Document Analysis Packet
Road to Revolution
Background: By 1763 colonial expansion created tensions between the colonists and Great
Britain. Colonial resistance became more unified as Great Britain tried to tighten its rule of
the colonies and raise revenues. Throughout the decade violence became more common.
Eventually war broke out as resistance became rebellion.
TASK: Working with your partner, analyze the following documents in order to explain the
underlying cause or causes of the American Revolution. Based on your findings, discuss
whether or not declaring independence was inevitable and be ready to defend your
position.
DOCUMENT A
Proclamation of 1763
WHEREAS WE have taken into Our Royal Consideration the extensive and valuable
Acquisitions in America, secured to Our Crown by the late Definitive Treaty of Peace,
concluded at Paris...and being desirous that all Our loving Subjects...may avail themselves
with all convenient Speed, of the great Benefits and Advantages which must accrue
therefrom to their Commerce, Manufactures, and Navigation, We have thought fit...to issue
this Our Royal Proclamation....
And whereas it is just and reasonable and essential to Our Interest and the Security of Our
Colonies, that the several Nations or Tribes of Indians with whom We are connected, and
who live under Our Protection should not be molested or disturbed...no Governor...in any of
Our other Colonies or Plantations in America, do presume for the present...to grant
Warrants of Survey, or pass Patents for any Lands beyond the Heads or Sources of any of
the Rivers which fall into the Atlantic Ocean....
And whereas great Frauds and abuses have been committed in the purchasing Lands of the
Indians, to the great Prejudice of Our Interests, and to the great Dissatisfaction of the said
Indians; in order to prevent such Irregularities for the future, and to the End that the
Indians may be convinced of Our Justice and determined Resolution to remove all
reasonable cause of Discontent, We do...enjoy and require that no private Person do
presume to make any Purchase from the said Indians of any Lands reserved to the said
Indians....
DOCUMENT B
Quartering Act
1765
Annotation: Parliament approved the Quartering Act, requiring colonial governments to put
up British soldiers in unoccupied buildings and provide them with candles, bedding, and
beverages. When the New York Assembly resisted, the British governor suspended the
assembly for six months.
Document: An act to amend and render more effectual, in his Majesty’s dominions in
America, an act passed in this present session of parliament, instituted, An act for
punishing mutiny and desertion, and for the better payment of the army and their quarters.
WHEREAS in and by an act made in the present session of parliament, instituted… several
regulations are made and enacted for the better government of the army, and their
observing strict discipline, and for providing quarters for the army, and carriages on
marches and other necessary occasions, and inflicting penalties on offenders against the
same act, and for many other good purposes therein mentioned; but the same may not be
sufficient for the forces that may be employed in his Majesty’ dominions in America: and
whereas, during the continuance of the said act, there may be occasion for marching and
quartering of regiments and companies of his Majesty’s forces in several parts of his
Majesty’s dominions in America: and whereas the publick houses and barracks, in his
Majesty’s dominions in America, may not be sufficient to supply quarters for such forces:
and whereas it is expedient and necessary that carriages and other conveniences, upon the
march of troops in his Majesty’s dominions in America, should be supplied for that
purpose: be it enacted by the King’s most excellent majesty…
DOCUMENT C
Benjamin Franklin and the Stamp Act Crisis
Author: Benjamin Franklin Date:1766
Annotation: While serving in England as a representative of the colonies of Pennsylvania,
Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Georgia, Franklin promoted the idea of American liberties and
testified against the Stamp Act. He had been out of touch with sentiment in the colonies, and
in his testimony before Parliament, Franklin suggested that the colonists objected only to
direct taxes, not to duties placed on imported goods. His testimony helped to secure the repeal
of the Stamp Act and greatly enhanced his reputation both in England and America.
Document:
Q. What is your name, and place of abode?
A. Franklin, of Philadelphia.
Q. Do the Americans pay any considerable taxes among themselves?
A. Certainly many, and very heavy taxes.
Q. What are the present taxes in Pennsylvania, laid by the laws of the colonies?
A. There are taxes on all estates, real and personal; a poll tax; a tax on all offices,
professions, trades, and businesses, according to their profits; an excise on all wine, rum,
and other spirit; and a duty of ten pounds per head on all Negroes imported, with some
other duties.
