American history

Salutary Neglect

1684, when the British decided that they were going to "ignore" the colonist and let them do what they wanted.

Common Sense

A 50 page pamphlet written by Thomas Paine, about his own rebellion against the king and the reason why Americans should rebel. It sold nearly 500,000 copies and was praised.

John Adams

A Boston Lawyer, one of the founding fathers of the country , signed the declaration of independence and signed for the treaty of paris.

Thomas Gage

Commander and chief of british forces in northern colonies. Governor of Massachusetts. In order to keep peace he put boston under Martial law (rule by military forces) General that lead Lexington and concord, started the war.

Sam Adams

One of the founding fathers of the United States, American statesman, political philosopher, one of the main organizers against the king in the Boston area, he founded Sons of Liberty to start organizing protests

Charles Townshend:

Was a leading government minister who decided on a new method of gaining revenue from American colonies. This law was passed in 1767.

Ben Franklin:

- 1754, drew image of a severed snake to encourage the British colonies to unite against that threat posed by French and Indian forces - Member of the Continental Congress along with John Adams and John Jay of New York - As a member demanded that Britain recognize American independence before any other negotiations began - September 1783, signed the Treaty of Paris along with the other delegates

Tea Act

A law placed because of the excess tea in British tea companies that granted exclusive rights to British merchants to sell tea without taxes while colonial merchants still had to use taxes. The colonies did not like this and continued to boycott the cheaper tea--> Boston Tea Party.

Thomas Jefferson

A lawyer from Virginia who was the main writer of the Declaration of Independence.

Intolerable Acts

A set of laws from the King and Parliament that was the "last straw for the colonies" 1. shut down Boston Harbor due to Boston Tea Party. 2. Quartering Act, forcing the colonies to house and take care of mass amounts of troops that the King placed in the colonies. 3.Thomas Gage was now the governor of Massachusetts--> Boston placed under martial law(rule imposed by military).

1st Continental Congress

After King George III tightens control by closing the Boston Harbor and quartering troop the Colonial leaders formed the first continental congress and made the declaration of rights.

French and Indian War

Battle of Fort Necessity started the war. Great Britain wanted to push French out of colonies. Ended in 1763 with the Treaty of Paris. In the end the French were successfully pushed out of the colonies. Britain then got all of the 13 colonies.

Charles Cornwallis

British Army Officer-Led the British Army to Yorktown where they would be surrounded and defeated by the American army and French navy.

Proclamation of 1763

British tried to stop all expansions west of the Appalachian mountains; angered Americans, this established a line which the colonist were not to cross. The colonist continued to move west onto the Native American Lands.

King James II

Consolidated the northern colonies into the control of new England and enlisted sir edmund to rule the region. Ruled with tyranny and caused the glorious revolution. Ended up being overthrown by parliament

Sugar Act

Creator: George Greville Year Enacted: 1764 What it was: The Sugar Act covered 3 main topics - 1.) Halved the duty of foreign-made molasses hoping that the colonists would pay a lower tax than risk getting arrested for smuggling 2.) It placed duties on certain imports 3.) It strengthened the enforcement of the law allowing prosecutors to try smuggling cases in a vice-admiralty court rather than in a more sympathetic colonial court.

French Allies

During the war for independence, the French helped the Americans because they were both fighting the British. The French empire was the second largest empire at the time. The French were lead by Lafayette, a 20 year old general who lobbied for French support. The British fell

Mercantilism

Economic system where a country wants a positive trade balance acquiring gold and silver, resulting in self-suffiency.

Paul Revere

He is a patriot who warned the patriot militia that the British were coming before the battle of Concord and Lexington

John Hancock

He was a strong patriot for the american revolution he was the president of the second continental congress, he signed the Constitution. He was also a Boston merchant and was responsible for stirring up trouble in Boston

Townshend Acts

Indirect taxes, or duties levied on important materials---glass, lead, paint, and paper as they came into the colonies from Britain. It was significant because the american's revolted on the sugar act so they tried to hide these taxes by not telling them

2nd Continental Congress

John Adams from Massachusetts suggested that each colony should set up their own government and that all the colonies should declare their independence. They recognized the colonial militiamen as the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as their commander. They also printed their own paper to pay the troops and dealt with foreign nations.

Battle of Bunker Hill

On june 17th, 1775, Thomas Gage decided to send 2,400 British troops to Bunker Hill. This battle was proved to be the deadliest battle of war.

King George lIl

Passed the Intolerable Acts. Was the king during all the turmoil and destruction of the british property, this infuriated King George so he then made parliamentnt act on this (intolerable acts).

Sons/Daughters of Liberty

Sons of Liberty were an organized secret resistance group, and was organized by Boston shopkeepers, artisans, and laborers. They harassed custom workers, stamp agents, and some royal governors. Daughters of Liberty were Colonial American resistance group of women who boycotted against British taxes following the Townshend Acts.

Sir Edmund Andros

Started the tyranny on colonists as the MA governor. He made it very clear that navigation acts would be enforced and that all smugglers would be prosecuted. He restricted local assemblies and imposed taxes without input from other leaders.

Parliament

The British government which developed and enforced the Acts.

Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence is the document that gave the 13 colonies freedom from England, and to join together as a country. It was written and signed by 56 delegates from all 13 states.

George Washington

The leader for the colonists militia/military. The goal of Fort Necessity was to drive the French out of the colonies. He lost the battle. He led the colonists across the Delaware to go to the British site in Trenton and attack the soldiers. Washington's tactics were a part of why his army were able to keep on fighting until the end of the Revolutionary War. He was one of the strengths that the colonists had when they were fighting in the American Revolution.

Loyalist/Patriot+Tar and Feathering

The loyalists were colonists who thought that the British would win the war and reinstate their power over the colonies. Some loyalists felt special to the king because they were judges, counselors and governors. Patriots were people who pushed for rebellion and to break away from the British. Tarring and feathering was often a fatal punishment for loyalist tax collectors and port officials, and if the loyalist survived, they would be disfigured and very sick.

Thomas Paine

The writer of Common Sense, a pamphlet sold throughout the colonies expressing Paine's ideas of Independence, unity of the colonies, and a revolt that started with Lexington and Concord.

Glorious Revolution

When the parliament did not approve of King James's actions in the colonies, parliament passed a series of laws establishing its power over the monarch.

Minutemen

civilian soldiers, who surrounded Boston and defeated the British at the Battle of Concord.

Navigation Acts

colonists could only trade with Britain so that Britain could achieve the mercantilist goals. This limited the variety of goods that they were able to receive from Britain. The colonists did not like this and they started to fight against it. It put more pressure and closer rule on the colonists.

Committees of correspondence-

was a group formed by patriot leaders of the 13 colonies they talked about what was happening in each colony across the country

Crispus Attucks

was an African American man who was murdered on March 5, 1770 by British soldiers during the Boston Massacre.

Stamp act

was an act that required colonists to purchase special stamped paper for every legal document, license, newspaper, pamphlet, and almanac. This was to limit uncontrollable trade by taxing.