Chapter 5 - Towards Independence Flashcards
George Grenville
British political leader who as a prime minister whom instigated the Stamp Act, which provoked rebellious activities in the American colonies.
The Great War for Empire
The French and Indian War
Currency Act
1764; banned the American colonies from treating paper money as legal tender.
Sugar Act
1764; raising duties on foreign refined sugar imported by the colonies so as to give British sugar growers in the West Indies a monopoly on the colonial market.
Vice-admiralty courts
Jury less courts located in British colonies that were granted jurisdiction over legal matters related to maritime activities, such as disputes between merchants and seamen.
The Stamp Act
1756; exacted revenue from the American colonies by imposing a stamp duty on newspapers and legal and commercial documents
Virtual Representation
The British response to the First Continental Congress in American colonies; the congress asked for representation in parliament in what is known as the olive branch petition and this is what they did.
Quartering Act
- Parliament enacted them to order local governments of the American colonies to provide the British soldiers with any needed accommodations or housing.
Sons of Liberty
A formal underground organizations with recognized members and leaders.
Declaratory Act of 1766
Declaration that parliament had taxing authority in America and repealed the Stamp Act.
Charles Townshend
English politician for whom the Townshend Acts are named
Lord North Compromises 1770
They repealed the Townshend Acts and decided to lay off a little bit
The American trade boycott
Americans boycotted trade with Britain to protest their treatment.
The Tea Act
Gave a monopoly on tea sales to the East India Company, so Americans could only buy tea from them.
Coercive Acts/Intolerable Acts
Upset by the Boston Tea Party and other acts of destruction of British property by American colonists, the Parliament enacts the Coercive Acts, to the outrage of American Patriots, in 1774. The Coercive Acts were a series of four acts established by the British.
Quebec Act
1774, gave the French Canadians complete religious freedom and restored the French form of civil law. Angered Protestant America because the Quebec Catholics now could practice freely.
The First Continental Congress
It was called in response to “The passage of the Coercive Acts” by the British Parliament. The Intolerable Acts had punished Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party.
Loyalist Americans
American colonists who were loyal to Britain during the Revolutionary War, mostly the upper class and those benefitted by the monarchy.
Minutemen
A member of class of American militiamen who volunteered to be ready for service at a minutes service.
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting in the summer of 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun.
Common Sense
A pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775-76 that inspired people in the thirteen colonies to declare and fight for independence from Britain.
Olive Branch Petition
The last ditch effort of American colonists to make peace with the British crown. The king refused to even listen to it.