Q. For what purposes are those taxes laid?
A. For the support of the civil and military establishment of the country, and to discharge
the heavy debt contracted in the last war [the Seven Years War]....
Q. Are not the colonies, from their circumstances, very able to pay the stamp duty?
A. In my opinion there is not gold and silver enough in the colonies to pay the stamp duty
for one year.
Q. Don't you know that the money arising from the stamps was all to be laid out in
America?
A. I know it is appropriated by the act to the American service; but it will be spent in the
conquered colonies, where the soldiers are, not in the colonies that pay it....
Q. Do not you think the people of America would submit to pay the stamp duty, if it was
moderated?
A. No, never, unless compelled by force of arms....
Q. What was the temper of America towards Great Britain before the year 1763?
A. The best in the world. They submitted willingly to the government of the Crown, and
paid, in all their courts, obedience to acts of Parliament....
Q. What is your opinion of a future tax, imposed on the same principle with that of the
Stamp Act? How would Americans receive it?
A. Just as they do this. They would not pay it.
Q. Have not you heard of the resolutions of this House, and of the House of Lords, asserting
the right of Parliament relating to America, including a power to tax the people there?
A. Yes, I have heard of such resolutions.
Q. What will be the opinion of the Americans on those resolutions?
A. They will think them unconstitutional and unjust.
Q. Was it an opinion in America before 1763 that the Parliament had no right to lay taxes
and duties there?
A. I have never heard any objection to the right of laying duties to regulate commerce; but a
right to lay internal taxes was never supposed to be in Parliament, as we are not
represented there....
A. Suppose a military force sent into America; they will find nobody in arms; what are they
then to do? They cannot force a man to take stamps who chooses to do without them. They
will not find a rebellion; they may indeed make one.
Q. If the act is not repealed, what do you think will be the consequences?
A. A total loss of the respect and affection the people of America bear to this country, and of
all the commerce that depends on that respect and affection.
Q. How can the commerce be affected?
A. You will find that, if the act is not repealed, they will take very little of your manufactures
in a short time.
DOCUMENT D
Declaratory Act
Date:1766
Annotation: The Declaratory Act of 1766 stated that the British Parliament's taxing authority was
the same in America as in Great Britain.
Document: An act for the better securing the dependency of his majesty's dominions in America
upon the crown and parliament of Great Britain.
Whereas several of the houses of representatives in his Majesty's colonies and plantations in
America, have of late against law, claimed to themselves, or to the general assemblies of the same,
the sole and exclusive right of imposing duties and taxes upon his majesty's subjects in the said
colonies and plantations; and have in pursuance of such claim, passed certain votes, resolutions,
and orders derogatory to the legislative authority of parliament, and inconsistent with the
dependency Of the said colonies and plantations upon the crown of Great Britain : may it therefore
please your most excellent Majesty, that it may be declared ; and be it declared by the King's most
excellent majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and
commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That the said
colonies and plantations in America have been, are, and of right ought to be, subordinate unto, and
dependent upon the imperial crown and parliament of Great Britain;
DOCUMENT E
Townshend Act Date:1767
Annotation: Chancellor of the Exchequer, Charles Townshend, imposed new duties on imports of
glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea to the colonies. The Townshend Acts also expanded the customs
service. Revenue from the acts paid the salaries of colonial governors and judges and prevented
colonial legislatures from exercising the power of the purse over these officials.
Document: British Parliament - 1767An act for granting certain duties in the British colonies and
plantations in America; for allowing a drawback of the duties of customs upon the exportation, from
this kingdom, of coffee and cocoa nuts of the produce of the said colonies or plantations; for
discontinuing the drawbacks payable on china earthen ware exported to America; and for more
effectually preventing the clandestine running of goods in the colonies and plantations.
WHEREAS it is expedient that a revenue should be raised in your Majesty’s dominions in America,
for making a more certain and adequate provision for defraying the charge of the administration of
justice, and the support of civil government, in such provinces where it shall be found necessary;
and towards further defraying the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing, the said
dominions; we, your Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the commons of Great Britain, in
parliament assembled, have therefore resolved to give and grant unto your Majesty the several
rates and duties herein after mentioned; For every hundred weight avoirdupois of crown, plate,
flint, and white glass, four shillings and eight pence…
For every hundred weight avoirdupois of green glass, one shilling and two pence.
