Interpret the Evidence
What powers would the general government have had under the Albany Plan of Union (Document 5.11)? How did it deal with the colonies’ relationship to Britain? How did it regulate their relationship with Indians? How much power would individual colonies have had in the general government?
What do the women who signed the boycott agreement pledge to do in protest of the Townshend Acts (Document 5.12)? How do they characterize the relationship between the crown and the colonies? How would you describe their rhetoric?
What is the basis of Peter Bestes and his fellow slaves’ call for freedom (Document 5.13)? What does the letter have to say about the slaves’ masters? What do the slaves hope to do once they gain their freedom? How does their rhetoric compare to that of the women in Document 5.12?
Why do you think the Boston committee of correspondence circulated this letter (Document 5.14) from Virginia? What did the Virginians propose? What is the significance of the capitalized words in the letter? What does the letter say about the way these colonists perceived the relationship between colonies?
What, according to J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, is an American (Document 5.15)? Do you think his analysis is romantic or accurate (or perhaps both)? How does slavery fit into his story? Why do you think he called his work Letters from an American Farmer?
Put It in Context
How did the authors of these documents describe and invoke the idea of connections among the colonists? Why were these arguments more persuasive in 1773 than in 1754?