Deck 6: The American Revolution

Question 1

What did Governor Lord Dunmore of Virginia do that raised the ire of many elites?

A) He offered freedom to slaves who fought for the British.
B) He offered freedom to slaves who fought for the patriots.
C) He abandoned his governor's mansion and sailed back to England.
D) He worked as a spy at the Continental Congress.

Answer 1

He offered freedom to slaves who fought for the British.

Question 2

Armed clashes in 1775 between British soldiers and which group of people fueled the argument for independence?

A) New Jersey rioters
B) Impressed seamen
C) Massachusetts militiamen
D) Virginia slaves

Answer 2

New Jersey rioters

Question 3

What governmental body declared independence from Britain in 1776?

A) Constitutional Convention
B) Pennsylvania's Congress
C) Continental Congress
D) U.S. Congress

Answer 3

Continental Congress

Question 4

In 1775, what challenge did George Washington face in trying to assemble an army to fight the British?

A) The British were more astute recruiters.
B) He lacked the authority to do so.
C) The Massachusetts minutemen were against him.
D) He was more comfortable as a politician than as the commander of an army.

Question 5

What military strategy was used by the patriots in the struggle against British troops advancing throughout Massachusetts in 1775?

A) Attack and plunder
B) Retreat and fortify
C) Guerrilla warfare
D) Yankee warfare

Question 6

What did delegates of the Second Continental Congress debate in May 1775?

A) Military strategy
B) Independence
C) Funding
D) Recruitment

Question 7

Why were Massachusetts militiamen who fought against the first British attack referred to as the minutemen?

A) They defeated the British very quickly.
B) They were quick to report the news to the press.
C) They lost to the British very quickly.
D) They assembled to fight very quickly.

Question 8

Before the war for independence was officially declared, most Indian tribes adopted what strategy toward the conflict between British and colonists?

A) They sided with the British.
B) They remained neutral.
C) They sided with the patriots.
D) They sided with whichever side they had stronger connections to before the conflict.

Question 9

Which Indian tribe sided with the British early on and retreated to Canada along with Guy Johnson, the British superintendent for Indian affairs?

A) Oneida
B) Cherokee
C) Navaho
D) Mohawk

Question 10

Why did most Indian nations ultimately side with Britain?

A) It offered the best hope of preserving their territory.
B) They had formed stronger bonds with the British.
C) Colonists killed local Indians.
D) The British bribed them with weapons.

Question 11

Who brutally killed Shawnee chief Cornstalk after refusing to respect his commitment to neutrality in the war?

A) A rival Shawnee leader
B) American soldiers
C) British soldiers
D) Unknown renegades

Question 12

What public spaces became popular venues for political discussion in the 1760s and 1770s?

A) Town halls
B) Churches
C) Town squares
D) Taverns

Question 13

What inspired many poor people from the Hudson Valley to side with the British?

A) They were afraid to stand against the British.
B) Their wealthy landlords were patriots.
C) They were inspired by British leadership.
D) They wanted to avoid serving in the militia.

Question 14

What city served as a safe haven for loyalists throughout much of the war?

A) Washington
B) Philadelphia
C) New York
D) Boston

Question 15

What event inspired the patriots through the Continental Congress to establish an army for defense of the colonies?

A) Battle of Bunker Hill
B) Battle at Lexington
C) Invasion of Boston
D) Seizure of merchant vessels

Question 16

Paul Revere was famously known for warning the patriot leaders of the British troops in the Massachusetts town of

A) Concord.
B) Boston.
C) Amherst.
D) Lexington.

Question 17

What development demonstrates that a growing number of colonial patriots believed that independence was necessary in the spring of 1776?

A) The patriot militia was winning.
B) Colonists began to take control of their legislatures.
C) British loyalist political leaders abandoned their posts.
D) Local governments subsidized copies of Common Sense for everyone.

Question 18

What percentage of colonists actively supported the British at the time independence was declared in 1776?

A) About 5 percent
B) About 20 percent
C) About 50 percent
D) About 75 percent

Question 19

Which European superpower provided the patriots with the greatest financial and military assistance in their war with Britain?

A) France
B) Spain
C) Netherlands
D) Germany

Question 20

Why did the king and Parliament refuse to compromise or negotiate with the patriot leaders of the colonies?

A) They knew they had a stronger military force.
B) The patriots were unwilling to sail to England to meet them.
C) The patriots rejected their earlier peace efforts.
D) They viewed the colonists as out of line and in open rebellion.

Question 21

What was General Washington's attitude toward "camp followers"-soldiers' wives and sisters who followed the troops and provided critical services to the soldiers?

A) Appreciation
B) Indifference
C) Anger
D) Condescension

Question 22

What body acted in lieu of a national government during the Revolutionary War?

A) Congress of Philadelphia
B) Continental Congress
C) Congress of Colonies
D) House of Representatives

Question 23

During the Revolutionary War, pacifist religious people avoided fighting by

A) burning their conscription letters.
B) pleading exemption on religious grounds.
C) hiring substitutes.
D) hiding in the woods.

