US History 1 Chapter 5 Set 2
Sons of Liberty
Sons of Liberty were Colonists, primarily middling merchants and artisans who banded together to protest the Stamp Act and other imperial reforms of the 1760s. They burned an effigy of collector Andrew Oliver and then destroyed Oliver's new brick warehouse. November 1, 1765 Boston but soon spread to all the colonies. Wealthy merchants, Patriot lawyers like John Hancock and John Adams encouraged the mob. The Sons of Liberty were important because they were the foundation on which further resistance to British rule was closing in the Revolutionary War. The Sons of Liberty were organized and went throughout all of the 13 colonies for the purpose of resisting some British laws such as the Stamp Act. Such confrontations were through demonstrations, legislative resolutions, but many times it included violence.
Virtual Representation
Virtual Representation was the claim made by British politicians that the interests of the American colonists were effectively characterized in Parliament by merchants who traded with the colonies and by absentee landlords that were mostly sugar planters who owned estates in the West Indies. 1760's and 1770's The British and George Grenville protected all the taxes by arguing that the colonists were nearly characterized in Parliaments North American Colonies and Britain The Virtual Representation was important because the colonists were unfair, but in Britain it was the law/norm. Although the colonists were supplicating for direct representation, in reality Great Britain did not have that under the Parliamentary system in place at that time. This was one of the most major complaints in contradiction of Great Britain leading to a revolutionary war.
7. Describe the influences of Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, King George III, and Patrick Henry on the lead up to the American Revolution.
Thomas Paine's words inspired the American troops to continue their battle for independence from England. He wrote many articles boosting the abolition of slavery and the colonial fight for independence from England and soon became obsessed with the American Colonies fight for independence from Great Britain. He was chosen clerk of the Assembly in Pennsylvania, where he wrote the preamble to the state's law abolishing slavery. Through his life Thomas Paine stimulated free thinking and standing up for one's beliefs and believed that all people have the right to have freedom. He uncovered his opinions to the world through his writing. Thomas Jefferson is considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America for the central role he played in conscripting the Declaration of Independence. During the American Revolution, Jefferson was chosen governor of Virginia and was appointed minister to France. He made one of the most expressive arguments against Parliament's authority over the colonies, declaring that the colonists were only united with England through their voluntary loyalty to the king. Jefferson was a delegate to the Second Continental Congress when he drafted the Declaration of Independence. King George III was the king of Ireland and Great Britain and rose to the throne just as the French and Indian War was closing. The Peace of Paris led many changes in English policy, which also affected the American colonists and added a progressively aggressive dynamic, which would eventually spark the American Revolution later. He opposed the repeal of the Stamp Act, but he wasn't powerful enough to prove it Patrick Henry is possibly best known for the speech he made in the House of Burgesses on 1775 in Virginia. He ended his speech with words that have become preserved. The House was unsure on whether to assemble for military action against the intruding British military force, and Henry argued in favor of deployment. His "Give me liberty or give death" speech in the Virginia somehow is known that it convinced the undecided members to vote to commit Virginia's troops to the Revolution.
Charles Townshend
Charles Townshend was control of the British ministry. He passed the Townshend Acts and these new regulations were a light import duty on glass, white lead, paper, and tea. It was a tax that the colonists were greatly against and was a near start for rebellions to take place. He was a member of the Board of Trade and sought restrictions of the colonial assemblies and strongly supported the Stamp Act. He persuaded Parliament in 1767 to pass the Townshend Acts Charles Townshend American Colonies Charles Townshend was important because his strategies towards the American colonies that helped lead to a revolutionary war. Townshend decided to impose many taxes on the colonies to help contribute the costs of the French and Indian war (Seven Years War). He supported taxes like the Stamp Ta. His taxes that helped make the colonists very angry about British rule and eventually led to them rebelling against England.
Coercive Acts
Coercive Acts were acts to discontinue the landing and discharging, lading or shipping, of goods, wares, and merchandise, at the town, and within the harbor, of Boston, in the province of Massachusetts's Bay, in North America. 1774 Passed by the British Parliament following the Boston Tea Party. Boston Massachusetts & North America The Coercive Acts were important because the result was the call upon the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia, in 1774. The acts were wake up call for the colonies and they included the closing of Boston harbor and the takeover of all governmental activities by England.
