Deck 5: The Ends of Empire, 1754-1774

Question 1

Which of the following questions best expresses the ideological dilemma that faced the colonists from 1765 to 1774?

A) How can we justify our resistance to unpopular acts of Parliament when we do not resist unpopular acts of our own assemblies?
B) How can we claim that Parliament has limited power over us when each colonial charter was issued by Parliament?
C) How can we justify our opposition to certain acts of Parliament without questioning Parliament's authority over us?
D) How can we challenge the authority of Parliament without also challenging the authority of our colonial assemblies?

Answer 1

How can we justify our opposition to certain acts of Parliament without questioning Parliament's authority over us?

Question 2

Why was the Stamp Act written?

A) To force the colonists to recognize Parliament's right to tax them.
B) To raise revenue to help ease the debt burden of the British government.
C) To finance the system for distributing mail and publications throughout the colonies.
D) To establish parliamentary control over newspapers and pamphlets published in the colonies.

Answer 2

To raise revenue to help ease the debt burden of the British government.

Question 3

Which of the following was a reason for an attack by the Cherokees on the Carolina and Virginia frontiers in 1760?

A) The British abrogated their trade agreements with the Cherokees.
B) Both colonies had been capturing and enslaving Cherokees.
C) The Cherokees were angry about British atrocities and realized that they would no longer be able to force concessions from the British by threatening to ally with France or Spain.
D) The governors of both colonies had declared war against the Cherokees.

Answer 3

The Cherokees were angry about British atrocities and realized that they would no longer be able to force concessions from the British by threatening to ally with France or Spain.

Question 4

What did the Treaty of Paris of 1763 stipulate?

A) France would be allowed to maintain its control over the North American fur trade.
B) France would cede its major North American possessions to Great Britain.
C) France would keep Louisiana.
D) Spain would be stripped of all land holdings in North America.

Question 5

Which of the following was true of the Stamp Act?

A) It subjected violators to a trial without a jury.
B) It had little or no impact on ordinary colonists.
C) It had to be approved by the colonial assemblies before it went into effect.
D) It applied only to legal documents such as contracts, deeds, and wills.

Question 6

In light of the major problem confronting the British government in 1763, what decision did Prime Minister George Grenville make concerning Britain's North American colonies?

A) He decided that the colonies should assume a greater share of the cost of running the empire.
B) He decided that the aim of British policies should be to encourage the development of colonial manufacturing.
C) He decided that colonial militia units should be permanently stationed along the crest of the Appalachians.
D) He decided that representative assemblies in the colonies should be disbanded.

Question 7

Which of the following British actions angered Native Americans in the Ohio Country and eventually led to Pontiac's uprising?

A) The British raised the price of goods traded to Indian tribes in the Ohio Country.
B) Chief Pontiac was angered by British attacks against the tribal villages of the Delawares.
C) The British embarked on a program to destroy and eliminate tribes in the Ohio country.
D) Chief Pontiac learned that the British were supplying his tribal enemies with arms and ammunition.

Question 8

What event set off the Seven Years' War?

A) Attacks by the Iroquois on British settlements in Nova Scotia
B) Resistance to the Townshend acts
C) The defeat of General Edward Braddock and his forces
D) The Attack on Fort Necessity

Question 9

The colonies rejected the Plan of Union adopted by the delegates to the Albany Congress because they

A) disagreed with the plan's extension of rights to Indian tribes.
B) felt the plan was the work of a group of anti-British radicals.
C) were afraid they would lose their autonomy.
D) disliked the fact that delegates to the intercolonial legislature were appointed by Parliament.

Question 10

At the end of the Seven Years' War, Britain's most pressing problem was

A) the threat of hostile Indian tribes.
B) government's war debt.
C) unemployment in England.
D) how to establish legal authority over French settlers along the St. Lawrence.

Question 11

Which of the following is true of William Pitt's policies toward the colonies during the Seven Years War?

A) Pitt's policies called for the quartering of troops in private homes.
B) Pitt's policies allowed Americans to have battlefront command positions.
C) Pitt's policies placed recruitment of troops from the colonies in local hands.
D) Pitt's policies encouraged British army personnel to confiscate supplies from colonists.

Question 12

Great Britain issued which proclamation to prevent clashes between colonists and Native Americans?

A) Proclamation of 1765
B) Proclamation of 1760
C) Proclamation of 1758
D) Proclamation of 1763

Question 13

In disputes between Britain and France in the colonies, the Iroquois Confederacy

A) allied with the British against the French.
B) followed a policy of diplomatic isolation.
C) allied with the Catabaws, the Shawnees, and the Delawares against the French and the British.
D) followed a policy of neutrality.

