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Difficulty: MediumPhilosophical Foundations of the American Revolution

Read the excerpt below.

"I have placed the people of the colonies in a state of dependency on the mother country... but this dependency must be limited; it must not destroy those rights which are essential to the preservation of freedom, and which the colonists are entitled to by the laws of nature and the British constitution."
— Richard Bland, *An Inquiry into the Rights of the British Colonies*, 1766

Which of the following statements best characterizes the primary philosophical argument expressed in the excerpt?

  1. A
    The British mercantile system was designed to promote free enterprise and economic independence within the colonies.
  2. Colonists possessed inherent natural rights and constitutional protections that limited the legislative authority of the British Parliament over them.Answer
  3. C
    A strong, highly centralized national government under the Articles of Confederation was necessary to secure colonial liberties.
  4. D
    The colonies were justified in declaring immediate independence from Great Britain prior to the implementation of the Stamp Act.

Answer

Colonists possessed inherent natural rights and constitutional protections that limited the legislative authority of the British Parliament over them.
The correct answer is correct because Richard Bland's argument reflects a central element of pre-Revolutionary colonial ideology: the integration of Enlightenment natural rights philosophy ('laws of nature') with traditional English constitutional protections ('British constitution') to argue that Great Britain's authority over the colonies was limited and could not violate their fundamental liberties.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the excerpt to identify key philosophical concepts and the author's main argument.
The author references the 'laws of nature' and the 'British constitution' to argue that the colonies' state of dependency on Great Britain has limits and cannot destroy essential freedoms.
Extracting the core philosophical references is necessary to align the text with historical ideological movements.
2
Contextualize these concepts within pre-Revolutionary intellectual debates.
The 'laws of nature' represents Enlightenment philosophy (natural rights), and the 'British constitution' represents the rights of English subjects. These were synthesized by colonists to argue that Parliament did not have absolute power over them.
This step connects the specific text to the broader learning objective regarding the philosophical foundations of the American Revolution.
3
Evaluate the options to identify the statement that matches this synthesis of ideas limiting imperial authority.
The option asserting that colonists had natural rights and constitutional protections limiting Parliament's power is the correct choice.
Matching the historical concepts to the correct option yields the correct answer.

Key Concept

Philosophical Foundations of the American Revolution
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Philosophical Foundations of the American Revolution

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