.
B) They thought that arming blacks would inspire rebellion of slaves across the South.
C) They lacked the equipment and uniforms to accept everyone.
D) They thought that blacks were cowardly and their enlistment would inspire rebellion.

Question 26

Which of the following persons was a Quaker antislavery organizer?

A) Thomas Jefferson
B) Benjamin Lay
C) Crispus Attucks
D) James Reid

Question 27

In exchange for hiring their own time,what did African American slaves need to give to their masters?

A) the right to sell their children into slavery
B) an official bond with the local court pledging they would not run away
C) a large percentage of their wages
D) some of their taxable property

Question 28

Examine the detail of the painting by John Trumbull titled The Battle of Bunker Hill that appears on page 95 of the textbook.What does the man shown holding a gun indicate about blacks' involvement in the Revolutionary War?

A) Black women helped black men fight during the war.
B) White men attempted to stop black men from using guns in the war.
C) Black slaves accompanied their white masters into battle.
D) Blacks did not take part in battles until midway through the war.

Question 29

Which of the following statements is true concerning the role blacks played in the Patriot cause during the Revolution?

A) George Washington forbade them from enlisting during the course of the war.
B) All 13 states initially forbade blacks from serving in their armies.
C) Blacks served as free men on the Patriot side in a few minor battles.
D) Blacks served only as slaves for the Patriot cause.

Question 30

How did black women assist in the Patriot cause?

A) Black women joined their husbands in army camps.
B) Black women served as officers in battle with men.
C) Black women remained as slaves to assist black soldiers.
D) Black women had no role in the war effort.

Question 31

Why did some African Americans after the War for Independence rename themselves Brown,Guinea,Africa,and Coal?

A) pride in their English ancestry
B) pride in their French ancestry
C) pride in their Native American ancestry
D) pride in their African ancestry

Question 32

Examine the title page of the 1795 edition of Benjamin Banneker's Pennsylvania,
Delaware,Maryland,and Virginia Almanac that appears on page 92 of the textbook.How does the image-maker portray Benjamin Banneker?

A) as an illiterate slave dressed for tobacco work
B) as a professional, well-dressed elite scientist
C) as a disfigured and battle-scarred ex-Continental Army soldier
D) as a white plantation owner of African-American slaves

Question 33

Examine the frontispiece portrait of Phillis Wheatley that precedes the title page of her first book of poetry.Why is Wheatley shown in the portrait writing at her desk?

A) The portrait reveals Wheatley's favorable stance on the slave trade in her book.
B) The portrait demonstrates Wheatley's studious nature and writing ability.
C) The portrait relates to Wheatley's poor writing style and choice of subject matter.
D) The portrait suggests Wheatley's distrust of her master about whom she wrote her book.

Question 34

How did Banneker attempt to change Jefferson's ideas about black people?

A) He sent Jefferson a copy of his almanac and debated racial theories with him.
B) He became Jefferson's personal secretary and forced Jefferson to confront his racist views.
C) Banneker was so disillusioned with Jefferson that he refused to have anything to do with him.
D) He attempted to debate the president but was unsuccessful; afterwards, he helped several of Jefferson's slaves escape.

Question 35

Which of the following statements best describes African Americans' actions during the American Revolution?

A) They fought with the American colonists because they were fighting for the ideals of democracy.
B) They played no role in the revolution because they were forbidden from enlisting in the army.
C) They fought for the side that offered them their best chance at freedom.
D) They consistently chose to escape to the west, where they were adopted into Indian tribes.

Question 36

Consider the document that appears beneath the heading "Voices: Boston's Slaves Link Their Freedom to American Liberty" in Chapter 4 of the textbook.Why did black slaves send their petition to the Massachusetts General Court in 1773?

A) They wanted to fight in the War for American Independence.
B) They wanted to remain as slaves in agricultural North America.
C) They wanted to secure freedom and make a settlement in Africa.
D) They wanted to move to Canada in order to join the British military.

Question 37

Why did most African-American intellectual leaders owe more to the Great Awakening than to secular learning during the Enlightenment?

A) Many had no interest in poetry and literature, but religion held deep meaning for them.
B) The Great Awakening was a period of enormous democratization of American society.
C) Religious learning had been more available to them than secular educations.
D) The Great Awakening was a period where secular learning was promoted for everyone.

Question 38

What role did blacks play in the Loyalist cause during the Revolution?

A) Blacks served as officers in the British Army.
B) British warships were staffed mostly by black sailors.
C) Blacks sometimes escaped to the British and became soldiers.
D) Blacks served only for the Patriot cause and not for the Loyalists.

Question 39

Which of the following statements is true of black Patriot soldiers during the Revolution?

A) Black men did not serve in Patriot army units.
B) Black men served in the U.S.Marines.
C) Black men fought primarily in integrated units.
D) Black men could easily become officers.

Question 40

What does Map 4-2 reveal about black participation in the major battles of the American Revolution?

A) Blacks took part in most battles on both sides.
B) Blacks did not participate in the battles of the war.
C) Black Patriots fought in major battles but Black Loyalists did not.
D) Black Loyalists fought in major battles but Black Patriots did not.

Question 41

At the end of the war in 1783,approximately 200,000 African Americans left with British forces as they evacuated the South.

Question 42

How would a slave probably have learned of Dunmore's Proclamation,shown on page 94 of the textbook?

