Growth & Conflict (1650-1750)
Economic system practiced by European powers in the late 17th century which stated that economic self-sufficiency was essential (need for raw materials)
Mercantilism
Also known as the Seven Years War, it was a conflict between the British and French which also involved Native American and colonial forces. British victory greatly decreased French influence in N. America
French and Indian War
Radical group that organized resistance against British polices in Boston during the 1760s and 1770s. Organized the Boston Tea Party, and counted Samuel Adams among its members
Sons of Liberty
Meeting that authorized the establishment of a Continental Army, which would be lead by George Washington (May 1775)
Second Continental Congress
Document establishing the first government of the United States; the states retained most of the power as the outline included no executive or judicial branch, no power to regulate interstate commerce or tax, and included a unicameral based legislature
Articles of Confederation
Voyage taken by African Americans on horribly overcrowded ships from Africa to the Americas
Middle Passage
Passed in 1765, this act dictated that all legal documents in the colonies had to be issued on officially stamped paper. Was eventually repealed.
Stamp Act
Proposed alliance between the British government and the seven northern colonies that would offer a buffer against potential Native American hostilities and potential French influences; designed by Benjamin Franklin in 1754
Albany Plan of Union (Albany Congress)
Pamphlet written by Thomas Paine, which attacked the ideals of a monarchical system of government; called out King George III and was widely circulated throughout the colonies
Common Sense
1783 Treaty which ended the American Revolutionary War; Great Britain officially recognized American independence and gave the Americans territory between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River
Treaty of Paris
Largest slave uprising in the British colonies. It took place in South Carolina in 1739, and led to a tightening of regulations regarding the treatment of slaves.
Stono Rebellion
Conflict between British soldiers and Boston civilians on March 5, 1770; five colonists were killed and six more were wounded
Boston Massacre
British Prime Minister who inflamed hostilities between the British and North American colonies, by passing controversial legislature such as the Sugar and Quartering Acts
George Grenville
Essential U.S. document, that was based off the ideals of the Enlightenment; it was largely penned by Thomas Jefferson
Declaration of Independence
Bills (1784, 1785, and 1787) which authorized the sale of lands in the Northwest Territory to help raise money to support the new federal government; also laid out potential pathways towards statehood
Northwest Ordinances
Infamous series of events in which 19 people were executed for perceived religious and social improprieties (most accusers were in economically marginalized families, and most accused were members of the "commercial" class)
Salem Witch Trials
First established in Massachusetts and then in the other colonies, these groups circulated grievances against the British to towns within the colonies
Committees of Correspondence
Also known as the Coercive Acts, these acts were designed as punishment for the Boston Tea Party, and essentially granted the British full control over the government in Massachusetts
Intolerable Acts
The British army consisted of mainly trained soldiers, known as "Redcoats," along with American loyalists, and thousands of German troops known as...
Hessians
The new governments nickname for unsecured paper money
Continentals
The British policy of leniency when enforcing laws in the American colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries, this idea lead to a growing sense of autonomy amongst the colonies themselves
Salutary Neglect
1774 Meeting in Philadelphia in which colonists vowed to resist further efforts to tax them without their consent; established the idea of "No taxation without representation"
First Continental Congress
The statement "taxation without representation is tyranny" was first proclaimed by...
Samuel Adams
Decisive battle of the American Revolutionary War, in which General Washington, with French assistance, defeated the legendary British General Charles Cornwallis (September 5, 1781)
Battle of Yorktown
Armed uprising in Massachusetts (1786-1787) in which farmers openly protested the state government's economic policies (especially high taxes)
Shays' Rebellion