Part A

The selection from Dear Abigail quotes Abigail Adams's description of Boston's reaction to the new Declaration of Independence as follows:

"After dinner the king's arms were taken down from the State House and every vestige of him from every place in which it appeared and burnt in King Street. Thus ends royal authority in this State ... and all the people shall say Amen."

Which of the following best describes how the Bostonians felt about the birth of the new nation?

A) exuberant and celebratory

B) anxious and apprehensive

C) shocked and horrified

D) resentful and bitter


Part B

Which sentence from the text gives the clearest additional evidence for the answer to Part A?

A) That night word arrived that a flotilla of British boats had sailed into New York Harbor, panicking George Washington's unprepared Army and adding pressure for some buoying news.

B) Mary and Richard, Abigail, and Betsy joined masses of patriots lining King Street in front of the Boston State House, the seat of the first elected legislature in the New World.

C) The ragtag troops who had chased the British out of Boston four months earlier stood before them, respectably armed at least for the moment.

D) There were three cheers that "rended the air." and they were followed by an elated ringing of bells; the cannons roared, and rifles' shots rang in the air.​