Colonial Government and the American Revolution

Vocabulary flashcards covering foundational documents, political concepts, British policies, and events building colonial unity leading to the American Revolution.

Magna Carta (1215)

Limited the English king's power and helped establish that a ruler must obey the law.

English Bill of Rights (1689)

Protected certain rights of English people and limited the monarch's authority, leading colonists to expect to keep their rights as English subjects.

Mayflower Compact (1620)

An agreement by Pilgrims to form a government and make laws for the common good; an example of a social contract and consent of the governed that did not establish complete religious freedom.

Virginia House of Burgesses (1619)

The first elected representative assembly in the English colonies where colonists chose people to speak and make decisions for them.

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639)

An early written plan for a colonial government that included an elected assembly, which Thomas Hooker helped establish.

First Great Awakening

A religious revival in the 1730s and 1740s that encouraged some colonists to value individual conscience and question established authority.

Roger Williams

A supporter of religious tolerance who argued that government should not control religious belief, making Rhode Island a refuge for people with different religious views.

Quakers in Pennsylvania

A group that emphasized individual conscience, equality in spiritual worth, and religious tolerance, shaping Pennsylvania's relatively inclusive political culture.

John Locke

Philosopher who stated that people have natural rights (including life, liberty, and property) and that government exists to protect those rights, drawing its authority from the people.

Salutary neglect

A period in which Britain loosely enforced some trade rules and gave colonies room to manage local affairs.

Proclamation of 1763

A measure following the French and Indian War in which Britain restricted colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains and reserved that area for Native peoples.

Sugar Act (1764)

Placed duties on sugar and molasses and strengthened enforcement of trade laws.

Stamp Act (1765)

Required a paid stamp on many printed items, including newspapers and legal documents.

Townshend Acts (1767)

Placed duties on imported goods such as glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea.

Tea Act (1773)

Gave the British East India Company special advantages in the colonial tea trade while keeping the tea tax.

No taxation without representation

The objection made by colonists against Parliament taxing them when they did not elect representatives to Parliament, arguing their own elected assemblies should approve colonial taxes.

Patriots

Colonists such as Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry who strongly opposed British policies and defended colonial self-government.

Boston Massacre (1770)

An incident in which British soldiers fired into a crowd in Boston, killing five colonists including Crispus Attucks.

Paul Revere's engraving

A propaganda image presenting the Boston Massacre as a deliberate attack on defenseless colonists to shape public opinion.

Boston Tea Party (1773)

An act of civil disobedience in which protesters boarded ships in Boston Harbor and dumped tea into the water to protest British tea policy and taxation.

Intolerable Acts (1774)

British laws punishing Massachusetts after the Tea Party by closing Boston Harbor and limiting local self-government, which led other colonies to support Massachusetts.

First Continental Congress (1774)

A meeting of delegates from twelve colonies (excluding Georgia) to coordinate a response to the Intolerable Acts, including a boycott of British goods.

Common Sense (1776)

Thomas Paine's pamphlet that made a clear argument for independence and helped persuade many colonists that separating from Britain was possible.