SS 8th Grade First Nine Weeks Test Review
1607 | The year when the first successful English colony, Jamestown, was founded in Virginia. |
1620 | The year the Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower established Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. |
1754 | The start of the French and Indian War, a conflict between Britain and France over control of territories in North America. |
1763 | The year the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the French and Indian War and marking the start of increased British control over the American colonies. |
1776 | The year the Declaration of Independence was signed, formally declaring the colonies’ independence from Britain. |
English Bill of Rights | A 1689 document that outlined the rights of English citizens, limiting the power of the monarchy and influencing the development of democratic principles in the colonies. |
Mayflower Compact | A 1620 agreement signed by the Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower, establishing a self-governing colony in Plymouth, based on majority rule. |
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut | A 1639 document, considered the first written constitution in America, outlining the structure of government for the Connecticut colony. |
Navigation Acts | Laws passed by Britain in the 1650s that restricted colonial trade to benefit the British economy, requiring colonies to only trade with Britain. |
Declaratory Act | Passed in 1766, this act asserted British authority to make laws binding the American colonies "in all cases whatsoever" after repealing the Stamp Act. |
Intolerable Acts | A series of punitive laws passed in 1774 to punish Massachusetts after the Boston Tea Party, including closing Boston Harbor and limiting self-government. |
Proclamation of 1763 | A British law forbidding American colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains, intended to avoid conflicts with Native Americans. |
Quartering Act | A 1765 law requiring colonists to house and supply British troops stationed in America, which angered many colonists. |
Stamp Act | A 1765 British law that imposed taxes on printed materials in the colonies, leading to widespread protests and the slogan "no taxation without representation." |
Sugar Act | A 1764 law that taxed sugar and other goods imported into the American colonies, increasing colonial resentment toward Britain. |
Tea Act | A 1773 act that allowed the British East India Company to sell tea directly to the colonies, bypassing colonial merchants and leading to the Boston Tea Party. |
Townshend Acts | A series of 1767 laws that taxed goods imported into the colonies, leading to widespread protests and boycotts. |
Treaty of Paris, 1763 | The treaty that ended the French and Indian War, ceding French territories in North America to Britain and marking the beginning of stricter British control over the colonies. |
Assembly | A group of people, typically elected or appointed, who gather to make laws or decisions, often in a legislative context. |
Boston Massacre | A violent confrontation in 1770 where British soldiers killed five colonists, inflaming anti-British sentiments in America. |
Boston Tea Party | A 1773 protest by American colonists where they dumped British tea into Boston Harbor in response to the Tea Act, protesting taxation without representation. |
Bacon’s Rebellion | A 1676 uprising in Virginia, led by Nathaniel Bacon, against Governor Berkeley’s policies, including his handling of Native American relations and his refusal to protect settlers. |
Cash crop | A crop produced for sale to generate income, rather than for personal consumption, such as tobacco, cotton, or sugar. |
Charter | A legal document that grants rights or authority to a group or organization, such as a colony, usually given by the king or government. |
Colony | A territory controlled and governed by a foreign country, often established for economic or strategic reasons, such as the 13 American colonies controlled by Britain. |
Crispus Attucks | An African American man who is considered the first casualty of the American Revolution, killed during the Boston Massacre. |
Expedition | A journey or trip undertaken for a specific purpose, such as exploration, discovery, or military purposes. |
French and Indian War | A conflict between Britain and France from 1754 to 1763, with Native American tribes aligning with both sides, over control of North American territories. |
Glorious Revolution | The 1688 peaceful overthrow of King James II of England, who was replaced by William III and Mary II, leading to the constitutional monarchy in England. |
First Continental Congress | A meeting of colonial delegates in 1774 to discuss how to respond to British actions, ultimately leading to a unified resistance to British rule. |
Importing | The act of bringing goods into a country from another country, typically for trade or sale. |
King Phillip’s War | A conflict from 1675 to 1676 between New England colonists and the Wampanoag tribe, led by Chief Metacom (King Philip), over land disputes and colonial encroachment. |
Mercantilism | An economic theory that suggests a country's wealth is measured by its gold reserves, encouraging exports and limiting imports, with colonies serving to benefit the mother country. |
Middle Passage | The brutal sea journey that enslaved Africans were forced to endure as they were transported across the Atlantic to the Americas. |
Parliament | The British legislative body that makes laws; it consists of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. |
Plantation | Large agricultural estates in the Americas, often relying on enslaved labor to grow cash crops like sugar, tobacco, or cotton. |
Raw material | Unprocessed natural resources like timber, minerals, and agricultural products, used to make finished goods. |
Salutary Neglect | A British policy that allowed American colonies to largely govern themselves with little interference from Britain, which contributed to the colonies’ desire for independence. |
Slavery | A system in which people are owned and controlled by others and are forced to work without pay, often under brutal conditions. |
Smuggling | The illegal import or export of goods to avoid taxes, tariffs, or trade regulations imposed by governments. |
Sons of Liberty | A group of American colonists formed to protest British policies and taxes, including the Stamp Act and Townshend Acts, known for their acts of civil disobedience and organizing the Boston Tea Party. |
Subsistence farming | A type of farming where farmers grow enough food to feed their own families, with little or no surplus for trade. |
Triangular trade | A system of transatlantic trade during the colonial era, involving the exchange of goods and slaves between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. |
Unalienable rights | Rights that are considered inalienable or unable to be taken away, such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, as declared in the Declaration of Independence. |
Virginia House of Burgesses | The first representative assembly in the American colonies, established in Virginia in 1619, allowing colonists to make their own laws. |