AP US History Chapters 5 & 6

Mercantilism

economic relationship between Britain & the colonies
where exports > imports

• the colonies provide the raw materials & receive manufactured goods in return

• Britain has the favorable balance of trade, beneficial because Britain & France are fighting for raw materials

Enumerated goods

valuable items that must be sold within the British empire because as demand goes down, cost also goes down

• i.e. tobacco, sugar

Ohio River Valley

controversial land that led to the French & Indian War, rich soil for farming, growing population

French & Indian War

(1754-1763) war fought in the colonies between the British & the French to occupy the ORV

• the French grow barrier forts to keep out the British → they cross anyways, causing war to break out
• colonists fought under British commanders
• Britain eventually wins the war & pushes France out

Albany Congress

a way to efficiently prepare for the upcoming war where colonies send delegates to make a plan

Albany Plan of Union

an intercolonial militia that would unify the colonies into one large force

• needs money to supply → must tax the colonies
• delegates reject the idea because they oppose taxation & don't see themselves as one unified identity

Treaty of Paris

1763 treaty that ended the French & Indian War

• France gave the Louisiana Purchase to the Spanish
• Britain is the notable winner because they now controlled most of mainland America
• weakening colonial presence → no threat

Pontiac's Rebellion

(1763-1766) natives are upset with new British colonists showing up to the ORV → they begin resisting by attacking forts & settlements

• a prior treaty announcing native subordination to the British caused anger
• Pontiac was a Native American chief who brought people together
• there were no colonies yet established in the ORV → no militias, so British soldiers put down the rebellion

Proclamation of 1763

the British government forbade colonists from settling In the ORV or west of the Appalachian Mountains, any settlers who already lived west of the mountains had to move back east

• Parliament is unable to enforce this law → colonists ignored & continued going into the ORV

Paxton Boys Winter

Scots-Irish frontiersmen are worried that they are at risk for attacks by natives as a result of Pontiac's Rebellion

• acted preemptively & attacked neighboring tribes
• however, they attacked friendly tribes that they had peace treaties with
• wanted the Pennsylvania militia to come to their aid but the government refuses
• they began marching (with guns, clubs) to create chaos

George III

executive of the British Parliament

• only in power because he was next in line (royal blood)
• not interested in forming policies, fixing debt, controlling expenses
• leaves power with Prime Minister Grenville

George Grenville

Prime Minister who passed the Sugar & Stamp Acts to fund keeping British troops in the colonies

Protective Tariffs

protects domestic industries against foreign competition

• for example, British-made goods & French-made goods are going into the North American colonies
• if Britain placed tariffs on the French goods, they'd be protecting the British goods from competition
• colonists understood that this type of taxation made sense

Solely Revenue-Raising Tariffs

no protective function

• for example, French-made goods will come into the colonies, but there is no opposing British-made goods
• if Britain placed tariffs on the French goods, there is no other option for the colonists to buy
• colonists believed that this type of taxation was unfair, served no purpose other than making money

Internal Taxes

property taxes, sales taxes, usage taxes

• often passed in the colonies by the colonists but due to salutary neglect, Parliament had never passed any
• created an issue about taxation without representation
• colonists saw these as illegitimate

Virtual Representation

a democratic perspective of government, where all views were taken in from all over the British empire

• Parliament spoke for all British subjects, including Americans, even if they did not vote for its members
• in the House of Commons, landowning white men could vote for other landowning white men

Real Whig Ideology

a theory of governance that expressed suspicion of the power of government

• the bigger & more powerful a government is, the more dangerous they will be
• uses John Locke's understanding of a social contract
• governments by their nature always take more & more liberty from the people, abusing their power
• the colonists began to see through this lens & realized that they have a right to not be taxed

Sugar Act (1764)

1st act passed by Parliament to put revenue-raising taxes on the colonies, establishing a mercantilist relationship

• part of PM Grenville's revenue program
• tariffs were placed on goods coming from the British empire going to the North American colonies
• made it illegal for colonists to buy goods from non-British Caribbean colonies

Stamp Act (1765)

required colonists to place an official stamp when using paper items, which would then be collected as tax

• part of PM Grenville's revenue program
• this was an internal tax (usage tax)
• people from all throughout the socioeconomic ladder were angry → beginning the idea of a revolution

Vice-Admiralty Courts

courts that took place on a ship without a jury

• this was because colonists wouldn't convict others for violating the Stamp Act
• however in these courts, they have no influence
• colonists thought this was inappropriate & an example of an abuse of power

Rights of the Colonies Asserted and Proved by James Otis

the argument that colonists have a right as British subjects to be represented in legislatures that tax them

