American Pageant Chapter 7

John Hancock

John Hancock

President of the Continental Congress; first to sign the declaration

Lord North

British Prime Minister during revolution. He had passed the Coercive Acts and supported the king greatly to the extent that Britain was ruled only by the king.

Gaspee incident

The burning of the British naval cutter, the Gaspée by the citizens of Providence, Rhode Island on March 22, 1772; example of colonial opposition to the enforcement of the Trade and Navigation Acts.

George Grenville

British Prime Minister that believed in strict enforcement of laws. He created the Sugar Act 1764 & Stamp Act 1765. He was not liked by the American Colonists

Samuel Adams

Founder of the Sons of Liberty and one of the most vocal patriots for independence; signed the Declaration of Independence

Charles Townshend

British Finance leader. Influenced Parliament to pass the Townshend Acts.

John Adams

Lawyer who defended British soldiers in the Boston Massacre trial. He believed in "innocent until proven guilty." In spite of these actions, he supported colonial independence. 2nd Pres

King George III

King of England during the American Revolution

Baron Von Steuben

Prussian soldier who helped train American forces at Valley Forge in the American Revolutionary War.

mercantilism

policy by which a nation sought to export more than it imported in order to build its supply of gold and silver

"No taxation without representation"

reflected the colonists' belief that they should not be taxed because they had no direct representatives in Parliament

Whigs in Parliament

nigs

John Locke

English philosopher who advocated the idea of a "social contract" in which government powers are derived from the consent of the governed and in which the government serves the people; also said people have natural rights to life, liberty and property.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

French philosopher and writer born in Switzerland; believed that the natural goodness of man was warped by society; ideas influenced the French Revolution (1712-1778)

Deism

The religion of the Enlightenment (1700s). Followers believed that God existed and had created the world, but that afterwards He left it to run by its own natural laws. Denied that God communicated to man or in any way influenced his life.

Royal Veto

British right to nullify any legislation passed by the colonial system if it went against Mercantalism. Privy council

Internal/External Taxation

internal taxations were taxations on personal goods and property, while external taxations dealt with taxing goods that were being imported (townshend acts).

"virtual" representation

British governmental theory that Parliament spoke for all British subjects, including Americans, even if they did not vote for its members

boycott

a group's refusal to have commercial dealings with some organization in protest against its policies

Boston Massacre

The first bloodshed of the Amercan Revolution, as British guards at the Boston Customs House opened fire on a crowd killing five americans

Hessians

German soldiers who fought for the British

Crispus Attucks

Killed in Boston Massacre, black laborer, only African-American person killed in Boston Massacre

Sons/Daughters of Liberty

Organizations that led protests, helped American soldiers, instated a boycott, and generally resisted the British.

Quebec Act

Passed in 1774 by the British Parliament, it extended political and legal concessions to the inhabitants of Quebec and granted them religious freedom.

Navigation Acts

Laws that governed trade between England and its colonies. Colonists were required to ship certain products exclusively to England. These acts made colonists very angry because they were forbidden from trading with other countries.

Declatory Act

March 1766- repealed Stamp Act, said British law was binding in all cases whatsoever

First Continental Congress

September 1774, delegates from twelve colonies sent representatives to Philadelphia to discuss a response to the Intolerable Acts

Quartering Act

an act passed by the British that allowed British troops to live in the homes of the colonists

Sugar Act

law passed by the British Parliament setting taxes on molasses and sugar imported by the colonies

Townshend Acts

laws passed in 1767 that taxed goods such as glass, paper, paint, lead, and tea

The Association

Effective organization created by the First Continental Congress to provide a total, unified boycott of all British goods

Stamp Act

an act passed by the British parliment in 1756 that raised revenue from the American colonies by a duty in the form of a stamp required on all newspapers and legal or commercial documents

Committees of Correspondence

Organization founded by Samuel Adams consisting of a system of communication between patriot leaders in New England and throughout the colonies

admiralty courts

in British law, special administrative courts designed to handle maritime cases without a jury

Boston Tea Party

demonstration (1773) by citizens of Boston who (disguised as Indians) raided three British ships in Boston harbor and dumped hundreds of chests of tea into the harbor

Loyalists/Tories

American colonists who remained loyal to Britain and opposed the war for independence

Stamp Act Congress

group of colonists who protested the Stamp Act, saying that Parliament couldn't tax without colonist' consent

Coercive/Intolerable Acts

Applied only to Massachusetts to punish them for Boston Tea Party; closed Boston's port, reduced powers of self-government, allowed royal officers to be tried in England or other colonies, and provided for quartering of British troops in empty houses or barns.

Second Continental Congress

It met in 1776 and drafted and signed the Declaration of Independence, which justified the Revolutionary War and declared that the colonies should be independent of Britain.

Casmir Pulaski

Polish "Father of the Calvary". Died at the Battle of Savannah.