British America 1713–1783 Practice Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the social, economic, and political history of British America from 1713 through the end of the War of Independence in 1783.

New England colonies

The colonies of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, primarily settled by Congregationalists where most people lived in towns working as farmers, fishermen, or shipbuilders.

Middle colonies

The colonies of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, known for growing food or trading furs, having smaller land sections, and welcoming people of all religions.

Southern colonies

Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, which were dominated by large plantations growing tobacco and rice and where over $50\%$ of the population were enslaved in some areas.

British Board of Trade

The body controlled by the British parliament that ruled the $13$ colonies for the king.

Elected assembly

A kind of parliament in the colonies elected by people who owned land or property to help pass new laws.

Chesapeake

The region comprising Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina where tobacco made up $45\%$ of exports from British America.

Asiento

A monopoly granted to Britain by the King of Spain in $1713$ to supply enslaved people to Spanish colonies in South and Central America.

Black Sam Bellamy

A successful pirate active during $1716-17$ who captured over $50$ ships, including the slave ship The Whydah, before being killed in a storm.

Blackbeard

The notorious pirate Edward Teach who blockaded Charleston for ransom and was eventually killed in a battle with the British Navy in $1718$.

King George I's Proclamation, $1717$

An offer of a pardon to any pirate who ended their activities and a reward of $\pounds 100$ to anyone who caught a pirate.

Piracy Act, $1717$

Law that made piracy rules more strict and allowed for the death penalty to be used against pirates, leading to the hanging of $600$ pirates by $1726$.

Governor Spotswood

The Governor of Virginia from $1710-22$ who offered rewards for pirates, removed juries from trials, and funded the attack that killed Blackbeard.

Atlantic triangle

A three-part trade journey involving the transportation of manufactured goods from Europe to Africa, enslaved Africans to the Americas, and raw materials back to Europe.

Militia

Unofficial armies formed by poor white men in the colonies to hunt down and catch enslaved fugitives for rewards.

Mose

A town in Florida established by $1738$ for former enslaved people who fled British colonies to seek freedom under the King of Spain.

Stono Rebellion

A $1739$ revolt where $20$ enslaved people stole weapons and killed whites while marching toward Florida, leading to the enactment of the Negro Act.

Negro Act of $1740$

A Slave Code which added a high tax to the purchase of enslaved people and fined masters who used excessive punishment.

New York Conspiracy, $1741$

A period of hysteria involving rumors of a Spanish and enslaved-led plot to burn the city, resulting in the execution of $30$ Black people and $4$ white people.

Molasses Act, $1733$

An act that massively increased the tax charged on molasses imported from non-British foreign colonies into the $13$ colonies.

Hat Act, $1732$

British law that banned beaver-fur hats from being exported from British America and limited their production in the colonies.

The Great Awakening

A mid-$1700s$ religious movement where preachers like George Whitefield taught that individual faith and emotions were more important than book learning.

Jonathan Edwards

A minister in Massachusetts who was a key figure in spreading the ideas of the Great Awakening.

The Enlightenment

An $18th$ century movement believing that science and logic provided more knowledge than tradition and religion.

Benjamin Franklin

A polymath who edited The Pennsylvania Gazette, invented the lightning rod, and established the first subscription library in $1731$.

Treaty of Aix-la-Chappelle

The $1748$ treaty that ended King George's War, which angered colonists because it returned Louisbourg to the French.

French and Indian War

A conflict from $1754$ to $1763$ in North America, eventually merging into the worldwide Seven Years' War, sparked by disputes over the Ohio Country.

William Pitt

The British Prime Minister who turned the tide of the French and Indian War by sending $25,000$ troops and paying for $25,000$ colonial soldiers.

General Wolfe

British general who secured the capture of Quebec in $1759$ by defeating General Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham.

Treaty of Paris, $1763$

The agreement that gave Britain control of Canada, all French possessions east of the Mississippi, and Florida from Spain.

Proclamation Act, $1763$

Royal decree that fixed the Proclamation Line along the Appalachian Mountains, banning colonial settlement to the west to improve relations with Native Americans.

Sugar Act, $1764$

British legislation introduced to raise money for war debts, marking the end of salutary neglect and sparking colonial opposition.

Salutary neglect

The previous British policy of leaving the American colonies to run themselves without heavy interference in their internal affairs.

Pontiac's Rebellion

A Native American alliance-led conflict from $1763-64$ against British forts in the Ohio Country response to colonial expansion.

Paxton Boys

Settlers from Pennsylvania who killed $20$ innocent Native Americans in $1763$ and later marched on Philadelphia to protest the assembly's policies.

Stamp Act of $1765$

A law requiring a range of documents to be printed on stamped paper paid for with scarce British coinage, later repealed in $1766$.

Quartering Act of $1765$

Legislation requiring colonists to provide barracks and supplies for British troops, sometimes without owner consent.

Revenue Act of $1767$

Also known as the Townshend duties, these placed new taxes on tea, glass, paper, and painter's colours to pay the salaries of royal officials.

Sons of Liberty

A group of lawyers, merchants, and workers formed in $1765$ to resist the Stamp Act through letters, protests, and committees.

Boston Massacre

An incident in $1770$ where British soldiers fired into a crowd of protesters, killing four colonists and creating intense anti-British propaganda.

Tea Act of $1773$

An act designed to help the East India Company by making its tea cheaper ($3$ pence per pound) but gave it a monopoly, upsetting colonial merchants.

Boston Tea Party

A $1773$ protest where $60$ men disguised as Native Americans threw $\pounds 10,000$ worth of tea into Boston Harbour.

Intolerable Acts

A series of Coercive Acts passed in $1774$ as punishment for the Boston Tea Party, including the closing of Boston's port.

First Continental Congress

A meeting of elected delegates from most colonies in $1774$ that agreed on a Declaration of Rights and a ban on importing/exporting British goods.

Second Continental Congress

A $1775$ meeting that set up the Continental Army under George Washington and printed $2$ million Spanish dollars to fund the war.

Common Sense

A pamphlet published by Thomas Paine in $1776$ that used everyday language to argue that independence and a republic were the best for America.

Declaration of Independence

Document signed on July $4$, $1776$, asserting natural rights and listing $18$ crimes committed by King George III.

Battle of Saratoga

A $1777$ American victory in New York that effectively ended British attempts to control the north and convinced France to support the Americans.

Battle of Yorktown

The final major campaign of the war in $1781$ where General Cornwallis surrendered to a combined American and French force.

Treaty of Paris, $1783$

The official end of the War of Independence which recognized the United States as independent and established its boundaries.

Quok Walker

An enslaved man in Massachusetts who sued his master for freedom in $1781$ and won, contributing to the quick end of slavery in that state.