American Revolution Flashcards
(134 cards)
1
Q
(Statistics) French and Indian War
A
10 000 British soldiers were sent to America to fight the French and Indian War.
2
Q
(Historical evidence) Royal Proclamation of 1763 - George Washington
A
The royal proclamation was a “temporary expedient”.
3
Q
(Historical interpretation) Colonist reaction to British victory in French and Indian War - Carol Berkin
A
“In the mainland colonies, people lit bonfires and stated parades to celebrate Britain’s victory and the safety of their borders.”
4
Q
(Historical perspective) Writs of Assistance - James Otis
A
The writs were “against the fundamental principles of law” and were an overt breach of “English Rights” that dated back to Magna Carta.
5
Q
(Historical perspective) Colonial perspective of writs - Massachusetts Assembly
A
“The civil rights of the colonies are affected by it, by their being deprived, in all cases of seizures, of that inestimable privilege and characteristics of English liberty.”
6
Q
(Historical perspective) Writs of Assistance - Samuel Adams
A
“The child independence was then and there born… ready to take up arms against the writs of assistance.”
7
Q
(Historical perspective) Sugar Act - John Adams
A
“Molasses were an essential ingredient in American independence.”
8
Q
(Historical interpretation) Sugar Act - John Findling and Frank Thackery
A
The Sugar Act was “the point when British colonial policy regarding the North American colonies altered.”
9
Q
(Statistics) British debt from the French and Indian War
A
Britain incurred a deficit of 130 million pounds during the French and Indian War.
10
Q
(Historical perspective) Colonial scrip - George Washington
A
“In the colonies, we make our own money. It is called colonial scrip. We issue it in proper proportion to the demands of trade and industry… in this manner, creating for ourselves our own paper money, we control its purchasing power and have no interest to pay no one.”
11
Q
(Historical interpretation) Reaction to the Currency Act - Marc Egnal and Joseph Ernst
A
“The reaction to the Currency Act… reflected a new and extreme phase of a long struggle of this aspect of economic sovereignty.”
12
Q
(Statistics) Revenue generated from stamp duties
A
Stamp duties were predicted to generate 60 000 pounds.
13
Q
(Statistics) Stamp Act voting proportions
A
In the House of Commons, the Stamp Act was repealed on a 276 to 168 vote, in a 105 to 71 vote in the House of Lords.
14
Q
(Historical perspective) Taxation on the colonies - Thomas Hutchinson
A
“It cannot be good to tax the Americans… you will lose more than you gain.”
15
Q
(Historical perspective) Stamp Act - George Washington
A
“The Stamp Act imposed on the colonies by the Parliament of Great Britain is an ill-judged measure. Parliament has no right to put its hands into our pockets without our consent.”
16
Q
(Historical evidence) Rights of king and parliament - Declaratory Act
A
The king and parliament “had, hath, and of right ought to have, full power and authority to make laws and statutes… to bind the colonies and people of America in all cased whatsoever.”
17
Q
(Historical interpretation) Declaratory Act - Randall Miller
A
“The Declaratory Act… among other events, combined to persuade many Americans that the English ministry regarded the colonies with contempt.”
18
Q
(Historical interpretation) Stamp Act Crisis - Alan Taylor
A
“The Stamp Act Crisis taught the colonists… the three forms of resistance: protest resolutions by elite writers, violent intimidation by common mobs, and economic boycotts by everyone.”
19
Q
(Statistics) Duties collected under the Townshend Act
A
Duties collected under the Townshend Act were estimated to be around 40 000 pounds annually.
20
Q
(Historical evidence) Circular Letter
A
“It is [the colonists’] humble opinion, which they express with the greatest deference to the wisdom of the parliament, that the acts made there imposing duties on the people of this province, with the sole and express purpose of raising revenue, are infringements of their natural and constitutional rights.”
21
Q
(Statistics) Soldiers stationed in Boston
A
2 000 soldiers were stationed in Boston, where the population was just over 15 000.