For every hundred weight avoirdupois of red lead, two shillings.
For every hundred weight avoirdupois of white lead, two shillings.
For every hundred weight avoirdupois of painters colours, two shillings.
For every pound weight avoirdupois of tea, three pence.
DOCUMENT F
John Dickinson Identifies the Colonial Cause with Virtue and the British with Corruption
Author: John Dickinson Date:1770
Annotation: The escalating conflict with Britain after 1763 forced the colonists to define
their identity as well as the nature of sovereignty and authority through practical action and
philosophic reflection. Republican ideology served as a way to articulate a sense of identity.
Increasingly, the colonists envisioned themselves as a people emancipated from religious and
political despotism, as a simple cooperative people whose virtue and independence rested on
land ownership.
A Philadelphia landlord and lawyer, John Dickinson (1732-1808) played a critical role in
mobilizing popular opposition to the Townshend Acts. In a series of newspaper essays, he
argued against all parliamentary taxes--both "direct" taxes and "indirect" taxes. Far from
being duties to regulate trade, the Townshend Acts were taxes to raise revenue. Taxes
disguised as trade duties, he wrote, were "a most dangerous innovation," with the potential
for turning the colonists into "abject slaves." Significantly, like Brutus, Dickinson can assume
that all white colonists, regardless of class or occupation, are "free," and are thus vulnerable
to British "enslavement."
In this letter Dickinson associates the colonial cause with virtue and piety and implicitly
identifies Britain with luxury and corruption. It is notable that so many colonists addressed
their appeals to an English woman.
Document:
A class of men in all states too fondly devoted to profitable tho inglorious Tranquility, have
their the same addiction to private interests here, that they have shewn in every other part
of the world. But the freeholders of this Continent, the really respectable Body of the
People, I think, are still firm to the Cause of Liberty. To engage them to act with more spirit
of headiness in controlling the sliding patriotism of merchants, it will...wait...[until] the
administration encouraged by a supposed Victory, shall with still more indolent audacity
renew their attacks on our Freedom....
I trust we have Virtue & Resolution. Yet certain it is--than no mortal can engage in a more
difficult Enterprise to rouse a People in vindication of their artfully invaded Rights--to unite
them--& to maintain that union, in a persevering adherence to...measures for obtaining
Redress.
Your generous Labors, Madam, in rendering Justice...will I doubt not, facilitate the
Endeavors of future Patriots throughout the British Dominion in every age. Your attention
to America in particular is very obliging....
DOCUMENT G
The Boston Massacre
By Paul Revere 1770
American Antiquarian Society
TEXT BENEATH ENGRAVING:
Unhappy BOSTON! see thy Sons deplore, Thy hallowe'd Walks besmear'd with guiltless Gore: While
faithless --- and his savage Bands, With murd'rous Rancour stretch their bloody Hands; Like fierce
Barbarians grinning o'er their Prey, Approve the Carnage, and enjoy the Day.
If scalding drops from Rage from Anguish Wrung If speechless Sorrows lab' ring for a Tongue, Or if a
weeping World can ought appease The plaintive Ghosts of Victims such as these; The Patriot's copious
Tears for each are shed, A glorious Tribute which embalms the Dead.
But know, FATE summons to that awful Goal, Where JUSTICE strips the Murd'rer of his Soul: Should venal
C-ts the scandal of the Land, Snatch the relentless Villain from her Hand, Keen Execrations on this Plate
inscrib'd, Shall reach a JUDGE who never can be brib'd.
The unhappy Sufferers were Messs. SAM. L GRAY, SAM.L MAVERICK, JAM.S CALDWELL , CRISPUS
ATTUCKS & PAT.K CARR Killed. Six wounded two of them (CHRIST.R MONK & JOHN CLARK) Mortally
DOCUMENT H
Tea Act Date: 1773
Annotation: Parliament passed the Tea Act that authorized the East India Company to
bypass American wholesalers and sell tea directly to American distributors. Cutting out the
wholesalers' profit would make English tea cheaper than tea smuggled in from Holland.
Colonists in Boston, disguised as Indians, boarded three vessels and dumped 342 canisters of
British tea into Boston harbor.
