Things
to know
Hist.
1301, Part I
1.
Crusades
A
pluralist view of the Crusades has developed in the 20th century inclusive of
all papal-led efforts, whether in the Middle East or in Europe. This takes into
account the view of the Roman Catholic Church and medieval contemporaries such
as Saint Bernard of Clair Vaux that gave equal precedence to comparable
military campaigns against pagans, heretics and many undertaken for political
reasons. This wider definition includes the persecution of heretics in Southern
France, the political conflict between Christians in Sicily, the Christian
re-conquest of Spain and the conquest of heathens in the Baltic. Countering
this is the view the Crusades were a defensive war in the Middle East against
Muslims to free the Holy Land from Muslim rule
2. Black
Death
The
Black Death originated in or near China and spread by way of the Silk Road or
by ship. It may have reduced world
population from an estimated 450 million down to 350– 375 million by the year 1400.Spreading throughout the Mediterranean
and Europe, the Black Death is
estimated to have killed 30–60% of Europe's total population. All in all, the plague reduced the world population
from an estimated 450 million down to 350–375 million in the 14th century.
3. Reconquista
The
Reconquista ("reconquest") is a period of approximately 781 years in
the history of the Iberian Peninsula, after the Islamic conquest in 711-718 to
the fall of Granada, the last Islamic state on the peninsula, in 1492. It comes
before the discovery of the New World, and the period of the Portuguese and
Spanish colonial empires which followed.
4. Ferdinand
and Isabella
The
marriage in 1469 of royal cousins, Ferdinand of Aragon (1452-1516) and Isabella
of Castile (1451-1504), eventually brought stability to both kingdoms. Isabella
and Ferdinand are known for completing the Reconquista, ordering conversion or
exile of their Muslim and Jewish subjects and for supporting and financing
Christopher Columbus' 1492 voyage that led to the opening of the "New
World". Isabella was granted the title Servant of God by the Catholic
Church in 1974.
5.
Christopher Columbus
Christopher
Columbus was an Italian explorer, navigator, and colonizer, born in the
Republic of Genoa (Italy). Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of
Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general
European awareness of the American continents. Those voyages, and his efforts
to establish permanent settlements on the island of Hispaniola, initiated the
Spanish colonization of the New World.
6. Columbian Exchange
The
Columbian Exchange was the widespread exchange of animals, plants, culture,
human populations, communicable diseases, technology and ideas between the
American and Afro-Eurasian hemispheres following the voyage to the Americas by
Christopher Columbus in 1492, colonization and trade by Europeans in the
Americas, and institution of the slave trade in Africa and the Americas.
7. Conquistadors
Conquistadors
were soldiers, explorers, and adventurers at the service of the Portuguese
Empire and the Spanish Empire.They sailed beyond Europe, conquering territory
and opening trade routes. They colonized much of the world for Portugal and
Spain in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries.
8. Treaty of
Tordesillas
The
Treaty of Tordesillas signed at Tordesillas (now in Valladolid province, Spain)
on 7 June 1494 and authenticated at Setúbal, Portugal, divided the newly
discovered lands outside Europe between Portugal and Spain along a meridian 370
leagues west of the Cape Verde islands (off the west coast of Africa). This
line of demarcation was about halfway between the Cape Verde Islands (already
Portuguese) and the islands entered by Christopher Columbus on his first voyage
(claimed for Spain), named in the treaty as Cipangu and Antilia (Cuba and
Hispaniola).
9. Protestant Reformation
The
Protestant Reformation (also known as the Protestant Revolution) was the schism
within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin, and other
early Protestants. Although there had been significant attempts at reform
before Luther (notably those of John Wycliffe and Jan Huss), the date most
usually given for the start of the Protestant Reformation is 1517, when Luther
published The Ninety-Five Theses, and for its conclusion in 1648 with the Peace
of Westphalia that ended the European wars of religion. Luther started by
criticizing the relatively recent practice of selling indulgences, but the
debate widened until it touched on many of the doctrines and devotional
practices of the Catholic Church.
10. Henry
VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 1491 – 28 January 1547) was King of England from 21 April
1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later assumed the Kingship, of Ireland,
and continued the nominal claim by English monarchs to the Kingdom of France.
Henry was the second monarch of the Tudor dynasty, succeeding his father, Henry
VII.
Besides
his six marriages, Henry VIII is known for his role in the separation of the
Church of England from the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church. Henry's
struggles with Rome led to the separation of the Church of England from papal
authority, the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and his own establishment as the
Supreme Head of the Church of England. Yet he remained a believer in core
Catholic theological teachings, even after his excommunication from the Roman
Catholic Church. Henry oversaw the legal union of England and Wales with the
Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. He is also well known for a long personal
rivalry with both Francis I of France and the Habsburg monarch Charles V and I
of the Holy Roman Empire and Spain, his contemporaries with whom he frequently
warred.
