Chapter 7 - The Road to Revolution, 1763-1775

Question 1

Mercantilism

Answer 1

Mercantilism was the economic policy of Europe in the 1500s through 1700s. The government exercised control over industry and trade with the idea that national strength and economic security comes from exporting more than is imported. Possession of colonies provided countries both with sources of raw materials and markets for their manufactured goods. Great Britain exported goods and forced the colonies to buy them.

Question 2

Navigation Laws

Answer 2

1650, 1660, 1663, and 1696 - British regulations designed to protect British shipping from competition. Said that British colonies could only import goods if they were shipped on British-owned vessels and at least 3/4 of the crew of the ship were British.

Question 3

Salutary Neglect

Answer 3

Prime Minister Robert Walpole’s policy in dealing with the American colonies. He was primarily concerned with British affairs and believed that unrestricted trade in the colonies would be more profitable for England than would taxation of the colonies. Allowed us to become accustomed to being allowed to rule ourselves.

Question 4

John Hancock

Answer 4

American merchant, smuggler, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution

Question 5

George Grenville

Answer 5

As Prime Minister, he passed the Sugar Act in 1764 and the Stamp Act in 1765 to help finance the cost of maintaining a standing force of British troops in the colonies. He believed in reducing the financial burden on the British by enacting new taxes in the colonies.

Question 6

Sugar Act

Answer 6

1773 - Part of Prime Minister Grenville’s revenue program, the act replaced the Molasses Act of 1733, and actually lowered the tax on sugar and molasses (which the New England colonies imported to make rum as part of the triangular trade) from 6 cents to 3 cents a barrel, but for the first time adopted provisions that would insure that the tax was strictly enforced; created the vice-admiralty courts; and made it illegal for the colonies to buy goods from non-British Caribbean colonies.

Question 7

Quartering Act

Answer 7

March 24, 1765 - Required the colonials to provide food, lodging, and supplies for the British troops in the colonies.

Question 8

Stamp Act

Answer 8

March 22, 1765 - British legislation passed as part of Prime Minister Grenville’s revenue measures which required that all legal or official documents used in the colonies, such as wills, deeds and contracts, had to be written on special, stamped British paper. It was so unpopular in the colonies that it caused riots, and most of the stamped paper sent to the colonies from Britain was burned by angry mobs. Because of this opposition, and the decline in British imports caused by the non- importation movement, London merchants convinced Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act in 1766.

Question 9

Admiralty Courts

Answer 9

In these courts, British judges tried colonials in trials without juries.

Question 10

Virtual Representation

Answer 10

Virtual representation means that a representative is not elected by his constituents, but he resembles them in his political beliefs and goals. Actual representation mean that a representative is elected by his constituents. The colonies only had virtual representation in the British government.

Question 11

Stamp Act Congress

Answer 11

27 delegates from 9 colonies met from October 7-24, 1765, and drew up a list of declarations and petitions against the new taxes imposed on the colonies.

Question 12

Nonimportation Agreements

Answer 12

A movement under which the colonies agreed to stop importing goods from Britain in order to protest the Stamp Act.

Question 13

Homespun

Answer 13

Clothing produced in the colonies. These clothes were often rough and bland, but they were fashionable as a protest to the Stamp Act.

Question 14

Sons of Liberty

Answer 14

A radical political organization for colonial independence which formed in 1765 after the passage of the Stamp Act. They incited riots and burned the customs houses where the stamped British paper was kept. After the repeal of the Stamp Act, many of the local chapters formed the Committees of Correspondence which continued to promote opposition to British policies towards the colonies. The Sons leaders included Samuel Adams and Paul Revere.

Question 15

Declaratory Act

Answer 15

1766 - Accompanied the repeal of the Stamp Act. Reaffirmed the right of the British Parliament to pass laws in the colonies.

Question 16

Townshend Acts

Answer 16

1767 - Another series of revenue measures, passed by Townshend as Chancellor of the Exchequer, they taxed quasi-luxury items imported into the colonies, including paper, lead, tea, and paint. The colonial reaction was outrage and they instituted another movement to stop importing British goods.

Question 17

Boston Massacre

Answer 17

1770 - The colonials hated the British soldiers in the colonies because the worked for very low wages and took jobs away from colonists. On March 4, 1770, a group of colonials started throwing rocks and snowballs at some British soldiers; the soldiers panicked and fired their muskets, killing a few colonials. This outraged the colonies and increased anti-British sentiment.

Question 18

John Adams

Answer 18

A Massachusetts attorney and politician who was a strong believer in colonial independence. He argued against the Stamp Act and was involved in various patriot groups. As a delegate from Massachusetts, he urged the Second Continental Congress to declare independence. He helped draft and pass the Declaration of Independence. Adams later served as the second President of the United States.

Question 19

George III

Answer 19

Became King of England in 1760, and reigned during the American Revolution.

Question 20

Lord North

Answer 20

Prime Minister of England from 1770 to 1782. Although he repealed the Townshend Acts, he generally went along with King George III’s repressive policies towards the colonies even though he personally considered them wrong. He hoped for an early peace during the Revolutionary War and resigned after Cornwallis’ surrender in 1781.

