ShmoopTube

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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by self-government,

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the ultimate one party rule.

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Yeah. All right, check out the picture.

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The Able Doctor. All this cra--

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Uh, all this fine artwork. Yeah.

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All right, the colonists' arguments for self-government

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expressed above were most clearly

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articulated in which of the following?

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And here are your potential answers.

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[ mumbles ]

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[ mumbling continues ]

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All right.

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Well what exactly were the colonists' arguments

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for self-government?

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Well, they didn't like being taxed without having

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a voice in government, that's for sure.

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And that sword that says "military law" right there?

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In the cartoon? That thing?

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That probably means they didn't enjoy living under

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the constant supervision of British soldiers.

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[ groans ]

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So let's take a look at the answers and see

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which one of these documents most closely

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aligns with those ideas.

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Were colonists' arguments most clearly articulated

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in B - the Royal Proclamation of 1763?

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Well, see that word "Royal"?

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That should give us a clue that this was issued

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by King George III.

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In fact, King George signed the Royal Proclamation

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to forbid colonists from settling

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west of the Appalachian mountains.

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And if there's one thing mountain men hate, it's being told what to do.

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Also bears.

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They hate bears, yeah.

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So it's not B.

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All right, did the desire for self-government

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find a friend in C - Jay's Treaty?

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Jay's Treaty was all the way back in 1795,

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and it was actually a peace agreement

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that averted another war between Great Britain

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and the United States.

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By that point, Americans were well into their period

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of self-government, so that can't be it.

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So maybe these concepts were reflected

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in D - the Northwest Ordinance.

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Well, the Northwest Ordinance was all about

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American expansion to the west and creating

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new territories for its growing population.

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That doesn't sound related to self-government at all.

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So eliminate D, as well.

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That means the passion for self-government was most reflected

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in A - Thomas Paine's Common Sense.

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Oh, yeah. On January 10, 1776, Thomas Paine

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published this pamphlet anonymously

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and it was the best selling book in American history.

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Paine argued clearly for American independence,

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which helped push the public in favor of revolution.

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And George Washington even read the book aloud

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to all of his troops. So the correct answer is A.

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Guess the British government really should have gotten that

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"Paine" in their side checked out.

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