Chapter 5: The Problem of Empire Flashcards
Sugar Act of 1764
British law that decreased duty on French molasses, making it more attractive to obey the law and penalties for smuggling were raised
Stamp Act of 1765
British law imposing a tax on all paper used in the colonies. Widespread resistance to the act prevented it from taking effect and its appeal in 1776
Quartering Act of 1765
British Law passed by Parliament at the request of Thomas Gage that required colonial governments to provide barracks and food for British troops
Stamp Act Congress
a Congress of delegates from nine assemblies that met to protect the loss of American rights and liberties, especially the right to trial by jury. The Congress challenged the constitutionality of both the Stamp and Sugar Acts by declaring that only the colonists’ elected representatives could tax them.
Sons of Liberty
colonists (merchants and artisans) who banded together to protest the Stamp Act and other imperial reforms. The group originated in Boston but spread to all the colonies
English Common Law
the centuries-old body of legal rules and procedures that protected the lives and property of British subjects
Declaratory Act of 1766
law issued by Parliament to assert their unassailable right to legislate for its British colonies. It put Americans on notice that the simultaneous repeal of the Stamp Act changed nothing in the imperial powers of Britain
Townshend Act of 1767
British Law that established new duties on tea, glass, lead, paper, and paints imported into the colonies. This led to boycotts and heightened tensions between the British and American colonies.
Committees of Correspondence
a communications network established among towns in the colonies and mong colonial assemblies to provide for the paid dissemination of political news
Tea Act of May 1773
British act that lowered the existing tax on tea and granted exceptions to the East India COmpany to make their tea cheaper in the colonies and entice boycotting Americans to buy it. Resistance to the act led to the passage of the Coercive Acts and imposition of military rule in Massachusetts
Coercive (Intolerable) Acts
four British Acts of 1774 meant to punish Massachusetts for the destruction of three shiploads of tea. They led to open Rebellion in the Northern colonies
Continental Congress
September 1774 gathering of colonial delegates in Philadelphia to discuss the crisis precipitated by the Coercive Acts . It produced a declaration of rights and an agreement to impose a boycott of traded with the British
Continental Association
an association established in 1774 by the First Continental Congress to enforce a boycott of British goods
Dunmore’s War
a 1774 war led by the Earl of Dunmore against the Shawnee, who has a long term claim to Kentucky as a hunting ground. He won and claimed Kentucky as his army’s territory
Second Continental Congress
legislative body that governed the US from 1775 through the war’s duration. It established an army, created its own money, and declared independence against Britain
