APUSH Unit 2: Revolutionary America
Key concepts:
 The increasing political, economic, and cultural exchanges within the “Atlantic World” had a profound
impact on the development of colonial societies in North America.
 Britain’s victory over France in the imperial struggle for North America led to new conflicts among the
British government, the North American colonists, and American Indians, culminating in the creation of
a new nation, the United States.
 In the late 18th century, new experiments with democratic ideas and republican forms of government, as
well as other religious, economic, and cultural ideas, challenged traditional imperial systems across the
Atlantic World.
 Migration within North America, cooperative interaction, and competition for resources raised questions
about boundaries and policies, intensified conflicts among peoples and nations, and led to contests over
the creation of a multiethnic multiracial national identity.
Chapter 5 Colonial Society on the Eve of Revolution: Discussion Questions
1. Explain the phrase “Conquest by the Cradle” using evidence from the book.
2. Describe the ethnic makeup of the colonies in the years before 1775.
3. What characteristics made up the Scots-Irish? What elements did they add to colonial America?
4. Describe the Paxton Boys and Regulator Movement. What were the issues and why were they significant?
Haven’t we seen something like these before? When?
5. Describe the diversity of the colonies by section (New England, Middle, Southern). Where was the most and
least amount of diversity? What did Crevecoeur have to say about all of this?
6. Describe the social ladder of colonial society. Who was where?
7. How sophisticated was colonial medicine and colonial law?
8. What did colonists do for a living?
9. Describe Triangular Trade. What products went to each part of the triangle?
10. Why did the British pass the Molasses Act, and why were the colonists upset about it?
11. Describe transportation in the colonies.
12. What was the significance of taverns to colonial society?
13. What is a ‘tax-supported’ church? What were the two in colonial America?
14. Describe the religious toleration in colonial America. Was this more or less than in England?
15. What were the reasons for the Great Awakening? Who were the leaders of the movement? Old Lights vs.
New Lights? What were the outcomes of the Great Awakening?
16. Give examples of the American culture that was created in the colonies. (schools, entertainment, arts,
folkways, etc.)
17. What was the situation with John Peter Zenger? What does his case represent?
18. Describe how American colonists got involved in “the great game of politics.”
19. Overall, despite their differences, many similarities between the North American colonies. What were they?
Chapter 6 The Duel for North America: Reading Guide
1. France in North America
- Louis XIV, Champlain, de La Salle
- Why didn’t the French settle in North America as much as the British?
2. Anglo-French Colonial “World” Wars
- What were they fighting about?
- George Washington’s role
- French and Indian War
3. Albany Congress
4. F.I.W.
- General Braddock
- William Pitt
- Native American allegiances
5. Treaty of 1763
6. Outcomes of the FIW
- Reactions, impressions, relationships after the war
7. Americans: Destiny
8. Pontiac
9. Proclamation of 1763
Chapters 7 and 8: The American Revolution: People and Terms to Know
Mercantilism
Navigation Laws
Salutary Neglect
“King of Smugglers”
George Grenville
Sugar Act-1764
Quartering Act-1765
Stamp Act-1765
“Virtual representation”
Colonial Protests and groups
Declaratory Act
Charles Townshend (and his Acts)
Boston Massacre-1770
Committees of Correspondence
Samuel and John Adams
Tea Act & Party!-1773
Edmund Burke
Intolerable Acts and Quebec Act-1774
Continental Congress-1774
Lexington & Concord-April 1775 – Why did the ‘battle’ take place?
George III & Lord North
Hessians
Advantages & Disadvantages
Marquis de Lafayette
African-Americans in the war
2nd Continental Congress-1775 – What did they decide?
Ticonderoga & Bunker Hill-1775
Olive Branch Petition
Benedict Arnold
Thomas Paine
Republicanism
Declaration of Independence
Patriots vs. Loyalists
Washington vs. Howe (Trenton)
Burgoyne – Saratoga
French assistance
Joseph Bryant, George Rogers Clark, John Paul Jones
Cornwallis, Admiral de Grasse, Rochambeau (Yorktown)
Treaty of Paris
Chapter 9: The Confederation and the Constitution: Concepts to Understand
1. Egalitarianism
2. Making State Constitutions
3. Articles of Confederation: Limitations and Weaknesses
4. Land Ordinance of 1785
5. Northwest Ordinance of 1787
6. Foreign Relations Problems
7. Shays’s Rebellion
8. Constitutional Convention (“of Demigods”): Who were the “gods”?
9. A “Compromise” Constitution:
- Virginia + New Jersey = Great Compromise
- 3/5 Compromise
- Slave Trade Compromise
10. Federalists vs. Antifederalists
11. Ratification Debates
12. Conservatism or Peaceful Counterrevolution?