Question 14

Which of the following statements is most consistent with the political thought of the Real Whigs?

A) Human beings will be free only when they decide to discard organized government.
B) There is a constant threat to liberty within monarchical government.
C) The only way to preserve order and stability is to put power into the hands of an enlightened monarch.
D) Government should act in a positive manner to aid the poor, the destitute, and the aged.

Question 15

Which of the following posed the greatest threat to the British colonies in North America in the early eighteenth century?

A) The Dutch
B) The French
C) The Iroquois Confederacy
D) The Spanish

Question 16

Which of the following statements best expresses the argument presented by James Otis in his 1764 pamphlet protesting the Sugar Act and the proposed Stamp Act?

A) Although Parliament may regulate trade, only the colonial assemblies have the power to enact laws pertaining to domestic affairs in their respective colonies.
B) Because the colonists live some three thousand miles from the mother country, it is understood that they do not enjoy all of the rights of Englishmen.
C) Even though the colonists believe an act of Parliament to be unconstitutional, they must obey that act until it is repealed.
D) A colonial assembly has power equal to that of the British Parliament.

Question 17

What was the primary purpose of the Sugar Act?

A) To regulate colonial manufacturing
B) To regulate trade
C) To regulate colonial shipping
D) To raise revenue

Question 18

Why did the American colonists protest Parliament's passage of the Sugar and Currency Acts?

A) The colonists did not believe that Parliament had the power to regulate trade.
B) These acts placed a financial burden on many colonists who were already suffering from the effects of a depressed colonial economy.
C) These acts placed restrictions on the type of legislation that could be enacted by colonial assemblies.
D) The colonists contended that Parliament had no legislative power in the colonies.

Question 19

During the Seven Years' War, some Anglo-American merchants from which cities continued to engage in illegal trade with the French West Indies?

A) Albany, Baltimore, and Quebec
B) Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Wilmington
C) Albany, New York, and Quebec
D) Boston, Philadelphia, and New York

Question 20

Which of the following statements is most consistent with the concept of representative government held by colonial Americans in 1763?

A) An assembly is not representative unless all people twenty-one years of age and over have the right to vote.
B) A person elected to a colonial assembly represents only the people from the region in which eligible voters had a chance to vote for him directly.
C) A person elected to a colonial assembly represents the whole colony, not just the people from his district.
D) The population must be approximately equal in each district from which an assembly's representatives are chosen.

Question 21

Which of the following statements best expresses the argument presented by John Dickinson in Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania?

A) Parliament may regulate colonial trade only with the concurrence of the colonial legislatures.
B) Parliament has no authority over the colonies.
C) Parliament does not have the power to regulate colonial trade.
D) Parliament may not use its power to regulate colonial trade for the purpose of raising revenue.

Question 22

Which of the following is true of the Boston Massacre?

A) A group of Boston citizens was attacked by British soldiers without provocation.
B) A group of off-duty British soldiers took revenge against several Boston laborers who had insulted them.
C) A Boston mob goaded British soldiers into firing into a crowd.
D) Several leading resistance leaders in Boston were taken into custody and summarily executed.

Question 23

What led directly to the dissolution of the Massachusetts Assembly in 1768?

A) The governor's refusal to govern the colony without such an assembly.
B) The Assembly's support of the protest petition adopted by the Virginia House of Burgesses.
C) The Assembly's resolution to oppose the Townshend Acts.
D) The Assembly's refusal to recall the Massachusetts circular letter.

Question 24

The final decision made by the House of Burgesses regarding the Stamp Act Resolves leads to which of the following conclusions?

A) The burgesses denied Parliament the right to pass any legislation affecting the colonies.
B) The burgesses felt they owed no obedience to Parliament.
C) The burgesses believed George III to be a tyrant.
D) The burgesses did not seek independence from England.

Question 25

Public rituals were important to the resistance movement because they

A) ensured that the dominant elite in the colonies could maintain control over the movement.
B) conveyed to common people the ideas on which the movement was based.
C) diverted the minds of the colonists from problems within their colonies.
D) intimidated people into joining the movement.

Question 26

Which of the following best describes the function of the committees of correspondence?

A) They provided legal counsel to patriots whose rights had been abridged by British authorities.
B) They provided daily reports on the movement of British troops.
C) They assumed the primary responsibility of writing anti-British essays for colonial newspapers.
D) They provided a communications network designed to involve more colonists in the resistance movement by widening the movement's geographic scope.

Question 27

What was the main reason that resistance leaders wanted members of the South End and North End gangs to participate in anti−Stamp Act demonstrations?

