How to Study for APUSH

Rosie Jayde Uyola
3 days ago
21 min read

“We apprehend [believe] that as freemen and English subjects, we have an indisputable title to the same privileges and immunities with His Majesty’s other subjects who reside in the interior counties . . . , and therefore ought not to be excluded from an equal share with them in the very important privilege of legislation. . . . We cannot but observe with sorrow and indignation that some persons in this province are at pains to extenuate [excuse] the barbarous cruelties practiced by these savages on our murdered brethren and relatives . . . by this means the Indians have been taught to despise us as a weak and disunited people, and from this fatal source have arisen many of our calamities. . . . We humbly pray therefore that this grievance may be redressed.”

The Paxton Boys, to the Pennsylvania Assembly, 1764

1. The sentiments exhibited in this excerpt were most directly influenced by which of the following historical developments?

(A) The Great Awakening

(B) The Albany Plan of Union

(D) The Enlightenment

2. The British had earlier attempted to solve the problem expressed in this excerpt most directly by

(A) signing the treaty to end the French and Indian War

(B) establishing a boundary between Indian lands and lands open for colonial settlement

(C) passing a law that required colonists to house British soldiers (D) enforcing regulations on colonial trade after a period of not enforcing them

3. Which of the following individuals led a group that was in the most similar situation to the Paxton Boys?

(A) John Smith because his supporters also wanted an equal share of privileges with other colonists

(B) Roger Williams because his supporters also relied on prayer to have their problems solved

(D) Edmund Andros because his supporters also disputed the power of the British monarch

1. Answer (a), (b), and (c).

(a) Briefly explain ONE historical event or development during the Seven Years’ War that demonstrated a fundamental change in the British view of its relationship with its American colonies.

(b) Briefly explain ONE historical event or development during the Seven Years’ War that demonstrated a fundamental change in the colonial view of its relationship with its British government.

(c) Briefly describe ONE historical event or development resulting from the changing views by either the British or the colonists.

“The unhappy disputes between Great Britain and her American colonies . . . have proceeded to lengths so dangerous and alarming as to excite just apprehensions in the minds of His Majesty’s faithful subjects of this colony. . . .

It cannot admit of a doubt but that British subjects in America are entitled to the same rights and privileges as their fellow subjects possess in Britain; and therefore, that the power assumed by the British Parliament to bind America by their statutes in all cases whatsoever is unconstitutional, and the source of these unhappy differences. . . .

To obtain a redress of these grievances, without which the people of America can neither be safe, free, nor happy, they are willing to undergo the great inconvenience that will be derived to them from stopping all imports whatsoever from Great Britain.”

Statement by the Virginia Convention, formerly known as the

House of Burgesses , 1774

1. Which of the following actions by the colonists is most similar to the one recommended in the excerpt above?

(A) The actions taken by the Massachusetts legislature in response to the passing of the Townshend Acts

(B) The colonists’ actions in Boston that led to the Boston Massacre

(D) The Boston Tea Party because it involved destroying property that was a symbol of British authority

2. The statement that “British subjects in America are entitled to the same rights and privileges as their fellow subjects possess in Britain” indicates that the writers of this document believed that colonists should

(A) purchase more goods from British merchants

(B) declare independence before the British took any futher actions

(D) demand that Parliament reduce their overall level of taxes

“The colonists believed they saw . . . what appeared to be evidence of nothing less than a deliberate assault launched surreptitiously by plotters against liberty both in England and in America. The danger to America, it was believed, was in fact only the small immediately visible part of the greater whole whose ultimate manifestation would be the destruction of the English constitution with all the rights and privileges embedded in it. . . .

It was this—the overwhelming evidence, as they saw it, that they were faced with conspirators against liberty determined at all costs to gain ends which their words dissembled [portrayed falsely]—that was signaled to the colonists after 1763, and it was this above all else that in the end propelled them into Revolution.”

