Causes of the American revolution (AOS 1)

Question 1

mercantilist policy

Answer 1

• America, rich in forests and farmland supplied the raw materials needed by England’s growing industrial economy
• the end products were then sold back to the colonies; this arrangement provided the British with ample raw materials and the American’s a stable market for whatever they grew, gathered or harvested

Question 2

Salutary neglect

Answer 2

• colonies by definition were ruled by the mother country however Britain’s policy of ‘salutary neglect’ (1609-1763) meant that the American colonies could exercise a significant decree of self government
• contributed to the outbreak of revolution

Question 3

Albany plan

Answer 3

• An attempt in the mid-1700s to foster unity between the 13 provinces
• in 1754 delegates from 7 colonies attended the Albany Congress in New York
• Benjamin Franklin proposed a plan for a national government consisting of colonial delegates overseen by the rep of a king
• was rejected by all delegates (feared that unity would become a challenge for the next generation of Americans)

Question 4

What was the French and Indian war?

Answer 4

1754-1763

• a struggle between Britain and France for the control of the American continent
• competing interests for the territory west of the Appalachian mountains
• Britain feared that French control of the western territory would isolate the colonies, making them vulnerable and restricting expansion
• Britain feared the introduction of papism to the American continent

Question 5

What was George Washington’s contribution to the French and Indian War?

Answer 5

in 1754 he was sent to Pennsylvania to negotiate with the French about their encroachment onto British territory.

• Washington instigated a gun fight
• the French captured his Brigade and forced him to take responsibility for the battle

Question 6

Britain sent 10,000 regular soldiers to America (during the French and Indian war) anticipating man power from the colonies also. Why did many colonists refuse to fight?

Answer 6

• they believed it was an imperial matter

- American traders continued to trade and ‘fraternise’ with the French

Question 7

How did the French and Indian war end/ what was the outcome?

Answer 7

• the war ended with a complete victory for the British
• signing of the treaty of Paris in 1763; placed all land east of Mississippi river as well as the Eastern half of modern day Canada in the hands of the British
• France no longer held any political authority in the region French settlers did remain (The British government promised to allow French Canadians to freely practice Catholicism and provided fishing rights to the French in NewFoundland)
• Britain had been left with a debt of 130 million pounds as a result of the war and increased taxation was proposed which the provincial assemblies were NOT in favour of

Question 8

What was learnt from the French and Indian War? (lessons)

Answer 8

• Britains interests in the colonies were primarily financial
• Britain only wanted to protect British territory from the French
• it was clear that colonial interests did not equate to imperial interests
• colonists concluded that Britain’s reliance on traditional military strategies could not defend them and they could better defend themselves

Question 9

What was the proclamation of October 1763?

Answer 9

In response to the attack (in May 1763) on frontier settlements by hostile native Americans, the British parliament in October 1763 released a proclamation which blocked all settlement west of the Appalachian mountains
- The proclamation was a temporary annoyance for colonists eyeing off the land in the west

Question 10

Sugar act

Answer 10

Was passed by parliament in April 1764.
Purpose: to generate increased commercial competition with the French west indies and to better regulate American colonial trade.

• was an attempt to stop American merchants from trading sugar and molasses with French colonies (avoiding most incumbent duties)
• reduced tax on foreign molasses which would make the British product a cheaper option for American traders
• this legislation also introduced the “writs of assistance” - general search warrants with no expiry date

Question 11

The currency act

Answer 11

September 1762; banned printing and use of colonial currency; Americans had to find gold to settle debt; Americans found internal trade difficult; caused resentment

Question 12

The quartering act

Answer 12

1765; required colonists to house British soldiers in barracks provided by the colonies

Question 13

The stamp act

Answer 13

passed March 1765; forecasted a collection of 60,000 pounds; imposed a direct tax on the colonies that required printed material be produced on stamp paper produced in London

Question 14

what was the ‘stamp act congress’?

