The American Revolution and the Evolution of British North America

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the fall of New France, the Quebec Act, the American Revolution, Loyalist migrations, the Constitutional Act of 1791, pioneer life, and the War of 1812.

Treaty of Paris (1763)

The peace treaty signed in 1763 that ended the Seven Years' War between Britain and France, under which France surrendered Canada to Great Britain.

James Murray

The British military officer who ordered the burning of French farmhouses along the St. Lawrence to draw out the Marquis de Montcalm's army, and who later became the first British military governor of Quebec.

The Quebec Act (1774)

A British law passed in 1774 that recognized the Catholic Church, preserved French civil law, introduced English criminal law, and extended Quebec's boundaries north and west into the Ohio Valley.

Sir Guy Carleton

The British governor of Quebec who reassured French Canadiens that their rights under the Quebec Act would be honored, successfully defended Quebec in 1775, and later oversaw the British evacuation of New York in 1783.

The Stamp Act (1765)

A 1765 British parliamentary act that required a fee in the form of a stamp on legal documents, newspapers, and paper goods in the American colonies to help pay off British war debts.

"Taxation without Representation"

The slogan adopted by American colonists protesting British taxes, reflecting the principle that parliament could not legitimately tax citizens who had no elected representatives in that parliament.

Sons of Liberty

A radical colonial protest group formed to oppose British taxes and colonial administration through direct action, boycotts, and organized rebellion.

Boston Massacre (1770)

A 1770 clash in which British soldiers fired into an unruly crowd of Boston protesters, killing several civilians and intensifying anti-British feeling across the colonies.

Boston Tea Party (1773)

A December 1773 protest against the British Tea Act in which members of the Sons of Liberty disguised themselves as Mohawks and dumped shipments of tea into Boston Harbor.

First Continental Congress (1774)

A assembly of delegates from twelve American colonies held in Philadelphia in 1774 that demanded a boycott of all British goods and marked the first step toward unified colonial resistance.

"Shot heard round the world"

The famous phrase describing the opening musket shots exchanged between British regulars and colonial minutemen on Lexington Green, Massachusetts, on April 19, 1775, starting the Revolutionary War.

George Washington

A prominent Virginian colonial leader who was appointed commander of the Continental Army in 1775 and later became the first president of the United States.

Declaration of Independence (1776)

A historic document drafted primarily by Thomas Jefferson and adopted on July 4, 1776, proclaiming the thirteen colonies' separation from Britain based on democratic principles and inalienable rights.

John Locke

The English Enlightenment philosopher whose political theory held that people have natural rights to freedom and are entitled to alter a government if that government becomes tyrannical.

Battle of Yorktown (1781)

The decisive 1781 battle in Virginia where combined American and French forces trapped and forced the surrender of a major British army, effectively securing American victory in the Revolutionary War.

Treaty of Paris (1783)

The peace treaty signed in 1783 that formally recognized the independence of the United States and established its borders with British North America.

Loyalists (Tories)

American colonists—making up roughly one in five of the colonial population—who opposed the revolution, wished to remain British subjects, and often suffered property destruction, persecution, or exile.

Patriots

American colonists who supported rebellion against Great Britain and fought for the independence of the thirteen colonies.

New Brunswick (1784)

A British North American colony carved out of Nova Scotia in 1784 to provide a separate government for approximately 8,000 Loyalist refugees settling in the Maritime region.

Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea)

A distinguished Mohawk military leader and diplomat who led Six Nations allies on the British side during the Revolutionary War and secured land along the Grand River for his people in southern Ontario.

The Constitutional Act of 1791

British legislation that divided the colony of Quebec into Lower Canada and Upper Canada, granting each an elected assembly and appointed legislative and executive councils.

Upper Canada

The colony established west of the Ottawa River in 1791, characterized by English-speaking Protestant settlers, British civil and criminal law, and township land systems (which later became Ontario).

Lower Canada

The colony established along the lower St. Lawrence River in 1791, retaining French civil law, French culture, and the Catholic Church (which later became Quebec).

Clergy Reserves

A provision under the Constitutional Act of 1791 setting aside $\frac{1}{7}$ of all public land in Upper Canada to generate revenue to support the Anglican Church.

Steerage

The cramped, poorly ventilated passenger compartments below deck on transatlantic sailing ships where poor immigrants endured weeks of rough passage to North America.

Indentured Servant

An immigrant who agreed to a legal contract binding them to work for a fixed number of years for an employer in exchange for ship passage and sustenance in North America.

Black Loyalists

Enslaved African Americans who escaped from rebel masters to support the British Crown during the American Revolution in exchange for promised freedom and land grants in British North America.

John Graves Simcoe

The first lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada who aimed to recreate a British-style society with an aristocracy and established strategic defense roads such as Yonge Street and Dundas Street.

War Hawks

A faction of American politicians, primarily from southern and western states, who aggressively pushed President James Madison to declare war on Britain in 1812 to defend national honor and seize Canadian land.

Tecumseh

The prominent Shawnee leader who forged a confederacy of First Nations to defend Indigenous lands against American expansion and fought in alliance with British forces during the War of 1812.

Major-General Sir Isaac Brock

The British military commander in Upper Canada who partnered with Tecumseh to capture Detroit in 1812 and defended the colony against early American invasions in the War of 1812.