Sample Apparatus for One History Chapter

1. What were the roots and significance of the Stamp Act Controversy?
2. What key events sharpened the divisions between Britain and the colonists in the late 1760s and early 1770s?
3. What were the key steps on the way to independence in the mid-1770s?
4. How were American forces able to prevail in the Revolutionary War?

1. Explain what "homespun virtue" meant and how it set the colonists apart from the British.
2. Patrick Henry proclaimed that he was not a Virginian but rather an American.  What unified the colonists and what divided them at the time of the revolution?
3. Discuss the ramifications of using slaves in the British and Continental armies.  Why did the British authorize the use of slaves?  Why did the Americans?  How did the slaves benefit?
4. Why did the colonists increasingly believe that British rule threatened their liberty?
5. Describe how Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence reflected the idea put forth by philosophers such as John Locke that liberty was a natural right.

Questions about these preview and review questions--

1. To what extent do the preview ("focus") questions match the "Review Questions"?  How much should they overlap?
2. If this is all there is to help you students study, what more do they need to do to master this chapter of U.S. History regarding the Revolutionary War era, 1763-1783?  (I try to convince my ENG 107 students that they have a friend in Google--or Bing--though they have to base answers for the most part on the information in their textbook and class notes.)