Bernard Bailyn, historian, The Logic of Rebellion, 1967

“The Americans, ‘born the heirs of freedom,’ revolted not to create but to maintain their freedom. American society had developed differently from that of the Old World. . . . While the speculative philosophers of Europe were laboriously searching their minds in an effort to decide the first principles of liberty, the Americans had come to experience vividly that liberty in their everyday lives. . . . The Revolution was thus essentially intellectual and declaratory: it ‘explained the business to the world, and served to confirm what nature and society had before produced.’ ‘All was the result of reason. . . .’ The Revolution had taken place not in a succession of eruptions that had crumbled the existing social structure, but in a succession of new thoughts and new ideas that had vindicated that social structure. . . . The Americans revolted not out of actual suffering but out of reasoned principle.”

Gordon S. Wood, historian, The Idea of America, 2011

Using the excerpts, answer (a), (b), and (c).

(a) Briefly explain ONE major difference between Wood’s and Bailyn’s historical interpretations of why the American colonies rebelled against the British.

(b) Briefly explain how ONE historical event or development in the period 1754 to 1776 that is not explicitly mentioned in the excerpts could be used to support Bailyn’s interpretation.

(c) Briefly explain how ONE historical event or development in the period 1754 to 1776 that is not explicitly mentioned in the excerpts could be used to support Wood’s interpretation.

“It is inseparably essential to the freedom of a People, and the undoubted Right of Englishmen, that no taxes be imposed on them, but with their own Consent, given personally, or by their representatives. . . . That it is the indispensable duty of these colonies, to the best of sovereigns . . . to procure the repeal of the act for granting and applying certain stamp duties, of all clauses of any other acts of Parliament . . . for the restriction of American commerce.”

Resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress, 1765

The above excerpt was primarily directed to which person or group?

(A) Colonial merchants

(B) The king

(D) Residents of England

2. The philosophical basis behind the excerpt was that the writers (A) accepted Parliament’s authority generally but not for direct taxation (B) accepted Parliamentary actions only in specific, limited cases (C) rejected only how Parliament was spending tax revenues (D) rejected Parliament’s entire authority as violating the social contract

3. The Enlightenment idea most clearly reflected in this passage was that

(A) God rarely intervened in human affairs directly

(B) reason was the best guide to understanding the world

(D) kings received their authority to rule from God

“I wish I knew what mighty things were fabricating. If a form of government is to be established here, what one will be assumed? Will it be left to our assemblies to choose one? And will not many men have many minds? And shall we not run into dissensions among ourselves?

I am more and more convinced that man is a dangerous creature; and that power, whether vested in many or a few, is ever grasping. . . . How shall we be governed so as to retain our liberties? Who shall frame these laws? Who will give them force and energy. . . .

When I consider these things, and the prejudices of people in favor of ancient customs and regulations, I feel anxious for the fate of our monarchy or democracy, or whatever is to take place.”

Abigail Adams, Letter to John Adams, November 27, 1775

Using the excerpt, answer (a), (b), and (c).

(a) Briefly explain ONE specific perspective expressed by Abigail Adams in the excerpt above.

(b) Briefly explain ONE historical event or development in the period leading up to independence that led to the view expressed here by Abigail Adams.

(c) Briefly explain ONE historical event or development in the period leading up to independence that challenged the views expressed here by Abigail Adams.

“I have not the least doubt that the Negroes will make very excellent soldiers, with proper management. . . .

I foresee that this project will have to combat much opposition from prejudice and self-interest. The contempt we have been taught to entertain for the black makes us fancy many things that are founded neither in reason nor experience; and an unwillingness to part with property of so valuable a kind will furnish a thousand arguments to show the impracticability or pernicious tendency of a scheme which requires such a sacrifice. But it should be considered that if we do not make use of them in this way, the enemy probably will. . . . An essential part of the plan is to give them their freedom with their muskets.”

Alexander Hamilton, “A Proposal to Arm and Then Free the Negroes,” 1779

This excerpt suggests that Hamilton saw the conflict with Great Britain as also a conflict among colonists over

(A) whether to trust reason or experience more

(B) whether colonists had adequate skills to manage soldiers (C) the views of plantation owners about the enemy

(D) the views of White Americans toward enslaved Black Americans

The excerpt supports the claim that the use of Black troops during the Revolutionary War was likely motivated by which of the following? (A) Awareness that the French were using Black soldiers in their army (B) Fear that the British would recruit African Americans

(D) Belief that the Declaration of Independence called for equality

Answer (a), (b), and (c).

