Questions for Discussion: The Roots of the Revolution
by Steven Mintz
Was colonial America a democratic society?
Were the colonists justified in resisting British policies after the French and Indian War (1754–1763)?
Were the origins of the American Revolution primarily economic or ideological?
Were the colonists’ responses to the Stamp Act (1765) justified?
How did the Stamp Act Congress pave the road for American independence?
Is violence a sound strategy to bring about significant political and social change? (Case studies to help examine this question could include: the Stamp Act riots [1765], the Boston Massacre [1770], the Boston Tea Party [1773], and the battles of Lexington and Concord [1775].)
Should the British Parliament’s response to colonial violence be viewed as “coercive” or “intolerable”?
Was the American colonists’ movement for independence “common sense”?
