Chapter 5: The American Revolution, 1776–1783
CORE OBJECTIVES
1. Explain the challenges faced by both British and American military leaders in fighting the
TRUE/FALSE
1. Americans were more successful than the British in recruiting Indian allies during the
American Revolution.
2. Thomas Paine’s pamphlet The American Crisis gave the colonists inspiration with the line,
“These are times that try men’s souls.”
3. Desertion was a big problem for Washington’s army during the Revolution.
4. Before the Revolution was over, the British were fighting the Spanish, the French, and the
Dutch, as well as the Americans.
5. The American victory at the Battle of Saratoga destroyed any British hopes of winning the
war.
6. After 1778, much of the fighting in the Revolution was done in the south.
7. The Treaty of Paris granted the United States unquestioned claim to Florida.
8. During the Revolution, Loyalists came exclusively from the elite ranks of society.
9. Many Loyalists emigrated from the American colonies during and after the American
Revolution.
10. In the aftermath of the Revolution, American leaders founded a purely democratic form of
government.
11. The Articles of Confederation left many powers to the states.
12. The Anglican Church became the Episcopal Church (in the United States) after the
American Revolution.
13. Thomas Jefferson was the most notable Virginian to free his slaves during the Revolution.
14. “Camp followers” were women (wives, mothers, sisters) who followed men to war to wash,
cook, and sew for them in exchange for daily rations.
15. During the war, Iroquois tribes such as the Mohawks helped the Americans fight against the
British.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Which of the following statements about the challenges and strengths of the British during
the American Revolution was true?
a. British troops consisted of a large number of citizen-soldiers who were well trained.
b. One of the greatest challenges the British faced was that the colonies were so far away.
c. The British struggled with individual, conventional battles but excelled in their
development of an overall strategy for the war.
d. The British faced many setbacks because of the lack of commitment of their troops.
e. A major strength of the British forces was the overabundance of American Loyalists and
Native Americans willing to fight for them.
2. Which of the following groups did the British troops during the American Revolution
include?
a. Hessians
b. The French
c. Whigs
d. The Stockbridge Indians
e. Citizen-soldiers
3. How did the British government supply its army in the colonies?
a. Supplies were shipped from Britain.
b. They relied on the Native Americans for supplies.
c. They foraged for supplies.
d. Everything they needed was supplied by British Loyalists.
e. The Germans supplied the needed provisions.
4. Which of the following statements about the Continental Army is true?
a. George Washington gave the army this name because soldiers from all thirteen colonies
were working together and developing a national outlook.
b. The army was limited to militiamen across the settled part of the continent and
continued to be organized by colony throughout the war.
c. The army already had a strict training schedule before the war; the main area of
improvement needed was raising the funds to pay their soldiers adequately.
d. Although it connected the different colonies in an unprecedented way, the army did not
include any soldiers from Georgia and received little support from the South.
e. The army had adequate funds and enlistment contracts going into the war, but their
knowledge of the terrain, especially that controlled by the Native Americans, was
limited.
5. Of the following, which statement best describes average Patriot soldiers?
a. Middle class artisans and merchants
b. Disciplined volunteers
c. Experienced, professional soldiers
d. Poor farmers and former indentured servants
e. Members of the upper class
6. Washington, as the colonial army’s leader, believed that
a. well-trained, disciplined soldiers were the key to winning the war.
b. a decisive and staggering victory was needed.
c. the Native Americans’ allegiance would turn the tide.
d. the Continental army should also hire mercenaries.
e. all he had to do was wait for disease to decimate the British troops.
7. Which of the following statements correctly described the Iroquois Confederacy during the
American Revolution?
a. It was divided in its policies toward the Patriots and British.
b. It allied with the British.
c. It allied the Continental army.
d. It remained neutral.
e. It withdrew to Canada for the duration of the war.
8. After several successful battles in New Jersey in December 1776, a British officer stated
that the Americans had become
a. “defeated, downcast, and depleted.”
b. “a formidable enemy.”
c. “a group with little belief in their cause.”
d. “a passable foe, but one that would be defeated.”
e. “utterly determined to disregard acceptable rules of war.”
9. General Howe, the British commander, believed he could defeat the Americans by
a. cutting off outside support to the colonies.
b. taking control of the countryside.
c. offering the colonists money to switch sides.
d. slowly wearing down the Continental army.
e. defeating Washington and his troops in a single decisive battle.
10. The Battle of Saratoga was particularly significant because
a. it demonstrated General Burgoyne’s incompetence.
b. the outnumbered Americans defeated the superior British troops.
c. it resulted in an alliance between the Americans and the French.
d. this quick victory showed American superiority.
e. the British routed the Americans.
11. After 1778, which of the following countries allied with the United States?
a. Spain, Canada, and the Netherlands
b. France, Spain, and Germany
c. France, Spain, and Austria
d. France, Spain, and the Netherlands
e. France, Spain, and Canada
12. In response to the Battle of Saratoga, what did Britain’s Lord North do?
a. He offered to surrender if the Americans would remain a part of the British Empire.
b. He offered to comply with earlier American demands in return for an end to the war.
c. He threatened to annihilate the Americans if they did not surrender.
d. He agreed to listen to the American complaints.
e. He allied with the Spanish.
13. Where did George Washington’s army spend a miserable winter in 1777–1778, suffering
intensely?
a. Saratoga
b. Delaware River
c. Valley Forge
d. Trenton
e. Yorktown
14. Who was the Prussian mercenary who volunteered in 1778 to train the Continental Army
and bring unity and discipline?
a. Baron Willem Dafoe
b. Julius Heinrich, baron von Austria
c. Kaiser Georg Jan Heimlich
d. Friedrich Wilhelm, baron von Steuben
e. Baronet Max Weber
15. Which of the following occurred as a result of the Revolution?
a. A series of strict and effective treaties between Patriots and Indians for land
b. The formation of the first major government-supported Indian reservations
c. A guerrilla war in which Indians and Loyalists fought Patriot settlers in the West
d. The creation of formal settlements designed for Loyalists and traitors in the West
e. Great Britain’s refusal to participate in the Treaty of Paris
16. Which of the following was part of British General Sir Henry Clinton’s “southern strategy”
to turn the tide of war?
a. Recruiting as many slaves as possible
b. Enlisting support from local Loyalists and Cherokees
c. Training local militia forces in British military tactics
d. Attacking the U.S. capital at Washington, D.C.
e. Attacking local guerrilla bands such as those led by Thomas Sumter
17. According to the textbook, the Battle of King’s Mountain was significant because
a. it was the first time family fought family in the conflict.
b. it showed that the British could be defeated.
c. the war became much more brutal after this battle.
d. the battle raged for months and exhausted both sides.
e. it inspired farmers of the region to join the Patriot cause.
18. Which of the following statements about the Battle of Yorktown was true?
a. It was a combined Franco-American victory over the British.
b. It was won by General Cornwallis.
c. It would have been an American victory even without France’s aid.
d. It ended with General Cornwallis’s escape.
e. It saw the French fleet defeated.