A) If the demonstrations caused adverse consequences, they would fall on gang members rather than on resistance leaders.
B) Their participation would show that people of all social classes opposed the act.
C) Gang members were much more experienced in leading demonstrations to protest British actions.
D) Gang members were adept at avoiding arrest.

Question 28

After all but one of the Townshend duties were repealed, patriots

A) continued to speak of impending tyranny and of a deliberate plot against American liberties.
B) called for negotiations with George III to prevent future problems.
C) praised Parliament for having the political courage to admit its mistakes.
D) called for the election of representatives to an intercolonial legislature.

Question 29

During the early 1770s, the patriots sought freedom from parliamentary authority but continued to pledge allegiance to the king. This patriot position was difficult for the British to understand because

A) in the British mind Parliament was divinely inspired.
B) the British felt more allegiance to Parliament than to the king.
C) in the British mind the king was part of Parliament and the two could not be separated.
D) the British wanted to replace the king with an elected head of state.

Question 30

How did the boycott movement of 1765−1766 differ from the boycott movement of 1768−1769?

A) The earlier movement created an economic recession throughout the colonies.
B) Colonial merchants had no financial incentive to support the boycott of 1768−1769.
C) In 1768−1769, the economy was so depressed that the boycott threatened merchants with bankruptcy.
D) The boycott of 1768−1769 helped revive a seriously depressed colonial economy.

Question 31

The nonimportation movement that was called to protest the Townshend duties was

A) endorsed by most of the colonial assemblies.
B) inspired by colonial merchants who sought economic gain.
C) supported by all colonists from all classes.
D) effective in reducing colonial imports from England.

Question 32

To protest the Stamp Act, colonial merchants

A) refused to sell any British-made products in the American colonies.
B) created nonexportation associations to help stop the flow of raw materials to England.
C) hired privateers to harass British merchant ships in the Atlantic and Caribbean.
D) created nonimportation associations to put pressure on British exporters.

Question 33

Which of the following is an accurate description of the Sons of Liberty, created in 1765?

A) The organization was founded by colonists who opposed the colonial resistance movement.
B) This intercolonial association was created by the elite in an attempt to channel crowd action into acceptable forms of resistance.
C) This intercolonial association was founded by a group of newspaper editors who composed a series of essays on the subject of liberty.
D) The organization was strongest in the South and was composed of radicals who demanded separation from Great Britain.

Question 34

Which of the following ideas was presented by Daniel Dulany in Considerations on the Propriety of Imposing Taxes on the British Colonies?

A) Although the colonies are dependent on Great Britain, they are not Great Britain's slaves.
B) The American colonies owe obedience to the King but not to Parliament.
C) The colonies are morally superior to Great Britain.
D) Parliament has no jurisdiction over the American colonies.

Question 35

Lord North convinced Parliament to repeal the Townshend duties, except the tax on tea, because of his conviction that

A) such a concession would lead to meaningful negotiation between Parliament and the colonies.
B) the duties were detrimental to the economic well-being of the colonies.
C) only colonial assemblies had the power to impose taxes in the colonies.
D) it was bad policy to impose duties on trade within the empire.

Question 36

How did the Townshend duties differ from previous customs taxes?

A) They attempted to implement the new economic policy of mercantilism.
B) Their enforcement was left to the colonial assemblies.
C) The revenue collected from the duties could be used only to pay off the British national debt.
D) They applied to goods imported into the colonies from Great Britain, not from foreign countries.

Question 37

Well-to-do women helped enlist people's support for the resistance movement by

A) conducting door-to-door recruiting campaigns.
B) engaging in public spinning bees.
C) organizing fund-raising events.
D) giving street lectures on virtue.

Question 38

What was the main reason the Stamp Act was repealed?

A) Britain was responding to colonial assemblies' formal protests.
B) Grenville was replaced as prime minister by Lord Rockingham.
C) The nonimportation movement.
D) Britain was worried about the threat of increasingly violent and destructive mob action.

Question 39

The decision to send British troops to Boston in 1768 was largely due to

A) Lord North's desire to precipitate a crisis in Massachusetts.
B) Indian tribes raiding against Massachusetts colonists.
C) the riot that followed the seizure of the Liberty by customs officials.
D) the decision by the North ministry to use force to suspend the Massachusetts assembly.

Question 40

Which of the following ideas was considered by Parliament to be basic to the British theory of government?

A) The wisdom of governmental policies may not be questioned.
B) Parliament may exercise absolute authority over all colonial possessions.
C) The king's power is absolute.
D) All British subjects are entitled to individual representation in Parliament.

Question 41

How did the colonists resist the Townshend Acts? What role did women play in the resistance?

