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20 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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BOSTON MASSACRE |
The situation in which multiple British soldiers fired into a crowd, killing five people. What had happened was that a customs informer shot into a crowd picketing the home of a customs-paying merchant, killing an eleven-year-old boy. At the death of this boy, men were harrassing soldiers, throwing objects at them, to the point where one was knocked over after being hit by a block of ice and shouted "Fire! Fire!" to his fellow soldiers. |
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SEVEN YEARS WAR |
War between French and British, which had ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. Under terms of the treay, France gave up all its lands and claims east of the Mississippi to Britain. Spain ended up getting Cuba and Louisiana. The French colonists in America became British and Spanish subjects. As a result, the War fused the bonds between the British and the Anglo-Americans. Fighting side by side against the French Catholic enemy, Britons and colonists had further strengthened their common identity. The war also planted seeds of mutual misunderstanding and suspicion. |
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GEROGE WASHINGTON |
One of the best generals of all time, he was the Commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. He was one of the only advantages America had during the War. America may not have one if it were not for his great leadership. |
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GOERGE 3 |
English king during the Revolutionary era. He wanted to assert England's dominance over the colonies through England's various acts. He eventually claimed the colonies to be in a state of rebellion, giving them no choice but to fight the English. |
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PONTIAC WAR |
When some Indians, under the influence of Neolin and Pontiac, sacked eight British forts and besieged four others. They eventually had to make peace with Britain, though. This war gained some political concessions for Native Americans. This led to the Proclamation of 1763. |
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PROCLAMATION |
Issued by George III, asserted direct British control of land transactions, settlement, trade,and other activities of non-Indians west of a Proclamation Line along the Appalachian crest. This proclamation recognized existing Indian land titles everywhere west of the "proclamation line" until such time as tribal governments agreed to cede their land to Britain through treaties. This angered the colonies by subordinating their western claims to imperial authority and by slowing expansion. |
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SUGAR ACT |
Amended the Molasses Act, which taxed foreign molasses and rum entering the mainland colonies at sixpence per gallon. It also disregarded many traditional English protections for a fair trial. The law stipulated that smuggling cases be heard in vice-admiralty courts, where a British-appointed judge gave the verdict, rather than in colonial courts, in which juries decided the outcome. This Act irritated urban merchants and heightened colonists' sensitivities to the new direction of imperial policies.This was an external tax. |
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STAMP ACT |
This law obliged colonists to purchase and use special stamped paper for newspapers, customs documents, various licenses, college diplomas, playing cards, and legal forms used for recovering debts, transferring property, and aking wills. Violaters would face prosecution in vice-admiralty courts, without juries. This was an internal tax, which meant that most people were affected by it. The tax itself was not what made the colonists angry. To many colonists, passage of this act demonstrated both Parliament's indifference to their interests and the shallowness of the theory of virtual representation. They were angry because they did not have a say. |
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SONS OF LIBERTY |
These people sought to prevent outbreaks of violence against British customs officers.They recognized that people in the crowds were casting aside their customary deference toward their social "superiors", a development that could broaden to include all elites if not carefully constrained. They focused their demonstrations strictly against property and invariably left avenues of escape for their victims. They forbade their followers to carry weapons. |
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STAMP ACT CONGRESS |
Focused on the bold articulation of the principle that Parliament lacked authority to levy taxes outside Great Britain and to deny any person a jury trial. This session was a means of expressing the colonists anger towards the Stamp Act and virtual representation. |
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DECLARATION ACT |
Came after the Stamp Act repeal, this affirmed parliamentary power to legislate for the colonies "in all cases whatsoever". The colonies interpreted the measure as no more than a parliamentary exercise in saving face to compensate for the Stamp Act's repeal. The House of Commons inteded that the colonists take this literally to mean that they could not claim exemption from any parliamentary statute, including a tax law. |
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REVENUE ACT |
A.k.a. the Townshend duties, this law taxed glass, paint, lead, paper, and tea imported to the colonies from England. This act set moderate rates that did not price goods out of the colonial market; its purpose was to collect money for the treasury. The colonies viewed this just as they did the Stamp Act. The colonies would not have been so angry with this act had they have had a say about it. Parliament also used this to assert its authority over the colonies. |
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COMMITTEES CORRESPONDENCE |
Resistance leaders' first attempt to maintain close and continuing political cooperation over a wide area. Organized by Samuel Adams, this system was ment to connect all the colonies for purposes of communication. |
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TEA ACT |
Eliminated all remaining import duties on tea entering England and thus lowered the selling price to consumers. This act alarmed many Americans, because it would raise revenue with which the British government would pay royal governors. The law thus threatened to corrupt Americans into accepting the principle of parliamentary taxation by taking advantage of their weakness for a frivolous luxury. The colonies then attempted to stop importing tea, but Boston failed to do this well. A few Bostonians ended up dressing up like Mohawk Indians and destroyed the cargo that was brought by the tea ships. |
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LORD DUNMORE'S PROCLAMATION |
Lord Dunmore's promise of freedom to any slave who enlisted in the cause of restoring royal authority. |
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INTOLERABLE ACT |
The name given to the four Coercive Acts and the Quebec Act. The first act ordered the navy to close Boston harbor unless the town arranged to pay for the ruined tea. The second act revoked the Massachusetts charter and restructured the government to become a royal colony. The third act permitted any person charged with murder while enforcing royal authority in Massachusetts to be tried in England or in other colonies. The fourth act allowed the governor to requisition empty private buildings for housing troops.Lastly, the Quebec Act retained Roman Catholicism as Quebec's established religion and gave Canada's governors sweeping powers but established no legislature. It also permitted property disputes to be decided by French law, which did not use juries. Also, the law extended Quebec's territorial claims south to the Ohio River and west to the Mississippi. All these acts convinced Anglo-Americans that Britain was plotting to abolish traditional English liberties throughout North America. |
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CONTINENTAL CONGRESS |
This was made in response to the "Intolerable Acts" to find a way of defending the colonies' rights in common. They resolved that the colonies owed no obedience to any of the Coercive Acts, that a provisional government should collect all taxes until the former Massachusetts charter was restored, and that defensive measures should be taken in the event of an attack by royal troops. This also voted to boycott all British imports after December 1 and to halt almost all exports to Britain and its West Indian possessions after Sepptember 1775 unless a reconciliation had been accomplished. This agreement would be enforced by locally elected committees of "observation" or "safety", whose members in effect woud be seizing control of American trade from the royal customs service. |
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OLIVE BRANCH PETITION |
Basically the colonies last plea for peace. They demanded a cease-fire at Boston, repeal of the Coercive Acts, and negotiations to establish guarantees of American rights. Thi attempt failed. |
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COMMON SENSE |
Written by Thomas Paine, this was made to convince the colonies that they needed independence from Britain and that they would be better off without being dependent upon Britain. It dissolved lingering allegiance to George III and Great Britain, removing the last psychological barrier to American Independence. |
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DECORATION OF INDEPENDENCE |
The document that formerly separated the colonies from Great Britain and stated that the United States of America was officially independent. |
