13 Colonies Test

Freed Africans

Africans in the colonies who were not enslaved, often living in Northern cities, working as artisans or laborers, and frequently facing legal and social discrimination.

13 Colonies

The British colonies in North America along the Atlantic coast, divided into three regions: New England, Middle, and Southern colonies.

Sons of Liberty

A secret organization formed by American colonists to protest British taxes and defend colonial rights, known for organizing the Boston Tea Party.

Lexington and Concord

The first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War on April 19, 1775, often referred to as the 'shot heard 'round the world.'

Proclamation of 1763

A British decree that prohibited colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains to avoid conflict with Native Americans.

Edenton Tea Party

A political protest organized by 51 women in North Carolina in 1774 to support the boycott of British goods.

Boston Tea Party

A 1773 protest against the Tea Act where members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawk Indians dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor.

Intolerable Acts

A series of laws passed by Parliament in 1774 to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party, including the closing of Boston Harbor.

Boston Massacre

A 1770 incident where British soldiers fired into a crowd of colonists, killing five people, used as propaganda to fuel anti-British sentiment.

Navigation Acts

A series of English laws that restricted colonial trade to only British ships and ports, enforcing the policy of mercantilism.

Taxation Without Representation

The slogan used by colonists to express their grievance that they were being taxed by the British Parliament without having elected representatives in it.

French and Indian War

A conflict from 1754 to 1763 between Britain and France (with Native American allies) over control of the Ohio River Valley; its debt led to new colonial taxes.

Mother Country

The country from which settlers of a colony originate and to which the colony remains tied; in this context, Great Britain.

House of Burgesses

Established in Virginia in 1619, it was the first representative legislative assembly in the American colonies.

Quakers

A religious group (Society of Friends) known for their belief in equality, pacifism, and religious tolerance; they primarily settled in Pennsylvania.

Puritans

A religious group that wanted to 'purify' the Church of England; they settled in New England to establish a society based on strict religious values.

Mercantilism

An economic system where colonies exist to provide raw materials and markets for the mother country to increase its wealth and power.

Patriots

American colonists who supported independence from Great Britain during the Revolutionary War.

Loyalists

American colonists who remained loyal to the British Crown and opposed independence.

Triangular Slave Trade

A trade network between Europe, Africa, and the Americas involving the exchange of manufactured goods, enslaved people, and raw materials (sugar, tobacco, cotton).

Cash Crop

A crop grown specifically for sale and profit rather than for the farmer's personal use (e.g., tobacco, rice, and indigo).

Middle Colonies

New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware; known as the 'Breadbasket Colonies' for their grain production and diverse populations.

Southern Colonies

Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia; economy focused on large-scale plantations and slave labor.

New England Colonies

Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut; economy based on shipbuilding, fishing, and trade due to thin, rocky soil.