Boston Tea Party
December 16, 1773; colonists dressed up as Mohawk Indians and dump tea into Boston Harbor in protest to Tea Act
Lexington and Concord
General Thomas Gage sends soldiers to take rebel munitions stored in Concord. Leads to battle when Lexington and Concord militias prepare to halt the British troops
Boston Massacre
5 colonists are killed by British soldiers who fire into a crowd in front of the Customs House on March 5, 1770
Writs of Assistance
Violated colonists' rights. They were special forms used by the British which allowed tax collectors to search for smuggled goods
Sons of Liberty
Colonists formed secret societies that sometimes used violence to frighten tax collectors
Propaganda
Information giving only one side of an argument
Boycott
A protest method by which people refuse to buy certain goods
Repeal
To end or abolish
First Continental Congress
A meeting of colonial delegates in Philadelphia to decide how to handle increased Britsh taxation and abuses by British authority
Townshend Acts
Laws passed by Parliament in 1767 placing duties on certain items imported by colonists
Stamp Act
Law passed by Parliament in 1765 that raised tax money by requiring colonists to pay for an official stamp whenever they bought paper items such as newspapers, licenses, and legal documents
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
Intolerable Acts
A set of laws passed by Parliament to punish the colonists for the Boston Tea Party and to tighten government control of the colonies
Common Sense by Thomas Paine
Pamphlet written in 1776 which described why he felt the colonists should break from Great Britain
The Declaration of Independence
Written by Thomas Jefferson to formally declare the colonies independent from England
John Adams
Defended British soldiers after the Boston Massacre. Married to Abigail Adams
Sam Adams
John Adams' cousin. Founder of Sons of Liberty, a group which terrorized tax collectors and fought for independence from England. The most radical and wanted man in America
Ben Franklin
One of the Founding Fathers. Author, printer, inventor. Owned the Philadelphia Gazette
King George III
King of England during the American Revolution. Heavily taxed American colonists
Patrick Henry
Founding Father. Said, "Give me liberty or give me death!
Joseph Warren
American doctor. Warren enlisted Revere and William Dawes on April 18, 1775, to leave Boston and spread the alarm that the British garrison in Boston was setting out to raid the town of Concord and arrest rebel leaders John Hancock and Adam Adams