Chapter 6: The Road to Revolution Vocabulary

Quartering Act

Act which required colonies to provide lodging and supplies for British troops

Sugar Act

Tax on sugar, molasses, and other goods shipped to colonies

Tariff

tax on imported goods

Stamp Act

law requiring all legal and commercial documents to carry an official stamp showing that a tax has been paid

Stamp Act Congress

group of colonists who protested the Stamp Act, saying that Parliament couldn't tax without colonist' consent

Sons of Liberty

secret society formed to oppose British policies

Speculate

to buy as an investment

Boycott

refusal to buy

Proclamation if 1763

Brittish declaration the forbid colonists from settling west of the Appalachians

Declaratory Act

Britain proclaimed the right to tax colonists for no reason without challenge

Boston Massacre

incedent in 1770 in which British troops fired on and killed American colonists

Propaganda

the deliberate spreading of such information, rumors, etc.

Townshend Acts

laws passed in 1767 that taxed goods such as glass, paper, paint, lead, and tea

Writs of Assistance

It was part of the Townshend Acts. It said that the customs officers could inspect a ship's cargo without giving a reason. Colonists protested that the Writs violated their rights as British citizens.

Daughters of Liberty

An organization formed by women prior to the American Revolution They got together to protest treatment of the colonies by their British Rulers

Committees of Correspondence

Organization founded by Samuel Adams consisting of a system of communication between patriot leaders in New England and throughout the colonies

Boston Tea Party

demonstration (1773) by citizens of Boston who (disguised as Indians) raided three British ships in Boston harbor and dumped hundreds of chests of tea into the harbor

Tea Act

Law passed by parliament allowing the British East India Company to sell its low-cost tea directly to the colonies - undermining colonial tea merchants; led to the Boston Tea Party

Minutemen

Member of a militia during the American Revolution who could be ready to fight at a moment's notice

Intolerable Acts

in response to Boston Tea Party, 4 acts passed in 1774, Port of Boston closed, reduced power of assemblies in colonies, permitted royal officers to be tried elsewhere, provided for quartering of troop's in barns and empty houses

Justice Act

Colonist accused of capital crimes would be sent to Britain for trial, juries no longer made up of peers

1st Continental Congress

On September 1774, delegates from 12 colonies gathered in Philadelphia. After debating, the delegates passed a resolution backing Mass. in its struggle. Decided to boycott all British goods and to stop exporting goods to Britain until the Intolerance Acts

Lexington-Concord

the first battle of the American Revolution (April 19, 1775), The first battle of the Revolution in which British general Thomas Gage went after the stockpiled weapons of the colonists in Concord, Massachusetts.

Loyalists

American colonists who remained loyal to Britain and opposed the war for independence

Patriots

Colonists who wanted independence from Britain

militia

civilians trained as soldiers but not part of the regular army

2nd Continental Congress

Congress of American leaders which first met in 1775, declared independence in 1776, and helped lead the United States during the Revolution

Siege

the action of an armed force that surrounds a fortified place and isolates it while continuing to attack

Artillery

cannons and large guns