CHAPTER 5 The American Revolution, 1763–1783
TEST BANK
Learning Objectives
1. Describe the roots and significance of the Stamp Act controversy.
2. Identify the key events that sharpened the divisions between Britain and the colonists in the late 1760s and early
1770s.
3. Identify the key events that marked the move toward American independence.
4. Explain how American forces were able to prevail in the Revolutionary War.
Multiple Choice
1. What is true of the period historians call “the Age of Revolution”?
a. Revolutions occurred only in the New World, while Europe remained largely unchanged.
b. It was primarily characterized by the struggle to reinstate rightful monarchs.
c. It began with the French Revolution and ended with the Mexican Revolution.
d. It was characterized by a flowering of religious, intellectual, and racial tolerance.
e. Revolutions began in British North America and spread to Europe, the Caribbean, and Latin America.
2. Who were the Loyal Nine?
a. a group of merchants and craftsmen active in opposing the Stamp Act
b. a group of British-appointed governors who opposed the Revolution
c. nine Native American tribes who sided with the British
d. a group of women committed to using only homespun cloth during the boycott
e. the nine delegates to the first Continental Congress
3. The attack by Massachusetts colonists on the home of lieutenant governor and chief justice Thomas
Hutchinson
a. convinced him that the Stamp Act, which he had previously supported, was unwise.
b. included a physical assault of Hutchinson’s family, an act that prompted Great Britain to clamp down on
colonial liberties.
c. led Hutchinson to believe that effective British rule would require the loss of some liberties for the
colonists.
d. led Parliament to repeal the Townshend Acts immediately.
e. included prominent Boston residents such as Samuel and John Adams.
4. Which one of the following statements accurately characterizes the British approach to governing the
American colonies prior to 1763?
a. The British were entirely hands–off in their supervision of the colonies, granting them complete freedom to
issue their own currency and create their own rules and policies.
b. The British refused to involve the colonies in major conflicts such as the Seven Years’ War because they
were too far away and the colonies were too poor, thereby causing the colonists to feel excluded.
c. The British emphasized giving the colonists complete economic freedom, on the one hand, but requiring
that colonists follow British rules regarding religion and social codes on the other.
d. The British only occasionally intervened in the internal affairs of the colonies, instead remaining focused on
protecting the economic interests of the mother country, especially through trade.
e. The British devoted their attention to appointing all positions in colonial government, requiring strict
adherence to British rule and mandates, and covering the funding of all military ventures in North America.
5. After what major event did the British government make the colonies bear part of the cost of the empire?
a. the Declaration of Independence
b. King Philip’s War
c. the Seven Years’ War
d. the Boston Tea Party
e. the appointment of William Pitt as British prime minister
6. Britain intervened in the colonies in new ways in the 1760s
a. because the colonial leaders asked it to.
b. because the colonial economies were in chaos.
c. because it sought to abolish slavery.
d. to raise funds to pay for the debts incurred by the Seven Years’ War.
e. to redistribute wealth from the elite planter class to the working class.
7. What was an important political origin of the American Revolution?
a. The Sugar Act financially hurt merchants living outside colonial ports.
b. The Stamp Act was a tax that very few colonists had to pay.
c. The colonists wanted a physical westward barrier to settlements.
d. The colonists criticized their lack of representation in Parliament.
e. The colonists wanted the writs of assistance to be actively enforced.
8. Virtual representation was the idea
a. that only those who were elected by a given population could represent that population in a legislative body.
b. about representation that most politically active American colonists in the 1760s and 1770s championed.
c. that Parliament had always had complete sovereignty over the king.
d. that each member of Britain’s House of Commons represented the entire empire, not just his own district.
e. that the king should appoint delegates to represent the colonies in the British House of Commons.