Answer 14

in October 1765, 25 delegates from 9 colonies gathered at New York where they produced a manifesto called the declaration of rights and grievances which pledged loyalty to George III but argued he had infringed colonial rights
- “no taxation without representation”

Question 15

who were the sons of liberty?

Answer 15

Local groups who organised or engaged in protest against the stamp act

• In Boston Massachusetts, the sons of liberty sprung from a small group calling itself the loyal nine (members were small merchants, shopkeepers who opposed the stamp act)
• incited boycotts and any opposition to British policy

Question 16

Boycotts by women

Answer 16

• Colonial women were present at many of the gatherings and protests of 1765
• women met to organise ways of furthering non importation and combatting the stamp act

Question 17

Repeal of the stamp act

Answer 17

British parliament spent 9 days sifting through anti stamp act petitions, most from England complaining about losing income as a result from the boycotts, stamp act was repealed (January 1766)

Question 18

When did the British Parliament pass the Declaratory Act and what did it state?

Answer 18

In January 1766 (the same day that the stamp act was repealed) the British parliament passed the declaratory act which stated the colonies and plantations in America are subordinate and dependent upon the imperial parliament and that the King had full power and authority to make statues and laws to bind the colonies.

Question 19

What were the Townshend duties?

Answer 19

Charles Townshend introduced the duties; goods shipped to America from Britain would have a duty added which would be collected when the goods were unloaded in American ports.

• the revenue raised was to pay for the salaries of Royal Governors and other British colonial officials
• there were trade boycotts to English goods organised by the colonists, they were determined not to pay the duties, crippling British demand
• from this, John Dickinson’s ‘letters from a farmer’ were produced and united the colonies

Question 20

Who were the daughter’s of liberty?

Answer 20

• women formed spinning clubs which would repair and recycle old clothing and produce homespun garments
• created substitutes for British tea

Question 21

Adam’s circular letter

Answer 21

In February 1768, Samuel Adams wrote a letter containing criticisms of the British government and it’s policies; called for a unified colonial response and colonial assemblies to be responsible for taxation; British parliament was against this letter

Question 22

Seizure of the liberty

Answer 22

In June 1768, the cargo ship ‘Liberty’ owned by Boston Merchant John Hancock who was a suspected smuggler. The skipper of the liberty seized the customs official and locked him in the ship while the cargo was unlocked.
- helped harden Hancock’s views about British rule; helping him become a revolutionary figure

Question 23

The Boston Massacre

Answer 23

Occurred on March 5th 1770; was provoked by a mob of professional agitators, drunks and bored observers.

• British soldiers believed that there had been an order to fire after a gun was discharged
• 5 protestor were killed as a result
• event was used for propaganda; Paul Revere’s engraving
• two British soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter and branded with M

Question 24

When were the Townshend Duties repealed?

Answer 24

• 1771

Question 25

Boston tea party

Answer 25

• December 16, 1773, Samuel Adams and the sons of liberty dressed as Native Americans boarded the 3 tea bearing ships in Boston harbour and threw 342 chests of tea overboard, almost 1 million dollars of tea was destroyed

Question 26

What are the four coercive acts?

Answer 26

• the Boston port act
• Massachusetts government act
• administration of Justice act
• quartering act

Question 27

What was the Boston Port Act?

Answer 27

• 30th of March 1774; saw the closure of the Boston port until damages from the tea party had been paid off
• four warships had been deployed to aid the blockade
• deep sea fishing ceased (important commodity for Bostonian merchants)
• only food and firewood was allowed in

Question 28

What was the Massachusetts government act?

Answer 28

20th of may 1774; banned towns meetings in Massachusetts and increased authority of royal governor.
- Boston was placed under martial law

Question 29

What was the administration of justice act?

Answer 29

20th May 1774; gave the authority to send persons charged with murder to trial in England away from hostile juries, British troops were therefore immune from prosecution

Question 30

What was the quartering act?

Answer 30

2nd of June 1774; required colonists to house and quarter British troops on demand, giving greater freedom to British officers who wished to house soldiers in private homes

Question 31

What was the 5th acts legislated after the coercive acts?

