Chapter 7+8 Flashcards
Republicanism
The idea that the people submit their personal interests to the common good of the state
Whigs influence on Revolution (ideas)
Warned against corruption in the state
Navigation Law of 1650
All commerce flowing to and from the colonies could be transported only in British vessels
Royal Veto
The British had kept a policy that allowed them to nullify any legislature passed by the colonies
George Greenville
Prime Minister that ordered the British Navy to start strictly enforcing the Navigation Laws
Sugar Act
Sugar Act
First law ever passed by that body for raising tax revenue in the colonies for the crown
Stamp Act
Mandated the use of stamped paper and put a direct tax on it
Virtual Representation
Every member of paliament represented all British subjects, even those in the New World
Britain’s defense for taxation without representation
Stamp Act Congress of 1765
Delegates from the colonies came together to make a lists of rights and grievances
Worked towards intercolonial unity
Did not have a big effect
Nonimportation agreements
The American people united together to not use British imports
Forced Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act
Declaratory Act
Reaffirms Parliament’s rights to bind the colonies in all matters
Means that Britain keeps absolute sovereinty over the colonies
Champagne Charley Townshend
Drunk in British parliament a lot
Persuaded congress to pass the Townshend Acts
Townshend Acts
Most important was a light import duty on glass, white lead, paper, paint, and tea
INDIRECT tax, but colonists still mad
Paid the salaries of royal governors
Did not produce much revenue
Boston Massacre
Colonists angry over the death of an 11 year old boy who was shot earlier during a protest
starting throwing snowballs
Redcoats open fired
Cripus Attucks
Runaway slave who was one of the first to die in the Boston Massacre
Trials for Boston Massacre
Only 2 redcoats were found guilty of manslaughter
John Adams defended the redcoats
Repeal of the Townshend Acts
Lord North convinced Parliament to repeal the Townshend Acts because they did not bring in much revenue
Kept the tax on tea
Samuel Adams
Master of the rebellion
Organized local committees that spread the spirit of resistance
Intercolonial Committees
Virginia was first
Soon every state had a central committee through which it could exchange ideas and information with other colonies
Significant because they disseminated sentiment in favor of united action
What did the intercolonial committees become?
First American congresses
British East India Company
Facing bankrupcy and had excess of tea
Got complete monopoly over the colonies
Could sell tea for cheaper with a tax on it
American Principle>Price
Thomas Hutchinson
Royal Governor of Massachusetts who ordered that the tea ships not clear the Boston Harbor
The “mob” hated him
Led to the Boston Tea Party
Reaction to the Boston Tea Party
Varied
Conservatives argued that it was anarchy
Boston Port Act
Response to the Boston Tea Party
Closed the Boston harbor
Chartered rights of Massachusetts were revoked (like the town meeting)
(Part of Intolerable Acts?)
Quebec Act
Good law in bad company
French Canadians guarenteed Catholic religion and land
Canadians allowed to keep customs of autocracy and no trial by jury
Quebec Act Affect
Infuriated much more of the colonies than just Masschusetts because of the amount of land it affected
Continental Congress of 1774
Reaction to the Intolerable Acts
Georgia did not show up
John Adams led it
NOT calling for independence
Made Declaration of Rights and The Association
The Association
Drafted by Continental Congress
Called for a complete boycott of British goods
Why were British troops going to Lexington and Concord?
Capture John Hancock and John Adams
Lexington and Concord
At Lexington the minute men probably took the first shots
At Concord the British got their asses whooped
Marquis de Lafayette
“French gamecock”
Made a General in the army at 19
Example of foreign help that USA got
Continental Paper Money
Continental Congress printed this money to pay for the war, since they did not want to tax (touchy subject)
Inflation was incredibly high on it
Essentially worthless
Baron von Steuben
German
Whipped the Americans into shape at Valley Forge
Blacks involvement for the USA
5,000 had enlisted
Prince Whipple was a famous black military hero
Fought in almost every important battle
Dunmore
Issued a proclamation promising freedom for any enslaved black in Virginia who joined the British army
Second Continental Congress
Still wary of independence
Wanted to keep fighting just so the King would fulfill their grievances
Adopted measures to raise money and to create an army
Selected George Washington to led the Army
George Washington Prior to the War
Never commanded more than 1200 men
Never rose above a Colonel in the army
Had great leadership and strength of character
Choose to serve without pay
Fort Ticonderoga
Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold captured the British garrisons here
Took the supplies to Bunker Hill
Bunker Hill
The American Sharpshooters shot down many of the British who decided to foolishly fight
Americans forced to retreat because they ran out of ammunition
Olive Branch Petition
After Bunker Hill
Continental Congress professes its loyalty to the Crown
Sent a mixed message to King George because he had just heard of Bunker Hill
August 1775
After Bunker Hill
King George officially declared the colonies in rebellion
The colonies were now committing treason
Why did the Hessians decide to fight?
They needed money
However, some fled once they got to America for gold
American reaction to the Hessians
Did not like
Did not understand why England was bringing in foreign troops into a quarrel between two “family” members
Falmouth, Maine and Norfolk, Virgina
Burned by the British
Americans Two Front Invasion of Canada
Americans thought that if they captured Canada they would get a 14th colony and remove a potential British base
Barely missed success
General Richard Montgomery
US
Pushed up Lake Champlain and captured Montreal
He was joined in Montreal by Benedict Arnold and they tried to capture Quebec
Capturing of Quebec
The Americans were beaten off
Montgomery was killed
Arnold was shot in the leg
Armies ended up retreating the opposite way they had came into French Canada, where they were not happily recieved
Evacuation Day
In March, 1776 the British were forced to evacuate Boston
Two southern victories in 1776
Moore’s Creek and Charleston
Why did Americans continue to stay Loyal to the Crown?