11. Elizabeth
I
Elizabeth
I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was queen regnant of England and Ireland
from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called "The Virgin Queen",
"Gloriana" or "Good Queen Bess", Elizabeth was the fifth
and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. The daughter of Henry VIII, she was born
into the royal succession, but her mother, Anne Boleyn, was executed two and a
half years after her birth, with Anne's marriage to Henry VIII being annulled,
and Elizabeth hence declared illegitimate. Her half-brother, Edward VI, ruled
as king until his death in 1553, whereupon he bequeathed the crown to Lady Jane
Grey, cutting his two half-sisters, Elizabeth and the Roman Catholic Mary, out
of the succession in spite of statute law to the contrary. His will was set
aside, Mary became queen, and Lady Jane Grey was executed. In 1558, Elizabeth
succeeded her half-sister, during whose reign she had been imprisoned for nearly
a year on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels.
12. Spanish
Armada
The
Spanish Armada (Spanish: Grande y Felicísima Armada or Armada Invencible,
literally "Great and Most Fortunate Navy" or "Invincible
Fleet") was a Spanish fleet of 130 ships that sailed from A Coruña in
August 1588 under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia with the purpose of
escorting an army from Flanders to invade England. The strategic aim was to
overthrow Queen Elizabeth I of England and the Tudor establishment of
Protestantism in England, with the expectation that this would put a stop to
English interference in the Spanish Netherlands and to the harm caused to
Spanish interests by English and Dutch privatering.
13. Jesuits
Jesuit,
member of the Society of Jesus (S.J.), a Roman Catholic order of religious men
founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola, noted for its educational, missionary, and
charitable works, once regarded by many as the principal agent of the
Counter-Reformation, and later a leading force in modernizing the church. The
Jesuits have always been a controversial group, regarded by some as a society
to be feared and condemned and by others as the most laudable and esteemed religious
order in the Roman Catholic Church.
14. Roanoke
The
Roanoke Colony on Roanoke Island in Dare County, present-day North Carolina,
United States, was a late 16th-century attempt by Queen Elizabeth I to
establish a permanent English settlement. The enterprise was financed and
organized originally by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who drowned in 1583 during an
aborted attempt to colonize St. John's, Newfoundland. Sir Humphrey Gilbert's
half-brother Sir Walter Raleigh later gained his brother's charter from Queen
Elizabeth I and subsequently executed the details of the charter through his
delegates Ralph Lane and Richard Grenville, Raleigh's distant cousin. The final
group of colonists disappeared during the Anglo-Spanish War, three years after
the last shipment of supplies from England. Their disappearance gave rise to
the nickname "The Lost Colony". To this day there has been no
conclusive evidence as to what happened to the colonists.
15. Jamestown
Jamestown
settlement in the Colony of Virginia is the first permanent English settlement
in the Americas. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James
Fort" on May 4, 1607 (O.S., May 14, 1607 N.S.), and considered permanent
after brief abandonment in 1610, it followed several earlier failed attempts,
including the Lost Colony of Roanoke. Jamestown served as the capital of the
colony for 83 years, from 1616 until 1699
16. Pilgrims
A
pilgrim (from the Latin peregrinus) is a traveler (literally one who has come
from afar) who is on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical
journeying (often on foot) to some place of special significance to the
adherent of a particular religious belief system. In the spiritual literature
of Christianity, the concept of pilgrim and pilgrimage may refer to the experience
of life in the world (considered as a period of exile) or to the inner path of
the spiritual aspirant from a state of wretchedness to a state of beatitude.
17. Puritans
The
Puritans were a group of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries,
including, but not limited to, English Calvinists. Puritanism in this sense was
founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of
Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of
England.
18. English
Civil War
The
English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of armed conflicts and political
machinations between Parliamentarians ("Roundheads") and Royalists
("Cavaliers") in the Kingdom of England over, principally, the manner
of its government. The first (1642–46) and second (1648–49) wars pitted the
supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament,
while the third (1649–51) saw fighting between supporters of King Charles II
and supporters of the Rump Parliament. The war ended with the Parliamentarian
victory at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651.The overall outcome of
the war was threefold: the trial and execution of Charles I; the exile of his
son, Charles II; and the replacement of the English monarchy with, at first,
the Commonwealth of England (1649–53) and then the Protectorate (1653–59) under
Oliver Cromwell's personal rule. The monopoly of the Church of England on
Christian worship in England ended with the victors consolidating the
established Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. Constitutionally, the wars
established the precedent that an English monarch cannot govern without
Parliament's consent, although this concept was legally established only as
part of the Glorious Revolution in 1688.
19. Oliver Cromwell
Oliver
Cromwell (25 April 1599 – 3 September 1658) was an English military and
political leader and later Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England,
Scotland and Ireland. Cromwell was one of the signatories of King Charles I's
death warrant in 1649, and, as a member of the Rump Parliament (1649–53), he
dominated the short-lived Commonwealth of England. He was selected to take
command of the English campaign in Ireland in 1649–50. Cromwell's forces
defeated the Confederate and Royalist coalition in Ireland and occupied the
country – bringing to an end the Irish Confederate Wars. During this period a
series of the Penal Laws were passed against Roman Catholics (a significant
minority in England and Scotland but the vast majority in Ireland), and a
substantial amount of their land was confiscated. Cromwell also led a campaign
against the Scottish army between 1650 and 1651.
20. Glorious
Revolution
The
Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, was the overthrow of
King James II of England (James VII of Scotland and James II of Ireland) by a
union of English parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of
Orange-Nassau (William of Orange). William's successful invasion of England
with a Dutch fleet and army led to his ascending of the English throne as
William III of England jointly with his wife Mary II of England.
