George Washington

A young, inexperienced colonel who was appointed by the Virginia militia to go into the Ohio Valley and challenge French expansion

William Pitt

-English secretary of state (and future prime ministers)
-Brought the French & Indian war fully under British control
-Planned military strategy, appointed commanders, and issued orders to the colonists
-Initiated the third and final phase of the war by relaxing many of the policies that Americans had found obnoxious
-Agreed to reimburse the colonists for all supplies requisitioned by the army
-Returned control over recruitment to the colonial assemblies
-Dispatched large numbers of additional British troops to America

George III

-Became king of England in 1760
-Was determined to reassert the authority of the monarchy
-Removed the power of the relatively stable coalition of
Whigs (who had governed for much of the century) and replaced it with a new and very unstable coalition of his own
-Had serious intellectual & psychological limitations
-Suffered from a rare mental disease that produced intermittent bouts of insanity
-Personality contributed both to the instability and to the rigidity of the British government

George Grenville

-Made prime minister in 1763
-Shared a prevailing opinion within Britain (the colonists should be compelled to pay a part of the cost of defending and administering the empire)
-Devised a method for antagonizing and unifying the colonies (The Stamp Act of 1765)

Pontiac

-Ottawa chieftain
-Ruler of the alliance of Indian tribes in the French and Indian War

Patrick Henry

-Made a dramatic speech to the House of Burgesses in May 1765 ("Give me liberty or give me death")
-Gave a vague prediction that if present policies were not revised, George III, like earlier tyrants, might lose his head
-Introduced a set of resolutions (only some of which the assembly passed) declaring that Americans possessed the same rights as the English, especially the right to be taxed only by their own representatives; that Virginians should pay no taxes except those voted by the Virginia assembly; and that anyone advocating the right of Parliament to tax Virginians should be deemed an enemy of the colony (these were later printed and called the "Virginia resolves")

James Otis

Persuaded his fellow members of the colonial assembly to call an intercolonial congress to take action against the new tax of the Stamp Act

Thomas Hutchinson

-A supposed pro-British aristocrat/lieutenant governor
-Attacked by the Sons of Liberty mob who pillaged & virtually destroyed his house
-Privately opposed passage of the Stamp Act but felt obliged to support it once
it became law

Sam Adams

-Leading figure in the Boston Massacre
-Put together the Sons of Liberty

John Locke

-One of the greatest philosophical thinkers
-Really involved in the Enlightenment

John Hancock

Rebel leader who teamed up with Sam Adams at Lexington & Concord

Paul Revere

-Engraved a famous portrayal of the Boston Massacre (it showed it as a calculated assault on a peaceful crowd)
-One of two horsemen who rode out to warn villages and farms of the redcoats

Mississippi River

Where the French Empire claimed territory

Ohio River

Where a powerful Indian native presence had been since the 1640s

Quebec

-One of the separated communities that the French occupied
-On a high bluff above the river
-Seized by the English (General Wolfe's army) on September 13 1759

Montreal

-French territory which marked the south end of of their settlement
-Where the French army surrendered to Amherst in September of 1760

Fort Detroit

French territory which marked the west end of their settlement

New Orleans

-Founded to service the French plantation economy
-Soon became as big as some of the larger cities of the Atlantic seaboard

Fort Duquesne

-France's fort built on the area that is now known as Pittsburgh
-France used this fort to fight in the French and Indian War
-Fell to the English

Lexington

-Sam Adams and John Hancock were known to be in the town's vicinity
-General Gage sent 1,000 men toward the town, hoping to surprise the colonials and seize the illegal supplies without bloodshed

Concord

-Minutemen had stored a large supply of gunpowder in the town (which caused General Gage to act out)
-Troops advanced to the town after shots were fired in Lexington

Boston

-The largest mob was located in the town (which men belonging to the newly organized Sons of Liberty terrorized stamp agents and burned stamps)
-New Townshend commissioners established their headquarters in the town

Parliament

-Established a growing supremacy over the king (in the 50 years after the Glorious Revolution)
-Repealed the Stamp Act in March of 1766
-According to the English constitutional theory, members did not represent individuals or particular geographical areas but rather each member represented the interests of the whole nation and indeed the whole empire
-Those that didn't elect representatives of their own (Ireland & the Colonies) had "virtual representatives" in the Parliament at London
-Retaliated to the colonists through the Intolerable Acts of 1774
-Debated proposals for conciliating the colonists and proposed that the colonies would tax themselves at their demand

Albany Plan

-Proposal by Benjamin Franklin to set up a "general government" to manage relations with the Indians
-Presented to the colonial assemblies but none of the colonies approved it

Iroquois Confederacy

-Five Indian nations (Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, and Oneida) that had formed a defensive alliance in the 15th century
-The most powerful native presence in the Ohio Valley
-Maintained their autonomy by trading successfully with both the French and the English and astutely played them against each other

