Chapter 5: The Problem of Empire, 1763-1776

Question 1

The Albany Congress

Answer 1

1754: 7 colony representatives meet with Iroquois chiefs to secure native support (against the French) and form a colonial alliance (Ben Franklin suggests the Albany Plan of Union)

Question 2

French Indian War

Answer 2

1754: War fought in colonies, English and Iroquois versus French and the rest of the Indian tribes for possession over the Ohio Valley area (eventual English victory at the expense of a lot of debt)

Question 3

Revenue Act of 1762

Answer 3

Implemented customs officials who collected duties on site in order to end smuggling in the colonies (could use Writs of Assistance to search a boat)

Question 4

Proclamation Line of 1763

Answer 4

A decree from the British government which restricted settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains

Question 5

Pontiac’s Rebellion

Answer 5

1763-65: Indian uprising (after French Indian War) led by Pontiac because they opposed British expansion into western Ohio Valley. Destroyed British forts and ended with his death

Question 6

Regulator Movement

Answer 6

1766-1771: Scot-Irish group in NC who didn’t like how the Eastern part of NC dominated political affairs. They thought they were paying too much taxes, wanted more courts, and more representation in their colonial assembly

Question 7

Treaty of Paris of 1763

Answer 7

Peace agreement that ended the Seven Years War. France is ousted from North America and Britain gets huge territorial gains (Canada, Florida, and land east of the Mississippi)

Question 8

The Currency Act

Answer 8

1763: Grenville-enacted order for colonies to use paper money as legal tender (local money was worth less than the British pound)

Question 9

Sugar Act

Answer 9

1764: English tax on sugar, coffee, wine, and molasses to ease debt from the war. Colonists avoided. tax by smuggling and bribing tax collectors

Question 10

Stamp Act

Answer 10

1765: Used to replenish finances after war debt. Required all legal documents to carry a tax stamp (targeted the rich and powerful). First direct tax used by the British gov to collect revenues and resulted in the organization of colonists into opposition groups (and the non-importation movement).

Question 11

Nonimportation Movement

Answer 11

Reduced household consumption of imported goods and increased domestic production (like textiles)

Question 12

Quebec Act

Answer 12

1764: Extended Quebec boundaries and gave religious freedom to Catholics. It also gave more power to the Catholic Church which let it collect tithes again (but ensured loyalty of the French majority in Quebec).

Question 13

Quartering Act

Answer 13

1765: Colonists have to provide food, lodging and supplies at their own expense to British troops in the colonies

Question 14

Declaratory Act

Answer 14

1766: Act that reaffirmed Parliament’s supreme authority and ability to tax the colonies (after it repealed the Stamp Act)

Question 15

Stamp Act Congress

Answer 15

1767: Delegates from each colony band together and form the congress to protest the Stamp Act. It adopted a declaration of rights and sent letters of complaints to the king. Showed beginnings of colonial unity and organized resistance.

Question 16

Townshend Acts

Answer 16

1767: Placed taxes on imported materials like glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea. Led to outrage and boycott of British goods because taxation without representation. Used revenue of the tax to pay colonial officials and ensure their loyalty to the British Crown.

Question 17

Boston Massacre

Answer 17

1770: Altercation between drunken Bostians and a few redcoats (fighting in self-defense). Paul Revere spread propaganda about the event and helped unite the colonies against Britain (dead rioters became martyrs for liberty) while John Adams defended the British in court.

Question 18

Tea Act of May 1773

Answer 18

Provided revenue for the poor East India Company. Britain gave the company a loan and cancelled the import on duties to export tea if it was exported to Ireland and the colonies. Created monopoly on tea which ended nonimportation (a little) and allowed Britain to increase tea costs even though taxes were low.

Question 19

Boston Tea Party

Answer 19

To protest the Tea Act, artisans and laborers disguised themselves as Indians and dumped a ton of tea into the harbor

Question 20

The Intolerable Acts

Answer 20

1774: Passed after the Boston Tea Party to shut down Boston Harbor, removing its charter/forbade town meetings, made convicts go to England or another colony for trials, and made colonists house British troops.

Question 21

First Continental Congress

Answer 21

1774: In response to the Intolerable Acts, men from 12 colonies met in Philadelphia and called for the complete halt in trade with Britain

Question 22

Second Continental Congress

Answer 22

1775: Opposed complete independence from Britain and tried to reconcile with the Olive Branch Petition (loyalty to the crown) under the conditions that fighting in Boston stop, the Intolerable Acts be repealed, and that negotiations begin immediately. King George III rejected.

Question 23

Lexington and Concord

Answer 23

1775: General Gage led a militia to confiscate colonial weapons and arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock (presidents of the 2nd Colonial Congress). The minutemen helped the colonies win and these skirmishes signified the beginning of independence

Question 24

Bunker and Breed’s Hill

Answer 24

1775: Battle contested control of the two hills that overlooked Boston Harbor. The British won and captured the hills after the colonists ran out of ammunition, but the battle showed the colonists that they could fight the British if they had sufficient supplies

Question 25

Common Sense

Answer 25

1776: Pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that claimed the colonies had a right to be an independent nation (and trashed on the monarchy)

Question 26

Declaration of Independence

Answer 26

1776: Document that stated the 13 English colonies were a free and independent nation, written mostly by Thomas Jefferson and influenced by Enlightenment ideals like popular sovereignty, the social contract, and natural rights.

Question 27

Virtual Representation

Answer 27

The claim that colonists were British citizens, therefore they were represented in Parliament (everyone’s thinking of you, don’t worry)

Question 28

George Grenville

Answer 28

British prime minister who passed the Currency Act and the Sugar Act of 1764

Question 29

Sons of Liberty

Answer 29

Secret (ish) society of colonists formed to protest (terrorize) and protect colonial rights

Question 30

Charles Townshend

Answer 30

Unsympathetic prime minister who placed restrictions on colonial assemblies and taxes on trade

Question 31

Lord Dunmore

Answer 31

Virginia’s royal governor who led a militia to defeat the Ohio Shawnees and claim Kentucky (key player in Dunmore’s War)

Question 32

Committee of Correspondence

Answer 32

Allowed Patriots to communicate with other colonial leaders when new threats to liberty occurred