APUSH - Chapter 5 Key Terms

Sugar Act of 1764

British law that decreased the duty on French molasses, making it more attractive for shippers to obey the law, and at the same time raised penalties for smuggling. The act enraged New England merchants, who opposed both the tax and the fact that prosecuted merchants would be tried by British-appointed judges in a vice-admiralty court.

vice-admiralty court

A maritime tribunal presided over by a royally appointed judge, with no jury

Stamp Act of 1765

British law imposing a tax on all paper used in the colonies. Widespread resistance to this act prevented it from taking effect and led to its repeal in 1766

virtual representation

The claim made by British politicians that the interests of the American colonists were adequately represented in Parliament by merchants who traded with the colonies and by absentee landlords (mostly sugar planters) who owned estates in the West Indies

Quartering Act of 1765

A British law passed by Parliament at the request of General Thomas Gage, the British military commander in America, that required colonial governments to provide barracks and food for British troops

Stamp Act Congress

A congress of delegates from nine assemblies that met in New York City in October 1765 to protest the loss of American “rights and liberties,” especially the right to trial by jury. The congress challenged the constitutionality of both the Stamp and Sugar Acts by declaring that only the colonists’ elected representatives could tax them

Sons of Liberty

Colonists — primarily middling merchants and artisans — who banded together to protest the Stamp Act and other imperial reforms of the 1760s. The group originated in Boston in 1765 but soon spread to all the colonies

English common law

The centuries-old body of legal rules and procedures that protected the lives and property of the British monarch’s subjects

natural rights

The rights to life, liberty, and property. According to the English philosopher John Locke in Two Treatises of Government (1690), political authority was not given by God to monarchs. Instead, it derived from social compacts that people made to preserve their natural rights

Declaratory Act of 1766

Law issued by Parliament to assert Parliament’s unassailable right to legislate for its British colonies “in all cases whatsoever,” putting Americans on notice that the simultaneous repeal of the Stamp Act changed nothing in the imperial powers of Britain

Townshend Act of 1767

British law that established new duties on tea, glass, lead, paper, and painters’ colors imported into the colonies. The duties led to boycotts and heightened tensions between Britain and the American colonies

nonimportation movement

Colonists attempted agreements three times: in 1766, in response to the Stamp Act; in 1768, in response to the Townshend duties; and in 1774, in response to the Coercive Acts. In each case, colonial radicals pressured merchants to stop importing British goods. In 1774 it was adopted by the First Continental Congress and enforced by the Continental Association. American women became crucial to the movement by reducing their households’ consumption of imported goods and producing large quantities of homespun cloth

committees of correspondence

A communications network established among towns in the colonies, and among colonial assemblies, between 1772 and 1773 to provide for rapid dissemination of news about important political development

Tea Act of May 1773

British act that lowered the existing tax on tea and granted exemptions to the East India Company to make their tea cheaper in the colonies and entice boycotting Americans to buy it. Resistance to this act led to the passage of the Coercive Acts and imposition of military rule in Massachusetts

Coercive Acts

Four British acts of 1774 meant to punish Massachusetts for the destruction of three shiploads of tea. Known in America as the Intolerable Acts, they led to open rebellion in the northern colonies

Continental Congress

September 1774 gathering of colonial delegates in Philadelphia to discuss the crisis precipitated by the Coercive Acts. The Congress produced a declaration of rights and an agreement to impose a limited boycott of trade with Britain

Continental Association

An association established in 1774 by the First Continental Congress to enforce a boycott of British goods.

Dunmore’s War

A 1774 war led by Virginia’s royal governor, the Earl of Dunmore, against the Ohio Shawnees, who had a longstanding claim to Kentucky as a hunting ground. The Shawnees were defeated and Dunmore and his militia forces claimed Kentucky as their own

Minutemen

Colonial militiamen who stood ready to mobilize on short notice during the imperial crisis of the 1770s. These volunteers formed the core of the citizens’ army that met British troops at Lexington and Concord in April 1775

Second Continental Congress

Legislative body that governed the United States from May 1775 through the war’s duration. It established an army, created its own money, and declared independence once all hope for a peaceful reconciliation with Britain was gone.

Declaration of Independence

A document containing philosophical principles and a list of grievances that declared separation from Britain. Adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, it ended a period of intense debate with moderates still hoping to reconcile with Britain

popular sovereignty

The principle that ultimate power lies in the hands of the electorate

George Grenville

A British Whig statesman and Prime Minister from 1763 to 1765, who introduced the Stamp Act and other taxes on American colonies to help pay for the Seven Years' War. His attempts to raise revenue in the colonies led to strong opposition from colonists and eventually his dismissal by King George III. He also served as Treasurer of the Navy and as leader of the House of Commons. 

John Dickinson

Known as the "Penman of the Revolution," established himself as a prominent colonial lawyer and writer, authoring influential essays like Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania to argue against British taxation. He served in colonial assemblies and the First and Second Continental Congresses, where he advocated for reconciliation with Britain rather than independence

Charles Townshend

A British statesman and Chancellor of the Exchequer who, after the Stamp Act protests, pushed for parliamentary acts to tax British American colonies. Known as the Townshend Acts, these measures imposed duties on imports like glass, lead, paint, and tea, aiming to raise revenue for Great Britain

Lord North

The prime minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1782, leading the country through the American War of Independence, which ultimately resulted in the loss of the American colonies. His ministry was marked by events like the Gordon Riots and the response to the Boston Tea Party, which included the Coercive Acts, but he is primarily remembered for his failure to quell the American rebellion.  

Samuel Adams

A leading American Revolutionary War patriot, statesman, and Founding Father from Massachusetts, instrumental in organizing protests against British rule, like the Boston Tea Party, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Known as a skilled propagandist and political organizer, he helped unite the colonies and later served as the Governor of Massachusetts. 

Lord Dunmore

A British Army officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of Virginia from 1771 to 1775. He was named governor of New York in 1770. As Virginia's governor, Dunmore directed a series of campaigns against the trans-Appalachian Indians, known as Lord Dunmore's War. He is noted for issuing a 1775 document, Dunmore's Proclamation, offering freedom to slaves who fought for the British Crown against Patriot rebels in Virginia.

Thomas Paine

An English-American Enlightenment-era writer and revolutionary activist known for his influential pamphlet Common Sense, which argued for American independence from Great Britain

Thomas Jefferson

An American Founding Father, primary author of the Declaration of Independence, known for championing liberty and democracy but also for being a slave owner