21. Captain
John Smith
John
Smith (c. January 1580 – 21 June 1631) Admiral of New England was an English
soldier, explorer, and author. He was knighted for his services to Sigismund
Bathory, Prince of Transylvania and his friend Mózes Székely. He was considered
to have played an important part in the establishment of the first permanent
English settlement in North America. He was a leader of the Virginia Colony
(based at Jamestown) between September 1608 and August 1609, and led an
exploration along the rivers of Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay. He was the
first English explorer to map the Chesapeake Bay area and New England. When
Jamestown was England's first permanent settlement in the New World, Smith
trained the settlers to farm and work, thus saving the colony from early
devastation. He publicly stated "he who shall not work, shall not
eat". This strength of character and determination overcame problems presented
from the hostile native Americans, the wilderness and the troublesome and
uncooperative English settlers. Harsh weather, lack of water, living in a
swampy wilderness, English unwillingness to work, and attacks from the Powhatan
nation almost destroyed the colony
22. Benign Neglect
Benign
neglect was a policy proposed in 1969 by Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who was at
the time on Nixon's White House Staff as an urban affairs adviser. While
serving in this capacity, he sent the President a memo suggesting, "The
time may have come when the issue of race could benefit from a period of
'benign neglect.' The subject has been too much talked about. The forum has
been too much taken over to hysterics, paranoids, and boodlers on all sides. We
need a period in which Negro progress continues and racial rhetoric
fades."The policy was designed to ease tensions after the American Civil
Rights Movement of the late 1960s. Moynihan was particularly troubled by the
speeches of Vice-President Spiro Agnew. However, the policy was widely seen as
an abandonment of urban neighborhoods, particularly ones with a majority black
population, as Moynihan's statements and writings appeared to encourage, for
instance, fire departments engaging in triage to avoid a supposedly futile war
against arson.
23. Theocracy
Theocracy
is a form of government in which a deity is officially recognized as the civil
Ruler and official policy is governed by officials regarded as divinely guided,
or is pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religion or religious group
24. Mayflower
Compact
The
Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was
written by the Separatists, sometimes referred to as the "Saints",
fleeing from religious persecution by King James of England. They traveled
aboard the Mayflower in 1620 along with adventurers, tradesmen, and servants,
most of who were referred to, by the Separatists as "Strangers". The
Mayflower Compact was signed aboard ship on November 11, 1620 by most adult
men. The Pilgrims used the Julian calendar, also known as Old Style dates,
which, at that time, was ten days behind the Gregorian Calendar. Signing the
covenant were 41 of the ship's 101 passengers, while the Mayflower was anchored
in what is now Province town Harbor within the hook at the northern tip of Cape
Cod.
25. House of
Burgesses
The
Virginia House of Burgesses was the first legislative assembly of elected
representatives in North America. The House was established by the Virginia
Company, who created the body as part of an effort to encourage English
craftsmen to settle in North America and to make conditions in the colony more
agreeable for its current inhabitants. Its first meeting was held in Jamestown,
Virginia, on July 30, 1619.The word "Burgess" means an elected or
appointed official of a municipality, or the representative of a borough in the
English House of Commons.
26. William Penn
William
Penn (14 October 1644 – 30 July 1718) was an English real estate entrepreneur,
philosopher, early Quaker and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the
English North American colony and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He
was an early champion of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good
relations and successful treaties with the Lenape Indians. Under his direction,
the city of Philadelphia was planned and developed.
27. Roger Williams
Roger
Williams (c. 1603 – between January and March 1683) was an English Protestant
theologian who was an early proponent of religious freedom and the separation
of church and state. In 1636, he began the colony of Providence Plantation,
which provided a refuge for religious minorities. Williams started the first
Baptist church in America, the First Baptist Church of Providence. He was a
student of Native American languages and an advocate for fair dealings with
Native Americans. Williams was arguably the first abolitionist in North
America, having organized the first attempt to prohibit slavery in any of the
original thirteen colonies.
28. Salem Witchcraft Trials
The
Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused
of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. The
trials resulted in the executions of twenty people, most of them women. Despite
being generally known as the Salem witch trials, the preliminary hearings in
1692 were conducted in several towns in the Province of Massachusetts Bay:
Salem Village (now Danvers), Ipswich, Andover, and Salem Town.
29. Calvinism
Calvinism
(also called the Reformed tradition or the Reformed faith) is a major branch of
Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian
practice of John Calvin and other Reformation-era theologians. Calvinists broke
with the Roman Catholic Church but differed with Lutherans on the real presence
of Christ in the Lord's Supper, theories of worship, and the use of God's law
for believers, among other things.
30.
Indentured Servitude
Indentured
servitude was a voluntary labor system whereby young people paid for their free
passage to the New World by working for an employer for a certain number of
years. It was widely employed in the 18th century in the British colonies in
North America and elsewhere. It was especially used as a way for poor youth in
Britain and the German states to get passage to the American colonies. They
would work for a fixed number of years, then be free to work on their own. The
employer purchased the indenture from the sea captain who brought the youths
over; he did so because he needed labor. Some worked as farmers or helpers for
farm wives, some were apprenticed to craftsmen. Both sides were legally
obligated to meet the terms, which were enforced by local American courts.
Runaways were sought out and returned. About half of the white immigrants to
the American colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries were indentured.