Loyalist
Loyalists were American colonists who remained loyal to the Kingdom of Great Britain and the British monarchy during the American Revolutionary War. Prominent loyalists like royal officials, merchants with military contracts, clergy of the Church of England, and well-established lawyers tried to mobilize support for the King. Also, during the war there were battles between the Patriots and the Loyalists. 1700's American colonists New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Hudson River Valley(NY), and many other American Colonies The Loyalists were important because they tried to prevent the American Revolution. Loyalists provided elite forces to the British and eroded American trust and support for independence. Loyalists were armed like Americans, but the British used them poorly just because they were by their side. If they would be in our side, loyalists could have done much more
Minutemen
Minutemen were Colonial militiamen who stood ready to mobilize on short notice. These volunteers formed the core of the citizens' army that met British troops at in April 1775. During the imperial crisis of the 1770s Local Militiamen who fought against the British during the Revolutionary War. Lexington and Concord Minutemen were important because they were able to be ready to protect their community with just a minute notice.
Patriots
Patriots were colonials who were determined to fight the British until American independence was won. 1770's Colonial people that wanted freedom American Colonies The Patriots were important because they rebelled against British control during the American Revolution so they can become a free nation and that's why today we have liberty. Then, in July 1776 declared the United States of America an independent nation.
Continental Congress
The Continental Congress served as the government of the 13 American colonies and later the United States. It was encompassed by delegates from the colonies, met in 1774 in reaction to the Coercive Acts. From 1774 All of the colonies except Georgia sent delegates that were elected by the people, by the colonial legislatures, or by the committees of correspondence of the respective colonies Philadelphia The Continental Congress was important because although the delegates weren't ready to call for independence, they were determined to indorse colonial rights. It might be the most significant historical moment of the United States because we took the first step in departure as well as an Independent Nation, and setting an example of the creation of a wholly new system of government without precedent or custom effected ever before in the Western World.
Popular Soverignty
The Popular Sovereignty was republican principle that ultimate power resides in the hands of the electorate. Popular sovereignty dictates that voters directly or indirectly through their elected representatives to ratify the constitutions of their state and national governments as well as amendments to those fundamental laws. In the 18th century. But during the 1850s, the U.S. Congress applied the principle to western lands by enacting legislation that gave residents there the authority to the status of slavery in their own territories. Determined by the settlers themselves In the United States The popular Sovereignty is important because it protects our nation's rights from be exploited by other nations and they help establish a steady democracy. Popular sovereignty ensures that the people are ultimately in control of the government. Restricted government avoids government from becoming too powerful.
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress convened after the American Revolutionary War had already begun. It took a significant step in declaring America's independence from Britain. The Congress ratified the first national constitution, the Articles of Confederation, under which the country would be governed until 1789, when it was replaced by the current U.S. Constitution. 1775 All of the colonies except Georgia sent delegates that were elected by the people Philadelphia The Second Continental Congress was important because it became America's first government. Although it was denounced by Great Britain, it was supported by the people and fueled by public opinion.
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was imposed on all American colonists and required them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. Ship's papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, other publications, and playing cards were taxed. The money collected by the Stamp Act was used to help pay the costs of defending and protecting the American boundary by the Appalachian Mountains. 1765 The British Parliament The colonies of British America The Stamp Act was important because it led to a progress of the coercive acts, Boston tea party, and the creation of the 1st continental congress and 2nd continental congress which in the long run led to the written document "The Declaration of Independence". Additionally, the people had some kind of enlightenment throughout the act.
Sugar Act
The Sugar Act lowered the work on foreign manufactured molasses from 6 pence per gallon to 3 pence per gallon to discourage trafficking. The act further required that Americans could export many supplies, like lumber, iron, and skins to foreign countries, only if they passed through British ports first. The Sugar Act made it difficult to trade for American shippers by requiring them to fill out a number of puzzling forms in order to legalize their shipments. 1764 Greenville won Parliamentary approval The Americas and the British Ports The sugar act was important because it changed policy, while previously colonial taxes had been levied to support British officials, the tax on sugar was enacted solely to refill parliament's empty treasury
Vice-Admiralty
The Vice-Admiralty Court was a tribunal presided over by a judge, with no jury. The Sugar Act required that offenders be tried in a vice-admiralty court rather than a common-law tribunal, where a jury decides guilt or innocence. This provision of the act provoked protests from merchant smugglers accustomed to acquittal by sympathetic local juries. 1768 British-appointed judge North American colonies The Vice-Admiralty Court was important because judges made all rulings without juries and consequently benefited from their own decisions, which caused many colonists to view these courts as centers of despotic imperial power. Additionally, the new taxes and courts imposed by the Sugar Act revived old American fears, which brought later consequences.
6. Why did colonial and British leaders fail to reach a political compromise to save the empire?
America and Great Britain had over time developed into separate societies with little in common. Colonial and British leaders fail to reach a political compromise to save the empire because of important disagreements over taxation and government ideology that created intense passions, fueled by writers like Thomas Paine and his influential pamphlet Common Sense. Also, the use of military governors and the increase of British troops quartered in colonies shocked and alarmed Americans. Then, the Battle of Lexington and Concord in the North and military battles in the South led to many casualties in 1775, stopping either side from reaching negotiations. Also, the native people didn't want them there and many uprisings made the British to fail their political cooperation.