9. Writs of assistance alarmed colonists because they
a. required colonists to assist British officials in administering the Stamp Act.
b. were general search warrants that allowed customs officials to search anywhere they chose for smuggled
goods.
c. required stamps for all kinds of printed material.
d. required colonists to retrieve the tea thrown into Boston Harbor.
e. imposed new taxes on goods imported from the Caribbean.
10. Which of the following statements best explains colonial resistance to the Sugar Act?
a. It made rum much more expensive to produce and thus to purchase.
b. It doubled the price on sugar, making it too expensive for middle-class consumers.
c. It allowed smugglers to pay a fine rather than being tried in a court with a jury.
d. It outlawed the admiralty courts and forced smugglers to stand trial in London.
e. It was expected to worsen an existing economic recession.
11. With the Sugar Act, Britain
a. attempted to force the North American colonies to import more sugar from the British West Indies.
b. abolished slavery on all colonial sugar plantations.
c. required colonists to work for wages on Barbadian sugar plantations.
d. cracked down on smuggling by prosecuting accused smugglers without the benefit of a jury trial.
e. required South Carolina and Virginia to shift their main crops to sugar.
12. The Stamp Act created such a stir in the colonies because
a. it was established by the King without Parliament’s approval.
b. lawyers were offended that they could be jailed for not using the correct stamp on legal documents.
c. it was the first direct tax Parliament imposed on the colonies.
d. none of the revenue raised would be spent within the colonies themselves.
e. Benjamin Franklin went public with his opposition to it.
13. How did the Stamp Act differ from the Sugar Act?
a. Whereas the Stamp Act was still in place at the time of the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, the Sugar
Act was quickly repealed.
b. Whereas the Stamp Act affected, and therefore offended, a large portion of the colonial population, the
Sugar Act mainly affected residents of colonial ports.
c. Whereas the Stamp Act was predominantly opposed by northern merchants, the Sugar Act was mainly
opposed by southern planters.
d. Whereas the Stamp Act was passed in close collaboration with colonial leaders, the Sugar Act was a total
surprise to the colonists.
e. Whereas the Stamp Act focused on the regulation of trade, the Sugar Act was a direct tax on the colonists.
14. How did the British government predominantly view the American colonies prior to the Revolution?
a. as an expensive and troublesome responsibility that many in Parliament were eager to be free from
b. as an economic possession, the inhabitants of which were merely employees of the empire and had no
political rights whatsoever
c. as a “sister nation,” destined for independence, but as of yet too immature and economically undeveloped to
rule itself
d. as a “confederation of equals” with British citizens, highly involved in creating British laws and thus
obligated to respect them
e. as unequal parts in a larger political and economic system, strictly subject to the rulings of Parliament
15. Americans were not represented in the House of Commons, and therefore felt they were being taxed without their
consent. What rallying cry did this lead to?
a. “Give me liberty, or give me death!”
b. “We are freemen—not born slaves!”
c. “All men are created equal.”
d. “We have it in our power to begin the world over again.”
e. “No taxation without representation!”
16. What was one of the outcomes of the Stamp Act?
a. Lower-class riots in response to the act began to worry elite rulers and landholders.
b. The Stamp Act Congress insisted that the right to consent to taxation was essential to people’s freedom.
c. The Stamp Act Congress adopted the Declaratory Act, which formally defined American liberties.
d. Thomas Jefferson publicly stated that revolting against Great Britain had become necessary.
e. Disagreements about the best response to the act split colonial governments into opposing factions.
17. Which was an aim of the Stamp Act Congress of 1765?
a. to secure support from colonial governments for declaring independence from England
b. to end all boycotts of British goods
c. to empower colonies to act independently of one another when dealing with the British
d. to punish those loyal to the British by seizing their property
e. to assert that colonies should not be taxed without consent
18. What role did the Committees of Correspondence play in the years preceding the revolution?
a. They opened up effective channels of communication between the colonists and their Indian allies.
b. They allowed the British to enforce taxes and regulations more efficiently.
c. They exacerbated tensions between Protestants and Catholics in the colonies.
d. They helped colonial leaders to share ideas on resisting taxation.
e. They created an irreparable rift between northern and southern states.
