Mid-Term Examination: American Revolution, Thursday October 27th

Review Sheet

The exam will be two-part.  CLOSED BOOK for the first part.  You may use documents and the books for the second part.  DO NOT bring a prepared answer to the exam, but your books may have the normal underlining and marginal notes.

A. Identification. I will select FIVE and you will do THREE (30%). Each should take about two-thirds of a page in a blue book. Define, place appropriately in time and space, and explain the significance. You need to be able to do these quickly and accurately.  Done first and without books or notes.

Seven Years' War
George III
"natural rights"
(Radical) Whig Ideology
Invasion of Canada
Battle of Fort Mercer
Thomas Paine
Common Sense
Sugar Act
Stamp Act
Declaratory Act
Thomas Hutchinson
Jared Ingersoll
John Hughes
Benjamin Franklin
Jane Mecom*
William Franklin*
George Washington
George Grenville
Frederick Lord North
Fort William Henry
Fort Ticonderoga
Seven Years' War
marquis de Montcalm
Battle of Bunker (Breed's) Hill
Second Continental Congress
Battle of Trenton
Battle of Saratoga*
Lord Cornwallis
Lexington and Concord
Declaration of Independence
Sir William Howe
Richard Lord Howe
John Wilkes
Boston Tea Party
*if we have covered in class before examination only

B. Essay Question (70%). I will select TWO of the following three questions and you will be responsible for answering ONE of your choice from those two. Bring the appropriate books (Wood, Martin, the Morgans) and any of the handouts (documents) or downloads (Boston Massacre) you wish to the exam, but DO NOT bring or use a prepared answer.

1.  Joseph Plumb Martin's account of his experiences covers the entire Revolution and tells us about the life of an ordinary foot soldier.  Using the years1776, 1777, 1778, 1780 & 1781, write an essay explaining why he enlisted, what day-to-day life was like, how he related to the officers (and later his soldiers to him), what combat was like,  relations with civilians, and why he remained in the army.  You may bring the book and use it during the exam.

2. Explain, based on the depositions of the "Boston Massacre" and Captain Preston's statement, what you think most likely occurred during the "Massacre." How was the Massacre interpreted by the American resistance movement and by the British? Consider what actually happened and how it was portrayed in the engraving. In what ways did the Massacre help confirm the American notions of British intentions (as articulated in William Paterson's essay and the Declaration of Independence)?  You may bring print outs of the depositions to the exam.

3. Write an essay interpreting the Declaration of Independence.  Draw on Common Sense and the writings of William Paterson and Sam Adams as well as the Morgans' discussion of colonial rights to explain and explore what the Declaration meant to the people who wrote and approved it. You may consider both Jefferson's draft and the final declaration if you wish, and you may bring any of the documents and the Morgans' book to the exam.