(a) Briefly explain ONE specific strength that Patriots had in the American Revolution in the period 1774 to 1783.

(b) Briefly explain ONE specific way that France influenced the American Revolution in the period 1774 to 1783.

Revolution in the period 1774 to 1783.

“A Declaration of Rights made by the representatives of the good people of Virginia . . .

Section 1. That all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights. . . .

Section 2. That all power is vested in and consequently derived from the people. . . .

Section 4. That no man, or set of men, is entitled to exclusive or separate . . . privileges from the community. . . .

Section 5. That the legislative and executive powers of the state should be separate and distinct from the judiciary. . . .

Section 6. That elections of members . . . as representatives of the people, in assembly, ought to be free; and that all men, having sufficient evidence of permanent common interest with and attachment to the community, have the right of suffrage. . . .

Section 12. That freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty. . . .

Section 16. All men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion.” Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776

1. Which of the following sections was the most direct reason for conflicts between Virginia and the British government?

(A) Section 1: all people are by nature equal

(B) Section 2: legitimate government power comes from the people (C) Section 4: no person deserves special privileges

(D) Section 16: people should be able to worship freely

2. Which of the following sections most clearly reflected a belief in the social contract theory of government?

(A) Section 2: origins of governmental power

(B) Section 5: separation of government powers

(D) Section 12: freedom of the press

3. The group most likely to oppose the ideas expressed in this excerpt would have been

(A) the Minutemen of Lexington, because they were from New England (B) the Daughters of Liberty, because they were women

(C) Tories such as William Franklin, because they supported the British (D) African Americans, because most of them were enslaved

“In the decades following the Revolution, American society was transformed. . . . The Revolution resembled the breaking of a dam, releasing thousands upon thousands of pent-up pressures. . . . It was as if the whole traditional structure, enfeebled and brittle to begin with, broke apart, and the people and their energies were set loose in an unprecedented outburst. “Nothing contributed more to this explosion of energy than did the idea of equality. Equality was in fact the most radical and most powerful ideological force let loose in the Revolution. Its appeal was far more potent than any of the revolutionaries realized. Once invoked, the idea of equality could not be stopped, and it tore through American society and culture with awesome power. . . . Within decades following the Declaration of Independence, the United States became the most egalitarian nation in the history of the world, and it remains so today, regardless of its great disparities of wealth.”

Gordon S. Wood, Radicalism of the American Revolution, 1993

“Today, ‘equality’ is generally interpreted to include protection for the rights of minorities; during the Revolution, ‘the body of the people’ referred exclusively to the majority. . . .

It is one of the supreme ironies of the American revolution that the

assumption of authority by “the body of the people”—probably its most radical feature—served to oppress as well as to liberate. This was a real revolution: the people did seize power, but they exercised that power at the expense of others—loyalists, pacifists, merchants, Indians, slaves—who, although certainly people, were not perceived to be part of the whole. This was, after all, a war. It would not be the last time Americans sacrificed notions of liberty and equality in the name of the general good. Our Revolutionary heritage works both ways. ‘The body of the people,’ the dominant force during the 1770s, has empowered and deprived.”

Ray Raphael, A People’s History of the American Revolution, 2001

Using the excerpts, answer (a), (b), and (c).

(a) Briefly explain ONE major difference between Wood’s and Raphael’s historical interpretations of how radical the American Revolution was.

(b) Briefly explain how ONE historical event or development in the period 1774 to 1787 that is not explicitly mentioned in the excerpts could be used to support Wood’s interpretation.

(c) Briefly explain how ONE historical event or development in the period 1774 to 1787 that is not explicitly mentioned in the excerpts could be used to support Raphael’s interpretation.

“Let us see what will be the consequences of not authorizing the federal government to regulate the trade of the states. Besides the want [lack] of revenue and of power, besides the immediate risk to our independence, the dangers of all the future evils of a precarious Union. . .

There is something noble and magnificent in the perspective of a great federal republic, closely linked in the pursuit of common interest—tranquil and prosperous at home, respectable abroad. But there is something proportionably diminutive and contemptible in the prospect of a number of petty states, with the appearance only of union.”

