Ap Us History Chapter Seven Vocabulary Terms

Chapter 7 term Sheet

The Road to Revolution

1. Republicanism - a just society as one is in which all citizens willingly subordinate their private, selfish interests to the common good.
2. Radical Whigs - group of British political commentators; widely read by the colonists, feared the threat to liberty posed by the arbitrary power of the monarch and Parliament; warned to colonists to be watchful of any violations to their rights or corruption in leadership; hated use of patronage and bribes by the king's ministers
3. Theory of “Mercantilism” - justified British control of the colonists; economic theorists believed wealth was power and a countries economic wealth (i.e. military and political power) could be measured by the amount of gold in its treasury; ergo need to export more than it imported; colonies should be used solely for the benefit of the mother country.
4. Navigation Law of 1650 - aimed at Dutch shippers trying to elbow their way into the American carrying trade; the law harmed all British economic rivals in the colonies; "all goods going in and out of the colonies HAVE to be transported in British or colonial vessels. Subsequent laws led to even more restrictions: European goods destined for Britain had to be landed in Britain so tariffs could be collected; sell certain products (tobacco) exclusively to Britain.
5. “Enumerated” Products - American merchants must ship certain products, notably tobacco, exclusively to Britain, even though prices might be better somewhere else.
6. Nullification of Laws (“Royal Veto”) - The British crown also reserved the right to nullify any legislation passed by the colonial assemblies if such laws worked mischief with the mercantilist system.
7. George Grenville - the highly disliked (by the Americans at least) prime minister of Britain 1763-1765; ended salutary neglect in the colonies by ordering the increased enforcement of the Navigation Laws and pushed through the infamous Sugar Act, Stamp, and Quartering Acts.
8. Sugar Act (1764) - passed by Parliament with the help of George Greenville; first law ever passed by Parliament for raising tax revenue in the colonies for the crown. Among various provisions it: increase duty on foreign sugar imported from the West Indies; tariffs reduced after protests.
9. Quartering Act (1765) - required certain colonies to provide food and quarters for British troops therefore reducing costs of maintaining an army; Americans didn't want the soldiers there: "the war is over!"
10. Stamp Act (1765) - purpose: raise revenues to support the new military force; imposed by Grenville; direct tax on legal and commercial documents (playing cards, pamphlets, newspapers, diplomas, marriage licenses, bills of lading); started "no taxation without representation."
11. “Taxation Without Representation” - hey conceded the right of Parliament to legislate about matters that affected the entire empire, including the regulation of trade but denied the right of Parliament to impose taxes on Americans because no Americans were seated in Parliament; Only their elected colonial legislatures, the Americans insisted, could legally tax
12. “Virtual Representation” - Grenville's claim that even though Americans had no direct representatives in Parliament, they were still represented because Parliament represented all British subjects regardless of who actually elected the representatives; the colonists found it ridiculous.
13. Stamp Act Congress (1765) - 9 of the colonies participated in sending 27 delegates to New York City in protestation of the Stamp Act; they drew up a list of rights and grievances and sent it to the king asking to repeal the Act; important: showed the first signs of unified colonial action, first non-importation agreement against British goods.
14. Nonimportation Agreements - agreements between the colonists not to purchase British goods; colonists were united in their sense of common oppression from Britain; they enforced the agreements through the wonderfully charitable process of tar and feathers; broke down the tax system and managed to get the stamp act repealed, but many parliament members could not understand why 7.5 million Britons had to pay heavy taxes to protect the colonies, whereas some 2 million colonists refused to pay for only 1/3 of the cost of their defense.
15. Sons of Liberty - colonists who were ardent supporters of independence from Britain; vigilantes (tarring and feathering); enforced the non-importation agreements; central role in the revolution; daughters were important in the effort to become self-sufficient: organized large groups of weaving and house-manufacturing so colonists could get non-British goods.
16. Stamp Act Repeal (1766) - Parliament was forced to repeal the stamp act; harmful for their image of authority
17. Declaratory Act (1766) - Directly after repealing the Stamp Act, Parliament enforced it's claims of absolute sovereignty over the colonies; "to bind" the colonies "in all cases whatsoever."
18. “Champagne Charley” Townshend - persuaded parliament to let himself control the British ministry; erratic but gifted; a man who could deliver brilliant speeches even while drink.