Answer 31

• the Quebec act;
• extended freedom of worship to Catholics in Quebec
• extended the boundary of Quebec into Ohio Valley
• Changed how Quebec was organised and governed
• Raised fears of papism

Question 32

What was the colonists’ reaction/ response to the coercive acts?

Answer 32

• outrage (known as the intolerable acts)
• supplies had been sent to Massachusetts from other colonies
• for the first time since the stamp act, an inter- colonial conference was called–> the first continental congress
• in 1774 following the acts, the Massachusetts assembly began meeting in secret, hoping to increase recruits of minutemen ready to fight in response to the martial law imposed on Boston by British military

Question 33

What was the powder alarms?

Answer 33

• to diffuse the tense situation Thomas Gage ordered the removal of gunpower stores in Massachusetts.
• this info was leaked to local patriots causing fear and paranoia
• bands of minutemen hid their gunpowder
• Gage temporarily halted the powder seizures and ordered more troops
• once everything calmed, Gage once again ordered the confiscation of gun powder

Question 34

First Continental Congress

Answer 34

• congress consisted of 55 men from 12 colonies
• many argued that Boston was the architect of its own fate
• The First Continental Congress was a meeting by the colonies in response to the intolerable acts that the British had enforced
• The result was a declaration by the colonies to that stated the rights for the colonists, and stopped the trade from the British (boycotts)

Question 35

Battle of Lexington- Concorde

Answer 35

• April 1775
• the British were confronted by colonial militia on the 19th of April 1775
• exchange of gunfire
• hundreds of militia had gathered with British soldiers who were then ordered to retreat to Boston
• Boston was surrounded with militia and appeared to be in a state of war

Question 36

Second Continental Congress

Answer 36

• gathered in May 1775
• aimed to take control of the war effort; formed the continental army with George Washington as commander in chief
• the delegates drafted and released justification for its military action
• King George considered ‘the second continental congress’ to be illegal and refused to read any of its petitions

Question 37

Olive Branch Petition

Answer 37

• June 1775
• John Dickinson in his ‘olive branch petition’ pledged loyalty and sought peace but affirmed colonial rights and criticised the mishandling of the colonies
• petition was disregarded as it contradicted a letter from John Adams which had been intercepted by Loyalists

Question 38

What were the Fairfax resolves?

Answer 38

• drafted on the 18th of July 1774
• a set of resolutions adopted by a committee in Fairfax county in Virginia
• was written primarily by George Mason
  THE RESOLUTIONS INCLUDED:
• rejection of British parliaments claim of supreme authority
• summaries of concerns on taxation, representation, judicial power, military and colonial economy
• embargo (restriction) on British goods
• congress to protect individual rights

Question 39

What were the Suffolk resolves?

Answer 39

• drafted on the 9th of September 1774
• a declaration made by the leaders of Suffolk country in Massachusetts
  THE RESOLUTIONS INCLUDED;
• boycotts of imported goods
• rejected Massachusetts gov act
• free of Royal authority

Question 40

Who was Thomas Paine and what was the significance of his pamphlet ‘Common Sense’?

Answer 40

• an Englishman who migrated to America in 1774 at the peak of the conflict
• political philosopher who supported the revolutionary causes in America
• his radical pamphlet ‘common sense’ was published in 1776 and was highly influential in gaining support for independence
• was the first pamphlet to advocate American independence
• addressed 3 broad themes;
• the flawed basis of the monarchy
• the situation in the colonies
• the potential of the colonies
• wrote in an accessible language which brought revolutionary ideas to wider groups
• distributed heavily

Question 41

What were the Halifax Resolves?

Answer 41

• resolution adopted by North Carolina in April 1776
• first colony to formally end recognition of British authority and law
• authorised North Carolina delegates to vote for independence at the Continental Congress

Question 42

Declaration of Independence

Answer 42

• Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin had the task of drafting the declaration
• On the 4th of July 1776, the colonies declared their independence
• it took two months for the news to travel to Britain, when it was received British generals demanded the retraction of the declaration