"Acting" Out
Act by the British that was designed to reduce the cost of protecting settlers by limiting their contact with Native Americans. All settlers could not settle west of the Appalachian Mountains. Also, those already living on the wrong side of the line were to “remove themselves forthwith.”
What is the Proclamation Act of 1763?
Defended the British soldiers during the Boston Massacre trial, but later became a huge advocate for American Independence.
Who Is John Adams?
Author of the Declaration of Independence, he proclaimed that "all men were created equal" yet he held slaves.
Who is Thomas Jefferson?
While technically a British victory(Americans had to retreat due to lack of ammunition) it was a moral victory for the Americans because while 140 minutemen were killed, 226 British were killed.
What is Bunker Hill?
A protest group formed by colonial women, supported a boycott of British goods and also urged colonists to use “homespun” cloth instead of British manufactured cloth.
What is the Daughters of Liberty?
“Knowing, to what violent resentments and incurable animosities, civil discords are apt to exasperate and inflame the contending parties, we think ourselves required by indispensable obligations to Almighty God, to your Majesty, to our fellow subjects, and to ourselves, immediately to use all the means in our power not incompatible with our safety, for stopping the further effusion of blood, and for averting the impending calamities that threaten the British Empire.”
What is the Olive Branch Petition?
This Act required that colonists helped support the several thousand British troops stationed in the colonies. Upon demand, colonists were to provide barracks, candles, bedding, and beverages to soldiers stationed in their area.
What is the Quartering Act?
A renowned moderate, he declared,"To escape the protection of Great Britain by declaring independence, unprepared as we are, would be to brave a storm in a skiff made of paper."
Who is John Dickinson?
This man (and his pamphlet) used forceful language to persuade Americans that they owed no loyalty to the king of Great Britain because all monarchies were evil. It would later influence the ideas in the Declaration of Independence.
Name the man and the pamphlet
Who is Thomas Paine and what is 'Common Sense'?
The battle where General George Washington staged a surprise attack on Hessian and British soldiers by crossing the Delaware on Christmas Day evening and attacking them in the morning. The Americans won in only 45 minutes.
What is the Battle of Trenton?
Unrestricted general search warrants, which let the British search anyone, their homes, or their possessions anytime, anyplace, anywhere.
What are Writs of Assistance?
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."
What is the Declaration of independence?
Name 3 terms of the Stamp Act.
It taxed all legal documents, almanacs, newspapers, pamphlets, dice, and playing cards.
• While not particularly costly, the Stamp Act sparked intense anger, because it was highly visible, and the stamps could not be over-looked and it was harder to avoid paying for the tax than the Sugar and Molasses Acts.
• Even more concerning for the colonists was the consequence for violating the Stamp Act. Violators of the act would not face a jury of sympathetic colonial jurors, but instead would be tried in British Vice Admiralty Courts, usually reserved for military laws broken at sea. Using the Admiralty Courts for domestic cases threatened their liberties.
Name 3 things Baron Von Stueben did to help the Continental army.
What are:
• 1) Taught them to drill. • 2) Taught them to maneuver. • 3) Taught them to use bayonets. • 4) Improved sanitation in the camps. 5) Improved camp layout arrangement.
Name and describe the 3 main parts of the Declaration of Independence.
What are:
Section 1:Preamble-Introduction-explains reasons for separating from Great Britain. Also mentions that people have "Unalienable rights."
Section 2: List of grievances against the king.
Section 3: Officially establishes that they are a new independent nation, with the power to make war, establish alliances and trade with whomever they wanted, etc.
Name 3 reasons why the Battle of Saratoga was considered the "turning point" for the Americans in the Revolutionary War.
What are:
1) It eliminated the British threat from the north forcing them to direct their energies to the south.
2)It removed an entire British army from action.
3) BECAUSE FRANCE AGREES TO HELP THE AMERICANS!
Describe the policy of admittance of African- Americans as soldiers during the Revolutionary War.
Blacks, slave and free, tended to support the Patriot cause. • Some black veterans of the French and Indian War enrolled as minutemen. (Some fought at Ticonderoga, Bunker Hill and Lexington and Concord.) • As much as able-bodied soldiers of any color were wanted, the participation of blacks worried the Continental Congress that blacks who were slaves would be encouraged to revolt or expect their freedom. • In Nov. 1775, George Washington(getting pressure from other generals) and Congress barred black soldiers from enlisting in the Continental army. That same month, the British stepped up efforts to recruit blacks, promising slaves and indentured servants freedom to any who served in the British army. • In January 1777, the British recruitment of blacks forced Congress and the Continental army to reconsider their position, and they began to re-enlist them.
“Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one…”
What is Common Sense?