Question 21

Samuel Adams

Answer 21

Member of the Sons of Liberty, and a leading revolutionary. His attempted arrest is what set off Lexington and Concord. Later was a noted anti-federalist.

Question 22

Committees of Correspondence

Answer 22

These started as groups of private citizens in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York who, in 1763, began circulating information about opposition to British trade measures. The first government-organized committee appeared in Massachusetts in 1764. Other colonies created their own committees in order to exchange information and organize protests to British trade regulations.

Question 23

British East India Company

Answer 23

British East India Company

Question 24

Boston Tea Party

Answer 24

1773 - British ships carrying tea sailed into Boston Harbor and refused to leave until the colonials took their tea. Boston was boycotting the tea in protest of the Tea Act and would not let the ships bring the tea ashore. Finally, on the night of December 16, 1773, colonists disguised as Indians boarded the ships and threw the tea overboard. They did so because they were afraid that Governor Hutchinson would secretly unload the tea because he owned a share in the cargo.

Question 25

Boston Port Act

Answer 25

1774 - This was one of the Coercive Acts, which shut down Boston Harbor until Boston repaid the East India Company for the lost tea.

Question 26

Massachusetts Government Act

Answer 26

1774 - This was another of the Coercive Acts, which said that members of the Massachusetts assembly would no longer be elected, but instead would be appointed by the king. In response, the colonists elected a their own legislature which met in the interior of the colony.

Question 27

Administration of Justice Act

Answer 27

This was another of the Coercive Acts, which removed the power of colonial courts to arrest royal officers.

Question 28

Quartering Act of 1774

Answer 28

1774 - This was another of the Coercive Acts, which required the colony to provide provisions for British soldiers

Question 29

Quebec Act

Answer 29

1774 - The Quebec Act, passed by Parliament, alarmed the colonies because it recognized the Roman- Catholic Church in Quebec. Some colonials took it as a sign that Britain was planning to impose Catholicism upon the colonies.

Question 30

First Continental Congress

Answer 30

The First Continental Congress met to discuss their concerns over Parliament’s dissolution of the New York (for refusing to pay to quarter troops), Massachusetts (for the Boston Tea Party), and Virginia Assemblies. The First Continental Congress rejected the plan for a unified colonial government, stated grievances against the crown called the Declaration of Rights, resolved to prepare militias, and created the Continental Association to enforce a new non-importation agreement through Committees of Vigilance. In response, in February, 1775, Parliament declared the colonies to be in rebellion.

Question 31

Declaration of Rights

Answer 31

A list of grievances against the British government created by the First Continental Congress.

Question 32

The Association

Answer 32

Created by the First Continental Congress, it enforced the non-importation of British goods by empowering local Committees of Vigilance in each colony to fine or arrest violators. It was meant to pressure Britain to repeal the Coercive Acts.

Question 33

Tar and Feathers

Answer 33

Common punishment for people who did not abide by non-importation agreements, stamp collectors, or others who ran afoul of the patriot cause.

Question 34

Minute Men

Answer 34

Name for the colonial militias in the small towns in the northern colonies. They were named this because they could be ready to fight within minutes.

Question 35

Lexington and Concord

Answer 35

1774 - General Gage, stationed in Boston, was ordered by King George III to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock. The British marched on Lexington, where they believed the colonials had a cache of weapons. The colonial militias, warned beforehand by Paul Revere and William Dawes, attempted to block the progress of the troops and were fired on by the British at Lexington. The British continued to Concord, where they believed Adams and Hancock were hiding, and they were again attacked by the colonial militia. As the British retreated to Boston, the colonials continued to shoot at them from behind cover on the sides of the road. This was the start of the Revolutionary War.

Question 36

Hessians

Answer 36

The term “Hessians” refers to the approximately 30,000 German troops hired by the British to help fight during the American Revolution.

Question 37

Tories

Answer 37

Name given to the colonists who remained loyal to the British crown. Roughly 25% of the colonies considered themselves loyal British subjects.

Question 38

George Washington

Answer 38

He had led troops (rather unsuccessfully) during the French and Indian War, and had surrendered Fort Necessity to the French. He was appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, and was much more successful in this second command.

Question 39

Ben Franklin

Answer 39

Spent the early war years in the French court trying to get the French to agree to an alliance with the colonists. After the Battle of Saratoga, the French decided to give us their support.

Question 40

Marquis de Lafayette

Answer 40

Marquis de Lafayette was a French major general who aided the colonies during the Revolutionary War. He and Baron von Steuben (a Prussian general) were the two major foreign military experts who helped train the colonial armies.

Question 41

Continentals

Answer 41

Name given to the paper money printed by the Continental Congress. Inflation was a constant problem, and many businesses refused to accept it due to its deprecation.

Question 42

Valley Forge

Answer 42

Valley Forge was not a battle; it was the site where the Continental Army camped during the winter of 1777- ’78, after its defeats at the Battles of the Brandywine and Germantown. The Continental Army suffered further casualties at Valley Forge due to cold and disease. Washington chose the site because it allowed him to defend the Continental Congress if necessary, which was then meeting in York, Pennsylvania after the British capture of Philadelphia.

Question 43

Baron von Steuben

Answer 43

A Prussian general who helped to train the Continental Army

Question 44

Continental Army

Answer 44

Name of the army of the colonists under the control of George Washington.