Chapter 6 terms Flashcards
Committee of Respondence
- under the guidance of Samuel Adams the committee provided information on British threats to liberty to other areas of the colonies
- in three months 8 new committees had come up in Massachusetts
- the committees provided not only information but also model of inter colonial cooperation, an important step toward a united political and military response to what British encroachments
Gaspee Incident
- armed British custom ship
- ran around Providence Road Island
- the ships captain was not welcome ashore
- On June 9, local citizens boarded the Gaspee, captured and removed the crew, and burned the ship
The Act of 1773
- the East India company was the most profitable business enterprise in Britian, but they fell on hard times
- the company was on the verge of bankruptcy and turned to prime minister Lord North
- Lord North granted a monopoly on the shipment and the sale of English tea in America
- the tea act set tax on tea in America, and theBritish tea was still cheaper than smuggled Dutch tea
Tea Party
-the tea arrived in Boston Harbor on November 28, 1773.
-the patriots tried to get it returned to England
-the patriots were determined the tea would not be unloaded in Boston
-thousands gathered in the old south church
-the patriots leaders made a final attempt to contact governor Hutchinson
-150 men and boys disguised as Mohawk Indians and boarded the Dartmouth and two newly arrived ships
-342 large case of tea were dumped into the harbor
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Tories
- Pro British colonist
- admitted that the tea party “had been conducted as correctly as a crime could be
Paxton Boys
- A large group of Scot-Irish living in the back country of south central Pennsylvania
- thought Pennsylvania’s government was not doing enough to protect the people of the colony
- decided to defend themselves and make a vigilant group
- they murdered six Conestogas Indians and burned the cabins where the murders happened
Regulators
- residents of North Carolina
- dissatisfied with the colonies wealth upperclass leaders who they considered to be cruel and corrupt
- they rebelled against the tyrants of the east and their goal was to set up an honest government and reduce taxes
Sons of Liberty
-secret group began in 1765 in reaction to the stamp act
-burned officials in effigy
-tarred and feathered tax collectors, dumped the tea into Boston harbor, and intimidated those who supported the crown
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Coercive Acts
- four acts
- intended to punish and subjugate the troublesome colonies
- the first coercive act was the Boston port act, which closed the harbor in June 1, 1774 until the value of the destroyed tea was reimbursed
Thomas Cage
-a general for the British Soldiers and he came to replace Thomas Hutchinson
Intolerable Acts
-patriots who refuses to be coerced, hardened opposition and created an unprecedented sense of solidarity against the colonies
The Quebec Act
- was directed at British, Canada and not the 13 colonies
- it was designed for the needs of French Canadians who loved under British occupation since Quebec became a British possession in 1763.
- set up a rigid political system and extended the boundaries of Quebec southward to the Ohio River
- encouraged many believers to join the growing chorus of dissent out of fear of centralized religious authority
Continental Congress
- Thomas Jefferson called a day of fasting and prayer as a show of support of Boston Patriots
- the royal governor after hearing this dissolved the House
- the legislators reconvened at a near by tavern where they adopted a resolution for the meeting of continental congress
- on September 5th representatives from all the colonies except Georgia gathered in Philadelphians carpenters hall
- inncluded: George Washington, Patric Henry, George Dickinson, John and Samuel Adams
Declaration of American rights
- stated that the colonies must be autonomous or self governing in nearly every respect
- maintained an alliance with the King but asserted that his actions had to be consistent with American rights
- they were given the right to raise their own militias
- the delegates agreed to reconvened the congress in May 1775
Militia
- citizen soldiers, part time fighters who left their farms and businesses to fight in emergencies
- they remained non-professionals serving only as long as the emergency lasted
Regulars
- full time soldiers who made the military their career
- the continentals were Americas regulars in war, serving as the veteran core of Washington’s army
Minutemen
- special units of militia men
- formed a quick first line of defense in case the red coats invaded the country side
Patrick Henry
-rose to address his fellow legislators with powerful words that would soon be confirmed with blood
Paul Revere
-spread the alarm to every middle village and farm
Lexington and Concord
- 49 Americans had been killed, and 39 wounded
- but the British regulars he been hurt badly by farmers
- not only were 73 red coats killed and 174 wounded, but patriots forces now had them bolted up in Boston
Patriots
- fought for the cause of independence
- more patriots than Tories
Loyalists
- also known as Tories
- named after the kings party in parliament
- continued to support the crown
Hessians
- German mercenaries
- used to fill out ranks of the British forces in America
2nd continental congress
-formed when the delegates gathered in Philadelphia in May 10, 1775
Fort Ticonderoga
-in New York it fell to patriot forces from Vermont known as the green mountain boys under the command of Ethan Allen
Ethan Allen
-leader of the green mountain boys
George Washington
- was asked to take charge of a continental army
- 43 year old would help link the patriot cause in New England with the rest of the country
- after the French and Indian war he was looked upon as a hero
- his greatest strengths were commanding presence, coolness under fire, and keen ability to lead and inspire
- elected by Continental Congress
Bunker Hill
- Occurred on the Charlestown peninsula north of Boston.
