Chapter 5.1: 1763-1783

The American Revolution

Acts

The Wool Act of 1699, Hat Act of 1732, Molasses Act of 1733, Iron Act of 1750, Sugar Act of 1764, Stamp Act of 1765, Navigation Acts, and many more. Restrictions placed on colonies by the British Parliament.

Writs of Assistance

General search warrants that allowed customs officials to search anywhere they chose for smuggled goods.

Virtual Representation

Each member under the British Crown represented the entire empire, not just his own district.

Sugar Act of 1764

Introduced by Prime Minister George Greenville, it reduced existing tax on Molasses imported into North America from the French West Indies from six pence to three pence per gallon.

Stamp Act of 1765

The first time Parliament attempted to raise money via direct taxation of the colonies, rather than trade regulation. It required all printed materials in the colonies, like newspapers, books, commercial papers, land deeds, and almanacs to carry a stamp purchased from authorities.

Prince Simbo

A former Connecticut slave who served in the Continental Army, one of several thousand black soldiers to fight for American Independence.

No taxation without representation

The rallying cry of the Americans against the British.

Committee of Correspondence

Based in Boston, is communicated with other colonies to encourage opposition to the Sugar and Currency Acts.

Sons of Liberty

If Frat Houses fought for liberty in the 1700s. Paraded through streets shouting “Liberty”, boycotted British goods, posted notices reading “Liberty, Property, and No Stamps”, and committed general acts of destruction, like demonstrations and throwing rocks through windows of the opposition, which were the British and elites who sided with them. 

Regulators

A group that protested the underrepresentation of western settlements in the colony’s assembly, and legislator’s failure to establish local governments that could regularize land titles and suppress bands of outlaws.

Boston Massacre

A fight between snowball throwing crowds and armed British troops that escalated into a confrontation which killed five people.

Crispus Attucks

A sailor of mixed Indian-African-white ancestry, remembered as “the first martyr of the American Revolution”.

Boston Tea Party

On December 6, 1773, a group of colonists dressed as Indians boarded three ships anchored in the Boston Harbor and threw out more than 300 chests of tea. The loss to the East India Company was around 10,000E, which today is around $4 million.

Intolerable Acts

Parliament’s response to the Boston Tea Party, which closed the port of Boston until all tea that had been thrown out was paid for.

Continental Congress

The most prominent political leaders of twelve mainland colonies, Georgia did not participate, convened in Philadelphia to coordinate resistance to the Intolerable Acts.