American Revolution

From 1754-1763, Britain and its colonies were involved in the French and Indian War—the American theater of Europe’s Seven Years' War (1754-63). Britain won the war and gained control of all the land east of the Mississippi, including Canada. But after years of costly war, the British found themselves strangled in war debt. So, they enacted a series of acts to tax the colonies. The colonies protested. But the British ignored colonial interests.In 1770, British soldiers killed five men for throwing rocks and snowballs in the Boston Massacre. Three years after the Boston Massacre, Parliament passed the Tea Act of 1773, which gave the British a monopoly on selling tea to the American colonies. This means the British controlled the tea trade, keeping other competitors from participating. The British monopoly made the price of tea so low that even smugglers couldn't
compete.
Based on the passage, which of the following would be an example of a monopoly?

• A businesswoman opens a bookstore in her neighborhood and invites her neighbors to invest in her new store.
• A baker buys up all the sugar in town to make sure that his bakery is the only one that can sell cupcakes.
• A pilot spends her days off learning how to fly a new type of plane so that she can apply to fly that plane in the future.
• A hardware store owner is famous for giving the best home improvement advice to his customers.
  

Samuel Adams and the radical Sons of Liberty were desperately looking for another Boston Massacre-type event to catalyze American resistance. The Tea Act provided just such an opportunity.When three tea-laden cargo ships landed in Boston Harbor, Sam Adams led a group of 150 colonists dressed as Mohawk Indians to the docks. The men boarded the ships, smashed the crates and dumped tea into the water. By the end of the night, the Boston Tea Party had destroyed $70,000 worth of British tea. It was a powerful message to the British. King George of England took it to be an act of defiance. "The die is now cast," he told his prime minister. "The colonies must either submit or triumph."Boston Tea Party, 1773

What is the purpose of the sentences written in red in the passage?

• to explain the king's relationship to his prime minister
• to support the claim that King George didn’t care about the Boston Tea Party or the colonists in America
• to hint that the Boston Tea Party was going to set off a larger conflict between the colonies and England
  
• to provide a detail about the type of board games King George liked to play
  

The British responded to the Boston Tea Party fiercely. They passed the Coercive Acts and the Quebec Act. Together, they became known in the colonies as the Intolerable Acts. These acts severely restricted democracy in Massachusetts, closed Boston Harbor and even established Roman Catholicism as the official religion in Quebec. The British also sent 4,000 more soldiers into Boston to suppress uprisings.A political cartoon of Britain's oppression of the American colonies
Based on the passage, why did the British pass the Coercive Acts and the Quebec Act?

• They wanted to punish the colonies for the Boston Tea Party.
  
• They wanted to protect Boston Harbor from foreign powers.
  
• They wanted to promote democracy in Massachusetts.
  
• They wanted to establish religious freedom in Quebec.
  

General Gage was the commander of the British troops in Boston. He heard rumors that the colonists were amassing ammunition and guns in a storehouse in Concord, a small town outside of Boston. Gage also heard that two of the rebel ringleaders—Sam Adams and John Hancock—were hiding in nearby Lexington. Sam Adams had led the Boston Tea Party. Hancock, the richest man in New England before the war, helped organize and fund the rebellion. Gage planned to march out to Lexington and Concord where he would arrest Adams and Hancock and then seize the ammunition. But Paul Revere and the Sons of Liberty expected this move. Revere set up a system of signals that would alert him if the British started to move.Paul Revere was a silversmith as well as a revolutionary.

Which detail from the passage best explains why Paul Revere set up a system of signals to warn him if the British advanced?

• "Hancock, the richest man in New England before the war, helped organize and fund the rebellion."
• "Gage planned to march out to Lexington and Concord where he would arrest Adams and Hancock and then seize the ammunition."
  
• “Sam Adams had led the Boston Tea Party.”
  
• "General Gage was the commander of the British troops in Boston."
  

In order to reach Lexington and Concord, the British had to cross the Charles River. Revere told a church deacon in Boston to watch troop movement. Revere asked the deacon to hang one lantern in the bell tower if the British were coming by land—that is, marching across the Boston Neck peninsula. He asked the deacon to hang two lanterns if they were coming by sea—that is, using the Charles River to cross into Cambridge. Revere and his horse were waiting on the other side of the Charles for the signal.Late at night on April 18, 1775, the deacon in Boston hung two lanterns from his church. Revere and another rider, William Dawes, saw the sign and sped off on horseback to warn the townspeople. They were later joined by a third rider, Samuel Prescott.Paul Revere's ride
Based on this passage, why did the deacon in Boston hang two lanterns from his church?

• because the British were marching across Boston Neck peninsula
  
• because Paul Revere, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott were on horseback
  
• because the British were using the Charles River to cross into Cambridge
  
• because Paul Revere and William Dawes had to meet Samuel Prescott
  

The colonies didn't have a standing army. Instead, they relied on local militias and Minutemen, farmers who could grab a musket and assemble in a minute's time. Hearing Revere's call, a group of Minutemen assembled in Lexington to confront the British. The British, also known as redcoats or “lobster-backs” because of the bright red uniforms they wore, were clearly superior in training and numbers.Captain John Parker, the leader of the Minutemen, instructed his troops: "Stand your ground; don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here." No one knows who fired the first shot in the Battle of Lexington, but it became known as the "shot heard 'round the world" because of its far-reaching consequences.
According to the passage, what was true about the Minutemen?

• They were well trained and had more members than the British.
  
• They were farmers who could assemble in a minute's time.
  
• They wore bright red uniforms and were also known as redcoats.
• They fired the first shot in the Battle of Lexington.