22
Q
(Statistics) Boston massacre
A
Over 300 common people were present at the Boston massacre, where 5 of whom were killed.
23
Q
(Historical perspective) Nickname for British soldiers
A
Soldiers were called “lobsterbacks” in Boston because of their red coats.
24
Q
(Historical perspective) Provoking crowds in Boston Massacre - Patrick Carr (victim who would later die)
A
Attested that he was “a native of Ireland, [and that he] had frequently seen mobs and soldiers called upon to quell them… [he had seen] soldiers often fire on the people in Ireland but [had] never seen them bear half so much before they fired in his life.”
25
(Historical perspective) Cause of Boston Massacre - Benjamin Franklin
"The madness of mobs or the insolence of soldiers, or both, when too near to each other, occasion some mischief."
26
(Historical interpretation) Colonial view of British soldiers - Dean Martin
"The citizens viewed the British soldiers as potential oppressors, competitors for jobs, and a threat to social mores."
27
(Statistics) Chests of Tea (Boston Tea Party)
342 chests of tea were dumped in the water on 16th December 1773
28
(Statistics) Worth of tea in Boston Tea Party
The tea was worth a staggering 10 000 pounds sterling.
29
(Historical perspective) Imported tea name
Imported tea was called "the king's brew"
30
(Historical perspective) Witness on December 16 - George Hewes
"During the time we were throwing the tea overboard there were several attempts made by some of the citizens of Boston and its vicinity to carry off small quantities of it for their family use."
31
(Historical perspective) Name used in reference to the raiding of ships
"Tea dunking" was used in reference to the raiding to tea ships.
32
(Historical perspective) Raiding of ships - Benjamin Franklin
The raiding of ships was "an act of violent injustice."
33
(Historical interpretation) Coercive Acts - Gordon Wood
"These acts convinced Americans that parliament had no right to make laws for them."
34
(Historical interpretation) Justification for British actions - Alan Taylor
"Patriots regarded the British as powerful aggressors imposing their dominion, but leading Britons acted from fear for the security of their vulnerable empire."
35
(Statistic) 1774 militiamen numbers
In 1774, there were only 17 000 militiamen available for combat.
36
(Historical evidence) Quebec Act provisions
The Quebec Act radically expanded the French occupied territory across the Great Lakes and south to the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, becoming nearly three times larger than it was previously.
37
(Historical interpretation) Revolutionaries and their land ventures - Alan Taylor
"The roll call of Virginia revolutionary leaders was also the roll call of Virginia speculators in western lands... Richard Henry Lee... George Washington... Thomas Jefferson... [and] Patrick Henry... [all saw] land ventures disappear like smoke."
38
(Historical interpretation) Quebec Act - Charles Metzger
"The Quebec Act was an important factor in the spread of revolutionary sentiment beyond Massachusetts."
39
(Historical interpretation) Virginia speculator class - John Greiner
"The Virginia speculator class had a voracious appetite for land."
40
(Historical interpretation) Freedom and land - William Hart
"Unencumbered access to land lay at the core of American freedom."
41
(Statistic) Continental Congress membership numbers
The Continental Congress comprised of 55 men from 12 colonies.
42
(Historical evidence) Importation boycott - Extract from Articles of Association
"After the first day of December next, we will not import into British America, from Great-Britain or Ireland, any goods, wares, or merchandise whatsoever..."
43
(Statistic) Battle of Lexington and Concord causalities
130 people died during the conflict at Lexington and Concord.
44
(Historical perspective) Orders given to militia at Battle of Lexington and Concord - Captain John Parker
"Don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here."
45
(Statistic) Copies of Common Sense sold
1 000 copies of Common Sense were sold within the first two weeks of its publication, with as many as 100 000 copies sold by the end of 1776.
46
(Statistic) Loyalist proportion of the American population
Loyalists made up 19% of the American population.
