Popular Protest and Revolution

Documents Exercise

Read the documents linked below and answer the following questions:

What do the documents reveal about the extent of popular involvement in revolutionary activity? What was the significance of crowd action in the pursuit of radical goals?
How were urban crowds mobilized for political action? What evidence do the documents contain of purposeful mob action?
What are the social implications of the popular activities described in the documents? What were the concerns of elite group commentators on pre-Revolutionary violence?
What was the relationship between internal social conflicts and external political relations?
"The lower classes played an independent and autonomous role in the pre-Revolutionary action that led to a break with England. They were not the tools of other groups, but rather pursued their own libertarian objectives." Do you agree or disagree? Support your argument with evidence from the documents.