-
writs of assistance
a general search warrant that allowed
British customs officials to search any colonial ship or building they believed to be holding smuggled goods -
sugar act & colonist response
Great Britain had borrowed so much money during the war
that it nearly doubled its national debt. King George III, who had succeeded his
grandfather in 1760, hoped to lower that debt. -
Sons of Liberty
the colonists united to defy the law. Boston shopkeepers, artisans, and laborers organized a secret resistance group called the Sons of Liberty to
protest the law -
Declaratory Act
Declaratory Act, which asserted Parliament’s full right “to bind the colonies and
people of America in all cases whatsoever. -
The Townshend Acts
The Townshend Acts taxed goods that were imported into the colony from
Britain, such as lead, glass, paint, and paper. The Acts also imposed a tax on tea, the
most popular drink in the colonies
they were appealed due to protest -
the boston massacre
a mob gathered in front
of the Boston Customs House and taunted the British soldiers standing guard
there. Shots were fired and five colonists, including Crispus Attucks, were killed
or mortally wounded -
the tea act
in
order to save the nearly bankrupt British East India Company. The act
granted the company the right to sell tea to the colonies free of the taxes that
colonial tea sellers had to pay -
boston tea party
a large group of Boston rebels
disguised themselves as Native Americans and proceeded to take action against
three British tea ships anchored in the harbor.18,000 pounds of the East India
Company’s tea into the waters of Boston harbor -
the intolerable acts
King George III pressed Parliament to
act. In 1774, Parliament responded by passing a series of measures that colonists
called the Intolerable Acts. One law shut down Boston harbor. Another, the
Quartering Act, authorized British commanders to house soldiers in vacant private homes and other buildings -
First Continental Congress.
in september 56 delegates met in
Philadelphia and drew up a declaration of colonial rights. They defended the
colonies’ right to run their own affairs and stated that, if the British used force
against the colonies, the colonies should fight back. -
minute men
soldiers who
pledged to be ready to fight against the British on a minute’s notice -
the second continental congress
colonial leaders
called the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia to debate their next
move. The loyalties that divided colonists sparked endless debates at the Second
Continental Congress. Some delegates called for independence, while others
argued for reconciliation with Great Britain -
Olive Branch Petition
a
return to “the former harmony” between Britain and the colonies. witch king george rejected -
publicatoin of commonsense
a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Writing in clear and persuasive prose, Paine marshaled moral and political arguments to encourage common people in the Colonies to fight for egalitarian government -
continental army
ome delegates called for independence, while others
argued for reconciliation with Great Britain. Despite such differences, the
Congress agreed to recognize the colonial militia as the Continental Army and
appointed George Washington as its commander -
declaration of independence
the committee to prepare a formal Declaration of Independence. Virginia lawyer
Thomas Jefferson was chosen to prepare the final draft.
Drawing on Locke’s ideas of natural rights, Jefferson’s document declared the
rights of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” to be “unalienable” rights—
ones that can never be taken away. Jefferson then asserted that a government’s
Jefferson provided a long list of violations committed by the king and Parliament against the colonists’ unalienable rights -
french american alliance
The Franco-American alliance was the 1778 alliance between the Kingdom of France and the United States during the American Revolutionary War. Formalized in the 1778 Treaty of Alliance, it was a military pact in which the French provided many supplies for the Americans -
the treaty of paris
confirmed U.S. independence and set the boundaries of the new nation. The United States now
stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River and from Canada to
the Florida border
