1.
p. 1: portrait of
Minutemen is not aggressive, but how would the British have seen them?
2.
Morgan’s thesis:
American Revolution is a search for principles – he assumes that principles are
more than rationalizations – he has an idealistic concept of the movement.
3.
Outline the
divisions with the colonies.
4.
Outline the
elements which joined most of the colonists together.
5.
What
characteristics constituted differences within the colonists?
6.
Explain the
elements of the mercantile economic system in place in the
7.
What was ironic
about he Molasses Act of 1733, given the colony most affected by it?
8.
Find examples in
this chapter which identify concepts of freedom with economic well-being.
9.
Why would
Parliamentary assertion of power be more serious than royal assertion of power,
from the point of view of the colonists?
10. How does administrative efficiency have a bearing on
colonial attitudes toward
11. How did Grenville change the purpose of taxation?
12. What other purposes can taxation serve?
13. Explain the function of property in John Locke’s
concept of freedom.
14. How did Locke’s political philosophy help American
colonists argue that the right of representation was derived from human nature
rather than from a particular citizenship?
15. What was Thomas Whately’s argument against colonial
demands for representation?
16. Why were the colonists so insistent upon direct
representation as a principle underlying the power to tax?
17. Explain the colonists’ distinction between legislative
power and taxing power.
18. Why was William Pitt popular among the colonists?
19. (Name a local instance of honoring William Pitt.)
20. What distinction did Benjamin Franklin present to
Parliament to justify the repeal of the Stamp Act?
21. How was that distinction ingenuous?
22. How did Townshend turn
23. How did the Townshend Acts backfire, from the British
point of view?
24. Pp. 50-52: How does Morgan justify the movement toward
the American Revolution as a search for principle, during a period of
prosperity.
25. Why were American colonists upset when the king
provided economic support for colonial governors, rather than the usual method
of local taxation?
26. How would you justify Benjamin Franklin’s disclosure
of private letters from Thomas Hutchinson?
27. Why did the British government impost a special tax on
tea?
28. List the provisions of the Coercive Acts of 1774.
29. How would you evaluate the relative importance of
idealistic and economic consideration during the period 1768-74?
30. Explain the argument between Thomas Hutchinson and
John Adams on the history of colonial relation with Parliament.
31. List the possible compromises between the colonies and
32. How does Morgan develop his idea that the basic
principle of the American Revolution was “the principle of human equality” (p.
66)?
33. How did Thomas Paine change the nature of the protest
by the colonists against
34. Compare Paine and Locke on the rights of man (pp.
71-75).
35. What three factors helped determine the victory of the
Continental Army over the British?
36. Discuss Morgan’s assumption of page 88, identifying
liberty with equality.
37. Cite at least two reasons why one would place more
confidence in a written constitution (the American approach) than in a
collection of traditional precedents (the British approach).
38. Cite at least one benefit for individual rights that a
collection of traditional precedents would have that a written constitution
would not have.
39. What are John Adams’ arguments for a bi-cameral
legislature?
40. How does Morgan underplay the issue of slavery in his
discussion of equality on pages 94-95?
41. Compare Morgan’s statements about devaluated currency
on page 99 with additional statements on page 106.
42. Morgan argues that nationalism was the result, not the
cause, of the American Revolution: what elements does he identify as entering
in American nationalism?
43. What arguments does Morgan provide to justify the
Articles of Confederation as a workable blueprint for government?
44. What economic activity of the period undercut both the
federal and state governments?
45. How did this activity have such a negative impact?
46. List the several compromises between governmental
bodies and land speculators and evaluate the outcome.
47. Compare the development of the governments of
48. According to Morgan, what was the over-riding motive to
the efforts to strengthen the federal government?
49. Construct an argument justifying the action of
50. Construct an argument against Morgan’s interpretation
of Shays’ Rebellion on page 128.
51. Outline Morgan’s examples to counter Charles Beard’s
interpretation of the economic motives of the designers of the Constitution.
52. Explain Morgan’s use of the “principle of equality” on
pages 139 & 140 to justify his favoring of the large states and his
distrust of the Senate.
53. Outline the fears that one could have when inspecting
the new Constitution.
54. Explain the different interpretation of
“representation” suggested on page 148.