The British government responded harshly; it closed Boston harbor to trade; modified the
Massachusetts colonial charter; forbid town meetings more than once a year; called for the
billeting of British troops in unoccupied private homes; provided for trials outside the colonies
when royal officials are accused of serious crimes; and named a general to serve as
Massachusetts' royal governor.
Document: British Parliament - 1773
An act to allow a drawback of the duties of customs on the exportation of tea to any of his
Majesty's colonies or plantations in America; to increase the deposit on bohea tea to be sold
at the India Company's sales; and to impower the commissioners of the treasury to grant
licences to the East India Company to export tea duty-free.
WHEREAS by an act, made in the twelfth year of his present Majesty's reign, (intituled, An
act for granting a drawback of part of the customs upon the exportation of tea to Ireland,
and the British dominions in America;
DOCUMENT I
DOCUMENT J
Administration of Justice Act Date: 1774
Annotation: The Administration of Justice Act of 1774
Document: An act for the impartial administration of justice in the cases of persons
questioned for any acts done by them in the execution of the law, or for the suppression of
riots and tumults, in the province of the Massachuset's Bay, in New England.
WHEREAS in his Majesty's province of Massachuset's Bay, in New England, an attempt hath
lately been made to throw off the authority of the parliament of Great Britain over the said
province, and an actual and avowed resistance, by open force, to the execution of certain
acts of parliament, hath been suffered to take place, uncontrouled and unpunished, in
defiance of his Majesty's authority, and to the subversion of all lawful government whereas,
in the present disordered state of the said province, it is of the utmost. importance to the
general welfare thereof, and to the re-establishment of lawful authority throughout the
same, that neither the magistrates acting in support of the laws, nor any of his Majesty's
subjects aiding and assisting them therein, or in the suppression of riots and tumults,
raised in opposition to the execution of the laws and statutes of this realm, should be
discouraged from the proper discharge of their duty, by an apprehension, that in case of
their being questioned for any acts done therein, they may be liable to be brought to trial
for the same before persons who do not acknowledge the validity of the laws, in the
execution thereof, or the authority of the magistrate in the support of whom, such acts had
been done: in order therefore to remove every such discouragement from the minds of his
Majesty's subjects, and to induce them, upon all proper occasions, to exert themselves in
support of the public peace of the provinces, and of the authority of the King and
parliament of Great Britain over the same; be it enacted by the King's most excellent
majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and
commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That if
any inquisition or indictment shall be found, or if any appeal shall be sued or preferred
against any person, for murder, or other capital offence, in the province Of the
Massachuset's Bay, and it shall appear, by information given upon oath to the governor, or,
in his absence, to the lieutenant-governor of the said province, that the fact was committed
by the person against whom such inquisition or indictment shall be found, or against whom
such appeal shall be sued or preferred, as aforesaid, either in the execution of his duty as a
magistrate, for the suppression of riots, or in the support of the laws of revenue, or in
acting in his duty as an officer of revenue, or in acting under the direction and order of any
magistrate, for the suppression of riots, or for the carrying into effect the laws of revenue,
or in aiding and assisting in any of the cases aforesaid: and if it shall also appear, to the
satisfaction of the said governor, or lieutenant-governor respectively, that an indifferent
trial cannot be had within the said province, in that case, it shall and may be lawful for the
governor, or lieutenant-governor, to direct, with the advice and consent of the council, that
the inquisition, indictment, or appeal, shall be tried in some other of his Majesty's colonies,
or in Great Britain…
DOCUMENT K
Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress Date: 1774
Document: Whereas, since the close of the last war, the British parliament, claiming a
power, of right, to bind the people of America by statutes in all cases whatsoever, hath, in
some acts, expressly imposed taxes on them, and in others, under various pretences, but in
fact for the purpose of raising a revenue, hath imposed rates and duties payable in these
colonies, established a board of commissioners, with unconstitutional powers, and
extended the jurisdiction of courts of admiralty, not only for collecting the said duties, but
for the trial of causes merely arising within the body of a county
That the inhabitants of the English colonies in North-America, by the immutable laws of
nature, the principles of the English constitution, and the several charters or compacts,
have the following RIGHTS:
Resolved, N. C. D. 1. That they are entitled to life, liberty and property: and they have never
ceded to any foreign power whatever, a right to dispose of either without their consent.
