Chapter Six

Front 1

Acadians

Back 1

French residents of Nova Scotia, many of whom were uprooted by the British in 1755 and scattered as far south as Louisiana, where their descendants became known as “Cajuns.”

Front 2

French and Indian War

Back 2

Nine-year war between the British and the French in North America. It resulted in the expulsion of the French from the North American mainland and helped spark the wider Seven Years’ War in Europe and elsewhere.

Front 3

Seven Years’ War

Back 3

First global war, with battles on four continents, as France, England, Spain, Prussia, and other European powers clashed. Colonists called the North American portion of the conflict the “French and Indian War.”

Front 4

Albany Congress

Back 4

Intercolonial congress summoned by the British government to foster greater colonial unity and assure Iroquois support in the escalating war against the French.

Front 5

regulars

Back 5

Trained professional soldiers, as distinct from militia or conscripts. During the French and Indian War, British generals, used to commanding experienced regulars, often showed contempt for ill-trained colonial militiamen.

Front 6

Battle of Québec

Back 6

Historic British victory over French forces on the outskirts of Québec. The surrender of Québec marked the beginning of the end of French rule in North America.

Front 7

Pontiac’s War

Back 7

Bloody campaign waged by Ottawa chief Pontiac to drive the British out of Ohio Country. It was brutally crushed by British troops, who resorted to distributing blankets infected with smallpox as a means to put down the rebellion.

Front 8

Proclamation of 1763

Back 8

Decree issued by Parliament in the wake of Pontiac’s War, prohibiting settlement beyond the Appalachians. Contributed to rising resentment of British rule in the American colonies.

Front 9

republicanism

Back 9

Political theory of representative government, based on the principle of popular sovereignty, with a strong emphasis on liberty and civic virtue. Influential in eighteenth-century American political thought, it stood as an alternative to monarchical rule.

Front 10

radical Whigs

Back 10

Eighteenth-century British political commentators who agitated against political corruption and emphasized the threat to liberty posed by arbitrary power.

Front 11

mercantilism

Back 11

Economic theory that closely linked a nation’s political and military power to its bullion reserves.

Front 12

Sugar Act

Back 12

Duty on imported sugar from the West Indies. It was the first tax levied on the colonists by the crown and was lowered substantially in response to widespread protests.

Front 13

Quartering Act

Back 13

Required colonies to provide food and quarters for British troops.

Front 14

stamp tax

Back 14

Widely unpopular tax on an array of paper goods, repealed in 1766 after mass protests erupted across the colonies. Colonists developed the principle of “no taxation without representation” that questioned Parliament’s authority over the colonies and laid the foundation for future revolutionary claims.

Front 15

admiralty courts

Back 15

Used to try offenders for violating the various Navigation Acts passed by the crown after the French and Indian War. Colonists argued that the courts encroached on their rights as Englishmen because they lacked juries and placed the burden of proof on the accused.

Front 16

Stamp Act Congress

Back 16

Assembly of delegates from nine colonies who met in New York City to draft a petition for the repeal of the Stamp Act. Helped ease sectional suspicions and promote intercolonial unity.

Front 17

nonimportation agreements

Back 17

Boycotts against British goods adopted in response to the Stamp Act and, later, the Townshend and Intolerable Acts. The agreements were the most effective form of protest against British policies in the colonies.

Front 18

Sons of Liberty

Back 18

Patriotic groups that played a central role in agitating against the Stamp Act and enforcing nonimportation agreements. Patriotic groups that played a central role in agitating against the Stamp Act and enforcing nonimportation agreements.

Front 19

Daughters of Liberty

Back 19

Patriotic groups that played a central role in agitating against the Stamp Act and enforcing nonimportation agreements. Patriotic groups that played a central role in agitating against the Stamp Act and enforcing nonimportation agreements.

Front 20

Declaratory Act

Back 20

Passed alongside the repeal of the Stamp Act, it reaffirmed Parliament’s unqualified sovereignty over the North American colonies.

Front 21

Townshend Acts

Back 21

External, or indirect, levies on glass, white lead, paper, paint, and tea, the proceeds of which were used to pay colonial governors, who had previously been paid directly by colonial assemblies. Sparked another round of protests in the colonies.

Front 22

Boston Massacre

Back 22

Clash between unruly Bostonian protestors and locally stationed British redcoats, who fired on the jeering crowd, killing or wounding eleven citizens.

