Reading Comprehension

In the early twentieth century, scholarly opinion regarding the origins of the American Revolution shifted away from its previous focus on understanding the political ideology of the Revolutionary movement's leaders. Instead of solely consulting philosophies of government expressed in the writings of these early American luminaries, historians began to look beyond these texts and research the land holdings and commercial transaction records of Revolutionary leaders in order to shed new light on the economic motivations that instigated the American Revolution. Like the previous scholarly trend, this new movement limited its primary focus to leaders. By placing the revolutionary impetus squarely on the shoulders of the American founding fathers, this newer movement did not account for the conditions of colonial American life that informed the leaders' ultimate decision.

A new generation of historians has theorized that a more significant cause of the Revolution was the popular ideology of the American people at large during the years leading up to the conflict. This new wave of scholars has concluded that Revolutionary ideology was not developed by an intellectual elite and disseminated to the public but rather came into being organically within small communities of ordinary people. These historians based their thesis on detailed examinations of popular literature of the era, including newspaper articles, pamphlets, and letters between typical members of the populace. Such documents reveal that residents of all the colonies shared many sources of frustration ranging from judicial appointments to laws regarding inheritance. In addition to these common grievances that impacted colonial life, scholars also note that popular literature was passed from one town to the next, helping to shape consensus.

The information in the passage suggests that which of the following pieces of historical evidence would have been of interest to early twentieth century American historians?


(A) A firsthand account of a speech by a famous Revolutionary leader to a crowd in a large American city

(B) A letter to the chief general of the Revolutionary army from his brother, describing the profitability of their family farm

(C) Records of the annual revenues for a major pre-Revolutionary shipping company owned by a French merchant

(D) Town records from a group of small communities throughout early America detailing the land holdings of local residents

(E) An unpublished political tract written by the foremost early American philosopher

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