PreAPUSH American Revolution Exam - Terms

Proclamation of 1763 and its Effect

• Issued by the British Crown at the end of the French + Indian war (France vs. US+Britain, US+Britain won)

• Set territorial limits on where colonists could settle in America

• Colonists fought in French + Indian war in order to gain land near Great Lakes due to high drive for beaver pellets (beaver population dense area)

• Proclamation of 1763 stated land west of Appalachian Mountains belonged to Indians

• The Crown believed they were helping the colonists, as they got rid of the Indians living on their land

• Overall started tension between colonists and the crown, as the colonists fought for the British army and did not gain the land they fought for

Albany Plan of Union

• Created in 1754

• Goal to place colonies under a centralized government

  • Government could sign treaties, raise an army, impose taxes

• Developed by Ben Franklin, a member of the continental congress

• Ultimately failed because it was rejected by the colonies

  • They didn’t want to ‘give up their freedom to the government’

Stamp Act

• Happened in march 1765

• Imposed by british

  • Colonists had to purchase special stamped paper for every legal document, license, newspaper, cards, sermon, and more

• Sam Adams formed Sons of Liberty in reaction to this

  • An unruly, often drunk group that were often violent and looking to cause trouble

  • They refused to pay stamp acts and harrassed gvt. Officials looking to collect taxes

  • Considered terrorist group

• Lawyer Patrick Henry preached Parliament had no right to enforce this tax on stamps because the colonists did not have a say

  • He said the famous quote ‘Give me liberty or give me death’ in response to this

• Major businesses chose to boycott British goods until Stamp Act repealed in March 1766

  • Power of the purse - hurt nation financially and then begin in military harm

• British used Declaratory Act to force colonists to have to follow the laws 

  • Issued that you could not break the law 

  • When you broke the law you got 2 charges instead of one

Townshend Acts

• 1767

  • Came after declaratory acts

• Taxes on imported British goods that came to colonies

  • Gas, lead, paper, tea

• Colonists were outraged and cried “no taxation without representation”

• Caused the second boycotting of british goods

  • Women played a role by creating clothes and stopped drinking tea (reverted to smuggling coffee)

• June, 1768 - British troops seized John Hancock's ship and burned it after he smuggled contraband

  • Boston rioted, causing 2000 soldiers to come to Boston

  • Led to Boston Massacre

• British Parliament eventually repealed the Townshend Acts but kept a tax on tea

  • Effected Boston the most still (lots of tea made in Boston)

  • Led to Boston Tea Party

Boston Massacre

• March 1770

• Fight between colonists and British soldiers

  • Killing 5 colonists

• Trial held in court accusing British soldiers of murder

  • John Adams, patriotic colonist defended them (against King still)

  • They were found innocent

• Influenced the committees of correspondence

  • Linked colonies together to discuss injustices of the British through the spreading of pamphlets

  • Created by MA and Virginia

Tea Act

• Tax on the colonies to tax all tea expect if bought from British East India Company

• Put colonists tea traders out of business (mainly in Boston)

• Influenced Boston Tea Party

Boston Tea Party

• December 16, 1773

• Group of Boston rebels disguised themselves as rebels to dump around $1.9 million of East India Company’s Tea into the Boston Harbor

• Greatly upset the crown

• Led to intolerable acts

Intolerable Acts

• Aftermath of both Boston Massacre and Boston Tea Party

• Consequence for all 13 colonies

• Imposed by the King and Parliament

• Enforced in march 1774

• Repealed in January 1776

• Boston Port Act

• Closed the port at the Boston Harbor until the tea was paid for

  • Extremely hard to pay off without trade routes

• Quartering Act

• Forced citizens of MA to house and feed British soldier

• MA Government Act

• Stopped MA Legislature until tea was paid for

• Martial Law

• Replaced MA colonial government with military law

Intolerable Acts Led to the First Continental Congress (what did they do?)

• Delegates from each of the 13 colonies came together to organize resistance to Intolerable Acts

• Created Declaration of Rights

  • Sent to King to state loyalty to him but hatred for taxes

• Created Articles of Association

  • Stopped colonists from importing British goods

Lexington and Concord

• April 19, 1775

• After intolerable acts were imposed, Bostonians stole and stashed weapons to prepare for an inevitable conflict

  • British soldiers went to retrieve the contraband

  • Warned by Paul Revere (one if by land, two if by sea)

• Lexington

  • Line of mismatched farmers and merchants

  • 19 casualties of colonists

  • British thought it was too easy, thought the colonists were a joke

• Concord

  • Used guerilla warfare (hid behind trees and buildings)

  • Took British by surprise

  • Colonists won!

