American Revolution Flashcards
What forts did the British capture in the French and Indian War?
Fort Niagara and Fort Duquesne, which is in Pittsburgh
Who was William Pitt?
He was the man whom Pittsburgh was named after, and he emphasized the importance of fighting in the colonies and not as much in the Caribbean for the French and Indian War. He also thought it was important to take Quebec City
What’s the Proclamation of 1763?
It’s a document saying that the colonists cannot settle father west than the Appalachian mountains. This angers the colonists and leads up to the Revolutionary War
What’s the Sugar Act of 1764?
This was when England started to tax the colonies. This one was mainly just on sugar and sweet things. The colonists instead smuggled in sugar and England can’t enforce its law because it’s broke from the French and Indian war. Because of this law, the resentment of England grows
What’s the Stamp Act of 1765?
It’s a tax on everything paper, and all paper products needed an official stamp to be legally used. Colonists then began boycotting goods, so the Stamp Act was then revoked
What is salutary neglect?
It’s when rules and laws are not being enforced
What’s the Declaratory Act of 1766?
This states that Parliament has the right to tax the colonists
What’s the Quebec Act of 1766?
This was toleration for Canada to be able to go west and get land. This angers the colonists because Canadians got privileges the colonists didn’t get
What’s the Townsend Acts of 1767?
This taxes lead, tea, and glass. After this the Committee of Correspondence has the colonies sign the non-importation agreements. This is the first time the colonies wrote a document agreeing on things, and they begin to produce their own goods and become self-reliant
What is the Committee of Correspondence?
This is the colonies sending letters to each other to resist the British in an organized way
How did the Boston Massacre happen and what was the effect?
There were some colonials throwing rocks at some British soldiers, and the soldiers came at them and their guns accidentally went off and killed about 6 or 7 people. Paul Revere blows it out of proportion and depicts hundreds of people dying to throw the British in a bad light. The soldiers go on trial and John Addams defends them because everyone deserves a fair trial. Parliament then revokes the Townsend Acts.
What’s the Tea Act of 1773?
This act kept the tax on tea, and it was a really cheap tax that was even cheaper than the smuggler’s tea
What’s the Boston Tea Party (1773)?
Colonials dressed up as Indians and they throw the tea into the water. The captain of the ship let them do this because he’d get the insurance money from the tea
What are the Intolerable Acts?
These were imposed after the Boston Tea Party. Boston has to pay for the tea they destroyed, and their freedom of assembly was denied. Boston Harbor was also closed, which meant that not very many goods were going to Boston, and other colonies realized that their harbors could potentially be closed as well
Describe the First Continental Congress
This was the first time that the colonies got together and talked about what was happening with the British. They created the committees of correspondence to get organized, as well as created the non-importation agreements and other formal documents. They also decided to gather militias and make them stronger.
Describe the Second Continental Congress
Almost all of the colonies meet, and they decide they don’t really want to fight the British, and so they put together the Olive Branch Petition. This petition had a symbol for peace-olive branch, and a symbol for war-arrows. The king doesn’t even read the petition
What was “Common Sense” about and who wrote it?
This pamphlet was by Thomas Paine and was about how the colonies could govern themselves and why was a king needed to rule
Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?
This was wrote by Thomas Jefferson and was based on the principle that we could govern ourselves
Who was the Father of the American revolution?
Samuel Addams
What was a ‘sunshine soldier’?
A soldier who only wants to fight when things are good
Who was the ‘key to the revolution’ in that he was able to attract the colonies and unite them?
John Addams
What did the Treaty of Paris (1763) do?
This ends the French and Indian War. It also had the Philippines and Cuba were returned to Spain.
What did the Treaty of Paris (1783) do?
This ends the American Revolution; those who’d been loyal to the king got their property back; debts to Britain before the war had to be paid; Spain got Florida back; American’s retained fishing rights in Newfoundland
What was the Second Continental Congress?
This was hosted by Pennsylvania. The south was represented by George Washington and the north by John Addams. This was where Washington was elected to command the army
What group of people began the war?
Merchants; they had to rely on farmers to win the war
What were some major problems that the colonies faced going into the war?
One third of the people were still loyal to the king (loyalists/tories); the well being of the colonists were in danger; the power of the British empire; it was almost impossible to raise a Continental Army b/c colonies weren’t willing to combine armies
What were some major impacts of the war?
There weren’t enough goods, which led to high inflation; personal property was also destroyed
What were some major impacts of the war?
There weren’t enough goods, which led to high inflation; personal property was also destroyed
Patriots vs. Loyalists
Loyalists were wealthier; Loyalists older, Patriots younger
Why didn’t the Articles of Confederation work?
It made the central government too weak and made the state’s power too strong. It also gave the states the power to tax. The Constitution was written after this didn’t work out.
What was Shay’s rebellion?
Soldiers in Western Massachusetts couldn’t pay built up taxes because they weren’t payed for fighting in the Revolutionary war, and so a rebellion was started. There wasn’t a national army to stop the rebellion, so in response Washington gathered militias from other states and dissipated the rebellion. This is another reason why the constitution was written in that it showed why the Articles of Confederation didn’t work.
What does the Constitution do?
It divides the power of the central and state governments; Divided the central gov. into three branches: the executive (president), the legislative (law makers; congress), and judiciary (supreme court). This same division happens in the state governments.
What were some American advantages in the Revolutionary War?
George Washington’s leadership, he was able to inspire the people; the colonies were self-sustaining; fought a defensive war; the French helped US because of Benjamin Franklin
What was the status of African Americans?
About 5,000 fought for USA. Some were promised freedom, and others fought if their masters couldn’t. About 20,000 fought for the British, because they were all promised freedom.
What was the least important event in the Revolutionary War?
Proclamation of 1763 because the colonists didn’t obey it, so it didn’t matter
What happened at the Constitutional Convention?
This is where all of the states decided on having a federal government, and that they should split it into state and central government. To represent the people, they split the legislation in two: the Senate and the House of Representatives
What two new religions were established in 1775?
Anglican, which is like the church of England but without the king in charge; Congregationalists
Who was Von Steuden and what did he do?
He was a military officer from Prussia that came to the US to help drill troops into an army. He made the continental army harder to beat
What was Republicanism?
This term, coined by Thomas Paine, means having a representative government
What was the Mount Vernon Conference?
This was when George Washington was convinced to change the Articles of Confederation
What was the Annapolis Conference?
This was when all of the colonies were supposed to show up to discuss the Articles of Confederation, but 3 didn’t, so they moved the meeting to the next year, which was then called the Constitutional Convention
What’s the difference between Federalists and Anti-Federalists?
Federalists were for changes to the Articles of Confederation, while Anti-Federalists were against it. The Anti-Federalists were led by Patrick Henry.
What were the Federalist Papers?
This is what the founding father’s wrote under pen names to support the ratification of the Constitution.
What was Patrick Henry’s main opposition to the Constitution?
There was no individual rights included, so he wrote the Bill of Rights to make up for this
What was the Land Ordinance of 1785?
This is when the Federal government was selling land out west past the Appalachian mountains in squares