- On June 16, 1775, Patriot forces hastily built fortifications on Bunker Hill
- The British had won a costly victory, suffering more than a thousand casualties among the two thousand soldiers
Henry Knox
-order by George Washington to go to Fort Ticonderoga and retrieve the captured British cannons.
-transported fifty-nine pieces of heavy artillery on a wintry, mountainous, three-hundred-mile trek.
-Knox’s cannons arrived in late January 1776
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Olive Branch Petition
-pledged loyalty to the king and requested his intervention in curbing Parliament’s abusive exercise of power.
-drawn by delegates on July 5, 1775
-George III refused to read it
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Common Sense
- written by Thomas Paine
- described monarchy as a foolish form of government
- sales reached half a million copies
Thomas Paine
- author of common sense
- an Englishman who had lived in America little more than a year
- opposed Christi- anity and advocated a radical form of democracy that John Adams thought dangerous.
John Adams
-was appointed to draw up a declaration in support of Lee’s resolution
Thomas Jefferson
- was appointed to draw up a declaration in support of Lee’s resolution.
- did most of the work on the draft
Declaration of Independence
- listed the grievances that Americans had against the king
- stated universal principles that would shape the character and direction of the emerging nation.
William Howe
- General Gage’s replacement
- in July 1776 he landed his forces on Staten Island.
Trenton
- On Christmas night of 1776, Washington led his troops across the river against Hessians
- during this at least two men froze to death
- the Hessians surrendered
- Nearly one thousand Hessians were killed or captured, but Washington did not lose a single man.
Princeton
-the base at which Cornwallis had a thinly defended supply base
John Burgoyne
-British General
-his plan was to move south down Lake Champlain and through the wilderness of upstate New York, while General Howe would send a force north from New York City up the Hudson River to Albany
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Battle of Brandywine
-Occurred on September 11, 1777
-Howe outmaneuvered Washington, and sent a force under General Cornwallis northward to cross the Brandywine at an unprotected ford.
-On October 4 Washington tried to recapture the city but failed
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Benedict Arnold
-one of the finest in the Continental army.
-joint commander with Ethan Allen
-captured British-held Fort Ticonderoga
-Congress refused to promote him and this angered him
-In 1779, he secretly offered his services to the British
-plotted to give a fort to the British for £20,000.
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Horatio Gates
- American commander
- took most of the credit for the victories in Saratoga
Daniel Morgan
-One of Horatio Gates subordinates
Saratoga campaign
- was the turning point of the war
- an entire British invasion force of more than six thousand men been killed or captured
- France became America’s ally against the British
Valley Forge
- Where the American army made its headquarters for the winter of 1777–78
- at the time the British was controlling Philadelphia
Baron von Steuben
- came to Valley Forge in a splendid German uniform to serve as a drillmaster for the Continental army
- he was a fraud because he was not actually a baron
- a German who drilled American soldiers
Battle of Monmouth
- vindicated von Steuben’s work
- the battle ended in a draw
George Rogers Clark
- a native Virginian
- In 1778 he lead an attack on British trading posts north of the Ohio River in the region then known as the Northwest.
Vincennes
- A trading post on the Wabash River (what is now Indiana)
Siege of Charleston
- late March 1780, Clinton’s forces besieged Charleston
- General Benjamin Lincoln, gave up the advantage of mobility and heeded the pleadings of Charlestonians to hold the city at all cost.
- as a result Lincoln lost all of his men
Charles Cornwallis
-Clinton gave him command of the Carolina conquest
-The Americans sent an expedition of about three thousand Continentals and militia to meet the British advance.
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Camden
- In South Carolina
- where the American troops were outnumbered and outgeneraled.
- the American troops led by General Gates broke and ran in the heat of battle
Francis Marion
- Nicknamed the “Swamp Fox”
- Marion and his men would slip out of the swamps and sand flats to attack British outposts and supply lines (guerrilla warfare).
Battle of Kings Mountain
-strengthened the Patriot’s resolve
Nathanael Greene
- took a small army and made it the scourge of Cornwallis’s army
- first move was to divide his outnumbered army and send a detachment south under General Daniel Morgan.
Battle of Cowpens
-the first major step toward eventual British defeat.
Race to the Dan
- After a difficult two-week march in which British and American soldiers alike fell dead in their tracks from exhaustion and starvation
- the reason they were so desperate to win was because:
- If the Continentals won, the Dan would cut off the British pursuit.
- If the Continentals lost, the Americans would rein up in the face of British bayonets.
Guilford Court House.
-little crossroads in North Carolina
Yorktown
-The scene of Cornwallis’ humiliating defeat
Marquis de Lafayette
-Commanded the outnumbered Continental forces in Virginia
Surrender of Yorktown
-Cornwallis yielded to the inevitable, asking for terms of surrender on October 17, 1781.
Treaty of Paris
- signed on September 3, 1783.
- acknowledged that the colonies were indeed independent.
- The United States was awarded all the land east of the Mississippi River with the exception of Florida, which returned to Spanish control.
