Road to Conflict
What war ended in 1763 and left Britain with major debts?
The French and Indian War
Which 1765 law taxed newspapers, legal documents, playing cards, and other printed materials?
The Stamp Act
What political organization formed in Boston to oppose the Stamp Act?
The Sons of Liberty
What event occurred when British soldiers fired into a protesting crowd in 1770, killing five people?
The Boston Massacre
Which colony did not send delegates to the First Continental Congress?
Georgia
According to John Locke, what three natural rights do all people possess?
Life, liberty, and property
What unofficial British policy allowed the colonies to govern themselves with little interference?
Salutary Neglect
Which law declared that Parliament could make laws for the colonies “in all cases whatsoever”?
The Declaratory Act
What women’s organization led boycotts of taxed British goods?
The Daughters of Liberty
Who wrote the pamphlet Common Sense in 1776?
Thomas Paine
What did the First Continental Congress ask the king to do?
To remove the Intolerable Acts and protect the colonists’ rights as British citizens.
Taxation required their consent through representation.
What principle did colonists use to oppose taxes imposed by Parliament?
What economic system allowed Britain to regulate colonial trade and use colonial products to build its wealth?
Mercantilism
Name two products taxed by the Townshend Acts.
Any of these: glass, tea, paint, or paper
What meeting brought representatives from nine colonies together to oppose the Stamp Act?
The Stamp Act Congress
What happened during the Boston Tea Party?
The Sons of Liberty boarded British ships and dumped their cargo of tea into Boston Harbor.
Where did the First Continental Congress meet in 1774?
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
What protected right was violated when colonists were deprived of trial by jury?
The right to a jury trial
Why did Britain increase its control over the colonies after the French and Indian War?
To collect money for war debts.
Why did colonists refuse to buy the cheaper tea under the Tea Act?
They rejected Parliament’s right to tax them.
Why could the Stamp Act tax not be charged?
No stamp commissioners remained to collect it.
How did Common Sense encourage colonists to support independence?
It argued that Britain had no right to rule an entire continent and that the colonies had a natural right to govern themselves.
What 1775 battles marked the beginning of armed conflict between colonial forces and the British army?
The Battles of Lexington and Concord
What threat did colonists see in quartering British troops during peacetime?
Increased British control.
How did salutary neglect contribute to the later conflict between Britain and the colonies?
Colonists resisted losing the self-government they had practiced.
What were two ways the Coercive Acts punished Massachusetts after the Boston Tea Party?
Parliament closed Boston Harbor and reduced the power of Massachusetts’s legislature.
Why were boycotts an effective form of colonial resistance?
They reduced British sales and allowed colonists, without formal political power, to pressure Britain economically.
Why was the British seizure of John Hancock’s ship Liberty viewed as an excessive use of power?
Customs officials seized the entire ship because Hancock refused to pay the tax on the wine it carried.
Why did the colonists wait several years before declaring independence?
Many remained loyal to Britain and feared the consequences of independence.
What did “no taxation without representation” mean to colonists?
Britain should not tax the colonies without colonial voting power in Parliament.