Board: AQA | Option: 2G | Component: Component 2 (Depth Study) | Assessment Objective: AO3
This option examines the American Revolution from the imperial crisis of the 1760s through to the end of Adams’s presidency, covering the breakdown of relations between Britain and its American colonies, the War of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the Constitutional Convention, and the establishment of the early republic. Students engage with the enduring historical question of whether the American Revolution was a genuinely radical break or a conservative defence of established liberties.
What this option covers
- The imperial crisis: the Stamp Act, colonial resistance, and the argument over taxation and representation
- The road to independence: Lexington, Concord, and the Declaration of Independence 1776
- The War of Independence: military history, the role of France, and Valley Forge
- The Articles of Confederation and the weaknesses of the first republic
- The Constitutional Convention 1787: the Great Compromise and the federal settlement
- The Bill of Rights and the limits of revolutionary freedom (slavery, Native Americans)
- The Federalist era: Washington, Adams, and the French Revolutionary challenge
Key historiographical debates
- Was the American Revolution truly revolutionary? (Bailyn’s ideological interpretation vs Wood’s radical democracy)
- The role of ideas vs material interests in driving colonial resistance
- The Constitution: democratic charter or conservative counterrevolution? (Beard’s economic interpretation)
- The contradiction at the heart of the revolution: liberty and slavery
AO3 Interpretation Pack — coming soon
An AO3 Interpretation Pack for AQA 2G is in development. When complete, it will cover the major historiographical debates examined in this option, with named historians, paired comparison tasks built to AQA mark scheme logic, and provenance prompts for every debate. The first debate will be free and open to all.
