C5 Basic Knowledge Flashcards
revenue
Incoming money; what Britain needed to pay for the expense of the French and Indian war
resolution
a formal expression of opinion; the Virginia assembly passed a resolution that they were the only ones allowed to tax their people
boycott
an organised refusal to buy certain goods; what many colonists did to British and European goods
repeal
cancel; what Parliament did to the Stamp Act after much colonial protest
writs of assistance
1767; legal documents that allowed customs officers to enter any place to search for smuggled goods
effigy
rag figures; created representing tax collectors and then burned by Sons of Liberty groups in protest of the Stamp Act
non-importation
agreements in which merchants pledged not to buy or use goods imported from Britain
Stamp Act
a law passed in 1765 by Pariliament that placed a tax on nearly all printed materials, such as newspapers, wills, and playing cards; all printed materials required a stamp, was applied by a British official after the tax was paid
Patrick Henry
a member of the Virginia House of Burgessess who persuaded its members to take action against the Stamp Act, lead to a resolution by the assembly
Samuel Adams
helped start the Sons of Liberty group in Boston to protest the Stamp Act
propoganda
information made to influence public opinion; the colonial leaders used the Boston Massacre as this
committee of correspondence
an organization used in early protests against the British taxes; reformed by Samuel Adams in 1772
Stamp Act Congress
October 1765; delegates from nine colonies met in New York and drafted a petition to the king and Parliament declaring that only the colonial assemblies would tax the colonists
Crispus Attucks
the first to die in the Boston Massacre; a part African, part Native American dockworker; became a symbol of the injustice felt around the event
Boston Massacre
a violent encounter between a mob of colonists and British soldiers on March 5th, 1770; resulted in the death of five colonists and the wounding of
Tea Act
an act passed by Parliament in 1773 to save the East India Company; gave them a monopoly over tea trade in America; let them sell directly to shopkeepers and bypass colonial merchants
Boston Tea Party
December 16th, 1773; a response by the Boston Sons of Liberty to the royal governor’s order to unload three ships of tea; men disguised as Mohawks boarded the ships nad threw 342 chests of tea overboard
George III
the King of England; realized that Britain was losing control over the colonies and declared “we must master them or totally leave them alone”
Coercive Acts
harsh laws intended to punish Massachusetts for resisting the British rule; closed Boston Harbor until the colonists paid for the ruined tea, banned town meetings in New England, forced Bostonians to shelter soldiers; caused other colonies to sent food and clothing to Boston; known as the Intolerable Acts by the colonists
Quebec Act
set up a government for Quebec and gave it the area west of the Appalachians and north of the Ohio River, ignoring colonial claims there
Proclamation of 1763
set the Appalachain mountains as a temporary Western boundary for the colonists; angered colonists who owened land in these parts
militia
groups of civilians trained to fight in emergencies; formed around the colonies to fight British rule
minutemen
name of militia members who were known for rapidly arriving to duty
Loyalist
those who wished for the colonists to remain under the rule of Great Britain; known as Torys