Front 23

committees of correspondence

Back 23

Local committees established across Massachusetts, and later in each of the thirteen colonies, to coordinate colonial opposition to British policies through the exchange of letters and pamphlets.

Front 24

Boston Tea Party

Back 24

Rowdy protest against the British East India Company’s newly acquired monopoly on the tea trade. Colonists, disguised as Indians, dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston harbor, prompting harsh sanctions from the British Parliament.

Front 25

“Intolerable Acts”

Back 25

Series of punitive measures passed in retaliation for the Boston Tea Party, closing the Port of Boston, revoking a number of rights in the Massachusetts colonial charter, and expanding the Quartering Act to allow for the lodging of soldiers in private homes

Front 26

Quebec Act

Back 26

Allowed the French residents of Québec to retain their traditional political and religious institutions, and extended the boundaries of the province southward to the Ohio River. Mistakenly perceived by the colonists to be part of Parliament’s response to the Boston Tea Party.

Front 27

First Continental Congress

Back 27

Convention of delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies that convened in Philadelphia to craft a response to the Intolerable Acts. Delegates established The Association, which called for a complete boycott of British goods.

Front 28

The Association

Back 28

Nonimportation agreement crafted during the First Continental Congress calling for the complete boycott of British goods.

Front 29

Battles of Lexington and Concord

Back 29

First battles of the Revolutionary War, fought outside of Boston. The colonial militia successfully defended their stores of munitions, forcing the British to retreat to Boston.

Front 30

Valley Forge

Back 30

Encampment where George Washington’s poorly equipped army spent a wretched, freezing winter. Hundreds of men died and more than a thousand deserted. The plight of the starving, shivering soldiers reflected the main weakness of the American army—a lack of stable supplies and munitions.

Front 31

camp followers

Back 31

Women and children who followed the Continental Army during the American Revolution, providing vital services such as cooking and sewing in return for rations.

Front 32

William Pitt

Back 32

(1708-1778)British parliamentarian who rose to prominence during the French and Indian War as the brilliant tactician behind Britain’s victory over France.

Front 33

Pontiac

Back 33

(ca. 1720-1769) Ottawa chief who led an uprising against the British in the wake of the French and Indian War. Though initially routing British forces at Detroit

Front 34

John Hancock

Back 34

(1737-1793) Boston smuggler and prominent leader of the colonial resistance, who served as president of the Second Continental Congress.

Front 35

George Grenville

Back 35

(1712-1770) British prime minister who fueled tensions between Britain and her North American colonies through his strict enforcement of Navigation Laws and his support for the Sugar and Stamp Acts.

Front 36

Charles (“Champagne Charley”) Townshend

Back 36

(1725-1767) British prime minister whose ill-conceived duties on the colonies, the Townshend Acts, sparked fierce protests in the colonies and escalated the imperial conflict.

Front 37

Crispus Attucks

Back 37

(1723-1770) Runaway slave and leader of the Boston protests that resulted in the "Boston Massacre," in which Attucks was first to die.

Front 38

George III

Back 38

(1738-1820) British monarch during the run-up to the American Revolution, George III contributed to the imperial crisis with his dogged insistence on asserting Britain’s power over her colonial possessions.

Front 39

Lord North

Back 39

(1732-1792) Tory prime minister and pliant aide to George III from 1770 to 1782. North’s ineffective leadership and dogged insistence on colonial subordination contributed to the American Revolution.

Front 40

Samuel Adams

Back 40

(1722-1803) Boston revolutionary who organized Massachusetts committees of correspondence to help sustain opposition to British policies. A delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses, Adams continued to play a key role throughout the Revolutionary and early national periods, later serving as governor of his home state.

Front 41

Thomas Hutchinson

Back 41

(1711-1780) Royal governor of Massachusetts during the run-up to the Revolution, Hutchinson misjudged colonial zeal during the Tea Act controversy and insisted that East India Company ships unload in Boston Harbor, thereby prompting the Boston Tea Party.

Front 42

Marquis de Lafayette

Back 42

(1757-1834) French nobleman who served as major general in the colonial army during the American Revolution and aided the newly independent colonies in securing French support.

Front 43

Baron von Steuben

Back 43

(1730-1794) German-born inspector general of the Continental army who helped train the novice colonial militia in the art of warfare.

Front 44

Lord Dunmore

Back 44

(ca. 1730-1809) Royal governor of Virginia who, in 1775, promised freedom to runaway slaves who joined the British army.