Road to Revolution - US1H

Actual Representation

The idea that an actual person from the colonies should vote on issues related to the colonies, like taxes, either in Parliament or in their local assemblies

Boycott

A protest in which people do not purchase controversial items

Congress

A meeting

Grievances

Complaints

Lee Resolution

A formal introduction by the Second Continental Congress in June 1775 to ask the Congress to vote on the idea of independence from England

Mercenary

A solder for hire that will fight for anyone or any place that pays them

Monopoly

A situation whereby one company has complete control of an entire market

Olive Branch Petition

A document sent by the Second Continental Congress to King George III in July 1775 as a last attempt by the colonists to negotiate and remain British citizens; rejected by the King

Preamble

An introductory section of a document

Repeal

To undo a law

Resolution

A formal expression of an opinion

Salutary Neglect

The policy in which the colonists were British citizens but the colonists ran most of their own local affairs without direct British interference; ended in 1763

Smuggling

The act of secretly and illegally moving goods into or out of a country without paying taxes on them

Standing Army

A professional army maintained even in peacetime

Suffolk Resolves

Proposals adopted by the First Continental Congress to declare the Coercive Acts invalid and demand for Parliament to repeal them while also calling on the colonies to form militias

Treason

A crime against a government in which one should be loyal; punishable by death

Tyranny

Rule by an absolute ruler who is often harsh in their rule

Virginia Declaration of Rights

Letters of petition sent by the First Continental Congress to King George III in 1774 asking for Parliament to work with the colonies and not against the colonies in order to respect their rights as English citizens, to “life, liberty, and property”

Virtual Representation

The idea that mere existence of Parliament protects the rights of all English citizens, even if the colonists did not actually get to vote directly on laws and taxes for the colonies

Writs of Assistance

A general search warrant that the British used to look for smuggling and illegal weapons in the colonies

John Adams

Massachusetts Patriot lawyer; successfully defended the British soldiers in the Boston Massacre trial; member of the Continental Congress; cousin to Samuel Adams

Samuel Adams

Tavern owner and founder of the Boston-based Patriot protest group the Sons of Liberty; cousin to John Adams

Ethan Allen

A Patriot colonial militia leader from Vermont “the Green Mountain Boys” who helped capture the cannons from Canadian Fort Ticonderoga that were used in the evacuation of the British from Boston in March 1776

Benedict Arnold

A Patriot colonial militia leader from Connecticut who helped capture the cannons from Canadian Fort Ticonderoga that were used in the evacuation of the British from Boston in March 1776

Committees of Correspondence

Communication organizations that formed in all of the colonies to exchange information and help plan Acts of protest and resistance to British actions/laws/taxes; become the first major political union between the colonies that eventually led to the First Continental Congress

Crispus Attucks

Killed at the Boston Massacre; considered the first person to die for the American Revolutionary cause

British East India Company

Wealthy and powerful company that was given a monopoly on the sale of tea in the colonies and demanded Parliament take action after the Boston Tea Party to be compensated for their loss

Thomas Gage

British royal governor who took charge of the Massachusetts legislature under the Coercive Acts; placed Boston under martial law

Hessians

German mercenaries hired by King George III to end the rebellion in the colonies

King George III

King of England who declared the colonies to be in rebellion and ordered the British army and the Hessians to attack the colonists to end the rebellion

Patrick Henry

Member of the Continental Congress most famous for advocating for independence from England with his quote, “Give me Liberty or give me death!”

Thomas Jefferson

Wealthy Virginia Patriot planter and member of the Continental Congress who authored the Declaration of Independence

James Otis

Patriot lawyer who established the phrase “no taxation without representation”

Thomas Paine

author of Common Sense in 1776

Chief Pontiac

Native American leader who attacked British forts in the Ohio River Valley after the French and Indian War, leading England to issue the Proclamation of 1763

Colonel William Prescott

Colonial Patriot militia leader at the Battle of Bunker Hill who ordered the militia “do not fire until you see the whites of their eyes” to save ammunition

Josiah Quincy

Worked with John Adams to successfully defend the British soldiers at the Boston Massacre trial

Paul Revere

Massachusetts Patriot and member of the Sons of Liberty who created a propaganda engraving of the Boston Massacre; went on a “midnight ride” to ward colonists in Concord that the British were coming in April 1775

Sons of Liberty

A secret organization of anti-British colonists, who called themselves “Patriots”; founded in Boston to organize colonial protests against the British Crown (like the Boston Tea Party); supported by the Daughters of Liberty, Patriot women who organized boycotts and promoted homemade goods as alternatives to British goods

Charles Townshend

British Chancellor of the Exchequer in London who imposed new taxes on the colonies 1767 to pay for the continued patrol of the colonies for their own protection