Alexander Hamilton, “Arguments for Increasing the Power of the Federal Government,” July 1782

1. Hamilton’s comment that “there is something proportionably diminutive and contemptible in the prospect of a number of petty states, with the appearance only of union” is most directly a criticism of

(A) the British form of government

(B) the ideals of the Enlightenment

(D) the Articles of Confederation

2. Hamilton’s comments in the excerpt were similar to his concerns about (A) the rapid expansion by settlers onto the lands of American Indians (B) the slowness of the negotiations over the Treaty of Paris (C) the need to repay state debts after the Revolutionary War (D) the importance of passing the Northwest Ordinance

3. This excerpt provides support for the argument that Hamilton believed that the Articles of Confederation should be

(A) kept as they are because they were working well

(B) amended to protect the rights of states better

(D) replaced with a new constitution

“The government designed by the Articles of Confederation made it easy for relatively small groups of people—especially individual states or sections of the country—to block any change. There was a requirement for every single state to agree to alter the powers of the Confederation… From the beginning the Union had been a pretty loose alliance, so people felt relatively free about saying they just didn’t feel like going along with a particular policy… The result was stalemate. I can tell you that the people who wrote the Constitution thought a stalemated government could not survive.”

George William Van Cleve, interview, The Nation, 2017

“The conventional view is that American political history from the Declaration of Independence to the Constitution was dominated by ‘the complete inability of the government set up by the Articles of Confederation to function.’ This view ignores effective exercises of national power that took place during this period and the evolution of institutions extending beyond the text of the articles. Congress and the state judiciaries often read the Articles broadly and expansively in response to the practical needs of the country. The institutions created by Congress exercise wide powers that furthered national unity, and the states acquiesced.”

Eric M. Freedman, “The United States and the Articles of Confederation: Drifting Toward Anarchy or Inching Toward Commonwealth?” Yale Law Journal, November 1978

Using the excerpt, answer (a), (b), and (c).

(a) Briefly explain ONE major difference between Van Cleve’s and Freedman’s interpretations of the value of the Articles of Confederation.

(b) Briefly explain how ONE historical event or development in the period 1754 to 1800 that is not explicitly mentioned in the excerpts could be used to support Van Cleve’s interpretation.

(c) Briefly explain how ONE historical event or development in the period 1754 to 1800 that is not explicitly mentioned in the excerpts could be used to support Freedman’s interpretation.

“The plan of government now proposed is evidently calculated totally to change, in time, our condition as a people. Instead of being 13 republics under a federal head, it is clearly designed to make us one consolidated government. . . .

The essential parts of a free and good government are a full and equal representation of the people in the legislature. . . .

There are certain rights which we have always held sacred in the United States, and recognized in all our constitution, which, by adoption of the new Constitution in its present form, will be left unsecured. . . . I am fully satisfied that the state conventions ought most seriously to direct their exertions to altering and amending the system proposed before they shall adopt it.”

Richard Henry Lee, On the Rights that Must Be Preserved in the New Constitution, 1787

Richard Henry Lee’s concerns expressed in this excerpt would have been supported most by people in which of the following groups? (A) Merchants who wanted stronger support of commerce (B) Slave owners who opposed the three-fifths compromise (C) Quakers who advocated for greater freedom of conscience (D) Politicians who philosophically favored more local autonomy

People who advocated for ratification of the Constitution responded to Lee and others who shared his views by

(A) agreeing to add of a bill of rights

(B) meeting with Lee at the Mount Vernon Conference

(D) rejecting the Great Compromise

Based on the excerpt, Lee would have most likely advocated for which of the following types of changes?

(A) Strengthening the power of the chief executive

(B) Replacing the compromise on slavery taxation and representation (C) Protecting the independence of the judiciary

(D) Eliminating one house in the two-house legislature

Answer (a), (b), and (c).

(a) Briefly explain how ONE compromise passed at the Constitutional Convention altered the development of the United States. (b) Briefly explain ONE specific criticism of a compromise passed at the Constitutional Convention that would have altered the development of the United States.

(c) Briefly explain ONE specific criticism brought forth by the Anti Federalists concerning the power of the new federal government.

“It is not denied that there are implied [existing but not clearly stated] as well as express [clearly stated] powers, and that the former are as effectually delegated as the latter.