This Act prohibited colonists from issuing any more paper money and demanded they recall all paper money in circulation. Also, taxes and debts owed to British merchants needed to be paid in British silver currency.
What is the Currency Act?
Helped negotiate an alliance with France, helped edit the Declaration of Independence, and known for saying, "We must indeed all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately."
Who is Benjamin Franklin?
The meaning of "Unalienable rights" and 3 examples of each.
What are:
1) Unalienable rights are rights that one is born with that cannot be taken away or denied by humans.
Ex: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
The final battle where the Americans trapped Cornwallis on the peninsula. He and his troops were surrounded on 3 sides by the Continental army. The French fleet arrived 6 hours before the British fleet and blocked Cornwallis' escape.
What is Yorktown?
Name 4 different roles women had during the Revolutionary War.
Women played important roles in the Revolutionary War. They were: – nurses – cooks – Spies – Soldiers(in secret) Deborah Sampson and Sally St. Clair • One of the most famous was Molly Pitcher, who took her husband’s place when he fell in the Battle of Monmouth. She kept the cannon firing! When the men were off fighting in the war, they maintained the farms, ran businesses, and helped produce the guns and cannons used to fight the war!
"...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 to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
What is the Declaration of Independence?
In response to the Boston Tea Party and rebellion by the Americans, the British passed the Coercive Acts(Intolerable Acts). Name 5 terms of the Intolerable Acts.
What are:
1) It closed the port of Boston to all trade.
2) Revoked Massachusetts charter which in essence prohibited local legislature and courts from holding session thus denying self governance.
3) Military rule/Martial law was imposed on Massachusetts, and General Gage, the commander of all the British troops in North America, is named governor of the colony.
4) Town meetings were forbidden.
5) More British troops were sent to reinforce the Acts.
6) Quartering Act is revived and any and all troops could use any private residence to house their soldiers.
7) Any crimes committed by British soldiers while enforcing the Acts would be tried in Britain.
Name 3 qualities that made George Washington a good commander in chief of the Continental Army.
(Answers may vary)
What are:
1) Soldiers respected his leadership abilities.
2) The Continental Congress trusted his dedication to the colonial cause.
3) His southern background broadened support for what had earlier been seen as just a New England War.
4) He wasn't afraid to use "the element of surprise"
5) He had his soldiers inoculated for the small pox virus to prevent the spread of the disease.
6) He put up a lot of his own money to finance the army.
Name the major states that were reluctant to declare independence before the final vote and their reasons.
What are:
New York(Was under siege and under major British occupation including Hessians)
South Carolina (Didn't want to vote for independence unless it was unanimous)
Pennsylvania (Dickinson thought Americans would lose in a bloody war.)
When news spread that colonials were storing a warehouse full weapons and powder, the British went to confiscate it and arrest rebels such as Sam Adams and John Hancock. This led to the "shot heard 'round the world", and 3,000 minutemen ambushing British soldiers.
What are Lexington and Concord?
Name 3 advantages and disadvantages the British had in the Revolutionary War, and 3 advantages and disadvantages the Americans had during the war.
British Advantages ☺ in the War
1. Well-trained army and biggest navy in the world with generals with a wide range of experiences. 2. Soldiers were well-trained and highly disciplined. 3. Strong government with lots of $$$. 4. Were well-supplied with artillery, firearms, powder, etc. 5. Hessian Mercenaries. 6. Support of Loyalists and Native Americans.
British Disadvantages
1. Far from home – had to get men and supplies across an ocean(3,000 miles) Reinforcements couldn’t be sent quickly.
2. Orders from London took awhile to reach soldiers in the colonies.
3. Troops unfamiliar with the land.
4. Weak military leaders and old style of fighting
5. Lack of support in Britain for a long, expensive war.
American Advantages ☺
1. “Home-field advantage” – familiar with the land.
2. Strong leader in George Washington.
3. Guerilla warfare tactics.
4. Inspired by the fight for independence.
5. Help from France and other European nations.
American Disadvantages
1. Badly equipped, Untrained soldiers, fewer people.
2. Constant turnover due to short enlistment period. (1 year)
3. Local militia would disappear during harvest season.
4. American soldiers not used to taking orders.
5. Lacked wealth. (2nd Continental Congress had difficulty raising money.) Shortage of food, money, ammunition and supplies. (Military supplies often bought and brought in from other countries.
6. Small, weak navy.
7. No central government to enforce wartime policies
8. Most soldiers’ and state government’s loyalties were to their own states. State militias sometimes would not share provisions and equipment with other state militias, even if they had a surplus!
“For all men being originally equals, no one by birth could have a right to set up his own family in perpetual preference to all others forever, and though himself might deserve SOME decent degree of honours of his contemporaries, yet his descendants might be far too unworthy to inherit them. ”
What is Common Sense?