• Parliament passing laws for the entire empire is unjust
• with virtual representation, colonists would never even have enough power to influence decisions & law-making
• will lead & influence people to revolt

Virginia Stamp Act Resolves by Patrick Henry

a series of resolutions that opposed Parliament's Stamp Act, asserting that Virginians had the same rights as other British citizens & that only the Virginia Assembly had the right to tax Virginians

• the House of Burgesses accepted 4 of the 7 resolves
• newspapers in Virginia & other colonies published their stories as if the HoB published all 7
• the 3 that were not published were extremely aggressive

Stamp Act Congress (1765)

an appropriate, polite letter of protest in response to the Stamp Act, people send it off to Parliament but they ignore it

The Loyal Nine

a social club in Boston that joined together to protest the Stamp Act

• occupational diversity (artisans, merchants, farmers)
• organized protests & demonstrations that were not always so polite
• was very effective
• hung an effigy of Andrew Oliver to intimidate him → Oliver resigned from his position
• an aggressive crowd organized outside of the home of Thomas Hutchinson → turns into a mob, they blast into the home & destroy it

Sons of Liberty

a political organization for colonial independence, formed in 1765 after the Stamp Act

• dedicated to a more principled & effective form of protest, do not require intimidating government officials
• organized merchants & professionals
• rallies, speeches, & parades to educate others
• boycotts were effective to exert economic pressure on Britain → force them to take notice

Lord Rockingham

replaced Grenville as Britain's Prime Minister

• now has to deal with the colonies
• he believed the Stamp Act was a tax too hard to enforce, but Parliament did have the right to do it
• saw it as labor-intensive, burdensome, unproductive
• begins to put pressure on Parliament to repeal
• repealed in 1766 & colonists are happy

Declaratory Act (1766)

passed just after the repeal of the Stamp Act, stated that Parliament has the right to legislate on all matters in regards to the colonies → full authority

• they have the right to tax & govern however they see fit
• more conflict is coming

Townshend Acts (1767)

placed tariffs on the importation of British made goods going into the colonies (paper, glass, tea)

Secretary of State of American Affairs

new position created to tightened administration

• an individual who oversees the colonies & has a say in how they are being run

American Board of Customs Commissioners

new agency created to make sure that taxes are being collected in an efficient manner

• before, customs were not being collected efficiently & there was a degree of corruption (tax collectors could have been paid off)
• many goods that were coming into the colonies should have been taxed but weren't
• this way, Parliament could earn their money

Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania by John Dickinson

in response to the Townshend tariffs, Dickinson states that Parliament has a right to regulate interstate commerce but does not have the right to pass solely revenue-raising taxes

• uses Real Whig Ideology & urges readers to scrutinize Parliament's abuse of power

Circular Letter (1768)

Samuel Adams writes this to generate colony-wide opposition to the Townshend Acts

• Massachusetts governor has pressure put on him to get the assembly to recall the letter
• they have a vote → 92-17
• the number 92 becomes an indicator of your support for resistance against Parliament (used on banners, etc)

Daughters of Liberty

organization supporting the boycott of British goods

• women went into public spaces & would spin thread to show they do not need British-made goods
• urged Americans to wear homemade fabrics
• a public sign of resistance → colonies are easily inspired from each other

The Boston Massacre (1770)

incident in which British soldiers fired into a crowd of colonists who were teasing and taunting them, killing 5

• people who work in the American Board of Customs agency are being harassed at their workplace
• Parliament sends soldiers to protect the building & the people who work in it
• colonists gather around the soldiers standing in front of the building & throw snowballs & rocks from all angles
• there are much more colonists than soldiers
• one of the soldiers snaps & begins firing into the crowd, which influences the other soldiers to do so too
• they go on trial for murder in a Boston jury
• this outraged the colonies & increased anti-British sentiment because Boston's radicals used propaganda

Committees of Correspondence

a system of communication between patriot leaders in New England & throughout the colonies

• majority of the colonial population lives in the countryside, not the cities
  they wanted to spread the word → the resistance movement is getting stronger

Tea Act

1773 act which eliminated import tariffs on tea entering England but allowed the British East India Company to sell directly to consumers rather than through merchants

• colonists embedded in resistance movements are deeply opposed

Boston Tea Party

demonstration by citizens of Boston who raided British ships in the Boston Harbor & dumped hundreds of chests of tea into the harbor

• many were members of the Sons of Liberty

Intolerable Acts (1774)

passed in response to the Boston Tea Party

Massachusetts Government Act

further limits self-government by ending all town meetings in Boston

• town meetings were essential for colonists to form & spread opinions, opportunities for the community to come together & interact
• taking away their rights to assembly (getting together with others) & freedom of speech
• big deal because colonists were entitled to meetings

