American Revolution 2 Flashcards
Colonial experience and assemblies flahscards
Each of the British colonies had a colonial assembly with a charter and royal governor sanctioned by the crown. The local legislators would be elected by landowning men directly, but were subject to the governor’s veto power. This would incense American patriots who wished to have an assembly that was directly accountable to them, and did not prevent broader British legislation such as the unpopular Tea and Stamp Acts from being passed across the colonies.
Thomas Jefferson
*
* Enlightenment thinker, lawyer, and politician
* Opposed Coercive Acts using Enlightenment arguments about natural rights.
* Virginia delegate to the Second Continental Congress
* Drafted the Declaration of Independence
* United States minister to France 1785-1789
* Anti-Federalist who believed in strong states’ rights and a weak central government
Natural rights
An idea by John Lock that people are entailed to certain privileges and basic freedoms just because they exist.
Life – Everyone is entitled to live once they are created.
Liberty - Everyone is entitled to do anything they wish if it doesn’t conflict with the first right.
Estate - Everyone is entitled to own all they create or gain through gift or trade so long as it doesn’t conflict with the first two rights.
‘social contact’ theory, ‘that people have a right to revolt against a government that infringes on their ‘natural rights’.
Sons of liberty
Local groups who organised/engaged in protest the Stamp Act.
The group formed from a smaller of merchants.
No single sons of liberty group, separate revolutionary bodies across colonies.
Loyal nine
The Proclamation Act:
The Royal Proclamation Act was signed by King George III on 7th October 1763.
This Act followed the signing of Treaty of Paris, which ended the 7 years’ war and handed over French territory in North America to Great Britain.
The Proclamation Act prohibited American colonists from settling on lands acquired from the French following the French and Indian War through the Proclamation Line, this was drawn from the north in Maine and the South in Georgia. It was cut from the beginning of the Appalachian Mountain range.
The Coercive Acts
The Coercive Acts:
* Was Britain’s response to the radicals in Massuchusetts following the Boston Tea Party(Nov 1773)
* Was a series of ‘Coercive Acts’ released by P.M Lord North and were otherwise known as the Intolerable Acts
* Boston Port Act was the first, passaed on 30 March 1774. It closed the docks to private shipping outlawed deepsee fishing and constructed a blockade
* Massachusetts Gov. Act(20 May 1774)-Suspended colonial assembly, putting the area into Military rule under General Thomas Gage.
* Administration of Justice Act(20 May 1774)-Known as the ‘murder act’, it gave the governor power to extradite British soldiers charged with murder to England for trial. Protected them from violent mobs and biased judges.
* The mutiny act/quartering act was revised(2 June 1774)-Allowed governors to seize available buildings for the quartering of troops.
John Adams
John Adams
famous quotes:
“To be good, and to do good, is all we have to do.”
“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
“Virtue is not always amiable.”
“Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives.”
John Adams was a notorious political philosopher, member of the Continental Congress, diplomat, Founding Father, and the first Vice President of the United States from 1797-1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of the American Revolution that achieved independence from Great Britain.
Battles of Lexington and Concord
Battles of Lexington and Concord
On April 19th, 1775, the initial skirmishes from the battles of Lexington and Concord led to the beginning of the American Revolution. Massachusetts colonists defied British authority, outnumbered and outfought the Redcoats, and embarked on a lengthy war to earn their independence. This resulted in an American victory.
Representative Government
Representative Government:
A government where citizens elect people to represent them and make laws on their behalf, instead of voting individually for laws or other government actions.
Representative government was introduced in America after the creation of the new Constitution (1787).
The Daughters of Liberty
The Daughters of Liberty:
A female association formed in 1765 to protest the Stamp Act, and later the Townshend Acts. The Daughters of Liberty acted as a general term for women who identified themselves as fighting for liberty during the revolution.
George Washington
George Washington
George Washington is the commander in chief of the continental army during the American revolution, present at the first shot of the 7-year war.
He received a lot of dislike due to the loosing of the battles but continued in his post as the chief until the end of the war. Effecting both his reputation and his morale.
Elected as the president of the Philadelphia convention in 1787, he held a lot of influence over the constitution.
He was later, as predicted, elected as US president for 1789-1797 becoming the first president of the new country.
Patriots
Patriots
Patriots were known as revolutionary rebels, they were the colonists of the 13 colonies and rejected the British rule of the Colonies who supported the cause of independence against Britain.
Supporting the economic, social, and political boycotting of the British.
They were deeply supportive of military action against the British and the eventual establishment of the declaration of independence- leading to the strong divide of patriots and loyalists.
The First and Second Continental Congress
the first and second inter- continental congress
first:
it was called in Philadelphia, in September 1774 with representatives of 12 colonies
it was prompted by the coercive acts and was put in place after the British tried to tax the colonies
second
it was after the revolutionary war had already begun
it was to the steps of declaring Americans independence
Objection to taxation without Representation
Objection to Taxation without Representation:
Following John Dickinson’s “Letters from a farmer” in response to the Townsend Act (1767) which protested the injustice of harsh taxation from the British in the colonies. These letters influence Samuel Adams in the form of the “Circular Letter”, which stated 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; because they are not represented in the British Parliament”.
The Declaration of Independence
the declaration of independence
adopted by the continental congress on July 4th 1776
the 13 American colonies served their political connections to great Britain
the declaration summarized the colonists motivations for seeking independence
to ensure people have rights including: life, liberty and pursuit of happiness
