Chapter 6 Flashcards
Seven Years’ War
War (1754–1763) between Britain and France that ended with British domination of North America; known in America as the French and Indian War. Its high expense laid the foundation for conflict that would lead to the American Revolution.
Pontiac’s Rebellion
A coordinated uprising of Native American tribes in 1763 in the Northwest (Great Lakes region) after the end of the Seven Years’ War. The rebellion heightened Britain’s determination to create a boundary between Americans and Indians, embodied in the Proclamation of 1763.
Sugar (Revenue) Act
1764 British law that decreased the duty on French molasses, making it more attractive for shippers to obey the law, and at the same time raised penalties for smuggling. The Sugar Act regulated trade but was also intended to raise revenue.
Stamp Act
1765 British law imposing a tax on all paper used for official documents, for the purpose of raising revenue. Widespread resistance to the Stamp Act led to its repeal in 1766.
virtual representation
The theory that all British subjects were represented in Parliament, whether they had elected representatives in that body or not. American colonists rejected the theory of virtual representation, arguing that only direct representatives had the right to tax the colonists.
Declaratory Act
1766 law issued by Parliament to assert Parliament’s unassailable right to legislate for its British colonies “in all cases whatsoever,” putting Americans on notice that the simultaneous repeal of the Stamp Act changed nothing in the imperial powers of Britain.
Townshend duties
British law that established new duties on tea, glass, lead, paper, and painters’ colors imported into the colonies. The Townshend duties led to boycotts and heightened tensions between Britain and the American colonies.
Boston Massacre
March 1770 incident in Boston in which British soldiers fired on an American crowd, killing five. The Boston Massacre became a rallying point for colonists who increasingly saw the British government as tyrannical and illegitimate.
committees of correspondence
A communications network established among towns in Massachusetts and also among colonial capital towns in 1772–1773 to provide for rapid dissemination of news about important political developments. These committees politicized ordinary townspeople, sparking a revolutionary language of rights and duties.
Tea Act of 1773
British act that lowered the existing tax on tea to entice boycotting Americans to buy it. Resistance to the Tea 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. Known in America as the Intolerable Acts, they led to open rebellion in the northern colonies.
First 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 limited boycott of trade with Britain.