19. Townshend Acts (1767) - induced a light import duty on many popular items in the colonies: glass, white lead, paper, paint, and tea. An indirect customs duty payable at American ports. Taxes earmarked to pay the salaries of governors and judges; nonimportation agreements were quickly revived against the Acts and smuggling ensued; light and indirect. Britain sent troops into Boston to restore order.
20. Boston Massacre (1770) - On the evening of March 5, 1770, a crowd of some sixty townspeople set upon a squad of about ten recoats, one of whom was hit by a club and another of whom was knocked down. Acting apparently without orders but under extreme provocation, the troops opened fire and killed or wounded eleven "innocent" citizens.
21. Crispus Attucks - (died 1770) "Mulatto" man, one of the first killed in the Boston massacre; supposedly one of the leaders of the mob of 60 colonists.
22. King George III - by 1770, only thirty-two years old, was strenuously attempting to assert the power of the British monarchy; he proved to be a bad ruler and surrounded himself with cooperative “yes-men” notably his prime minister, Lord North
23. Lord North - Prime minister; "yes-man"
24. Samuel Adams - (1722 - 1803) John Adams (future president) second cousin; he contributed a potent pen and tongue to the American revolution as a political agitator and organizer of rebellion. He was the leading spirit in hosting the Boston Tea Party. A failure in the brewing business, he was sent by Massachusetts to the first Continental Congress of 1774. He signed the declaration and served in Congress until 1781.
25. Committees of Correspondence (1772) - Organized by Sam Adams in Boston, Massachusetts; spread the revolution and resistance through the colonies (letters VERY important). Local groups which reached all of the colonies; important sharing of ideas. Eventually, developed into congresses.
26. British East India Company - huge British corporation; with 17 million pounds of unsold tea and in danger of bankruptcy the British awarded it a monopoly of the colonial tea market. It was even cheaper (cheaper than Britain even) but heavily taxed. Americans were upset at the principal of the tax and resisted; the British cracked down and then the colonists responded with violence.
27. Gov. Thomas Hutchinson - Governor of Massachusetts; after having his house destroyed in 1765 (stamp act) refused to give in to the colonial protestors on the "tea issue." he thought: Tea tax was wrong, but even more determinedly the colonists had no right to flout the law. Ordered the cargo ships to not leave until they had unloaded their cargoes; colonists responded with the Boston Tea Party.
28. Boston Tea Party (1773) - infuriated at the principal of taxes on their tea, the sons of liberty dressed up as Indians and on December 16, 1773, boarded locked ships and threw 342 chests of tea into the Boston harbor.
29. Edmund Burke - conservative political theorist and a stout champion of the American cause
30. Repressive/Intolerable Acts (1774) - Passed as retaliation to the Boston Tea Party; aimed primarily at Massachusetts: Boston port was closed until restitutions were made; "massacre of liberty," provoked revolution; Americans resented general removal of liberties e.g. restrictions on town meetings, indicted British officials would be tried in Britain not the colonies.
31. Boston Port Act - Boston port closed until damages from the Tea Party were handed over.
32. Quebec Act (1774) - The French were not assimilating well, this act protected French-Canadians' religious freedoms (Catholicism), gave them the Ohio River valley, and allowed them to continue their traditional legal procedures and customs. Colonists were enraged and felt their liberties threatened. Wasn't wrong but came at a most inopportune time.
33. Continental Congress (1774) - Lasted through September to October of 1744; representatives of 12/13 colonies met in Philadelphia as a response to the Intolerable Acts; colonies unified, sent out a list of grievances, and formed the Association; significant move to revolution; John Adams was the driving force.
34. John Adams - swayed his colleagues to a revolutionary course, he helped defeat by the narrowest of margins a proposal by the moderates for a species of American home rule under british direction.
35. Declaration of Rights - dignified papers that declared their rights.
36. The Association - Initiated by Continental Congress; Complete and utter boycott of any and all British goods, nonimportation, nonexportation, and nonconsumption. Aimed to repeal the Intolerable Acts. Violators were tarred and feathered
37. Lexington and Concord (April 1775) - the beginning of the war between the colonists and Britain.
38. John Hancock - One of the leaders of the rebels
39. “Minute Men” - Local militias; they fought the British at Lexington and Concord - started the Rev. War.
40. Hessians - German mercenaries (approx 30,000) used by the British in the Rev. War
41. Loyalists - Wanted to stay under Britains rule instead of break apart.
42. Marquis de Lafayette - (1757-1834) Young French general who helped lead American forces; contributed money; became a general at age 19; secured French aid; sought adventure; helped others find liberty.