Quartering Act

colonists were forced to house soldiers on their residences & properties

• British soldiers in Boston increases dramatically & their presence is very much objected to
• privacy of their homes were being violated in their eyes

Justice Act

if a soldier was indicted for killing a colonists or suppressing a fight, they were allowed to be trialed in another state

• feared that British soldiers were able to kill & physically harm them without being held accountable

Boston Harbor Act

stated that the harbor was gonna be closed & Bostonians had to be taxed until they could pay off the damage from the Tea Party

• affects the economy because Boston is a very active port city
• precedent is that if it can be done in Boston, it can be done anywhere

1st Continental Congress (1774)

met in Philadelphia & rejected the plan for a unified colonial government, stated grievances against the crown called the Declaration of Rights, resolved to prepare militias.

Declaration of Rights & Grievances

colonists feel that their constitutional rights have been violated & limited (assembly, property, speech, self-governance)

• encourages people to strengthen their militias → tensions
• decides to double down on restricting trade with Britain

Continental Association

if you join, you cannot sell goods to Britain, import goods from Britain, & purchase or consume British goods

• trying to get Britain to pay attention to them economically
• colonists still see themselves as British & want to save their relationship before severing it

Committees of Observation

electing landowning men to enforce the Continental Association

• they spied on people & encouraged neighbors to expose their neighbors
• people are intimidated into joining & pressured for still buying British goods or trading with them

Provincial Conventions

calling upon voters in each colony to create a government in the shadow of the British one

• interrupt court sections, prevent the application of royally-sanctioned law, enforce the Continental Association
• an outgrowth of the Committees of Observation

Paul Revere

a patriot who helped warn colonists about British movements

• colonists in Massachusetts are strengthening their militia & stockpiling weapons
• commander decides he is going to march troops to Concord with weapons & find the two leaders
• the night before the British will leave Boston, him & others head out to the countryside to alert people

Battles of Lexington & Concord (1775)

first battles of the Revolutionary War

• once a shot went out, both sides fired
• this kind of military encounter is what the British thought the war would be like because colonists don't have an army
• as the British march out of Concord towards Boston, colonists fire at them from all sides
• not just people from the militia, everyone is helping (no experience or training but they do know the area)
• 250 British die

2nd Continental Congress (1775)

acted like the government of the colonies & started creating a militia

• needed to tax the people but not direct taxation (asking the colonies if they can tax, to which they can say yes or no)
• they seek foreign support & turn to the French
• this one is proven to be different from the 1st because it is after Lexington & Concord
• hostility exists but no one has yet declared war because they still consider themselves as a part of Britain

Common Sense by Thomas Paine (1776)

written to encourage the colonies to seek independence, a document meant to be read aloud, becomes the best selling work of literature in the colonies

• displayed anti-authoritarian & anti-government ideas
• America should be independent from Britain
• a significant percentage of the colonial population gets accustomed to his ideas

Battle of Saratoga (1777)

battle in New York considered to be the turning point

• colonists won & captured many British soldiers (huge victory)
• the French became sympathetic to the colonists & decide to come into the war

Treaty of Alliance (1778)

pact between French & American Revolutionaries

• France has a navy (not as strong as Britain, but still good) & they will fight on the Atlantic
• big deal because the British might not continue fighting (costly, time-consuming)
• French also bring officers to train the colonial soldiers
• they make it much more difficult for Britain to win

Treaty of Paris (1783)

this treaty ended the American Revolution & recognized the independence of the colonies

• Britain acknowledges America as its own independent county, not part of their empire

Declaration of Independence (1776)

the fundamental document establishing the U.S. as an independent nation, adopted on July 4

• it declared the 13 colonies independent from Britain

Patriots

American colonists who were determined to fight the British until American independence was won

• consisted of Yeoman farmers (medium land owners) who found taxation burdening & sided with the patriots
• merchants concentrated on selling their goods somewhere other than the British empire
• Chesapeake gentry (ie. George Washington)
• Puritans

Neutrals

people who don't agree with side with neither the patriots or the loyalists

• consisted of Quakers (did not like war)
• people living on the frontiers (Scots-Irish) depend on who's winning & who they can get the best deal from

Loyalists

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

• Anglicans were discriminated against → tended to side with the British
• other loyalists were merchants whose livelihood depended on connections with Parliament to access certain goods
• at the end of the war, when the British leave, most loyalists leave will with them
• African slaves also sided with the British because they weren't enslaving them, the colonists were

Lord Dunmore's Proclamation (1775)

• an offer that if any slave should escape their masters & come fight for the British, they will receive freedom
• most colonists didn't know of this rule because it wasn't wide-spread knowledge & it was difficult to flee your master