Road to Independence

Revenue Incoming money

Writ of Assistance a legal document that enabled officers to search homes and warehouses for goods that might be smuggled

Sugar Act lowered the tax on molasses imported by colonists

Stamp Act placed a tax on almost all printed material in the colonies

Patrick Henry convinced the Virginia burgesses to pass a resolution about the Stamp Act saying only Virginia could tax Virginians

Resolution a formal expression of opinion

Samuel Adams Organized the Sons of Liberty – Sons of Liberty were a group that took to the streets to protest the Stamp Act Participated in the Boston Tea Party

Effigies Rag figures that represent a person

Stamp Act Congress declared that the colonies could not be taxed except by their own assemblies

Boycott Refuse to buy

Nonimportation The act of not importing or using certain goods

Repeal cancel

Declaratory Act stated that Parliament had the right to tax and make decisions for the colonists “in all cases.”

Townshend Acts Taxed all goods being imported to the colonies, with the tax being paid at the port of entry

Daughters of Liberty Protested the Townshend Acts Urged Americans to wear homemade fabrics and produce goods usually only available from Britain

Crispus Attucks Half Indian halfAfrican American dock worker killed in the Boston Massacre

Boston Massacre Incident between colonists and British Red Coats on King Street 5 colonists were killed Engraving by Paul Revere helped strengthen anti-British feelings

Propaganda information designed to influence opinion

Committee of Correspondence An organization that spread political ideas through the colonies Restarted by Samuel Adams

Tea Act gave East India Company the right to ship tea to the colonies without paying most of the taxes and to sell directly to colonial shopkeepers at a low price

Boston Tea Party Men disguised as Mohawks threw chests of tea into the Boston Harbor in protest of the Tea Act Many colonists celebrated the act of defiance Included Samuel Adams

King George III The King of England during the American Revolutionary War

Coercive Acts closed Boston Harbor until the Massachusetts colonists paid for the destroyed tea stopped the arrival of food and other supplies prevented town meetings or any form of self government forced Bostonians to shelter British soldiers in their homes colonists referred to these laws as the Intolerable Acts

(First) Continental Congress Delegates sent to Philadelphia to establish a political body to represent American interests and challenge British control Every colony was represented except Georgia Called for boycott of all British goods and trade with Britain

Suffolk Resolves called on the people of Suffolk County to arm themselves against the British

Militias Civilians trained to fight in emergencies

Minutemen Companies of civilian soldiers who boasted that they were ready to fight on a minutes notice Led by Captain John Parker

Concord Town where Massachusetts minutemen stored arms (weapons) British General Thomas Gage was ordered to take the Massachusetts militia’s weapons

“The regulars are out!” Paul Revere and William Dawes rode to Lexington to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams (both members of the Sons of Liberty) that the British were coming

Land or Sea? “One if by land, and two if by sea” From a poem by Henry Wadsworth called Paul Revere’s Ride Refers to Revere’s backup plan to have lanterns lit to tell other Patriots of the path the British were taking en route to Concord The signal was set up at the Old North Church in Boston

Shot Heard Round the World A line in a Ralph Waldo Emerson poem called “Concord Hymn” describing the beginning of the American Revolutionary War Nobody knows who fired the shot Later used in other parts of the world to describe the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand that began WWI

By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April's breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood, And fired the shot heard round the world. The foe long since in silence slept; Alike the conqueror silent sleeps; And Time the ruined bridge has swept Down the dark stream which seaward creeps. On this green bank, by this soft stream, We set to-day a votive stone; That memory may their deed redeem, When, like our sires, our sons are gone. Spirit, that made those heroes dare To die, and leave their children free, Bid Time and Nature gently spare The shaft we raise to them and thee.

Concord’s North Bridge Sight of the Battle of Concord in which minutemen repelled the British Army

Colonel William Prescott Led the American military in the Battle of Bunker Hill Famously told his men “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.”

Battle of Bunker Hill Won by the British after the Americans ran out of gun powder. Showed the British that a war against the Americans would not be quick and easy. The battle actually took place on Breed’s Hill

Loyalists Colonists who chose to side with the British Did not think unfair taxes were a good reason for rebellion

Patriots American colonists who were determined to fight the British until American independence was won

Second Continental Congress Governed the colonies John Hancock was president Approved the printing of money Created a postal service with Benjamin Franklin in charge Created the Continental Army to fight the British with George Washington as its commander

Petition Formal request

Olive Branch Petition assured the king that the colonists wanted peace asked the king to protect the colonists’ rights

Common Sense Written by Thomas Paine Said the issue was freedom, not just taxes Called for complete independence from Britain

Thomas Jefferson Wrote the Declaration of Independence

John Hancock President of the Second Continental Congress First to sign the Declaration of Independence Said he signed his name big enough that King George could read it without his glasses

Declaration of Independence Declared the United States of America as an independent nation Signed by 56 delegates on July 4, 1776

Preamble the introduction to a formal document, especially the Constitution

We hold these truths to be self- evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness

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