Question 24

After learning that France was supporting the patriots, the British responded by

A) doubling the size of their army in the colonies.
B) doing nothing because they were too busy fighting the war to do anything.
C) forming an alliance with Spain.
D) declaring war on France.

Question 25

What does this etching depict?

A) Enslaved African Americans pulling down a statue of George III in New York City, after independence was declared in 1776
B) Costumed patriots pulling down a statue of George III in Boston, before the city was invaded by British forces
C) Formerly enslaved African Americans pulling down a patriotic monument in New York City after the city was occupied by the British army
D) Enslaved workers pulling down a statue of George III in British Jamaica, to show sympathy for the American cause

Question 26

A mutiny almost erupted in Pennsylvania in 1783 when the Continental Congress decided

A) not to pay the Continental soldiers.
B) that women could vote.
C) to reject the peace and keep fighting Britain.
D) to increase taxes.

Question 27

What role did Spain play in the Revolutionary War?

A) It gave Florida to the British.
B) It captured British forts in Florida.
C) It supplied the British with troops, arms, and funds.
D) Spain stayed out completely.

Question 28

The Continental Army's stunning defeat of the British at the Battle of Saratoga

A) gave hope to patriot troops elsewhere.
B) caused the Iroquois to defect from the British.
C) helped patriots quickly take back New York City.
D) inspired Spain to finance the next leg of the war.

Question 29

Which state saw its own constitution's claim that all men are "free and equal" used by Quock Walker and Mum Bett to win their freedom from slavery?

A) New York
B) Pennsylvania
C) Massachusetts
D) New Jersey

Question 30

How long did it take for the Articles of Confederation, drafted in 1777, to be approved by all thirteen states?

A) Three years
B) One year
C) Three months
D) One month

Question 31

Why did so many of General George Washington's troops desert after the Continental Army left Boston and moved to confront the British en route to New York?

A) They didn't believe it was their responsibility.
B) They were tired, broke, and homesick.
C) New York militiamen were clear that it was their territory to defend.
D) General Washington was a terribly abusive leader.

Question 32

In 1777, Vermont's state constitution stood out from all others because it

A) abolished slavery.
B) reduced state taxes.
C) embraced a strong central government.
D) expanded voting rights to everyone over 18.

Question 33

After months of defeat, what gave Washington and the patriot troops the opportunity to regroup, repair weapons, and recruit more soldiers in December 1776?

A) The British retreated to the South for better weather.
B) The British didn't fight during the winter.
C) The British had to wait for more soldiers to be delivered.
D) Patriots were moved by the holiday spirit to enlist.

Question 34

Faith in the wisdom of going to war with the British in 1776 was challenged by what unexpected development?

A) Britain closed down trade between the colonies and France.
B) Patriots struggled to win a battle for months.
C) Patriots failed to rally troops.
D) British occupied Boston, New York, and Philadelphia simultaneously.

Question 35

What happened to annual British military expenditures from 1775 to 1782?

A) They declined from $4 million to $2 million.
B) They stayed steady at $4 million a year
C) They rose from $4 million to $8 million.
D) They rose from $4 million to $20 million.

Question 36

Why did the Continental Congress need to borrow money from wealthy patriots and other countries to finance the war effort?

A) Britain had frozen all of the patriots' assets.
B) The Continental Congress had no authority to tax the people.
C) Britain stole the patriots' money when the British army occupied New York.
D) The Continental Congress had exhausted the Federal Reserve early in the war.

Question 37

What level of government was predominant throughout the Revolutionary War?

A) Town government
B) Military government
C) State government
D) Federal government

Question 38

Where did George Washington mount a successful surprise attack on Hessian troops on Christmas Eve, 1776?

A) Hartford, Connecticut
B) Valley Forge, Pennsylvania
C) Trenton, New Jersey
D) Wilmington, Delaware

Question 39

Which types of men were likely to stay with General Washington and fight regardless of where he led them?

A) Those with the most to lose should the British win
B) The most ardent patriots
C) The landless and otherwise desperate
D) Those with prior military training and experience

Question 40

What structural characteristic was shared by all state constitutions drafted after independence?

A) Expansion of voting rights
B) Restriction on centralized authority
C) Abolition of slavery
D) Expansion of state taxes

Question 41

What was the name given to the peace accord that ended the Revolutionary War and granted the United States recognition as a free, sovereign, and independent state?

A) Constitutional Convention
B) Treaty of Britain
C) Treaty of Paris
D) Colonial Peace Accord

Question 42

Why did some British soldiers remain in the United States even after the war was officially ended and U.S. independence was secured?

A) To anger the patriots
B) To protect their assets
C) To prepare for the next war
D) To fight Indians

Question 43

During the Paris peace accords, an official from which nation refused to recognize the American delegates as his political equals?

A) Spain
B) Britain
C) France
D) Indian

Question 44

Where did a sizable group of newly freed blacks settle after the Revolutionary War?

A) Massachusetts
B) Africa
C) Nova Scotia
D) England

Question 45

How many African Americans were freed by the British at the end of the Revolutionary War?

A) 300
B) 3,000
C) 13,000
D) 30,000