47
(Historical evidence) Justification of revolutionary war - Extract from the Olive Branch Petition
"Your Majesty's Ministers... have compelled us to arm in our own defence, and have engaged us in a controversy so peculiarly abhorrent to the affections of your still faithful Colonists... [that we wonder] what may be the consequences."
48
(Historical evidence) Plea to Britain - Extract from the Olive Branch Petition
"We beg leave further to assure your Majesty that notwithstanding the sufferings of your loyal colonists during the course of the present controversy, our breasts retain too tender a regard for the kingdom from which we derive our origin to request such a reconciliation as might in any manner be inconsistence with her dignity or her welfare."
49
(Historical evidence) Rights of the Americans - Extract from the Declaration of Independence
"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government."
50
(Historical evidence) Arguments - Common Sense
Paine's Common Sense argues "of more worth is one honest man to society than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived", before denouncing George III as a "royal brute" with "blood on his soul".
51
(Historical perspective) Ideological change - John Adams
"A radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution."
52
(Historical interpretation)
Thomas Paine - Alan Taylor
"Thomas Paine relocated sovereignty away from a royal family to the collective people of a new nation."
53
(Historical interpretation) Continuity in the Revolution - Daniel Boorstin
"The Revolution itself had been a kind of affirmation in ancient British institutions. In the institution life of the American community the Revolution thus required no basic change... trial by jury, due process of law, representation before taxation... independence of the judiciary, and the rights of free speech, petition and free assembly."
54
(Historical interpretation) Revolutionary movement - Daniel Boorstin
"The revolutionary movement was a campaign to protect, bolster, and re-energise British rights and traditions."
55
(Historical interpretation) Role of individuals in independence - Gordon Wood
"The Declaration was a committee report, and Jefferson was simply the draftsmen. [John] Adams's crucial role in bringing about independence in the Continental Congress has tended to be forgotten."
56
(Historical interpretation) English Constitution - Gordon Wood
"They revolted not against the English Constitution but on behalf of it."
57
(Historical interpretation) Popular movements - Edward Countryman
"Crowds or mobs or popular uprisings were central to public of colonial and revolutionary America. By itself, no single riot can ever make a revolution... rioting was often defensive. It was the act of the people who wanted to restore or protect something good, not of people who were driven by a vision of change."
58
(Historical interpretation) Colonial motivations in 1775 - Pauline Maier
"Throughout 1775 every Congressional petition, address or declaration insisted that despite provocations, the colonists sought a settlement of their differences with the mother country, not independence."
59
(Historical interpretation) Reaction to neutrality - James Volo
"Many persons who wishes to remain neutral were driven from their homes in the countryside by the more radical elements."
60
(Historical interpretation) Loyalty to the crown - Claude Van Tyne
"Even among the masses, this traditional love of kingship had to be reckoned with and combated. Loyalty was the normal condition, the state that had existed and did exist; it was the Patriots who must do the converting."
61
(Historical interpretation) Power of ideology - Howard Zinn
"The ruling class found, in the 1760s and 177ps, a wonderfully useful device. That device was the language of liberty and equality."
62
(Historical evidence) Creation of the weak central government - Article Two of the Article of Confederation ****
"Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled."
63
(Historical evidence) Privileges of citizens - Article Four of th Article of Confederation
"Free inhabitants of each of these States... shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of free citizens... and the people of each State shall have free [entry to and exit from] any other State, and shall enjoy therein all the privileges of trade and commerce."
64
(Historical interpretation) Articles of Confederation - Merill Jensen
"The fact that the Articles... were supplanted by another constitution is no proof either of their success or of their failure. Any valid opinion as to their merits must be based on a detailed and unbiased study of the confederation period."
65
(Historical interpretation) Weak central government - Albert Bushnell Hart
"The first and fundamental defect of the government was in the organisation of Congress. The Continental Congress has been a head without a body; under the Articles of the Confederation, Congress was a body without a head. A single assembly continued to be the source of all national legislative, executive and judicial power."
