Deck 6: American Revolutions, 1775-1783

Question 1

Which of these statements is most consistent with the sentiments expressed in Common Sense?

A) Our disagreements with Parliament concern minor constitutional points; therefore, Americans should compromise and seek reconciliation with the mother country.
B) These American colonies have had the privilege of serving a loving and enlightened king; nevertheless, independence is still the best course of action.
C) If America declares its independence, it must erect a government much like England's in order to ensure the continuation of liberty.
D) America's independence is inevitable, just as it is inevitable that children grow up and leave their parents.

Answer 1

America's independence is inevitable, just as it is inevitable that children grow up and leave their parents.

Question 2

The main source of funding for the new United States in the war against Britain was

A) a tax on each of the colonies.
B) loans from prominent citizens.
C) the sale of public lands.
D) printing paper money.

Answer 2

printing paper money.

Question 3

Which of the following was a feature of the Articles of Confederation government?

A) Each state was proportionately represented in the Confederation Congress.
B) Domestic commercial policy was placed under the control of the national government.
C) The national government did not have the power to settle disputes between the states.
D) The national government did not have the power to raise revenue effectively.

Answer 3

The national government did not have the power to raise revenue effectively.

Question 4

The long-term significance of the Declaration of Independence lies in its

A) charge that Parliament used excessive force in the colonies.
B) statements of principle.
C) charge that the king was responsible for slavery in the colonies.
D) commitment to strong central government.

Question 5

General John Sullivan's strategy against the Iroquois

A) was limited to those who took up arms.
B) included rape and child murder.
C) directly contradicted George Washington's orders.
D) was largely ineffective.

Question 6

Lord Dartmouth's letter of January 1775 led which general to send a military expedition to confiscate colonial military supplied stockpiled at Concord?

A) General Gage
B) General Ward
C) General Burgoyne
D) General Washington

Question 7

George Washington's primary goal as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army was to

A) avoid decisive military losses.
B) prevent British reinforcements from coming ashore.
C) destroy the British army.
D) secure financial aid from foreign sources.

Question 8

Which of the following was most likely to have been a loyalist?

A) A city artisan
B) A yeoman farmer
C) An Anglican clergyman
D) A Scotch-Irish settler in the southern backcountry

Question 9

Which of the following was most likely to have been an active patriot?

A) A city artisan
B) An African American slave
C) An Anglican clergyman
D) A Pennsylvania Quaker

Question 10

Where was the site of the largest defeat of British forces during the Revolutionary war?

A) Breed's Hill
B) Long Island
C) Trenton
D) White Plains

Question 11

As the Revolutionary War began, British officials attempted to persuade the interior Indian tribes to

A) remain neutral in the British-American conflict.
B) form a pan-Indian alliance in order to prevent further British or American encroachment on Indian lands.
C) conduct raids against white settlements along the frontier.
D) actively ally with the British against the American rebels.

Question 12

When the delegates to the Second Continental Congress voted to accept the Declaration of Independence, they

A) established a stable government for the new nation.
B) risked their lives by committing treason.
C) demonstrated complete confidence that America would achieve victory against Great Britain.
D) continued to express a desire for reconciliation with England.

Question 13

Why was the ratification of the Articles of Confederation delayed?

A) Disputes over the lands west of the Appalachian Mountains.
B) Disagreements over provisions of treaties with the Northwestern Indians.
C) Differing opinions about navigation rights on rivers that served as boundary lines between states.
D) Concerns landlocked states had over commercial rights.

Question 14

Why, after a period of relative stability, was the American economy plagued by inflation from late 1776 into the 1780s?

A) As people's faith in the government declined, their faith in the worth of the nation's currency also declined.
B) As the amount of currency in circulation declined, unsold goods piled up in warehouses.
C) As the economy grew and Americans' incomes increased, the production of goods lagged behind demand.
D) As high taxes cut into the profits of producers, they cut back production and caused a shortage of goods.

Question 15

In what way were classical, economic, and democratic republicanism alike?

