American Revolution

Question 1

Proclamation Line of 1763

Answer 1

he Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 7, 1763, by King George III following Great Britain’s acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years’ War, which forbade all settlement past a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains.

Question 2

Sugar Act

Answer 2

1764 Act that put a three-cent tax on foreign refined sugar and increased taxes on coffee, indigo, and certain kinds of wine. It banned importation of rum and French wines. These taxes affected only a certain part of the population, but the affected merchants were very vocal. Besides, the taxes were enacted (or raised) without the consent of the colonists. This was one of the first instances in which colonists wanted a say in how much they were taxed.

Question 3

Stamp Act

Answer 3

First direct British tax on American colonists. Instituted in November, 1765. Every newspaper, pamphlet, and other public and legal document had to have a Stamp, or British seal, on it. The Stamp, of course, cost money. The colonists didn’t think they should have to pay for something they had been doing for free for many years, and they responded in force, with demonstrations and even with a diplomatic body called the Stamp Act Congress, which delivered its answer to the Crown. Seeing the hostile reaction in the colonies, the British government repealed the Stamp Act in March 1766 but at the same time passed the Declaratory Act, which said that Great Britain was superior (and boss of) the American colonies “in all cases whatsoever.”

Question 4

Townshend Acts

Answer 4

eries of 1767 laws named for Charles Townshend, British Chancellor of the Exchequer (Treasurer). These laws placed new taxes on glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea. Colonial reaction to these taxes was the same as to the Sugar Act and Stamp Act, and Britain eventually repealed all the taxes except the one on tea. In response to the sometimes violent protests by the American colonists, Great Britain sent more troops to the colonies.

Question 5

Boston Massacre

Answer 5

Shooting of five American colonists by British troops on March 5, 1770. One person, an African-American man named Crispus Attacks, was killed. Nearly every part of the story is disputed by both sides. Did the colonists have weapons? The British say rocks and other such weapons were hurled at them. But the British had guns, and they did open fire. The Boston Massacre deepened American distrust of the British military presence in the colonies.

Question 6

Intolerable Acts

Answer 6

Series of laws sponsored by British Prime Minister Lord North and enacted in 1774 in response to the Boston Tea Party. The laws were these:

Impartial Administration of Justice Act, which allowed the royal governor of a colony to move trials to other colonies or even to England if he feared that juries in those colonies wouldn’t judge a case fairly
Massachusetts Bay Regulating Act made all law officers subject to appointment by the royal governor and banned all town meetings that didn’t have approval of the royal governor
Boston Port Act, which closed the port of Boston until the price of the dumped tea was recovered, moved the capital of Massachusetts to Salem, and made Marblehead the official port of entry for the Massachusetts colony.
Quartering Act, which allowed royal troops to stay in houses or empty buildings if barracks were not available
Quebec Act, which granted civil government and religious freedom to Catholics living in Quebec.
These Acts were the harshest so far of all the Acts passed by Parliament.

Question 7

Boston Tea Party

Answer 7

Angry and frustrated at a new tax on tea, American colonists calling themselves the Sons of Liberty and disguised as Mohawk Native Americans boarded three British ships (the Dartmouth, the Eleanor, and the Beaver) and dumped 342 whole crates of British tea into Boston harbor on December 16, 1773. Similar incidents occurred in Maryland, New York, and New Jersey in the next few months, and tea was eventually boycotted throughout the colonies.

Question 8

Samuel Adams

Answer 8

Signer of the Declaration of Independence who was also a former governor of Massachusetts and a ringleader of the American Revolution, along with his cousin, John. When trouble was to be made, Samuel Adams was there. He was a constant opponent of British oppression, and he was an instigator in many protests, including the Boston Tea Party.

Question 9

1st and 2nd Continental Congress

Answer 9

Two groups of people from all over the 13 Colonies who came together to discuss liberty. The First Continental Congress was a group of 56 delegates from 12 colonies (all except Georgia) who met in Philadelphia in September of 1774. They came together to act together in response to the Intolerable Acts. They met in secret because they didn’t want Great Britain to know that they were united. The Second Continental Congress met in 1775, when the Revolutionary war had started. Things were going badly, and the armed forces were disorganized. The Continental Congress created the Continental Army and named George Washington as commander-in-chief. The Congress continued through the summer. Out of the discussions came the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Marines Corps.

Question 10

George Washington

Answer 10

First president of the United States, he also fought (for the British) in the French and Indian War and was the commanding officer of the victorious American forces in the Revolutionary War. He was named president of the Constitutional Convention. He served two terms as president, during which he invented the Cabinet, his advisers, and tried to calm the bickering between the two new political parties, the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans. After his second term, Washington retired to his home at Mount Vernon, to live a quiet life with his wife, Martha.

Question 11

King George III

Answer 11

King of Great Britain from 1760 to 1820. Under his guidance, Britain won the French and Indian War but lost the Revolutionary War. He was mentally unstable because of a disease called porphyria, and he was given to bouts of madness and unpredictability. He also didn’t like his government officials very much.

Question 12

British Parliament

Answer 12

The Legislative body of England. The parliament is bicameral, consisting of an upper house (the House of Lords) and a lower house (the House of Commons).

