On Liberty

Front 1

castle William

Back 1

The main fortifications defending Boston from attack, used by Royal officials for safety during the days of Adams's Sons of Liberty. During the Stamp Act crisis, the government moved all stamps and some stamp masters to the fort for safekeeping.

Front 2

caucus club

Back 2

A political alliance of Boston tradesmen and artisans (including Adams) who set the agenda for Boston's annual town meetings and decided who would receive appointments to town offices. Their candidates rarely lost.

Front 3

committees of correspondence

Back 3

Adams organized Committees of Correspondence throughout New England and made up a system of communication between patriot leaders in each town and eventually throughout the colonies. Committees of Correspondence provided the political organization necessary to unite the colonies against Britain.

Front 4

country party

Back 4

The political organization formed by the Adamses as an early forerunner of the Sons of Liberty.

Front 5

general court

Back 5

Massachusetts's second-highest governing body. The General Court was the colonial equivalent of the House of Commons.

Front 6

great awakening

Back 6

A Protestant religious revival in the mid-1740s that saw the rise of evangelicalism throughout the colonies.

Front 7

intolerable acts

Back 7

The Intolerable Acts of 1774 were the combination of the four "Coercive Acts" enacted by Parliament in retaliation for the 1773 Boston Tea Party. The announcement of the Intolerable Acts helped spur the convening of the First Continental Congress.

Front 8

liberty tree

Back 8

A large elm tree, at the corner of Essex Street and Orange Street in Boston, that served as the rallying point for the Sons of Liberty in their protests against the Stamp Act.

Front 9

non importation agreement

Back 9

An agreement, pushed by Adams in the wake of the Stamp Act whereby colonies agreed not to import English goods.

Front 10

sons of liberty

Back 10

· A secret patriotic society organized in Boston by Adams to oppose the Stamp Act. Other chapters soon followed around the colonies. The Sons of Liberty served as the primary means of communication and organization for the patriotic movement before the war. The Sons of Liberty also served as Adams's enforcers, ensuring adherence to the nonimportation agreements, harassing Royal appointees, and participating in the Boston Tea Party.

Front 11

stamp act

Back 11

The Stamp Act required colonists to buy special watermarked paper for newspapers and all legal documents. The Act marked a departure from Britain's previous policy of not taxing the colonies internally.

Front 12

stamp act congress

Back 12

In response to the Stamp Actrepresentatives of nine colonial assemblies met in New York City on October 7, 1765. While the colonies reached only broad agreements, it marked the first intercolonial cooperation.

Front 13

sugar act

Back 13

The Sugar Act lowered the duty on foreign-produced molasses from six pence per gallon to three pence per gallon. However, the tax would now be enforced, whereas prior to the act customs officers largely ignored the duty. The act further stipulated that Americans could only export many commodities to foreign countries if they passed through British ports first.

Front 14

tory

Back 14

A British sympathizer or supporter

Front 15

Townshend acts

Back 15

The work of Chancellor of the Exchequer Charles Townshend, Parliament passed the Revenue Act of 1767 on July 2, 1767. It established taxes on glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea entering the colonies–marking a departure from earlier taxation schemes that had been primarily for regulating trade. The Townshend Acts were unmistakably revenue-generating laws.