Chapter 6 Flashcards
French residents of Nova Scotia, many of whom were uprooted by the British in 1755 and scattered as far south as Louisiana, where their descendants became known as “Cajuns.”
Acadians
Nine-year war between the British and the French in North America. It resulted in the expulsion of the French from the North American mainland and helped spark the wider Seven Years’ War in Europe and elsewhere.
French and Indian War
First global war, with battles on four continents, as France, England, Spain, Prussia, and other European powers clashed. Colonists called the North American portion of the conflict the “French and Indian War.” The resulting British debt and French resentment after the war both played a critical role in the coming of the American Revolution.
Seven Years’ War
Inter-colonial congress summoned by the British government to foster greater colonial unity and assure Iroquois support in the escalating war against the French.
Albany Congress
Trained professional soldiers, as distinct from militia or conscripts. During the French and Indian War, British generals, used to commanding experienced (these), often showed contempt for ill-trained colonial militiamen.
regulars
Historic British victory over French forces on the outskirts of (here). The surrender of (this) marked the beginning of the end of French rule in North America.
Battle of Québec
Bloody campaign waged by Ottawa chief Pontiac to drive the British out of Ohio Country. It was brutally crushed by British troops, who resorted to distributing blankets infected with smallpox as a means to put down the rebellion.
Pontiac’s War
Decree issued by Parliament in the wake of Pontiac’s War, prohibiting settlement beyond the Appalachians. Contributed to rising resentment of British rule in the American colonies.
Proclamation of 1763
Political theory of representative government, based on the principle of popular sovereignty, with a strong emphasis on liberty and civic virtue. Influential in eighteenth-century American political thought, it stood as an alternative to monarchical rule.
republicanism
Eighteenth-century British political commentators who agitated against political corruption and emphasized the threat to liberty posed by arbitrary power. Their writings shaped American political thought and made colonists especially alert to encroachments on their rights.
radical Whigs
Economic theory that closely linked a nation’s political and military power to its bullion reserves. Mercantilists generally favored protectionism and colonial acquisition as means to increase exports.
mercantilism
Duty on imported sugar from the West Indies. It was the first tax levied on the colonists by the crown and was lowered substantially in response to widespread protests.
Sugar Act
Required colonies to provide food and quarters for British troops. Many colonists resented the act, which they perceived as an encroachment on their rights.
Quartering Act
Widely unpopular tax on an array of paper goods, repealed in 1766 after mass protests erupted across the colonies. Colonists developed the principle of “no taxation without representation” that questioned Parliament’s authority over the colonies and laid the foundation for future revolutionary claims.
stamp tax
Used to try offenders for violating the various Navigation Acts passed by the crown after the French and Indian War. Colonists argued that the courts encroached on their rights as Englishmen because they lacked juries and placed the burden of proof on the accused.
admiralty courts
Assembly of delegates from nine colonies who met in New York City to draft a petition for the repeal of the Stamp Act. Helped ease sectional suspicions and promote intercolonial unity.
Stamp Act Congress
Boycotts against British goods adopted in response to the Stamp Act and, later, the Townshend and Intolerable Acts. The agreements were the most effective form of protest against British policies in the colonies.
nonimportation agreements
Patriotic groups that played a central role in agitating against the Stamp Act and enforcing nonimportation agreements. Patriotic groups that played a central role in agitating against the Stamp Act and enforcing nonimportation agreements.
Sons of Liberty
Patriotic groups that played a central role in agitating against the Stamp Act and enforcing nonimportation agreements. Patriotic groups that played a central role in agitating against the Stamp Act and enforcing nonimportation agreements.
Daughters of Liberty
Passed alongside the repeal of the Stamp Act, it reaffirmed Parliament’s unqualified sovereignty over the North American colonies.
Declaratory Act
External, or indirect, levies on glass, white lead, paper, paint, and tea, the proceeds of which were used to pay colonial governors, who had previously been paid directly by colonial assemblies. Sparked another round of protests in the colonies.
Townshend Acts
Clash between unruly Bostonian protestors and locally stationed British redcoats, who fired on the jeering crowd, killing or wounding eleven citizens.
Boston Massacre
Local committees established across Massachusetts, and later in each of the thirteen colonies, to coordinate colonial opposition to British policies through the exchange of letters and pamphlets.
committees of correspondence
Rowdy protest against the British East India Company’s newly acquired monopoly on the tea trade. Colonists, disguised as Indians, dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston harbor, prompting harsh sanctions from the British Parliament.
Boston Tea Party