31.
Triangular Trade
Triangular
trade, or triangle trade, is a historical term indicating trade among three
ports or regions. Triangular trade usually evolves when a region has export
commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports
come. Triangular trade thus provides a method for rectifying trade imbalances
between the above regions. The particular routes were historically also shaped
by the powerful influence of winds and currents during the age of sail. For
example, from the main trading nations of Western Europe, it was much easier to
sail westwards after first going south of 30 N latitude and reaching the
so-called "trade winds"; thus arriving in the Caribbean rather than
going straight west to the North American mainland. Returning from North
America, it is easiest to follow the Gulf Stream in a northeasterly direction
using the westerlies. A similar triangle to this, called the volta do mar was
already being used by the Portuguese, before Columbus' voyage, to sail to the
Canary Islands and the Azores. Columbus simply expanded the triangle outwards,
and his route became the main way for Europeans to reach, and return from, the
Americas.
32. French
and Indian Wars
The
French and Indian War (1754–1763) was the North American theater of the
worldwide Seven Years' War. The war was fought between the colonies of British
America and New France, with both sides supported by military units from their
parent countries of Great Britain and France, as well as Native American
allies. The outnumbered French particularly depended on the Indians. Long in
conflict, the Metropole nations declared war on each other in 1756, escalating
the war from a regional affair into an international conflict.
33. Seven
Years War
The
Seven Years' War was a war that took place between 1754 and 1763 with the main
conflict being in the seven-year period 1756–1763. It involved most of the
great powers of the time and affected Europe, North America, Central America,
the West African coast, India, and the Philippines. In the historiography of
some countries, the war is alternatively named after combatants in the
respective theatres: the French and Indian War as it is known in the United
States or the War of the Conquest as it is known in French-speaking Canada,
while it is called the Seven Years' War in English-speaking Canada (North
America, 1754–63); Pomeranian War (with Sweden and Prussia, 1757–62); Third
Carnatic War (on the Indian subcontinent, 1757–63); and Third Silesian War
(with Prussia and Austria, 1756–63)
34. The First
Great Awakening
The
Great Awakening (called by historians the "First Great Awakening")
was an evangelical and revitalization movement that swept Protestant Europe and
British America, and especially the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s,
leaving a permanent impact on American Protestantism. It resulted from powerful
preaching that gave listeners a sense of deep personal revelation of their need
of salvation by Jesus Christ. Pulling away from ritual, ceremony, sacra Mentalism
and hierarchy, the Great Awakening made Christianity intensely personal to the
average person by fostering a deep sense of spiritual conviction and
redemption, and by encouraging introspection and a commitment to a new standard
of personal morality.
35. Age of
Reason (Enlightenment)
The
Age of Enlightenment (or simply the Enlightenment or Age of Reason) was a
cultural movement of intellectuals beginning in late 17th-century Europe
emphasizing reason and individualism rather than tradition. Its purpose was to
reform society using reason, to challenge ideas grounded in tradition and
faith, and to advance knowledge through the scientific method. It promoted
scientific thought, skepticism, and intellectual interchange. The Enlightenment
was a revolution in human thought. This new way of thinking was that rational
thought begins with clearly stated principles, uses correct logic to arrive at
conclusions, tests the conclusions against evidence, and then revises the principles
in the light of the evidence.
36. Jonathan
Edwards
Jonathan
Edwards (October 5, 1703 – March 22, 1758) was a Christian preacher,
philosopher, and theologian. Edwards "is widely acknowledged to be
America's most important and original philosophical theologian," and one
of America's greatest intellectuals. Edwards's theological work is broad in
scope, but he was rooted in Reformed theology, the metaphysics of theological
determinism, and the Puritan heritage. Recent studies have emphasized how thoroughly
Edwards grounded his life's work on conceptions of beauty, harmony, and ethical
fittings, and how central The Enlightenment was in his mindset. Edwards played
a critical role in shaping the First Great Awakening, and oversaw some of the
first revivals in 1733–35 at his church in Northampton, Massachusetts.
37. Deism
Deism
is the belief that reason and observation of the natural world are sufficient
to determine the existence of a Creator, accompanied with the rejection of
revelation and authority as a source of religious knowledge. Deism gained
prominence in the 17th and 18th centuries during the Age of
Enlightenment—especially in Britain, France, Germany, and the United
States—among intellectuals raised as Christians who believed in one god, but
found fault with organized religion and did not believe in supernatural events
such as miracles, the inerrancy of the scriptures, or the Trinity. Deism is
derived from deus, the Latin word for god. Deistic ideas influenced several
leaders of the American and French Revolutions. Two main forms of deism
currently exist: classical deism and modern deism
38. Stamp Act
The
Stamp Act 1765 (short title Duties in American Colonies Act 1765; 5 George III,
c. 12) imposed a direct tax by the British Parliament specifically on the
colonies of British America, and it required that many printed materials in the
colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London, carrying an embossed
revenue stamp.These printed materials were legal documents, magazines, playing
cards, newspapers and many other types of paper used throughout the colonies.
Like previous taxes, the stamp tax had to be paid invalid British currency, not
in colonial paper money. The purpose of the tax was to help pay for troops
stationed in North America after the British victory in the Seven Years' War.
