Vocab Quiz Unit 3.1

Stamp Act Congress

Representatives from nine colonies met in New York in 1765 and decided that only their own elected representatives had the power to approve taxes.

Sons & Daughters of Liberty

Secret society who intimidated tax agents; tarred and feathered some tax collectors.

Salutary Neglect

Britain exercised little direct control over the colonies and did not enforce its navigation laws.

Proclamation Act of 1763

Prohibited colonists from settling west of Appalachian Mountains. British wanted to prevent violence between Native Americans and colonists. Colonists were angry and disobeyed law.

Intolerable Acts

Another name for the Coercive Acts of 1774, a series of acts made to punish the colonists for the Boston Tea Party.

Natural Rights

Political authority was not given by God to the monarchs. Instead it derived from the social compacts that people made to preserve “Life, Liberty, Property”.

Virtual Representation

Claim by British politicians that the interests of the American colonists were adequately represented by Parliament.

Nonimportation Movement

Reduced household consumption of imported goods and produced large quantities of homespun cloth.

John Locke

English philosopher who said that all people have rights, simply because they are human and that people have a right and a responsibility to revolt against any government that failed to protect their rights.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

French philosopher who had a profound influence on educated Americans in the 1760s and 1770s.

Thomas Paine

January 1776, wrote pamphlet that argued in clear and forceful language that the colonies should break with Britain.

First Continental Congress

September 1774, all of the colonies except Georgia sent delegates to a convention in Philadelphia. The purpose was to determine how the colonies should react to the threat to their rights and liberties caused by Intolerable Acts.

Second Continental Congress

May 1775, representatives met in Philadelphia. They adopted the Declaration of the Causes and Necessities for Taking Up Arms.

Olive Branch Petition

May 1775, last efforts for peace. Colonists pledged their loyalty and asked the king to go to Parliament to secure peace and protect their colonial rights.

Land Ordinance of 1785

A policy that established surveying and selling of western lands.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

Established conditions for creating new states around Ohio and Pennsylvania. Granted limited self-government and prohibited slavery in the region.

Articles of Confederation

Adopted by Congress in 1777, it created a central government with limited powers.

Unicameral Legislature

Central government that consisted of just one body, a Congress. Each state was given one vote, with at least 9 of 13 votes required to pass important laws.

Continentals

Paper money issued by Congress which became almost worthless due to inflation.

Lexington

April 18, 1775 British soldiers seized colonial military supplies. This is where the first shot of the Revolutionary War was fired.