Colonial unity was poor
Open rebellion was dangerous
Hung for high treason
Why was Common Sense so radical?
Paine not only called for independence, he also called for the creation of a republic
Power from the people had never been done before (Greeks not counted)
Mixed Government
In Britian republican ideals remained faintly alive through the form of a mixed government
Why did Conseratives not like Common Sense?
They feared the mob
Thought the lower classes would over throw the social order in a republic
Richard Henry Lee
Virginian
June 2, 1776
Made the motion for independence
What did the Declaration of Independence clear up?
Foreign aid could be solicited
Patriots who defied the King were officially rebels
Obviously made it clear that they were fighting for Independence
Made persecution of loyalists rise
Tories
Another word for Loyalists
Named after the dominant political factions in Britian
Most loyalists were old and wealthy. They had success and opposed change
Whigs
Another name for Patriots
Named after the opposition faction in Britain
What type of revolution was the American Revolution?
It was a minority movement
Most colonists were apathetic or neutral to the cause
How did the Revolutionaries attract followers?
They got followers by appealing to colonist’s emotions which the British never did
Where were the Loyalists and Patriots the strongest?
Loyalists: where the Anglican church was
Patriots: where Congregationism and Presbeyt.
EXCEPTION: Virginia
What happened to Loyalists after the Declaration of Independence?
They were largely persecuted
Confiscation of their estates
80,000 loyalists were driven away
Some fought for the British, but the British were stupid not to use more of them
British base after evacuating Boston
New York City
Battle of Long Island
Summer 1776
Defeat for the Americans where they narrowly escaped through the fog
Retreated to New Jersey where they were not happily welcomed by Loyalists
Areas where there were a lot of Loyalists
Quaker Pennsylvania
New York City
New Jersey
Charleston
General William Howe
Instead of finishing off the Americans after the Battle of Long Island, he took the winter off and had an affair
Trenton
The day after Christmas Washington crossed the Delaware River and surprised a thousand hungover Hessians
New Jersey Campaign
Military brilliance by Washington
Trenton, Princeton
Gave him the name “Old Fox”
Fight for the Hudson River Valley
The British sent General Burgoyne down Lake Champlain
Idea was General Howe could meet him in Albany, but this never happened
Benedict Arnold swooped into Lake Champlain and bought the colonists some time
What was Howe doing that he did not meet up with Burgoyne?
He was capturing Philadelphia
He lured Washington into Philadelphia where he suffered defeats at Brandywine Creek and Germantown
Burgoyne Marches Down from Albany
American militiamen close in on him
Arnold fights for the Americans here
Burgoyne was forced to surrender his entire command at Saratoga to American general Horatio Gates
Model Treaty
Drafted by the Continental Congress
Treaties were not supposed to be military or political based
Purely commercial connection
Idealogical, not realistic
British reaction to Saratoga
Passed a measure that offered Americans home rule within the empire
But did not give them independence
Franklin used this measure to scare the French into thinking that an Anglo-American alliance was going to happen
World War
France, Spain, and Holland entered the war against the British (made Britain’s navy not the best)
Forced the British to not count on blockading the coast
the world war spread out the British and they could not focus in North America
American could not have won without this
Armed Neutrality
Catherine the Great of Russia took the intiative to line up all the remaining European neutrals in passive hostility against Britain
Monmouth, New Jersey
The Redcoats are attacked by Washington but the results are indecisive
Comte de Rochambeau
Commander of powerful French army
Brought reinforcements that helped Americans win
General Benedict Arnold’s betrayal
Plotted with the British to sell out West Point for money and power
By a sheer accident, his betrayal was detected in the nick of time
Southern Theatre
The British tried to take over the colonies in the South
They captured Charleston
Fought in the Carolinas
Fighting in the Carolinas
Towards the end of the war
General Nathanel Greene wore out the British by standing instead of retreating
Would loose battles, but won the campaign
Indians during the War
Most sided with the British
Joseph Brant (Mohawk chief) told the Indians that the British would leave their land alone more if they won
Brant and the British ravaged the PA backcountry
Treaty of Fort Stanwix
The first treaty between the United States and an Indian Nation
Indians ceded a lot of their land
George Rogers Clark
Frontiersman in Illonios
Seized British forts by surprise at Ohio River Valley
John Paul Jones
Most famous officer of America’s young navy
Scotsman
Privateers
Privately owned armed ships that preyed on enemy shipping
Brought in gold, but took away soldiers from main fighting
1780-81
One of the darkest moments of the war
Inflation high and supplies low
Government bankrupt
Yorktown
Cornwallis (British) vs. Admiral de Grasse (French) and Washington
Grasse stopped the British by sea and Washington stopped them by land
Cornwallis was corned and forced to surrender
Did fighting end at Yorktown?
No. It continued for a year afterwards
Three American Negotiators Sent to Treaty of Paris
Adams, Franklin, and John Jay
Importance of John Jay
He realized that the French were trying to coop up the USA
So he secretly created his own deal with London without asking the French (against Congress)
Treaty of Paris
British formally recongized the independence of the USA
Gave them lots of land in the frontier
Americans were supposed to recommend that confiscated Loyalist property be returned and debts to British be paid (this did not really happen)
