Study
Questions & Essay Topics
Always use specific historical examples to support
your arguments.
Study Questions
1. “Americans
were still professing their loyalty to George III and their desire
for peaceful reconciliation as late as
1775.
Had Britain accepted the Second Continental Congress’s Olive Branch
Petition, the Revolutionary War could have been avoided.” Support
or refute this claim using historical evidence.
2. What did American
colonists mean by “No taxation without representation”?
3. Which had
a more profound impact on American anti-British sentiment, the
1765 Stamp
Act or the
1766 Declaratory
Act? Use specific examples from history to support your argument.
Suggested Essay Topics
1. Analyze the reasons for escalating
anti-British sentiment in the American colonies during the prewar
decade from 1765 to 1775.
2. Was the First or the Second
Continental Congress more significant in the years leading up to
the Revolutionary War?
3. What were nonimportation
agreements and the boycott? Which had a greater effect on American-British
relations?
4. Explain how three of the
following altered Americans’ perceptions of Britain during the years 1763 to 1775.
Which affected colonists the most and why?a)
the French and Indian War
b) virtual representation
c) Samuel Adams
d) the Declaratory Act
e) the boycott of British goods
f) Thomas Paine
5. Compare and contrast Thomas
Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence with Thomas Paine’s pamphlet
“Common Sense.” Which had the greater effect on revolutionary America?
Use specific examples to support your argument.
