Chapter 2, Lesson 3 - Disagreements with Great Britain

Vocabulary flashcards covering key people, acts, and ideas leading to American independence as presented in the notes.

Great Awakening

A religious revival that led colonists to question traditional religious authority.

Enlightenment

An intellectual movement that urged people to question accepted political authority.

Personal liberty

A spirit of freedom that made colonists feel entitled to the same rights as British subjects.

Rights of the colonists as British subjects

The belief that colonists deserved the same rights as people in Great Britain.

French and Indian War

War (1754–1763) between Britain and France in North America; left Britain deeply in debt.

Proclamation of 1763

King George’s order forbidding colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains.

War debt

Britain’s debt after the French and Indian War, which led to increased taxation on the colonies.

Stamp Act

Parliament mandated that colonists buy and place stamps on many documents (1765).

Stamp Act Congress

Colonists organized a protest by meeting to coordinate opposition to the Stamp Act.

Declaratory Act

Parliament asserted its right to tax and legislate for the colonies in all cases.

Townshend Acts

Duties on imported goods (and search powers) to raise revenue and enforce taxes; included glass, paint, paper taxes.

Tea Act

Not a tax; allowed a British company to export tea to the colonies without import duties, making tea cheaper.

Boston Tea Party

December 1773; colonists dressed as Native Americans dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor.

Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts)

Parliament’s 1774 response to the Boston Tea Party, punishments that fueled colonial grievances.

Massachusetts Government Act

Act that limited town meetings and gave control to the royal governor.

Quartering Act

Required colonists to house and billet British soldiers.

Impartial Administration of Justice Act

Allowed trials of British officials charged with capital crimes to be moved to Britain or other colonies.

Quebec Act

Extended Canadian borders southward to the Ohio River and limited colonial land claims.

First Continental Congress

Colonial representatives met to respond to the Coercive Acts and organized a boycott.

Second Continental Congress

Governing body that led the colonies toward independence and eventually declared independence.

Declaration of Independence

Written document adopted July 4, 1776 declaring the colonies free from Britain and outlining principles of government.

Committee of Five

Group chosen to draft the Declaration of Independence (Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Sherman, Livingston).

Thomas Jefferson

Principal author of the Declaration of Independence; influenced by John Locke.

John Locke

Philosopher whose theory of natural rights influenced Jefferson’s views.

Natural rights

Rights inherent to all humans, such as life, liberty, and property; later expressed as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Consent of the governed

Principle that governments derive their authority from the consent of the people.

Common Sense

Pamphlet by Thomas Paine arguing for American independence.

Rousseau and social contract

Philosophical idea that legitimate government rests on a social contract to protect people’s rights.

Unalienable rights

Rights that cannot be taken away; highlighted in the Declaration (e.g., life, liberty, pursuit of happiness).