The Americans said there was no military need for the soldiers because there
were no foreign enemies and the Americans had always protected themselves
against Native Americans, and suggested it was rather a matter of British
patronage to surplus British officers and career soldiers who should be paid by
London.
39. George
III
George
III (George William Frederick; 4 June 1738[– 29 January 1820) was King of Great
Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two
countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland until his death. He was concurrently Duke and
prince-elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg ("Hanover") in the Holy Roman
Empire until his promotion to King of Hanover on 12 October 1814. He was the
third British monarch of the House of Hanover, but unlike his two Hanoverian
predecessors, he was born in Britain, spoke English as his first language, and
never visited Hanover. His life and reign, which were longer than any other
British monarch before him, were marked by a series of military conflicts
involving his kingdoms, much of the rest of Europe, and places further afield
in Africa, the Americas and Asia. Early in his reign, Great Britain defeated
France in the Seven Years' War, becoming the dominant European power in North
America and India. However, many of its American colonies were soon lost in the
American Revolutionary War. Further wars against revolutionary and Napoleonic
France from 1793 concluded in the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo
in 1815.
40.
Proclamation Act of 1763
The
Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 9, 1763, by King George III
following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America
after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War, in which it
forbade settlers from settling past a line drawn along the Appalachian
Mountains, which today is geographically similar to the Eastern Continental
Divide's path running northwards from Georgia to the Pennsylvania-New York
State border, and north-eastwards past the drainage divide on the "St.
Lawrence Divide" from there northwards through New England. The purpose of
the proclamation was to organize Great Britain's new North American empire and
to stabilize relations with Native North Americans through regulation of trade,
settlement, and land purchases on the western frontier. The Royal Proclamation
continues to be of legal importance to First Nations in Canada and is significant
for the variation of indigenous status in the United States. It eventually
ensured that British culture and laws were applied in Upper Canada after 1791,
which was done to attract British settlers to the province.
41. Sons of
Liberty
In
Boston in early summer of 1765 a group of shopkeepers and artisans who called
themselves The Loyal Nine, began preparing for agitation against the Stamp Act.
As that group grew, it came to be known as the Sons of Liberty. And grow it
did! These were not the leading men of Boston, but rather workers and
tradesmen. It was unseemly that they would be so agitated by a parliamentary
act. Though their ranks did not include Samuel and John Adams, the fact may
have been a result of a mutually beneficial agreement. The Adams' and other
radical members of the legislature were daily in the public eye; they could not
afford to be too closely associated with violence, neither could the secretive
Sons of Liberty afford much public exposure. However, amongst the members were
two men who could generate much public sentiment about the Act. Benjamin Edes,
a printer, and John Gill of the Boston Gazette produced a steady stream of news
and opinion. Within a very short time a group of some two thousand men had been
organized under Ebenezer McIntosh, a South Boston shoemaker.
42.
Declaratory Act
The
American Colonies Act 1766 (6 Geo 3 c 12), commonly known as the Declaratory
Act, was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, which accompanied the
repeal of the Stamp Act 1765. Parliament repealed the Stamp Act because
boycotts were hurting British trade and used the declaration to justify the
repeal and save face. The declaration stated that Parliament's authority was
the same in America as in Britain and asserted Parliament's authority to pass
laws that were binding on the American colonies.
43. Townshend
Acts
The
Townshend Acts were a series of acts passed, beginning in 1767, by the
Parliament of Great Britain relating to the British colonies in North America.
The acts are named after Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
who proposed the program. Historians vary slightly in which acts they include
under the heading "Townshend Acts", but five laws are often
mentioned: the Revenue Act of 1767, the Indemnity Act, the Commissioners of
Customs Act, the Vice Admiralty Court Act, and the New York Restraining Act.
The purpose of the Townshend Acts was to raise revenue in the colonies to pay
the salaries of governors and judges so that they would remain loyal to Great
Britain, to create a more effective means of enforcing compliance with trade
regulations, to punish the province of New York for failing to comply with the
1765 Quartering Act, and to establish the precedent that the British Parliament
had the right to tax the colonies. The Townshend Acts were met with resistance
in the colonies, prompting the occupation of Boston by British troops in 1768,
which eventually resulted in the Boston Massacre of 1770. As a result of
widespread protest in the American colonies, Parliament began to consider a
motion to partially repeal the Townshend duties. Most of the new taxes were
repealed, but the tax on tea was retained. The British government continued in
its attempt to tax the colonists without their consent and the Boston Tea Party
and the American Revolution followed.
44. Boston
Massacre
The
Boston Massacre, known as the Incident on King Street by the British,[citation
needed] was an incident on March 5, 1770, in which British Army soldiers killed
five male civilians and injured six others. British troops had been stationed
in Boston,the capital of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, since 1768 in order
to protect and support crown-appointed colonial officials attempting to enforce
unpopular Parliamentary legislation. Amid ongoing tense relations between the
population and the soldiers, a mob formed around a British sentry, who was
subjected to verbal abuse and harassment. He was eventually supported by eight
additional soldiers, who were subjected to verbal threats and thrown objects. They
fired into the crowd, without orders, instantly killing three people and
wounding others. Two more people died later of wounds sustained in the
incident.
45.
