Chapter 5: The Townshend Acts and Prelude to Revolution

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, people, acts, and concepts from the Townshend era through the onset of the American Revolution.

Townshend Acts

A 1767 set of measures imposing duties on colonial imports to raise revenue and assert parliamentary authority over the colonies.

Townshend Revenue Act of 1767

Duties placed on imported colonial goods (paper, paint, lead, tea, glass) to raise revenue and fund imperial administration.

Restraining Act (1767)

Act that disbanded the New York Assembly until it complied with funding for the garrison.

Writs of Assistance

Search warrants allowing customs officials to search ships and properties suspected of smuggling.

Indemnity Act of 1767

Exempted tea imported into Britain from British duty when bought for domestic use, but taxed it when re-exported to the colonies.

External vs Internal Taxes

External taxes are duties on imports; internal taxes are levies within the colonies (e.g., Stamp Act).

New York Assembly suspension

The Assembly was disbanded under the Restraining Act until it paid for the garrison’s supplies.

Commissioners of Customs Act (1767)

Created the American Board of Customs to enforce trade laws and curb smuggling.

Vice-Admiralty Courts Act (1767)

Established additional vice-admiralty courts (Boston, Philadelphia, Charleston) to try smugglers without juries.

Customs enforcement shift to Boston

Traditional enforcement moved closer to the colonies, reducing dependence on London.

Non-importation movement

Colonial boycott of British goods in response to Townshend duties and imperial policy.

Daughters of Liberty

Women who supported boycott efforts, spinning homespun and substituting for British goods.

Letters from a Pennsylvania Farmer

John Dickinson’s essay arguing Parliament may regulate trade but cannot impose internal taxes without representation.

Massachusetts Circular (1768)

Samuel Adams’s call for intercolonial action against taxation without representation and for boycotts.

Lord Hillsborough

Secretary of State for the Colonies who pressured Massachusetts to retract the Circular and threatened dissolution.

Boston Massacre (1770)

Fatal clash between Bostonians and British troops, used as propaganda by Patriots.

Crispus Attucks

First person killed in the Boston Massacre; mixed Native American and African descent.

Paul Revere engraving

Propaganda portraying the Massacre as British ruthlessness to inflame anti-British sentiment.

Tea Act of 1773

Gave the East India Company a monopoly and allowed direct sale to colonies without duties, undercutting smuggling.

Boston Tea Party (1773)

Political protest in which Patriots dumped taxed tea from British ships into Boston Harbor.

Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts) (1774)

Punitive measures against Massachusetts for the Tea Party, including four acts plus the Quebec Act.

Boston Port Act

Closed Boston Harbor until the East India Company was repaid for tea losses.

Massachusetts Government Act

Dissolved local government and placed colonial governance under crown officials.

Administration of Justice Act

Allowed royal officials to be tried outside Massachusetts to ensure fair trial away from hostile juries.

Quartering Act (1774)

Authorized housing of British troops in colonial buildings.

Quebec Act (1774)

Expanded Quebec’s territory and granted religious toleration to Catholics, angering Protestant colonists.

Loyalists

Colonists who remained loyal to the British Crown during the Revolution.

First Continental Congress (1774)

Delegates from twelve colonies met to coordinate resistance and form the Continental Association.

Suffolk Resolves (1774)

Massachusetts plan calling for resistance to the Intolerable Acts and the arming of militias.

Continental Association

Network organized to enforce a comprehensive boycott of British goods across colonies.

Common Sense (1776)

Pamphlet by Thomas Paine arguing for independence and a republican government.

Declaration of Independence (1776)

Document authored by Thomas Jefferson declaring the colonies independent from Britain and outlining grievances.

Dunmore’s Proclamation (1775)

Governor Dunmore’s pledge to free enslaved people who joined Loyalists against the Patriots.

Mecklenburg Resolves (1775)

North Carolina plan asserting rebellion against Britain and urging militia and independence.

Minutemen

Colonial militia trained to respond quickly to threats against the colonies.

Fort Ticonderoga cannons

Cannons captured by Patriots and transported to Boston to break the siege.

Siege of Boston

British forces besieged in Boston; ended with evacuation to Halifax in 1776.

Gaspée Affair (1772)

Attack on a colonial revenue schooner leading to a Royal Commission of Inquiry.

Dunlap Broadside

First published broadside of the Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776).

Proclamation Line (1763)

Line prohibiting colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains.