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8.6: Critical Thinking Exercises

  • Page ID
    9596
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    • Why do you think that the Continental Congress created an army and began preparing for war before George III had given a response to the Olive Branch Petition?
    • Why would delegates to the Second Continental Congress hope that the colonies and the mother country could be reconciled? Why did they ultimately change their minds?
    • Why do you think that Thomas Jefferson and those on the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence decided to use the “pursuit of happiness” instead of John Locke’s “property” as a natural right?
    • Why would simple farmers and shopkeepers train as soldiers and risk their lives fighting a professional army as at Lexington and Concord?
    • What could the British have done to prevent violence at Lexington and Concord?
    • How did the ideas of the revolution inspire abolitionists such as Benjamin Franklin?

    This page titled 8.6: Critical Thinking Exercises is shared under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Catherine Locks, Sarah Mergel, Pamela Roseman, Tamara Spike & Marie Lasseter (GALILEO Open Learning Materials) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.

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