19. Which of the following descriptions accurately characterizes resistance to the Stamp Act?
a. sporadic and almost nonexistent
b. rowdy, vocal, and widespread
c. divisive and harmful to any sense of colonial unity
d. limited to coastal merchants
e. disorganized and ineffective
20. What idea did both the Regulators and Stamp Act Congress share?
a. There should be no taxes under any circumstances.
b. Colonists wanted to be represented in the government.
c. Colonial governors should make decisions unilaterally.
d. Boycotts did not work as a means of protest.
e. Native Americans should remain in control of land west of the Appalachians.
21. The Sons of Liberty
a. enjoyed support from New York craftsmen and laborers.
b. won widespread support from New York’s upper classes.
c. opposed any violent response to the Stamp Act.
d. never found support among the lower classes of colonists.
e. immediately came to dominate colonial legislative bodies.
22. The Sons of Liberty
a. were celebrated by prominent New York families such as the Livingstons.
b. took the lead in enforcing the boycott of British imports in New York City.
c. were opposed by craftsmen, laborers, and sailors.
d. helped to enforce the Stamp Act.
e. opposed public protests.
23. The Declaratory Act
a. imposed a boycott on all manufactured goods produced in the colonies.
b. declared that colonists had to house British soldiers in their homes.
c. closed the Port of Boston on account of the Boston Tea Party.
d. rejected American claims that only their elected representatives could levy taxes.
e. proclaimed the colonies’ independence from Great Britain.
24. Violent social turmoil in rural areas during the 1760s
a. was due entirely to Great Britain’s Proclamation of 1763, which banned western settlement.
b. ended when the British army drove Native Americans beyond the line of settlement.
c. flourished because the British army had no interest in going beyond coastal cities.
d. led to the creation of the Sons of Liberty.
e. involved events in both northern and southern colonies.
25. Which armed group was defeated by the colony’s militia at the 1771 Battle of Alamance?
a. the Sons of Liberty
b. the Regulators
c. the Paxton Boys
d. the Association
e. the Rangers
26. The Regulators were concerned primarily with
a. the secure possession of their land.
b. protecting the privilege of the rich and powerful.
c. helping the British to enforce new regulations.
d. returning land to Native Americans.
e. abolishing slavery.
27. What became of the Stamp Act?
a. A year after it was passed, Parliament repealed it and passed the Declaratory Act.
b. It officially remained in effect until America achieved independence.
c. The less onerous Sugar Act officially replaced it in 1770.
d. As the colonists had largely ignored it, more severe laws soon accompanied it.
e. The Stamp Act Congress of 1765 immediately rendered it obsolete.
28. What was the aim of the Townshend Acts?
a. raising revenue by taxing imported goods
b. preventing the colonies from establishing their own courts
c. declaring a formal boycott on Britain by colonial legislatures
d. reducing the smuggling of sugar and rum
e. securing lodging for British soldiers in the colonies
29. Which is true of John Dickinson’s Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania?
a. It was a direct refutation of the ideas of the Enlightenment and showed that these ideas had not yet made it
to America.
b. It explicitly appealed to laborers and craftsmen and showed that they were the center of political debate.
c. It was the first published document proposing independence from Great Britain.
d. It argued that colonists should reconcile with Britain and focus on securing the same rights as Englishmen.
e. It reflected many of the ideas later expressed in the Declaration of Independence.
30. The “Daughters of Liberty” was the name given to
a. the female children of all the Founding Fathers.
b. New England women who won voting rights in the 1770s.
c. the brave women who cared for wounded soldiers during the early battles of the Revolution.
d. women who spun and wove to create their own clothing rather than buy British goods.
e. the first national women’s patriotic organization raising money for the Continental army.