A) All stressed the importance of including minority groups in the political process.
B) All accepted the notion that society is divided into two groups, those who are born to govern and those who are born to be governed.
C) All agreed that "virtue" was at the heart of a successful republic.
D) All held that rank and privilege have no place in a republican society.

Question 16

The most significant aspect of the first year of the Revolutionary War was

A) the number of significant battles won by the Americans.
B) the long lull in fighting between British and American forces at Boston.
C) France's decision to ally openly with the United States.
D) Great Britain's decision to use mercenaries.

Question 17

The primary concern of those who wrote the state constitutions was

A) how to put the concept of democracy into practice.
B) how to create efficient government.
C) how best to distribute and limit governmental power.
D) how the documents would be ratified.

Question 18

Which of the following statements best explains the ineffectiveness of the Native Americans in defending their interests during the Revolutionary War?

A) They steadfastly refused to take up arms on behalf of either side.
B) The various tribes were unwilling to set aside their differences in order to pursue a common goal.
C) Their methods of fighting were so primitive that they were not in a position to be of much use to either side.
D) They made the mistake of siding consistently with the British.

Question 19

Which of these statements espouses the values of Thomas Paine?

A) The people of a nation are best served by a system of government that balances monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy.
B) As individuals pursue their self-interest, they will improve not only themselves but the entire republic as well.
C) A republic should be governed by men who have risen to positions of power because of talent and ability.
D) The upper classes cannot speak for the ordinary people in society; therefore, the ordinary people should be allowed to participate in the political process.

Question 20

Which of the following was a false assumption made by the British concerning the Revolutionary War?

A) The patriots cannot withstand the assaults of trained British soldiers.
B) Victory will not necessitate a large commitment of manpower.
C) It will not be necessary to use the navy in the conflict.
D) Britain will receive aid from other European powers.

Question 21

Camp followers were usually

A) women who worked as cooks, nurses, and launderers while traveling with the American forces.
B) reporters who followed the American forces and issued daily news dispatches to colonial newspapers.
C) British spies who followed and watched the activities of the American forces.
D) people who followed the forces of either side for the purpose of watching their military engagements.

Question 22

As a result of the fall of Charleston in May 1780,

A) the British navy eliminated the French navy as a potential threat.
B) South Carolina served as a secure British base from which to attack the other American states.
C) patriot forces were disheartened and demoralized.
D) many South Carolinians renounced the American cause and pledged their loyalty to the Crown.

Question 23

During the winter of 1779−1780, many Iroquois bands left their ancestral homeland for which of the following reasons?

A) All bands that broke their pledge of neutrality and allied with the Americans were forced onto reservations by the British.
B) They were afraid they would be drawn into the Anglo-American conflict raging around them.
C) The Iroquois ruling council banished from the homeland all bands that remained neutral or allied with the Americans.
D) Their settlements and crops were completely destroyed by General John Sullivan's expedition that they moved to Canada in search of food and shelter.

Question 24

Which of the following was a consequence of Lord Dunmore's Proclamation, issued in November 1775?

A) The Second Continental Congress decided to allow African Americans to enlist in the Continental Army.
B) Yeoman farmers began to desert the Virginia militia and rally to the British side.
C) Slaves rallied to the British side in greater numbers than expected.
D) The Virginia assembly was forcibly disbanded, and many of its leaders were arrested.

Question 25

Which of the following is true of American soldiers and sailors held as prisoners of war by the British?

A) Over half of them joined the British army and joined the battle against the Continental Army.
B) Many died of disease because they received meager rations and were confined in prisons that were crowded and unsanitary.
C) They were usually treated decently and humanely.
D) At the end of the Revolutionary War, many of them sailed with their captors back to England.

Question 26

Reassessment of their war strategy after the Battle of Saratoga led the British to

A) shift the field of battle to the south.
B) shift their attention to urban areas.
C) adopt guerrilla tactics similar to those used by the patriots.
D) concentrate their forces along the New England coast.

Question 27

Why was the French alliance beneficial to the Americans?

