Name: ____________________________________
Was the Revolutionary War revolutionary?
Document Based Essay
Part I: Constructed Response
Document Based Essay:
Document A- Pre Revolution Government
This engraving shows the New York–based “Sons of Freedom,” a group of colonists dissatisfied with British
Parliament and King George III’s taxes and duties on the American colonies, pulling down a statue of the muchhated monarch. By the 1770s, this type of activity had become very common, as colonists began to demand
representation of their interests in Parliament.
Credit: Pulling Down Statue of George III by the “Sons of Freedom” at the Bowling Green, City of New York, July
1776, painted by Johannes A. Oertel, engraved by John C. McRae. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs
Division (reproduction number LC-USZ62-2455 [B&W film copy negative]).
Q: As seen above, why were colonists angry about the taxes placed upon them by King George III and
the Parliament?
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Name: ____________________________________
Was the Revolutionary War revolutionary?
Document Based Essay
Part I: Constructed Response
Document B- Pre Revolution Treatment of Slaves
Negro Act 1740:
a. If a white man kills an enslaved person it is a misdemeanor punishable by fine.
b. Slaves could never attack a white person except in defense of their slave owner’s life.
c. Slaves could not learn to read and write and nor assemble with one another. People who violated these things
were subjected to flogging.
"An Act for the Better Ordering and Governing of Negroes and Other Slaves in this Province" or Slave Code
of South Carolina, May 1740.
Q: What does the Negro Act of 1740 tell you about how slaves were treated before the American
Revolution?
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Document C- Pre Revolution Treatment of Women (Think back to rights as well)
A New England kitchen. A hundred years ago. Photograph of drawing by H.W. Pierce.
Q: What was the role of women in society specifically the home and politics?
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_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
Name: ____________________________________
Was the Revolutionary War revolutionary?
Document Based Essay
Part I: Constructed Response
Document D- Post Revolution Government
“No State shall be represented in Congress by less than two, nor more than seven members…”
Engrossed and corrected copy of the Articles of Confederation, showing amendments adopted, November 15,
1777, Papers of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789; Records of the Continental and Confederation
Congresses and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789, Record Group 360; National Archives.
Q: How did the rights of American citizens change from the initial taxes under King George III to their new
governing document, Article of Confederation?
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Document E- Post Revolution Treatment of Slaves
New Jersey- An act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery
Feb.15, 1804, Acts 28th G.A. 2nd sitting, ch.CIII, p.251-254.
SEC. 1. BE it enacted by the Council and General Assembly of this State, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of
the same, That every child born of a slave within this state, after the fourth day of July next, shall be free…
Q: How were the lives of slaves expected to change in New Jersey following the Revolutionary War?
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Document F- Post Revolution Treatment of Slaves
THE ALABAMA SLAVE CODE OF 1852
Slaves
No slave must go beyond the limits of the plantation on which he [or she] resides, without a pass, or some
letter from his master or overseer.
No slave can keep or carry a gun, powder, shot, club, or other weapon. . . .
No slave can own property.
Source: The Code of Alabama, prepared by John J. Ormand, Arthur P. Bagby, and George
Goldthwaite (Montgomery: Brittain and De Wolf, 1852), pp. 234ñ45, 390ñ93, 589ñ97.
Q: How haven’t the lives of the slaves changed in the South following the Revolutionary War?
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Name: ____________________________________
Document Based Essay
Was the Revolutionary War revolutionary?
Part I: Constructed Response
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Document G- Post Revolution Treatment of Women
Acts of the 32rd General Assembly of New Jersey, Chapter II, Section 1; 1807.
Q: What does the document above tell you about the rights of women and government following the
Revolution?
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_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
Name: ____________________________________
Was the Revolutionary War revolutionary?
Document Based Essay
Part I: Constructed Response
Document H- Post Revolution Treatment of Women
This Act, though very limited in its scope, was the first passed by the New Jersey Legislature giving
married women rights to their own property.
1852 Married Women's Property Act
Source, Acts of the Seventy-Sixth Legislature of the State of New Jersey (Somerville, 1852), 407.
Q: According to the document above, how have the rights of women changed and improved?
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Name: ____________________________________
Document Based Essay
Was the Revolutionary War revolutionary?
Part I: Constructed Response
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