Chapter 5 Learning Curve
How did Prime Minister George Grenville first try to address the revenue problem with the American colonies? A. He proposed the Currency Act. B. He pushed for the Sugar Act. C. He argued for the Stamp Act. D. He publicly campaigned for the Coercive Acts.
A.
In 1763, Radical Whigs launched a campaign to reform Parliament by abolishing tiny districts that were controlled by wealthy aristocrats and merchants. What were these districts known as? A. Rotten boroughs B. Dirty districts C. Corrupt counties D. Pensioners' places
A.
In 1775, what did William Pitt propose that American colonists should do in exchange for Parliament renouncing its power to tax the colonies and its recognition of the Continental Congress as a lawful body? A. Acknowledge parliamentary supremacy and provide revenue B. Resume trade with the British Isles C. Accept the Stamp Act D. Accept the king's appointment of a president-general presiding over colonial assemblies
A.
The British ministry shrewdly drafted the Sugar Act of 1764 with the intention of A. allowing colonial trade with the French West Indies and imposing a lower but more strictly enforced duty on French molasses. B. cutting off all colonial trade with the French West Indies. C. enforcing the 6-pence-per-gallon duty on French molasses set by the Molasses Act of 1733. D. forcing Americans to refine sugar in British refineries.
A.
To display their deep contempt for the Coercive Acts, what did Patriots call them? A. Intolerable Acts B. The Horrible Acts C. The Repressive Acts D. The Cynical Acts
A.
What group petitioned the Massachusetts legislature for a law granting them new rights, arguing that they have "a natural right . . . to enjoy such property, as they may acquire by their industry"? A. African American slaves B. Women C. Native Americans D. Indentured servants
A.
What was significant about the 1765 Stamp Act Congress? A. It led to the first boycott of British goods. B. It marked the first colonial protest against British policies. C. It provoked the British to issue the Quebec Act. D. It led to British military escalation of the crisis.
A.
What was the primary purpose of the Townshend Act of 1767? A. To free royal officials from financial dependence on the American legislatures B. To force colonists to pay for the British troops in America C. To create new vice-admiralty courts in the colonies D. To punish colonists for resisting the Stamp Act
A.
Why did the British secretary of state for American affairs Lord Hillsborough favor a permanent Proclamation Line to the west of the colonies? A. He feared the end of the British laboring class. B. He wanted to curtail Indian aggression. C. He hoped to force the French to retreat from New France. D. He was promised large land grants by George Washington.
A.
Why were many American colonists skeptical of the Patriot movement? A. They suspected that Patriot leaders only sought to advance their own selfish interests. B. They did not think that a federal government would be much better than one in London. C. They feared that an independent United States would vastly expand the institution of slavery. D. They believed that colonial leaders would raise taxes even higher.
A.
According to the royal governor of Massachusetts Francis Bernard, what applied to British subjects in Britain but not to American colonists? A. The Sugar Act B. The right to direct representation in Parliament C. The Navigation Acts D. The right to protest unjust laws
B.
Colonial opponents of the Stamp Act drew on which of the following political traditions from the Radical Whig influence in English politics? A. That all individuals deserved protection from arbitrary action by the government B. Insistence on constitutional limitations of royal power C. That it was the government's responsibility to protect natural rights D. That constitutional restrictions be placed on Parliament
B.
How did Parliament resolve the Stamp Act crisis in 1766? A. It exempted newspapers from the stamp tax. B. It repealed the law but reaffirmed its right to enact such taxation. C. It made the Stamp Act apply to people in Britain as well as the colonies. D. It enforced the Stamp Act militarily.
B.
The Quebec Act allowed practice of which religion in Quebec? A. Judaism B. Roman Catholicism C. Evangelical Protestantism D. Deism
B.
The patriotic writers on the eve of the American Revolution drew on which intellectual tradition to protest imperial reform? A. Mercantilism B. English common law C. The Great Awakening D. The Mayflower Compact
B.
What institution was directly threatened by the Patriots' ideology? A. Local government B. Slavery C. Marriage D. Evangelical churches
B.
What was the chief philosophical influence for Thomas Jefferson's draft of the Declaration of Independence? A. The Great Awakening B. The Enlightenment C. Deism D. The Renaissance
B.
What was the primary American complaint against being tried in vice-admiralty courts, as stipulated by the Sugar Act of 1764? A. The judiciary was filled with "worthless pensioners and placemen." B. Trial before the courts robbed Americans of their rights to be tried before a local common-law court. C. Americans could not become vice-admiralty judges. D. Vice-admiralty courts took the power to tax away from the colonial legislatures.
B.
Which act of 1774 extended legal recognition to Roman Catholics in French regions of Canada, stirring old religious hatreds between Catholics and Protestants, especially in New England? A. Ontario Act B. Quebec Act C. Papist Act D. Canada Act
B.
