US History VO7A 3.4

How did British General Thomas Gage attempt to deal with the uprising in Massachusetts in 1774?

He attempted to seize arms and munitions from the colonial insurgents.

Which term describes German soldiers hired by Great Britain to put down the American rebellion?

Hessians

Which of the following is not one of the tasks women performed during the Revolution?

Holding government offices

After reading the following entry, determine whether Madison recommends republicanism or democracy as the best form of government. What arguments does he use to prove his point?

Madison argues that a large republic provided the best defense against what he viewed as the tumult of direct democracy. Compromises would be reached in a large republic and citizens would be represented by representatives of their own choosing.

Which American general is responsible for improving the American military position in the South?

Nathanael Greene

Which city served as the base for British operations for most of the war?

New York

What was NOT a main term of the Treaty of Paris?

Removal of loyalists from the colonies

What battle turned the tide of war in favor of the Americans?

The Battle of Saratoga

Describe the British strategy in the early years of the war and explain whether or not it succeeded.

The British strategy in the period from 1776 to 1778 was to isolate the New England colonies, where the rebellion was concentrated. They succeeded in the beginning by taking first New York and then Philadelphia. However, they stalled there, and after the British defeat at Saratoga, they were not able to complete their plan to isolate New England

How did the condition of certain groups, such as women, blacks, and Indians, reveal a contradiction in the Declaration of Independence?

The Declaration of Independence is full of contradictions. For example, it claims that "all men are created equal," yet, the institution of slavery in the colonies revealed that this wasn't the practice. Also, the Declaration focused on the equality of white men, completely ignoring the nonwhite population and women.

What led to the end of the British siege in Boston?

The colonial militia held strategic fortifications.

Which of the following is NOT a reaction by colonists towards British attempts to re-establish authority:

The creation of a prison system for British loyalists

Describe the British southern strategy and its results

he British southern strategy was to move the military theater to the southern colonies where there were more Loyal colonists. Slaves and Indian allies, the British hoped, would also swell their ranks. This strategy worked at first, allowing the British to take Charleston. However, British fortunes changed after Nathanael Greene took command of the southern Continental Army and scored decisive victories at the battles of Cowpens and Guilford. This set the stage for the final American victory at Yorktown, Virginia. The southern strategy had failed.

Which of the following was not a result of Dunmore's Proclamation?

majority of slaves in the colonies won their freedom.

Which of the following is not true of a republic?

A republic is governed by a monarch and the royal officials he or she appoints.

Which of the following statements best represents the division between Patriots and Loyalists?

American colonists were divided among those who wanted independence, those who wanted to remain part of the British Empire, and those who were neutral.

What factors does Franklin ignore? How would he likely address a situation in which children inherit great wealth rather than working for it? How do Franklin's values help to define the notion of republican virtue?

Franklin's 13 virtues suggest that hard work and good behavior will bring success. What his list fails to account for are circumstances in which wealth and power are inherited, which requires very little effort on the part of the inheritors. Based on these tenets, Franklin would likely recommend that those who inherit great wealth practice a degree of self-denial of the luxuries afforded to them in order to preserve their character and virtue. It is clear that according to Franklin, republican virtue blurs the lines between the professional and personal behaviors and requires discipline, thoughtful decision-making, and a strong moral composition.

What are the main arguments that Thomas Paine makes in his pamphlet Common Sense? Why was this pamphlet so popular?

In Common Sense, Paine rejects the monarchy, calling into question both the right of any king to rule any people and Great Britain's right to rule America. He argues for the creation of an American republic and the adoption of a philosophy of republicanism, which would extend to both the structure of the government—composed of representatives, rather than a monarch—and the conduct of the Patriots, who must place the public good and community above their own self-interest. Paine wrote his pamphlet simply, appealing to the "common sense" of ordinary citizens, which helped to increase its popularity.

How did George Washington?s military tactics help him to achieve success?

In the 18th century, militaries typically fought only in the summer months. On December 25 and 26, 1776, Washington triumphed over the Hessians encamped at Trenton by surprising them as they celebrated Christmas. Shortly thereafter, he used this same tactic to achieve victory at the Battle of Princeton

How did the colonists manage to triumph in their battle for independence despite Great Britain?s military might?

The colonists may not have had Great Britain's military might, but they made some smart, strategic decisions during the conflict that took advantage of the fact that British soldiers isolated themselves geographically. For example, when the British troops were in Boston, General Washington was able to place his troops in areas around the city on higher ground. The outbreak of conflict throughout the colonies made it even more difficult for Loyalists and British troops as the conflict continued to spread.

How did the Revolutionary War provide both new opportunities and new challenges for blacks (enslaved and free) and Native people?

The war offered many slaves the opportunity to escape bondage by joining the British cause (between ten and twenty thousand slaves gained freedom because of the Revolution). The conflict itself offered an ideal platform for slave revolts to emerge as willing resistors were welcome allies. Following the war, many African Loyalists moved to Sierra Leone, Canada or England to escape the challenges posed by a heavily racialized American colonial society where whiteness became equated with freedom and power. For Native people, the war also offered a strategic framework from which to ally with the side that most favorably served their interests. Relationships were often thinly held together through trade and promises and were challenged following the war when the Treaty of Paris, for example, readily ceded Native lands to the United States without consideration of the Indigenous people it impacted (even in spite of their critical alliances during the war).

Why did funding the war prove to be difficult for the Patriots?

While the British could pay for their war-incurred expenses in gold and silver, American forces had to rely on paper money, called Continental currency, backed by loans received from their European allies. The new revolutionary government overprinted their currency, causing it to fall in value. This problem was further exacerbated when each revolutionary state began printing their own currency.