A) by reading it posted on a city building
B) by listening to it broadcast on the radio
C) by reading it after it was dropped from a balloon
D) by having someone read and explain it to him or her

Question 43

What limitation did blacks encounter after the Revolution?

A) They could not move to cities and were forced to remain as agricultural workers.
B) They could not change their names to signify new freedom.
C) They faced economic difficulties and barriers to training and skilled job entry.
D) They had to continue working for their old slave masters.

Question 44

According to Map 4-3,what location proved a major irony and problem for blacks resettled after the War for American Independence?

A) Canada, because slavery had never existed there
B) West Africa, because it was considered a long distance from North America
C) the Caribbean, because it was a slave colony
D) Great Britain, because it was an industrializing power

Question 45

What factor led to the abolition of slavery in the North?

A) The northern economy did not need slavery as much as the southern economy.
B) White indentured servants insisted that colonial leaders abolish slavery or risk revolts.
C) Slave rebellions compelled northern whites to abolish slavery.
D) White women insisted that their white husbands abolish slavery.

Question 46

By the time of the American Revolution,most blacks had been born in __________.

Question 47

The concept of a free black colony materialized when the British founded Sierra Leone in the 1700s.

Question 48

In the North and the Chesapeake regions after the war,free African Americans took advantage of the broadening concept of freedom and moved to rural areas.

Question 49

Which of the following was a direct or indirect result of the American Revolution?

A) Large numbers of blacks fled the country to Mexico after the war.
B) The increase of tobacco cultivation expanded slavery in Virginia.
C) Slavery was abolished in all of the northern colonies except New York and New Jersey.
D) Freeing slaves became more difficult in several of the border states.

Question 50

After the war,blacks dropped some of the derogatory slave names they had acquired,an example of the influence of revolutionary ideology on the African American population.

Question 51

The concepts of the emerging market economy,the Great Awakening,and the Enlightenment combined to help slavery expand in the late 1700s.

Question 52

Examine Map 4-3.What do the areas of black Loyalist resettlement after the American Revolution have in common?

A) All are part of the French colonial empire.
B) All are part of the Spanish colonial empire.
C) All are part of the British colonial empire.
D) All are part of an American colonial empire.

Question 53

Why did many Quakers take the lead in abolitionism?

A) Quakers had strong African roots.
B) Quaker ideology had long stressed principles of brotherhood and nonviolence.
C) Quaker church members served with blacks in the army as fellow combatants.
D) Quakers had never owned slaves and therefore had no interest in the issue of abolition.

Question 54

The 1773 petition in the Voices document "Boston's Slaves Link Their Freedom to American Liberty" is an example of the application of Enlightenment ideology to antislavery agitation.

Question 55

Examine Map 4-4.Why was the new political geography after 1783 important for African-American people?

A) Lands owned by France provided economic opportunity for free blacks.
B) Russia remained an easy place slaves to reach and become free.
C) Spain's western holdings and occupation of the southeast provided refuge for slaves.
D) Great Britain's Canada holdings closed off escape routes to the far north.

Question 56

In August of 1776,General George Washington and the Continental Army drove the British off the continent.

Question 57

The increase in master absenteeism during the war permitted the task system of slavery to expand in South Carolina.

Question 58

Fighting ended during the War for Independence when a combined U.S.and French force compelled the British to surrender at Yorktown in 1781.

Question 59

The Continental Congress adopted the __________ on July 4,1776.

Question 60

Patrick Henry uttered the famous phrase,"Give me liberty,or give me death."

Question 61

Black Loyalists were most common and numerous in the colonies of __________ and __________ during the Revolution.

Question 62

Why is the French and Indian War important to the study of African-American history?

Question 63

Why did Quakers oppose slavery if they were slaveholders in the past?

Question 64

Why was it possible to abolish slavery in the North but not in the South? How did African Americans respond to the abolition of slavery in the northern states?

Question 65

Describe the various types of roles played by blacks during the Revolution.Why did this participation vary by gender and national affiliation?

Question 66

What does the Voices segment "Boston's Slaves Link Their Freedom to American Liberty" reveal about black aspirations during the era?

Question 67

Why would a black person side with the Loyalists,or British,during the Revolution?

Question 68

The Society of ________,also known as the ________ are an example of antislavery forces at work during the American Revolutionary era.

Question 69

John Locke maintained that the human mind at birth was a tabula __________.

Question 70

What effect did Lord Dunmore's proclamation have on the Revolution? Be sure to consider the British,Patriot,and African-American perspectives.

Question 71

The concept of Enlightenment __________ was a powerful antislavery force in American society during the 1760s and 1770s.

Question 72

Discuss the basic concepts of the Enlightenment as developed by Isaac Newton and John Locke.

Question 73

Jupiter _________ was a Long Island slave who published poetry during the era of the American Revolution.

Question 74

Like most elite blacks during the era who associated closely with white people,Benjamin Banneker had_________ to white European and American culture.

Question 75

What do the stories of Phillis Wheatley and Benjamin Banneker tell us about African Americans during the Black Enlightenment?

Question 76

The eighteenth century was a time when __________ could make important contributions to science.

Question 77

In the northern states,the commitment to the concept of _________ was much more real than in the Chesapeake and the Lower South.

Question 78

How is the Stamp Act an example of the British attempt to make the colonists pay for the French and Indian War?