Unit 1: Adams & Hutchinson - Colonial Period and the Road to Revolution

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the key terms, acts, figures, and events from the Colonial Period and the Road to the American Revolution.

Colonial Period & Road to Revolution

The Colonial Period refers to the time period that the colonies existed, while the Road to Revolution refers to the sequence of events that led to the American Revolution.

Christopher Columbus

An Italian explorer and navigator who completed four Spanish transatlantic voyages in the name of the Catholic Monarchs, opening the way for widespread European exploration and colonization of the Americas.

Columbian Exchange

The massive transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, and diseases between the Americas (the New World) and Afro-Eurasia (the Old World) that began after Christopher Columbus.

Cash crop

An agricultural plant grown specifically to sell for profit rather than for personal family or livestock use.

Economy

A large system where people and businesses make, share, trade, and use goods and services.

“M&Ms” (Imperialism)

An acronym standing for Military and Money, reflecting how imperialism was driven by the desire for military power and money through land, resources, and trade.

Transatlantic Trade Network (1500s–1800s)

A historical trade network operating from the 1500s to the 1800s that connected Europe, Africa, and the Americas prior to and following early exploration.

Mercantilism

An economic system from the 16th to the 18th century where governments sought to make their countries rich and powerful by maximizing exports and minimizing imports.

Navigation Act

Legislation that established the baseline framework for British mercantilism, mandating that all colonial exports and trade be transported on English or colonial ships to eliminate foreign competition, specifically from the Dutch.

Salutary Neglect

Britain’s long-standing policy of lax trade law enforcement that was formally ended by Prime Minister George Grenville, shifting royal administration from passive governance to strict revenue collection.

New England Economy

A regional colonial economy based primarily on fishing, shipbuilding, trade, and small farms.

Southern Colonies Economy

A regional colonial economy based on large farms and plantations that produced cash crops such as tobacco, rice, and indigo.

Virginia (1607)

A colony founded primarily for the economic purposes of making money and finding gold.

Massachusetts (1620)

A colony founded by pilgrims seeking religious freedom.

French and Indian War

A conflict between England and France that extended to their American colonies; concluded by the Treaty of Paris, which eliminated French territorial threats in North America but left Great Britain with over £130 million in war debt.

Royal Proclamation of 1763

An order issued by King George stating that British colonists were prohibited from moving west of the Appalachian Mountains and requiring those already there to return, issued because most Native Americans had allied with the French.

Stamp Act

Parliament’s first direct internal tax on the American colonies that mandated revenue stamps on paper goods, legal documents, and newspapers, sparking the rallying cry “no taxation without representation.”

Military Occupation of Boston

The deployment of British soldiers to occupy Boston to enforce tax collection and suppress smuggling and protests, creating resentment among colonists who felt their freedoms were stripped away.

Declaratory Act

A law passed on the exact day Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, asserting that the British Crown and Parliament possessed absolute legislative authority over the colonies “in all cases whatsoever.”

Quartering Act

A statute requiring colonial assemblies to furnish housing, food, and supplies for British troops, creating outrage over local taxes being used to support a standing peacetime army.

Inflation (Colonial Period)

The escalation of everyday prices caused by British tax increases, which left many colonists struggling to afford basic food and supplies.

Townshend Acts

A series of measures that placed import duties on glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea, while creating the American Board of Customs Commissioners in Boston to enforce anti-smuggling laws.

Patriot

A colonist in the Thirteen Colonies who opposed British governance and rule, actively backing and launching the American Revolution to achieve independence.

Loyalist

A colonist in British America who maintained loyalty to the British Crown, estimated by historians to represent between 15% and 33% of the colonial population.

Sons of Liberty

A loosely organized, clandestine, and at times violent political group organized to protect colonial rights against British taxation; active in combating the Stamp Act in 1765 and operating throughout the Revolution.

Puritan

An English Protestant seeking to “purify” the Church of England of Catholic traditions and ceremonies, committed to plain services, strict discipline, hard work, and a direct covenant with God.

Samuel Adams

A Massachusetts statesman, political philosopher, Founding Father, leader of the American Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and founder of the Sons of Liberty.

Thomas Hutchinson

A prominent merchant, historian, colonial administrator, and governor of Massachusetts Bay, recognized as the most significant Loyalist leader in pre-revolutionary Massachusetts.

Britain’s Perceived Violations of Rights

Colonial grievances regarding British rule, specifically infringing on natural rights (life, liberty, and property), imposing taxation without representation in Parliament, and maintaining a standing army during peacetime.

Boston Massacre

A violent confrontation resulting from tensions over troops stationed in Boston to guard customs officials, culminating in British soldiers firing into a hostile crowd and killing five civilians.

Boston Tea Party

A colonial protest provoked by British policy that granted the struggling British East India Company an untaxed monopoly on colonial tea sales, undercutting local merchants.

Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts)

Retaliatory British laws enacted after the Boston Tea Party that shut down Boston Harbor until the destroyed tea was compensated, suspended local Massachusetts self-government, and instituted military rule.

First Continental Congress

A 1774 gathering in Philadelphia attended by delegates from a majority of the thirteen colonies to organize coordinated resistance against the British Intolerable Acts.

Common Sense

A 1776 political pamphlet authored by Thomas Paine arguing that the American colonies should break away completely from the rule of King George and Parliament.

Declaration of Independence

A 1776 document written by Thomas Jefferson that formally separated the American colonies from Great Britain, asserting equal rights to life, liberty, and happiness, and denouncing mistreatment by the British King.