3) American Revolution

Question 1

Why did the British Crown accumulate significant debt after the Seven Years War?

Answer 1

Because war was expensive, and cities got destroyed.

Question 2

What did King George III do as a way to pay the debt?

Answer 2

He imposed taxes on the colonies.

Question 3

What did the British government do in 1764?

Answer 3

They urged merchants in the Thirteen Colonies to trade only with the mother country.

Question 4

What did the government impose between 1764-1767?

Answer 4

New taxation laws of goods coming into and leaving the colonies.

Question 5

What new taxes on British products were imposed?

Answer 5

The sugar act, the stamp act and the townshend act.

Question 6

What was the sugar act?

Answer 6

The price of sugar, and any commodities (products ready to be used) shipped to them, went up.

Question 7

What was the stamp act?

Answer 7

Colonists were forced to pay for a stamp to be placed in documents circulating throughout the colony.

Question 8

What was the townshend act?

Answer 8

Taxes were placed on imported products (needs to be made) such as glass and tea.

Question 9

How did the Thirteen Colonies react to the new taxations?

Answer 9

They were infuriated. The colonial slogan for anger over taxes was “no taxation without representation”.

Question 10

What did the slogan, no taxation without representation mean?

Answer 10

It meant that the mother country couldn’t tax a colony because they had no elective officials.

Question 11

What new act was imposed in 1773?

Answer 11

The Tea act.

Question 12

Who now has a monopoly on tea trading?

Answer 12

The British East India company (owned by the mother country). They no longer had to pay taxes.

Question 13

What did this mean?

Answer 13

The East India company could sell tea at a lower price than its competitors, the Thirteen Colonies.

Question 14

How did the colonists of the Thirteen Colonies respond to the Tea act?

Answer 14

They stormed three ships anchored on Boston Harbour and threw chests of tea overboard. This turned the harbour black with tea. It was called the Boston Tea Party.

Question 15

What did the British parliament adopt in 1774?

Answer 15

They adopted another set of laws in response to the growing unrest in the Thirteen Colonies.

Question 16

What were these laws called?

Answer 16

Colonists from the Thirteen Colonies called them “Intolerable Acts”, because they wouldn’t tolerate it. London called them “Coercive Acts”, to make someone do something.

Question 17

What was the Massachusetts Government Act?

Answer 17

The inhabitants of Massachusetts could no longer elect their government. Public assemblies could not be held without permission of the British authorities.

Question 18

What was the administration of justice act?

Answer 18

British public servants in the colony who committed a crime punishable by death were asked to be tried in London.

Question 19

What was the Boston Port Act?

Answer 19

The Boston Harbor was closed until the destroyed chests of tea had been reimbursed. They stopped giving resources so that their economy would crash.

Question 20

What was the Quartering Act?

Answer 20

The unoccupied buildings in the colony would be given to British soldiers. It brought more soldiers.

Question 21

What was the Quebec Act?

Answer 21

The expansion of the territory of the Province of Quebec. The reinstatement of French civil law and recognition to the Catholic religion was unacceptable to the colonists in the Thirteen Colonies.

Question 22

What did representatives of the 13 colonies meet in Philadelphia for?

Answer 22

In order to respond to the intolerable acts.

Question 23

What was the response?

Answer 23

The response was to organize a resistance movement.

Question 24

What form did the revolution of fighting begin in?

Answer 24

In the form of skirmishes, small fights.

Question 25

Where were the first shots fired?

Answer 25

Massachusetts.

Question 26

Who was Thomas Gage?

Answer 26

Governor General of Massachusetts.

Question 27

What did Thomas Gage do?

Answer 27

Thomas Gage sent a small group of soldiers to take hold of illegal arms in the town if Concord, near Boston.

Question 28

What happened to Gage’s movement?

Answer 28

The news leaked and a small militia force met Gage at Lexington.

Question 29

Who succeeded at Lexington?

Answer 29

The British, but on the way back from Concord, the British were met with a large militia resistance.

Question 30

What did the militia do?

Answer 30

The militia force used guerilla warfare and ambushed British forces.

Question 31

What were Snipers and what did they do?

Answer 31

It was a new military unit, they took a large amount of British forces, and sent them to a retreat.

Question 32

What happened when the British regrouped at Lexington?

Answer 32

Gage was joined by another support column and returned to Boston safely?

Question 33

What happened back in Boston?

Answer 33

News of the assault on Gage at Lexington spread through Massachusetts. Gage’s defeat revealed how weak the British military was, so American militia wanted to hold Boston under siege. Gage digger in and held out the siege because he was running out of options.

Question 34

What happened on May 26, 1775?

Answer 34

British reinforcements led by three British generals arrived to relieve Gage.

Question 35

What did the American militia do?

Answer 35

They set up their own army and appointed George Washington as commander in chief.

Question 36

What was the Battle of Bunker Hill?

Answer 36

Gage went to reclaim parts of Massachusetts, which included hilltop positions looking over Boston. The Americans heard about the plan and fortified positions with the oncoming attack.

Question 37

What was the outcome of bunker hill?

Answer 37

It was a military disaster. It took 2 hours for British troops to move under heavy fire from the American Militia, who changed their name to Continental Army. It took three waves of British men to finally capture the hill.

Question 38

Why were the British only successful during the third wave?

Answer 38

Because the Americans were running low on supplies.

Question 39

What were the casualties of the British after capturing Bunker Hill?

Answer 39

226 British soldiers were killed and 828 were injured.

Question 40

What did this victory do for the British?

Answer 40

It set the British back in war a year later, which gave the Americans a year to fortify and gather organized military strength.

Question 41

When was the Declaration of Independence signed and what did it to for the Americans?

Answer 41

It was signed on July 4th, 1776 and it made the Thirteen Colonies independent and they called themselves United States of America.

Question 42

Who was the Declaration of Independence written by?

Answer 42

Thomas Jefferson

Question 43

Who was it influenced by?

Answer 43

John Locke, who was an advocate for the natural rights and freedoms of man.

Question 44

How many colonies approved for the separation from Great Britain?

Answer 44

12 of the 13 approved for the separation.

Question 45

How long did the war of independence continue for?

Answer 45

5 years.

Question 46

What was signed on September 3, 1783?

Answer 46

The treaty of paris, signed by Great Britain and America which made America independant.

Question 47

What was signed on that same day?

Answer 47

The treaty of Versailles, which ended all conflicts between France, America and Spain.