American Independence

Revolution

a major change in government or society

Independence

freedom from control by another country

Mercantilism

an economic system in which colonies benefit the mother country

Colonization

establishing a settlement in a new area to benefit the mother country

Mother country

the country that controls and benefits from its colonies

Self-government

the ability of people to create their own laws and govern themselves

House of Burgesses

Virginia’s assembly of elected representatives who made laws for the colony

Albany Plan of Union

a proposal for the colonies to unite and cooperate under one government

Enlightenment

a European movement emphasizing reason

John Locke

an Enlightenment thinker who believed people have natural rights and may replace an unjust government

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

an Enlightenment thinker who believed government receives its authority from the people

Baron de Montesquieu

an Enlightenment thinker who supported separating government power into branches

Voltaire

an Enlightenment thinker who supported freedom of speech and religion

Adam Smith

an economist who supported free trade and the laws of supply and demand

Supply

the amount of a product available for purchase

Demand

the amount of a product consumers are willing to purchase

Social mobility

the ability to move up or down within the social-class system

Navigation Acts

British laws requiring colonial trade to benefit England

Cash crops

valuable crops grown mainly to be sold for profit

Protective tariff

a tax placed on imported goods to make foreign products more expensive

Currency Act

a law forbidding the colonies from issuing their own money

Quartering Act

a law requiring colonists to provide food and housing for British soldiers

Stamp Act

a British tax placed on printed and paper goods in the colonies

Tea Act

a British law placing a tax on tea and favoring the British East India Company

Boston Tea Party

a protest in which colonists disguised themselves and destroyed British tea in Boston Harbor

Intolerable Acts

harsh British laws passed to punish Massachusetts after the Boston Tea Party

Boston Port Act

a law closing Boston Harbor until the destroyed tea was paid for

Massachusetts Government Act

a law that revoked Massachusetts’s charter and limited colonial self-government

Administration of Justice Act

a law allowing British officials accused of crimes in the colonies to be tried in England

Boston Massacre

a confrontation in which British soldiers fired into a colonial crowd and killed five colonists

Propaganda

information designed to influence public opinion

Declaration of Independence

the document announcing that the thirteen colonies were separating from Great Britain