66
(Historical interpretation) Articles of Confederation - Alan Taylor
" The Articles built an alliance of states rather than a cohesive nation."
67
(Statistic) Continental Army casualties at Trenton
The Continental Army only lost 4 soldiers at Trenton, with 2 dying of cold when crossing the Delaware River.
68
(Statistic) Delaware River crossing and Hessian troops
Almost 1 000 Hessian soldiers were captured, injured, or killed by the Continental Army when the Delaware River was crossed.
69
(Statistic) Valley Forge
11 000 people camped at Valley Forge, 2 500 of which died.
70
(Statistic) Soldier mutiny in Morristown
On January 1 1781, 1 500 Pennsylvanian soldiers stormed the Continental Army in Morristown to demand their service come to an end. They killed 3 officers.
71
(Statistic) American POWs
American prisoners of war were kept in ships - one of which was the HMS Jersey. Up to 8 prisoners died in the ship daily as a result of starvation, disease, or abuse.
72
(Statist) British and Hessian casualties
30 000 British and 7 000 Hessian soldiers died during the war, most of them from disease.
73
(Statistic) French assistance to America
By 1783, France would send the Americans 48 million pounds (1.4 billion USD today) worth of military supplies and equipment.
74
(Statistic) Percentage of French supplied arms in Saratoga campaign
Estimates place the percentage of French supplied arms to the Americans in the Saratoga campaign at up to 90%.
75
(Historical evidence) - Extract from Paine's The American Crisis
"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."
76
(Historical perspective) Conditions at Valley Forge - Albigence Waldo, a citizen encamped at Valley Forge.
"I am sick, my feet lame, my legs are sore, my body covered with this tormenting itch, my clothes are work out, my constitution is broken."
77
(Historical perspective) Soldiers of the Continental Army - George Washington
The soldiers of the Continental Army were "loose, disorderly, and unsoldierlike".
78
(Historical perspective) Treaty of Paris - John Adams
John Adams regarded the Treaty of Paris as "one of the most important political events that ever happened on the globe."
79
(Historical interpretation) Washington's war tactic - Alan Taylor
"By waging a war of attrition, Washington sought to wear down a better-equipped and better-trained foe."
80
(Historical interpretation) Significant battles - Howard Zinn
"The Americans lost the first battles of the war... they won small battles at Trenton and Princeton, and then in a turning point, a big battle at Saratoga."
81
(Historical interpretation) Soldier mutinies - Terry Bouton
"Soldier and officers went without pay, promoting troops to mutiny and restive officers to quietly threaten the new government."
82
(Historical interpretation) Washington's contribution to revolutionary success - David McCullough
"Without Washington's leadership and unrelenting perseverance, the revolution almost certainly would have failed."
83
(Historical interpretation) The Treaty of Paris - Samuel Flag Bemis
The Treaty of Paris was "the greatest victory in the annals of American Diplomacy."
84
(Statistic) Paper currency in June 1775
$2 million worth of paper currency was issued in June 1775.
85
(Statistic) Paper currency by the end of 1775
An additional $4 million of paper currency was issued by the end of 1775.
86
(Statistic) Banknotes circulated by end of 1779
$242 million worth of banknotes were in circulation by the end of 1779.
87
(Statistic) Soldiers' payments
Soldiers' payments were raised to $750 from $800 during the war to placate them.
88
(Statistic) Mid-1780 state expenditure
During the mid-1780s, states devoted two thirds of their expenditure to paying interest to public creditors.
89
(Historical evidence) Extract from the Newburgh petition
"Our distresses are now brought to a point. We have borne all that men can bear. Our property is expended, our private resources are at an end and our friends are wearied out and disgusted with our [constant appeals for help]."
90
(Historical interpretation) Newburgh conspiracy - John Phillip Resch
The meeting at Newburgh "reinforced population perceptions that the Continental Army, like all regular armies, was... corrupt, that it threatened liberty and that it deserved to be treated as a necessary evil."
