American Revolution & Constitution: Key Acts, Events, and Principles

Stamp Act

In 1765 requirement was that stamps had to be attached to all colonial printed matter, such as documents, playing cards, and essentially any form of paper.

Virtual representation

The idea that American colonies were "virtually" represented by parliament, even though they had no actual representative.

Writs of assistance**

Allowing unlimited search warrants without cause to look for evidence of something was the colonies' main complaint or Britain.

Sugar act

The 1764 decision by parliament to tax refined sugar and many other colonial products.

Sons of Liberty

An organization formed by Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and other radicals in response to the Stamp Act.

Townshend acts

1767 parliamentary measures that taxed tea and other commodities, and established a board of customs commissioners and colonial vice-admiralty courts.

Boston Massacre**

Clash between British soldiers and a Boston mob, March 5, 1770, in which 5 colonists were killed.

Boston Tea Party

December 16, 1773, Incident where Sons of Liberty dumped hundreds of chests of tea into Boston Harbor to protest the Tea Act of 1773.

Intolerable acts

Four parliamentary measures in reaction to the Boston Tea Party. Forced payment for the tea, disallowed colonial trials of British soldiers, forced their patrols in private homes, and reduced the number of elected officials in Massachusetts.

Battles of Lexington and Concord

First shots fired in the Revolutionary War, on April 19, 1775, near Boston; killed 100 minutemen and 250 British soldiers.

Lord Dunmore's Proclamation

Proclamation issued in 1775 by the Earl of Dunmore(British governor of VA) that offered freedom to any slave who fought for the king against rebelling colonists.

Common sense

A pamphlet anonymously written by Thomas Paine in January 1776 that attacked the English principles of hereditary rule and monarchical government.

Declaration of Independence

Document adopted on July 4, 1776, that officially made the break with w/Britain, drafted by the committee of the Second Continental Congress, principal writer was Thomas Jefferson.

Treaty of Paris

Signed on September 3, 1783, the treaty ended the Revolutionary War, recognized American independence from Britain, established the border between Canada and the U.S, fixed the western border at the Mississippi River, and ceded Florida to Spain.

No Taxation without representation**

The rallying cry of opponents to the 1765 Stamp Act. The slogan decried the colonists' lack of representation in parliament.

Proclamation of 1763

Royal directive issued after the French and Indian War prohibiting settlement, surveys, and land grants west of the Appalachian Mountains.

Articles of Confederation**

The first frame of government for the U.S, in effect from 1781 to 1788, provided for a weak central authority and was soon replaced by the Constitution.

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

and statehood, included a bill of rights, and permanently prohibited slavery. The law, which created the North West Territory, established conditions for self-government.

Shay's rebellion**

An attempt by Massachusetts farmer Daniel Shays and 1,200 compatriots, seeking debt relief through insurance of paper currency and lower taxes to prevent courts from seizing property from indebted farmers.

Virginia Plan**

Virginia's delegation to the constitutional convention planned for a strong central government and a two-house legislature distributed by population.

New Jersey plan**

New Jersey's delegation to the constitutional conventions planned for one of the legislative bodies with equal representation for each state.

Division of powers**

Division of political power between the state and federal governments under the U.S. Constitution (known as federalism).

Separation of powers

A feature of the U.S. Constitution is that power is divided between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the national government so that no one can dominate the other two and endanger citizens' liberties.

Three-fifths clause

A provision signed into the Constitution in 1787 that three-fifths of the slave population would be counted in determining each state's representation in the House of Representatives.

The Federalist

A collection of 85 essays appeared in the New York press in 1787–1788, in support of the Constitution. Written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay during 

Bill of Rights

The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1791, guaranteed individual rights against infringement by the federal government.

Gradual Emancipation

The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1791, guaranteed individual rights against infringement by the federal government.