31. Which group was initially reluctant to boycott British goods following the passage of the Townshend Acts?
a. the wives of farmers and craftsmen
b. Chesapeake planters
c. the Committee of Correspondence
d. Philadelphia and New York City merchants
e. urban artisans
32. The Boston Massacre occurred when British soldiers
a. killed Indians who were raiding frontier towns.
b. fired into a mob and killed a number of Boston residents.
c. captured members of the Sons of Liberty involved in the Boston Tea Party.
d. fired on local minutemen guarding an arsenal.
e. tried to defend Thomas Hutchinson from an angry mob.
33. The underlying tension that escalated into the Boston Massacre was between
a. supporters and opponents of the boycott of British cloth.
b. British troops stationed in Boston and the city’s laborers competing for jobs.
c. two factions of British troops from Liverpool and London, who disagreed over military strategy.
d. British troops and local farmers.
34. Crispus Attucks
a. defended in court the British soldiers who participated in the Boston Massacre.
b. organized the boycott of British imports following the Townshend Act.
c. was the first person of mixed race to serve in the Continental Congress.
d. has been called the first martyr of the American Revolution.
e. died bravely at the Battle of Concord.
35. What was one of the ways in which Paul Revere’s engraving of the Boston Massacre was significant?
a. It accidentally divulged secret information about the revolutionaries’ plans and gave the British the
advantage during the first battle of the war.
b. It helped encourage reconciliation efforts between the colonies and Great Britain for a time due to its
portrayal of the event as two-sided.
c. Its resurfacing as an artifact much later in history demonstrates how few colonists had heard of the event at
the time.
d. It distorted what had happened and stirred indignation in the colonies by depicting British soldiers firing
into an unarmed crowd.
e. It criticized how the British involved in the massacre went back to their daily lives immediately and
remained under the protection of the crown.
36. Which one of the following statements accurately describes the results or duration of the nonimportation
movement?
a. It lasted through the outbreak of the Revolutionary War and was crucial in helping to establish a strong
American manufacturing sector.
b. It resulted in the creation of a powerful group of smugglers who sided with the British during the
Revolutionary War.
c. American merchants largely abandoned it when Parliament repealed the Townshend Acts at the urging of
British merchants.
d. Soon after it began, colonial leaders urged the colonists to abandon it because they felt that it was too
harmful to the local economy.
e. It resulted in an economic recession in England that led many British citizens to reject the crown and openly
support the colonists.
37. What primarily motivated the British to place a tax on tea by passing the Tea Act?
a. a desire to reassert the British right to tax the colonies after having given up that right
b. an overabundance of tea in British warehouses
c. a desire to punish the colonists for the long-term boycott of British goods
d. a need for revenue to fund the Revolutionary War, which had recently begun
e. aiding the financially ailing East India Company, a giant trading monopoly
38. Why did colonists object to the Tea Act?
a. It would aid a different part of the empire rather than their own.
b. By paying it, they would be acknowledging Great Britain’s right to tax the colonists.
c. It granted a monopoly, and the colonists opposed all forms of monopoly.
d. The British East India Company made inferior tea, and colonists preferred not to drink it.
e. It raised the tax on tea so much as to make tea prohibitively expensive.
39. Which of the following was a component of the Intolerable Acts?
a. British authorities stationed soldiers in Boston for the first time and officially declared war, stating that the
actions of the colonists were no longer tolerable.
b. All American ports were closed off to trade of any kind until the tea destroyed by the Boston Tea Party was
paid for in full.
c. The Massachusetts governor was authorized to appoint council members instead of holding elections to fill
the positions.
d. It granted legal rights to Roman Catholics living in the American colonies, causing increased disunity
among the American colonists.
e. Colonists were forbidden from producing or using their own linen, wool, or paper, causing them to rely
entirely on British imports.
