APUSH Vocab 5

Stamp Act

Parliament’s 1765 requirement that revenue stamps be affixed to all colonial printed matter, documents, and playing cards; the Stamp Act Congress met to formulate a response, and the act was repealed the following year

“Virtual Representation”

The idea that the American colonies, although they had no actual representation in Parliament, were “virtually” represented by all members of Parliament

Writs of Assistance

One of the colonies’ main complaints against Britain; the writs allowed unlimited search warrants without cause to look for evidence of smuggling

Committees of Correspondence

Group organized by Samuel Adams in retaliation for the Gaspee incident to address American grievances, assert American rights, and form a network of rebellion

Sons of Liberty

Organizations formed by Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and other radicals in response to the Stamp Act

Regulators

Groups of backcountry Carolina settlers who protested colonial policies

Daughters of Liberty

American women who spun/wove at home so they wouldn’t have to purchase British goods, act of boycotting

Boston Massacre

Clash between British soldiers and a Boston mob, March 5, 1770, in which five colonists were killed; soldiers defended by John Adams on trial in Massachusetts, 7 not guilty 2 convicted of manslaughter

Crispus Attucks

An Indian, black and white sailor killed in the Boston Massacre, called the “first martyr of the American Revolution”

“Wilkes and Liberty”

Popular rallying cry; came from when John Wilkes, known for his scandalous writings about the king and ministry, was elected to Parliament from London but was expelled from his seat

Boston Tea Party

December 16, 1773, in which the Sons of Liberty dressed as Indians and dumped hundreds of tea chests into the Boston Harbor to protest the Tea Act of 1773

Quebec Act

Extended the southern boundary of that Canadian province to the Ohio River and granted legal toleration to the Roman Catholic Church in Canada; the act sought to secure the allegiance of Quebec’s Catholics by offering rights denied to their coreligionists in Britain

Suffolk Resolves

A convention of delegates from Massachusetts towns approved a series of resolutions that urged Americans to refuse obedience to the new laws, withhold taxes, and prepare for war

Committees of Safety

network created by committees of correspondence organized and mobilized hundreds of communities across the British North American colonies, used to express ideas, to confirm mutual assistance, and to debate and coordinate resistance to British imperial policy

Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation

A proclamation issued in 1775 by the earl of Dunmore, the British governor of Virginia, that offered freedom to any slave who fought for the king against rebelling colonists

Olive Branch Petition

Adopted by Congress on July 5, 1775, to be sent to the King as a last attempt to prevent formal war from being declared; emphasized their loyalty to the British crown

Common Sense

A pamphlet anonymously written by Thomas Paine in January 1776 that attacked the English principles of hereditary rule and monarchical government

Declaration of Independence

Document adopted on July 4, 1776 that made the break with Britain official; drafted by committee of the Second Continental Congress, including Thomas Jefferson

“American Exceptionalism”

The belief that the United States has a special mission to serve as a refuge from tyranny, a symbol of freedom, and a model for the rest of the world

The American Crisis

a series of pamphlets published between 1776 to 1783 during the American Revolutionary War by Paine to persuade the American people to support their states' new union and contribute to the revolutionary cause

Valley Forge

location of the 1777-1778 winter encampment of the Continental Army under General George Washington during the American Revolutionary War

Benedict Arnold

One of Washington’s ablest commanders, defected and almost succeeded in turning over to the British the important fort at West Point on the Hudson River

Treaty of Paris

Signed on September 3, 1783, the treaty that ended the Revolutionary War, recognized American independence from Britain, established the border between Canada and the United States, fixed the western borer at the Mississippi River, and ceded Florida to Spain