It is conceded that implied powers are to be considered as delegated equally with express ones. Then it follows, that as a power of erecting a corporation [such as a bank] may as well be implied as any other thing, it may as well be employed as an instrument or means of carrying into execution any of the specified powers. . . . But one may be erected in relation to the trade with foreign countries, or to the trade between the States . . . because it is the province of the federal government to regulate those objects, and because it is incident to a general sovereign or legislative power to regulate a thing, to employ all the means which relate to its regulation to the best and greatest advantage.”

Alexander Hamilton, Letter on the National Bank, 1791

1. Hamilton’s constitutional argument was based on which of the following types of powers?

(A) Employed

(B) Expressed

(D) Regulated

2. Hamilton’s position expressed in the excerpt most clearly reflected his dissatisfaction with which of the following?

(A) The Declaration of Independence

(B) The Articles of Confederation

(D) The Bill of Rights

3. Which of the following would best serve as the basis for modifying or refuting Hamilton’s position expressed in the excerpt?

(A) The ideals of the Enlightenment, such as the emphasis on reason (B) The theory of the separation of powers, which divided power among three branches of government

(D) The writings of Thomas Paine, which supported revolution

“The contest over the Constitution was not primarily a war over abstract political ideals, such as states’ rights and centralization, but over concrete economic issues, and the political division which accompanied it was substantially along the lines of the interests affected—the financiers, public creditors, traders, commercial men, manufacturers, and allied groups, centering mainly in the larger seaboard towns, being chief among the advocates of the Constitution, and the farmers, particularly in the inland regions, and the debtors being chief among its opponents. That other considerations, such as the necessity for stronger national defense, entered into the campaign is, of course, admitted, but with all due allowances, it may be truly said that the Constitution was a product of a struggle between capitalistic and agrarian interests.”

Charles A. Beard, historian, Economic Origins of Jeffersonian Democracy, 1915

“It is easy to accept the general proposition that ideas and interests are somehow associated. . . . But there are some dangers in working with any such formula. The first is that ideas—or all those intangible emotional, moral, and intellectual forces that may roughly be combined under the rubric of ideas—will somehow be dissolved and that we will be left only with interests on our hands. . . Then there is the danger that interests will be too narrowly construed: that we will put too much emphasis on the motives and purposes of individuals and groups, not enough on the structural requirements of a social system or on the limitations imposed on men by particular historical situations . . . that the way in which men perceive and define their interests is in some good part a reflex of the ideas they have inherited and the experiences they have undergone. . . For the generation of the Founding Fathers, the central, formative, shattering, and then reintegrating experience of civic life was the Revolution, which recast the pattern of their interests and galvanized their inherited store of ideas.”

Richard Hofstadter, historian, The Progressive Historians, 1968

Using the excerpts, answer (a), (b), and (c).

(a) Briefly explain ONE major difference between Beard’s and Hofstadter’s interpretations of the influences on the Constitution. (b) Briefly explain how ONE historical event or development in the period 1776 to 1789 that is not explicitly mentioned in the excerpts could be used to support Beard’s interpretation.

(c) Briefly explain how ONE historical event or development in the period 1776 to 1789 that is not explicitly mentioned in the excerpts could be used to support Hofstadter’s interpretation.

“Friends and Fellow Citizens: I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made. . . .

I have already intimated to you the danger of parties . . . with particular reference to . . . geographical discriminations. . . .

Let it simply be asked—where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths. . . . As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit . . . avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt . . . which unavoidable wars may have occasioned . . . in mind that toward the payment of debt there must be . . . taxes. . . .

By interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, [we] entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice. . . . It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.”

George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796

1. One of the primary reasons Washington and others warned against political parties was concern about

(A) damage to the national reputation

(B) divisive sectionalism

(D) unavoidable wars

2. One of the outcomes of the Farewell Address was

(A) the two-party system

(B) the precedent of a two-term limit

(D) the beginning of greater U.S. involvement overseas

3. Which of the following developments during Washington’s presidency most likely had a direct impact on the views he expressed in the excerpt?

(A) The status of American Indians

(B) The creation of a federal court system

(D) The National Bank

Answer (a), (b), and (c).

