Seeds of Revolution 1754 - 1776

Question 1

Compare the French and Indian war with the Seven Years War. What are the major differences?

Answer 1

None

They are the same war. They have two names that are often used interchangeably.

Question 2

Define:

Salutary neglect.

Answer 2

Salutary neglect describes the hands-off policy the British adopted towards the colonies prior to 1763. The British did not enforce parliamentary law or interfere in trade.

This resulted in the colonists becoming more self-reliant and independent.

Question 3

What was the French and Indian War?

Answer 3

The war was fought by the British mainly for control of the colonial frontier.

The French and Indian War (1754-1763) was fought by the British against France and Indian tribes that were allied to the French. Victory in the war gave the English control of Canada and the entire Mississippi River valley, while limiting France to their small colony in present-day Haiti.

Question 4

What does George Washington have to do with the Seven Years War/French Indian War?

Answer 4

He fought in the war and gained his most important pre-revolutionary military experience during this conflict.

As a result of this, it made him the best-known soldier among the colonies.

Question 5

Complete the sentence:

The _______ ___ _______ resolved the French and Indian War in 1763.

Answer 5

Treaty of Paris (1763)

The Treaty gave control of North America up to the Mississippi River and the entirety of Canada to the British.

Question 6

What was Pontiac’s Rebellion?

Answer 6

Pontiac’s Rebellion was an attack by a group of allied Native American tribes against British outposts who were protecting settlers who were flooding the area west of the Appalachian mountains.

In response, the British issued the Proclamation of 1763, which banned colonization west of the Appalachian Mountains. The British did this to save on the military costs of having to protect settlers.

Question 7

What was the Proclamation of 1763?

Answer 7

In response to Pontiac’s Rebellion, the Proclamation of 1763 banned colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains.

The area from the Appalachians to the Mississippi River was set aside as reserved for the Native Americans.

Question 8

How did the Proclamation of 1763 mark a change in relations between Britain and the American colonies?

Answer 8

The Proclamation of 1763 marked the end of the period of salutary neglect, and marked the first time the British directly interfered with colonial affairs.

Further British interference would come in the form of taxation, as the British government sought to have the American colonies pay for some of the costs of the French and Indian War.

Question 9

Who was Lord George Grenville?

Answer 9

Grenville was Prime Minister of Great Britain between 1763-1765.

As Prime Minister, he was responsible for the Stamp Act, Sugar Act, and Quartering Act. Grenville believed that the colonists in the 13 colonies had an obligation to pay more in taxes because the government protected them during the French and Indian War.

Question 10

What were the Writs of Assistance?

Answer 10

Writs of Assistance were general search warrants designed to stop smuggling.

They allowed British customs agents to search wherever they pleased and without having to pay for any damages. So if you were walking down the street, one of these British customs agents could go to you and search your belongings without your consent, damaging some of them, and it was 100% legal, so long as they showed that they have a Writ of Assistance. So it’s basically a vague warrant.

James Otis argued that the writs violated natural law, and many Americans felt that Writs of Assistance infringed upon their rights as British subjects.

Question 11

What was the Stamp Act?

Answer 11

The Stamp Act required the purchase of a stamp for newspapers, advertisements, and legal documents.

Question 12

What were the terms of the Sugar Act?

Answer 12

The Sugar Act increased taxes on luxuries such as sugar.

It also provided for stronger enforcement of the Navigation Acts; any smugglers caught would be tried by an admiralty court, without a jury.

Question 13

Complete the sentence:

The _______ _____ required that Americans house and feed British troops.

Answer 13

Quartering Act

Question 14

Between 1764-1765, the British government passed the Sugar Act, the Quartering Act, and the Stamp Act, which met with hostility in the American colonies.

Q: Why did the British government pass these acts?

Answer 14

The three acts were passed to increase revenue from and decrease costs of the North American colonies to the British government after the British amassed a large debt from the French and Indian War.