Committees of Correspondence
The
committees of correspondence were shadow governments organized by the Patriot
leaders of the Thirteen Colonies on the eve of the American Revolution. They
coordinated responses to Britain and shared their plans; by 1773 they had
emerged as shadow governments, superseding the colonial legislature and royal
officials. The Maryland Committee of Correspondence was instrumental in setting
up the First Continental Congress, which met in Philadelphia, PA. These served
an important role in the Revolution, by disseminating the colonial
interpretation of British actions between the colonies and to foreign
governments. The committees of correspondence rallied opposition on common
causes and established plans for collective action, and so the group of
committees was the beginning of what later became a formal political union among
the colonies. A total of about 7,000 to 8,000 Patriots served on these
committees at the colonial and local levels, comprising most of the leadership
in their communities—the Loyalists were excluded. The committees became the
leaders of the American resistance to British actions, and largely determined
the war effort at the state and local level. When Congress decided to boycott
British products, the colonists and local Committees took charge, examining
merchant records and publishing the names of merchants who attempted to defy
the boycott by importing British goods. They promoted patriotism and home
manufacturing, advising Americans to avoid luxuries, and lead a more simple
life. The committees gradually extended their power over many aspects of American
public life. They set up espionage networks to identify disloyal elements,
displaced the royal officials, and helped topple the entire Imperial system in
each colony. In late 1774 and early 1775, they supervised the elections of
provincial conventions, which took over the actual operation of colonial
government.
46. John
Adams
John
Adams (October 30 [O.S. October 19] 1735 – July 4, 1826) was the second
president of the United States (1797–1801), having earlier served as the first
vice president of the United States. An American Founding Father, Adams was a
statesman, diplomat, and a leading advocate of American independence from Great
Britain. Well educated, he was an Enlightenment political theorist who promoted
republicanism, as well as a strong central government, and wrote prolifically
about his often seminal ideas, both in published works and in letters to his
wife and key adviser Abigail Adams, as well as to other Founding Fathers. Adams
was a lifelong opponent of slavery, having never bought a slave. In 1770, he
provided a principled, controversial, and a successful legal defense to British
soldiers accused in the Boston Massacre, because he believed in the right to
counsel and the "protect[ion] of innocence."Adams came to prominence
in the early stages of the American Revolution. A lawyer and public figure in
Boston, as a delegate from Massachusetts to the Continental Congress, he played
a leading role in persuading Congress to declare independence. He assisted
Thomas Jefferson in drafting the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and was
its primary advocate in the Congress. Later, as a diplomat in Europe, he helped
negotiate the eventual peace treaty with Great Britain, and was responsible for
obtaining vital governmental loans from Amsterdam bankers. A political theorist
and historian, Adams largely wrote the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780,
which together with his earlier Thoughts on Government, influenced American
political thought. One of his greatest roles was as a judge of character: in 1775,
he nominated George Washington to be commander-in-chief, and 25 years later
nominated John Marshall to be Chief Justice of the United States
47. Sam Adams
Samuel
Adams (September 27 [O.S. September 16] 1722 – October 2, 1803) was an American
statesman, political philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United
States. As a politician in colonial Massachusetts, Adams was a leader of the
movement that became the American Revolution, and was one of the architects of
the principles of American republicanism that shaped the political culture of
the United States. He was a second cousin to President John Adams.
48. Paul
Revere
Paul
Revere (December 21, 1734 O.S. – May 10, 1818) was an American silversmith,
engraver, early industrialist, and a patriot in the American Revolution. He is
most famous for alerting the Colonial militia to the approach of British forces
before the battles of Lexington and Concord, as dramatized in Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow's poem, "Paul Revere's Ride."Revere was a prosperous and
prominent Boston silversmith, who helped organize an intelligence and alarm
system to keep watch on the British military. Revere later served as a
Massachusetts militia officer, though his service culminated after the
Penobscot Expedition, one of the most disastrous campaigns of the American
Revolutionary War, for which he was absolved of blame. Following the war,
Revere returned to his silversmith trade and used the profits from his
expanding business to finance his work in iron casting, bronze bell and cannon
casting, and the forging of copper bolts and spikes. Finally, in 1800 he became
the first American to successfully roll copper into sheets for use as sheathing
on naval vessels.
49. Tea Acts
The Tea Act 1773 (13 Geo 3 c 44) was an Act of
the Parliament of Great Britain. Its principal over objective was to reduce the
massive surplus of tea held by the financially troubled British East India
Company in its London warehouses and to help the struggling company survive. A
related objective was to undercut the price of tea smuggled into Britain's
North American colonies. This was supposed to convince the colonists to
purchase Company Tea on which the Townshend duties were paid, thus implicitly
agreeing to accept Parliament's right of taxation. The Act granted the Company
the right to directly ship its tea to North America and the right to the
duty-free export of tea from Britain, although the tax imposed by the Townshend
Acts and collected in the colonies remained in force. It received the royal
assent on May 10, 1773. 51.
Boston Tea Party
52. Coercive
Acts (Intolerable Acts)
The
Intolerable Acts was the American Patriots' name for a series of punitive laws
passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea party. They were
meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in throwing a
large tea shipment into Boston harbor. In Great Britain, these laws were referred
to as the Coercive Acts.The acts took away Massachusetts self-government and
historic rights, triggering outrage and resistance in the Thirteen Colonies.