(a) Briefly explain ONE historical event or development in the period 1789 to 1800 that is an example of the American foreign policy of avoiding war.

(b) Briefly explain ONE positive or negative result in the period 1789 to 1800 of the American foreign policy of avoiding war.

(c) Briefly explain how ONE person or group in the U.S. in the period 1789 to 1800 challenged the United States government’s foreign policy.

“Friends, what then is the American, this new man? He is either a European, or the descendant of a European, hence that strange mixture of blood, which you will find in no other country. I could point out to you a family whose grandfather was an Englishman, whose wife was Dutch, whose son married a Frenchwoman, and whose present four sons have now four wives of different nations.

He is an American, who leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new government he obeys, and the new rank he holds. He becomes an American by being received in the broad lap of our great alma mater. Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labors and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world. . . .

The American is a new man, who acts upon new principles; he must therefore entertain new ideas and form new opinions. From involuntary idleness, servile dependence, penury [poverty], and useless labor he has passed to toils of a very different nature, rewarded by ample subsistence— this is an American.”

J. Hector St. John Crèvecoeur, Letters from an American Farmer, 1782

The clearest way to modify or refute the answer given in the excerpt to the question, “What then is the American, this new man?” would be to point out the important role of

(A) the enslaved African Americans who worked on plantations (B) the leaders who wrote the Constitution

(D) the ideas in Washington’s Farewell Address

2. Which of the following groups best represents the change described in the last sentence of the excerpt?

(A) American Indians who lived in the region before Europeans arrived (B) Puritans who settled in Massachusetts Bay in the 17th century (C) Indentured servants who became free after working for a master for several years

(D) Elected leaders who served in legislative bodies during the colonial period

1. Answer (a), (b), and (c).

(a) Briefly explain ONE specific historical difference between the cultural life in the American colonies under British rule and life in the newly independent United States.

(b) Briefly explain ONE specific historical similarity between the cultural life in the American colonies under British rule and life in the newly independent United States.

(c) Briefly explain how ONE legal change impacted the cultural life of the colonies and the United States in the period 1754 to 1800.

“ARTICLE I. No person demeaning himself in a peaceable and orderly manner shall ever be molested on account of his mode of worship or religious sentiments…

ARTICLE II. The inhabitants of said territory shall always be entitled to the benefits of the writs of habeas corpus and the trial by jury… ARTICLE III. Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged. The utmost good faith shall always be observed toward the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent…

ARTICLE IV. The said Territory, and the states which may be formed therein, shall forever remain a part of this Confederacy of the United States of America…

ARTICLE VI. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory.

Northwest Ordinance, July 13, 1787

Which of the following processes provided the best model for how the principles expressed in Article III could work?

(A) The treatment of the Aztecs by the Spanish in the 16th century (B) The negotiations between American Indians and colonists in Pennsylvania in the 17th century

(D) The reaction by colonists to the line created by the British in the Proclamation of 1763

2. Articles I and II most closely reflected ideas expressed in which of the following documents?

(A) Declaration of Independence

(B) Articles of Confederation

(D) Bill of Rights

3. The Northwest Ordinance established both an immediate and longlasting process for which of the following?

(A) Methods for reaching agreements among states

(B) Policies toward American Indians

(D) Procedures to end slavery

“Sir, suffer me to recall to your mind that time, in which the arms and tyranny of the British crown were exerted. . . .

This, Sir, was a time when you clearly saw into the injustice of a State of slavery . . . that you publicly held forth this true and invaluable doctrine. . . . ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. . . .’

But, Sir, how pitiable is it to reflect, that although you were so fully convinced of the benevolence of the Father of Mankind, and of his equal and impartial distribution of these rights and privileges, which he hath conferred upon them, that you should at the same time counteract his mercies, in detaining by fraud and violence so numerous a part of my brethren, under groaning captivity, and cruel oppression.”

Benjamin Banneker, African American scientist and surveyor,

letter to Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, 1792

Using the excerpt, answer (a), (b), and (c).

(a) Briefly explain ONE specific reason for Banneker’s letter to Jefferson.

(b) Briefly explain ONE critic’s response to Banneker’s position. (c) Briefly explain ONE specific way Thomas Jefferson might have responded to Banneker’s questions about slavery.