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Chapter 4: The War for Independence - Key Terms (Vocabulary)

The Stamp Act

  • 1765 law requiring colonists to buy stamped paper for legal documents.

  • Aimed to raise revenue for war debts; sparked resistance.

The Stirrings of Rebellion

  • Stamp Act led to colonial defiance; colonies united in defiance.

  • Sons of Liberty: a secret resistance group formed by shopkeepers, artisans, and laborers; one founder was Samuel Adams.

  • Actions: stamp agents harassed, customs workers threatened, and royal governors sometimes targeted.

  • Stamp Act Congress: Declaration of Rights and Grievances (no taxation without representation).

  • Boycott led to repeal in 1766, but Declaratory Act asserted Parliament's authority.

The Townshend Acts

  • 1767: Indirect taxes on imports (glass, lead, paint, paper, tea).

  • Colonial anger and boycotts

The Boston Massacre (1770)

  • British troops in Boston; tensions rose.

  • Mob confrontation, shots fired, five killed (including Crispus Attucks).

  • Propaganda fueled anti-British sentiment; Revere's engraving.

The Boston Tea Party (1773)

  • Tea Act: East India Company tea cheaper.

  • Rebels dumped tea into Boston Harbor.

  • Consequences: Punitive measures and escalating tensions.

The Intolerable Acts (1774)

  • British response: Boston Harbor closed, Quartering Act, martial law.

  • Colonial reaction: Unified action and committees of correspondence.

  • First Continental Congress: Declaration of colonial rights.

The First Continental Congress (1774)

  • Coordinated resistance and articulated colonial position.

  • Drafted declaration of rights.

The Road to Lexington and Concord

  • Towns prepared militarily; minutemen stockpiled weapons.

  • British plan: Seize arms at Concord and arrest Adams/Hancock.

  • Paul Revere, others, warned colonists.

  • Battles of Lexington and Concord: Start of American War for Independence.

Key Terms and People to Know

  • Key Acts, people such as Samuel Adams, John Adams, and phrases like taxation without representation

Connections to larger themes

  • Imperial crisis, economic dimensions, propaganda.

Visual Sources and Interpretive Questions

  • Revere’s Boston Massacre engraving.

Numerical and Factual Reference Review

  • Key dates, figures, quantities (tea, troops).

Summary at a Glance

  • 1765–1775: Taxation, protest, unified action, rebellion.

  • Stamp Act to Intolerable Acts: Escalating tensions.

  • Lexington and Concord: War for Independence begins.