40. Who was most directly harmed by the Boston Tea Party?
a. the Massachusetts governor
b. Boston artisans
c. Boston merchants
d. the British navy
e. the East India Company
41. Which action by British Parliament was labeled an “Intolerable Act” by Americans?
a. Parliament closed the port of Charleston to all trade until the coffee dumped in the harbor was paid for.
b. Parliament altered the Virginia Charter to curtail town meetings.
c. Parliament increased the number of elected officials in Massachusetts.
d. Parliament jailed the delegates to the Continental Congress.
e. Parliament empowered military commanders to lodge soldiers in private homes.
42. The British Parliament’s 1774 Quebec Act
a. banned the Catholic Church in Quebec, in hopes of securing the loyalty of Massachusetts colonists.
b. granted the province of Quebec to New York, in hopes of securing the loyalty of New York colonists.
c. granted legal toleration to the Roman Catholic Church in Canada, which heightened opposition to British
rule among many Protestant colonists.
d. granted Quebec independence from Britain, hoping to enlist the Quebecois in any future conflicts with the
colonies.
e. returned all former tribal lands in Quebec to the Indian tribes.
43. What were the Suffolk Resolves?
a. the peace treaty that ended the Regulator movement in North Carolina
b. a list of demands addressed to landlords, made in 1772 by New York tenant farmers
c. a group of anti–Tea Act petitions from Boston merchants to the Massachusetts royal governor
d. the resolutions pledging the Continental Congress’s loyalty to King George III in 1775
e. a set of resolutions made in 1774, urging Massachusetts citizens to prepare for war
44. Who were the delegates to the first Continental Congress?
a. men representing all thirteen colonies and coming from various economic classes
b. largely upper-class men and women exclusively from the South
c. well-known men exclusively from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic colonies
d. prominent political leaders, all men, from all colonies except Georgia
e. Loyalists who hoped to gain better control over colonial legislatures
45. At the first Continental Congress, who declared, “I am not a Virginian, but an American”?
a. Thomas Jefferson
b. George Washington
c. Richard Henry Lee
d. Patrick Henry
e. Edmund Randolph
46. What did the Continental Association call for?
a. a near total end to trade with Great Britain and the West Indies
b. the democratic election of all colonial government officials
c. the adoption of a formal declaration of independence from Britain
d. an end to the slave trade
e. the right to free assembly and to trial by jury
47. What was the purpose of the Committees of Safety?
a. to maintain a twenty-four-hour watch for approaching British soldiers
b. to police the local population and punish those not following the boycott of British goods
c. to stop smugglers and confiscate their goods
d. to prevent Catholics from holding mass or preaching their beliefs
e. to protect British officials living in the largest colonial cities
48. In the years immediately before the American Revolution, the concept of natural rights
a. greatly influenced Thomas Jefferson’s early writings.
b. prompted Thomas Jefferson to support independence before the war even began.
c. caused many American colonists to call for the abolition of the monarchy.
d. contradicted the argument for colonial resistance.
e. led to Parliament’s passage of the Declaratory Act of 1766.
49. By 1774, how did the Germans of Northampton County, Pennsylvania, react to talks of liberty?
a. They supported the idea of natural rights for subjects of King George III.
b. They feared it would give too much freedom to Indians in Pennsylvania.
c. They did not like the focus on individualism.
d. They focused only on freedom of religion.
e. They supported liberty but opposed the American Revolution.
50. Which of the following battles was among the very first of the American War of Independence?
a. Yorktown
b. Monmouth
c. Bunker Hill
d. Saratoga
e. Cowpens
51. What is the significance of the Battle of Lexington and Concord?
a. It was the first battle in which the French fought with the Americans.
b. It is considered the battle that started the Revolutionary War.
c. It was the first battle in which George Washington served as general.
d. It was the first battle in which ex-slaves fought with the British.
e. It is considered the worst American defeat during the Revolutionary War.