91
(Historical interpretation) American trade network - Alan Taylor
"Patriot leaders had hoped that independence would bring greater prosperity through free trade with the rest of the world... in retrospect, operating within the British trade network as colonies seemed better than exclusion from it."
92
(Historical interpretation) Foreign trade - Alan Taylor
"Without a national government, Americans could not secure reciprocity in foreign trade."
93
(Statistic) Enslaved people in Pennsylvania
Between 1730 and 1790, the ratio of Pennsylvanians who were slaves to citizens fell from 1:11 to 1:30.
94
(Statistic) Slaves in northern states
Less than 20% of all slaves in America lived in northern states.
95
(Statistic) Distribution of slaves
Over 50% of all slaves in America lived in Virginia and Maryland.
96
(Statistic) Slave population in Virginia
Virginia had over 280 000 slaves in the early 1780s - one third of its population.
97
(Statistic) Shay's Rebellion
Shays led 1 200 men in January 1787 in an attack in Springfield.
98
(Historical evidence) Excerpt from Shay's petition to General Benjamin Lincoln
"Unwilling to be an accessory to the shedding of blood and greatly desirous of restoring peace and harmony to this convulsed Commonwealth, we propose that all troops... be disbanded."
99
(Historical perspective) Federalist Papers - Alexander Hamilton
Hamilton wrote in the Federalist Papers that the new Union would be able to "repress domestic faction and insurrection" in reference to Shay's Rebellion.
100
(Historical perspective) Importance of rebellions - Thomas Jefferson
"A little rebellion now and then is a good thing... they are a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."
101
(Historical interpretations) Native tribes - Celia Barnes
Native tribes felt that "their friend and protector, the British king, had not merely forgotten them in the negotiations; he had actually given away their land to his enemies, the Americans."
102
(Historical interpretation) Emancipation - Edgar McManus
"Emancipation was blocked by a majority that feared Negro power more than it desired Negro freedom."
103
(Historical interpretation) Shay's Rebellion and anti-federalism - David Szatmary
"Shaysite anti-federalism represented an attempt to save a way of life from the penetrating edges of a commercial society."
104
(Historical interpretation) Shay's Rebellion - David Szatmary
"The crisis atmosphere engendered by rural discontent strengthened the resolve of the nationalists and shocked some reluctant localists into accepting a stronger national government."
105
(Historical interpretation) Shay's Rebellion - Marion Starkley
"Shay's Rebellion did bear some resemblance to a class war."
106
(Historian interpretation) Treatment of Native Americans - Howard Zinn
"With the British out of the way, the Americans could begin the inexorable process of pushing Indians off their lands, killing them if they resisted."
107
(Historical interpretation) Imperialism and the Revolution - Francis Jennings
"The white Americans were fighting against British imperial control in the East and for their own imperialism in the West."
108
(Historical interpretation) Priority of revolutionary leaders - William Freehling
"In the short run, the Founder's concerns for creating and preserving a union... preventing them from aggressively pursuing emancipation."
109
(Historical interpretation) Revolution outcome - William Freehling
"The Revolution willed to posterity a crippled, restricted, peculiar institution."
110
(Historical interpretation) Slavery - Ira Berlin
"The war for independence and the revolutionary conflict it spawned throughout the Atlantic gave slaves new leverage in their struggle with their owners... the shock of the Revolution profoundly altered slavery."
111
(Historical perspective) Great Compromise - Benjamin Franklin
"If a proportional representation takes place, the small States contend that their liberties will be in danger. If an equality of votes is to be put in place, the large States say their money will be in danger... Both sides must part with some of their demands, in order that they may join in some accommodating proposition."
112
(Historical evidence) Article II of the Constitution
"The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America... [he] shall be commander-in-chief of the Army and the Navy."
113
(Historical perspective) Purpose of the Philadelphia Convention - George Washington
Washington described the purpose of the Philadelphia Convention as "probing the defects of the Constitution to the bottom, and providing radical cures."
