Chapter 6: The Spirit of Independence

Lesson 3 - A Call to Arms (Pages 170 - 175)

1. What was the purpose of the First Continental Congress?
2. What did Patrick Henry mean when he said, I am not a Virginian, but an American?
3. Why did the delegates call for the repeal of certain laws?
4. Why did the First Continental Congress pass a resolution to form militias?
5. Theoretically, fighting between the British military and colonial militias could have
erupted anywhere in the colonies. Why was it likely that it would first erupt in or
near Boston?
6. What was the purpose of the midnight ride of Paul Revere and William Dawes?
7. Why do you think the poet Ralph Waldo Emerson described the Americans at
Lexington and Concord as having fired the shot heard round the world?
8. What was the significance of the Battle of Bunker Hill?
9. Why would some American colonists have wanted to support Britain despite the
harsh policies Britain invoked?
Lesson 4 - Declaring Independence (Pages 178 - 183)
1. What actions did the Second Continental Congress take to begin governing the
colonies?
2. How did King George III react to the Olive Branch Petition?
3. What was the central idea of
Common Sense
?
4. How did John Lockes ideas influence Thomas Jefferson in his writing of the
Declaration of Independence?
5. What is the purpose of the Declaration of Independence as stated in the Preamble?
6. If government does not protect the basic rights of the people, what did the
Declaration of Independence say that people had the right to do?
7. What policies of King George III did the colonists condemn in the Declaration of
Independence? Identify at least three of their grievances.
8. What does the closing of the document mean, in which the signers pledge to each
other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor?