AP U.S.

History
Chapter 5: The American Revolution and Confederation, 1774-1787
The First Continental Congress
​ What caused the convention later called the First Continental Congress? Which states sent
delegates? What was the convention’s goal?
​ What were the three factions within the First Continental Congress, and who were key leaders
of each faction? How did the factions differ in the means they supported to reach the
common goal?
​ What was Joseph Galloway’s proposal? How close did it come to passing?
​ What were the Suffolk Resolves that were endorsed by the Congress? What was the petition
know as the Declaration and Resolves that the Congress passed?
​ What was the Continental Association? What was the final declaration of the Congress?
Fighting Begins
​ How did the British government respond to the petition of the First Continental Congress?
How did this response lead to an escalation of violence in the colonies?
​ What was the objective of the large force of Regulars dispatched from Boston on the night of
18 April 1775? How was it that Minutemen were waiting for the British soldiers?
​ What was the result of this encounter? Who fired the first shot?
​ What happened at Concord? What happened on the Regulars’ march back to Boston?
​ Which side won the Battle of Bunker Hill? Why was the victory more like a defeat?
The Second Continental Congress
​ When did the Second Continental Congress meet? How was it divided on goals and
objectives, and how did the divide reflect geography to a great extent?
​ What were the major actions of the initial session of the Second Continental Congress? Why
was George Washington chosen as Commander-in-Chief of the newly authorized Continental
Army?
​ What was the purpose of authorizing a military expedition to Quebec? Why were the
Continental Navy and Continental Marines formed in the fall of 1775?
​ What was the contradictory policy adopted by the Congress? Why was the Congress unable
to adopt a more coherent and consistent policy?
​ What was the “Olive Branch Petition”? What was the British response to it?
​ What was the main argument of Thomas Paine’s pamphlet “Common Sense”? How did
Paine justify his argument?
​ How did a resolution by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia result in the formation of a committee
to draft a declaration of independence? What became of Lee’s resolution, and what become
of the work of the committee?
The Revolutionary War
​ How long did the Revolutionary war last? What was the effect of the long, bitter struggle on
the American people?
​ How many people lived in the 13 colonies at the time of the war? What were three groups of
Americans created by the war, and how many Americans were in each of the groups?
​ Why, despite support for the war, was Washington never able to create a large enough
Continental Army to match the British army? Why was militia service much more popular?
What were some of the hardships Washington’s army endured?
​ How many African Americans fought on the Patriot side in the war? What was their role in
the fighting?
​ In what ways did the war divide families and friends? What geographic and socio-economic
factors characterized the Loyalists?
 ​ How did most American Indians initially respond to the war? What events caused many of
them to get involved on the side of the British?
​ How did the first three years of the war go for Washington and his army? Why do the
AMSCO authors leave out Washington’s brilliant victories at Trenton and Princeton as 1776
turned into 1777?
​ Where did Washington’s army camp during the bitterly cold winter of 1777-1778? How did
economic troubles add to the Patriots’ difficulties?
​ How was the Battle of Saratoga a turning point in the war? What was the biggest benefit
from the American victory?
​ Why did the British withdraw from Philadelphia and move to New York in 1778? Why did
they adopt a “southern strategy” in 1780?
​ How did the British strategy lead to the siege of Yorktown? What was the result of the
American victory there?
​ Why did the British government decide to end the war? What were the provisions of the
Treaty of Paris of 1783?
Organization of the New Governments
​ What steps did American political leaders take to transform 13 colonies into independently
governed states? What was the fundamental debate in the development of each of the state
constitutions?
​ What features did the 13 state constitutions have in common?
​ Who drafted the first constitution for the emerging nation? What was this document called
after being modified and adopted by Congress?
​ Why was ratification of the new constitution delayed? How was the problem settled, and
when was the document ratified?
​ What was the structure of the government created by the Articles of Confederation? Why
was it a difficult plan to amend? What powers did the Confederation Congress possess?
​ What were the new government’s major accomplishments under the Articles? What were the
major problems facing the new, deliberately weak, Confederation government?
Social Change
​ Why were aristocratic titles abolished by the new nation? Why did most states adopt the
principle of separating church and state?
​ How did American women participate in the Revolutionary War? How did the war change
the lives of American women?
​ What was the impact of the Revolution on the institution of slavery in the new nation? Why
did later decades not see progress towards realizing the spirit of the Declaration of
Independence enshrined in the statement, “all men are created equal”?
Historical Perspectives: How Radical Was the Revolution?
​ What is the main question discussed here? How did historian Crane Brinton answer it? How
have other historians disagreed with Brinton’s argument?
​ What have comparisons of the revolutionary groups in the American, French, and Russian
Revolutions concluded?
​ What similarities have been found between the American Revolution and other colonial
rebellions, such as those that took place after World War II?
​ What are the main arguments about the nature of the American Revolution discussed at the
end of the chapter?
​ Why might it be that, after the American Revolution, were there no mass executions or
“re-education” camps? No dictator, or emperor, for life? No one-party state? No mass
confiscations of property or classification of certain groups as “enemies of the state”?