Road to the American Revolution

Vocabulary flashcards reviewing key events, legislation, figures, and conflicts leading up to the American Revolutionary War.

The Stamp Act (1765)

The first direct tax imposed by the British Parliament on the American colonies, placing a tax on paper, newspapers, legal documents, and playing cards.

Declaratory Act

An act passed by Parliament asserting its full right to bind the American colonies and levy taxes or charges in all cases whatsoever.

Townshend Taxes

British taxes placed on glass, paint, paper, and tea, leading to protests, boycotts, and the dispatch of British troops to Boston.

Boston Massacre

A confrontation in which British soldiers fired into a crowd throwing snowballs, rocks, and insults, leaving five colonists dead in the snow.

Paul Revere's Engraving

A widely circulated image depicting British soldiers firing on American colonists during the Boston Massacre, spreading across the colonies.

The Tea Act (1773)

Legislation passed by Parliament that lowered the price of tea while retaining the tax, which colonists viewed as a tyrannical trap to validate Parliament's right to tax.

Boston Tea Party

A protest in Boston Harbor in which colonists disguised as Mohawks boarded three ships and dumped 342 chests of tea into the water.

The Intolerable Acts (1774)

Punitive measures passed by Britain that closed Boston Harbor, suspended Massachusetts self-government, and stationed British troops in Massachusetts towns.

Lord North

The British Prime Minister who argued to Parliament that Massachusetts must be punished after colonists assaulted subjects, plundered merchants, and burned ships.

Carpenter's Hall

The meeting location in Philadelphia where 56 delegates from 12 colonies gathered in September for the First Continental Congress.

First Continental Congress

A meeting of 56 delegates from 12 colonies in Philadelphia to coordinate colonial resistance against Britain as a unified front.

General Thomas Gage

The British general who received orders in April 1775 to march to Concord to seize weapons stockpiled by the Massachusetts militia.

Concord

The town located 20 miles from Boston where the Massachusetts militia stockpiled weapons that became the target of British forces.

March of April 18, 1775

The nighttime operation in which 700 British soldiers began marching toward Concord to confiscate stockpiled colonial weapons.

Battle of Bunker Hill

A confrontation fought just north of Boston in which British troops charged up the hill against colonial militia forces.