Resolved, N. C. D. 2. That our ancestors, who first settled these colonies, were at the time of
their emigration from the mother country, entitled to all the rights, liberties, and
immunities of free and natural-born subjects, within the realm of England.
Resolved, N. C. D. 8. That they have a right peaceably to assemble, consider of their
grievances, and petition the king; and that all prosecutions, prohibitory proclamations, and
commitments for the same, are illegal.
Resolved, N. C. D. 9. That the keeping a standing army in these colonies, in times of peace,
without the consent of the legislature of that colony, in which such army is kept, is against
law.
Also 12 Geo. III. ch. 24. intituled, “An act for the better securing his majesty's dockyards,
magazines, ships, ammunition, and stores,” which declares a new offence in America, and
deprives the American subject of a constitutional trial by jury of the vicinage, by
authorising the trial of any person, charged with the committing any offence described in
the said act, out of the realm, to be indicted and tried for the same in any shire or county
within the realm.
Also the three acts passed in the last session of parliament, for stopping the port and
blocking up the harbour of Boston, for altering the charter and government of
Massachusetts-Bay, and that which is entitled, “An act for the better administration of
justice, etc.”
DOCUMENT L
The Battles of Lexington and Concord Author: Isaac Merrill Date:1775
Annotation: In February 1775, Parliament declared Massachusetts to be in a state of
rebellion. This declaration permitted soldiers to shoot suspected rebels on sight. In April,
General Thomas Gage (1721-1787) received secret orders to arrest the ringleaders of colonial
unrest. Having already learned of the orders, colonial leaders fled Boston to avoid arrest.
Gage decided to seize and destroy arms the patriots had stored at Concord, 20 miles
northwest of Boston. On the night of April 18, 1775, 700 British soldiers began to march
toward Concord. When Joseph Warren (1741-1775), a Boston patriot, discovered that British
troops were on the march, he sent Paul Revere (1735-1818) and William Dawes (1745-1799)
to ride to Concord to warn the people about the approaching forces.
At dawn on April 19, the troops reached the town of Lexington, five miles east of Concord.
About seventy volunteer soldiers called minutemen lined the Lexington Green to warn the
redcoated British troops not to trespass onto property of freeborn English subjects. A shot
rang out; the British troops fired. Eight minutemen were killed and another ten were
wounded.
The British continued to Concord, where they searched for hidden arms. At North Bridge, a
group of redcoats and minutemen clashed, leaving 3 redcoats and 2 minutemen dead. The
British then retreated to Boston, while citizen-soldiers fired at the soldiers from behind trees
and stone fences. British solders killed or wounded totalled 273; colonists losses were 95. The
resistance displayed on April 19, 1775 indicated that the American Revolution would truly be
a popular revolution.
The battles of Lexington and Concord occurred three weeks after Patrick Henry (1736-1799)
delivered his famous words, "Give me liberty or give me death." Although an earlier battle
with the British had been fought in North Carolina, at Moore's Creek Bridge, Lexington and
Concord became fixed in the public mind as the valiant start of American resistance.
Several first-person accounts of these battles survive. Phineas Fullam, a Committee of Safety
postrider, reported seeing "some of the Men killed the whole number on both sides as near as
can be estimated is 200 among whom are a Considerable Number of Regular Officers." Colonel
Isaac Merrill, who mobilized the Amesbury militia, offered the following description of one of
the Revolution's opening clashes.
Document:
[T]his Day I have received intelligence that the ministerial troops under the Command of
general Gage did Last evening march out of Boston and marched to Lexington & there
Killed a number of our American Soldiers & thence proceed[ed] to Concord Killing and
Destroying our men and interest. These [orders] are therefore to Order you forthwith to
Mobilize and muster as many of your under officers and Soldiers as you can possible to
meet immediately to Some suitable place: and then to march of[f] forthwith to Concord or
Else where as in your Discretion you shall think best to the relief of our Friend[s] and
Country....
For each of the 12 documents above, answer the following questions:
1.
Type of document:
2.
Author (or creator) of the document:
3.
For what audience was the document written?
4.
Document information:
a.
List 3 things the author states that you think are important.
b.
Why do you think the document was written?
c.
What evidence in the document helps you know why it was written? (Quotes from the
document.)
d.
Cite the most significant quote that will best help you complete the stated task. Explain.