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Navigation Acts
that only English ships would be allowed to bring goods into England, and that the North American colonies could only export its commodities, such as tobacco and sugar, to England -
French-Indian War
Because of the French-Indian War England owed huge debt. England goes from salutary neglect to mercantilism. -
Stamp Act
Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which imposed a direct tax on the British colonies in America -
Quartering Act
two or more Acts of British Parliament requiring local governments of the American colonies to provide the British soldiers with housing and food. -
Townshend Acts
series of measures, passed by the British Parliament in 1767, that taxed goods imported to the American colonies -
Boston Massacre
patriot mob attacked a British loyalist, who fired a gun at them, killing a boy. In the ensuing days brawls between colonists and British soldiers eventually culminated in the Boston Massacre. -
Boston Tea Party
American colonists, frustrated and angry at Britain for imposing “taxation without representation,” dumped 342 chests of tea, imported by the British East India Company into the harbor. -
Intolerable Acts (aka Coercive Acts)
package of five laws implemented by the British government with the purpose of restoring authority in its colonies. -
Common Sense
47-page pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies -
Battle of Lexington & Concord (aka “The Shot Heard Around the World”)
Tensions had been building for years between the 13 colonies and Great Britain -
Second Continental Congress
meeting of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies in America which united in the American Revolutionary War. -
Olive Branch Petition
final attempt by the colonists to avoid going to war with Britain during the American Revolution -
Declaration of Independence
the first formal statement by a nation's people asserting their right to choose their own government -
Articles of Confederation
first written constitution of the United States -
Daniel Shays’ Rebellion
an armed uprising in Western Massachusetts and Worcester in response to a debt crisis among the citizenry and in opposition to the state government's increased efforts to collect taxes both on individuals and their trades -
Constitutional Convention (aka Philadelphia Convention)
address problems in governing the United States of America