Revenue

The income of a government from taxation and duties

Smugglers

-People who import or export goods illegally without paying the taxes or duties on them
-Often patrolled by British navy ships on American waters

Customs

Duties imposed by law on imported or exported goods

Sugar Act

Raised the duty on sugar while lowering the duty on molasses

Stamp Act

-Tax on printed documents
-Affected everyone, not just New England merchants

Boycott

To abstain from buying or using a produce usually in order to change something

Treason

The offense of acting to overthrow one's government to harm or kill its sovereign

Sons of Liberty

The largest mob in Boston who terrorized stamp agents, burned stamps, and attacked Thomas Hutchinson

Declaratory Act

Acts passed by Rockingham which confirmed parliamentary authority over the colonies

Townshend Duties

-Taxes on various goods imported to the colonies from England (lead, paint, paper, and tea)
-The maker of these taxes thought that the colonists would not object because the taxes were purely external

Boston Massacre

-A mob of dockworkers known as the "Liberty Boys" began pelting the sentries at the customs house with rocks and snowballs
-The British lined up, there was some scuffling, and one of the soldiers was knocked down
-Several British soldiers fired into the crowd, killing five people

Committees of Correspondence

Organization in Boston created by Sam Adams to publicize the grievance against England

Revolution

An overthrow or repudiation and the thorough replacement of an established government or political system by the people governed

Tea Act

Act that gave Britain's East India Company (who was on the verge of bankruptcy) the right to export its merchandise directly to the colonies without paying any regular taxes that were imposed on colonial merchants

Tea Party

Event where 3 companies of 50 men each, masqueraded as Mohawk Indians, and went aboard three ships, broke open the tea chests, heaving them into the harbor

Daughters of Liberty

Women's patriotic organization that contained colonial women who led a boycott on tea

Intolerable Acts

-Also known as the Coercive Acts
-Parliament retaliated to the Boston Tea Party in 4 acts: closing the port of Boston, drastically reducing the powers of self-government in Massachusetts, permitting royal officers in America to be tried for crimes in other colonies or in England, and providing for the quartering of troops by the colonists

Continental Congress

-Convened for the first time in Philadelphia with delegates from all the colonies (except Georgia)
-Made 5 major decisions
1. Rejected a plan for a colonial union under British authority
2. Endorsed a relatively moderate statement of grievances, which addressed the king as "Most Gracious Sovereign" (but also included a demand for the repeal of all oppressive
legislation)
3. Approved a series of resolutions recommending
that military preparations be made for defense against possible attack by the British troops in Boston
4. Agreed to a series of boycotts that they hoped would stop all trade with Great Britain (they formed a "Continental Association" to see that these agreements
were enforced)
5. Delegates agreed to meet again the following spring

Minutemen

Colonial farmers and townspeople who were prepared to fight on a minute's notice

1754

-Beginning of the French and Indian War
-Summer when the governor of Virginia sent a militia force (under young George Washington's command) to the Ohio Valley to challenge the French Expansion
-The Fort Necessity debacle

1763

-Peace of Paris (the French & Indian War ended)
-Proclamation of 1763 (forbade settlers to advance beyond the Appalachian Mountains)
-The English government began to enforce a series of colonial policies that brought the differences between the two societies into sharp focus
-George Grenville is made prime minister by the king
-A band of Pennsylvania frontiersmen known as the Paxton Boys descended on Philadelphia to demand tax relief and financial support for their defense against Indians

1775

-Battles of Lexington & Concord
-American Revolution begins
-Lord North finally wins approval for a series of measures known as the Conciliatory Propositions
-Thomas Gage sent a detachment of about 1,000 men out toward Lexington, hoping to surprise the colonials and seize the illegal supplies (gunpowder) without bloodshed

Royal Colonies

-Under control of the English king
-9 of the 13 are royal

Proprietary Colonies

-Land given to people by the king
Examples:
-Maryland (Lord Baltimore)
-Pennsylvania (William Penn)

Charter Colonies

-Charters granted to explorers by the king
Examples:
-Rhode Island
-Connecticut

America's Results from the French & Indian War

-Proud of their role in the war
-Excited the French are gone so they can take the land
-Head west to expand
-Take over fur trade
-Trade with French behind Britain's back
-Taxation without representation

Britain's Results from the French & Indian War

-Annoyed at the colonist for wasting money (wars cost money for military etc)
-Sent "regulars" to America to deal with the French (regulars won over the land)
-Upset about the smuggling between colonists & French
-Disregarded Indians
-Lost money from the war
-Wanted to regain the lost money & decided to tax the colonists

Admiral Court

Place where a judge (appointed by the king) tries smugglers (criminals)

Crispus Attucks

-Runaway slave
-One of 5 people who died at the Boston Massacre

Gaspee

-British ship who's main goal was to catch smugglers
-Helped enforce the Navigation Act
-Ran aground while stopping to get wood
-Attacked by colonists and members were thrown off the ship while it was burned