Draw Conclusions from the Evidence for Thinking through Sources 5
Instructions
This exercise asks you to assess the relationship between conclusions and evidence. Identify which of the following conclusions are supported by the specific piece of evidence. Click “yes” for those pieces of evidence that support the conclusion and “no” for those that do not.
Conclusion A
Some American colonists had begun to think about their common interests in the 1750s, but it was not until they faced ongoing conflict with their British rulers that many colonists embraced a common American identity that rested on the idea of liberty and banded together as a single political entity that could fight to secure its rights.
Question
5.19
Evidence 1: The Albany Plan’s statement “That humble application be made for an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, by virtue of which, one General Government may be formed in America, including all the said Colonies, within, and under which Government each Colony may retain its present constitution” in Document 5.1: The Albany Plan of Union
A.
B.
Question
5.20
Evidence 2: The statement by the women “We the Subscribers do strictly engage, that we will totally abstain from the Use of that Article (Sickness excepted). . . . This agreement we cheerfully come into, as we believe the very distressed Situation of our Country requires it” in Document 5.2: Boycott Agreement of Women in Boston
A.
B.
Question
5.21
Evidence 3: The slaves’ declaration “We are willing to submit to such regulations and laws, as may be made relative to us, until we leave the province, which we determine to do as soon as we can from our joynt labours procure money to transport ourselves to some part of the coast of Africa, where we propose a settlement” in Document 5.3: Peter Bestes and Massachusetts Slaves, Letter to Local Representatives
A.
B.
Question
5.22
Evidence 4: The statement by the Virginia committee “You will see by the enclosed Resolutions the true sentiments of this colony, and that we are endeavouring to bring our sister colonies into the strictest union with us, that we may RESENT IN ONE BODY any steps that may be taken by administration to deprive ANY ONE OF US of the least particle of our rights & liberties” in Document 5.4: Committees of Correspondence
A.
B.
Conclusion B
When white men in the American colonies spoke of the need to defend their liberty, they did not generally assume that other groups were entitled to that right, yet some women and slaves adopted the radical rhetoric, applied it to their own circumstances, and organized their own challenges to the status quo.
Question
5.23
Evidence 1: Franklin’s statement “That the President General with the advice of the Grand Council, hold or direct all Indian Treaties in which the general interest of the Colonys may be concerned; and make peace or declare War with Indian Nations. That they make such Laws as they judge necessary for the regulating all Indian Trade. That they make all purchases from Indians for the Crown, of lands not [now] within the bounds of particular Colonies” in Document 5.1: The Albany Plan of Union
A.
B.
Question
5.24
Evidence 2: The women’s statement that “At a time when our invaluable Rights and Privileges are attacked in an unconstitutional and most alarming Manner, and as we find we are reproached for not being so ready as could be desired, to lend our Assistance, we think it our Duty perfectly to concur with the true friends of Liberty, in all the Measures they have taken to save this abused Country from Ruin and Slavery” in Document 5.2: Boycott Agreement of Women in Boston
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B.
Question
5.25
Evidence 3: The slaves’ statement “We expect great things from men who have made such a noble stand against the designs of their fellow-men to enslave them. We cannot but wish and hope Sir, that you will have the same grand object, we mean civil and religious liberty, in view in your next session. The divine spirit of freedom, seems to fire in every humane breast on this continent, except such as are bribed to assist in executing the execrable plan” in Document 5.3: Peter Bestes and Massachusetts Slaves, Letter to Local Representatives
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B.
Question
5.26
Evidence 4: The Virginia committee’s statement “I hope . . . we shall have from the different Committees the earliest intelligence of any motion that may be made by the TYRANTS in England to carry their INFERNAL purposes of enslaving us into execution” in Document 5.4: Committees of Correspondence
A.
B.
Conclusion C
Some Americans recognized the hypocrisy evident in the broad claims about American liberty and equality, which ignored the lives and experiences of enslaved people.
Question
5.27
Evidence 1: The women’s statement “We think it our Duty perfectly to concur with the true Friends of Liberty, in all the Measures they have taken to save this abused Country from Ruin and Slavery” in Document 5.2: Boycott Agreement of Women in Boston
A.
B.
Question
5.28
Evidence 2: The slaves’ statement “We acknowledge our obligations to you for what you have already done, but as the people of this province seem to be actuated by the principles of equity and justice, we cannot but expect your house will again take our deplorable case into serious consideration, and give us that ample relief which, as men, we have a natural right to” in Document 5.3: Peter Bestes and Massachusetts Slaves, Letter to Local Representatives
A.
B.
Question
5.29
Evidence 3: The statement made in the House of Burgesses “Resolved, That it be an instruction to the said committee, that they do, without delay, inform themselves particularly of the principles and authority, on which was constituted a court of inquiry, said to have been lately held in Rhode-Island, with powers to transport persons accused of offences committed in America, to places beyond the seas to be tried” in Document 5.4: Committees of Correspondence
A.
B.
Question
5.30
Evidence 4: De Crevecoeur’s remarks on the blindness of the colonists: “While all is joy, festivity, and happiness in Charles-Town, would you imagine that scenes of misery overspread in the country? Their ears by habit are become deaf, their hearts are hardened; they neither see, hear, nor feel for the woes of their poor slaves, from whose painful labours all their wealth proceeds. Here the horrors of slavery, the hardship of incessant toils, are unseen; and no one thinks with compassion of those showers of sweat and of tears which from the bodies of Africans, daily drop, and moisten the ground they till” in Document 5.5: Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, Letters from an American Farmer
A.
B.
Thinking through Sources forExploring American Histories, Volume 1Printed Page 36