A) The alliance widened the war, making it impossible for the British to concentrate solely on the American mainland.
B) French military officers began the process of retraining soldiers in the Continental Army to fight military engagements in the European style.
C) French influence was essential in negotiating Dutch loans for the United States.
D) The alliance led Russia and Spain to negotiate treaties of alliance with the United States.

Question 28

Which of the following was most likely to have remained neutral in the Revolutionary War?

A) A member of the Chesapeake gentry
B) A Scots-Irish settler in the backcountry
C) A Scottish settler
D) A city artisan

Question 29

The British were surrounded and General Burgoyne's entire force of over six thousand men surrendered in the Battle of

A) Bunker Hill.
B) Princeton.
C) Saratoga.
D) Trenton.

Question 30

Joseph and Mary Brant

A) tried to convince the tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy to migrate to Canada.
B) tried to convince Native Americans and blacks to forge an alliance and thus take advantage of the Anglo-American conflict.
C) hoped to persuade the Iroquois Confederacy to ally with the British.
D) worked to bring about a general slave uprising.

Question 31

In response to the threat of smallpox in the ranks of the Continental Army, Washington

A) asked for the resignation of all soldiers who had not had the disease.
B) requested that the Second Continental Congress double the army's medical staff.
C) ordered the inoculation of all members of the regular army and of all new recruits.
D) issued an order discharging all foreign-born men from the Continental Army.

Question 32

How did Chief Dragging Canoe respond to the fighting between the British and the Americans?

A) He led an attack against white settlements along the western borders of the Carolinas and Virginia.
B) He formed a pan-Indian alliance aimed at ridding North America of all white settlers.
C) He sought an alliance with the British in hopes that he could regain Cherokee land lost to white settlers.
D) He decided that the best course of action was to remain neutral.

Question 33

In the 1776 battle for New York City,

A) the British won, but their army was demoralized by the number of casualties suffered.
B) Washington successfully defended New York City and demonstrated his abilities as a military tactician.
C) Washington and his men made crucial mistakes that resulted in defeat and the British occupation of the city.
D) Washington lost Manhattan but was able to retain control of most of New Jersey.

Question 34

Why did sugar producers in the British Caribbean islands decide not to join the mainland colonies in opposing Great Britain?

A) Parliament had not imposed any taxes on its possessions in the Caribbean islands.
B) They were afraid that joining the resistance movement would leave them unprotected in the event of a slave uprising.
C) Quaker pacifists had far greater influence in the British Caribbean islands than in Britain's mainland colonies.
D) Sugar producers in the British Caribbean islands had elected representatives who sat in Parliament.

Question 35

Which of the following is true of Howe's Philadelphia campaign?

A) Howe's attack was so swift that Washington had no time to organize defenses.
B) Howe's capture of Philadelphia did very little to help the British.
C) The unexpected defeat of Howe's forces at Germantown caused the campaign to collapse.
D) The campaign demoralized the Continental Army.

Question 36

Which of the following was the goal of British strategy for 1777?

A) To blockade the American coastline
B) For Burgoyne to join forces with Howe at White Plains and invade Pennsylvania
C) To cut New England off from the other colonies
D) To isolate all colonies south of Maryland by taking control of the Potomac

Question 37

Which of the following was true of the officers of the Continental Army?

A) There was little sense of camaraderie among them.
B) Their primary sense of devotion was to their respective states.
C) They developed an intense commitment to the patriot cause.
D) Most refused to serve for more than six months.

Question 38

"These are the times that try men's souls." This statement by Thomas Paine was written in response to

A) American deaths at Lexington.
B) General Washington's retreat across New Jersey.
C) the American defeat at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
D) the defection of Benedict Arnold to the British side.

Question 39

Which battle brought France into the war as an American ally?

A) Battle of Trenton
B) Battle of Bunker Hill
C) Battle of Yorktown
D) Battle of Saratoga

Question 40

Before setting up winter quarters at Morristown, New Jersey, in January 1777, General Washington defeated the redcoats in the battles of

A) Brandywine Creek and Germantown.
B) Brooklyn Heights and Manhattan Island.
C) Fort Ticonderoga and Bennington.
D) Trenton and Princeton.

