DBQ Project

Analyze and discuss the causes of the American Revolution (1775-1783).

Document A
Source: US Library of Congress, The Olive Branch Petition (July 1775)

Document B
Source: ​https://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1209.html, ​Excerpt from the Proclamation of 1763

“We do therefore, with the Advice of our Privy Council, declare it to be our Royal Will and
Pleasure, that no Governor or Commander in Chief in any of our Colonies of Quebec, East
Florida, or West Florida, do presume, upon any Pretence whatever, to grant Warrants of Survey,
or pass any Patents for Lands beyond the Bounds of their respective Governments, as described
in their Commissions: as also that no Governor or Commander in Chief in any of our other
Colonies or Plantations in America do presume for the present, and until our further Pleasure be
known, to grant Warrants of Survey, or pass Patents for any Lands beyond the Heads or Sources
of any of the Rivers which fall into the Atlantic Ocean from the West and North West, or upon
any Lands whatever, which, not having been ceded to or purchased by Us as aforesaid, are
reserved to the said Indians, or any of them.”
Document C
Source: http://www.educationviews.org/cscope-texas-schools-teach-boston-tea-party-as-act-of-
terrorism/, Boston Tea Party in 1774
 Document D
Source: Amos Doolittle engraving of Battle of Lexington published in 1775

Document E
Source: “Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms,” issued by the Second
Continental Congress on July 5, 1775
“[The British declare] that parliament can "of right make laws to bind us in all cases
whatsoever." What is to defend us against so enormous, so unlimited a power? ... We are reduced
to the alternative of choosing an unconditional submission to the tyranny of irritated [British
officials), or resistance by force. - The latter is our choice.”
Document F
Source: http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/Autumn15/StampAct.cfm, The Stamp Act of
1765
Outside Information:
1. The Boston Tea Party
2. Intolerable Acts
3. Dutch East India Company
4. Boston Massacre
5. First constitutional congress
6. Battle of Lexington
7. Battle of Concord
8. Second constitutional congress
9. The Olive Branch Petition
10. Declaration of independence
Thesis Statement:
1. The American Revolution was caused by the longing for independence, The Boston Tea
Party, and the Intolerable acts, and The First Continental Congress.
2. The American Revolution was caused by the Declaration of Independence, Second
constitutional congress, and The Boston Massacre.
3. The American Revolution was caused by The Boston Tea Party and the battles of
Lexington and Concord.
Document Analysis:
A. The Olive Branch Petition was drafted by John Dickinson. Then was adopted by the
Second Continental Congress on the fifth of July and submitted to King George on July
eighth. It was an attempt to assert the rights of the colonists while maintaining their
loyalty to the British crown.
B. The Proclamation of 1763 was a royal decree that was issued to prohibited the North
American colonists from establishing or maintaining settlements west of an imaginary
line across the Appalachian mountains. This document is a part of the Proclamation and it
talks about how the British are in control of the land and the colonies on American soil. It
was the British’s will to control and decide the destiny of the new land required in the
French and Indian War. The Proclamation also was created to fix relations with the
Indians and give back some ceded land that was taken by white settlers.
C. During the Boston Tea Party colonists started the violent part of the revolution. It was the
colonists first try to rebel with violence against their own government because they
passed taxes on lead, paint, paper and tea. ​American colonists were frustrated at Britain
for imposing “taxation without representation,” therefore they dumped 342 chests of
British tea into the harbor to protest.
D. The Battles of Lexington and Concord jump started the American Revolutionary War.
Tensions had been building for many years between residents of the American colonies
and the British authorities, particularly in Massachusetts. Paul Revere and other riders
sounded the alarm when they saw the British, and colonial militiamen began mobilizing
 to intercept the Redcoat column. A confrontation on the Lexington town green started off
the fighting, and soon the British were hastily retreating under intense fire. More battles
followed and in 1783 the colonists formally won their independence.
E. Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms. This was a document issued
by the Second Continental Congress on July 6, 1775, to clarify why the Thirteen Colonies
had taken up arms in what had become the American Revolutionary War. T​he British
presumed the power to make laws on the colonists without need for the advice or consent
of the colonists. The statement says that they could not simply submit unconditionally to
such laws and, therefore, had to resist with force the right of the British to do so
F. The Stamp Act​ was a taxation measure designed to raise revenue for British military
operations in America. It was a direct tax on the colonists and led to an uproar in America
over an issue that was to be a major cause of the Revolution: taxation without
representation.