AP U.S. History Essay Guide for Unit II
The following DBQ (Document Based Questions) and essay questions are the actual
questions that were originally found in the Advanced Placement United States History
Exams that have been held since 1971. Learn from the past and anticipate answering
similar questions on the AP Exam this year...
1. 1980 Exam (Question 4): "Between 1783 and 1800 the new government of the United
States faced the same political, economic, and constitutional issues that troubled the
British government's relations with the colonies prior to the Revolution."

Assess the validity of this generalization.
2. 1982 Exam (Question 2): "The American Revolution should really be called 'The
British Revolution' because marked changes in British colonial policy were more
responsible for the final political division than were American actions."

Assess the validity of this statement for the period 1763-1776.
3. 1984 Exam (Question 2): What evidence is there for the assertion that the basic
principles of the Constitution were firmly grounded in the political and religious
experience of America's colonial and revolutionary periods?
4. 1985 Exam (DBQ): "From 1781 to 1789 the Articles of Confederation provided the
United States with an effective government"

Using the documents and your knowledge of the period, evaluate this statement
(documents from this test are not available)
5. 1986 Exam (Question 2): "Despite the view of some historians that the conflict
between Great Britain and its thirteen North American colonies was economic in origin,
in fact the American Revolution had its roots in politics and other areas of American
life."

Assess the validity of this statement.
6. 1988 Exam (Question 2): "This history of the present King of Great Britain is a
history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object, the establishment
of an absolute tyranny over these States."

Evaluate this accusation made against George III in the Declaration of
Independence.
7. 1989 Exam (Question 2): "In the two decades before the outbreak of the American
Revolutionary War, a profound shift occurred in the way many Americans thought and
felt about the British government and their colonial governments."

Assess the validity of this statement in view of the political and constitutional
debates of these decades.
8. 1991 Exam (Question 2): The Bill of Rights did not come from a desire to protect the
liberties won in the American Revolution, but rather from a fear of the powers of the new
federal government.

Assess the validity of this statement.
9. 1992 Exam (Question 2): Evaluate the relative importance of the following as factors
prompting Americans to rebel in 1776:
o
o
o
o
Parliamentary taxation
Restriction of civil liberties
British military measures
The legacy of colonial religious and political ideas
10. 1995 Exam (Question 2): For the period before 1750, analyze the ways in which
Britain’s policy of salutary neglect influenced the development of American society as
illustrated in the following.
o
o
o
Legislative assemblies
Commerce
Religion
11. 1996 Exam (Question 2): Analyze the degree to which the Articles of Confederation
provided an effective form of government with respect to any TWO of the following.
o
o
o
Foreign relations
Economic conditions
Western lands
12. 1997 Exam (Question 2): "Britain's wars for empire, far more than its mercantilist
policies, dictated the economic fortunes of Britain's North American colonies in the
eighteenth century."

Assess the validity of this statement.
13. 1997 Exam B (Question 2): Analyze the extent to which the American Revolution
represented a radical alteration in American political ideas and institutions.

Confine your answer to the period 1775 to 1800.
14. 1999 Exam (DBQ): To what extent had the colonists developed a sense of their
identity and unity as Americans by the eve of the Revolution?

Use the documents and your knowledge of the period 1750 to 1776 to answer the
question.
15. 2003 Exam (Question 2): Evaluate the extent to which the Articles of Confederation
were effective in solving the problems that confronted the new nation.
16. 2004 Exam (DBQ): In what ways did the French and Indian War (1754-63) alter the
political, economic and ideological relations between Britain and its American colonies?

Use the documents and your knowledge of the period 1740-1766 in constructing
your response.
17. 2004 Exam (Question 2): Analyze the impact of the American Revolution on both
slavery and the status of women in the period from 1775-1800.
18. 2005 Exam B (Question 3): To what extent was the United States Constitution a
radical departure from the Articles of Confederation?
19. 2005 Exam (DBQ): To what extent did the American Revolution fundamentally
change American society? In your answer, be sure to address the political, social, and
economic effects of the Revolution in the period from 1775 to 1800.

Use the documents and your knowledge of the period 1775-1800 in constructing
your response.
20. 2006 Exam B (Question 2): "The United States Constitution of 1787 represented an
economic and ideological victory for the traditional American political elite."

Assess the validity of that statement for the period 1781 to 1789.
21. 2007 Exam B (Question 2): The French and Indian War (1754-1763) altered the
relationship between Britain and its North American colonies. Assess this change with
reguard to TWO of the following in the period between 1763 and 1775.
o
o
o
Land acquistition
Politics
Economics
22. 2007 Exam (Question 2): Settlers in the eighteenth century American backcountry
sometimes resorted to violent protest to express their grievances. Analyze the causes and
significance of TWO of the following:
o
o
o
o
March of the Paxton Boys
Regulator movement
Shays' Rebellion
Whiskey Rebellion
23. 2008 Exam B (Question 2): Analyze the reasons for the Anti-Federalists' opposition
to ratifying the Constitution.