APUSH Ch 5 part 2 vocab

Committees of Correspondence

A communications network established among towns and colonial assemblies between 1772 and 1773 for rapid dissemination of news about political developments.

Tea Act of May 1773

British act that lowered the tax on tea and granted exemptions to the East India Company to make tea cheaper in the colonies.

Coercive Acts

Four British acts of 1774 meant to punish Massachusetts for the destruction of tea, known in America as the Intolerable Acts, leading to open rebellion.

Continental Congress

September 1774 gathering of colonial delegates in Philadelphia to discuss the crisis caused by the Coercive Acts, producing a declaration of rights and a limited trade boycott 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 conflict led by Virginia's royal governor against the Ohio Shawnees, resulting in the defeat of the Shawnees and the claim of Kentucky by Dunmore's forces.

Minutemen

Colonial militiamen ready to mobilize on short notice during the 1770s, forming the core of the army that confronted British troops at Lexington and Concord in April 1775.

Second Continental Congress

Legislative body governing the United States from May 1775 through the war, establishing an army, creating money, and declaring independence when reconciliation with Britain was deemed impossible.

Declaration of Independence

Document adopted on July 4, 1776, containing philosophical principles and grievances that declared separation from Britain, ending intense debate over reconciliation.