The Sugar Act and the Stamp Act increased colonial taxes (revenues). The Quartering Act, which required colonists to house and feed British soldiers, decreased costs.

Question 15

What were the Virginia Resolves?

Answer 15

Passed by Virginia’s House of Burgesses (Virginia’s Colonial Government), the British government had no right to tax the people without their consent.

Question 16

What was the Stamp Act Congress?

Answer 16

Called in 1765 by James Otis of Massachusetts, representatives of nine colonial governments attended the Stamp Act Congress to protest the British government’s taxes on the American colonies.

The Stamp Act Congress resolved that only elected representatives had the power to tax citizens.

Question 17

Who were the Sons and Daughters of Liberty?

Answer 17

The Sons and Daughters of Liberty were a secret society opposed to the Stamp Act.

The Sons of Liberty regularly intimidated and tarred and feathered British tax agents, as well as destroying private property and property that belonged to the British government. As the Revolutionary War approached, it served as a shadow government dedicated to independence.

Question 18

How did most Americans respond to the Stamp Act?

Answer 18

American outrage at the Stamp Act proved a unifying force throughout the colonies. People started to forget the things that made them different and started to focus on issues that concerned all of the 13 colonies.

Question 19

From 1764-1765, many American colonists boycotted British goods in response to the Stamp Act.

Q: How did the British react?

Answer 19

The boycott severely impacted British trade and merchants pressured the British government into repealing the Stamp Act.

Britain repealed the Stamp Act in 1766, although the British government also passed the Declaratory Act at the same time.

Question 20

What was the Declaratory Act?

Answer 20

The Declaratory Act (1766) reaffirmed the power of the British government to tax and make laws for the colonies “in all cases whatsoever.” Passed along with the repeal of the Stamp Act, few noticed the reaffirmation of the British taxing power.

Question 21

Complete the sentence:

In 1767, the British government passed the _______ _____, which established new taxes on paper, tea, and glass, suspended New York’s colonial government, and gave British customs officials the power to issue writs of assistance.

Answer 21

Townshend Acts

The Acts were named for Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who was responsible for raising revenue for the British government.

Question 22

Who wrote Letters from a Pennsylvania Farmer in 1767?

Answer 22

John Dickinson wrote Letters from a Pennsylvania Farmer.

In it, Dickinson argued that even though the Townshend Acts were indirect taxes, they violated English law. They were impermissible because they were enacted by a government body in which the colonies were not represented.

Question 23

Parliament repealed most of the Townshend Acts in 1770, after pressure from a new Prime Minister, Lord North.

Q: What was the only tax retained?

Answer 23

As a face-saving measure, Parliament retained a small tax on tea.

Question 24

Who wrote a poem in 1770 on the death of George Whitefield?

Answer 24

Phillis Wheatly

She was the first Black American in US History to publish anything on poetry, and the second woman in US history to do so as well.

George Whitefield was a person of great notoriety in the 13 colonies and in England for his Christian ministry throughout the 1st Great Awakening.

Question 25

What’s unique about Phillis Wheatly’s upbringing?

Answer 25

She learned to read and write.

She was kidnapped and sold into slavery from the Gambia river region in Africa at age 8. The couple that enslaved her were still grieving over the daughter they had lost almost a decade earlier.

As a result, Phillis’s enslavers were kind to her, relative to how the average enslaved person was treated. As such, Phillis, despite still being enslaved, was able to learn to read and write, and within the first 4 years of her captivity, was educated enough to compose poetry and write letters.

Question 26

What led up to the Boston Massacre in 1770?

Answer 26

In March 1770, a number of Bostonians harassed the British troops with snowballs and taunts. British troops fired into the crowd, killing five Americans. The British troops were tried for murder. Defended by John Adams, the troops were acquitted.

Question 27

What were the Committees of Correspondence?

Answer 27

The Committees of Correspondence were groups organized in 1772, by Samuel Adams, in several Massachusetts towns to keep an eye on British activities.