They were the key developments in the outbreak of the American Revolution in
1775. Four of the acts were issued in direct response to the Boston Tea Party
of December 1773; the British Parliament hoped these punitive measures would,
by making an example of Massachusetts, reverse the trend of colonial resistance
to parliamentary authority that had begun with the 1765 Stamp Act. A fifth act,
the Quebec Act, enlarged the boundaries of what was then the Province of Quebec
and instituted reforms generally favorable to the French Catholic inhabitants
of the region; although unrelated to the other four Acts, it was passed in the
same legislative session and seen by the colonists as one of the Intolerable
Acts. The Patriots viewed the acts as an arbitrary violation of the rights of
Massachusetts, and in September of 1774 they organized the First Continental
Congress to coordinate a protest. As tensions escalated, the American
Revolutionary War broke out in April 1775, leading in July 1776 to the creation
of an independent United States of America.
53. First and
Second Continental Congresses
The
Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the
Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during
the American Revolution. The Congress met from 1774 to 1789 in three
incarnations. The first call for a convention was made over issues of the
blockade and the Intolerable Acts penalizing Massachusetts, which in 1774
enabled Benjamin Franklin to convince the colonies to form a representative
body. Though at first divided on independence and a break from Crown rule, the
new Congress in July 1776 gave a unanimous vote for independence, issued the
Declaration of Independence as a new nation, the United States of America. It
established a Continental Army, giving commands to one of its members George
Washington of Virginia. It waged war with Britain, made a military treaty with
France, and funded the war effort with loans and paper money.
54. Lexington
and Concord
The
Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the
American Revolutionary War. They were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex
County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord,
Lincoln, Menotomy (present-day Arlington), and Cambridge, near Boston. The
battles marked the outbreak of open armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great
Britain and thirteen of its colonies on the mainland of British America.
55. Thomas
Paine
Thomas
Paine (February 9, 1737 [O.S. January 29, 1736][– June 8, 1809) was an
English-American political activist, philosopher, author, political theorist
and revolutionary. As the author of two highly influential pamphlets at the
start of the American Revolution, he inspired the Patriots in 1776 to declare
independence from Britain. His ideas reflected Enlightenment-era rhetoric of
transnational human rights.He has been called "a corset maker by trade, a
journalist by profession, and a propagandist by inclination".
56.
Declaration of Independence
The
Declaration of Independence is the usual name of a statement adopted by the Continental
Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies,
then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as 13 newly independent
sovereign states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. Instead, they
formed a new nation—the United States of America. John Adams was a leader in
pushing for independence, which was unanimously approved on July 2. A committee
had already drafted the formal declaration, to be ready when Congress voted on
independence. The term "Declaration of Independence" is not used in
the document itself. Adams persuaded the committee to select Thomas Jefferson
to compose the original draft of the document, which congress would edit to
produce the final version. The Declaration was ultimately a formal explanation
of why Congress had voted on July 2 to declare independence from Great Britain,
more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. The
national birthday, the Independence Day is celebrated on July 4, although Adams
wanted July 2.
57. Breed’s
Hill
Breed's
Hill is a glacial drumlin located in the Charleston section of Boston,
Massachusetts. It is best known as the location where in 1775, early in the
American Revolutionary War, most of the fighting in the Battle of Bunker Hill took
place. Much of the hill is now occupied by residential construction, but the
summit area is the location of the Bunker Hill Monument and other memorials
commemorating the battle.
58. Battle of
Trenton
The Battle of
Trenton took place on the morning of December 26, 1776, during the American
Revolutionary War, after General George Washington's crossing of the Delaware
River north of Trenton, New Jersey. The hazardous crossing in adverse weather
made it possible for Washington to lead the main body of the Continental Army
against Hessian soldiers garrisoned at Trenton. After a brief battle, nearly
the entire Hessian force was captured, with negligible losses to the Americans.
The battle significantly boosted the Continental Army's flagging morale, and inspired reenlistment.
59.
“Gentleman” Johnny Burgoyne
General
John Burgoyne (24 February 1722 – 4 August 1792) was a British army officer,
politician and dramatist. He first saw action during the Seven Years' War, when he participated in several battles, most
notably during the Portugal Campaign in 1762. Burgoyne is best known for his
role in the American Revolutionary War He designed an invasion scheme and was
appointed to command a force moving south from Canada to split away New England
and end the rebellion. Burgoyne advanced from Canada, but his slow movement
allowed the Americans to concentrate their forces. Instead of coming to his aid,
according to the overall plan, the British Army in New York City moved south to
capture Philadelphia. Surrounded, Burgoyne fought two small battles near
Saratoga to break out. Trapped by superior American forces, with no relief in
sight, Burgoyne surrendered his entire army of 6200 men on October 17, 1777.
His surrender, says historian Edmund Morgan, "was a great turning point of
the war, because it won for Americans the foreign assistance which was the last
element needed for victory. He and his officers returned to England; the
enlisted men became prisoners of war. Burgoyne came under sharp criticism when
he returned to London, and never held another active command. Burgoyne was also
an accomplished playwright known for his works such as The Maid of the Oaks and
The Heiress, but his plays never reached the fame of his military career. He
served as a member of the House of Commons of Parliament for a number of years,
sitting in the seats of Midhurst and Preston. He is often referred to as
Gentleman Johnny.
