The Airing of Grievances Trivia Quiz

Answer: Thomas Jefferson

It was John Adams who persuaded the committee in charge of the Declaration to have Jefferson do the bulk of the writing. Jefferson based the philosophy of the Declaration on the work of John Locke, but the Grievances are a list based on actions or inactions of the British government which caused the Americans to feel a break was necessary.

Answer: 27

Jefferson referred to events within the Grievances as "a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States." He then defined the grievances themselves as "Facts" to be "submitted to a candid world."

Answer: King George III

Jefferson identified the King as the malefactor when he wrote, "The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries..." Thus Jefferson used George as a convenient scapegoat when, in fact, most of the laws cited in the Grievances were passed by Parliament.

But it is more effective to focus blame on a single individual than on a legislative body made up of two houses and over 800 members.

Answer: Quartering Act

There were actually two Quartering Acts, both of which were amendments to the Mutiny Act of 1689. The two Quartering Acts were passed in 1765 and in 1774. Provisions of these acts included requiring American colonists to provide supplies and housing for British troops.

Answer: Hessian troops from small German states

These troops were called Hessians because most of them came from Hesse-Kassel. But in fact, several rulers of small German states hired out units from their standing armies to Britain for use, not only in America against the rebels there, but in other imperial holdings of the Hanoverian kings. About a quarter of the British forces during the Revolution were these Germans.

Answer: Quebec

The Quebec Act of 1774 (an act of the English Parliament) re-established some French laws in Quebec and restored the right of the Catholic Church to impose tithes there. A further insult to the Americans within the Quebec Act was the extending of Quebec law (and, therefore French civil law) to the present-day areas of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio.

At that time the other three areas in the incorrect answers belonged to Spain.

Answer: Stamp Act

The Stamp Act imposed a direct tax on the Colonists which covered a multitude of everyday items, such as playing cards, newspapers, magazines, legal documents, and other uses of paper. In addition, it required the tax to be paid through the purchase of stamps using British currency and not with colonial money.

Answer: Boston Massacre

Five colonists were killed by British troops at the Boston Massacre of 5 March, 1770. Eight British soldiers were tried for the killing, but only two were found guilty of a crime, that of manslaughter, rather than murder. No doubt colonists saw the verdict as being the result of a "mock Trial." No one died at the Boston Tea Party.

The Mystic Massacre was the slaughter of more than 400 Pequots by English settlers in Connecticut in 1637. Bacon's Rebellion was an uprising of Virginia farmers in 1676.

Answer: Navigation Acts

The main impetus of the Navigation Acts was to direct colonial trade through Great Britain and thus stop the bleeding of revenue from British coffers that the long-standing policy of salutary neglect had allowed to take place by preventing tight regulation of colonial trade. Writs of Assistance were documents that allowed British officials to search the homes of colonists.

The Suffolk Resolves was a set of statements by the leaders of Boston's Suffolk County rejecting the Massachusetts Government Act.

The Excise Tax was passed by the United States Congress in 1790.

Answer: Massachusetts Government Act

The Massachusetts Government Act of 1774 was one of the Coercive Acts designed to punish Massachusetts and Boston for the Boston Tea Party. Governor Thomas Gage invoked the act in October to dissolve the Massachusetts legislature.