Question 28

Why did Parliament pass the Tea Act of 1773?

Answer 28

It made the price of British tea, plus tax, cheaper than Dutch tea.

Tea was an important component of the British economy. After the American colonies began boycotting tea from Britain (instead using smuggled Dutch tea), the British East India Company suffered a financial crisis.

Hoping to ease the crisis, the British government passed the Tea Act, which made the price of British tea, plus the tax, cheaper than Dutch tea.

Question 29

Why did the Boston Tea Party take place?

Answer 29

To protest the British government’s actions in the Tea Act.

The Sons of Liberty, disguised as Indians boarded the ship carrying the tea on December 16, 1773, and threw 1.7 million dollars worth of tea (in today’s US dollars) overboard.

Question 30

How did the British government respond to the Boston Tea Party?

Answer 30

Profoundly angered by the Boston Tea Party, the British government passed the Coercive Acts in 1774 to punish the colonies, specifically Massachusetts.

Question 31

What was the Quebec Act?

Answer 31

Passed along with the Coercive Act in 1774, the Quebec Act extended Quebec’s territory onto the Ohio River Valley, which was land that the 13 colonies thought belonged to them, as well as making Roman Catholicism the official religion of Quebec.

Question 32

What did the colonists term the Coercive Acts and the Quebec Act?

Answer 32

The Coercive Acts and the Quebec Act were jointly termed the Intolerable Acts by disgruntled colonists.

Question 33

What resulted from the meeting of the First Continental Congress in 1774?

Answer 33

Delegates from the 13 colonies (except Georgia) met in Philadelphia and:

• Asked for relief from the Intolerable acts.
• Passed the Suffolk Resolves.
• Which called for more local militias and increased boycott of British goods.

Question 34

How did the British government react to the actions of the First Continental Congress?

Answer 34

The British ignored the First Continental Congress.

Massachusetts was declared to be in an open state of rebellion, and troops under British General Gage were dispatched to Boston.

Question 35

Who were the Minutemen?

Answer 35

Colonial militia

The Minutemen was a nickname given to the colonial militia, who were trained to respond at a moment’s notice.

Question 36

What was the background of Paul Revere’s ride?

Answer 36

After the British Army was detected moving out of Boston, Paul Revere and another rider, William Dawes, rode through the Massachusetts countryside warning that “the British are coming.”

A small force of Minutemen assembled at Lexington to oppose the British advance.

Question 37

In 1775, the Battles of Lexington and Concord started the Revolutionary War.

Q: Why were the British marching through Lexington to Concord?

Answer 37

British General Gage believed that there were guns and ammunition stored in Concord.

Question 38

Complete the sentence:

The battle of _______ was the first battle of the Revolutionary War.

Answer 38

Lexington

Question 39

What happened when the British Army arrived in Concord?

Answer 39

When the British arrived in Concord, the arms and ammunition stored there were already gone. As the British Army marched back to Boston, they were attacked by the Minutemen from natural cover.

Unlike the British soldiers, the Minutemen were well trained to fight from cover from hunting experience.

Question 40

What were the results of the Battles of Lexington and Concord?

Answer 40

After the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the British Army retreated to Boston. As a result of the battles, American militiamen swarmed to join the ragtag forces besieging General Gage’s army.

The defeat of British regulars by informal militia provided a morale boost to the Americans.

Question 41

In May 1775, the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia. The Congress was divided into two factions.

Q: What were they?

Answer 41

The Second Continental Congress’ two factions:

1. One group, mainly from New England, advocated for immediate independence.
2. The other group, mainly from the Middle Colonies, sought to reconcile with the British: led by John Dickinson, this group convinced Congress to send the Olive Branch Petition.

Question 42

Complete the sentence:

The Second Continental Congress sought to restore peace with Great Britain by sending the ______ _____ Petition.

Answer 42

Olive Branch

An olive branch was an ancient symbol of peace.