Question 42

Parliament's intent in passing the Quebec Act was to

A) provide governmental reforms for the former French colony of Quebec.
B) strip the inland colonies of land and power.
C) create a model of colonial government in Quebec that eventually would be imposed on all the colonies.
D) warn that eventually the Catholic Church would be given favored status in all the colonies.

Question 43

Defend the following statement: "Britain's attempts to tighten the reins of government and raise revenues from the colonies in the 1760s and early 1770s convinced many Americans that the Real Whigs' reasoning applied to their circumstances¼. They began to interpret British measures in light of the Real Whigs' warnings and to see evil designs behind the actions of Grenville and his successors."

Question 44

The purpose of the pamphlet that was drafted and distributed by the Boston Committee of Correspondence in 1772 was to

A) state the rights of colonists and involve residents from all Massachusetts towns in the resistance movement.
B) collect funds to defray expenses incurred by the Sons of Liberty.
C) encourage the formation of local militia units.
D) gain support for negotiations with the British.

Question 45

Which of the following is true of the patriots' perception of the Coercive and Quebec Acts?

A) Patriots viewed them as just punishment for the wrongs committed by Boston citizens in the Boston Tea Party.
B) Because of divisions within their ranks, the patriots had no unified view of these acts.
C) Patriots viewed the Coercive Acts as repressive but cared little about the Quebec Act because it applied to Canada.
D) Patriots linked the two and viewed both as a deliberate plot by the British to destroy their rights.

Question 46

As a result of the passage of the Tea Act,

A) the British East India Company was given a monopoly on the sale of tea in the American colonies.
B) the tax on tea imported into the American colonies was repealed.
C) Parliament indicated a willingness to allow the American colonies to have more of a voice in the regulation of trade.
D) tea sold in the American colonies became so expensive that it was affordable only to the upper classes.

Question 47

Examine the events of 1767 and 1768 that culminated in the dissolution of the Massachusetts assembly.

Question 48

Parliament's intent in passing the Coercive Acts was to

A) do away with the right of a trial by jury in the American colonies.
B) punish Boston and the colony of Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party.
C) dissolve self-government in the British colonies in North America.
D) make the Catholic Church the established church in the American colonies.

Question 49

Discuss the importance of public rituals as part of the colonial resistance movement.

Question 50

In the immediate aftermath of the passage of which two acts, did the colonies agree to send delegates to an intercolonial congress?

A) Tea and Turmoil Acts
B) Stamp and Townshend Acts
C) Sugar and Currency Acts
D) Coercive and Quebec Acts

Question 51

Discuss the similarities and differences between the British and American concepts of representative government. How did the differences in their concepts contribute to the coming of the American Revolution?

Question 52

What were the three tasks facing the members of the First Continental Congress? How were they resolved?

Question 53

Trace the changes in the constitutional arguments presented by the colonists against the actions of Parliament from 1764 to 1774. Why did these changes occur? Why are the changes significant?

Question 54

Explain the constitutional arguments presented against the Sugar and Stamp Acts by James Otis in his 1764 pamphlet The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved. What constitutional arguments were presented in subsequent pamphlets between 1764 and the Tea Act's passage in 1773? How did these arguments differ from Otis's? Why were they different?

Question 55

Discuss the actions taken by Boston's colonists in their efforts to prevent implementation of the Stamp Act. What were the consequences of their actions?

Question 56

The Boston statement of rights and grievances, drafted by the Boston Committee of Correspondence in 1772, differed from previous patriot pamphlets in that it

A) did not mention the necessity of obedience to Parliament.
B) did not profess allegiance to the king.
C) attempted to define the precise limits of parliamentary authority.
D) claimed that colonial assemblies had the right to judge the constitutionality of acts of Parliament.

Question 57

Discuss the nature of colonial protests against the Stamp Act outside the colony of Massachusetts, paying particular attention to Patrick Henry's proposals before the Virginia House of Burgesses. What were the consequences of these actions?

Question 58

Some leaders of the American resistance movement viewed passage of the Tea Act as

A) a sign that Parliament was willing to compromise on the major issues of disagreement between itself and the American colonies.
B) an indication that Parliament eventually intended to establish an East India Company monopoly on all colonial trade.
C) an indication that Parliament eventually intended to prohibit the sale of all tea in the American colonies.
D) proof that Parliament would respond positively to colonial assemblies if they presented their grievances in a respectful way

Question 59

Explain the impact of the French and Indian War on interior Indian tribes, the American colonists, and the colonists' relationship with Great Britain.

