Sorry to drop in again, but I'm doing my first DBQ and I can't seem to grasp the bias of each of the documents.

The Question: To what extent had the colonists developed a sense of their identity and unity as Americans by the eve of the Revolution?

Troublesome Documents:
Document E

A Declaration by the Representative of the United Colonies of North America, now met in Congress at Philadelphia, setting forth the causes and necessity of their taking up arms.

. . . the arms we have been compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverance, employ for the preservation of our liberties; being with one mind resolved to die freemen, rather than live [like] slaves.

Lest this declaration should disquiet the minds of our friends and fellow-subjects in any part of the Empire, we assure them that we mean not to dissolve that union which has so long and so happily subsisted between us, and which we sincerely wish to see restored. . . We have not raised armies with ambitious designs of separating from Great Britain, and establishing independent states.

Source: Declaration for the Causes of Taking up Arms, Continental Congress, 6 July 1775. From Educational Testing Service (ETS), College Board 1999 Released Exam, (New York: College Entrance Examination Board, 1999).



Document F

We [saw] a Set of Men . . . under the Auspices of the english Government; & protected by it . . . for a long Series of Years . . . rising, by easy Gradations, to such a State of Prosperity & Happiness as was almost enviable, but we [saw] them also run mad with too much Happiness & burst into an open Rebellion against that Parent, who protected them against the Ravages of their Enemies. . . . And why [was] the sudden Transition made, from Obedience to Rebellion, but to gratifye the Pride, Ambition & Resentment, of a few abandoned Demagogues, who were lost to all Sense of Shame & of Humanity? The generality of the People were not of this Stamp; but they were [weak], & unversed in the Arts of Deception.

Source: The Origin and Progress of the American Revolution to the year 1776, a history by Peter Oliver of Massachusetts, 1781. From Educational Testing Service (ETS), College Board 1999 Released Exam, (New York: College Entrance Examination Board, 1999).

Sorry for the late reply, I've been out of town all weekend...

I think that for document E, the bias is definitely in favor of the rebellious colonists - after all, it was passed by the Continental Congress and refers to the British as "enemies" against whom they are taking arms.

For document F, there's no question it is a Loyalist publication. Remember that not all colonists were rebels; in fact, only a small portion were openly involved in revolting against England. There were also a lot of people who felt that their loyalty lay with their mother country rather than an upstart young hodgepodge nation, and this seems to be appealing to people like that.

Thanks for the help, it makes more sence now and even more looking back at the documents again.