AP Exam Questions for the American Revolution (Chapters 7 and 8)
Samples from 1974-2012
FOR OUR TEST ON Friday, October 5, 5th Hour will need to answer one of the following questions:
AP 2010
AP 2009
AP 1992
AP 1975
NON-AP 1
NON-AP 2
NON-AP 3
NON-AP 5
2nd and 5th Hour: Due Friday, October 5, three Essay Core Structure activities for any of the following AP Exam
questions.
AP 2010- Analyze the political, diplomatic, and military reasons for the United States victory in the Revolutionary
War. Confine your answer to the period 1775–1783.
AP 2009- Analyze the ways in which British imperial policies between 1763 and 1776 intensified colonials’
resistance to British rule and their commitment to republican values.
AP 1999- To what extent had the colonists developed a sense of their identity and unity as Americans by the eve of
the Revolution?
AP 1992- Evaluate the relative importance of the following as factors prompting Americans to rebel in 1776:
• parliamentary taxation • British military measures • restriction of civil liberties • the legacy of colonial
religious and political ideas
AP 1989- "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.
AP 1988 -"The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpation, 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.
AP 1975- “The Declaration of Independence has been variously interpreted as a bid for French support, an attempt
to swing uncommitted Americans to the revolutionary cause, a statement of universal principles, and an
affirmation of the traditional rights of Englishman.” To what extent, if any, are these interpretations in
conflict?
AP 1974- To what extent did economic issues provoke the American Revolution?
The following are non-AP Exam questions that are relevant to Chapters 7 and 8.
1. It is said that it was the British who were revolutionaries in 1763 and the colonists who were conservatives attempting to preserve
the status quo. Explain
2. In what ways were the mercantilist policies of the British burdensome to the colonists? In what ways were they beneficial? From
this comparison, draw a conclusion about the effects of mercantilism and the Navigation Laws on British Colonial relations up to
1763.
3. Compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of the British and the colonists, respectively, as the American
Revolutionary War began? What would Britain have to do to win? What would the colonists have to do to win?
4. Explain the widespread and enthusiastic colonial reception of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense.
5. The First and Second Continental Congresses were shaped by disputes between moderates, conservatives, an radicals. Discuss the
positions of the three factions and explain which was the most persuasive and effective in achieving its goals.