114
(Historical perspective) Tyranny and the Philadelphia Convention - Patrick Henry
"The tyranny of Philadelphia may be like the tyranny of George III."
115
(Historical perspective) Purpose of the Senate - Edmund Randolph
The purpose of the Senate is "keeping up the balance, and to restrain, if possible, the fury of democracy."
116
(Historical interpretation) Popular majority - Alan Taylor
"From a close study of state politics, Madison concluded that a popular majority could act as tyrannically as any king."
117
(Historical interpretation) Great Compromise - Alan Taylor
"Under the compromise, the House of Representatives would be a national institution while the senate would reflect a federal logic."
118
(Historical evidence) Constitution - Excerpt from the first Federalist Paper.
"You are called upon the deliberate on a new Constitution for the United States of America. The subject speaks its own importance; comprehending in its consequences nothing less than the existence of the Union, the safety and welfare of the parts of which it is composed."
119
(Historical perspective) Anti-Federalist argument for liberty - Patrick Henry
"We are descended from a people whose government was founded on liberty; our glorious forefathers of Great Britain made liberty the foundation of everything. That country is a great, mighty and splendid nation, not because their government is strong and energetic, but because liberty is its direct end."
120
(Historical perspective) Opposition to a bill of rights - Alexander Hamilton
Under the Constitution the "people surrender noting, and as they retain everything, they had no need of particular reservations."
121
(Historical perspective) Constitution - John Quincy Adams
The federal constitution "had been extorted from the grinding necessity of a reluctant nation."
122
(Historical interpretation) Federalist priority - James Ely
"Economic reform was a major Federalist priority. Supporters of the Constitution blamed inadequate government under the Articles of Confederation for loss of credit, lower land values and decay of commerce during the 1780s."
123
(Historical interpretation) Articles of Confederation - Joseph Murray
"The Anti-Federalists agreed that the Articles of Confederation had weaknesses and flaws but thought that they could be solved with amendments to existing articles."
124
(Historical interpretation) Ratification - John Vile
"The ratification process divided the country almost as strongly as had the earlier fight for independence."
125
(Historical interpretation) Anti-Federalists - Alan Taylor
"Anti-Federalists pointe out that the constitution created a national government with greater power than Britain had ever exercised over the colonists."
126
(Historical interpretation) Anti-Federalist weakness - Alan Taylor
"Dispersed and disconnected, the Anti-Federalists never coalesced into an organised opposition."
127
(Historical interpretation) Federalist beliefs - Henry Steele Commager
"Federalists believed that the slogans of 1776 were outmoded; that Americans needed integration not state rights; that the immediate peril was not tyranny but disorder and dissolution; that the right to tax was essential to any government."
128
(Historical evidence) Name for newly imported slaves.
Newly imported salves were referred to as "fresh slaves".
129
(Historical interpretation) Experience of women - Gordon Wood
"Republicanism also enhanced the status of women. It was now said that women, as wives and mothers, had a special role in cultivating in their husbands and children the moral feeling - virtue and social affection - necessary to hold... a competitive republican society together. [Yet] at the same time that distinct domestic usefulness was being urged on women, they were becoming more economically important and independent."
130
(Historical interpretation) Constitution and slavery - Edward Countryman
"The Constitution neither strengthened nor undermined slavery; faced a fundamental problem; the delegates chose to avert their gaze."
131
(Historical interpretation) George Washington - Steve Thompson
"Indeed the men who crafted the presidency did so with Washington in mind."
132
(Historical interpretation) George Washington - Ernest Breisach
Washington became the "personification of the virtues the young republic wished its citizens to have."
133
(Historical interpretation) George Washington - Alan Taylor
"Confidence in Washington as the anticipated first president promoted the creation of such a strong office."
134
(Historical interpretation) Bill of Rights - Alan Taylor
"Madison's amendments protected only the free, leaving untouched the slavery suffered by the fifth of the American people."