Bunker Hill

• June 17, 1775

• 2400 British troops attacked in 3 waves toward Americans

• Americans reserved fire and destroyed first 2 waves

• British noticed Americans were out of ammunition and charged with bayonets, winning the battle

• Although british had 1000+ casualties and colonists had 450, british won

• Deadliest battle of the war

Olive Branch Petition

• Submitted to King on July 8, 1775

  • Second Continental Congress believed that peace with the crown was still possible

• Attempt to assert rights on colonists while remaining loyal to the crown

• Opened by asking for the colonies shared desire of a congress

• Continued by stating how the tension between colonists and crown should stop to benefit both sides

  • Colonists asked the king for their relationship to return to how it was

• Ended by asking for harsh laws to be repealed to heal the relationship between them

• Ultimately rejected by the King

• John Adams

• Created Sons of Liberty (1765)

• Defended british soldiers in boston massacre (1770)

• Served as a MA delegate in first and second continental congress

• Nominated George Washington to the commander of the continental army

• Helped draft the Declaration of Independence which highlighted the natural rights of the people (1776)

• Ben Franklin

• Served on second continental congress (1775)

• Created Albany plan of union (1754)

• Signed Treaty of Paris which officially ended the revolution and made america independent (1783)

• Helped draft the Declaration of Independence which highlighted the natural rights of the people (1776)

Thomas Jefferson

• Served on second continental congress (1775)

• Helped draft the Declaration of Independence which highlighted the natural rights of the people (1776)

• Helped create the Confederation Congress (1783-1784)

• George Washington

• Was the commander of the continental army (1775)

  • Led to victories in saratoga, trenton (1776) and yorktown (1781)

• Served on first and second continental congress

Declaration of Independence

• July, 1776 (finished)

• Arrived to England august, 1776

• Written to outline natural rights of the people

• Started with why colonists were writing the document

  • To share with the world to gain allies

• Explained the government's role in protecting the rights to life, liberty, pursuit of happiness

  • If the government isn't defending the rights of the people, change the government

• Went on to state a list of complaints against the King

  • “Proof” that Britain mistreated the colonists and justified why the colonists were declaring independence

• Last part

  • DECLARED INDEPENDENCE

Loyalists/Patriots

• Loyalists were loyal to the crown/king and fought with the british

  • Wanted to remain part of the british empire

• Patriots were loyal to the colonists want to make America independent

  • Wanted independence from the british empire

• Battle of Trenton/Princeton (December-January, 1776(7))

• Crossed frozen Delaware River and surprised on Christmas

  • Showed dedication

• Patriots won

• First time defeating actual british soldiers instead of loyalist groups

• Gave france and allies a reason to fight with colonists

• Turning point in revolution

• Closed the year with a great success

Battle of Saratoga (Sept-Oct, 1777)

• Benedict Arnold (before becoming a spy for the British) led the American force

  • Used guerilla warfare

• British troops surrendered

  • 300 officers, 7 generals, 5000 soldiers

• Colonists won

• TURNING POINT OF REVOLUTION

  • Convinced france and allies (spain/portugal) to side with the US

  • Makes England nervous as they know they could lose

    • Send a peace offering repealing all acts, getting rid of taxes and english soldiers in America

      • America refuses

• Battle of King’s Mountain (October, 1780)

• Destroyed loyalist army in south carolina

  • Made British rearrange their forces, sending northern troops to the south

    • This was Washington's plan so he could reclaim New York

• Battle of Cowpens (January, 1781)

• Sudden defeat of loyalists in southern carolina

• Stopped southern momentum of british

• Renewed patriotic spirits

• Initiated campaign that brought the war to an end

• Siege of Yorktown (Jan, 1781)

• Not a planned battle but a surrounding of the british in the chesapeake bay

  • Assisted by the French

• Led to the end of the British military operations

• Cornwallis, British general, surrendered to Washington

Valley Forge/Smallpox

• Freezing temperatures

• Limited clothing

• Non protective shelter against the weather

• Little clean water

• Smallpox epidemic (40% infected die)

• Smallpox ran through valley forge quickly

  • Because people lived on top of each other (12 people per tent)

• People used quarantine strategies

• Inoculation (modernly similar to vaccination)

  • Exposed blood directly to smallpox

  • Those exposed had a less chance of dying than regularly getting smallpox

  • Were 100% sure to get smallpox from this

• British could use it as a weapon

  • Deliberately infected people in Boston to spread the disease

Civilians During the War/Financing the War

• Civilians had heavy support of the war

• Helped conserve materials

  • Drank less tea

  • Made their own clothes

  • Made their own ammunition from household items

• Congress ran out of hard money (silver/gold) while funding the war so they printed more to get circulated

  • Caused mass inflation (value of money to drop)

• Colonists tried to make a profit off of anything they could

  • Smuggled in goods

  • Sold goods to the soldiers that were purposefully defective

  • Sold goods that were in high demand for high prices (profiteering)

Treaty of Paris (how did America benefit from the treaty?) (September 3, 1783)

• Officially gained independence from king

• Declared america independent

• Stopped revolution/fighting

• Britain no longer had control over the US

• No more prisoners of war

• King still wanted connection with US, just didn't have control over them anymore

  • Debts paid from both sides, not just one (showed signs of peace)

Direct Taxes

Taxes added to the price of a good when purchases (Stamp Acts)

Indirect Taxes

• Included in the price of product/service when they are bought

Tensions that rose from the French + Indian War

• Proclamation of 1763

  • Gave land colonists wanted to Indians

• Sugar Acts (pay off debt)

  • Enforced by crown onto the colonists