Famous Figures
King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1760-1820.
King George III
a plant that is grown to make money, rather than to feed the farmers growing it
cash crop
This imaginary line prohibited colonists from settling on lands west of the Appalachian Mountains – an area including Ohio Territory - that colonists had won by fighting in the French and Indian War.
Proclamation of 1763
Patrick Henry of Virginia helped create this political slogan when he declared colonists had the same rights as all other Englishmen and that they should be taxed only by their own representatives -- something they had none of in Parliament.
“No taxation without representation!”
In one of at least 17 colony-wide protests against the Tea Act and other policies on December 16, 1773, members of Boston’s Sons of Liberty dressed as Mohawk or Narragansett tribesmen and dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor in front of a crowd of onlookers.
Boston Tea Party
Patriot, inventor, print shop owner, and American ambassador to France during the Revolutionary War. He was also put in charge of the post office by the Second Continental Congress.
Benjamin Franklin
a legal document that gave a colony the right to exist and established rules for its governance
charter
This gave the British East India Company exclusive right to sell tea in the colonies. Lowered the price, but kept colonies from acting as shippers or merchants.
the Tea Act (1773)
The strategic blocking of anything going in or out of an area. Typically done using warships that surround a harbor or coastline, shooting anyone on sight that attempts to cross in or out.
blockade
Choosing not to purchase or use something because you do not like a tax, policy, or viewpoint of the seller.
boycott
Massachusetts politician, continental congress delegate, leader of the Sons of Liberty. Known for being able to lead mob rule and incite mob actions. His cousin was the lawyer, not him...
Samuel Adams
Protestants who wanted to reform or “purify” the Anglican Church (Church of England). Settled Massachusetts Bay Colony beginning in 1630 and formed religious settlements.
Puritans
Parliament required colonial governments to provide public lodging and provisions for British troops.
Quartering Act (1765)
Carte blanche ("blank check") search warrants that allowed customs officials to enter any ship or building that they suspected for any reason might hold smuggled goods.
writs of assistance
form of public torture where a victim is stripped at least to the waist, while wood tar is either poured or painted onto the person. They then have feathers thrown on them or are forcibly rolled in feathers
tar and feathering
Governor of Massachusetts, president of the Second Continental Congress and signer of the Declaration of Independence, revolutionary patriot leader, and one of the richest men in the colonies. He and Samuel Adams were warned "the Regulars are coming!" by Paul Revere" in Lexington. He went back for a salmon dinner he left behind and was almost captured.
John Hancock
person who signed a contract to work as a slave without wages (usually 4 or 7 years) to pay off a debt, such as transportation costs to the New World.
These contracts could be bought, sold, and traded, but these people still had basic legal rights. They were provided food, clothing, and shelter.
indentured servant
1765 law requiring tax be paid on paper used for all legal documents, newspapers, playing cards, contracts, wills, and diplomas. The boycott and protests over this were so successful that not a single one was sold.
Stamp Act (1765)
forced military recruitment, especially in the navy. also known as a “press gang”
impressment
This was the last attempt at peace with Britain. It directly addressed the king, asking for help with an unfair Parliament, while assuring the king of their loyalty.
Olive Branch Petition
Writer of the pamphlet Common Sense, which directly attacked the king, monarchies, and argued that basic logic showed that the United States should be independent from the British Empire. He also wrote The American Crisis, which Washington had read aloud to his troops on Christmas morning before the Battle of Trenton.
Thomas Paine
the enslaving and owning of human beings and their offspring as legal property — a commodity without any human rights to be bought, sold, and owned forever (like "cattle" or other livestock)
chattel slavery
Also known as the "coercive acts", these four laws punished Boston for the destruction of the tea. Closed port of Boston, made all Massachusetts legislators appointed by king, made it so that future murder trials could be held in England (Administration of Justice a.k.a. “murder act”), and revised the quartering act for the worse.
Intolerable Acts
In an effort to pay for French & Indian War debts, the British government ended this unofficial policy of loose or non-enforcement of laws and taxes in the North American British colonies (in the 1600s and 1700s).
salutary neglect
Secret messaging and postal networks established between colonies to share information and coordinate resistance efforts against British Parliament.
committees of correspondence