Question 13

Declaration of Independence

Answer 13

Document declaring the 13 American Colonies independent from Great Britain. Written by Thomas Jefferson and declared in effect by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. Many prominent Americans signed it, including John Hancock, John Adams, and Samuel Adams. Great Britain’s response was to continue the war.

Question 14

Thomas Paine

Answer 14

Patriot and American soldier whose main contribution was in writing. His pamphlets, including Common Sense and The Crisis, inflamed the American population and furthered the Revolutionary cause.

Question 15

Sons of Liberty

Answer 15

Secret organization of American colonists formed initially to protest the Stamp Act. The idea found success in many colonies, after the initial organizations in Boston and New York. After the Stamp Act was repealed a year after it was passed, the Sons of Liberty disbanded. But the patriotic spirit and the name remained. Groups of men, such as the ones who dumped the tea into Boston Harbor, were called sons of liberty.

Question 16

Committees of Correspondence

Answer 16

The committees of correspondence were shadow governments organized by the Patriot leaders of the Thirteen Colonies on the eve of the American Revolution.

Question 17

Lexington & Concord

Answer 17

First shots fired between American and British troops, on April 19, 1775. The British chose to march to Concord because it was an arms depot. This meant that the Americans had stockpiled weapons there. British troops had occupied Boston and were marching on Concord as they passed through Lexington. No one is still sure who fired first, but it was the “Shot Heard ‘Round the World.” Both sides opened fire, and the Americans were forced to withdraw. But they had slowed the British advance. By the time the Redcoats got to Concord, the Americans were waiting for them in force. The weapons depot was saved, and the British were forced to retreat, harassed by militiamen along the way. The skirmishes were preceded by Paul Revere’s famous ride, warning the countryside: “The British are Coming!”

Question 18

Bunker Hill

Answer 18

Two-day engagement between British forces under the command of General William Howe and American forces under Colonel William Prescott. The Americans had occupied Breed’s Hill in Charlestown on June 16, 1775, in order to protect the shipyard of nearby Boston. The next day, the British attacked. They took the hill but suffered heavy losses. The Americans fired until they were out of ammunition, then quickly retreated. To conserve ammunition, Prescott told his men, “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.” Even though the battle was fought on Breed’s Hill, it has been remembered as the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Question 19

Saratoga

Answer 19

Turning point of the Revolutionary War in that it convinced France to enter the war on the side of the Americans. British General John Burgoyne came up with a brilliant plan to take all of New York away from the Americans. His three-pronged attack called for a meeting of three forces at Saratoga. Burgoyne would advance south from Canada and plan to meet at Albany with Generals Barry St. Leger and William Howe. St. Leger was to move east from Fort Oswego, on Lake Onratio; and Howe was to march north from Virginia. This was a brilliant plan, Burgoyne thought, and he hoped to crush the American Northern Army. Trouble was, it didn’t work. Howe never got the message and went to Philadelphia instead. Burgoyne himself was stopped by American General Benedict Arnold at Saratoga. St. Leger made it to Albany and had it all to himself. At the Battle of Saratoga (which was really a handful of battles), Burgoyne surrendered almost his entire army to General Horatio Gates on October 17, 1777. The American victory convinced France that America really did have a chance of winning. Soon thereafter, French money and supplies (and eventually, troops and ships) were making their way to America. The end had begun.

Question 20

Yorktown

Answer 20

merican victory that ended the Revolutionary War on October 20, 1781. British General Charles Cornwallis had met defeat in the south, at Cowpens, and his force had been continually weakened, especially by American General Nathanael Greene at Guilford Courthouse. Cornwallis left the Carolinas and proceeded north to Yorktown, Virginia, there to await reinforcements from General Henry Clinton, who was occupied in the north. American forces under Greene and Commander-in-Chief George Washington pursued Cornwallis by land while French ships surrounded the bay of Yorktown. Faced with the prospect of no reinforcements, Cornwallis stood and fought. But the Americans won the battle and the war.

Question 21

militia

Answer 21

a military force that is raised from the civil population to supplement a regular army in an emergency.

Question 22

Hessians

Answer 22

the term given to the 18th-century German auxiliaries contracted for military service by the British government, who found it easier to borrow money to pay for their service than to recruit its own soldiers.

Question 23

General Cornwallis

Answer 23

British general who won more battles than he lost but surrendered at Yorktown, ending the war. As second-in-command to General Henry Clinton, he was on the winning side at Brooklyn, Brandywine, Monmouth, and Charleston. After that, he was placed in command of the southern British forces. His big success was the smashing victory at Camden, although he did technically win at Guilford Courthouse. But he was beaten at Kings Mountain, Cowpens, and at Yorktown.

Question 24

Lafayette

Answer 24

French aristocrat and military officer who fought for the United States in the American Revolutionary War.

Question 25

Treaty of Paris of 1783

Answer 25

Treaty that officially ended the Revolutionary War on September 3, 1783. It was signed in Paris by Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay. Under the terms of the treaty, Britain recognized the independent nation of the United States of America. Britain agreed to remove all of its troops from the new nation. The treaty also set new borders for the United States, including all land from the Great Lakes on the north to Florida on the south, and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. The United States agreed to allow British troops still in America to leave and also agreed to pay all existing debts owed to Great Britain. The United States also agreed not to persecute loyalists still in America and allow those that left America to return.