60. Saratoga,
Battle of
The
Battles of Saratoga (September 19 and October 7, 1777) marked the climax of the
Saratoga campaign giving a decisive victory to the Americans over the British
in the American Revolutionary War. British General John Burgoyne led a large
invasion army down from Canada; he was surrounded by American forces in upstate
New York. Burgoyne fought two small battles to break out. They took place
eighteen days apart on the same ground, 9 miles (14 km) south of Saratoga, New
York. They both failed. Trapped by superior American forces, with no relief in
sight, Burgoyne surrendered his entire army on October 17. His surrender, says
historian Edmund Morgan, "was a great turning point of the war, because it
won for Americans the foreign assistance which was the last element needed for
victory.
61. Marquis d’ Lafayette
Marie-Joseph
Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette (6
September 1757 – 20 May 1834), in the U.S. often known simply as Lafayette, was
a French aristocrat and military officer born in Chavaniac, in the province of
Auvergne in south central France. Lafayette was a general in the American
Revolutionary War and a leader of the Garde nationale during the French
Revolution. In the American Revolution, La Fayette served as a major-general in
the Continental Army under George Washington. Wounded during the Battle of Brandywine,
he still managed to organize a successful retreat. He served with distinction
in the Battle of Rhode Island. In the middle of the war, he returned to France
to negotiate an increase in French support. On his return, he blocked troops
led by Cornwallis at Yorktown while the armies of Washington and those sent by
King Louis XVI under the command of General de Rochambeau, Admiral de Grasse,
and Admiral de Latouche Tréville prepared for battle against the British.
62. General
Cornwallis
Charles
Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis KG (December 31, 1738 – October 5, 1805),
styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as The Earl Cornwallis
between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army officer and colonial administrator.
In the United States and the United Kingdom he is best remembered as one of the
leading British generals in the American War of Independence. His surrender in
1781 to a combined American and French force at the Siege of Yorktown ended
significant hostilities in North America. He also served as a civil and
military governor in Ireland and India; in both places he brought about
significant changes, including the Act of Union in Ireland, and the Cornwallis
Code and the Permanent Settlement in India.
63. Benedict
Arnold
Benedict
Arnold (January 14, 1741 [O.S. January 3, 1740][1][2] – June 14, 1801) was a
general during the American Revolutionary War who originally fought for the
American Continental Army but defected to the British Army. While a general on
the American side, he obtained command of the fortifications at West Point, New
York (future site of the U.S. Military Academy after 1802), overlooking the
cliffs at the Hudson River (upriver from British- occupied New York City), and
planned to surrender it to the British forces. After the plan was exposed in
September 1780, he was commissioned into the British Army as a brigadier
general.
64. John Paul
Jones
John
Paul Jones (July 6, 1747 – July 18, 1792) was a Scottish sailor and the United
States' first well-known naval fighter in the American Revolution. Although he
made enemies among America's political elites, his actions in British waters
during the Revolution earned him an international reputation which persists to
this day. As such he is sometimes referred to as the "Father of the United
States Navy" (an epithet he shares with John Barry). He later served in
the Imperial Russian Navy. During his engagement with HMS Serapis, Jones
uttered, according to the later recollection of his first lieutenant, the
legendary reply to a taunt about surrender from the British captain: "I
have not yet begun to fight!"
65. Nathanael
Greene
Nathanael
Greene (August 7 [O.S. July 27] 1742 – June 19, 1786, frequently misspelled
Nathaniel) was a major general of the Continental Army in the American
Revolutionary War, known for his successful command in the Southern Campaign,
forcing British general Charles Cornwallis to abandon the Carolinas and head
for Virginia. When the war began, Greene was a militia private, the lowest rank
possible; he emerged from the war with a reputation as George Washington's most
gifted and dependable officer. Many places in the United States are named for
him. Greene suffered financial difficulties in the post-war years and died
suddenly of sunstroke in 1786.
66. Treaty of
Paris
The
Treaty of Paris, also known as the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10 February
1763 by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in
agreement, after Britain's victory over France and Spain during the Seven
Years' War. The signing of the treaty formally ended the Seven Years' War,
known as the French and Indian War in the North American theatre, and marked
the beginning of an era of British dominance outside Europe. The two nations
returned much of the territory that they had each captured during the war, but
Britain gained much of France's possessions in North America. Additionally,
Britain agreed to protect Roman Catholicism in the New World. The treaty did
not involve Prussia and Austria as they signed a separate agreement, the Treaty
of Hubertusburg, five days later.
67. Articles
of Confederation
The
Articles of Confederation, formally the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual
Union, was an agreement among the 13 founding states that established the
United States of America as a confederation of sovereign states and served as
its first constitution.Its drafting by the Continental Congress began in
mid-1776, and an approved version was sent to the states for ratification in
late 1777. The formal ratification by all 13 states was completed in early
1781. Even when not yet ratified, the Articles provided domestic and
international legitimacy for the Continental Congress to direct the American
Revolutionary War, conduct diplomacy with Europe and deal with territorial
issues and Native American relations. Nevertheless, the weakness of the
government created by the Articles became a matter of concern for key
nationalists. On March 4, 1789, general government under the Articles was
replaced with the federal government under the U.S. Constitution.The new
Constitution provided for a much stronger federal government with a chief
executive (the president), courts, and taxing powers.