Which region of colonial America held out for a political compromise with Great Britain after the enactment of the Coercive Acts? A. The frontier regions B. The Middle Atlantic colonies C. New England D. The South
B.
Which statement explains the fact that more than three-fourths of the voters of Long Island did not want to send a delegate to New York's Provincial Congress in 1775? A. They believed that they were properly part of Connecticut, not New York. B. They wanted to preserve their families' property and independence. C. They believed that the conciliatory efforts of the Provincial Congress were a waste of time. D. They refused to support continued participation in the government under royal authority.
B.
Why did American merchants resent the Sugar Act even though it reduced the tariff on French molasses? A. Imperial officials began prosecuting smugglers in common-law courts. B. The British said they would enforce the law more vigorously than before. C. The act also required merchants to accommodate British soldiers in their homes. D. The act made it impossible to trade with the French West Indies.
B.
Why did Lord North repeal the Townshend duties in 1770? A. After the Boston Massacre, Lord North felt that Parliament had no choice but to make this concession. B. He argued that taxes on British exports made no economic sense. C. He thought it was foolish to tax basic food items such as tea. D. He realized that the Townshend duties were internal taxes and therefore unconstitutional.
B.
Why did the Quebec Act anger land speculators in Virginia? A. They had hoped to create a branch colony in the St. Lawrence River Valley. B. They had long planned to expand into the Ohio River Valley. C. Under its terms, Quebec was extended to include Kentucky and Tennessee. D. The law set maximum prices for unsettled lands.
B.
Why did the Radical Whigs criticize the increased size of the British government created to enforce new tax laws in the 1760s? A. They argued that Parliament did not have the right to impose internal taxes on the colonies. B. They claimed that a large, expensive government placed the nation at the mercy of banks and financiers. C. They objected that wealthy aristocrats and merchants were disadvantaged by the new policies. D. They claimed that the attempt to cut down on smuggling endangered profits from trade as well as the rights of Englishmen.
B.
Why did the Stamp Act Congress meet? A. To threaten riots and mob action if the Stamp Act was not repealed B. To petition the king for repeal of the Stamp Act C. To propose a continental congress to prepare for a broad-based resistance movement D. To invite British leaders to seek a compromise by discussing new political arrangements between Britain and the colonies
B.
Why did the mainland colonies achieve a trade surplus with Britain in 1769? A. In the wake of the Seven Years' War, prices for colonial commodities had skyrocketed. B. The colonies' nonimportation agreement was taking its toll. C. A recession in Britain had significantly reduced the output of manufactured goods. D. Parliamentary concessions and eliminations of onerous taxes were taking effect.
B.
Why was the Declaratory Act so threatening to colonists? A. It forced American assemblies to submit their legislation to the British Privy Council. B. It declared American governmental institutions to be completely dependent on the will of Parliament. C. It imposed new high taxes on daily necessities. D. It dissolved the New York assembly, replacing it with a royal governor.
B.
Why were so many members of the Virginia gentry deeply in debt on the eve of the American Revolution? A. They tended to generously lend money to yeomen farmers. B. They had spent lavishly on an extravagant lifestyle. C. They had speculated boldly on the London security exchange. D. They had spent fortunes on land in Kentucky.
B.
Why were veteran officers of the Seven Years' War interested in westward expansion? A. They were eager to start cotton plantations west of the Appalachians. B. They had been paid in land warrants and hoped to benefit from those grants. C. Skilled in Indian fighting, they did not fear the risk of frontier life. D. They had learned French and were ready for settlement in New France.
B.
How did chancellor of the exchequer Charles Townshend seek to undermine American political institutions in his Revenue Act of 1767? A. He required colonial assemblies to provide the funds for royal governors' salaries. B. He refused to grant the colonies their apportioned budget. C. He sought to block American influence by using parliamentary taxes to finance imperial administration in the colonies. D. He cut local taxes in the colonies drastically, creating a budget crisis for the colonial assemblies.
C.
How had Boston merchant John Hancock made his fortune? A. In the trade with Barbados planters B. By investing in the slave trade C. By smuggling French molasses D. Through the livestock trade
C.
What constitutional principle was Parliament asserting with passage of the Stamp Act? A. Americans should not have representation in Parliament. B. The colonies could be forced to pay imperial war debts. C. Parliament could bypass colonial assemblies and impose an internal tax on the colonies. D. Parliament could regulate the colonies' trade and prosecute smugglers.
C.
What statement assesses the situation of the British national debt in 1763? A. Because the Treasury had the ability to print money, paying the debt was not a problem. B. Paying off the debt was crucial since Parliament had to balance the budget each year. C. The issue was crucial because interest on the debt consumed much of the nation's budget. D. Most of the debt was caused by the expense of administering government in North America.