Question 60

During the years from 1765 to 1774, why did skilled craftsmen, professionals, and members of the "educated elite" in the colonies encourage the participation of "disfranchised" or "ordinary" colonists in crowd action (street protests and public rituals) associated with the American resistance movement?
Why, at the same time, were these leaders of the resistance movement also apprehensive about the participation of "disfranchised" or "ordinary" colonists in crowd action?
∙ Cite at least two specific instances in which the elite men who led the resistance movement welcomed the involvement of "ordinary" colonists in crowd action.
∙ Cite at least two specific instances in which such men were apprehensive about the involvement of "ordinary" colonists in crowd action.

Question 61

Beginning with passage of the Tea Act in 1773, discuss the events that led to the Boston Tea Party. Was patriot behavior justified, or should it be considered an intemperate act of lawlessness? Explain.

Question 62

Committees of observation and inspection were officially charged with enforcing the Continental Association, and they also

A) took over the task of training and outfitting local militia groups.
B) encouraged open debate between loyalists and patriots.
C) established revolutionary tribunals that tried and executed dissidents.
D) established elaborate spy networks to identify opponents of the resistance movement.

Question 63

Beginning with the passage of the Townshend Acts in 1767, examine the colonial events that led to the Boston Massacre. Was it truly a "massacre"? Explain. Did Paul Revere's engraving of the Boston Massacre portray what actually happened? Explain. What were the consequences of the "massacre"?

Question 64

Look at the Coercive Acts and the Quebec Act as an impartial outside observer, and explain whether or not the perceptions of the patriots indicated in the statement below were accurate.
"The Coercive Acts and the Quebec Act seemed to prove what the patriots had feared since 1768, that Great Britain had embarked on a deliberate plan to oppress them. It seemed as though the full dimensions of the plot against American rights and liberties had at last been revealed."

Question 65

Discuss the causes, consequences, and significance of the New Jersey (1746) and Hudson Valley (1765−1766) land riots.

Question 66

Did the committees of observation and inspection enjoy widespread popular support? Why or why not?

A) No, because the election of many radicals to these committees caused further divisions within the resistance movement.
B) No, because the method of election ensured that only members of the elite would be elected to these committees.
C) Yes, because all men eligible to vote for delegates of the lower house of the colonial assemblies were allowed to elect committee members at the local level.
D) Yes, because only well-known men who had previously been elected to positions of authority were chosen as committee members.

Question 67

What caused the Regulator movements of the late 1760s and early 1770s?

A) Tobacco growers were angry over high commissions charged by tobacco factors.
B) Backcountry farmers were angry that the rights of local Indian tribes were officially recognized.
C) Merchants believed that British economic policies were harmful to the import business.
D) Backcountry farmers believed that they did not have an adequate voice in colonial politics.

Question 68

The Continental Association called for the

A) nonimportation and nonconsumption of British goods.
B) election of representatives to an American legislature.
C) formation of a Continental Army.
D) enactment of laws designed to create a virtuous republic.

Question 69

Discuss the use of economic boycotts as a means of protest against British policies between 1764 and 1774. Were such boycotts effective? Why or why not? Were the colonists united in using boycotts as a means of protest? Explain.

Question 70

Discuss the purpose, makeup, tactics, and ultimate effectiveness of the committees of observation and inspection.

Question 71

The most difficult task facing the delegates to the First Continental Congress was

A) reaching an agreement about how best to resist the British.
B) deciding who should write the Declaration of Rights and Grievances.
C) reaching a consensus on the nature of the constitutional relationship between the colonies and England.
D) deciding what to include in their list of grievances.

Question 72

John Galloway and John Adams held different positions on the constitutional relationship between England and its colonies. Using Galloway's plan of union and the crucial clauses proposed by John Adams and contained in the Declaration of Rights and Grievances, contrast their positions.

Question 73

Discuss the causes, consequences, and significance of the Regulator movements of the late 1760s (South Carolina) and early 1770s (North Carolina).

Question 74

Which of the following accurately identifies Joseph Galloway's plan?

A) Galloway proposed a distinction between taxation and legislation, with the assemblies having authority over the former and Parliament over the latter.
B) Galloway proposed a formal plan of union that required the joint consent of Parliament and a new American legislature to all laws pertaining to the colonies.
C) Galloway proposed that each colony negotiate its own separate agreement with Parliament concerning parliamentary power.
D) Galloway proposed the acceptance of the concept of virtual representation.

Question 75

In the Declaration of Rights and Grievances adopted by the First Continental Congress, the delegates made it clear that the American colonists

A) were most concerned about the arbitrary use of power by King George III.
B) owed no allegiance to Parliament.
C) would only voluntarily obey Parliament.
D) believed that independence from England was the only way to protect their rights and liberties.