Revolution

Unit Review Sheet

Facts and Definitions

Lesson 1: Founding of the Colonies

• Europeans migrated to North America for a variety of reasons hoping to find access to gold or other easy sources of wealth, seeking religious freedom, hoping to make better lives for themselves than was possible in their home countries, or avoiding imprisonment in Europe.
• Some African people came to the North American colonies against their will; they were captured and forced to become indentured servants and, later, slaves.
• Proprietary colonies were colonies in which an Englishman owned the land and governed the colony. Several colonies (Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire) were all originally proprietary colonies.
• Most colonies were self-governed early on, with the king granting the owners of proprietary colonies or royally-appointed governors broad powers to manage the affairs of the colony without royal interference. Over time, though, the British monarchy sought more control over colonial affairs.

Lesson 2: Southern Colonies

• There were two unsuccessful attempts to establish colonies in what is now North Carolina in the 1580s.
• The Virginia Company was granted a charted in 1606 and they founded Jamestown in 1607. By the 1650s, Virginia colonists were expanding into North Carolina.
• Lord Baltimore was granted a charter in 1632, and Maryland's first colonists arrived in 1634.
• Tobacco rapidly became a major cash crop for southern colonists.

Lesson 3: The Middle and Northern Colonies

• Puritans seeking religious freedom arrived in North America on the Mayflower in 1620.
• Many of the New England colonies were founded by groups seeking religious freedom, or splitting off from one another to found new religious communities.
• The middle colonies were rich in trade goods like furs and lumber.
• The southern colonies were founded by investors seeking profits and tended to have economies centered around plantation agriculture.

Lesson 4: Daily Life in the Colonies

• Imported goods were extremely expensive in colonial America, so people grew or made much of what they needed at home or bought them locally.
• Some colonial activities, like candle-making, were necessary but also served as opportunities for social interaction.
• Clothing was very expensive in the colonies — most people had only a couple of outfits, rather than a whole wardrobe of clothes!

Lesson 5: Town and Country

• Colonial farmers grew subsistence crops (crops grown to provide food or other necessary supplies for their own families) and many also grew cash crops (crops grown to sell for money). Tobacco and indigo were important cash crops in colonial America.

Lesson 6: Leading Up to Revolution

• Several government actions were designed to raise revenue from the colonies either by requiring a direct tax on various goods, levying a heavy tax on non-British imports, or decreasing the tax on goods imported from Great Britain. The Sugar Act and the Stamp Act are both examples of these kinds of laws.
• In response to some of these actions, many colonies practiced non-importation, or a refusal to import British goods. By boycotting British imports and either doing without those products or finding alternatives for them, colonists could effectively avoid taxes that were connected to the goods in question.
• The British government also passed laws requiring the colonies to provide barracks and supplies to British troops stationed there and increasing taxes to pay for the military and governmental costs of colonial administration.
• The Tea Act of 1773 reduced the tax on imported British tea, giving British merchants a major advantage in colonial markets. Colonists planned to boycott the tea or send the tea back to England without paying the tax. When royal officials insisted that the tax be paid, Boston residents disguised themselves, boarded the British ships, and destroyed the tea by throwing it into Boston Harbor. This act of protest became known as the Boston Tea Party.
• The Coercive Acts or Intolerable Acts were a series of laws passed in 1774 intended to punish Massachusetts in response to the Boston Tea Party.

Lesson 7: Independence

• Colonial religion at the time of the Revolution was influenced by the First Great Awakening, a religious movement that emphasized emotional revival meetings and fiery preaching that focused on personal conversion experiences and the spiritual rebirth of individuals. Many people abandoned traditional denominations like the Anglican Church for growing denominations like the Methodists or Baptists that were less hierarchical and more in line with the ideas of the First Great Awakening.
• Organized resistance to British policies and armed conflict began long before the colonies declared independence from Britain.
• Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, and the document was then edited by other members of Congress before it was finally approved.
• The Continental Congress formally declared independence from Britain in July of 1775.

Lesson 8: Fighting the War

• The Continental army spent the winter of 1777-1778 in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, where Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben trained the troops into a much more highly skilled fighting force.
• French support (secured after the American victory at Saratoga) was crucial to the American victory — the French navy was able to engage the British on the seas, which was critical since the British needed to transport soldiers to America over the Atlantic.
• The Battle of Yorktown ended the American Revolution.

Lesson 9: A New Nation

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Final Project: Living History

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