C.
Who did Parliament decide to tax first when the British Empire found itself deep in debt in the wake of the Great War for Empire (1754-1763)? A. American colonists B. The English gentry and aristocracy C. Britain's poor and middling classes D. Scottish manufacturers
C.
Why did New England merchants oppose the Sugar Act of 1764? A. They already paid a high duty on the sugar they shipped to Britain and worried that this duty increase would alienate their British buyers. B. They rejected the notion that they should be taxed on their sugar consumption by a king that was an ocean away from them. C. They feared that tighter customs enforcement would wipe out their smuggling of French molasses. D. They resented the steep increase in the duty on sugar imported to the colonies and the hardship it would cause consumers.
C.
Why did a good number of men of the upper classes fear the Patriot movement? A. They believed that the Patriot movement would ultimately lead to bigger government. B. They worried that the rebelling lower classes might lose sight of the tax issue. C. They feared that resistance to Britain was the beginning of broader anarchy. D. They worried that they would be the first drafted into the war against the empire.
C.
Why did southern slave owners join the cause of the largely urban-led Patriot movement? A. They were aghast that the king had threatened the abolition of slavery in the colonies. B. Their standard of living was generally lower, and they feared a further decline in their conditions under British rule. C. Many were deeply in debt to British merchants and, as masters of their domains, resented this financial dependence. D. They were concerned about Native American attacks on their western frontier and resented the king for refusing them protection.
C.
Why did the British abandon Fort Pitt in October 1772? A. It had been badly damaged in Pontiac's Rebellion. B. The British garrison at Fort Pitt was moving into Pittsburgh. C. Budget cuts forced the move. D. The British had agreed to return it to the French.
C.
Why did the Virginia gentry support the demands of yeomen farmers to close the law courts in 1774? A. They agreed that British officials had no right to prosecute American protesters. B. The gentry had compassion for the debt crisis farmers were going through. C. They feared that they too might end up in court for their indebtedness. D. In this time of crisis, these courts seemed like an unnecessary expense.
C.
Why did the political allies of New England merchants object to the Sugar Acts? A. They were upset that the law was passed while American representatives to Parliament were not seated. B. They claimed the king had no authority over the colonies. C. They objected to the Sugar Act on constitutional grounds. D. They argued that this act victimized the average American sugar consumer.
C.
Why did the tenant farmers of the Hudson River Valley in New York support the king? A. They depended on trade with Britain. B. They feared the manumission of slaves. C. Their landlords were Patriots. D. They had deep cultural roots in England.
C.
Evangelical Protestants stirred by the religious passions of the Great Awakening joined mobs opposing the Stamp Act because they A. feared the new regulations would lead to an economic downturn. B. feared British authorities would reestablish the Church of England as the official state church. C. believed the Stamp Act would force ministers to charge more for their evangelical tracts. D. resented the arrogance of British military officers and the corruption of royal bureaucrats.
D.
How did British politicians respond to Benjamin Franklin's argument that Americans deserved representation in Parliament before they could be taxed? A. The idea amounted to treason. B. With their own local assemblies, the colonists did not need representation in Parliament. C. Members of Parliament did not represent any particular group. D. The colonists had virtual representation in Parliament.
D.
How did chancellor of the exchequer Charles Townshend seek to undermine American political institutions in his Revenue Act of 1767? A. He refused to grant the colonies their apportioned budget. B. He required colonial assemblies to provide the funds for royal governors' salaries. C. He cut local taxes in the colonies drastically, creating a budget crisis for the colonial assemblies. D. He sought to block American influence by using parliamentary taxes to finance imperial administration in the colonies.
D.
How did the Massachusetts assembly defy Parliament in 1775? A. It removed the military governor Thomas Gage from his post. B. It ordered the destruction of all tea in the port of Boston. C. It formed the Minutemen to attack British in Boston. D. It met in Salem, where it continued to exercise the responsibilities of government.
D.
The Tea Act of 1773 benefited which group? A. New England merchants B. Indian tea planters C. British tea consumers D. The East India Company
D.
The major transformation of the British Empire following the Seven Years' War can best be characterized as a(n) A. systematic increase in the role of the military in imperial governance. B. movement to allow the colonies a greater role in self-government and independence in trade. C. effort to make the colonies pay for domestic programs in England. D. centralization of the empire in the hands of imperial officials.
D.
Why was Patrick Henry's attack against the Stamp Act so radical? A. He openly criticized Parliament for passing it. B. He urged the Virginia House of Burgesses to vote not to enforce it. C. He charged that the Stamp Act treated Americans as slaves. D. He directly attacked George III for supporting the legislation.
D.