Ch. 2

Test Review

American Revolution and the Constitution

US History

Test Review

Please look up and define how these items were used in the chapter:

  1. Common Sense-Pamphlet written by Thomas Paine used to get the colonists to demand independence from Britain
  1. Stamp Act-Parliament passed this law requiring colonists to pay a direct tax on printed items
  1. Boston Tea Party-Colonists in Boston dressed up as Native Americans and boarded a tea company ship and dumped 1000’s (18,000) of pounds of tea into the harbor. They wanted to communicate their feelings towards the Tea Act.
  1. Declaration of Independence-7/4/1776 announced that people have unalienable rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
  1. Olive Branch Petition-This is when the continental congress wrote to King George appealing them to return to harmony with Great Britain and the Colonies. The Colonists wanted representation in Parliament, they were eventually denied.
  1. Intolerable Acts-More laws passed by Parliament that shut down BostonHarbor and authorized British commanders to house soldiers in private homes.
  1. Boston Massacre-A riot between British soldiers and Colonists which left five dead, including Crispus Attucks
  1. Second Continental Congress-They met and agreed on the Declaration of Independence
  1. Town. Acts-Townshend Acts are laws passed by British Parliament taxing paint, lead, glass, and paper
  1. Samuel Adams-Formed the Sons of Liberty which was a resistance group that fought against British Laws
  1. Trenton-On X-Mas Night 1776, George Washington led 2400 men in rowboats across a river
  1. Saratoga-The battle is a turning point in the Revolutionary war. The victory here convinced the French to join the Americans
  1. Valley Forge-1777 to 1778 winter camp of the Americans
  1. Yorktown-This town was the site of the British surrender and the end of the Revolutionary War.
  1. Marquis de Lafayette-He lobbied for reinforcement troops from France and led a command in Virginia in the last years of the war
  1. General John Burgoyne-British General during the Battle of Saratoga
  1. Paris-The treaty confirming US independence was signed in Paris, France
  1. Egalitarianism-This is a belief in the equality of all people
  1. The Northwest Ordinance-Established a plan for dividing the land west of the Appalachian Mountains
  1. The Great Compromise-Proposed that a state’s representation in the House of Representatives would be determined by the size of the state’s population. The size of the US Senate would have equal numbers from each state.
  1. Checks and Balances-Prevent any one branch from dominating the other two
  1. Ratification of the Constitution-Nine states
  1. The Elastic Clause in the Constitution-Flexibility to meet the changing needs of the people

Short Response Essay A:

What role did the Olive Branch Petition, Common Sense, and the Declaration of Independence play during the struggle for American Independence?

Olive Branch-was the last desperate attempt by the colonists to reconcile with Britain. King George rejected it and many colonists viewed efforts to reconcile as hopeless and felt King George was set on punishing them.

Common Sense-Helped convince many colonists that King George was a tyrant that it was time for independence, and that independence would improve the lives of the colonists.

Declaration- Formally stated the colonists’ reasons for declaring independence, helping them to justify to themselves and to the world the drastic actions they were taking.

Short Response Essay B:

Name some ideals that Americans fought for during the Revolutionary War? In what ways did American society reflect these ideals after the war, and in what ways did it fail to live up to them?

Ideals-Americans fought to defend various individual freedoms and their natural rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Class distinctions blurred and egalitarianism rose, the idea of ability, effort, and virtue-not wealth or family define one’s worth. This idea of egalitarianism, however, applied only to white males. African Americans, whether enslaved or free, faced oppression, white women had few political rights, and American settlers continued to move onto Native American lands.