Key Terms Vocab

Coercive Acts/Intolerable Acts

Coercive Acts/Intolerable Acts

After the Boston Tea Party, England wanted to punish Boston, and created these acts. There were 5 acts.

1. Boston Port Bill (closed Boston port)

2. Quebec Act (created a gov. in Quebec)

3. Administration of Justice Act (any British soldier on trial would be tried in England)

4. Massachusetts Government Act (removed Mass. colonial assembly → England in charge)

5. New Quartering Act (more troops sent to America to keep an eye on colonists)

Currency Act

England prohibited the printing of colonial paper money, and colonists could only use English money.

Declaratory Act

After the Stamp Act was repealed, Parliament declared that they had the same taxing authority in America as they did in Great Britain

External and internal taxes

Internal taxes were taxes for activities within the colonies, such as the Stamp Act, while external taxes were taxes on imports and exports (trade).

Mutiny Act

During the Seven Year’s War, British Parliament passed this act that required Americans to house and support British troops

Proclamation of 1763

William Pitt, the Prime Minister of England, created the Proclamation Line that prohibited American colonists from settling on lands acquired from the French following the French and Indian War in response to Pontiac’s rebellion.

Quartering Act

In 1764, England sent soldiers to watch colonist and stop them from smuggling taxed goods. Colonists were forced to house and support the soldiers, creating aggression between the two groups.

Quebec Act

After the French and Indian War, England owned Canada. They decided to get rid of the Canadian government and create their own government in Quebec, which worried the Americans of what the British would do to their governments.

Stamp Act

In 1765, British Parliament created a tax on all paper goods. The cheapest tax was on newspapers and the most expensive were diplomas. The behavior of the colonists were split between the radicals and enlightened thinkers.

Sugar Act

In 1764, the British began taxing sugar, which was used for many important products in America. Only the colonists were taxed and it was a specie tax, meaning that it could only be paid in gold or silver.

Tea Act

The British began taxing tea that was going into the colonies, who believed that it was unfair that they were getting these taxes. The Sons of Liberty eventually revolted, which led to tea parties throughout the colonies.

Townshend Duties/Acts

Charles Townsend (Champagne Charlie) was a member of British Parliament who greatly benefited from the taxing of the colonies. He created his own taxes that taxed the major products that the colonists used including paper, paint, lead, glass, and tea.

Virtual vs. actual representation

Virtual Representation: The British argued that the British Parliament represented all British subjects, including those in America.

Actual Representation: The colonists argued that they should have real representation, meaning that they wanted to elect their own representatives to sit in Parliament and make decisions for them directly.

Writs of assistance

Writs of assistance were documents which served as a general search warrant, allowing customs officials to enter any ship or building that they suspected for any reason might hold smuggled goods.

Iroquois Confederacy

The Iroquois Confederacy or the Haudenosaunee (People of the Longhouse), was made up of five tribes, Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and the Seneca originating from New York. In 1722, the Tuscarora tribe, who originated from North Carolina, joined the Confederacy.

Committees of Correspondence

The committee of Correspondence was a committee of letter writers tat would send letters to other colonies to spread word. This was a way to passively protest and they came up with the idea to peacefully protest.

Daughters of Liberty

These were women who wanted to protest the British taxes. They would have sewing circles and would discuss and propose their ideas. Their quilts would often be propaganda and would hang them on liberty trees. They were a charitable group and would help families. They also taught each other how to use weapons to prepare

First Continental Congress

55 delegates from 12 colonies (except Georgia) met together. The agenda was how to respond to the coercive acts.

Massachusetts Circular Letter

In response to the Townshend Acts passed by Parliament in 1767, Samuel Adams, on behalf of the Massachusetts legislature, wrote the Massachusetts Circular Letter to assert that Great Britain had no right to tax the Thirteen Colonies without their representation in government.

The Paxton Boys

The Paxton Boys were a group of Scots-Irish men living in the Appalachian hills that wanted protection from Indian attacks. They made an armed march on Philadelphia in 1764. They protested the lenient way that the Quakers treated the Indians. Their ideas started the Regulator Movement in North Carolina.

Sons of Liberty

A large group of men that started in Boston but eventually branched out to all the colonies that were extremists and wanted to rebel against the acts and taxes of the British.

Stamp Act Congress

The stamp act congress was a group of colonial delegates who met in New York City in 1765 to propose resolutions to several colonial disagreements. They protested for the "rights and liberties" such as the right to trial by jury. In addition they declared that only the colonists' elected representatives could tax them.

Virginia Resolves

The Virginia Resolves were a series of resolutions passed by the Virginia House of Burgesses in response to the Stamp Act of 1765. Patrick Henry gave his famous speech on “liberty or death”

Peace of Paris/Treaty of Paris (1763)

The Treaty of Paris of 1763 ended the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War between Great Britain and France, as well as their respective allies. In the terms of the treaty, France gave up all its territories in mainland North America, effectively ending any foreign military threat to the British colonies there.

Albany Plan of Union (1754)

Ben Franklin called a meeting for all colonial members to form a colonial alliance. The plan for this union failed and was shot down by the colonies. This was the first of these meetings, which would continue in the form of the continental congresses later on.

Impressment

During the French and Indian War, the British forcibly enlisted colonists to fight in the war.

Regulator Movement

The Regulator Movement was a brief uprising in eastern North Carolina from 1768 to 1771, before the start of the American Revolution. North Carolinians became angry with government officials, particularly appointed officials, due to excessive taxes, dishonest sheriffs, and illegal fees.