2. Why did the colonists object to the new taxes in 1764 and again in 1765? What arguments did they use? How did these conflicts turn into a constitutional crisis?
Colonists and Parliaments failed to agree on the central constitutional question on virtual versus direct representation and the use of Vice-Admiralty Courts with the British Empire. The political allies of British merchants who traded with the colonies raised constitutional objections to new taxes created by Parliament. Also, colonist claimed that the Sugar Act would wipe out trade with the French islands. They claimed that new taxes disrupted constitutional liberties of British people in the form that they were lacking judges and taxation without symbols that represented them. They also had an argumentation that Britain was making slaves of Americans through new fiscal policies. Colonists lacked direct representation in Parliament, so they shouldn't be taxed without their consent.
4. Weight the relative importance of economic and ideological motives in promoting the colonial resistance movement? Which was more important? Why?
Economic motives were more important than ideological reasons for resistance. The increase of taxation like the Stamp Act and Sugar Act impacted a larger portion of American colonists than did more nonrepresentational political ideas about popular dominion and fundamental representation. A broad-based movement of resistance was preserved mainly over the efficiency of boycott and non-importation engagements.
3. If Grenville's and Townshend's initiatives had succeeded, how might the characters of the British imperial system have changed?
If Grenville's and Townshend's initiatives had succeeded the characters of the British imperial system have changed it was to be expected that the British Empire Imperial System would have changed to a Commonwealth much earlier. Also, the Tighter fiscal would have been control by Parliament over colonies. There would have been an increase of tax revenues sent from colonies to England and an increase of British manufactured goods purchased by colonists. Finally, an upsurge of random government rule by Parliaments that would decrease local control by colonists and a growth of cultural uniformity through collective legal system.
1. Trace the key events in both Britain and America from 1763 to 1776 that forged the Patriot movement. Why did those in Parliament believe that the arguments of the rebellious colonists were not justified? How did the Patriots gain the widespread support of the colonists?
Key events in both Britain and America from 1763 to 1776 included the Parliament believing that all British colonies existed to provide raw materials and to purchase synthetic goods from England for the general benefit of the British Empire. Parliament believed that the arguments of the rebellious colonists were not justified because they thought that the colonists enjoyed virtual representation and did not require a direct representative system. The Patriots advanced the extensive backing of the colonists by using a two-pronged disagreement to elicit support: fiscal and ideological. Parliament was violating the traditional rights of Englishmen to live under a just government that follows the will of the people. Also, the Parliaments were economically dominating the colonists through unfair taxation actions. Administrative systems, such as the Sons and Daughters of Liberty, the use of public street protests, newspapers and brochures, boycotts, and non-importation agreements helped the Patriots to stimulate the population in support of resistance.
What were the goals to British imperial reformers?
One of the goals of the British imperial reformers was to increase tax revenues to pay for defense of empire. They also wanted to expand tax and military bureaucracy and increase flow of trade from colonies to England to provide raw natural resources for industrial revolution and a market for British manufactured goods.
5. Why did the Patriots movement wane in the early 1770's? Why did the Tea Act reignite colonial resistance?
The Patriots movement wane repealed the Townshend duties in 1770 and restored harmony based on the notion that Parliament would resume salutary neglect policies. The Tea Act reignite colonial resistance because act offended colonists and flared up against colonial resistance based on rumbling anger against the increase of taxation by Parliament. Also, merchants joined the protest because the Tea Act reduced their profits and the committees of Correspondence were already in place when the Tea Act was passed, as long as the institutional framework increased in colonial resistance. The Tea Act irritated colonists because it was a tax and it scared colonial merchants because it made them feel that the British government might take away their maintenance by giving domination to British firms.
2. Was the war for American independence inevitable? Could the British Empire have been saved? Was there a point during the imperial crisis at which peaceful compromise was possible?
The war for American independence was not inevitable because of the conflicts in the colonies, Parliament voted to repeal the taxes, but the tea tax was kept to assert the right of taxation. Without the tax problems, it possibly would have been years before another serious issue arose. The British Empire could have been saved because the majority of Americans never supported the war, and a significant fraction actively opposed it. If the government would have just made a few allowances and listened to the colonials, there would have been no reason to fight, but America was going to be independent either way. Before the bloody battles of late 1775 that began the American Revolution, a nonviolent resolution was probable, but after the war began, separation became unavoidable due to hatred. If Parliamentary leaders in the mid-1760s had arranged colonial requirements for a direct system of representation, more local control over the function of government bodies and less interior taxation, the colonists would have remained British matters and approved to increase their economic share of paying for the costs of empire. Also, the American colonists were still following "British" cultures and viewed themselves as part of the British Empire, making political parting hard.