U.s. History - Chapter 5 Key Terms

Front 1

French and Indian War

Back 1

war between the British and French (with Native allies) over control of the Ohio River Valley Region which gave access to the Atlantic and the Great Lakes

Front 2

Albany Plan of the Union

Back 2

plan proposed by Benjamin Franklin to create a unified government in order to protect the colonies from France; first proposal to make the colonies a collective whole under one government

Front 3

Battle of Quebec

Back 3

military turning point and the most important battle in the French and Indian War, significant British victory

Front 4

Treaty of Paris 1763

Back 4

treaty that officially ends the French and Indian War; France is kicked off the continent and British colonies triple in size

Front 5

Pontiac's Rebellion

Back 5

Native American rebellion against the British in the Ohio River Valley to force them out of formerly French lands; natives were less than pleased with the less conciliatory attitudes of the British than the French

Front 6

Sugar Act

Back 6

created a new tax on molasses and sugar imported from non-British isles; purpose was to direct colonists in marketing with England and not other countries

Front 7

Salutary neglect

Back 7

British policy that avoided strict enforcment of laws in the American colonies

Front 8

Stamp Act

Back 8

required a tax stamp on all printed items, ranging from playing cards to legal documents; purpose was to raise revenue an cover part of the cost of keeping British troops in America

Front 9

Virtual representation

Back 9

the claim made by British politicians that the interests of the American colonists were adequately represented in Parliament by merchants who traded with the colonies and by absentee landlords (mostly sugar planters) who owned estates in the West Indies

Front 10

Quartering Act

Back 10

A British law passed by Parliament at the request of General Thomas Gage, the British military commander in America, that required colonial governments to provide barracks and food for British troops

Front 11

George Greenville

Back 11

challenge of raising revenue from the colonies fell to him; understood the need for far-reaching imperial reform; responsible for the some of the most outlandish taxes in the colonies

Front 12

Patrick Henry

Back 12

orator during the movement for independence in Virginia, "Give me liberty, or give me death!"

Front 13

Stamp Act Congress

Back 13

first gathering of elected representatives from several different colonies to plan a protest against the Stamp Act

Front 14

Sons of Liberty

Back 14

an organization of American colonists that was formed to protect the rights of the colonists and to fight taxation by the British government; played a major role in battling the Stamp Act

Front 15

Samuel Adams

Back 15

an American statesman, political philosopher, and one of the founding fathers of the U.S.

(also lead the Sons of Liberty)

Front 16

Committees of Correspondence

Back 16

rallied colonial opposition against British policy by communicating to other towns and colonies about the evil doings of the British; kept anger high

Front 17

Natural rights

Back 17

God-given rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and property

Front 18

John Dickinson

Back 18

a Founding Father who urged colonists to oppose parliamentary taxes in his "Letters from a farmer in Pennsylvania" which circulated widely and served as an early call to resistance

("penman of the Revolution")

Front 19

Declaratory Act

Back 19

lessened the Sugar Act and repealed the Stamp Act; purpose was to assert complete British authority to make laws in the colonies in the face of repealing the Stamp Act

Front 20

Townshend Act

Back 20

placed taxes on paint, tea, paper, lead, and glass; purpose was to raise revenue and use that money to pay salaries of the royal governor

Front 21

Nonimportation movement

Back 21

movement of repeated boycotts of British imports in protest of taxes placed on goods; American women crucial to the movement by reducing their households' consumption of imported goods and producing large quantities of homespun cloth

Front 22

Boston Massacre

Back 22

the killing of five colonists by British regulars in a protest culminated by heavy taxes on goods; became propoganda for the Revolution

Front 23

Benjamin Franklin

Back 23

one of the Founding Fathers and activists in the American Revolution; proposed the Albany Plan

Front 24

Tea Act

Back 24

placed a tax on tea sold in the colonies to provide financial relief to the British East India Company which served as an instrument of British imperialism; last straw, led to Boston Tea Party

Front 25

East India Company

Back 25

English company formed for the exploitation of trade with East and Southeast Asia and India, incorporated by royal charter

Front 26

Coercive Acts

Back 26

four laws passed by Parliament to force Massachusetts to pay for the tea and to submit to imperial authority; closed Boston Harbor to shipping, prohibited town meetings, allowed trials to be transferred to other colonies or to Britain, mandated new barracks for British soldiers

(known as the "Intolerable Acts")

Front 27

First Continental Congress

Back 27

a meeting of delegates from twelve of the Thirteen Colonies in response to the Coercive Acts, contemplating on either compromise, more economic boycotting, or political union and independence

Front 28

Continental Association

Back 28

implemented and enforced a third economic boycott of British goods

Front 29

Minutemen

Back 29

independent defensive militia at Concord that could be called and be ready at a "minute's" notice

Front 30

Lexington and Concord

Back 30

"shot heard round the world"

considered as the first military engagement of the American Revolution

Front 31

Olive Branch Petition

Back 31

drafted by John Dickinson, it was a written attempt to King George to assert the rights of the colonists but also remain loyal to the Crown; last attempt at peace before the Revolution

Front 32

George III

Back 32

was king during the Revolution

Front 33

Patriot

Back 33

colonist who wanted indepedence

Front 34

Loyalist

Back 34

colonist who remained loyal to Britain

Front 35

Thomas Paine

Back 35

wrote "Common Sense" which swayed colonist viewpoints toward independence

Front 36

Declaration of Independence

Back 36

granted colonists formal independence and separation from England

3 structures: preamble, list of grievances, effects of grievances (what the colonies are going to do)

Front 37

Popular Sovereignty

Back 37

idea that the government's power rests within the people