52. What prompted the British to declare that the colonies were in a state of rebellion?
a. signing of the Declaration of Independence
b. creation of a standing army by the Second Continental Congress
c. formation of the Stamp Act Congress
d. the Battle of Bunker Hill
e. the Olive Branch Petition
53. What was the result of the Americans’ placement of a cannon above Boston following the Battle of Bunker
Hill?
a. Benedict Arnold defected to the British.
b. General Howe surrendered to Washington’s troops.
c. British troops abandoned Boston to the colonists.
d. Washington abandoned New York City to the British.
e. British forces captured an American army of 5,000 men.
54. John Adams recommended George Washington as commander of the Continental army because
a. he knew that Washington was weighing an offer from Britain to lead its North American forces.
b. he shared Washington’s view of the importance of natural rights.
c. he believed that Washington’s being a southerner could help unify the colonists.
d. he knew Washington had opposed General Howe’s forces cutting down the Liberty Tree.
e. they had an agreement that Adams would then be put in charge of administering the army in the New
England colonies.
55. Which of the following made many colonial leaders hesitant to support the idea of independence?
a. the cautionary words in Common Sense about the foolishness of fighting the British
b. fear of class conflict and “anarchy from below”
c. reluctance to lose the highest positions within the colonial government structure
d. the belief of most colonists that taxation was actually highly beneficial to the colonies
e. a desire to wait until the allegiance of Canada and the West Indies could be secured
56. What did Lord Dunmore do that horrified many southerners?
a. He encouraged Indians to conduct raids against backcountry settlements in the Carolinas.
b. He issued a proclamation freeing all slaves south of the Ohio River.
c. He promised freedom to slaves who joined the British cause.
d. He confiscated the property of Loyalists.
e. He circulated germ-ridden blankets among frontier towns to spread disease.
57. Who argued that “true liberty” could only be achieved by remaining in the British empire?
a. Ben Franklin
b. Sam Adams
c. Ethan Allen
d. George Washington
e. Joseph Galloway
58. The Olive Branch Petition
a. was meant to ease tensions among the organized political parties within the Continental Congress.
b. enabled northern and southern colonies to work together.
c. convinced Thomas Paine that he had enough support to write Common Sense.
d. was Parliament’s final attempt to explain virtual representation to the colonists.
e. was addressed to King George III and reaffirmed American loyalty to the crown.
59. What statement is true about Thomas Paine’s background before he wrote Common Sense?
a. He held a key role in Parliament before arriving in Philadelphia.
b. He got the suggestion to write Common Sense from Benjamin Franklin.
c. He was from a family who had settled in Jamestown in 1607.
d. He emigrated from England in 1774.
e. He was a clergyman in England before arriving in America.
60. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
a. argued that the British governmental system was perfectly good but that current officials had corrupted it.
b. made highly original arguments in favor of independence.
c. sold well among the elite, who in turn were able to convey its ideas to the lower classes.
d. argued that America would become the home of freedom and “an asylum for mankind.”
e. led to his arrest on charges of treason, but he saved himself by writing another pamphlet taking the opposite
position.
61. What made Thomas Paine’s Common Sense a unique document?
a. It was the only document in 1776 calling for American independence.
b. It was mostly original in its ideas and concepts.
c. It wanted the United States to form a representative government.
d. It expanded the size of the public sphere, going beyond the elite.
e. It talked about how American commerce would flourish even more once it was no longer subject to British
regulations.
62. In what ways was Thomas Paine’s Common Sense similar to Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of
Independence?
a. Both Jefferson and Paine discussed how the United States could create a navy.
b. Both showed how a king can be a tyrant.
c. Paine used many Latin phrases, which led Jefferson to do the same.
d. Paine and the Declaration of Independence both criticized using slaves from Africa.
e. Both documents contradicted the ideas of John Locke.
63. At the insistence of Georgia and South Carolina, what clause from Thomas Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration of
Independence was deleted before Congress approved the document?