Question 41

In negotiating the boundaries for the new American nation, the British

A) adopted an inflexible stance that led to restrictive boundaries.
B) completely ignored the territorial rights of their Indian allies.
C) ceded large amounts of territory to France.
D) ceded the area between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi to Spain.

Question 42

Discuss the common failings of William Howe, John Burgoyne, and George Cornwallis. To what extent were their failings personal, and to what extent did they reflect general British misunderstanding about the nature of the Revolutionary War?

Question 43

Which of the following, in large numbers, joined British forces in the South in the two years following the fall of Charleston?

A) Indentured servants
B) African Americans
C) Wealthy planters
D) Recent immigrants

Question 44

Discuss the different definitions of republicanism that emerged in the new American republic. What elements did Americans believe were necessary to ensure the success of a republican government? Explain how these views were reflected in the creation of both state and national governments between 1776 and 1783.

Question 45

Lord North and Lord George Germain developed an analysis of the Revolutionary War that was based on three assumptions. All three assumptions proved to be "false". What were the assumptions, and why were they incorrect?

Question 46

What was the western border of the American nation established by the Treaty of Paris?

A) The western border of what is now Ohio
B) The Mississippi River
C) The western border of what is now Indiana
D) The Appalachian Mountains

Question 47

Discuss the content, style, and timing of Thomas Paine's Common Sense.

Question 48

Discuss the 1776 battle for New York, concentrating on the errors committed by the commanders of both sides, and explain British actions in the aftermath of the battle.

Question 49

The outcome of the Battles of King's Mountain, Cowpens, and Guilford Court House supports which of the following conclusions?

A) General Washington was a brilliant military strategist.
B) The Continental Army was disorganized and demoralized by the winter of 1780.
C) The momentum in the southern campaign had begun to swing to the patriot side.
D) American victory in the Revolutionary War was due primarily to French military ingenuity.

Question 50

Analyze the threat posed by Native Americans to the revolutionary cause, and explain why that potential threat never fully materialized.

Question 51

Examine the division of opinion among the American colonists at the beginning of the Revolution, and indicate the major factors that determined a person's loyalties.

Question 52

Article Five of the Treaty of Paris (1783)

A) promised the repayment of prewar debts owed by Americans to British subjects.
B) recommended that the states allow loyalists to recover their confiscated property.
C) called for just compensation for seized loyalist property.
D) provided for the permanent exile of the loyalists.

Question 53

Discuss why George Washington was selected as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, and evaluate Washington's performance as commanding general, specifying his strengths and his weaknesses.

Question 54

How was the revolutionary ideal of virtue upheld or suspended in the treatment of African-Americans and Native Americans by the revolutionaries?

Question 55

As a result of the Battle of Yorktown,

A) Cornwallis retreated to Wilmington to await supplies and fresh troops.
B) the French navy ceased to be effective.
C) Parliament stopped all offensive operations in America and authorized peace negotiations.
D) Cornwallis returned to England as a hero.

Question 56

What is virtue? Why did Americans believe virtue to be essential in their society after the Revolution? What efforts were made to promote virtue?

Question 57

Examine the process by which British political authority in the colonies came to an end and was replaced by American political authority.

Question 58

Discuss the debate over and the final adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress, and examine the importance of the ideas embodied in Thomas Jefferson's document.

Question 59

After taking command of the southern campaign for the Americans, Nathanael Greene

A) instructed his troops to follow a scorched-earth policy.
B) systematically seized the property of loyalists throughout the South.
C) adopted a conciliatory policy toward loyalists and neutrals throughout the South.
D) destabilized civilian governments throughout the area.

Question 60

Discuss the governmental concepts embodied in the Articles of Confederation.

Question 61

Compare and contrast American Revolutionary military strategies in the north and south, and analyze strengths and weaknesses of each.

Question 62

Discuss the impact of the Revolutionary War on the lives of Americans.

Question 63

Discuss the negotiations that led to the Treaty of Paris, and explain the significance of the treaty's provisions.